I'm thinking about
putting together an Epic Tau army and I'm trying to
work out how many miniatures to put on each troop stand. Am I correct
in
the following?
Yay!� Another Tau player! I am the person to talk to!� I
recently purchased a substantial Tau army and am constructing it as we
speak.
Fire Warriors: 5
miniatures per stand
Yes.
Pathfinders/Pathfinder Snipers: 5 miniatures per
stand
Pathfinders: yes.� PF Snipers: I'd suggest 3 to a stand.� Its
what I am doing.
Stealthsuits: 3
miniatures per stand
Yep.� Its fairly representative of a 40K squad and means a single
Stealthsuit pack from FW makes a detachment.
Kroot: 5 miniatures
per stand
Yep.
Gun/Shield Drones:
5 miniatures per stand
Gun Drones: Yes.� Shield Drones: there is no need to actually put a
Shield Drone stand together as they have no actual game stats for a
stand, but if you want to, they would be 3 to 5 per stand.
Broadside/Crisis
Battlesuits: 1 miniature per stand (since they're
walkers)
Yes, especially if you are using the square bases.
If anyone has any
suggestions about building a Tau army, I'd be grateful
to hear them.
Absolutely!� My suggestions:
Cost-wise: the Tau are expensive!� The tanks and flyers from
Forgeworld are pretty decent value but its the battlesuits and infantry
that are the killer!� The Kroot Carnivores and Tau Fire Warriors are
insanely expensive.� For the Fire Warriors is suggest using Dark
Realm Miniatures' Kraytonian "Karrok II and Guard" infantry
packs
(
http://www.darkrealmminiatures.com ).� The Kraytonian Guard
figures look a helluva lot like Fire Warriors.� All you do is snip
off the sword tip and carve the eyes off each side of the face and you
have a Fire Warrior.� At �4 per pack of 39 Guard figures, you get a
lot of bang for your buck (I am using the single Karrok II figure you get
in each pack as an Ethereal).� They are what I am using.� For
Pathfinders I am using the DRM Kraytonian Scouts.� For Kroot I am
currently using the billion Ork figures I have lying around but will
eventually get around to using the GZG Dirtside Kra'Vak 6mm infantry
figures
(
http://www.gzg.com
).� These proxies will save you a lot of cash!
Everything else I use is from the Forgeworld range except the Swordfish
(I am trying to track down a good Swordfish proxy at the moment).�
For decent proxy tanks I recommend the Brigade Models 6mm Pacific
Federation (PacFed) range
(
http://www.brigademodels.co.uk).� They are hovertanks/APCs that
could pass as Tau at a pinch but really, the Forgeworld lines are
best.� You can get decent proxy battlesuits from the GZG Dirtside
range by using their Hound Dog Support Walker figures.� It is
possible to make Gun/Shield Drones from thin plastic strip and
dress-maker's pins but it is time-consuming and requires a lot of
patience.� In the end I gave up and just bought the FW
ones.
A word of caution with the Forgeworld products: be careful of their
quality control!! Many of the Epic Tau moulds are getting very old and so
the quality of the figures can be pretty bad.� The Stealthsuits and
Tank chassis I was sent were absolutely shocking.� Yes, they did try
to fix my problems but they are slow about it.� If you have problems
with them,
call them regardless of where you live.� Do not
use email as they may never answer you.� For more details on my
Forgeworld ordeal see here:
http://defiantgaming.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=1115 .
Gaming-wise: Get a hold of the most recent incarnation of the Tau rules
(V5.3) from the NetEpic Files Folder (in the NetEpic V5.0 folder) and
read them carefully.� There a lot of significant changes from the
V5.0 list.� I have yet to win a battle with them but I feel that is
because I haven't found the right groove for them.� Battlesuits are
your friend!� Crisis Suits with their Fire-on-the-Fly and Quickdraw
abilities make them incredibly dangerous.� They are well worth their
cost, especially the Cadre.� Mantas are the bizness!� They
trash anything that comes their way and look awesome too boot (they just
cost a bomb cash-wise).� Kroot are almost essential.� Without
decent or expendable CC troops the Tau can struggle, so the Kroot are
very important, especially late in the game.� Go for as many
objectives as possible as fast as possible!� You need to try and get
them before your opponent does because taking them back can be a chore
without CC troopers.
Finally: if you do get a Tau army up and running, please send in lots of
feedback on them.� Despite recent work, they are still the least
play-tested army in the NetEpic ranks and need all the play-testing we
can give them.
Good luck with it all!
-Kelvin....
Received on Tue Aug 07 2007 - 23:40:11 UTC