Lately, building a solid list for the Tau is tricky. Mostly, it comes down to troop choices and battle roles in Fifth Edition. Only troops can capture objectives, and two of the three standard missions in the rulebook require holding objectives to win. Tau troops are too slow and fragile on their own, so they have to be loaded into our rather expensive transports. To fit three or four such units in the budget, they are often run at minimal size in Devilfish, sometimes complimented by some outflanking Kroot. Of course, this focus on capturing units cuts into the ability to field killing units.
My mind keeps wandering back to a line in the Tau Codex describing the Tau’s philosophy towards seizing territory: “Ground is for position from which to make the kill; once the kill is made, the ground is for the taking.” I’m starting to wonder if perhaps that same attitude should be taken to the tabletop. Rather than worrying about capturing objectives, the goal should be to prevent the opponent from capturing objectives by removing his ability to do so. Once the enemy troops are off the scene, that’s when the Fire Warriors come in to sit on the objective. Instead of going for several small mechanized troop units, run the minimum – two units of Fire Warriors – at full size in fully tricked-out Warfish. The points normally spent on the two extra transports go towards more Elite and Heavy Support choices, which is where our main ability to do damage resides. Those units either have the range to reach out and touch someone, or the ability to jump around the board and/or deep-strike in to exactly where they’re needed. In a pinch, those units can contest the objectives and deny them to your opponent.
“But two of the three core mission types are about capturing objectives,” you might object. Only one of those mission types – Seize Ground – has you dealing with more than two objectives. Capture and Control lets you focus on two objectives, one of which is yours from the start. If you treat the objectives as bait – kauyon-style – then your killzones are defined for you from the start of the game, allowing you to focus your plan from turn one. Seize Ground is a bit harder to deal with, as there are three to five objectives to fight over, but the basic strategy still stands. Placing the objectives becomes an important strategic choice; whenever possible, put them where your opponent is denied cover. Create lanes of fire where moving towards an objective becomes risky for your opponent. Focus on having one or two that you can hold yourself, on your terms, and focus on keeping the opponent’s troops off of the others.
Right now, I haven’t tested this strategy on the table – I’m on vacation right now, and about 250 miles away from my miniatures – but I’ve been working on putting together an army list to support the plan, and then I’ll give it numerous trials by fire. At this point, I’m working on fine-tuning a 1500-point list under this philosophy, and once I have it together I’ll post it here.
So, what do you think? Could this work, or is this a horribly-flawed plan?
