Army Profile: Tau Grand Alliance

Whenever I use or mention these guys, they seem to elicit interest.  Most recently in an email from a reader, Jason who after reading my Project List asked:

Also, I noticed that under your list of armies to paint, you mentioned a
non-crisis/non-vehicle Tau army.  Do you happen to have the army list
posted some where?  Since I play Tau in 40K and routinely use both Crisis
suits and Hammerheads, I would be interested in checking that list out.

I'll do you one better Jason!  Here's a breakdown of my Tau army, its history, the decisions that made it how it is and how it's used.

Tau, Act One

I had a previous Tau army, back in the late 3rd/early 4thaceaous era.  That army was built on mobility - everything was either mounted in a skimmer or had a jet pack.  Eventually I sold them and spent some time Tau-less.  Until...

Tau, Act Two

With the release of the updated Tau Codex in 2006 I started toying with the idea of the other extreme of Tau, a more ambush-based force.  I had several things in mind for the army:

• Stealth Suits.  I like how the old suits look, and I like how they play.  Great harassing unit that definitely fit with an ambush theme, and a lot of deployment options.
• Kroot.  I had fun painting up a bunch for my friend JVB, and fancied making some for myself.  With their ability (at the time) to sit deep in woods shooting out but immune to return fire, they would be another way to annoy the enemy, plus Infiltration.
• Vespid.  The models looked cool, and they provided another group of aliens to go along with the Kroot, helping to emphasize the diverse nature of Tau compared to the other more homogeneous armies.
• No vehicles.  I could say that tanks with disruption pods could be sneaky, and things like Piranhas could be cool, but I decided against that route.  If it had an AV, it didn't belong.  Unfortunately, this also effectively banned Pathfinders, a unit that otherwise would fit with the ambush theme quite well, due to their required Devilfish.  Curses!
• No Crisis Suits.  I don't really care for the models, and besides I wanted to use as many Stealth Suits as possible.  I figured I'd need at least one as an HQ anyways, but after I discovered Shadowsun, an HQ in Stealth Armor, I knew that I'd found my commander.
• Some counts-as alternative to Broadsides.  As with the Crisis suits, I don't care for the models.  But if I was already getting rid of Hammerheads and Crisis suits, I'd need some decent long-ranged firepower, and I envisioned the Broadsides serving as anti-tank snipers, knocking out the enemy's mobility so that the rest of the ambush can proceed.  I looked at several alternatives and settled on some AT-43 Karman models which became my Gor'la battlesuits.
• While researching the army, I also came across the Sniper Drone teams, who besides being snipers are also equipped with stealth fields.  In they went!

 The army languished as a mere theory for several years, until a now-defunct forum I was active on did a Tale of X Gamers type of event and I decided to do this Tau army for it.  In keeping with my desire to stretch and do something new with each project, I played around with the bases a little more, adding some real bits of stone and using static grass for the first time.  In the meantime, 5th ed had come out, making the Kroot invisibility trick not work, but making their cover save in woods even better.  The emphasis on troops also led me to make them four units of twelve each instead of three units of sixteen each.

Gor'la Battlesuits (Broadsides)

Some Fire Warriors

Shadowsun and some Stealth Suits

Vespid.  Fiddly little fellas; putting them together was a real pain.  Antennae easily break off, and some weak legs too (I guess they wanted to be like the Crisis suits).

Some Kroot.










The List

OK, so here's the part Jason actually asked for!




Tau Grand Alliance 1850pts

HQ

Shadowsun

(175)

Elite

3xStealth Suits, Team Leader w/Fusion Blaster, Bonded

(107)

Elite

6xStealth Suits, Team Leader, Bonded

(190)

Elite

6xStealth Suits, Team Leader, Bonded

(190)

Troops

12xKroot

(84)

Troops

12xKroot

(84)

Troops

12xKroot

(84)

Troops

12xKroot

(84)

Troops

10xFirewarriors, Photon Grenades, Team Leader w/EMP grenades, Bonded

(128)

Troops

10xFirewarriors, Photon Grenades, EMP Grenades, Team Leader, Bonded

(155)

Fast

6xVespid Stingwings

(102)

Fast

6xVespid Stingwings

(102)

Heavy

Broadside w/Drone Controller and two shield drones

(100)

Heavy

Broadside w/Drone Controller and two shield drones

(100)

Heavy

2xSniper Drone teams

(160)

1845pts total

WOW, WHAT A LOUSY LIST!
In many ways, yeah, it is.  It has a lot of problems, even more so than a regular Tau army.

Assault is still generally the doom of any of the units.  Some are tough enough to survive for a turn or two, but they generally aren't going to win any serious combat.

A number of units are very fragile.  No transports, and especially guys like Kroot and Vespid disappear quickly if they don't have cover.  With much of the rest of the army either having stealth fields or being tough (2+ save broadsides w/2+ save drones) these fragile units can see even more than their fair share of fire.

No templates.  At all.  No flamers, blasts, large blasts.  You can bunch up at will against this army.

Few markerlights.  The only ones are those on the Sniper Drone controllers.  Few markerlight tricks available here.

It doesn't use what is probably one of the most versatile units in the game, the Missile Pod/Plasma Rifle Crisis Suit.  It can struggle against massed armor or heavy infantry.

Dawn of War really cuts down on early firepower - sniper drones and broadsides without stabilizers walking on.

It does have some advantages:

Lots of deployment options.  The Kroot can Infiltrate/Outflank.  Vespid can Deep Strike.  Stealth Suits can Deep Strike or Infiltrate/Outflank.  I'll often keep a lot off of the table, especially against armies that are going to come at me - some starts on the table, some in regular reserve, some outflanking.  You can really tailor how you deploy/play depending on the situation.

Restricts enemy shooting.  With distance, stealth fields, and jump-after-shooting moves, a good bit of enemy firepower can be negated.

Leadership.  Wherever Shadowsun goes, she carries a pretty big bubble with her that improves the Ld of much of the army.  When babysitting the gunline portion, she's especially helpful as even one fallback move would see those units off the table.  Getting these guys to test on 10 instead of 7 or 8 is great.

So how does it work in practice?

Here's a couple of battle reports I've done with them.

vs. Marines 

vs. Necrons


Hope you liked the look at the whys and hows of the army.  If folks like this one, I'll get around to the other armies in time!