

Markerlights are- and, realistically, have been- one of the most important parts of the Tau army. Without them, Tau are just an extra-fragile version of the Imperial Guard; with them, they are an army that redefines a lot of assumptions about how shooting affects the game. Thus, when you are building a Tau army, one of the most important factors to consider is how many Markerlights you will bring and where they will be available.



It’s not just a matter of “bring every Markerlight you can,” especially not anymore- the new codex gives you half a dozen different ways to bring effective Markerlight support to the army, so if you cram them in everywhere you can, you’ll end up with more enhancements than actual guns. On the other hand, your Markerlights are going to be targeted by the enemy early and often because of their value, so you have to expect taking some losses over the course of the game. Where you bring them is also important- since units can’t use their own Markerlight tokens (bar those rare Networked Markerlights), you will have to be very careful how you order your shooting.

Markerlights are important first and foremost because they allow you to essentially re-focus your list on the fly to deal with whatever threats are most prominent. This is something that very few armies have any option for, but for Tau it is a major strength. Worried about that Land Raider? Give your Fusion units BS5+. Enemy snipers got you down? Ignoring their cover saves will help a lot. Terminators show up uncomfortably close to your lines? Give your Plasma something to say about that. Markerlights allow you to dynamically re-allocate the focus of your shooting to wherever is needed the most this turn, enhancing the effectiveness of your most relevant guns. This lets even armies with only a limited number of solutions fake their way into handling what otherwise might be rather insurmountable problem units- the Markerlights essentially let you “clone” other weapons in your army, acting as though you had more of whatever it is you need most.

Of course, that’s mostly just the part that increases Ballistic Skill; just as important, however, is the ability to shrug off cover saves. While cover may be generally a bit weaker in 6E, a lot of units make use of the Stealth and Shrouded rules to protect themselves, often to the tune of 2+ cover saves. Many of these same units have rather weak defenses otherwise, with 4+, 5+, or even 6+ armor saves abounding. Similarly, many other lists rely on the ability to Go to Ground in terrain or behind an Aegis Line to keep their units protected from harm- if you can bypass these improved saves, they are often forced to rely on weaker (or no) armor to keep up their defenses.

Of course, Tau are not the first army to mitigate or ignore cover saves, not by a long shot. But they are the only one to be able to selectively do so across their entire selection of firepower, whereas most cover-ignoring weapons tend to be somewhat weaker in overall stats or have limited range. (Those that don’t, such as the Heldrake and Colossus, are rightfully feared.) As Tau can apply these bonuses to ANY weapon in their arsenal, even models like Terminators and vehicles can be denied one or more of their usual layers of protection with the aid of Markerlights. Weapons such as the Ion Accelerator or Fusion Blaster can make short work of their targets when they hit very nearly automatically, wound/penetrate the same, and allow no save from their victim to negate the effects.

Markerlights are also important because they can be used to increase the Ballistic Skill used for Snap Shots, such as those fired on Overwatch or against flying targets. These cases are extremely important because even +1 or +2 BS in these situations translates into a huge increase in effective firepower, potentially tripling your output with a unit. Supporting Fire (which we’ll talk about next time) makes this use of Markerlights especially devastating on the defensive and the ability to twin-link Markerlights, buy them with Skyfire, or otherwise ensure several hits on an aerial target allows even non-Skyfire Tau units to contribute significantly to their ability to bring down such units.

So: how many Markerlights does your army need? That will depend on a lot of factors, to be honest. What units are you bringing? Some units benefit a lot more from the Markerlight bonuses than others- Riptides, for example, make excellent use of Marker tokens because of their high weapon stats and high risk (from overheating, etc.) A Riptide can easily burn through five ML tokens on its own every turn of the game without feeling wasteful. Drones also benefit greatly from adding to their Ballistic Skill, since they are so natively low. (The overall increase in effectiveness is inverse to your original chance to hit- the worse you were, the more +1BS will help you.) Other units, especially those with twin-linked weapons, may not need them as much; Broadsides will tend to get a lot of hits regardless of their Ballistic Skill thanks to rerolls with everything and their weapons tend to either ignore cover natively or be low enough AP value that it isn’t hugely impressive to do so- a Marine doesn’t care all that much if you force him to roll his 3+ instead of the 4+ from the ruin he’s in.

It will also depend on how fragile your Markerlight sources are and how you expect to use them- Pathfinders, for example, are rather easy to kill and tend to have to Go to Ground a lot in order to stay alive. As a result, they are rather unreliable as far as sources of Markerlight tokens and thus need to be taken in large numbers or in concert with other sources (but, of course, their relative cheapness and flexibility goes a long ways towards making up for this issue.) Contrawise, while a Skyray may not be a very good price for its two Markerlights, its AV13 and Skyfire option make it a very reliable way to put 1-2 hits on essentially anything on the table all game long. Other types of Markerlights can be more protected, more mobile, etc, with each type having advantages and disadvantages of its own. When picking your Markerlight sources, think about what type of units you will typically be firing them at and what sort of firepower the enemy will be firing back at you in turn.

Lastly but not leastly, you need to think about where your Markerlights are coming from. Sniper Drone Teams, for example, get one of the most efficient sources of Markerlight hits possible, paying 12pts for a BS5 shot. However, attached to that unit are a bunch of anti-infantry weapons (the Drones themselves) that are going to be wasted if you end up shooting them at a tank of pretty much any kind, which functionally cuts down the effectiveness of the unit in some situations. Likewise, a Commander with Drone Controller can make a squad of Drones or some Drones attached to a unit of Crisis very efficient in their own regard, but he and the other Crisis (often prime recipients of Markerlights) will be unable to use those tokens and, indeed, will need Target Locks for themselves unless you want to risk wiping out or neutering the target before even getting a chance to use the tokens.

Markerlights aren’t just valuable because they are potentially powerful, they are important because they are so versatile. They let your army do what you need it to, when you need it to, without over-investing in specialist weapons or niche roles. Making balanced armies is still important in 6E, and Tau most certainly have the tools to do it thanks to Markerlights. Weighing the different types of guns you can bring against each other as well as your overall number of Markerlights will dictate how your army handles different kinds of threats and thus how it plays.