What does a lore friendly tau army look like?

>>52879085
A Hunter Cadre

A bunch of smoking craters, I assume.

>>52879085
As opposed to what, exactly?

>>52879085
Depends what part of the army you're playing desu m8ty.

1 to 3 Riptide Suits + assorted support personnel

It doesn't look like anything because they're either dead or invisible.

>>52879085
>Crisis Commander
>Ethereal
>Kroot squad
>2+ Fire Warrior teams
>Crisis bodyguard team for the commander
>Secondar Crisis team
>2 Pathfinder squads
>Vespid squad
>Broadside Team
>Hammerhead
>Drones in the squads that can take them

That's what I would say is the typical thing to see in an average Tau force in fluff. Just a sizable force that was at a random outpost or the like.

>>52879722

If you're concerned about lore friendly you should also look up the various crisis suit configurations. Although they aren't exclusive, various Septs have different loadouts that they favour, so focusing on those is a nice touch.

>>52879085
Thanks to GW letting their greed infest the lore, all formations are canonical tau formations.

>>52879722
So basically a little bit of everything?

>>52880511
Pretty much. Tau in fluff are all about combined arms, so you'd expect to see that with small variations on the Sept. Maybe more Kroot, maybe less Vespid.

Perhaps they have a big Air Caste presence and have more flyers instead. Generally though, I would say Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, and Crisis suits are the main starting point to stem off from. Even if you load up the other slots with something else, you should have at least a squad of those.

File: Hunter Contingent.png (990KB, 731x973px) Image search: [Google]

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Tau Contingent lead by an Ethereal and a Commander and a bunch of Cadres assigned to it.

File: Tau Coalition.png (1002KB, 762x971px) Image search: [Google]

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A Tau army (Coalition) looks like this.

>>52880728
>Shadowsun's Cadre
>More troops than a double CAD
>Still only two Riptides

Yep. That checks out.

File: 1448713831482 (1).png (6MB, 3072x1440px) Image search: [Google]

6MB, 3072x1440px

>>52880728

>There's a contingent, not a cadre but a full contingent, that it is nothing but Riptides.

I've always liked the idea of a tau army that is clearly been blacklisted by the ethereals.

My idea would be that they chose to save a bunch of civilians over protecting a foundry, therefore not serving the 'greater good'.

Model and fluff wise I'd have it that their blacklisting has them posted on either insanely dangerous, or insanely boring postings to either kill them or break them.

Gear would be in disrepair, as they aren't getting the supplies and replacements they need, exposed wiring, cobbled together suits from spares, and an over reliance on auxiliary troops and drones as man power is dwindling.

I think it could look real neat if pulled off well

>>52881917
Farsight Enclaves

>>52881917
Part of the fluff for my force is how they're on the fringe and thus are outside the usual supply lines. That means they're mostly stuck with older units and models rather than getting all the new fancy experimental shit. Mostly an excuse to use the XV-15 stealth suits over the 25s

>>52879085
Painted.

>>52879722
Would it be "fluffy" to not use any tau fire warrior squads and instead rely solely on Kroot/Vespid for infantry?

>>52882513
I'd argue not. At the very least there should be a pathfinder team or drone sniper team with them if it's a forward scouting force where Kroot and Vespid would be better operating more independently.

I wish there were Vespid Flyers. For a species with wings, you'd think they would be good at piloting fighters.

>>52882513

I'd say that's fluffy if it's an auxiliary themed army.

>>52882513
Fluffy with some pathfinders thrown in, like>>52882768 says. You could fluff the idea that the infantry are a scouting force that identifies a target, and then Crisis suits and tank support move in rapidly to help take it out. That'd actually be kind of fun.

>>52882107
Yeah, go with the Enclaves

I wish you could have more than one Fusion Blade in a tau army, or Onager gauntlets. I'd start an FSE force in a second if that happened.

>>52881591

The fact that the Imperium is sending Super Heavies and Knights against riptides just reminds me how broken the unit really is. Each one costs about 1/2 what the knights cost, while being almost as good. (Better in some cases)

>>52882513
>>52882768
>>52882859
>>52883120
Isn't there a Sept that uses a lot of Auxiliaries?

>>52888755
That's the power of progress and the greater good, gue'la :÷)

No idea, since they have no FTL no one has ever seen them.