Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Special Rules===

'''Bonding Knife Ritual:''' A unit with this upgrade has Heroic Morale, allowing them to always test to regroup on their unmodified Leadership. Is it that useful? Perhaps too early to tell, but it is cheap... then again, if your Fire Warriors are running away, there's a good chance something has gone horribly wrong and regrouping won't save you now. I would always take it on squads of suits that include drones. The increased squad size can mean being below 25% is a possibility and only cost up to 3 points (since drones don't take it). Spending 3 points to make sure your last suit doesn't have to roll snake eyes to regroup is worth it. <s>Also if you check the back of the tau codex it says (and i quote) "unites that consist of models all with this special rule always use their unmodified leadership" so if you want to be real scummy about it, that means when your tau lose an assault (which they will) they use their UNMODIFIED leadership aka. 7 no matter how many losses they have, so bye bye dead squads due to sweeping advances.</s> EXACT wording from the back of the Tau Codex (p104) is "A unit with this special rule always tests to REGROUP on its unmodified Leadership."

'''Supporting Fire:''' One of the new biggies, this rule lets all units within 6" Overwatch as if they were members of the charged squad. Note that each model can still only Overwatch once per phase. This is absolutely vital; it can stave off assault by a turn or more. It can be especially devastating when combined with copious amounts of Markerlights, which due according to Pinpoint, benefit during Overwatch. It allows your infantry (and some battlesuits) to become a "wall of pikemen." If you keep the units tight together, the enemy charge will not break, but it will be much more painful for them if they try it, and they will be likely to lose a few models just closing the distance. The survivors will still kick your blue ass though, so do not count on it. This is especially hilarious when combined with 30 man Kroot squads stretched out from table edge to table edge, allowing for units 30 inches from the assaulting squad to auto-hit with flamers. If enemy complains, flip to Wall of Death and prance about.

'''Markerlights:''' As any defender of the Tau'va worth their salt should know, Markerlights are what turns a rambling mob of morons into a synergetic army of hard cheddar. The delivery system for these little babies has stayed the same; Pathfinders, Tetras, Markerdrones & Skyrays (amongst other niche delivery systems). Their uses have been ever more streamlined, leaving you with the most beneficial uses. These being; 
* '''Pinpoint:''' Spend 1 marker for +1 BS  with no limit even to snaps shots and overwatch (<s>This is cheating though, since you have to add the BS ''BEFORE'' you set your BS to 1</s> Tau Codex 6E states on page 68 "Pinpoint can increase the Ballistic Skill of Snap Shots and Overwatch"), if you happen to have markerlighting units in supporting fire range (which you ''really'' should in British gunline army).
* '''Seeker:''' Spend 1 marker to fire a seeker missile at BS5 with Homing (ignore line of sight) and Ignores Cover. The missile must be fired by the unit spending the token and must be at the same target that the rest of the unit is firing at.
* '''Scour:''' Spend 2 markers to give the entire firing unit Ignores Cover against the marked target, in all better than before seeing as it used to take on average three markerlight points to completely negate someone's cover save. This sees goood use amongst skimmers with jink saves, since jink convers a 5+ '''cover save'''. Since you can't save against markerlights then an enemy has no opportunity to take their jink saves. 

'''Skyfire:''' While this isn't a rule that all Tau actually have standard, practically everything in the codex (aside from alien auxiliaries and Fire Warriors) has access to Skyfire. This makes Tau the absolute leader of 6th edition in anti-air tactics. A tactic that was popular when the codex was first launched was to put Skyfire on next to anything that could take it, but tis is quite too expensive. But don't forget the fact that you have some very interesting options due to your army's flexibility. Opponent likes to run a Vendetta/Night Scythe/Storm Raven exploit list, then two squads of High-yield Broadsides equipped with velocity trackers can very quickly ruin their day- or, with their Twin-linked ability, just take an EWO and get rid of the bastards before they're even a problem. Either way, a Tau army can easily rule the skies. Remember this.

'''Warlord Traits:''' The new book also has a few Warlord Traits, as is the norm. These include:
* '''1: Precision of the Skilled Hunter:''' Enemies can't use Look Out, Sir! when shot at by your Warlord. Useful for sniping the enemy Warlord if he is a coward and a fewl and hides in a [[METAL BOXES|METAL BAW]]- I mean, if he hides in a unit.
* '''2: Through Unity, Devastation:''' For one Shooting phase, all Tau within 12" reroll To Hit rolls of 1. Useful, but not incredibly reliable. (unless you're deploying as a nice castled up gunline, then your first turn of shooting just gets magnificent. Especially if you combine with Markerlights.)  
** However, this can be situationally extremely useful, provided the situation is lots of Gets Hot weapons. Imagine a XV104 Riptide firing a heavy burst cannon on full nova-charge, while a hammerhead gunship overcharges its ion cannon, supported by pathfinders overcharging their ion rifles? Anything targeted by this combination is dead, ''dead'', '''dead''', and you run (statistically very low to) no risk to yourself while this is in effect. Some [[cheese]]monger who concentrates all their points in some kind of super-unit will explode with [[rage]] when hit by this. Get your tearcup.  
* '''3: A Ghost Who Walks Among Us:''' The Warlord and his unit move 3d6" with their Jet Packs. It makes them much less likely to have a snake-eyed fail of a thrust move. Commander Shadowsun gets this trait by default (if taken as your warlord).
* '''4: Exemplar of the Selfless Cause:''' Once per game, all units that have gone to ground stand back up and act normally. This means you can weather a turn of enemy shooting, then stand right back up and shoot him in the face; needless to say, this is one of the better Warlord Traits.  Aun'va gets this trait by default.
* '''5: Predator of the Skies:''' For one Shooting Phase, you Warlord and his squad get Skyfire - [[Derp|which you might already have from a Velocity Tracker]]. Still, it's not ''that'' bad, it just might not fit your Warlord's role. It's great if your Warlord's unit has markerlights.
* '''6: Through Boldness, Victory:''' Your Warlord and his unit don't scatter on Deep Strike. If you're planning to do a Commander-bomb, this is the one you should fervently hope/pray for. Commander Farsight gets this trait by default (if taken as your warlord), and can deepstrike with SEVEN bodyguard suits (and all their drones)(and a second commander with drones if you're feeling saucy) with guaranteed no-mishap. You'll need another tearcup.
* '''X: The Assassin:''' This one is special, because only one Commander gets it - O'Rly. It grants Preferred Enemy: Independent Characters. How this works is up for debate - do you get it only when an IC out in the open (which almost never happens)? Do you get it when an IC is attached to a unit, meaning against some armies he has Preferred Enemy Everything? Time will tell whether or not this makes or breaks the angry Commander.
** Forgeworld's answer: "You can use this ability against an independent character if they are alone or in conjunction with precision fire if the independent character is in a unit." a tiny bit clearer, but not much.
**Pretty sure it means that it works any time you have an attack that can specifically target an IC, whether out in the open or attached to a squad, and only on that specific attack against the IC. -So, not any more specific, really.