I finally have the potential ability to get into 40k (meaning, I can afford a decent sized army of miniatures, paints, and the other necessary shit).

Tau are an army I'm seriously considering -- I like the miniatures, I like their playstyle and they aren't common at the local gaming store. I looked at Space Marines but am trying to avoid them since they are so sickeningly overplayed at the store (literally half of the people in the Pyramid League play some variations of Space Marines).

I realize the Marines are popular because they are a good army, but Tau, from what I've watched and the little bit I've played with the store owner's army, seem to be right up my alley.

If you don't play Tau, what DO you play? Why?

Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 12-14-2005 at 07:19 PM.

UH OH 3RD EDITION BASHING.

Tau are good, but you're going to have a lot of trouble dealing with heavily armored enemies such as space marines and necrons (at least until the new Tau codex comes out, if the rumors are true). The biggest decision you'll need to make for your force is whether you want to be static or mechanized. Please note, all this info is based on playing against Tau and talking to different people, not on my own play experience.

With a static Tau force, you sit back with your broadside suits to pop enemy vehicles with what is arguably the best anti-vehicle gun in the game, and wait for your enemies to come to you. Once they're within your basic troops' guns range (which is better than any basic troops gun in terms of range and power IIRC) blast them. The biggest trouble you'll have is dealing with fast moving assault armies such as Tyranids or KoS, as Tau are notorious for their lack of close-combat ability. You can mitigate this with kroot, but there's a huge debate on whether kroot are worth it or not, and whether it's just better to take more fire warriors. I don't play Tau so I can't really comment on that. Add in stealth suits and crisis suits to pick out weak parts of the enemy line, and you have the basic Tau list.

With a mechanized force, you'll pretty much be whoring out a tactic called "Fish of Fury". With this, you utilize fire warrior squads mounted in Devilfish to drop your troops at close range to the enemy, with the transport between you and them. This prevents you from being charged through the transport, however since it's a skimmer you can shoot underneath it. General strategy for this is using 2 squads or so to pick out vulnerable enemy units, forming a V shape with the devilfish, and the massed firepower of two squads to wipe your target out in one round of shooting lest they counterattack. For antitank in this list, most people opt for either Hammerheads armed with railguns (which is also great against horde armies because of their alternate fire mode) and/or crisis suits with fusion blasters. A Hammerhead with an ion cannon is great for taking out 3+ armor saves or big 'Nid monsters. Broadsides are too slow for this type of force, so use the hammerheads instead.

P.S.
Tau are filthy fish-headed space communists.

Alos If you are lookign to Play Tau, Wait a bit, It Looks like they will be getting new units or a revamp pretty soon.

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Mortious had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
I played Orcs. Back when the game was good.

UH OH 3RD EDITION BASHING.

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so uhhh what of this 4th edtion?

Meanwhile I'll keep waiting for the long overdue Ork codex :grumble grumble:

I like to have lots of range, which is really how most people play tau.

I think you could have quite the powerful close/medium range army using O'shovah, 4, 3 person squads of Crisis suits, one full squad of stealth suits, pathfinders, broadsides, and a hammerhead. And the rest of the ranks filled with firewarriors.

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Liam said:
Taus are sissies and are but food for the HIVE

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I wanted to play Tyranids but they're too damn hard to paint. All that organic colouring and blending would drive me insane.

In other news, Tau are watered-down Eldar with an anime mech skin.

Personaly, im buying a witch hunter army as we speak(go ebay for getting the codex for 6$), but my experience with the Tau was me vs nids and vice versa. the whole goal is to get your tank out there and in line with their hive tyrant so he cant get all batshit crazy on you when he gets into close range, and when you cant get a shot at him, use the area effect railgun to thin out the charging frontline of genestealers(which now have fleet of claw in 4th edition).

Basicaly, sit back, shoot, hope you kill them before they manage to assault you. Once they assault you, your boned.

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We were all impressed when Peter wrote:
The Tau Sniper looks to be a really Nifty concept. And a new Tau race I see.
40k Previews

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woah sniper, sniper drones, and the new race look super cool.

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DrPaintThinner had this to say about Duck Tales:
I do play tau. I have a good 2000 pt army. Consists of 3 firewarrior squads of 12, 12 kroot, 4 hounds, a shaper, 3 broadsides, 3 crisis suits, 1 crisis HQ with 2 bodygaurds, 5 stealthsuits with one captain, 12 gun drones, 2 hammerheads.

I like to have lots of range, which is really how most people play tau.

I think you could have quite the powerful close/medium range army using O'shovah, 4, 3 person squads of Crisis suits, one full squad of stealth suits, pathfinders, broadsides, and a hammerhead. And the rest of the ranks filled with firewarriors.

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This is a classic static Tau list. Although it's a bit heavy on anti-tank with 3 broadsides and 2 hammerheads (unless one of the 'heads is armed with an ion cannon) as the only army you'll need that much anti-tank against is an Armored Company, which generally are very rare.

The second suggestion though is far too many suits, and will be easily swarmed by almost any army. Being that suits count as infantry, they'll get raped in assault just like the rest of the Tau, but you won't have the sheer number of guns necessary to thin things out before they get to you. Come to think of it, this is a bit too heavy on anti-tank too.

Also, armies with deep strike or infiltrate will give static Tau a tough time, especially Space Marines using drop pods. IG will also depending on who gets the first turn, as they're one of the few armies that can outgun you. An indirect-firing Basilisk kept out of sight will force you to advance, negating the weapons of your broadsides and very easily popping your hammerheads.

Edit: Also, I recommend taking either broadsides or hammerheads for your railgun needs, not both. Broadsides in a nice cover position for static lists, or railgun hammerheads for mobile lists.

Sakkra fucked around with this message on 12-14-2005 at 11:37 PM.

The new codex, rules, new models will change alot of things.

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Quoth Mortious:
I wanted to play Tyranids but they're too damn hard to paint. All that organic colouring and blending would drive me insane.

In other news, Tau are watered-down Eldar with an anime mech skin.

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Nah, go with something easy like a single-color basecoat and contrasting armor plates. One of the GW guys has an awesome-looking horde that's just black with yellow armor plates. Then it's just a matter of the eyes, tongues, and weapons.

I'm wanting to do a 'Nid army, but won't have the time for a while.

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We were all impressed when Naimah wrote:
...Want a grungy look? ....

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On tanks, if you want to get a real quick worn in look, Base black, pick a color and mix either a really thinned down batch or 2 slightly different toned batches, grab a big ass brush, or get a cheap stencil brush and stipple the armor plates --If you are using the thinned down way you need to layer coats it a bit, takes longer, but it blends a bit more.--- the different tones and irregular brushing gives it a really beat up look. I have done this with my land raiders, the only thing more I did was the shade it with my airbrush a bit using Testors anthracite enamel. Additionally I would recommend inking the recesses and panel lines.

a few good links about pre and post shading, (need an airbrush though)

http://codyscoop.com/ht-3.html
http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/postshadingjh_1.htm
http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=37
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/techmain.htm

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Ragabash stopped staring at Deedlit long enough to write:
Orks cause dey good at stompin!

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WAAAAAGH!

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Sakkra was listening to Cher while typing:
WAAAAAGH!

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DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!

I'm here ta fix yur gubbins.

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Did they say why, Lashanna, why they want you to terminate my command?
The leading export of the WH40k universe is Quotes.

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Pull da pin, throw da other part!

Don't hold onta dat end of it!

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So quoth Mortious:
I played Orcs. Eldar. Back when the game was good.

UH OH 3RD 4TH EDITION BASHING.

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Zephyer Kyuukaze fucked around with this message on 12-19-2005 at 12:53 PM.