Interpreting a Tau Tournament List

Tau can be a static, gunline, Napoleonic musket-block of an army, and still be so powerful that many players have found a decent level of success running them in that form.

The codex is so strong, with so many powerful options at discount prices and so many great choices that even a decidedly average Tau army with a fairly average general can be a real challenge to many opponents.

These are not the Tau players who consistently place high at tournaments though, and ‘static’ does not accurately describe many of the best Tau lists. This article will discuss quickly interpreting a Tau Tournament List in the few moments you get before starting to roll dice to both try to ascertain whether you’re against a wannabe or a true threat, and predict how your opponent is likely to want the game to unfold based on their Troop, wargear, and HQ selections.

Let’s start with the most important section in working out your opponent’s plans – how are they going to score?

Troops

Firewarriors – Firewarriors are decent scoring unit with long range. They are likely to be fairly static exactly as any medium armour unit with a long range gun should be expected to be, possibly moving forward to get in range and dropping back as enemies approach.

Expect: If the opponent has one or two units they will probably be tasked with holding home objectives. If they have a large amount of FW on foot, they’re probably the type of Tau who like musket-lines -and it should be an easier game.

Devilfish – The Devilfish isn’t good enough value to take merely as a tank, so its inclusion means it is intended to protect and deliver firewarriors.

Expect: Since Firewarriors in a DF are as much use as if they are off the table and would be safer if kept in reserve, assume the DF is intended come forward to attempt to make them score.

Advice: You will need to stop this transport delivering troops, but it is not a priority target for the first couple of turns and can usually wait for turn 3+.

Kroot – If the enemy have Kroot, there are four things you need to look for that will tell you how the game will unfold:

Regular Kroot: Large basic Kroot squads are likely to be used as speedbumps/infiltrators. Without upgrades, the kroot are probably going to be deployed as infiltrators. If they were to hold home objectives, Firewarriors would be more popular.

Expect: An infiltrating Speedbump, ideally in cover, that will trigger Supporting Fire when you assault it.

Advice: Use focus fire, flamers, barrage or whatever it takes to break the 6” links in the Supporting Fire chain. More on this in a later article.

Kroot with a Kroot Hound: This 5pt upgrade is a very strong indicator that the Kroot are going to outflank. It allows them to reroll which board edge they come on from for a ludicrously low price, and goes a long way toward making up for Tau’s difficulty in moving around the board – they don’t need to be fast if they can walk onto your ‘safe’ objective. The kroot hound also makes the unit Initiative 5 for tests after assaults, and has 2 attacks of its own because Tau.

Expect: Kroot flooding in from a board edge, with a high chance of it being the edge they want.

Advice: Don’t place objectives too near the edge. Don’t pick a board edge with lots of forests (ironically these kroot probably can’t use them if you give them to the Tau player).

Sniper Kroot: Another ludicrously cheap upgrade, Kroot can take the sniper rifles many races pay 5pts for at a cost of a mere 1pt. Sniper rifles are a strong indicator these kroot are not going to Outflank.

Expect: Sniper armed kroot infiltrate and appear anywhere 18” from one of your models after deployment.

Advice: Many armies don’t care much about snipers, but if you run Monstrous Creatures make sure there are other units about 6” closer to your deployment zone edge than the MC if you’re going second. The goal is to ensure that Snipers 18” from your nearest model are still >24” from your nearest Monstrous Creature.

Kroot and a Positional Relay – The obscure piece of wargear called a “Positional Relay” is one of the most overlooked pieces of gear in the entire Tau codex, to the extent that our state’s Tau player banned any mention of it in the run up to the ATC. “When the bearer is within 6” of a board edge, any outflanking Tau unit can choose to move on from that board edge”

This can be taken by Riptides amongst others, and is a steal at 5pts. In case its value isn’t clear, this means that it can be taken by a Jump Monstrous Creature who can get to within 6” of your back line by the end of 1st turn on a deployment like Vanguard, and bring up to 120 Kroot on behind your tanks and men at the start of turn 2. Five points to give all those cheap, scoring Kroot the sort of rule only specialised units like Space Wolf Scouts have had in the past.

Expect: Kroot, capable of outflanking exactly where needed. In Vanguard, this is likely to mean your back board edge.

Advice: Keep an eye on the movement of the Riptide(s) that carry Positional Relays as it will be a strong indicator of where Kroot are likely to come on. If the riptide starts near the far side corner in Vanguard it probably means a turn 1 rush to the edge and a flood of Kroot. Kroot aren’t hard to kill, but can arrive in vast numbers. Try ensure they won’t come on and dakka the rear armour of tanks, and some armies may want to line an area with infantry to prevent them moving on in a vulnerable area.

The last time this was used against me I had Coteaz move to the same edge (there was so much blood, so much blood!), but that’s really not something to count on. Still, it’s nice when nice things happen to nice people.

HQ

Tau have about 10 HQ choices, but there are four that are common enough to be worth looking at.

The O’mmortal Tau Commander with Iridium Armour

I expect all 3++ readers to be familiar with the T5 2+ Commander that appears in almost all Tau armies, so when looking at it you need to quickly spot which flavour he is.

Version 1 comes with guns and was very common after the Tau book dropped. Version 2 is Buffy the Buff Commander, and the quickest way to spot her is that she is frequently unarmed.

She almost invariably carries the following gear instead:

Command and Control Node (15) – The unit rerolls to hit Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite (20)- The unit gains ignore cover Puretide Engram Neurochip (15) – The unit gains Monster Hunter, Tank Hunter, Stubborn or the less useful Counter Attack or Furious Charge.

I’ve heard some people ask why this unarmed commander is popular, so to put it in other race’s terms imagine a Psyker that can predictably and reliably give some of the game’s best armed units Guide (CCN), Perfect Timing (MS3) and Doom its target (PEN) simultaneously without ever failing, being blocked or even needing to roll a test.

Remember:

If your opponent’s Commander is unarmed, you’re in for a tougher match.

Advice: I’ve already written extensively on how I deal with the top-level unit-tanks like Commanders in articles about Focus Fire, so check them out.

Ethereal

The Ethereal is a dirt cheap HQ that has superb buffing powers, but gives up a free Victory Point if killed. Their saving grace is that they can join large units or even a Riptide.

They are popular because they are often ignored as weak and useless, but I have honestly killed the enemy Ethereal in almost every game I played against Tau, so my advice is simple: Make it a goal to kill the Ethereal, and you will find you usually can.

Advice: I will be doing an article specifically about Ethereals as part of this series.

Farsight

This commander has a rule that allows his unit to arrive without scatter when deepstriking.

Expect: I expect him to decline in popularity due to changes to Space Marines (it was a perfect combo with Gate of Infinity). If he is used, there is still a very good chance the Tau want to pinpoint deepstrike with Melta or Flamers.

Advice: Either protect your most vulnerable/valuable vehicles (with infantry screens, terrain, or staying in reserve if going 2nd), or since this can be difficult as turns progress without messing up your objective taking you could do as I do and give the enemy a place to land near something they want to kill (manticores are excellent bait). Then you just need to have enough shooting or assault units in the area to wipe the unit out in return.

Shadowsun

Shadowsun is a weaker Commander who is taken primarily because she gives Stealth and Shrouded to her unit (that’s 2+ cover in any terrain). She’s all about the cover save, so may drop in popularity as more armies start ignoring it.

Expect: Her to join a tooled up Crisis Suit unit and make them harder to kill.

Advice: Make sure you know if the Tournament allows Independent Characters to give Infiltrate to units that don’t have the Infiltrator rule. Most events don’t allow this since Infilitrators are placed after all units without the USR have either been deployed or reserved, but some TOs do let it happen. This leads to all sorts of shenanigans like fusion crisis suits infiltrating for close range melta shots or broadsides infiltrating to set up side shots, and that’s before you add mixes of allies like Centurions, D-Sythes and other units leaping aboard the infiltrate train.

Tip: Make sure you know if the TO is allowing this sort of thing – it’s a huge game-changer, but I know of at least two tournaments that did. If not, all you have to worry about is a large crisis suit team with split fire and 2+ saves roaming around.

Conclusion

The Tau Elite choices are so often locked to 2 Riptides and Crisis suits or 3 Riptides, Fast attack is often empty or Pathfinders, and Heavy Support generally Broadsides or Skyrays. I can do a follow up on them if it is requested, but it is your Tau opponent’s HQ and Troops choices that warrant the closest examination.

More than that of most races, the Tau HQ and Troop selections can reveal a lot about their intentions and how the game is likely to unfold. Know their strengths, learn their weaknesses, and destroy them.