Now
its time to bring it altogether. I've reviewed each section of the
FOC, giving my thoughts on each unit and rating how useful they would
be. As you'd expect, what units I feel are best in each section aren't
always going to be the auto-includes in the lists we build. An example
is Hive Guard. I felt Hive Guard were our best unit in the Elites slot,
but I found myself taking them rarely in the lists I concocted. This is
not because they were a terrible unit, but because they didn't synergise
well with the lists. Zoanthropes were needed to provide extra Synapse
and Venomthropes were needed to protect the rest of the army, which
often left no more Elite slots open.
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| The Tau forces battle Hive Fleet Gorgon |
While writing lists I found that Synapse was a consistent
problem.
With Hive
Tyrants and Zoanthropes being the only reasonably costed Synapse
Creatures, I found that you
really needed to just suck it up and field some of the less cost
effective
options. As a result, I feel that I may have undersold the other Synapse
units.
Tervigons and Warriors are particularly useful as they are able to
capture
objectives. I found that I was taking a Hive Tyrant, Tervigon, 30
Termagants,
and at least one Zoanthrope Brood in literally every list, which I have
started
using as a core to the army before adding other units. Similarly, I feel
I
undervalued Genestealers, Lictors, Harpies, and Hive Crones as they are
not as dependent on synapse as the rest of the army. Hive Crones are
invaluable for dealing with Flyers. Outside of Fortifications, we don' t
have many other options, so two of them almost always found their way
into the lists. However, if you want to use Fortifications then a Firestorm Redoubt placed slightly ahead of your deployment should be quite effective. Putting a brood of Zoanthropes inside will help protect them, while extending the Synapse bubble a few extra inches. The attached guns also don't need to be fired manually, which will allow us to use them even if we go back to our 5th edition FAQ limitations.
