"Hello,
I have been reading your blog and after a year out of the hobby I have decided to dive back in with Tau. Very good guide, informative with a nice dash of humour
Something different to my last soulless experience with mech-vet guard.
I just have a few questions if you dont mind....
1. Do you think it is worth taking plasma rifles on boardsides? I can generate 30points by changing a few kroot to hounds and dropping my Commander to a cheap version.
2. I *think* I read on your blog that you run Crisis teams in 3's with no shield drones, is this dangerous option due to abundence of str8 weapons flying about to snipe the suits?
I see alot of 'advice' in running them in pairs with a drone as they are easier to hide and extra wound.
Although my main concern is objective games - My list is pretty much the same as the one on your blog and I am not too sure the best way to utilise the 2x 17 kroot and Warfish.
Should the kroot be stuck on home objective and just GTG and try and duke it out for 7 rounds with a Warfish in reserve to make a last gasp claim/contest?
I have been collecting for many years but it has been so fractious and ad-hoc that I am still a gaming noob.
Expensive commander (cant remember 'el or 'o ) MP/PR/MT/HWTL
3 units of 3 Crisis with PR/MP/MT + team leaders with bond knife.
2 Piranhas FB, TA, DPOD
8 Pathfinders team leader + bondknife
Devilfish SMS, TA, MT, DPOD
6 Firewarriors
17 Kroot x2
2x Hammerhead - SMS. Railgun, MT
3x Broardside ASS, HWTL, 2x shield drone.
Can the 6 firewarriors start in the Pathfinder devilfish or do they have to jump in turn 1?
Many thanks, Dan."
1) no. Sure the extra fire-power is nice and can really help against deep-strikers, etc. but it's making an already expensive unit even more expensive and actually lowering their anti-infantry fire potential. Whilst 1-2 S6 AP2 shots can be better than 4 S5 AP5 shots in some situations, I'd rather have the number of shots so Broadsides aren't completely useless when there aren't tanks to deal with.
2) You can generally block LoS via terrain and your tanks to a certain extent regarding Crisis Suits but yes, S8 fire is annoying to these guys. Laeroth asked this question recently as well so I'll answer a bit more in-depth. There are two main reasons for not taking drones. One primarily being points in conjunction with losing firepower. At 10-15 points a pop you rapidly lose the ability to pack in more guns and you have better defenses in Piranhas and Kroot. As you reach 2250+ points, drones are a more viable option as you've already maxed your FoC at 2000. Furthermore, although they are ablaitive wounds, losing both of them forces you to take an Ld check and whilst this is the same against S8 weaponry (i.e. a squad of 3 takes a S8 wound = Ld check), it makes a squad with drones more vulnerable to small-arms fire. In the end, their own statline is protection enough and although there is a weakness to S8 firepower, BLoS and cover are your best forms of defense.
Your list looks pretty solid but by dropping the Shas'O to a Shas'El (cheaper version), dropping one Broadside and changing the Kroot to Kroot + Hounds, you should be able to scrap the points together for another Piranha or two which increases your blocking potential in midfield. If you still need some points you can drop the Warfish upgrades or Bonding Knives/Team Leader upgrades on the Crisis Suits. With regards to objectives, your Kroot in most cases are there to hold your enemy up and are quite likely to die. Against shooty lists they are unlikely to die unless there is a lot of cover ignoring ranged firepower (i.e. Ord barrage). Here they can become objective holders or push towards the enemy (i.e. outflank). Otherwise you are essentially relying on the Fire Warriors to hold one objective and use your firepower to destroy opposing Troops.
And no the FW cannot start in the Devilfish as it's a dedicated transport for another squad. You can start the FW (or both them and the DFish) in reserve though to protect them from early firepower but you have the issue of needing to keep the DFish close to the edge of the board so they can embark the turn they arrive.
