Finally, on to the specific unit reviews. I will be doing the units somewhat out of order in this time, rather than following the order they are listed in the codex; in some cases (such as with the Commander here) it will be because I consider them to be the most important or prevalent choice, in others it will be because examining them I feel will shed some light on units to be reviewed later.

For Tau, a Commander (formerly the Shas’o) is easily the most versatile as well as the most durable of HQ selections. With a wide array of wargear, more hardpoints than a standard Crisis, and a powerful statline unmatched elsewhere in the codex, Commanders can serve as the centerpiece of many strategies even when they themselves are little more than a shooting platform (if a very efficient one.) Combined with the powerful Tau Warlord Traits table, this can make them a prime choice for leading an army in any game of 1000pts or over.



The Basics

A Tau Commander is largely unchanged in basic statline from the previous edition; with BS5, Ld10, and four wounds, he is just as accurate and mostly tougher than any other HQ in the game, even most named characters. His shoddy WS/I values are certainly a downside (though he does get a surprising four attacks), but quite honestly your Commander shouldn’t be getting into fights in any case, and if he does you either bought VRT or should just assume him to be dead. Obviously he comes with the usual benefits of being in a Crisis suit as well, including all their options, which makes him one of the rare few HQs in the game to actually be any good at shooting and thus able to take advantage of Precision Shots.

Although his base price is only 85pts, he comes with essentially no wargear (and, unlike MEQ HQs, no real abilities) for this price, so you’re going to want to spend more points- probably quite a lot more points- in order to deck him out with appropriate upgrades. Of course, like any HQ it can be very easy to overspend here, but realistically you can’t get a Commander for less than 150pts without making him something of a waste, so plan your army accordingly. This is actually perhaps the biggest limiter on the Commander, as he simply doesn’t fit into many of the smaller armies and places some distinct constraints on what other HQs you will be fielding (allies or otherwise) just due to points cost alone. Of course, unlike many other expensive leaders, he is actually likely to be contributing on every turn of the game, so his points are not wasted in that respect, but it’s important to keep in mind his price tag.

Weapons

With access to all of the Crisis weapons, a Commander can put out some pretty incredibly lethal firepower thanks to his high ballistic skill and the excellent stats on many Tau guns. While all of the guns are at least theoretically viable, some of them easily have more utility on a Commander than others- the Flamer, for example, is largely wasted on him, since it makes no use of his high accuracy and Precision Shots. Moreover, since the Commander is likely to be your Warlord, it is unlikely you will have the spare hardpoint to slap it into as a hold-out weapon, so despite being potentially useful, it will be a rare case where you equip your Commander with a Flamer.

The go-to weapons are probably Missile Pods and Plasma Rifles. Both weapons have reasonable-to-good ranges and high Strength, and thus both will function well against a variety of targets. For Commanders that are sitting further into your side of the field, Missile Pods are probably the preferred choice as they give you more target options and a more consistently-high rate of fire. Plasma Rifles, on the other hand, are better at killing most infantry in the game and can also drop Monstrous Creatures and light vehicles relatively well. Unlike in past editions, you have little reason to mix your guns, since you are able to take two of the same weapon system now and fire them separately. For this reason, I feel you will virtually always want to pick a setup and stick with it rather than trying to take redundant guns, mixed weapon systems, etc; Tau can get all kinds of guns in all kinds of slots, so making sure you have multiple solutions to any kind of problem shouldn’t be hard. Keep your individual units focused on doing a single job and doing it well and you will be much happier.

The Fusion Blaster can be treated like a variant of the Plasma Rifle; it kills heavy infantry effectively, but also gives you a tool against tanks of all sorts. With the loss of S10 Railguns in numbers, Tau have to think a lot more about killing heavy tanks nowadays, though as mentioned before you certainly have options for all sorts of guns across many different platforms. I’m generally not a fan of Fusion on Crisis suits, since getting inside that critical 9″ range can be quite dangerous, but since Commanders are tougher than normal Crisis and are a bit more likely to be able to Deep Strike successfully (thanks to the Warlord trait), it is at least considerable on them.

Burst Cannons are something of an interesting case; they are cheaper than the other weapons, but only by a limited amount and basically just provide more of what Tau already have in spades, namely S5 torrent. However, recent experiences playing against Burst-equipped Crisis teams have given me some reason to reconsider this opinion; for the time being, I’ll simply say that I am unsure of exactly how useful they are and leave it at that.

The Cyclical Ion Blaster and Airbursting Fragmentation Projector are both a bit of odd men out in the lineup, the CIB because of its awkward statline and the AFP because of its difficulty in matching with a friendly weapon choice. Since both are unique, it isn’t possible to pair them up the way most weapons can be and both of them are very different from the other guns on the list. The CIB is essentially a short-ranged Missile Pod (you can ignore the Overheat mode, it’s useless), which doesn’t give it much of a niche to live in; if you want a tank-hunting gun, Missiles and Fusion are both better in their respective jobs, if you want a high-ROF anti-infantry gun the Burst Cannon or Plasma Rifle both perform better. Sadly, I think it will be largely relegated to the dustbin due to better options. The AFP, on the other hand, is actually a very good weapon- as an ignores-cover large blast, it can scythe through many types of enemy troops quite effectively. While its range may be on the short side, the ability to fire without line of sight is a nice boost; the problem is in picking a gun to go with it. Burst Cannon seems like the best option, as Flamers are kinda weak and Missile/Plasma/Fusion work at cross purposes, but at the end of the day it seems like an awkward combination despite some similar numbers.

In all of the above I have been assuming that you will buy two- not one, or three, or four- guns for your Commander, which will mostly be true. A redundant gun is not only points poorly spent, it also clogs up a hardpoint that could be dedicated to one of the excellent support systems, and a singular gun fails to make full use of the Multitracker built into the suit. However, there is one instance that I have ended up running a solo weapon on the Commander, and that’s when I park him by my army’s Quad Gun consistently. This mostly happens when he is configured with a Drone Controller (see below) and sits with some Broadsides/Marker Drones, but certainly it could happen in other situations as well- and as excellent as he is at firing the Quad Gun (BS5 and Tank Hunter), you’re hard-pressed to nominate someone else for the duty if he is available. Buying two weapons still leaves him with the option of moving away, of course, but in smaller lists you may find it difficult to cut points without compromising things and thus doing so on the Commander may be seen as a necessary evil.

Support/Signature Systems

While his guns are certainly good enough, it is in the various nonweapon systems that the Commander truly begins to shine. First and foremost is the XV08-02 Irridium Armor; you may consider this a 100% mandatory upgrade for any Commander you field. While it is not all that cheap (25pts), gaining T5 and a 2+ save is a massive shift in durability, as it essentially gives you immunity to Instant Death from most sources in the game and lets you shrug off firepower far more reliably. As he will usually be taking your Warlord slot, boosting his durability can be key to winning many matches as it saves you that 1VP on the secondary objectives.

Almost, but not quite, as mandatory is the Puretide Engram Neurochip, another mouthful. Handing out Tank Hunter, Monster Hunter, Stubborn, or some other irrelevant rules each turn, the PEN is a fantastic deal for 15pts, as all of the above abilities transfer over to the whole squad if even a single model has them. While 6E may not have as many tanks in it as 5E did, you still see transports around, not to mention flyers- and Tank Hunters turns S7 from “meh, if you get lucky” into “welp, prepare to die” against all those AV12 flyers out there. The secondary use of murdering the ever more common MCs and FMCs out there is no slouch, either, and since he can shift from squad to squad as needed it’s quite possible to have him hang out with a unit of Snipers in order to take down a threat if the situation warrants it.

Beyond that, the Drone Controller is a rather important piece of wargear due to his unmatched Ballistic Skill; while every other unit in the codex just gives BS3 to their Drones (bar SDTs, of course), the Commander will make them all hit on 2s. This makes Marker Drones an unparalleled source of easy and efficient Markerlight hits and Gun Drones into quite nasty little pinning machines. Note that it does NOT work on Shield or Missile Drones. Similarly, his high Toughness and Wounds characteristics mean that Stimulant Injectors provide a major benefit compared to most models with them; if you aren’t otherwise occupying your slots (though you often are), 15pts to shrug off even more damage is a very nice deal.

Target Lock is a must-have for a Commander that hangs with a large unit or a unit that will be firing at a different target from him, such as a squad of Marker Drones; it’s cheap and (unlike Split Fire) always works, so you shouldn’t feel bad about slapping it on. Vectored Retro-Thrusters are also a very cheap option that can give you some cute tricks, mostly when hanging out with Battle Brothers. Velocity Tracker (and optional Early Warning Override), while a bit pricey, can give you a pretty terrifying anti-air option that can hide in squads and strike with virtual certainty- a pair of Missile Pods and the PEN should doom most airplanes before they ever get to take a shot.

Onager Fist and Neuroweb System Jammer, while not very impressive, are amusing and cheap and don’t take hardpoints- if you find yourself with a few points to spare, you could do worse than slap them onto him. The Repulsor Field and Failsafe Detonator are less impressive and can probably be ignored unless you want to try some really cute tricks; they’re better suited to units of suits. Ditto the Advanced Targeting, Positional Relay, and Counterfire System- while each has its uses, in most cases you have better ways to use your hardpoints and thus don’t have much call to take them. The Shield Generator is pretty weak and very expensive for what it does; I wouldn’t bother with it unless enemy Riptides are giving you fits and you desperately need something to tank for the 1-2 turns it takes to eliminate them.

Roles

While the Ethereal et al. may be good at doing a wide variety of things during a game, a Commander is largely locked into his job by the equipment they purchase, and unsurprisingly not all setups are equally effective. These are a few of the variants that I’ve had good luck with or seen in action along with their general functions in an army. Assume in all cases that they have Irridium Armor and a Puretide Chip in addition to whatever other equipment is listed.

Missile Pod x2, Drone Controller, Target Lock, 2 Marker Drones

The Marker Commander. Sitting either with a Drone Squadron (all upgrades to Marker Drones) or a unit of Crisis/Broadsides that have themselves purchased Marker Drones and Target Locks, this variant of the Commander is all about bringing efficient ML support for your army from an unusual slot. He’s most useful when your build makes investing into a Skyray or Pathfinders + Defense Line untenable for you, but he can also support other Markerlight strategies in a punch.

Plasma/Fusion/Burst x2, Vectored Retro-Thrusters, Stimulant Injector

Bringing with him a whole pile of USRs to give to any unit he joins, this version of the Commander generally operates at closer ranges than many others. VRT give you an easy escape for many situations and FNP, Ld10, optional Stubborn, and T5/2+ let him shrug off a lot of damage; adding in some Drones can up things even more. This can be useful either to hang out with a Troop unit to shield it from damage and ensure it stays on an objective (while being immune to getting locked in combat) or a firepower unit to take advantage of the ability to press forward.

Missile Pod x2, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker

A great anti-air solution for an allied force that doesn’t want to dedicate a HS slot or buy a Quad Gun (or that suffers heavily against aircraft and wants to purchase the maximum resistance possible), he runs a little on the high side in terms of cost but can knock most things from the sky- or cripple them on entry- with little trouble.

Flamer x2, Multispectrum Sensor Suite, Command and Control Node, Stimulant Injectors, Vectored Retro-Thrusters

Playing purely at support, the major concern here is that you’re giving up BS5 (rather than BS3 as with most suits) in order to get the bonuses. However, the benefit is that as an Independent Character, the Commander can move from unit to unit as needed and provide his services. Where a list has multiple units that would benefit from such bonuses (such as Riptides or Crisis), this can be very beneficial, but I think this build is something of a niche in most cases.

In Play

The Commander is a very versatile unit, but it’s important to remember that, despite all its protections, it is not invulnerable and since it usually functions as your Warlord, you can’t afford to carelessly let it be killed. This is one of the main reasons Missile Pods are my weapon of choice in most cases- they let you maintain a good stand-off distance while still applying a lot of firepower. Plasma, Fusion, and Burst all require you to get closer in order to get best use of them, and for Tau as for any shooting army range is your lifeblood.

Of course, as perhaps your second-toughest unit at close ranges (after the Riptide), Commanders may often be called upon to fulfill Linebreaker duties or contest objectives, so sending them into danger will hardly be uncommon. You should think carefully about how specialized of a loadout you are willing to give them; focus too much on a single job and you can lose the ability to effectively move from unit to unit, a major strength of the Independent Character rule.

Though the Commander competes for the HQ slot with the Ethereal, Cadre Fireblade, and named characters, the reality is that, unlike many other books, there is little actual competition between them. A Tau list with a heavy allied contingent will find little need for an Ethereal, and those that are likely to use one will do so or not with little consideration for the Commander’s presence; Cadre Fireblades will rarely see use above 750pts (or outside of an allied force); and all of the named characters encourage specialized builds focused around taking advantage of their unique strengths. In truth, Tau list will essentially pick their HQ unit(s) as they decide their major strategy and will not really have much of a choice otherwise; all of the HQs are valuable, but each in their own army and rarely in any others. Of course, given the many different ways you can equip a Commander, being locked into using one is hardly a crippling disadvantage, but do expect to see them far, far more often than any of the other choices by virtue of the way Tau builds tend to work.