Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Discussion area for all futuristic GW games.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
chaosfiend ( 2 )
New Trader
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:01 am
Location: Alberta, Canada

Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by chaosfiend »

Hey there folks. I just started up playing Warhammer 40k, though I've been a lore junkie for the universe for a few years now, starting way back when they released the Dawn Of War games for PC. I know a lot of the fluff, but almost NONE of the crunch of the actual wargame. I just bought the rulebook for 40k and the Tau Empire Codex less than 4 days ago, and I actually signed up for Bartertown on a friends recommendation when I said I wanted to get into 40k, since she said its one of the top places to build yourself an army on that's at least marginally cheaper than buying new.

I chose the Tau, MOSTLY on their Fluff, only just having them beat out the Necrons for my first choice of army. I thought their rapid rise to power was very interesting, as well as the general aesthetic, especially the battlesuits caught my eye, (and seeing the newer gorgeous pieces of work like the Riptide and Stormsurge just set me drooling). I'm also a huge fan of their Kroot and Vespid Auxiliaries, as well as the fact that they are, pretty much the closest thing to a 'good' race (though slightly less good when they introduced the whole possibility of mind control, and some more genocidal Generals, *cough*Brightsword*cough*). One of my favorite examples of the race being at least more merciful, is in Dawn of War, where Shas'O Kais is the only general, (that I can recall), that actually offers his enemies a chance to surrender before blowing them to particles.

But Enough of my gushing.

I wish to ask any Tau players out there what their recommendation is for units I should grab hold of, and what units not to, (namely ones that look/sound cool, but their crunch is awful in actual gameplay).

Currently, I only have the Tau Starters collection, (huzzah for Christmas gift cards to hobby stores!), which for quick reference, is the following units:

10 Fire Warriors (w/ two drones, and DS8 Support Turret)
3 XV8 Crisis Battlesuits (w/ 6 Drones)
1 Ethereal on Hover Drone
MagickalMemories ( 832 )
Lord Logorrheic!
Posts: 16741
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:38 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO - USA

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by MagickalMemories »

What size army are you looking to build?
A thousand points? Fifteen hundred? Two thousand?

I don't play Tau, so can't offer any advice, but that is an important piece of information in deciding ANYTHING in regards to army building.

Eric
Lower rating? You ship first.

Give me a sense of humor Lord. Give me the grace to see a joke.
To get some humor out of life and pass it on to other folk.


I think what this situation needs is some imagination.

"...I'm a nerd, and I'm here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds.” – Gilbert Lowell

Want my help with a BTR or backout? All messages sent/posted should be in CHRONOLOGICAL order. Otherwise, I just won't read it.
chaosfiend ( 2 )
New Trader
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:01 am
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by chaosfiend »

Currently, the gaming store I'm at has only a fledgling population if Wargamers, (at least that come often), So games are generally either 500 point, or 1000 point battles. I'd like to at least get up to a 1000 point army.
MattHoell ( 100 )
Resident Trader
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:08 pm
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by MattHoell »

Crisis suits are always a good buy as are any of the bigger ones.
MagickalMemories ( 832 )
Lord Logorrheic!
Posts: 16741
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2003 11:38 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO - USA

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by MagickalMemories »

If you start dropping the bigger suits (whose names escape me off hand) at 1000 points, you'll quickly find yourself devoid of people who want to play against you... unless they're the kind of people who field 1000 point Knight armies or Wraithknights (etc).

Eric
Lower rating? You ship first.

Give me a sense of humor Lord. Give me the grace to see a joke.
To get some humor out of life and pass it on to other folk.


I think what this situation needs is some imagination.

"...I'm a nerd, and I'm here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds.” – Gilbert Lowell

Want my help with a BTR or backout? All messages sent/posted should be in CHRONOLOGICAL order. Otherwise, I just won't read it.
chaosfiend ( 2 )
New Trader
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:01 am
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by chaosfiend »

I suppose that's a very good point. I already know one guy at the Store I frequent that outright refuses to play against anyone that fields the Tau, because he hates the ridiculous amount of Battlesuits that can be fielded by Tau if planned out properly. Kinda a dick move of him though when he outright scoffed me at buying the tau starter kit. :/

MagickalMemories wrote:If you start dropping the bigger suits (whose names escape me off hand) at 1000 points, you'll quickly find yourself devoid of people who want to play against you... unless they're the kind of people who field 1000 point Knight armies or Wraithknights (etc).

Eric

Yeah, I'm likely not planning yet on fielding anything in the battlesuit range much larger than XV8 Crisis Suits for the time being. If I can find a cheaper one here, MAYBE a XV88 Broadside Battlesuit. When I get more skilled in the actual game, (and have more expendable income), I might start dropping some cash on something like a XV104 Riptide, or gods forbid, a KV128 Stormsurge.
User avatar
psiekier ( 240 )
Resident Trader
Posts: 374
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 6:29 pm
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Contact:

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by psiekier »

MattHoell wrote:Crisis suits are always a good buy as are any of the bigger ones.
This is what I've heard as well, although I don't think I've faced a Tau army since Fourth Edition. I remember my attack bike squadron getting bogged down in a melee with a bunch of Kroot Carnivores and the Death Company frantically pounding on the nigh-invulnerable armour of the Broadsides who inevitably stood at the back of the board every game and shot up everybody's tanks.

So... yeah, Crisis Suits are good, especially with all the options available to them. Commander of some stripe in a Crisis Suit is virtually a mandatory choice.

Riptides and Stormsurges are inevitably worth their points, but, as MagickalMemories pointed out, you may get the stinkeye for bringing those to small games. Emperor protect you if you evolve into the guy who insists on squeezing three or more to any list he writes; you'll run out of friends pretty quick.

Kroot may theoretically make decent cannon fodder, but honestly, most people just go with shooty Firewarrior squads instead. Cool as they may look in the books, I have never actually witnessed a unit of Vespid on the board in any Tau army - ever.

If you're not bringing a big suit like Riptide or Stormsurge, I've seen a lot of folks make use of a unit of Broadsides, either with railguns or studded with missile packs.
Image
chaosfiend ( 2 )
New Trader
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:01 am
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by chaosfiend »

I AM very interested in Kroot. Though their ability to act as a good chewy defensive line has apparently been nerfed a little since 4th, one tactic I have read about recently with them involves making them into one of the most en-mass Sniper units you can own by giving them each one point for Sniper rounds. The Stealth in forests would be a massive boon as well, IF you had sorest terrain about.
Kolobius ( 4 )
New Trader
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:13 pm

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by Kolobius »

"Hey there folks. I just started up playing Warhammer 40k, though I've been a lore junkie for the universe for a few years now, starting way back when they released the Dawn Of War games for PC. I know a lot of the fluff, but almost NONE of the crunch of the actual wargame. I just bought the rulebook for 40k and the Tau Empire Codex less than 4 days ago, and I actually signed up for Bartertown on a friends recommendation when I said I wanted to get into 40k, since she said its one of the top places to build yourself an army on that's at least marginally cheaper than buying new.

I chose the Tau, MOSTLY on their Fluff, only just having them beat out the Necrons for my first choice of army. I thought their rapid rise to power was very interesting, as well as the general aesthetic, especially the battlesuits caught my eye, (and seeing the newer gorgeous pieces of work like the Riptide and Stormsurge just set me drooling). I'm also a huge fan of their Kroot and Vespid Auxiliaries, as well as the fact that they are, pretty much the closest thing to a 'good' race (though slightly less good when they introduced the whole possibility of mind control, and some more genocidal Generals, *cough*Brightsword*cough*). One of my favorite examples of the race being at least more merciful, is in Dawn of War, where Shas'O Kais is the only general, (that I can recall), that actually offers his enemies a chance to surrender before blowing them to particles."

This was seriously 99% me last summer. I had read dozens of 40K books after playing Dawn of War but never played the tabletop. I chose Tau as my army and for the same reasons. I now have over 6k in Tau, Eldar, and Dark Angels.
And in the 100 ish games I have played since this is what I would say is choose which Tau you are going to play. There is the infantry heavy with heavy support tanks option, the battlesuit swarm, the stealth cadre, and the terrible balance between them all.
If you want swarms of infantry that suck at everything then take a few squads of Kroot and Fire Warriors with some Hammerheads and Skyrays to back them up.
If you want battlesuits that are very customizable but ultimately require a lot of tactical genius then grab 9+ crisis suits, 3 broadsides with missiles, 1 riptide, crisis commander
If you like the idea of stealth and feinting then grab Shadowsun, 6+ stealth suits, 3 Ghostkeels, pathfinders, and a few pirahnas
Or you can try to dabble in alittle of all of the above and just have fun because you won't win many battles.
I LOVE the Tau and have spent a lot of time and money into my Tau but frankly they are difficult to win against most good players. Every game seems to be 2 rounds of heavy shooting and wiping out enemy units, then it's just losing assault combats one after the other for the next few rounds. Except vs Chaos, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Necrons
Kolobius ( 4 )
New Trader
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:13 pm

Re: Warhammer 40 Newbie: Tau

Post by Kolobius »

The Start Collecting Tau box and the Infiltration Cadre box are actually not too bad for the price. Just get a group of Kroot or Fire Warriors and a Riptide and you could be done with having plenty of points to mess around with.
Post Reply

Return to “Grimdark Futuristic”