Armies in 5th: Tau Part 6: Summary

Sorry for the hiatus, life calls on the weekends generally for me :O.

Well I've had some pretty good feedback on these articles so thanks to everyone who posted a comment, sent e-mails, told me online in person or simply ignored me for the positive feedback. Glad I can be of some help.

So to wrap up the Tau series. We've looked at all the units that are your best investment in points within the Tau codex. They either do something nothing else in the army can (Piranhas) or do it a premium points cost (Crisis suits). The units we haven't looked in depth at don't do enough for what you are paying for them, are too singular in their purpose (like Fire warriors, TL-MP suits, etc. [though we looked at these]) or something else in the codex does it better at a better points ratio (i.e. Stealth suits compared to Crisis suits).

Some of these units are more usable than others (such as the FW and TL-MP suits we touched on) but the list you get is a lot less flexible and units have a lot more defined roles. Remember an army with units A,B,C to take out infantry and D,E,F for anti-tank is worse than an army with L,M,N,O all capable of both. As a general you are less confined in your choices and your battle plan is a lot more flexible.

Whilst the Tau army book has limited choices in what you can take (even if you include TL-MPs and FW) the ability for a Tau army to keep firing through it's defensive screens, delay super units and deny cover makes it one of the best armies in the game. The main weakness is it's obvious reliance on shooting (wow! :O). A poor showing in the early rounds of shooting against lists like Eldar and IG can spell doom for Tau as these armies are able to break through the Tau's army lines. This needs to be kept in mind when making your army list and playing these armies. So let's look at my army list:

HQ -
Shas’el w/TL’d Missile Pod, Target-lock

Elites -
Crisis x3 w/Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker

Crisis x3 w/Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker

Crisis x3 w/Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker

Troops -
Fire Warriors x6

Kroot x10
Hounds

Kroot x10
Hounds x7

Fast Attack -
Pathfinders x8
Devilfish w/SMS, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pods, Targeting Array

Piranhas x2 w/Fusion Blasters, Targeting Array, 1 Disruption Pod

Piranhas x2 w/Fusion Blasters, Targeting Array, 1 Disruption Pod

Heavy Support -
Broadsides x3 w/Advanced Stablisation System, Team Leader w/hard-wired Drone controller, 2 shield drones & hard-wired TL

Hammerhead w/Railgun, SMS, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod

Hammerhead w/Railgun, SMS, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod

Total: 1999
13 suits (+2 drones)
41 infantry
7 tanks

This is a bit different from what I commonly see (2 full 17 Kroot squads, only 2 Broadsides and a PR/MP HQ) but I've been using this list lately for the extra broadside (I think it's worth the less Hounds and less efficient HQ). You can obviously fiddle here and there to make things different and I will often run the setup I just spoke of amongst others.

So the analysis;

This list has one clear mono-role unit in the broadsides (+ the HQ & FWs but they are mandatory choices and don't impact the list too significantly). It's task is anti-tank and really only has minimal anti-infantry through SMS. ASS is a must to try and stay as mobile as possible and hopefully get some shots off in DoW. Every other unit runs as a dual purpose unit.

Kroot -> defense and anti-infantry
Piranha -> defense and anti-tank
Suits -> anti-infantry and anti-light tank
Devilfish -> defense, anti-infantry and scoring APC
Hammerheads -> anti-infantry and anti-tank

With this list it becomes a lot clearer in why Broadsides are more popular in 5th and a "must have" in your 5th edition army. Every unit that is anti-tank is better at anti-infantry or defense. Mech generally does not scare Tau (except during poor T1/T2 shooting days) but imagine a list without those 2-3 Broadsides. Suddenly mech becomes a lot more potent against Tau. Whilst a mono-style unit like Broadsides runs against the trend of 5th edition 40k and the way balanced armies work, they are so good at what they do + have the ability to split fire and the staying power of W2/T4/2+ (with 4+ cover) to be worth it.

Lists like these therefore take advantage of what the current army book has to offer. It's very hard to assault Tau early on due to their defensive blocks and screens which are able to target your more important units and delay them. By having guns which decimate lighter targets and enough anti-infantry firepower to scare anything that pops out Tau are very hard to advance against and other than relying on their shooting have no "auto-lose" match-ups (for example on a bad shooting day Tau are going to suffer against Mech spam armies but IG have a much bigger midfield presence and can hope their shooting is much better later in game, etc.).

Overall Tau is one of the better armies in 5th though I eagerly await their new book whenever it comes out and hope GW doesn't botch it too badly (from their latest 4 books I have high hopes for Tau). I hope people have walked away from these articles wanting to play Tau or at least understanding what they can do in 5th under a competent general. Overall I hope you enjoyed these articles and if you have any questions ask away.