How are the Tau faring in 8th so far?

[spacepup]

I just wanted to hop in here being a non-T'au player. With 8th Edition I have played a couple of games against this force. It is really much more fun to play without the spamming of the current meta. And the shooting is still nothing to take lightly. I played against an 2250 point army and it was a tough match against my wolves. Infantry is great in concert with the suits. Breacher units are pretty swell for you guys. And that rail, geez that hurts...a lot. They are not as point, click, and win like before. But that makes the games more enjoyable. Take care gang and hope to see you at the table.

[Lord Morgrim]

Played a few games with my fire warrior and hammerhead heavy Tau list and its not real good. I"m sure others could get more out of the army but I got so despondent that I traded the army for an ork one. My plan now is to build a Farsight themed commander spam army for fun. It will probably get reamed but at least I can have some fun with it.

[Doghouse]

Eh the Ion Accelerator is alright against tanks. Better than the Heavy burst cannon for sure but that's not its purpose so that's hardly an argument.

If you want some non-commander anti-tank you could always just include a Ghostkeel or Crisis Suits or Longstrike&Friends. T'au really have more options than just spamming Commander.

 

Overall if I had to take a Riptide I would always go with Heavy burst cannon + ATS.

12 S6 AP-3 D1 shots > 1d6 S9 AP-3 S3 shots. Especially with our bad BS.

 

From the sounds of things Commander spam may be toned down in a future FAQ. Someone won a tournament using ten assassins to take advantage of the must shoot the nearest character rule and Front Line Gaming are under the impression the current character spam will be addressed by GW soon.   

[Panzer]

 

Eh the Ion Accelerator is alright against tanks. Better than the Heavy burst cannon for sure but that's not its purpose so that's hardly an argument.

If you want some non-commander anti-tank you could always just include a Ghostkeel or Crisis Suits or Longstrike&Friends. T'au really have more options than just spamming Commander.

 

Overall if I had to take a Riptide I would always go with Heavy burst cannon + ATS.

12 S6 AP-3 D1 shots > 1d6 S9 AP-3 S3 shots. Especially with our bad BS.

 

From the sounds of things Commander spam may be toned down in a future FAQ. Someone won a tournament using ten assassins to take advantage of the must shoot the nearest character rule and Front Line Gaming are under the impression the current character spam will be addressed by GW soon.   

 

I sure hope so. That's a list people came up extremely quickly after the Index got leaked and unfortunately it turns out to be one of the strongest things T'au player can do right now. We traded Riptide Wing spam for Commander spam ... yay.

[Doghouse]

I've been trying to find the videos they posted but I'm sure they also said GW are aware of people not being happy with Riptides and this will also be addressed.

 

Personally speaking the toning down of the T'au has made them more appealing to me now and got me seriously working on an army for them instead of marines but right now I'm a bit reluctant to commit until we get the codex. Going by the threads on the forum I've been reading I think I should be safe to make an army but not going to commit to multiple Commanders until I know more.

 

I was tempted to go for a stealth themed army, I bought a Ghostkeel because I really like the model and have made a custom Cadre Fireblade that is probably more unusual than most. :D

 

My initial thought was a fire base of warriors to castle up with character bubbles from the Fireblade and Ethereal then going from there. Maybe a Commander and some Crisis suits, I'll have to work on a list but I am a little out of touch with T'au as I've not played with them since they came out.

 

I might have to pick your brain at some point.

[Panzer]

I honestly started with T'au because I really had no fun with 7th Blood Angels rules (before Angels Blade) and T'au did something right which I didn't like about Marine units...having mixed weapon units is really not my thing so Crisis were so much more fun to play for me.

That being said I mostly focussed my army around lackluster units like Pathfinder with special weapons, Stealth Suits and Coldstar with only very few Crisis, no big Suit except for a single Ghostkeel and a unit of Breacher so I never really played the kind of T'au list people were complaining about anyway. :D

 

I agree on the Codex issue. Right now I really don't feel like building or even just painting my T'au since it's a very real possibility that I might change the Sept based on the rules. Back when I started painting them, I picked a color scheme I liked (there were many more I would've liked tho lol) and only later found out that orange markings is Sa'Cea. So I'm not really invested in the Septs fluff at all and nor I am with any other Sept.

I just need to know whether I can keep the orange in future or not while staying true to the fluff. :P

[TauFish]

Close to giving up on my Tau this edition and moving on to a new army.

 

I initially enjoyed the new play style but finding it very hard to get a result with my lists. I generally only play with models/units I like (never SS or riptide in 7th), but getting depressed at thoughts of a commander heavy list and gun drones.

 

I really miss using broadsides, is anyone using them at moment?

[Panzer]

Close to giving up on my Tau this edition and moving on to a new army.

 

Way too soon to give up on them. Wait for the Codex before you decide on anything lol

[Doghouse]

I honestly started with T'au because I really had no fun with 7th Blood Angels rules (before Angels Blade) and T'au did something right which I didn't like about Marine units...having mixed weapon units is really not my thing so Crisis were so much more fun to play for me.

That being said I mostly focussed my army around lackluster units like Pathfinder with special weapons, Stealth Suits and Coldstar with only very few Crisis, no big Suit except for a single Ghostkeel and a unit of Breacher so I never really played the kind of T'au list people were complaining about anyway.

 

I agree on the Codex issue. Right now I really don't feel like building or even just painting my T'au since it's a very real possibility that I might change the Sept based on the rules. Back when I started painting them, I picked a color scheme I liked (there were many more I would've liked tho lol) and only later found out that orange markings is Sa'Cea. So I'm not really invested in the Septs fluff at all and nor I am with any other Sept.

I just need to know whether I can keep the orange in future or not while staying true to the fluff.

 

I think it sounds like we have a similar approach to the army. I think regardless of how it plays the Ghostkeel is just too cool a model not to use one!

 

I'm biting the bullet on the Septs and just going for the homeworld colour scheme which will probably backfire on me horribly :D I'm doing this  mainly because I am making a lot of slightly unusual conversions to play on the whole incorporating other races theme and to me the Tau orange/brown is the one that I identify as Tau.

 

 

 

Close to giving up on my Tau this edition and moving on to a new army.

 

Way too soon to give up on them. Wait for the Codex before you decide on anything lol

 

 

I agree, I think the later codex releases are going to be the ones worth waiting for because the game is pretty much a beta test right now and I'm sure these will be adjusted to compensate for any problems that crop up early on. By all means look at other races but don't abandon any armies just yet.

[Triszin]

 

I honestly started with T'au because I really had no fun with 7th Blood Angels rules (before Angels Blade) and T'au did something right which I didn't like about Marine units...having mixed weapon units is really not my thing so Crisis were so much more fun to play for me.

That being said I mostly focussed my army around lackluster units like Pathfinder with special weapons, Stealth Suits and Coldstar with only very few Crisis, no big Suit except for a single Ghostkeel and a unit of Breacher so I never really played the kind of T'au list people were complaining about anyway.

 

I agree on the Codex issue. Right now I really don't feel like building or even just painting my T'au since it's a very real possibility that I might change the Sept based on the rules. Back when I started painting them, I picked a color scheme I liked (there were many more I would've liked tho lol) and only later found out that orange markings is Sa'Cea. So I'm not really invested in the Septs fluff at all and nor I am with any other Sept.

I just need to know whether I can keep the orange in future or not while staying true to the fluff.

 

I think it sounds like we have a similar approach to the army. I think regardless of how it plays the Ghostkeel is just too cool a model not to use one!

 

I'm biting the bullet on the Septs and just going for the homeworld colour scheme which will probably backfire on me horribly I'm doing this  mainly because I am making a lot of slightly unusual conversions to play on the whole incorporating other races theme and to me the Tau orange/brown is the one that I identify as Tau.

 

 

 

Close to giving up on my Tau this edition and moving on to a new army.

 

Way too soon to give up on them. Wait for the Codex before you decide on anything lol

 

 

I agree, I think the later codex releases are going to be the ones worth waiting for because the game is pretty much a beta test right now and I'm sure these will be adjusted to compensate for any problems that crop up early on. By all means look at other races but don't abandon any armies just yet.

 

I view the codexes similarly. the longer they take to come out, and the more spacing between; means to me, that there will be models for that wave. Really hoping for auxillaries and some cool new tau stuff, that fills in hyper specific roles

[TauFish]

I am looking forward to new codex, particularly if they reduce points on broadsides.

If I had a choice of a new model for Tau, it would be an Assault Drone, something with a load of spinning blades on it that just went straight into assault.

[Claws and Effect]

As a Raven Guard player, I have a completely fluffy in-universe hatred for Tau. Kind of like a rival sports team kind of hate.

 

And even I think they should get something that isn't next to helpless in close combat.

 

I also think the psychic phase should be opened up for things that aren't technically psychic powers to be used. Ethereals could have something to do there.

[Panzer]

I also think the psychic phase should be opened up for things that aren't technically psychic powers to be used. Ethereals could have something to do there.

Yeah I think turning it from a "Psychic phase" into a "Special powers phase" would be very welcomed by many. Tho it could make things weird for armies who have both, psychic powers and special powers.

[Aothaine]

I still think people are just not using the tools T'au have effectively. They still have the 7th ed mentality driving them.

 

I would take riptide walls with T'au warriors and the fireblade as a mobile objective holder. Then have like 2-3 fishships with breacher teams, 1-2 crisis teams setup for helping units that were charged with double heavy flamer and the addon that makes the heavy flamers -2AP. Then grab 1-2 drone squads for ablative wounds and some T'au flyers with etherals to start out with. But the main focus will be on the tidewalls. They are really good and can just back out of assault and let their unit unload again. 

 

Once I finish my Flesh Tearers and Dark Angels Company I will be going T'au most likely before I get my Chaos force going (Holding out for new "bigger" EC models)

[Panzer]

No that's definitely not the case for everyone. T'au are in a rather bad spot currently, that's not to be denied. People tried plenty different lists, 7th edition lists and completely new kind of lists. We have found out what works well and what doesn't work at all by now (hint: Riptides don't work at all, that's 7th edition mentally you spoke of and a trap you yourself fell for apparently ;) ).

 

 

 

1-2 crisis teams setup for helping units that were charged with double heavy flamer and the addon that makes the heavy flamers -2AP

T'au don't have heavy flamer. We have flamer. We can turn them into AP-1. 3 Flamer per suit is statistically better tho.

 

The Tidewalls are okay. They can't reflect any shots with AP-1 or better for example. They're not bad but only 'okay', really.

 

You also forgot to include Markerlight sources in your list of units and Flamer Crisis usually want Stealth Suits with Homing Beacons as well. Oh and you completely ignored the best unit T'au can bring currently which is the Commander. ;)

[Aothaine]

I intentionally ignored the commander. ^_^ Also, you are right they are only flamers. Still very good though and the -1 is powerful but you do get more wounds out of the extra flamer.

 

Yeah I made the arugment for the tri-flamer as soon as I saw the data slate on the other T'au forums. People just ignored me. It is all good though. The problem with T'au right now is that their units are expensive and they need bodies. Assault armies can hurt them if they position incorrectly. But screening your big shooty squads with the flamer suits is a good idea imho. 

 

I'm still not really a fan of the marker lights. They are decent, but expensive to make them reliable. Then you add their cost to every unit that uses them. I dunno, they are decent but I'm not sure they are needed.

[Deadnaughty]

A lot of Tau players also go on board when the army was highly maneuverable and bobbed and weaved across the battlefield and they have little interest in playing a large static gunline.

 

I loved my Farsight enclave army full of suits that often ended the battle on the other side of the board, new Tau doesn't do that very well unless your spamming Commanders.

[jeffersonian000]

Mobile Suit Gun Drone, ftw!

 

SJ

[Panzer]

Pathfinder tho are cheap enough to take two units of 5 just for the re-roll of 1s on two targets. Wtihout the re-rolls of 1s it goes from terrible to even worse.

 

Yeah I miss JSJ but honestly? The feeling of being able to charge an enemy with Crisis because they are so tanky (especially with Drones around) and being able to just jump out next turn and continue shooting is a lot more fun than JSJ ever was to me.

[Aothaine]

Pathfinder tho are cheap enough to take two units of 5 just for the re-roll of 1s on two targets. Wtihout the re-rolls of 1s it goes from terrible to even worse.

 

Yeah I miss JSJ but honestly? The feeling of being able to charge an enemy with Crisis because they are so tanky (especially with Drones around) and being able to just jump out next turn and continue shooting is a lot more fun than JSJ ever was to me.

 

 

Completely agree. It will take some time but T'au can still build a really mobile list. The reroll 1s from pathfinders is a good idea for sure. I'll try and come up with some list ideas over the weekend to hopefully help some people play T'au without doing the commander spam and still have a good time. Just don't expect them to become Tier 1 until they get their codex and get access to all the cool fluffy extra units they should have always had. *cough* Knarloc *cough*

[Lord Morgrim]

I'm looking at running a list just for fun with Tau. I don't want commander spam but I also don't want to get smashed every game. I'm thinking crisis with triple flamers, stealth suits with homing beacons, coldstar commander and ghostkeel with a storm surge. Maybe another commander.

[Frater Cornelius]

Is Commander Spam even any good compared to the Imperial Guilliman + Celestine + Assassin spam?

[Panzer]

It's pretty much the only thing that lets us have a chance on tournaments at the moment.

You can see it as the 7th edition Tyranid Flyrant spam on tournaments. Not good enough to win tournaments normally but the only thing they could do to stay more or less relevant.

[CoffeeGrunt]

People get so caught up in what's winning tournaments, which really confuses me. I guess it's a cultural difference as I've noticed tournaments are God in the States. Personally I don't care who's winning tournaments, they're always the most powerful unit of an army spammed for victory. You're not going to see a tournament list with a dozen different units get to the top table because that's never as efficient as the Fromage du Jour.

 

Personally Tau are the best they've been for ages with me. I didn't buy 9 Riptides last edition when they were hot cheese, because I knew that hammer would fall. I didn't invest in Crisis spam or any of the other popular, now less powerful builds. I ran Breacherfish, Stealth Teams, a Ghostkeel, and Infantry. Even then Tau were so auto-win that I found it really hard to have fun games because they were often a foregone conclusion.

 

Now games are a lot tougher, and mobility is rewarded. I'm lovin' it.

[Panzer]

I definitely disagree. Even in casual games T'au were much more viable in 7th than they are now imo. Battlesuits and Hammerheads are just too expensive and unfortunately our only real access to weapons that are not S5 AP0 spam. Commander and Stealth Suits being the exception here of course.

They are fun to play, especially Flamer Crisis with Shield Drones but they aren't nearly as strong as they used to be without even considering the Riptide. In 7th I could take whatever unit (except for Vespid and Rail weaponry) and would have a fairly strong army for casual games. Now I have to actually pay attention to take the more competetive choices to stand a chance in casual games.

Much of how I feel about building and playing T'au lists currently is EXACTLY how the Tyranid player in my group felt about building and playing Tyranid lists in 7ths. It's so similar it's actually hilarious again.

Do I want T'au to be strong enough to roflstomp other armies again? Of course not. Hell I used to play with mostly Rail weaponry, Stealth Suits, Breacher and a Coldstar back in 7th even so overall my type of T'au list actuall got a buff probably. I just want the inner balance of our Index/Codex to be proper again so I can take whatever I want without having to feel bad about not taking the good unit instead. And those choices being able to compete against other armies of course. I think that's what everyone actually wants.

 

And that has nothing to do with US meta or whatever. I'm from germany. And many T'au player from all across the globe share that opinion currently.