Hmmm. Tau. Interesting choice.
Anyway, the Tau (in case you haven’t read up on them) are a young race who only became civilised fairly recently. Amongst the denziens of the 41st millenium, they are the most docile, preferring to win battles with diplomacy instead of with combat. Their main driving force is “The Greater Good”, a belief system taught to them by the highest of their castes, the Aun or Ethereals. Buy and read the codex for the story of how the once war-torn race became a viable contender for the galaxy crown.
On the battlefield, the Tau win with one thing. GUNS. Powerful and in large numbers. Being a civilised race, the Tau prefer to avoid the messy nastiness of close combat and will gladly fight at a distance. To this end, they have some of the most nasty weapons in the game, including the Tau railgun (Strength 10, AP1, Heavy 1, 36" range). The backbone of their army is found in the form of fire warrior teams, who number around 10-15 at a time. These can be accompanied by a Shas’ui for a leadership boost and an extra close combat attack, if you want. You can also have Battlesuits, as you mentioned, which can be tailored to your preferences with guidance systems and…you guessed it…nasty guns. Their tanks (The Hammerhead and the Devilfish) are nowhere near as deadly as my Eldar Falcons (MUWA HAHAHAHAHA) but can still run down a few folks.
I seriously cannot stress this enough. Tau will DIE in close combat. Their weapon skill is the same as a 2 foot tall goblin, despite being, on average, 5’6" tall, and their strength is the same as a human being. When they’re up against Space Marines or Tyranids, they’ll just die. You need to keep the battle at long range to have any advantage.
You can boost the close combat power of your army by adding Kroot. Mercenaries for hire only normally allowed for the Tau, the Kroot are better at close combat than them but aren’t particularly strong. They play with numbers, and by adding Kroot Hounds and Krootox to your units you can give them a bit extra punch. BUT…a lot of people say the Kroot aren’t worth it in a Tau army. Why spend points on a band-aid when you can invest in…MORE GUNS? I suppose it’s down to your playing style.
For your first purchase, I wouldn’t recommend the Battleforce. The recent rule changes have made Drones less effective than they were, and the Kroot don’t have any place in an army until you hit 1500 points or so. I recommend, instead, you purchase 2 box sets of Fire Warriors, and a Crisis Battlesuit (to act as a Tau Commander). That’s…mumbles about 300 points or so to start with, more if you take upgrades. For there, you can buy some more Firewarriors, an Ethereal, a stealth team, Pathfinders etc, to make up a good 1000 points list. Then you can start rolling dice and have fun.
Edit: Oh, your folks already bought the battleforce. :anjou_embarassed: Still, no problem. That gives you a unit of Fire Warriors and a commander to start with, plus you can use the Drones to enhance your commander.
Your best place for advice (other than me, of course) is at eldaronline.com 's message boards (don’t worry, the Tau are there as well).
Oh, one more thing. When you buy models, paint them. DO NOT BUY MORE MODELS UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED THE ONES YOU HAVE. Otherwise, you’ll end up like me with 50 models to paint and that next project that you have in your brain to go with it…
- he wants me to help out with a campaign or something, but it has idly got me interested (though I maintain that Man’O’War is the best thing ever to come out of GW and they should be crucified for abandoning it).
