Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===HQ===
====Generic HQs====
*'''Generic Ethereal:''' See Aun'Va. A very bad HQ choice. While a bodyguard Fire Warrior team with BS4 SEEMS good, they cost more than a normal team, and generally attract fire, with the large squad hard to hide in cover. And if your ethereal dies thanks to wound allocation, well, prepare for a circus of hilarity.

*'''Generic Battlesuit Commander:''' An excellent unit if kitted out properly. The versatility of the battlesuit chassis means you can equip him however you need to be most effective, and being the commander, all special issue equipment is available to him. See Battlesuits for setup tips. Commanders may take special bodyguards. The Generic Commander may take various suit types.
**'''Generic:''' Same as the XV-8 base battlesuit.
**'''XV-81 (Forgeworld Only):''' Offers the choice of a smart missile system.
**'''XV-84 (Forgeworld Only):''' Offers the choice of a markerlight.
**'''XV-89 (Forgeworld Only):''' Offers the choice of iridium armor. Interestingly enough, this allows you to bypass the special issue iridium armor limit.

*'''Bodyguards:''' These may only be taken by the 1+ Commander each army needs. These have the same options as an upgraded Crisis suit.

====Named Heroes====
*'''Aun'Va, Master of the Undying Spirit:''' The Space Pope is by all accounts possibly the shittiest HQ choice in the game. With useless bodyguards, and useless special rules and horrible effects that occur upon his death, you would have to be a lobotomized retard to take him. Normally a model is, at worst, a waste of points. Aun'Va manages to actually be a standing liability to your entire army.  

*'''O'Shovah (Commander [[Farsight]]):''' Decent, but the issue is he's specced for assault in an army meant for shooting. His Dawn Blade is nice, as are the free bonding knives, and his ability to take a seven-strong battlesuit bodyguard and 1+ crisis suits is intimidating but impractical. Ork Fighter is mediocre, but the main problem is, being a breakaway faction, he gimps your unit selection by limiting everything not a Fire Warrior / Battlesuit to 0-1.

*'''O'Shasherra (Commander [[Shadowsun]]):''' With an experimental battlesuit, armed with dual fusion guns, this commander gets in close and fries things. That is the problem. You do not want to get in close. Not to mention that in the changeover to 5th Edition, her drones no longer serve a purpose. A built in shield generator and stealth suit is okay, but T3 and pisstacular stats means you should avoid this commander. On the plus side, ''so tsundere.'' 
** As a development/production note, she was released as a promotional unit for Cities of Death, and as such she was designed for it. If used in an extremely terrain heavy map (like a city), she suddenly becomes an unquestioning nightmare to vehicles, capable of jumping in-between impassible terrain to shove BS5 fusion blasters into things. Before everything became "ignores cover saves", she was a useful unit to take in these scenario's. However, most games are far more open and her usefulness fades. Her mini, along with Farsight and Aun'Va, have long since been discontinued in prep for the <s>2013</s> unconfirmed but eventual tau release. *Do note that her drone confers her leadership of 10 to any Tau unit (excluding Kroot) within 18" for morale/ pinning tests*

*'''Angkor Prok, Master Shaper (White Dwarf Only):''' A kroot shaper, thus not one of the mandatory commander suits you need. If you take him, you need to take some Kroot as well. He is an independent character that can join Tau units, useful for buffing leadership, and once per game, can reroll failed to hits in close combat. Not the best use of points considering: When do you actually use Kroot units as an actual offensive CQC force and why would you even let your Tau units CQC?

*'''O'R'myr (Commander Longknife, Forgeworld Only):''' A decent suit that doesn't quite know his role on the battlefield. A double-barreled Plasma rifle with an enhanced shield generator, he looks to be built to take down heavy infantry / monstrous creatures. But he also has an ejection system and once-per-game flechette launcher. He MUST take drones, and his bodyguard may consist of commander-level special suits. A good choice, especially against Imperium due to Fearless against them, though the generic commander is far better if facing hordes. I will point out that he functions as the best "non XV-9 commander" option in the army, and the flechette discharger is a really nasty surprise to swarm armies thinking they have just trapped the expensive tau HQ unit in CC.

*'''O'Ra'lai (Commander O'Rly, Forgeworld Only):''' O'Rly is a monster of a unit; he is your commissar yarrick, your failbaddon, your mephiston, your swarmlord, your gazghkull, with BS5, T5, I4, and the power of the XV-9 battlesuit, the main difference he has with the above heroes is that he is primarily a ranged fighter, whereas most uber-hq units tend to be close combat focused. **update** The latest Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition rules have updated O'Ra'Lai's equipment. His shield no longer conveys stealth, but gives him a 3+ invulnerable save if fired at from outside 12 inches. On top of that, All of his weapons are now Assault 2. This involves all of the "gets Hot!" weapons, so you run the risk of taking more damage, but can cause a lot more pain as a result. With this change, he no longer has "Baby's First Lascannon," instead he has "Oh what the fuck, he has an assault 2 lascannon?!" His template weapons now make him a real nightmare to just about any army, and he also is now the best HQ unit the Tau have. 
**His drones, to the blind and stupid, seem like a liability, until you realize he was designed to be added to a team of three more XV-9's with shield generators. This does make his squad rather intensely expensive, but you will have a 3+/4++ unit that is stubborn that comes with drones ripe for sacrifice in an unwanted close combat. He does not have Independent Character for just this reason it seems. He also has the "Angry Old Man" thing going for him in his background, and he comes from the [[Angry Marines|"Angry Tau"]] sept as well. This does nothing but double-up on his [[Grandpa Dreadnought|"Get off my lawn" baddassery.]]