I was deathly ill when the codex came out and didn’t get any games in until today really. So after three full games and some fractional games moving things around here’s some initial thought…
Most important thing to remember about this codex: this army is now CP thirsty, maybe even more than any other army.
Do you want Hammerheads, etc?
- Brigade of T’au Sept – might as well since Longstrike is T’au Sept
Want to use Ghostkeels and Stealth Suits offensively?
- Take a Viorla Vanguard to compliment a T’au/Bork’an Brigade/Battalion
Want to put a bunch of Breachers up in someones face and have them get charged?
- Go T’au! Overwatch on 5+
Fire Warriors and Breachers are so cheap for 5, even 10, that they seem to be the star of the codex really. Many stratagems are squarely in their reach and designed to make a decent unit that much better.
Firesight Marksman and Sniper Drones are the “special secret” to making Brigades awesome CP generators. Kroot Hounds make it even better, but there are some decent things to put in fast attack that aren’t just going to give up kill points.
Now that drones aren’t just ablative wounds, they require a roll, they’re a bit less auto-spam or auto-include.
Ghostkeels look like an MVP unit, but they are hard to include if you want a super spammed amount of CP- not that much cheaper than the very buffed up Riptide, and their drones are going to get shot out of the air ASAP. I still want to run two, but I can see that going to one very quickly is going to be something I’ll have to contemplate.
Stealth Suits are still good; opponents seem to under rate them. They also benefit from what I feel is a great stratagem for a full sized squad of Stealth Suits: Hot-Blooded. If the group is at full strength, with a Shas’vre with a Markerlight, that’s two markerlights and 40 S5 shots hitting on a 4+ re-rolling 1’s (if the things that its shooting have a single markerlight hit). You could get more shots and possibly more damage from a Breacher team at 10” or less due to the -1 AP, but the Stealth Suits move a bit faster and slightly more durable.
Dark Knight
Sunshark Bomber is still a decent flying platform. But with how CP thirsty the rest of the army is it’s hard to slot these anywhere.
Riptide Wall is just an open-top transport now, but it’s very easy to attack and blow off the table.
Mid Tier
Riptides are solid “meh” still due to the cost. They need a decent amount of support but can be durable mid field threats by taking a mortal wound every turn.
Vespids. I want them to be better than they are, I admit that. But they can naturally deep strike and have a decent assault weapon. A new model and even a mini codex could make these guys amazing though.
Things that make you go, huh…
Broadsides are a trap. They are cheaper, they have some dakka, but they’re a trap. There’s got to be some stratagem and placement combo that I can’t quite seem to figure out, but so far they have just been a long ranged trap not getting their points back at all.
Stormsurges are expensive and don’t benefit from a lot of other rules. They’re possibly a good mid-field distraction thing with an EWO (early warning override) just to mess with deep strikes, but probably still better as a back of the backfield artillery platform.
You can make a list that has 21 or more CP. Spending the time to see if you can needs to be tempered with the amount of time to figure out if you should!
