Tau 1st game

Well, I brought my friend down to the Den today to have a game of 40K, and teach him how to play to see if he likes it.
I let him play a 1000pt Blood angels list
I played a 1000pt Tau list.

Some things I learned that I need to be totally aware of when i start league playing them.

1st - Crisis suits are NOT good in assault... Found this out when a chaplain and 3 death company assaulted my tau commander and 2 crisis suits. I figured because they are strength 5 and T4, they might actually hold out, but not even having PW's or getting hit by the rending aspect of the death company (and the chaplain not making BtB contact, 3 death company marines decimated a tau crisis commander and 2 suits.... Wow... I was sorely mistaken on that one...

2nd - I am thinking I need to get another hammerhead... Holy crappers are those AWESOME anti-everything... Wow.. But not just hammerheads, it was the broadside suit I had taken as well. Railguns are OP.... I must have more of them

3rd - Must not let stealth suits get tank shocked, and if they do, I am going to sacrifice the fusion blaster guy to death or glory... Or, make sure they are more in the center of the table so that they dont run off the table when tank shocked. kudos to my friend for enlightening me to this tactic... Also, stealth suits are alright, but I think instead of bringing a marker light drone, I will just gear the team leader with a marker light and be done with it. The drone like never hit with the light.

4th - Kroot hounds are the =I=censor=I=... I was assaulted by space marines, and even so, the hounds get to strike 1st (at initiative 5), have 2 attacks each, and are both S and WS 4.

5th - Not too sure about the Krootox rider. I am going to have to play around with this more. 48" range was good, but for a BS 3 shot, I dunno how useful it will be for having to put 35 pts into it.

6th - Having the HUGE kroot squad payed off... I lost MOST of my army to the blood angel assault and shooting, but having a huge Kroot squad in tact won me the game as I was on the last turn (luck on my side too) I had moved the squad to be spread out in a way so as I could be within 2 of the game objectives. As the kroot is a troops choice I managed to claim both objectives and win by 2-1. If I can't do this, let me know, as I couldn't find it in the rule book.

Either way... I lost a lot of my army, but still prevailed through bad rolls and good. I really think I needed this change up as playing the space marines was just grating. Things might be different once the new C:SM codex comes out, but we'll see... Looks like its tau all the way for me in the next league(s).

These are my thoughts,
Not yours (or could be)...

Matt

Ah yes, the glory that is Tau.

I will say one thing though. In the Shas'O's defence, they are still fairly well in CC (relatively speaking, they are Tau afterall) especially with their 4 attacks and 4 wounds. I always take a Shield Generator for the Shas'O though. If only you could give Crisis Suits Hit and Run, then they'd be ridiculous (provided my thoughts on Hit and Run are accurate).

Also, Hammerheads are amazing. I agree. Although I'd like to see what their survivability is like in these new rules. Broadsides are good too of course provided you have good avenues of fire. Do you field them Monat (singlely) or in a team?

I find the Kroot to be somewhat hit and miss. In some games, such as your own, they can be the deciding factor. In others, they either get shot up real quick or end up failing a morale test and fleeing off the table. So pretty much they need to stay in cover or combat, otherwise they can get in troubl real quick.

As for Stealth Suits, I'm still not sold on them. Maybe this is a personal tactical failing, but I've never been able to field them successfully in anything other than Cityfight and Apocalypse games. Cityfight due to the close-quarters and abundant terrain (jump out, blast squad with 12 shots, bounce back needing to hide only 4 small models), Apocaylpse due to the ludacrous ranges that basically allow them to park on an objective and not be shot at for the entirety (less sneaky tricks of course). But yeah, in regular 40K games I've never been able to field them successfully.

I'd like to come out and play more often, but with Grad School and all I have obligations Thursday nights from now till next May. =( So till then I leave the fight for the Greater Good in the hands of other capable Shas'O's.

Justin

I never leave home without my Stealth suits and am considering getting second unit. Try giving them targeting arrays and holding them in reserve. Watch your opponent squirm when six suits walk on the table in his flank, shoot 18 balistic skill 4, strength 5 shots at a unit and then jump behind some terrain.

I have never used kroot, but I can see there advantages especially in fifth edition. I have always liked the firewarrior, arguably the best deal in the game, and I always take at the very least 36 of em' usualy more.

Well the one game I played with them, I had my Shas's and a squad of 2 Crisis suits.
The suit did a little bit of damage, but more or less fell horribly to the death company all because i forgot to use my jet pack move in the assault phase to move them back.
Either way, they = squishy

For some reason I have ALWAYS liked the idea of the kroot and hence I use them now that I finally was able to make a tau army. They performed wonderfully this game... Sat idle in the trees with the kroot gun shooting out (not doing anything mind you) until his units started getting closer, then the shooting helped out a lot, then when he charged me in the trees and used his frag granades, the high initiatiive of the kroot hounds won me the combat by sending 12 attacks at the pesky assault marines.

To answer a questing Justin, the hammerheads are OP in 5th with that disruption pod... The thwarted 2 las-cannon penetrating hits because I made my 4+ cover save.

I like the idea of the stealth suits, with the night fight rules... But I might hacve to play around with deep strike and =I=censor=I= to really make use of them more, because at 18" range on the burst cannons, and 12" on the fusion gun, really made using them hard.
If i do pull out the stealths, I'll be putting in pathfinders instead.