I will say that there’s some luck involved, though. There’s some absolutely lousy rolling on both sides, but particularly on the Chaos side. Had the dice been more favorable to Krox’s opponent, he would have been in a much better position to overrun Krox’s positions. It’s a very hard-fought battle, though, for both sides, and I’m definitely leaning towards agreeing with Krox in the Null Deployment v. Alpha Strike debate.

My list isn’t working. Most notably, it’s not working well against Blood Angels, especially the deep striking variety. Changes are obviously required, but the question is, what changes? And are the weaknesses limited to just a few unit choices, or is it an overall playstyle issue?

Let’s look at my current 1500-point list:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (130 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Shield Drones (Shield Generator)

Elite: Fireknife Team (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Deathrain Team (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuits (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (145 pts)
5 Pathfinders (Pulse Carbine x5)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Marker Beacon; Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (150 pts)
2 Piranha Light Skimmers (Fusion Blaster x2; Disruption Pod x2; Targeting Array x2)

Heavy Support: Railhead (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Railhead (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Total: 1500 Points

On the surface, there are a lot of solid choices here, with units that can deal with many different kinds of threats. My HQ and the Fireknife suits are killer against marines. The Deathrain suits (and the Fireknife suits, to an extent) are good against light armor and transports. The Hammerheads can deal with both heavier armored threats  and clumps of infantry. The Piranhas can also handle heavy armor, and can do so before the heavy armor gets me within range. Finally, the Fire Warriors provide objective control and ancillary fire against weaker targets. Meanwhile, the Pathfinders aren’t there to do damage or handle threats; they exist solely to help other units do their jobs more effectively. Everyone has a job to do, and they can do it decently well.

However, play experience is starting to show that what’s there just isn’t enough. Or at least, not enough of any one thing. For example, there aren’t enough low-AP anti-infantry weapons in the list. What’s there can be devastating, but it’s also insufficient to do more than put a few wounds on a unit. Wiping the unit out isn’t likely in one round, and that’s what this army needs to be able to do – focus-fire on a unit and kill it outright, removing it as a threat. At the same time, there’s not enough heavy armor killers on the table. With two railguns and two fusion blasters, all of which are attached to vehicles that can (and often do) get one-shot-killed, one bad turn can ruin my day. At the same time, other units aren’t contributing enough. The Fire Warriors are required, but they’re not providing much that’s useful. I need them for the list, and I need them for objectives, but I’m not convinced that I need so many of them. The Pathfinders are questionable as well; yes, their markerlights are useful, it’s true, but I rarely get more than a turn or two out of them.

The Tau’s strength is in their Elite choices – namely, Crisis Suits – and in their Heavy Support choices – Hammerheads and Broadsides. I need to maximize my list’s usage of those slots, and to make room other units will have to end up on the chopping block. So, what’s likely to go?

• Fire Warrior Squad #3: Common wisdom is to run at least 3 troops choices in a 1500-point list. However, that assumes that your troops are likely to accomplish much on the table. If you’re planning on keeping them in reserves (and thus off the table for at least a turn), I think you can run only two with relative safety. Hopefully, your opponent will be too busy dealing with the rest of your army to focus on the Fire Warriors, who aren’t likely to contribute much more than being warm bodies on an objective.
• Pathfinders: This is more a personal choice than one dictated by objective unit value. I know there are people who swear by Pathfinders and get a lot of utility out of them. While I’ve had battles where they’ve definitely been helpful, I don’t know if I can say that any of them have been game-changing. In a larger game, I’d still hang onto them (and probably run an 8-man unit), but for me, I just don’t think there’s room for them in my 1500-point lists.
• Piranhas: Cutting these is a much more painful decision than the others so far. I like these. I’ve gotten some good use out of them. However, they’re just too fragile to enemy fire, and it’s a rare occasion where they survive the entire game. They’re very fast, and they have a decent gun, but when they slow down and get close to a target, it opens them up to too much enemy fire to be survivable. With a larger point list, this would be one of the first things to go back in.
• Railhead #2 (maybe): Railgun Hammerheads are great. However, with some of the changes I’m considering, having two of them may be redundant. This is something that’s on the block if I need to spare the points.

Now that I know what I’m cutting, what am I going to put in instead?

• Fireknife Team #2: Fireknife (Plasma Rifle/Missile Pod/Multi-tracker) suits have been the multi-tool in my arsenal. They tear marines apart, they’re good against light vehicles, and they’ve got maneuverability and survivability going for them. They have weapons that will wound just about anything and ignore armor and Feel No Pain, but still have enough range to be used at a safe distance. There’s not enough that I can say about them, and given the number of Marine armies in my playgroup, taking more is a good thing.
• Broadside Team: As I’ve said, one of the downsides of vehicles is that they can be taken out with one shot. Broadsides do not have this weakness; yes, they can be doubled-out, but even then you’ve only taken out one member of the team. A team of three Broadsides, with two shield drones for good measure, can take a great deal of punishment and dish it out in return. I can safely pull one Railhead without losing much in the way of anti-vehicle power.
• Ionhead: With these two additions, there aren’t quite enough points for two Railgun Hammerheads. However, replacing the Railgun with an Ion Cannon on one of the Hammerheads shaves off just enough points to fit in, and allows for a few other goodies, like a Smart Missile System and a Target Lock. I get more anti-marine firepower that’s still decent against lighter vehicles/side and rear armor, all in a nice maneuverable package.

Here’s the new list:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (130 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Shield Drones (Shield Generator)

Elite: Fireknife Team (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Fireknife Team (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Deathrain Team (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuits (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Railhead (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Ionhead (145 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Ion Cannon; Smart Missile Systems; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Heavy Support: Broadside Team (280 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Team Leader; Targeting Array; Hard-Wired Target Lock; Hard-Wired Drone Controller)
2 Broadside Battlesuits (Targeting Array x2)
2 Shield Drones (Shield Generator)

Total: 1496 Points

Like the previous list, I have tools to handle a bit of everything. However, the difference is that this time, I have enough redundancy and overlap in capability that losing one unit doesn’t remove my ability to do what that unit does. I can safely put some elements in reserve, for example, because there’s more available that can do what they do. Also, by focusing more on battlesuits than on vehicles, I lessen my list’s vulnerability to their general fragility. I’ve also managed to trim 6 kill points off of the list – I’ve gone from 19 to 13, which is a much more comfortable number to field.

I’ll be getting in some games this weekend, so I’ll field this list and keep you all updated on how it performs!

If you haven’t had a chance to listen, my first podcast appearance is available for download now.  About 38 minutes in, Tim (“ThatDamnPunk”, or just “Punk”) talks briefly about his basic strategy with his Blood Angels: pin his enemy into a corner. Late Saturday night, we tried just that scenario out, as I ran my Tau against him. Our mission/deployment? Annihilation/Spearhead. We only managed to get two and a half turns in before we had to call the game on time, but the first two turns were the key to the game, and what happened is making me re-evaluate how I deploy my army, especially in Spearhead.

First, let me just say that Spearhead is my least favorite of the three standard deployment types. The deployment area is the smallest, and my opponent is closer than in any other deployment style. With 5th Edition’s strong support of assault armies, this is that much more dangerous for me. Invariably, my army ends up being plastered along the very back corner to try to maximize my distance from my opponent’s army. Hopefully, this can buy me a turn or two of firing and maneuvering out of the corner, splitting my army to attempt to pincer the enemy between two firing lanes. I can relieve the clutter in deployment by putting some things in reserve, such as my Fire Warriors. However, while this does allow me to deploy them later outside of the box, it takes away their firepower, weakening my first-turn “alpha strike” capability. This hurt me in my tournament earlier this year, when I faced Dark Eldar. Had I left the Fire Warriors on the field in deployment, their fire would have likely brought down a number of Raiders, but by putting them in reserves, I just left them to come on piecemeal and get taken apart by the oncoming horde.

Against Tim’s Blood Angels, though, even this Alpha Strike plan didn’t work. He went first (with me failing to seize the initiative), and proceeded to, well, pin me in the corner. Between his Baal Predators rushing me with 30″ of movement (a 18″ flat out Scout move, plus 12″ of normal movement), and dropping two of his three drop pods right in my deployment area (each of which contained a Furioso Dreadnought and a Locator Beacon), he boxed me in and opened fire. Before I could even take a turn, I was down a Piranha and a Hammerhead, and my avenues for movement were highly restricted. I was able to get a bit of revenge on my turn, though. A combination of markerlight and railgun fire brought down one of the Predators, and I was able to remove the melta from one of the Furiosos. My Crisis Suits were able to start moving out a bit, but quarters were still a bit tight.

Turn two saw two of his Assault Squads deep-striking in, but because of the scattered units in and around the drop pod locations, denying him the use of his Locator Beacons. Still, he was able to drop one squad just behind my Crisis Suits, winning the gamble that he wouldn’t scatter. He proceeded to disarm my remaining Piranha, kill one of my Deathrains, and slaughter my Pathfinders in assault with a Furioso. Thankfully, the crater left from the Hammerhead I’d lost slowed down his other Furioso, keeping it out of assault with my Fireknives. In response, I had two squads of Fire Warriors come in around the middle of my board edge, and I opened fire on his forces with what I had left. A railgun round destroyed a Dreadnought, my remaining Deathrain disarmed his remaining Predator, and my Fireknives and Commander whittled away half of one of his Assault Squads.

However, even with the injuries I’d dealt him, it just wasn’t proving enough to stop him. His third turn (the last turn we played) saw his Librarian and Honor Guard dropping in near my Fire Warriors, my last Deathrain eliminated by an untouched Assault Squad, and my Fireknives caught in a pincer assault between his remaining Dreadnought and the remnants of his other Assault Squad. I was quickly running out of firepower, and once again, massed pulse rifle fire from my Fire Warriors had not made any scratches in a unit with Sanguinary Priests. At that point, we called the game, extrapolating out that while I might be able to bloody him some more, he definitely had the upper hand.

Clearly, this game was lost for me in the first turn. Even with what casualties I was able to inflict in return, I could not overcome the momentum of that initial tank/pod rush. The Alpha Strike strategy doesn’t work if you don’t get the first turn, and even if I had, what would I have had to shoot at? Two Baal Predators, and that’s all. My best bet would have been to leave the corner entirely and avoid getting boxed in. As more and more armies get solid fast/deep-striking options, I’m beginning to really question whether or not I should deploy at all. To paraphrase Monty Python, the first lesson of not being seen is not to stand up. If I don’t want to be targetted, I shouldn’t present one in the first place.

This brings me to the Null Deployment idea. Should I, instead, deploy as little as possible on the table? One strategy that got some traction in Tau circles shortly after 5th Edition was released was the Ninja Tau plan. This involved using a Shas’O Commander with a Positional Relay, usually with a Shield Generator and Shield Drones for maximum survivability. He would avoid fire as long as possible, bringing in one unit a turn to keep the rest of the army off the table until turn 4 or 5, when everything else would sweep in and catch the enemy off-guard in a “Delta Strike” of sorts. There’s something very attractive about this plan. It denies my opponent anything beyond the HQ (and possibly 2 troops in Dawn of War) to target, and neutralizes much of their battle plan. It also negates the “piecemeal army” effect of putting things into reserve, while allowing you to pull out units that can be useful on their own, such as Hammerheads and Broadsides and the like. On the other hand, it’s entirely dependent on the survival of that Shas’O; if he dies, the entire plan falls apart and you’re left with an army that comes out in small, uncontrolled clumps. With all the melta that’s popular in armies today, there are a lot of weapons out there that can easily double-out the Commander with one hit.

The Alpha Strike is too dependent on getting the first turn. The Null Deployment is too dependent on keeping one unit alive for four turns. Is there a middle ground? Perhaps it’s a matter of running a Positional Relay commander with a firebase of some sort, and then bringing in the heavy artillery as needed. It’s more of a Kauyon-style plan, but it might work. I don’t know if I would use Fire Warriors as the firebase, though, especially in any sort of objective-based mission. You need them to be able to grab/contest objectives late in the game. Perhaps it’s a Crisis Suit-based firebase, with Deathrains and Broadsides taking aim at the oncoming enemy while Piranhas, Hammerheads, and Fire Warriors in Devilfish sweep in late in the game. It’s going to take some doing, and more playing and testing, to figure out just the right strategy.

One of the things I was glad to see return to 5th Edition with the release of the Battle Missions book was Kill Team. Low point-value games seem to get overlooked, so it’s nice to see support for something as low as 200 points made official. Granted, the new version of Kill Team has been greatly stripped down from its 4th Edition version – no more brute squads or mutable rules – but the new version is much easier to run. However, that doesn’t mean that a proper list for it is easy to just throw together. There’s the low point budget, an abbreviated force organization chart to deal with – 1 elite, 2 troop, and 1 fast attack slot – and a focus on individually specialized units.

Not all units in the appropriate slots in the Tau codex are equally suited for Kill Teams, however. Here are the units that I wouldn’t run for a Kill Team:

• Fire Warriors. Sure, you can run 2 squads of  10 Fire Warriors as a kill team force. Unfortunately, that’s about as interesting as they’re going to get. There’s no flexibility in Fire Warriors, since they can’t change up their weapon choices apart from choosing carbines or rifles. You can take a Devilfish, which helps somewhat, but if you’re wanting to take a transport, Pathfinders are a better choice.
• Crisis Suits. On one hand, if you want to build specialists with different weapon loadouts, there’s no better choice in the codex. Unfortunately, they’re not cheap; 3 suits could easily fill up your entire 200-point budget with little to spare. Considering that you risk losing a Kill Team mission once you lose half your models, there’s not much room for error, and providing so few targets makes it easy for your opponent to focus-fire them down. At most, I might run a monat suit alongside some other choice.
• Vespid. They’re not good for much of anything, and Kill Team doesn’t change that. They have even less weapon flexibility than Fire Warriors, and their Jump Infantry/Fleet status doesn’t help their effectiveness at all, other than helping them run away.

On the other side of the spectrum are the units that I think would work in a Kill Team:

• Stealth Suits. You get the armor save and jet pack abilities of crisis suits and the extra defense of their stealth generation field, all for a much more reasonable price thanks to the free burst cannons. You can also upgrade to a fusion blaster, although the shorter range is risky due to the risk of assault. I wouldn’t necessarily run a list entirely of Stealth Suits, but in combination with another choice, you could have a solid team.
• Pathfinders. In Kill Team, these are effectively better Fire Warriors. They’re better equipped, thanks to their markerlights, and they have the option for rail rifles as well. They also can take a Scout move, which can help you get a better position for targeting your opponent’s team. The mandatory Devilfish takes up enough points to ensure that you won’t running anything other than Pathfinders, but it can also net you two Gun Drones, which gives you a total of 3 extra models for determining your loss condition.
• Gun Drones. Assuming you haven’t taken any Pathfinders, taking a unit of these can help fill out some points nicely. They get the jump-shoot-jump benefits of being jet pack infantry and have better initiative than Fire Warriors should they get caught in assault. It’s two points more expensive per drone to take them as a stand-alone unit, rather than as wargear with a drone controller, but they have the added benefit of not being tied to a controlling model. If you lose your non-drone units, you don’t start losing drones automatically.
• Kroot. Kroot were made for Kill Team, I think. They’ve got a fair amount of variety as far as what can be put inside a Kroot unit. You’ve got your standard kroot for all-around utility, you’ve got kroot hounds for assault, a krootox for some heavier support, and you can even throw in a shaper. In the Kill Team environment, the shaper actually makes sense: with his 3 wounds he’ll be tougher than most enemy models, and by giving him Eternal Warrior as a specialist you keep him from getting doubled-out. Kroot also have the benefit of being cheap; you can easily fit 18-21 models into your team, and that includes a little bit of everything. Take a Krootox (since outflanking isn’t an issue), give him Relentless, and let him pick off the enemy at range (since he can hit the entire 4′x4′ table) while your Kroot and hounds close in for closer kills with their superior numbers.

I’ve got a few Kill Team lists that I’m playing around with, and I hope to test them in the next few weeks or so. I especially want to try the Kroot list, although I’d need to get a few things (like Kroot Hounds, a Krootox, a Shaper, and some more Kroot) before I can build it. For Pathfinders, I’d need some Rail Rifles. In the meantime, I’ll try out a Stealth Suit list and see how it goes. Here’s what I’m looking at:

Elite: Stealthsuits (4#, 140 pts)
3 Stealthsuits (Burst Cannon x3)
1 Team Leader (Burst Cannon; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Markerlight;) – Feel No Pain specialist

Fast Attack: Gun Drone Squadron (5#, 60 pts)
5 Gun Drone Squadron

Total: 200 points

I’m up in the air on the markerlight, since its hits are only going to be usable by one figure per turn. I could downgrade the team leader and get an extra gun drone instead. First, though, I need to test it out and see how it goes.

So, what are your opinions on Tau in the Kill Team environment? What would your ideal Kill Team be?

Image © Games Workshop.

We were also playing one of the new Battle Missions scenarios: First Contact, one of the Tyranid missions. The deployment mode in this one is odd, as it splits the table into six zones, places an objective in the middle of each, and then has you roll for each unit to determine the zone into which it’s deployed. It scattered my army across the board, and left all but one of his units coming off one of the short board edges. Being so randomly scattered, I wasn’t able to get my Pathfinders into a good position. That said, they helped a squad of Fire Warriors do nasty things to a Venomthrope before we called the game. 4 markerlight hits let me get their BS up to 5 and remove the Venomthrope’s cover save, which let their pulse rifles make short work of the creature.

It’s only one small result, but it’s very encouraging. Hopefully, I can get a full game in soon and see how they play out across all 5+ turns.

Last Friday, Old Shatter Hands discussed how to fit markerlights into his current army list, inspired by a run of horrible luck. I can sympathize; lately, my dice have been betraying me at key moments. It’s also one of the weaknesses of the Tau; sure, we have fantastic guns, but we just don’t seem to have the ballistic skill to utilize them effectively. The solution for this is to add markerlights to our armies, allowing us to do things like raise our BS and drop those pesky cover saves. It’s not a perfect solution, though – they’re expensive and slow (thanks to being heavy weapons), and there’s only a few ways to fit them into an army. I’ve discussed the two primary ones – Pathfinders and Stealth Suits – and it’s no secret that I’m not fond of Pathfinders. However, one of the hallmarks of the Tau army is fluidity and adaptability, so it’s no good to be stuck in my ways. If I want to fit in markerlights, Pathfinders are the least-expensive solution.

With that in mind, I re-examined my current Tau list, and discovered that I can fit in a unit of 5 Pathfinders if I drop my commander’s bodyguards:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (130 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Shield Drones (Shield Generator)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuits (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (145 pts)
5 Pathfinders (Pulse Carbine x5)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Marker Beacon; Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (150 pts)
2 Piranha Light Skimmers (Fusion Blaster x2; Disruption Pod x2; Targeting Array x2)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Targeting Array; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Targeting Array; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Total Roster Cost: 1500 points

It’s a simple change, accomplishes what I want, and doesn’t hurt my killing ability – in fact, it probably enhances it greatly. It also gives me a great bait unit; people seem to hate Pathfinders with a passion. My one concern is that it adds three killpoints to the army (‘finders, their Devilfish, and the drones). I could drop the Devilfish from one of the Fire Warrior teams, which would free up some points for smart missiles, seeker missiles, or the like, but I dislike using the Pathfinder ‘fish as a taxi. It slows down the momentum of the game more than I like, and leaves a small unit of FWs out in the open for a turn or two.

I think I’ll give this list a try on my next game; we’ll see if I spoke too soon on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of Pathfinders. I have a feeling that I may be eating some crow soon…

HQ: Commander Shas’el (4#, 259 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drone)
2 Crisis Bodyguard (Plasma Rifle; Twin Linked Burst Cannon; Hard-wired Multi-tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (2#, 94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (3#, 186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuit (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (3#, 171 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Team Leader; Fusion Blaster; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array; Hard-wired Multi-tracker)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Fusion Blaster)

Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 215 pts)
12 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 215 pts)
12 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 180 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 180 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Total Roster Cost: 1500

Feel free to pick it apart and make suggestions. Just remember the idea behind it – killing is more important than capturing. Our units aren’t hardy enough to be defensive, so we have to be completely on the ranged offensive.

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?

A few notes about the Stealth Marker Team:

• Moving and firing every turn is absolutely worth it, as is still having 12 burst cannon shots every turn while doing so.
• With only 5 markerlights, I still managed to average 3 hits a turn, which gave me enough to boost my BS to 5 on the units that needed it.
• Positioning is everything. Between being able to infiltrate into a safe markerlighting position, and being able to Jump-Shoot-Jump into cover or out of assault range, I was able to keep my Stealth Team useful every turn.

Still, at the end of the day, Markerlights can help you score a hit, but it can’t make a wound stick when invulnerable saves or Feel No Pain is involved. They’re far from a panacea, especially against tough units like Nob Bikers. A markerlight is only as good as the weaponry it guides, so remember to keep that in mind when deciding target priority for your markerlight units, be they Stealth Team, Pathfinder, or Sky Ray.

Stealth Team
3 Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon, Drone Controller, Marker Drone
1 Shas’ui team leader w/ Burst Cannon, Markerlight, Hardwired Multi-tracker, Drone Controller, Marker Drone
Cost: 260 points

Pathfinder squad
7 Pathfinders w/ Markerlights and Pulse Carbines
1 Shas’ui w/ Markerlight and Pulse Carbine
1 Devilfish w/ Smart Missile System, Disruption Pod, Multi-Tracker
Cost: 221 points

So, what are the advantages of each? Let’s start with the Stealth Team.

• Jet Pack Infantry – this is probably the biggest advantage of the stealth team. Most importantly, it makes the unit Relentless, allowing them to move and shoot their markerlights. They also gain the extra 6″ of movement in the assault phase, allowing them to use Jump-Shoot-Jump tactics, as well as effectively putting their markerlight range at 42″.
• 3+ Armor Save – higher survivability is better. True, it doesn’t carry over to the drones, but the suits themselves can take more punishment than pathfinders can.
• Markerlights on Drones – having the markerlights mounted on drones allows the stealth suits to still use their burst cannons. With 4 suits, that’s 12 shots at 18″ – 4 more than the pathfinders can dish out. Also, unlike the pathfinders, the Stealth Team can fire their markerlights and their burst cannons in the same turn. Even the team leader, with his multi-tracker, can fire both.
• Networked Markerlights – thanks to the marker drones’ networked markerlights, the Stealth Team can even use their own markerlight hits, if they so choose. Note that this is not true for the team leader’s markerlight.
• Infiltrate – deploying last on the table, and being able to be within 12″ to 18″ of an enemy unit allows the Stealth Team to get into a prime location for lighting up the enemy.
• Deep Strike – if a prime location can’t be found at the beginning of the game, then the Stealth Team can deep strike later in the game, keeping them safe until they deploy, at which time they are free to mark the enemy.
• Stealth Field – always being treated as being under night fighting rules helps keep the Stealth Team just a little bit safer. Whether the field helps in assault as it did in 4th edition is still up in the air, unfortunately.*

So, that’s what the Stealth Team has going for it. What advantages do the Pathfinders have over them?

• Lower Cost – the Pathfinder unit I’ve posted is relatively maxed out; it’s got a full unit with a shas’ui, and it’s riding in a Warfish. With all that, it’s still cheaper than the Stealth Team. At the very bare minimum, a 4-man Pathfinder squad can be had for 128 points. You’d be hard-pressed to find a less expensive option for putting markerlights on the table.
• More Markerlights – the Pathfinder unit is bringing 8 markerlights, as opposed to the Stealth Team’s 5. That’s going to get you an average of 1-2 extra markerlight hits a turn.
• Dedicated Transport – the Pathfinders come with their own Devilfish, which they can use to get into a good position. After that, they can either use it to escape, give it to another unit for taxi purposes, or just let it run around on its own to harass the enemy and contest objectives.
• Scout – getting a free move before the first turn can help the Pathfinders react to enemy positions and pick a better markerlighting position. More importantly, it allows them to deploy from their Devilfish before the first turn, thus allowing them to stay stationary and fire.
• Fast Attack slot – Stealth Teams have to compete with Crisis Suits – the workhorses of the Tau army – for Elite slots. Pathfinders, on the other hand, are a Fast Attack option, and are arguably the best Fast Attack unit we have. It’s easy to fit them into your army’s FOC.
• Markerlights not tied to drones – one weakness of the Stealth Team is that, while there are many advantages to having marker drones, there’s one major weakness: if you lose a drone controller, you lose the attached drone as well. Each dead Stealth Suit causes you to lose two models, not just one. Pathfinders, on the other hand, each carry their own markerlight, so losing one is just that – one model lost.

On a side note, both units are capable of outflanking (Stealth Teams due to their Infiltrate rule, Pathfinders due to being Scouts), so that particular item is a wash.

After looking at the two units, there’s two ways we can compare them. From an pure economic standpoint, the Pathfinders are the winners, hands down. They’re cheaper per model, allow you to pack more markerlights for fewer points, and can be decently tricked out and still come in under the Stealth Team’s cost. However, from a pure utility standpoint, I have to give the win to the Stealth Team. They’re more mobile, more survivable, and are capable of doing more damage than the Pathfinder team, all while providing comparable markerlight support – if not better support, thanks to being able to shoot and move every turn. Unless you’re pressed for points, I feel that they’re the better option. The Pathfinder transport is nice, and does make it a solid option, but there’s just not that many turns in the game, and you’re going to lose at least two turns using it – one to pick up a unit, and another to disembark them. Stealth Teams don’t have that slowdown, and can remain just as mobile as a Devilfish.

Now, as for myself, I’ve been using Pathfinders for my markerlight support, and while they’re good, they’re not quite as good as I’d hoped. This weekend, then, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. I’ve picked up another Stealth Team (for my fourth marker drone), and I’m going to put them to the test during my gaming over the Labor Day holiday. I think the peformance will prove my conclusions above, but there’s only one way to be sure, and that’s to try it on the table.

* EDIT: The Stealth Field Generator’s anti-assault effect – treating the Stealth Team as being in cover for assault – is unclear in 5th Edition. This is because it’s terrain, not cover, that changes up the initiative order in 5th Edition, and Stealth Fields don’t change the terrain. However, the unofficial INAT FAQ from Adepticon indicates that the assaulters are still affected, while the official GW FAQ says nothing either way.  Rules as Written say one thing, Rules as Intended indicate another way, and there’s no consensus. It’s always best to err on the side of caution, though, so unless your opponent or tournament organizer says otherwise, assume that it does not help.