A Respectable Second Place

It looks like the Aeldari aren’t going anywhere for a little while yet.

A brief glance at tournament results from the weekend of the 9th and 10th of September indicates that updates to the core rules and points increases to key units might not have been enough to halt the relentless march of our pointy-eared friends.

To be fair, it’s almost certainly too soon to tell how effective the points changes and rules updates have been, but initial reports don’t look good.

I don’t want to discuss the strength of the current Aeldari index, however. I do want to talk about a T’au list that finished a respectable second in the recent Munsterland GT over in Horstmar, Germany. There will no prizes for guessing which faction won the event.

Piloted by Artur Guttler, this list features some standard choices from the current array of options, but we’ll also find some interesting choices that are worth exploring in the light of the points changes.

First of all, Guttler takes five character units: Aun’va, a Coldstar Commander, and three Cadre Fireblades.

Aun’va and the Coldstar are both excellent choices, and many competitive T’au lists begin with these two datasheets.

The Coldstar is armed with four Cylic Ion Blasters, in addition to a Marker Drone and a Shield Drone. This is go-to loadout for a Coldstar. The CIB is current weapon of choice for Commanders and Crisis Suits. While there is an argument for the Plasma Rifle or the Missile Pod, it’s hard to look past the all-round capability of the CIB.

Briefly, here’s why. The CIB has two profiles, standard and overcharge. Both have a range of 18 inches and three shots. The standard profile has a Strength of 7 and AP -1; the overcharge profile has a Strength of 8 and AP -2. A Commander with four CIBs, then, shoots 12 times at a BS of 3.

Why the Commander has a BS of 3 is anyone’s guess. Let’s not get into that now.

12 shots is great, but the Commander will be leading a unit of Crisis Suits, usually containing six models, each with three CIBs. 12 shots plus 54 shots is better.

The downside, of course, is that the overcharge profile obliges the T’au player to take Hazardous rolls for each weapon. This will be 22 in total for the unit. The solution? Don’t roll 1s. Simple.

There’s more to go into here, but let’s keep it moving. We also see Aun’va, another staple of competitive T’au lists.

The Ethereal Supreme is an interesting datasheet at the moment. He operates less as the core of the battleline, providing inspiring leadership to beleaguered Fire Caste warriors, than a janky, Ghostkeel-esque loner that can be a very tricky prospect for opponents to deal with.

First of all, Aun’va has the Lone Operative keyword, which right off the bat makes him a nuisance, but it’s his unusual defensive profile that makes him so useful.

An invulnerable save of 4+ makes him at least somewhat durable initially, but his Paradox of Duality ability gives him a permanent -1 to Hit and -1 to Wound, which is certainly nothing to sniff at.

It’s the Duality Shield ability, however, that really does the business. Once per game, Aun’va can activate a 2+ invulnerable save that lasts for the phase.

All these abilities combined makes Aun’va a great speed bump unit. If there’s one specific part of the battlefield that the T’au player needs to block off, Aun’va is the character to do it. Once the 2++ is activated, many players will simply avoid attacking him. The opportunity cost becomes too great at that point.

And T’au players get all of this for 50 points. What a steal.

So far, so 10th edition T’au. These three Cadre Fireblades, however, are quite interesting.

T’au players will take a Fireblade for one reason: the Volley Fire ability. If the Fireblade is leading a Strike Team or a Breacher Team, their ranged weapons gain an extra attack. While this ability is perfectly fine for the Pulse Rifles in the Strike Team, it’s absolute money for the Pulse Blasters in the Breacher Team.

Breachers have done well out of 10th edition. The humble Pulse Blaster has a range of 10 inches, a Strength of 6, an AP of -1, a Damage of 1, and 2 Attacks. The Fireblade, therefore, bumps those 2 Attacks up to 3. 30 Pulse Blaster shots is nothing at all to sniff at.

And there’s more. The Breachers have an ability, Breach and Clear, that grants re-rolls to Wounds if the unit’s target is on an objective. Now we’re really starting to cook.

Let’s put a cherry on top. For some reason, Breachers have the same Ballistic Skill as a Commander; both units hit on 3s. I don’t know what’s going on there, but that’s a question for another article.

This means that when the unit is Guided — and it almost certainly will be, probably from a nearby Devilfish, but we’ll get to that in a second — Breachers hit on 2s.

Granted, Breachers don’t have much of a defensive profile. A Guardian Drone does help, but if the opponent wants those Breachers gone, then they’re more than likely gone. But the initial fusillade is absolutely withering. It’s clear to see why Guttler takes three Fireblades.

But what about that modest range of 10 inches? Of course, that’s where the Devilfish comes in.

Fish of Fury has been a reliable T’au tactic since the release of the faction over twenty years ago. While it’s effectiveness has varied over the editions, it’s a great way to play at the moment in 10th.

As tactics go, it’s simple enough. Fire Warriors begin the game mounted in a Devilfish. When the most opportune moment presents itself, the Devilfish zips out from cover, the Fire Warriors disembark to deal some danger-close damage to an unfortunate enemy.

Interestingly, Guttler doesn’t go all in for this strategy. While he takes three Fireblades and three units of Breachers, he only takes one Devilfish transport. As I mention above, Breachers have an unremarkable defensive profile. And the modest range of the Pulse Blaster usually requires armoured transportation to get the unit where it needs to be.

That Guttler takes a slightly unorthodox approach to his list is, I would suggest, testament to his skill as player.

Moreover, there is another noteworthy item here. Guttler takes three Hammerheads. This mainstay T’au gunship certainly isn’t as impressive as it was in the previous edition. That the Hammerhead’s Railgun no longer ignores invulnerable saves has, obviously, made it less powerful.

At Strength 20, AP -5, and D6 +6 Damage, the Railgun remains a fearsome weapon, but T’au players will often be shooting at targets with invulnerable saves. The Hammerhead comes with built-in abilities to make it more accurate and more like to Wound when firing at big targets, but a 4++ comes through half of the time, and with only one shot, this fact makes the Railgun much less appealing for many T’au players.

But the Balance Datasheet took 15 points off the Hammerhead. At 130 points, maybe it’s time to start looking at them again.

It’s a tricky issue. The Skyray is also 130 points, and there’s a good argument to say that it’s a better all-round gunship. Again, that’s a question for another article.

Elsewhere in the list we see more conventional options. Three Piranhas and six Tetras, in addition to alien auxiliary support from Kroot and Vespid.

There’s one more point to make here. We really see just how far GW went with the points reductions for the faction. We’ve had the real meat of the list — a Commander, Crisis Suits, Breachers, a Devilfish, Hammerheads — and we still have room nine more vehicles over thirty more infantry models.

GW really did us a favour with these reductions.

If this has tempted you to check out what those T’au are really up to out on the eastern fringes of the galaxy, feel free to take a look at our store.

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