Alright, it has been about a year since the 2010 faq came out, and I have played the new tau fleet extensively. Over the course of my many victories (and defeats
) I have managed to come up with this review of the fleet as a whole. Suggestions and a pros and con list will be provided at the bottom for the lazy.
Prologue: the new Tau fleet took a drastic departure from the old. While the old rules relied heavily on ordnance and less so on direct firepower, the new rules shift that trend to direct firepower while keeping the strong ordnance presence. For those who remember the original specialist games rules for the forgeworld ships, this fleet draws heavily from it. The biggest differences lay in the overall increase of battery strength and overall reduction in launch capacity.
The Command Structure: The Tau have two command options, an ld8 and 9 commander who come with a re-roll, and up to two additional re rolls on top of that in the form of ethereals. The only issue here is the unusual points cost which make tournament standard fleets difficult to construct. (1500 pts). As the tau are heavily reliant on reload ordnance, re-rolls are essential. This is the first area where the rules should be considered for modification.
The Ship Layout: Like most alien factions in the game, the Tau are focused on the frontal assault model, however, they utilize it differently. Unlike the corsair and craftworld eldar (hit and run), dark eldar (hit and persist) and ork (smash and grab), the Tau are a strange mix of imperial phalanx and persist. With strong front armor and weapons that have shifting firing arcs, they form a powerful line that is difficult to break. This runs into problems in the future, which will be explained later. On the whole, no Tau ship has weapons that don't sweep between two arcs.
The Firepower: Tau weapons have a standard in this list, effectively placing batteries at a fixed range of 45cm, even on their light cruisers. This can prove to be very appealing when using a messenger for support. Lances tend to stick at the 30 cm range, but there are examples of longer range fire. No weapon goes beyond 45 cm in the tau fleet, which can leave you feeling exposed at long ranges. This zone of conflict is supposed to be the realm of tau ordnance, which will be explaned in the next section. The best piece of advice I can give you is take messengers, the extra dice they provide is crucial.
Ordnance: this has always been where the Tau shine, but not as much in the new list. An overall reduction in ordnance strength in favor of direct fire weapons harms the tau in long range exchanges and weakens what was a total dominance of the ordnance phase. With these new rules, the tau still maintain an edge over most races, but it is recommended that you take an explorer to keep control of the ordnance phase.
The Ships: I will move from the smallest ships up to the largest. I will include the Nicassar for the purposes of going over the rig, and its purpose in the fleet.
The Warden Escort: this is possibly my favorite escort. Extremely cheap for a lance escort at 30 points, it is one nasty customer for its size. With a grav hook requirement, it can be limited in number, but that can be easily mitigated with merchants, emmisaries or explorers. Faster, tougher and better equipped then its orca cousin... It is one of the few escorts I have no complaints about.
The Castellan: this escort was changed from its specialist games and forgeworld version with a reduction of battery strength and an increase in speed. On the whole, it remains as the principle heavy escort of the tau, though I feel it is overpriced for its position in the fleet. Its best comparison is the infadel, which is faster then the castellan and has roughly the same firepower. The torpedos are better on this vessel by rules alone, but the cost is painful when you only have this to pick from. Overall, I take it because it is still a great escort, but it is a costly points sink and a very sweet target for the enemy.*note, the rail cannons on this escort are standard 45cm like the rest of the fleet. Keep a messenger near these bad boys!
The Nicassar Dhow: I add this because it is so rarely used, but is such a good escort. With the rig option, you get four grav hooks to bring some to the table for cheap, since all of the new tau ships only bring wardens for the fight. In a wolfpack of six, these escorts are very dangerous to any slow moving vessel like imperial or ork cruisers, since they have individual broadside strengths, effectively doubling their firepower if properly placed. Also, they are just cool looking and are the only escort with two shields. Take the rig!
The Emmisary: the standard light cruiser gives up durability for insane firepower. While the messenger was able to be bumped up to six hits for cheap, this vessel takes a 6+ prow and a mean additude. Far better equpped then its merchant counterpart, they can be a major threat to much larger ships with a heavy lance battery and torpedos, tow in wardens, or provide a fighter screen. Fly these bad boys in sqauds of 2, you will not be disappointed! This vessel only has 4 hits, so use them wisely.
The Protector: this vessel is a little schitzophrenic. While it was significantly weakened in the new rules for the price of a 90 degree turn. You may argue that the trade for a st 10 weapon battery is worth it, but losing one torp strength and one launch capacity is a huge tactical shift. Instead of functioning as a torpedo platform, it is now a mixed gunship. I personally do not agree with the 90 degree turn choice, though it does help prevent the vessel from being flanked, I would rather have a ship that can hold its own and assist better in the ordnance phase. The 5 point reduction is nice though. Another point is that for a phalanx vessel, it only has 6 hits, making it a poor choice for the job. It has problems both giving and receiving hits, and makes the user torn on lock on or reload ordnance. The lances should all be standard 45 cm instead of having a second, weaker version.
The Custodian: there has been a lot of argument over this vessel in regards to its classification as a battleship. I feel that energy could have been better served for the protector and its armament then on the custodian. This vessel was given a huge boost in power with the new rules. Better batteries, stronger torps, and a launch capacity still within the realm of usefulness. The price went up, but so did its usefulness. The only thing that bugs me is its shield rating of 3, when it should be 4. If you want to designate it as a battleship, give it 12 hits or 4 shields. Even cheaper, better armed imperial battleships have both 12 hits and 4 shields. Still, it has tracking systems, so it rerolls its turrets and ignores range penalties.
Conclusion: of all the major overhauls for the bfg fleets, this one was successful over most areas. However, the fleet design and tactics require a durability that simply is not there. Either there is too little punch in their mainline cruisers or too few hits to survive a broadside from another ship. I feel some decisions were made in response to the abuses of the original tau list, instead of letting this one shine on its own merits. It is still a diverse and powerful list, but the original intent, I feel, of the previous versions was to show how the tau adapted to fighting their most common enemies (orks, nids, imps) while remaining weaker against the foes they encounter less frequently (all eldar, necrons, chaos). The old list showed this specialization with greater ordnance numbers which those factions suffer from the most, showing the tau capitalizing on this weakness. Now it seems the push for a generalist fleet with no background support has made them weaker against all targets, which is not supposed to be the goal.
Pros:
Powerful at medium to long range thanks to variable speed torps
good fleet coherancy
Lots of options from old and new fleets, function well across generational divide.
Great escorts and a potent battleship
emmisaries are very flexible.
good ordnance concentration.
Cons:
no longer dominant in the ordnance phase without explorer assistance.
all grav hooks are warden specific.
schitzophrenic protector armament.
reliance on two special orders instead of one (lock on and reload ordnance)
overall reduction in protector power weakens backbone of the fleet.
Generalization reduces built in strengths from previous fleet
point costs add up poorly for tournament play
Suggested resolutions
Make ld commanders point cost consistant to allow for better point allocation
Increase the protectors torpedo to 6, lc to 2. Reduce turn to 45.
Allow the emmisary to buy one more hit point for 10 pts. Or allow grav hooks to carry dhows and orcas.
increase castellan wb to 3 again or reduce cost to 45 points.
Increase dhow rig capacity to 6. Increase cost by 10 points.
