Dealing with Psyker-heavy armies

If they don't bubble wrap them/poor positionning, you can still deepstrike mandrakes/scourges in their faces, or make a jump with reavers/hellions ^^.

FuelDrop wrote:

Mppqlmd wrote:

I think that's his point : he liked when they were less "the best killing machines" and more "weird warlocks-surgeons".

As did we all.

Not GW it seems............

The thing about Tau snipers is ... They are drones ... So they hit on a 5+ normally unless you feel like planting a commander next to them with a drone controller to make them +2 but that makes a unit of 3 worth roughly 200 points, take up an HQ and a heavy support slot and will Maybe take out 1 1/2 characters a game ... Or take up and elite slot and a heavy support slot for about 100 points with a firesight marksman and 3 sniper drones to get the drones to hit on a 4+ ... So yes tau have snipers ... But they are very ineffective without spending a lot of points ... And as for the crucible ... Yes its awesome and a using 3 of them will reliably kill most psyches ... It still requires getting pretty close to the enemy and praying for good roles while still leaving the army as a whole vulnerable to the enemy psychers while you get into position to fire off the 2-3 required to kill the one psycher (in some cases you kill more if the opponent packs them all in a small area ... But that is rarely the case in my area unless the player is just starting out) and I would rather have a couple options than just a once a game weapon

Edit: spelling

Archon_91 wrote:

The thing about Tau snipers is ... They are drones ... So they hit on a 5+ normally unless you feel like planting a commander next to them with a drone controller to make them +2 but that makes a unit of 3 worth roughly 200 points, take up an HQ and a heavy support slot and will Maybe take out 1 1/2 characters a game ...

Edit: spelling

That is completely true, so you don't spend 200 points on them, you spend 300, that gives you another 5/6 drones suddenly killing 4 characters in the game.
And the commanders are very good so even if you did not take the drones you probably would have the commander. You are just slightly more limited in the movement of said commander. So considering we already bought the commander anyway you spend 167 points for 9 snipers with 2 shots each.

|Meavar wrote:

Archon_91 wrote:

The thing about Tau snipers is ... They are drones ... So they hit on a 5+ normally unless you feel like planting a commander next to them with a drone controller to make them +2 but that makes a unit of 3 worth roughly 200 points, take up an HQ and a heavy support slot and will Maybe take out 1 1/2 characters a game ...

Edit: spelling

That is completely true, so you don't spend 200 points on them, you spend 300, that gives you another 5/6 drones suddenly killing 4 characters in the game.
And the commanders are very good so even if you did not take the drones you probably would have the commander. You are just slightly more limited in the movement of said commander. So considering we already bought the commander anyway you spend 167 points for 9 snipers with 2 shots each.

My english is bad, i know you spam Commanders and Drones, but are you saying taking sniper drones are good?

(Im starting Tau only b.c i love Suits and Drones and that is what is good, i always loved Suits and Drones, i grew up on macross and gundam)

I remember my friend at one point mentioning that in the index there was no upper limit to the number of drones a Broadside suit could take (though his info was on battlescribe so could have been a glitch). Of course, we naturally built a 2,000 point list which was one squad with hundreds of drones, able to put out a scary amount of firepower and overwatch.

It was fun.

I thought you could take as many as you wanted too? I didnt think there was a restriction to taking them.  They have a Battlefield role and no rule that yes they have to be taken with other units.


There are some units that same they accompanied with drones and those are limited.

But Broadsides can only take 2 drones, BS was incorrect.

Edit: There is a rule for Drone Support, but the way it is worded doesnt say they cant be taken on the FA battlefield role, it says if accompanied with another unit it gains that units role and but be within coherency of that unit. You have a FA Drone and a Heavy Drone Battle Field Roles.

It even says "this unit contains 4 Drones with power rating +2" and a note "this data sheet is for Drone Support also". Which means they are a unit and then they can be with another unit.

You literally can have an army of only drones and 1 HQ i believe.

amishprn86 wrote:

I thought you could take as many as you wanted too? I didnt think there was a restriction to taking them.  They have a Battlefield role and no rule that yes they have to be taken with other units.


There are some units that same they accompanied with drones and those are limited.

But Broadsides can only take 2 drones, BS was incorrect.

Edit: There is a rule for Drone Support, but the way it is worded doesnt say they cant be taken on the FA battlefield role, it says if accompanied with another unit it gains that units role and but be within coherency of that unit. You have a FA Drone and a Heavy Drone Battle Field Roles.

It even says "this unit contains 4 Drones with power rating +2" and a note "this data sheet is for Drone Support also". Which means they are a unit and then they can be with another unit.

You literally can have an army of only drones and 1 HQ i believe.

True, but the rediculous power was from having them all in a single squad, and thus sharing overwatch, buffs, that sort of thing. Also, good luck killing Broadsides with 200+ drones with them

Was not rules legal as noted above, but was a fun thought experiment.

AH ok lol, that would be funny tho.

Run a Farseer and a Hemlock Wraithfighter (three Deny The Witch attempts and a Re roll) until the Codex comes out, there's virtually no reason why not to at the moment aside from losing ObSec at some tournaments.

I have a friend who mainlines Tau, and I've borrowed his army on multiple occasions. The Tau have two sniper options, and both are absolute trash at it.

The first are Sniper Drones. They can target characters, but they only put out a single str 4 shot each, and don't generate Mortal wounds like everyone else's snipers. The second are Pathfinders with Railrifles. They do Mortal wounds on a 6+, but can't target characters! GW literally cut the necessary rules in half.

@Voidhawk: seriously GW? I mean, no mortal wounds would be fine on sniper drones if they had a gun that was s6 ap-2 D2 or something, but S4 no mortal wounds?!?

Sniper drones are rapid fire 48" (so often 2 shots), and strength 5.

Rail-riffles do mortal wounds on a 6, are Rapid fire 30", Strength 6, AP -4, Damage 1d3. They are not sniper, They are basically a blaster with rapid fire 30". Which is extremely good.


Both sound very reasonnable to me.

PS : pathfinders are basically 5pts kabalite warriors that can ALL take a 22pts blaster that has Rapid Fire 30". That's kinda nuts.