Hybrid Tau The Hybrid Tau army aims to strike a balance between mobility and firepower. Mobility is essential in 4th edition, for maneuvering around terrain, claiming objectives, and controlling firing lanes. However, a 100% mechanized force is expensive and often overkill in the context of the above objectives. Therefore, the Hybrid approach aims to include just enough mobility to achieve these goals while maintaining a solid firebase of efficient static firepower. Know your Roots In the 3rd ed hayday, a Tau strategist by the name of JT Scott popularised a similar playstyle and coined the term 'Nikkenryu' (Japanese for 'two swords style') to refer to it. In this army, a wall of 30-50 Firewarriors was built in front of a battery of 4-6 Broadsides. Crisis Suits were often deployed behind the Firewarrior screen as well. An Ethereal often 'led' the army from behind a rock, stretegically placed in the corner of the table. A smaller mobile element often consisting of a Devilfish-mobile Firewarrior team, a Railhead, and a Stealth team could maneuver to react to enemy deployments and disrupt artillery formations. A Kroot squad or two rounded out the list for infiltrator pushback and countercharge potential. The list worked by providing a cheap yet durable screen of Firewarriors which blocked line of sight to the hard-hitting Battlesuits behind them. This formation could out-shoot all but the shootiest IG armies and had enough mobility to react to fast assaulty armies. Properly played, it was very strong. Althogh the current Hybrid Tau playstyle resembles Nikkenryu at a glance, there are many subtle differences. Hybrid Tau invests much more heavily in mobility than Nikkenryu did. This is largely on account of the increased emphasis that 4th edition has placed on achieving objectives. The additional terrain present in 4th ed makes large numbers of Broadsides difficult to use successfully, and therefore, modern Hybrid Tau lists often include two (or sometimes three) Hammerheads in lieu of larger numbers of the slower XV88s. All of these differences are really just symptoms of a much deeper theoretical discrepancy between the two playstyles. At its core, Nikkenryu was a static force with just enough mobility to avoid being overrun by Assault Marines and Hormagaunts. Hybrid Tau on the other hand is primarily a mobile force with a small static element used to bolster overall point efficiency and as a lure. The Mont'Ka and Kauyon Hybrid Tau is Commander Puretide's textbook army. Games with this sort of list often begin as a lesson in Kauyon. The mobile portion of the force is nigh uncatchable, leaving your opponent to fixate on the only thing he has any hope being able to deal with... your slow Firewarriors, Broadsides, Pathfinders and/or Kroot. As your opponent closes, the larger more powerful mobile element chooses an opportune time to conduct a Mont'Ka on the advancing foe. The bait was taken, the trap is sprung and the enemy is destroyed. Alternately, since the Kauyon lure only represents 15% - 20% of your force, you can simply elect to have them hold their ground and deal as much damage as possible before succumbing for the Greater Good. It's more than likely that your opponent invested much more than 15% - 20% of his army in the assault giving your mobile forces numerical superiority as they systematically dismantle the rest of his army. The popularity of a Hybrid Tau list comes from its inherant flexibility. A single list can be played in a multitude of ways depending on the opponent you find yourself facing. This makes it ideal for a tournament 'take-all-comers' type setting since the same set of units can be deployed and played in different ways.