Tau Firewarrior Query

[Bravo_10]

So, this thread is posted merely out of professional curiosity than anything else, as I don't personally play Tau. I do have one buddy that cranks them out every now and again, but I've still only played against them once. Still, I am considering perhaps fielding a Tau list in WFO (because I just have a strange attraction to nerfed armies, I guess), so this might be pertinent in the near future.

My question is this: what squad sizes do you guys run Firewarrior units in? Typically, lists I've seen online have run them in squads of either minimum 6 or transport-maxed 12. Taking units of 12 seems like the good option for you if you want to actually kill things, as S5 Pulse Rifles are one of the best small-arm choices in the game. You'll get a bit more staying power in terms of surviving return fire, and your opponent will need to inflict more casualties in order to force a Morale check. Also, you increase the efficiency of each Markerlight hit used because more troops will benefit from its effect at once.

However, having 6 strong units seems to have its advantages as well. In the majority of battle reports I've seen, people don't seem to disembark their Firewarriors very often, and they use their Devilfish weapons while gliding on to contest or capture objectives. Six man squads are ideal for this purpose because they are cheap and provide no disadvantage over 12 man squads when embarked in a transport. They can be brought out if you need that little bit of extra firepower to take something down, but for the most part, they'll be sitting pretty in Devilfish.

So what do you guys think? Do any of you Tau players have a particular preference?

 

[hairyjeff]

My son plays Tau against my SM, 'nids, and Dark eldar armies. He uses a mix- 2 max size squads on the ground, and two 6-man in fish. He always gives me a hard time, and our win /lose rate is almost exactly 50/50. I'm not a competition player, so that seems a good set up to me.
He uses the same set up vs a friends Templars and Orks, with very similar results. He includes a Hammerhead, a large Kroot unit, stealth team and 3-6 battle suits. Hope that helps.

 

[Sweeney Todd]

With 7 years of codex creep having gone by since the release of the current Tau Empire codex, it's safe to say that Fire Warriors are now one of the weakest troop choices around. Pulse rifles are one of the best small arms, but the guys that hold it are so squishy and everything else has gotten cheaper. At least Kroot are the cheapest Infiltrators around, Fire Warriors are neither cheap nor capable of Infiltration. They're now a points trap, you could do so much better by spending your points elsewhere instead of beefing up your Fire Warrior units. That's why you see all the 6 man units nowadays, all they're good for now is grabbing objectives. In fact, if Fire Warriors weren't a 1+ choice, I'd think a lot of people would just drop them entirely from their lists.

 

[Bravo_10]

I find that kind of sad, to be honest. One thing that did really jump out at me when looking through the Tau book was the generally weak stat line of their troops. I mean, a Firewarrior is pretty much a Termagant with a 4+ save and a better weapon! In the game I played against Tau with my Chaos, I was really surprised when my troops could generally outshoot the high-tech Tau shooting. Sure, the Pulse Rifle could glance my Armor 11 Rhinos (which scared the heck out of me!), but with their sub-par Ballistic Skill, they just wouldn't hit enough to do significant damage. Then my Plague Marines would hop out of their transports and rapid-fire the Firewarriors into oblivion.

I suppose that's a pretty good reason for taking 6 man squads. In any case, Devilfish themselves seem like pretty solid choices, as they can take the Line of Sight and non-area-cover ignoring Smart Missile Systems, along with a few other support choices to make them decent at shooting.

 

[Dreadgrass]

Yeah, unfortunately the Tau troops choices aren't much chop these days. Your main punch comes from the suits and the vehicles, generally with markerlight support from the pathfinders.

Often I feel 2 units of 6 for objective sitting and a unit or 2 of kroot are the best way to go. I also field 2 units of pathfinders with offensively tooled Devilfish (often refered to as "warfish"). Those transports generally double back and collect the small Fire warrior units and wha-la! Scoring Warfish!

Unfortunately, even though the Pulse Rifle is Strength 5, it's still only BS3 and AP5 so it tends to perform similarly to a bolter with a chance to glance light vehicles.

All this on a stat line a guardsman would laugh at and at a pricetag that's juuuuust a little too high.

To put it another way, a unit of 10 would kill 1 MeQ (ie. 1 space marine) a turn on average. It would also by my rough reckoning take 72 shots to destroy a stationary, unobscured AV11 vehicle...

I WANT to love them, Tau are pretty much my favourite 40K army and were my 1st. However, to be somewhat competitive in the current environment, the name of the game is battlesuits.

 

[Trevy the Great]

I mean, a Firewarrior is pretty much a Termagant with a 4+ save and a better weapon!

If it makes you feel any better, Termagants have better Initiative and Weapon Skill values.

 

[Elzanith]

I mean, a Firewarrior is pretty much a Termagant with a 4+ save and a better weapon!

If it makes you feel any better, Termagants have better Initiative and Weapon Skill values.

Eh there still better then anything in the Sisters of battle book.....

Anyhow when i used to play tau i found 10 man fire warrior squads able to lay the hurt down on most enemy units and hold objective decently, IF you support them with crisis suits at least.......

 

[xxSLAYERxx]

i usually take 12 in a squad, yes they are really rubbish, but there have been times when i had a unit of chaos terminators and abbadon landing in front of my lines and my unit of firewarriors got into rapid fire range and killed 5 termies and abbadon If ur enemy concentrates on ur fire warriors then u have the broadsides and crisis suits to deal with everything else and means that ur not taking any damage on ur actual gd stuff like crisis suits. The best way that fire warriors work is when they are supported by markerlights, hitting on 2's, usually wounding on 3's (24 shots)...ive seen squads of marines fall to fire warrior fire, if tau are used correctly they become a very horrible army, although they really really need a point reduction as most games are a constant struggle to be honest. Hope they get a new book soon

 

[Sanai]

The Tau are actually getting a new book soon, though it is being written by Cruddance according to the rumours, so don't get your hopes up.
Some of the rumours;

Big Battlesuit thingy (probably similar size to the dreadknight) with 5 crappy 20 shot guns, Cruddance style (he really likes giving things 20shot guns that somehow never kill anything)
HQ choices enable different army list options (Shas'o to get Crisis teams as troops, Ethereal to get honour guard troops, Master Shaper, etc)
New Auxillery race- Demiurg


The biggest concern here, is what is the most similar thing to battlesuits in any of the other Cruddance Codices?
Tyranid Warriors, one of the more ineffectual choices in the Tyranid dex.