I have noted that recently a lot of posts have been trying to come up with ways to hold objectives claiming that we don't have the staying power to hold them in 5e.

I would have to say that this is dead wrong. While our options aren't as numerous or as good as some others (SM, CSM, Necrons, IG, & Orks) you have to remember besides MEqs we have the best armor in the game. To point this out lets go through the numbers between us and IG.

12 FWs Ld 8 vs 10 Guardsmen Ld 9 reroll.

Both have the same chance in cover to survive because on average you will loose 3 FWs (25%) and the IG will loose 3 Guardsmen (33%). They will have to take that Ld check but we will not "... take causalities of more than 25%..." However their superior Ld will make them stay. After that we both will be taking Ld checks.

Outside of cover its a much different story. We will lose the same 3 FWs but the Guardsmen will lose 6+ due to their lack of armor. Now you may be telling yourself "well that's great Trentwolff you have compared us to IG and we come out on top but we knew that."

The point of this is that we start with larger squad sizes than IG, or most other armies, and then we can do things to boost those numbers of wounds and make it very hard to kill.

12 FWs +2 GDs Ld 8 Now we have 14 wounds in the squad which means that without focusing a lot of shooting we won't be rolling for Ld checks for at least 2 turns. Now lets add something more to this to make it even better.

Troop 12 FWs + 2GDs + HQ Ethereal + 2 GDs Ld 10, Fearless. Now this squad has 18 wounds (16 before having to allocate anything on the Ethereal) and is Fearless and going no where. I took this squad to Chicago GT 08 and never repeat never lost the entire squad throughout the whole tourney. Except in game 5 against a demon player but he wiped me out and took 5th overall.

Keep in mind that you should never be thinking "Oh man I need these guys to shoot." They need to stay on the objective so don't be afraid to "Go to ground" and keep them alive with more wounds, come late game when your fire base has whittled down there attackers you most likely won't get shot at anymore and be able to fire with the squad.

Another thing to remember is that with so many models in the squad you should be able to pick up more than 1 objective. Don't for get to try for this during turn 5 string them out unless doing so will get you charged.

The other objective Holders

With the other troop choices you should be ok, with an Ethereal on the table you won't be running much. so take at least 2 squads of the following.

6 FWs (Ui BK) + DFT (GDs, DP) = 160 pts I took 2 such squads to GT and again never had anyone kill them off completely except in game 5 I had against a demon player but he wiped me out and took 5th overall.

Now you may be saying "Holy crap Trentwolff that is an easy squad to kill." The truth is that they are not. The DFT is very good at keeping them alive and with the minimum wargear on it they may not remember to shoot at it because its not firing at them. Just make sure that you take out the things that can kill them in short order and you will be fine. You also can't try to over extend yourself by trying to take objectives in your opponents deployment zone on the field. Yes this does mean that you won't be taking a second objective in "Capture and Control" but it also means that you don't have to. You can just as easily move up the DFT with the FWs staying behind as part of the firebase and disembark the GDs and make your Assault Phase move with your drones to contest or try for the objective with 1 squad but never more than that.

The other thing for these squads is that they should deploy as part of your gun line in Annihilation and the DFTs should be kept back. Don't forget your GDs from the transports they are not worth a KP direct from GW England. "They are considered wargear for the transport and as such the DFT is worth the KP not the Drones this is to keep the Tau from having an overwhelming disadvantage during Annihilation missions."

The rest of your army should be dedicated to killing your opponent because remember that the best way for your army to live is to kill everyone in your foe's army.

As part of that I recommend that everyone should try to work in two Railheads and a 2 man BASS squad with SDs. That should go a long way to helping out your army kill whatever you need to kill.

Thank you for your time and consideration for this article of war.
--For the Greater Good.

Trentwolff :
Nice article, but this part really stuck out to me:
Well, if this is true, then I'm a really happy camper. My last Annihilation game, I lost by two Kill Points, and my opponent had gained three or four from disengaged Gun Drone squadrons from my hordes of vehicles... Did this quote come from a rules query phone call, or elsewhere?

The only problem I see with your idea is how you're using the mounted teams or empty Devilfish; why risk them, unless you've already taken out most of the enemy's anti-tank, to contest an objective with their Gun Drones? You can just as easily disembark them in your backfield and move them forward, using cover. It creates a much smaller target and it doesn't risk your expensive transport.

You other ideas of focusing on holding your home objective and contesting/claiming the others when necessary, all the while eliminating the opponent, is one of the best ideas. I know, from personal experience, that players sometimes panic and try to grab as many objectives as they can early in the game, thus making them control a huge amount of territory. Taking the age-old idea of "occupations never succeed" to heart is a great boon to an overall strategy.

Anyway, nice job overall, and I'm eagerly anticipating the credibility report on that Gun Drone ruling...

Holy crap, really? That changes everything for me. Do you have a link of where I can check that out myself?

I admit that not having those Drones count for KP makes total sense - it just turns a previously overwhelming disadvantage into a pretty damn good plus.

Piranhas are BACK.

The "gun drone rule" about DFTs is straight from the GT rules boys and GW development team. They admitted that because the Codex: Tau Empire was a completely 4e book they hadn't thought about it in terms of 5e. I have been emailing them about this issue and am trying to get it into the FAQ. But for now its just a ruling they gave at a GT saying that "... is considered to be wargear for the DFT and therefore not a [KP] just the Transport is worth the [KP]."

Since this holds true I don't know what if any change they will make on this issue about Gun Drones being able to contest. But at least for now they can.

So the answer as to where this came from is simple it came from the GT rules boys and GW development team.

So do you know if GW will offer us something official (in print) on this Gun Drone from vehicle issue?

I agree that the ruling makes sense, but; "I heard it from some guy who posts on a forum I attend" does not normally cut it at the tournaments I attend.

Rune

As I had previously posted I have been emailing GW about getting something printed to the effect of the above.

Note though guys while I am happy to answer the questions. This isn't the main topic of the thread it is mostly to discuss ways of keeping our troops alive and holding (an) objective(s) while still winning the "shooting game".

Further questions about the drones and whether or not they are a KP and how we should handle it until something "official" gets printed, should be posted in another thread.

Again I am enthused by your responses but the main purpose here is about troops, objective hold, & objective denial.

Two things:

i) The GT FAQ are 'House Rules' only and should not be taken to be equivalent to an FAQ. Answers given in the GT FAQ have subsequently been changed by the official FAQ.

ii) The current GT FAQ is emphatic that both the Devilfish and Drones are worth separate kill points.

Sorry to be a spoiler, but I therefore see no basis for your assertion that the drones do not constitute a kill point.

Trentwolff :
I guess that digression is partially my fault... Putting it before my discussion of the ideas probably wasn't the best idea. I'll copy-paste my ideas down here, hopefully to head this down the right path again.

The only problem I see with your idea is how you're using the mounted teams or empty Devilfish; why risk them, unless you've already taken out most of the enemy's anti-tank, to contest an objective with their Gun Drones? You can just as easily disembark them in your backfield and move them forward, using cover. It creates a much smaller target and it doesn't risk your expensive transport.

You other ideas of focusing on holding your home objective and contesting/claiming the others when necessary, all the while eliminating the opponent, is one of the best ideas. I know, from personal experience, that players sometimes panic and try to grab as many objectives as they can early in the game, thus making them control a huge amount of territory. Taking the age-old idea of "occupations never succeed" to heart is a great boon to an overall strategy.

Anyway, nice job overall!

I agree that you shouldn't rush out and try to grab all the objectives, it leaves you spead thin and exposed to all sorts of nastyness.
However you can't leave it until turn 4 either.
It's all too easy for a savvy opponent to see you're holding abck and to guess that you plan on rushing the objectives with DF to contest.
If he manages to destroy, disable or temporarily incapacitate them then you're looking at the grim prospect of trying to move 6" + run in an attempt to contest something that may well be too far away if the game ends early.

DF are pretty hardy beasts with reasonable protection, so i would typically try to objective rush at the end of turn 3, or move forward ready to do it in turn 4.
any later and it starts to get a little too dicey for my liking.

small infiltrating kroot units can be quite fun too.
If you can get them to go to ground the whole game they may end up overlooked (since they don't appear to be doing anything) and then in the late stages they rush fowards and surprise! contested objective.
Not the most reliable strategy, but one that is prefect as a backup plan that costs very few points.