I've been playing the Tau for almost three years straight now. There have been other armies: Tyranids, Orks, the odd Vanilla Marine, Dark Eldar (4th edition) and now Blood Angels. I don't know what the appeal really is. The army as a whole lacks in several key places even on it's strong points: having access to some really shooty toys as it is hobbled with a poor BS. In spite of having skimmers and jet packs, they're not nearly as fast or fast enough to outrun assaults which happen to be their weakest point of all even among their so-called "best close combat unit" - the Kroot (which don't even have a save!). So why play them...like I said, it's hard to say. I guess it's really the challenge. With the Tau, there is no forgiveness for shoddy tactics. Strategy is solid and widely accepted: as many Crisis Suits as you can, the minimum troops anyway you want them and get some rail guns and markerlights in the mix. Tactics is where it all comes together or falls maddeningly apart. It's kinda the reward for this army. You know that if you loose, it won't be because you were faced down with an army that rolls 2+ on everything except it's leadership...it's because your strategy went up table while your tactics loitered in the deployment zone. I'm not going to talk tactics because I still have some go-to generals that can talk a lot better on the topic. Just remind you that all the list echoing means nothing if you don't know how to use the units at the right time. That being said, these five little Shas-Las lasted one turn after their Devilfish was vaporized. But it was enough to whittle Shrike's Wing down to one. Ultimately, the game ended with Tau at 8 kill points and Raven Guard at 10. Not bad for a mission Tau don't play well into and it could have been a draw if I remembered that rail guns ruin SM vehicles quite easily.
