Today we look at the Cadre Fireblade, the cheapest of the Tau HQs proper. Click to read on, or check out the Tactics Corner for more reviews and strategies.
Overview
The Cadre Fireblade is the most basic HQ the Tau codex has available, being just a highly-promoted Fire Warrior with barely even any special gear to their name. Their statline is largely what you would expect- 6″ movement is average speed for an infantry model and strength/toughness three are standard for Tau. Ballistic skill 3+ represents their extra training and rank, as does weapon skill 4+ and three attacks. Four wounds is what you generally get with a “minor” character like this, and leadership eight will rarely matter. They did get a reduction down to a 4+ armor save, but this generally won’t matter given how fragile they otherwise are. Coming in at 50pts, the Fireblade is very affordable if you need to fill a slot
Special Rules and Wargear
The Cadre Fireblade comes with two special rules, both of them designed specifically to buff Tau troop units. Volley Fire gives a 6″ aura that grants all Core units exploding sixes with pulse weaponry, though in practice the only models this applies to are the various types of Fire Warriors (since Drones are not Core.) Target Sighted additionally lets you pick one Fire Warrior team during your command phase and give them reroll 1s to hit, in case you don’t happen to have a Commander nearby.
As far as equipment goes, the Fireblade is quite weak- they come with a Markerlight (which is handy but often hard to use if they are disembarking from a transport or trying to keep up with forward teams) and an upgraded Pulse Rifle (coming in at S5 AP-2 Dmg2 Rapid Fire 1). Not particularly exciting gear, but given the price one can hardly complain. The only options a Fireblade has are to take up to two drones, at the usual price.
Uses
The Fireblade is a budget HQ choice- it’s pretty much strictly worse than a Commander in most ways, but comes in at a fraction of the price, which can be a big deal sometimes. While you are almost always going to want to take at least one Commander for the aura and other abilities, taking two or three starts to be a bit price-prohibitive for most armies, even if they are certainly very good units. An Ethereal is, of course, also a natural inclusion and that will take care of most Tau armies handily- but with all of the good relics and warlord traits it’s often desirable to squeeze in another HQ to carry things, and that is where the Fireblade comes in.
With the bargain-basement price and ability to hang out with your troops making them more deadly, the Fireblade is perfect in this role- and one shouldn’t underestimate the value of Tau troops, as they can lay down very significant firepower when given the opportunity. With the Fireblade now benefitting all Pulse weaponry equally, it is very possible to get a squad of Breachers or Strikes up to AP-3 or AP-4 and get rerolls on both hits and wounds.
This is where the Cadre Fireblade shines the most- in taking a smaller (but still relevant) part of your army to hit a secondary target while the main force destroys something larger. Playing Tau is always a game of target priority and knowing when you can afford to split fire and when you need to concentrate it is key to doing well with the army; a Fireblade gives you a bit more flexibility in that arena, since the additional auras mean you can afford to divide your forces when the time comes for it.
Also, don’t forget that they carry a Markerlight- while this may only be one potential token added, that one token can often be enough- many armies will only really need 2-3 on a given turn, so one extra can turn things a lot. It also makes the Fireblade the prime carrier for Ohr’tu’s Lantern, which allows you to slap a bunch of tokens onto one target if you really need to-hardly a bad investment for 1CP.
Closing Thoughts
Although the Cadre Fireblade is probably never going to blow anyone away with its incredible effectiveness, it is cheap and cheerful and will carry a relic and/or trait with ease while also buffing your nearby troops, all the qualities you want from a slot-filler HQ, so in these respects it succeeds at its job admirably. There’s not a lot to it, but that is very much to its advantage.
As always, remember you can get your wargaming supplies at great discounts every day from the Frontline Gaming store, whether you’re looking to start a new army or expand an existing one.
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One nice bonus into armies that deny re-rolls – the fireblade bonus is exploding 6’s which is similar but not blocked by as many abilities in the game.
It does feel like a natural go to is a commander, ethereal and fireblade in a standard battalion which probably means GW internal balance wise struck well with the codex. It promotes fluffy looking armies.
Decent, but unimpressive, and finally in line costwise with the other budget hq options.
I always thought a T’au infantry force with nothing but tanks, like T’au Guard essentially, would be super fun to play, led by Frieblades.