Hunter Contingent [Tau] - Part 3 (Coordinated Firepower - how do you play yours ?)

So after looking at the Core formation for the Hunter Contingent (and the change to our previous formation, here) and the imho the best of the new formation in the codex (here), it's time to look at the main reason to take the Hunter Contingent, the Coordinated Firepower rule.

As well as being able to reroll your Warlord Trait, the other rule of the overarching Hunter Contingent is the Coordinated Firepower rule:

At first glance, and I mean glance it appears to be a nice fluffy rule that rewards combining units to boost accuracy, and will help Tau take down big deathstars.  Against smaller units it has to be carefully used not to cause massive overkill, eg. in most situations if I fire my Riptide and my 2 units of Broadsides at a unit they are normally dead whether I have any buffs or not.

Overwhelming consensus is that Rule As Written (RAW) this rules means exactly what it says, but one of my favourite quotes from all of the reviews I've watched and the people I've talked to is from Matt from Miniwargaming where he adds "but sure as hell there's no way I'm playing it as that".

When you take this RAW interpretation, it's like going down the rabbit hole when the implications are considered.  As well as my explanation here's a good series of videos by Minwargaming, where Matt (who started Tau a few months ago) goes through the new rules with Dave (a Choas worhipping fish-face hater - well as nice one at least):

Miniwargaming Tau Review (here), including the episode where they discuss the codex and the Coordinated Firepower rule (here)


Stage 1 - Targets Locks and Split Fire

The background to the Coordinated Firepower is that by working together and sharing targeting data the Tau become more accurate, well it makes them better at shooting that guardsmen :)

This kind of goes out the window when you look at the availability of Target Locks, which allows a model to fire at different target to the rest of their unit (and costs 5 points per Commander/Crisis/Ghostkeel/Broadside Suit).  Although most suits would give up the opportunity to get Early Warning Overrides (giving Interceptor) it can completely negate the issue that the units combining fire have to fire at the same unit to get the benefits.

An example is a Crisis Suit unit of 9 models, 8 have target locks.  They combine fire with 2 units of drones at one target to get +1 BS.  Now RAW the Crisis Suit unit gets +1 BS because their combining targeting data etc.  BUT 8 of the crisis suits can fire at different targets, which begs the question why are they getting +1 BS.  When you combine this with the Stormsurge being able to fire each weapon at different targets you could have a sizable portion of a Tau army firing at loads of targets all getting +1 BS.

My personal preference would be the rule to be amended that only "models" firing at the target of the Coordinated Firepower get the benefits.

However we're just started, lets take it to Stage 2


Stage 2 - Conferring Universal Special Rules

The Tau get access to two good Universal Special Rules (USRs) which are conferable on the rest of the unit; Tank Hunter & Monster Hunter.  The only two main ways to get these rules are to use the Firebase Support Cadre or for a Commander or Crisis Shas'vre to take the Signature System (relics in other codexes) Puretide Engram Chip.

The Firebase Support Cadre has to fire all models in the whole formation at the same target to get Monster Hunter and Tank Hunter (much reduced from it's previous incarnation when they got Tank Hunter and Preferred Enemy (Space Marines) inanely.  The rule is good against deathstars, but against other opponents is overkill, after all if you fire 2 broadside units and a riptide at a single unit it is very normally dead without any buffs.  In my last game I combined fire once to get Monster Hunter against a formation of a Talos, Cronos Pain Engine & a character that was a single unit, and I never combined to get tank hunter as it was just overkill against the Dark Eldar vehicles.  It has to be an av12 or 13 vehicle that is very important for me to kill to fire 500 points of what most people would agree is 2 of the best units in the Tau codex at.

The other main option is the Puretide Engram Chip this can be used more easily, at the expense that it's normally on a Commander.  Here even though GW has been asked and responded that there is nothing to FAQ with the rule and it means exactly what it says, can a piece of wargear that was worth 15 points in the old codex where it could only affect one unit really still be worth 15 points when it can affect multiple units.

One last way to get Tank Hunter is to take te Special Character upgrade Longstrike on a Hammerhead, as he also has Tank Hunter.

Lastly Tau Battlesuits also have Night Vision, this confers to the rest of the unit once one member has it, so Crisis suits combining fire with Fire Warriors for example would confer Night Vision on the Fire Warriors, by RAW.


and this is where it gets crazy...


Stage 3 - Wargear that Affects the Rest of the Unit

The issue here is the sheer number of combinations, and for wargear that was pointed when it could only affect one unit, it seems unbelievable that GW would think they would be fine at the same cost if they have the possibility to affect many units.

The list of wargear that confer benefits on the rest of the unit (and therefore by RAW all the units combining in the Coordinated Firepower attack):

Command & Control Node (Signature System): Once the bearer does not shoot all other models in his unit gain twin-linked

Multi Spectrum  (Signature System): Once the bearer does not shoot all other models in his unit gain ignore cover

Drone Controller (Battlesuit Support System): All other drones in the unit use the bearers Ballistic Skill (BS)

Pulse Accelerator (Exclusive to a Drone only allowed useable by Pathfinders): The range of all pulse weapons are extended by 6" - this was intended for the Pathfinders 18" range pulse carbines, however by combining fire with fire warriors it will extend their pulse rifles to 36" range


and when we want to get really crazy we have Dark Strider's (an HQ Special Character, that is the cost of 2 Ethereals) Structural Analyser.  This item reduced the enemy's toughness value you use to wound against by 1, which also counts for instant death.  Marines would now count as T3.  This is not too bad (and to be fair I've never seen Dark Strider being used) when he could only effect one unit, because he also had the restriction that he could only join Fire Warriors and Pathfinders.  However now he can be in a Fire Warrior unit that combines fire with a Broadside team or a squad or Riptides/Stormsurges, in those example the -1 toughness would be huge.


How Have Others Ruled It

We have the Independant Tournament Circuit rules pack, that is big in the US, and it used as the basis of the majority of the tournaments in the US:

Frontline Gaming ITC (Independent Tournament Circuit), link here,

The ITC tries to give FAQs but also adds comp by modifying rules, examples include that the Invisibility spell reduced shots to BS1 rather than Snap Shots (meaning blasts can now by used against Invisible units), and 2+ rerollable saves only pass the reroll on a 4+.

The ITC had a vote on how they wanted the Coordinated Firepower rule to be played (not what RAW was).  In that case the vote was a narrow win that it should only give the +1 BS and joint use markerlight abilities.

The other big ruling organisation is the European Team Championships, which has a very comprehensive Composition (Comp) pack:

Current (as at 24th Jan '16) ETC Rules Document: link here

Within in this they have ruled the same as the ITC that the Coordinated Firepower only gives the +1 BS and the ability to jointly use markerlights.

Strangely neither changes the wording of the rule to stop target locks getting round the ability of target lock members to benefit to from the +1 BS (as it is conveyed on the unit) even through they are not firing at the target of the Coordinated Firepower attack.

Conclusion

Basically with most issues with 40k, it comes down to what type of game you want to have with your opponent.  If it's a nice friendly game I would advice only using the +1 BS and jointly using markerlights.  If you are using no-Comp balls to wall type lists and practising for a no-Comp tournament, and the opponents has the type of list that has stuff like D-Scythe Wraithguard deepstriking without scatter confered from attached Dark Eldar characters or unkillable Necron deathstars then you may want to play Rules As Written (RAW).  At the end of the day it's best to have a conversation with your opponent before the game starts, rather than these situations come up in the middle of the game.  They may not like the ability but at least they know to expect it.

So far I have only played the Coordinated Firepower as it giving the +1 BS and joinly using markerlights, but then I haven't played a cut-throat game, and even them I would have the conversation with my opponent first.

If you going to a tournament and your note sure on their ruling I would e-mail them before hand for a ruling (and have it printed out ready to let you opponent know at the start of each game).  It not only saves arguments, but it may impact how you build you army list.

Questions to Agree With An Opponent or Check with a Tournament Organiser:

First quote the whole rule, particularly the "resolving their shots as a single unit" part, then:

1) The +1 BS conferred by the Coordinated Firepower rule is given to the whole unit.  If a member uses a target lock (or other ability) to fire on a different target do they still receive the +1 BS ?

2) Do Universal Special Rules that confer to the rest of the unit if one member has it (eg. Tank Hunter) confer to all units combining in the Coordinated Firepower Attack ?

3) Does wargear that affects the rest of the model's unit confer to all units combining in a Coordinated Firepower attack ?

With these questions sorted out before you start playing, it will lead to better games where both you and your opponent can focus on rolling nice and moving plastic models round the table, rather than arguing over rules (when it crucial to an in-game event) or one player fun being soiled by what they believe is a Over the Top rule.


Hope this helps show the full implications of playing the Coordinated Firepower rule as written, and what to clarify before a game starts.

Now off to bed for me, one more day of work, a bit of painting tomorrow evening, and then my Tau get a run out in a 1 day tournament :)

[My 1500 point Tau army, set-up for their practice game, last Tuesday]

Rathstar

Hunter Contingent [Tau] - Part 2 (The Best of the New Formations)

Well after looking at the basics of the Hunter Contingent, and the change to our pre-existing formation (here) it's time to look at the owww ahhhh part of the codex, with a look at what I think are the best of the remaining formations in the new Tau Codex


Optimised Stealth Cadre

This is my favorite formation, it includes the stunning new Ghostkeel model, the formation is so good that it gets my XV15 Stealth suits that haven't seen a battlefield in years out of the case, it helps with anti-tank, and is very very markerlight efficient.

For this formation you will need a unit of Ghostkeels and two units of Stealth Suits.  There is no restrictions on size of the formation so it can be as cheap as 310pts (however I think you should always upgrade the Ghostkeel's secondary weapon to at least a twin-linked burst cannon, making the minimum cost 315pts).  What makes this formation so good is the Wall of Mirrors special rule:

Basically at the start of the game you should just tell your opponent that this formation will be activating the Wall of Mirrors every turn (as there is no downsides).  It's interesting to note that the units in the formation do not have to fire at the same target to get the benefits, so you could fire at three different targets all with +1 BS, Ignore Cover and hitting rear armour.  However if you do decide to all fire at the same unit then they can benefit from the Hunter Contingent's Co-ordinated Firepower rule to gain a further +1 BS to mean all the shots will be hitting on 2+.  Hitting on 2's with Ignore Cover is like having 4 free markerlight tokens against any of the formations target - that is just a brilliant bonus.

Since the previous codex when broadside railguns were reduced from strength 10 to 8, Tau have struggled a bit with high value armour.  A hammerhead is a bit expensive for 1 shot a turn that misses a third of the time.  We were almost forced to take fusion guns and try to get within 9" to get the melta effect with either Piranhas or Crisis Suits.  However most vehicles have low value rear armour, perfect examples being Predators, Necron vehicles with Quantum Shielding, Leman Russ tanks.  For most of the these vehicles the rear armour is 2 to 3 points less than the front armour, meaning that the strength 5, 7 or 8 (all three units can get fusion weapons) guns in this formation could really do a number on them.

Lastly be aware that the Ghostkeel is the lynchpin of this formation.  If the Ghostkeel's are dead the Wall of Mirrors does nothing, so if you opponent snipes your Ghostkeels you'll just be left with subpar Stealth Suits.  Keep your Ghostkeel(s) safe (well as much as possible given the short range on the Ghostkeel's weapons).  For this reason I think the formation really starts to shine when you put a 2nd Ghostkeel to the Ghostkeel unit, making it much harder to take out the Ghostkeel unit.


Burst Cannon or Fusion ??

This is more of a personal choice and will depend on the type of vehicles you normally encounter and how much anti-heavy tank firepower your army already has.  With fusion to get the most of it you have to get within 9" for the melta ability to take effect, which may be dangerous.

Outside of 9" you may think that with ignore cover you'd want the AP1 of the fusion gun, however with four times the shots and a good strength of five, the burst cannon will kill as many marines as the fusion gun.  Going against rear armour, in terms of stripping hull points the burst cannon does just as well as the fusion gun against anything it can hurt (AV10 & 11).

The fusion also has the chance of causing instant death to T3 and T4 models, but to start with I'm going to try saving points and just using the burst cannons.  This will give my 315 point formation 6 str 7 shots and 30 str5 shots.  I can't wait to assemble and paint my Ghostkeel so I can try it out.


Retaliation Cadre

The biggest issue with this formation is that it is quite a large formation, which may make it hard to fit into a Hunter Contingent along side a Hunter Cadre*.  The formation consists of a Commander, 3 units of Crisis Suits, a Broadside unit and a Riptide unit; taking the crisis suits as units of one, but giving them weapons will see the formation cost roughly 500-550points, and this will rise sharply if you add more crisis suits and additional wargear.  Personally I also don't like spending too much on HQ characters and this formation forces you to bring a second commander* (after the one in the Hunter Cadre).

The whole formation gains Relentless (only really a factor for the Broadside, but a very nice buff).  If the whole formation is kept in reserve then they all deepstrike on turn 2 automatically (even the Broadside) and get +1 BS on the turn they deepstrike.

Again nice benefits, and will cause absolute havoc the turn they deepstrike (with a guarantee that they will come in early).  To make the most of this I would try to put a few homing beacons in your army.  Ethereals, Tetras & Stealth Suits & Pathfinders (one of their special drones) can buy them.  Also remember that a unit does not need to be on the table at the start of the turn for it's homing beacon to be used (unlike the Imperial equivalent) so you could deepstrike a Stealth unit with a Homing Beacon and then deepstrike Crisis Suits with 6" with no scatter (you just have the risk that the Stealth Suits arrive after turn 2).

Also be wary that deepstriking the formation will mean a large amount of points are off the board for what could be 2 enemy shooting phases, so you will have to build the rest of your army with this in mind.


* Both of these issues can be removed by playing the Dawn Blade Contingent from the Montka Campaign, for which the core formation can be the Retaliation Cadre.

I think the top 3 picks for formations to add to a Hunter Cadre to make a Hunter Contingent are the three already discussed (Firebase Support, Optimised Stealth & Retaliation), and along with the cheap Drone Network auxiliary choice, are the main ones you should choose between.  There is however one more formation that I think is good, it's just very expensive to field:


Heavy Retribution Cadre

This formation is expensive.  It contains a unit of Ghostkeels and 2 units of Stormsurges, making the minimum points 850, and you will want to spend more on weapon and wargear upgrades (eg. replacing the flamer secondary weapons, giving the Stormsurges an invulnerable save etc.).  To field the formation as pictured above (from the GW website) the unit would cost a minimum of 1110, and more importantly cost you £315 to buy.

Although the formation is (in my mind) impractical to field apart from in the largest of battles the formation rules are nice.  The Stormsurges can reroll to hit against targets within 12" of any of the formation's Ghostkeels, plus if an enemy unit is fired on by 2 or more of the units in the formation then they can not Run or move Flat Our, plus must halve the results of charges range in their next turn (helpful to reduce their mobility and keep the Ghostkeels from being charged).

If you have big pockets and regularly play big games this formation may be worth it for you.  However in smaller games I would rather have a Ghostkeel unit as part of the Optimised Stealth Cadre and not be forced to bring at least two Stormsurges.

Well that's it for the formations from the new Tau Codex that I believe are going to be used regularly.  However that's not all the new formations that will be used in Tau armies.  The Montka Campaign supplement gave us other formations, such as the Riptide Wing, Drone-Net VX1-0, Etheral Council & Ranged Support Cadre among others.

Next post I will go over the Co-ordinated Firepower rule and it's implications and then look at the additional formations in the Montka Campaign supplement.



What do you think of the formations I've dicussed ?  Will you be using them ?  Did I miss out a formation that you think is great ?  Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, happy gaming :)

Rathstar

Hunter Contingent [Tau] - Part 1 (Overview, Firebase Support Cadre & Hunter Cadre)

Note: This post was originally started in November, and since then I've been waiting for the controversy about the Coordinated Firepower rule to settle down.  Well now it is time to finish this part of the post, and put my thoughts on the Coordinated Firepower rule in a seperate post where I can do it justice - not the rule itself, but the options on how it could be played and Tournament Organisers could rule it.



In a previous post I said I was amased that there was going to be practically no changes to the stats, weapons and options of the Tau units which did not have a new release.  This lead me to stupidily think there would be little change in how competitive the Tau army would be, and that there would be many new units being used in Tau units.

Well I still think that there will be little change to the units seen on the tabletop for Tau armies, it'll be the same as before with the addition of the Stormsurge (see below for my change of heart) and the Ghostkeel (again I'll explain further down why).  Breacher teams will be seem briefly until most people see that a 5" range (the only range it's better than a pulse rifle armed fire warrior) combined with a overpriced devilfish to get them into range is not that effective.

So what's changed ?  Well formations :)  Tau followed the trend of previous codexs and got a Detachment of Formations and Codex enties.  The Tay version is called the Hunter Contingent, and like the ones before it requires a core formation (in this case the Hunter Cadre) and 1-10 Auxillery choices.  Here's the rules for the Hunter Contingent::

[Click on the pics to read them better]

The thing that jumps out is the Coordinated Firepower rule:

Caveat Controversy:

I think the biggest thing this rules shows is that GW doesn't playtest any rules in any depth.  Any casual Tau play immediately looks at the Coordinated Firepower rule and thinks, a nice fluffy rule that really helps against deathstars and must be used carefully not cause overkill and waste firepower, but then in seconds will think "hang on a second, have that thought this through", when they consider all the rule interactions and wargear that was point costed when they could affect only one (in most cases a specific) unit and now could affect multiple units under the coordinted firepower rule.

Now the rule (to me anyway) quite clear, most most people (myself included) thought GW would no doubt GW will FAQ it, as they couldn't have considered all the implications.  However to our surprise GW has been silent on the matter, and the closest thing is an e-mail from GW saying that the rule would not be FAQed because they meant exactly what the rule said.

Link to Facebook showing reply from GW: here
and the same from Imgur: here

Rather than discuss the Coordinated Firepower rule here, I'm going to leave it to another post (not to soon, as I promised a tournament organiser I would spell out the issues and options for his tournament).  Instead I will highlight the top formtions, just my opinion, that the Tau can now take (in no particular order).



"Mark a target and we will wipe it out"

Although this was a quote from the Skyray in Dawn of War I think it's a good for what I believe was the only Tau formation we previously had and the one I believe will still be a popular with the new codex (although it will get a lot of competition now); The Firebase Support Cadre:

This formation consists of a (unit of) Riptide(s) and two units of Broadsides (any size now).  The formation, compared to before, and been both nerfed and buffed.  Before  the formation got Tank Hunter and Prefered Enemy (Space Marines) innately.  Now they do not get Prefered Enemy at all and the formaton all has to fire at the same target to get Tank Hunter.  On the plus side the broadside units do not have to have the maxiumum of 3 broadsides in the team, meaning this formation does not have to be as many points as it was before.  The formation is also careful to say that all "models" have to fire at the same target unit (rather the all units have to) to get the formation benefits so target locks can not get round this.  A second nice bonus is that when the units fire together at the same target they get monster hunter as well as tank hunter, meaning the targets that the formation is very good against has expanded, partiularly when Wraithknights and Guargantuan Bloodthirsters are around.

Overall the changes are definitely a nerf compared to the previous formation, however I think it will still be popular because it gives a second access to Tank Hunter, and now Monster Hunter (the first being the Puretide Engram Chip signature system available to Commanders, and Crisis Suit Shas'vres).

At decent range the Tau have alot of str 5 and str 7 shooting, but at that range they struggle with the weaponry to kill av13 and av14 or T8 Wraithknights.  Before I used the Firebase Support Cadre to allow me to deal with av13, with so many str7 shots from the broadsides they could take out av13 targets like Imperial Knights, and luckily av14 targets were rare.

Without massed Sniper Drone and Broadside firepower boosted by Monster Hunter (and in the case of Sniper Drones also boosted by the Ethereal's Storm of Fire ability)  I think there's only one way to effectively deal with Wraithkights and other high toughness Guargantuan creatures, and thats a Stormsurge with markerlights making the destroyer missiles str D (that's the game changer that was not in the Wgite Dwarf preview that has changed my mind on Stormsurges).  Some people will take the Stormsurge route, but for those that don't I highly recommend the Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter available from the Firebase Support Cadre (along with the Puretide Engram Chip).



Hunter Cadre

This is the Core formation of the Hunter Contingent.  It is a very flexible formation, that will mainly be taken to get access to the Coordinated Firepower rule of the Hunter Contingent.

It's best to think of the formation as a slightly more onerous CAD, with a fixed HQ option.  The requirments are:
1 Commander
0-1 Cadre Fireblade
1-3 Elites
3-6 Troops
1-3 Fast Attack (excluding the flyers)
1-3 Heavy Support ot Lords of War (excluding Skyrays)

Notable exceptions are the remaining HQ choices, eg. no Ethereals or Darkstrider, unless you have a seperate CAD, no forgeworld, and no (non formation) fotifications.  Darkstider will not been seen unless you play that if he joins a unit that his part of the Hunter Contingent his structural analyser works on all the units that are part of a Coordinated Firepower.  Ethereals can be included in your army in one of three ways;

• as part of a Command choice of the Hunter Contingent, which also requires a Commander and a Crisis bodyguard team.  The crisis bodyguard team is inefficient compared to normal crisis suits, and while a Commander is ok, is a second needed when you already have one in the Hunter Cadre.
• by including a CAD detachment, for the min expenditure of 90 points for 2 units of fire warriors and an Ethereal, you open up lots of slots, that can also be used to include forgeworld, and fortifications - this is my preferred option as it also allows me to use my Tetras (although MSU Pathfinders and Marker drones give them more of a run for their money).
• one last option is the Ethereal Council formation from the Mont'ka suppliment, however you have to have 3-7 ethereals that have to join together as a single unit and still a give up an additional victory point for each one killed

The Hunter Cadre is so flexible that it is easy to convert any old codex list into the Huntre Cadre as it plays like a slighter larger CAD.  However there is a sizable minimum points cost to the formation, which may become an issue if you want to fit in a number of other formations.  For example if you want to use the Firebase Support Cadre you may not want another Elite or more Heavy Support choices.  This is particularly an issue if you want to play the Retailiation Cadre (which includes 3 crisis suit units, a broadside unit, a riptide unit and a commander).

Some of the Tau formations are so good, that an argument could be made for just taking the formations and not bothering with the Hunter Cadre, or just taking a very small CAD (which also has the benefit of having Objective Secured) for a much smaller points cost, allowing more points to be spent on the good formations.  If you took the Retailiation Cadre, Firebase Support Cadre and the Optimsed Stealth Cadre that could be a fluffy suit based army in itself that also has very additional formation good rules, that can be built to deal with any enemy force.

The main benefits of the Hunter Cadre is ok (units can give supporting fire within 12", and can run and fire if close to the commander or cadre fireblade), but in many cases these benefits are not as good as some of the benefits in the other formations.

Ultimately if doesn't come down to whether you like the special rules of this formation, but whether you want the special rules of the Hunter Contingent, mainly Coordinated Firepower.

The Coordiated Firepower rules makes markerlights much more effective, as they can affect multiple units, however if your army is less depenent on marker lights, and/or has large powerful units (which will ovekill units if they combined firepower) then you could be best not using the Hunter Contingent.  Another benefit of the Coordinated Firepower rules is the +1 BS if 3 or more units combine fire but if your formation already gives you extra BS (eg. the Optimsed Stealth Cadre) or gives twin-linked, you may not need the Coordinated Firepower rule as much.

My current army has lots of units, and most of them are in the 80-150 points region, so I know combining 3-5 of them will not kill a unit of marines, so I could do with the +1 BS and more efficient use of marker lights, so I will take the Hunter Cadre because I want to use the Hunter Contngent rules, not for the formation in itself.

In time as I buy more models and experiment with Stormsurges, units of multiple Ghostkeels, and some of the bigger formations I may not need the Coordinated Firepower rule as much, and therefore I would forgo the Hunter Cadre to spend more points of the formations I do want.



That's all for now, next post I wlll look into the best (imho) of the new formations.

What's your opinion on the Hunter Cadre and the Firebase Support Cadre ?  Do you use them, and what do think of the competition they face from the other formations ?

Rathstar

PS.  I little gem I found while researching this article is a formation compendium located on the Blood of Kittens website (link here).  It has a record of all legal formations and is a great resouce