When I played Flames or War I used German Grenadiers. They where a very effective defensive force. You couldn't effectively fight them from greater than 16" away, and they had some very good mobile reserve options in the form of Tigers and Stugs. My Cygnar in Warmachine was much the same. They weren't as tough, but they could outrage anything else they would fight. They had a lot of units that weren't good at leading a charge, but where more than adequate to clean up anything that survived a turn or two of trying to march though long gunner fire.
It may seem like a simple way to play the game; just sitting there and roll dice while your opponent marches across the table. It's much harder than you think to do it right. You have to build the defensive line just right so that you can absorb a charge and regroup. You need to build in bait to tempt the enemy to commit their forces where you want them to. You need to have a mobile reserve behind your lines to counter whatever tricks your opponent pulls off.
40K has given me some trouble because I could never build an army that worked that way. The way the armies are designed in 40K you can win games by aggressively driving your assault units into the opposing army. You can't quite do that in other games. In FoW you need to measure your movement out just right to make an assault work. The Defensive Fire mechanic and the deadliness of weapons fire under 16" in that game make miscalculations very painful. In Warmachine you have to protect your own warcaster, so if an all out attack fails, you're probably going to loose to the counterattack. In both games, needlessly sacrificing units can tend to hamper you chances of winning.
In 40K, assault units are relatively cheap, and losing one doesn't loose you the game in most cases. The good assault based units are generally so much better in assaults than ordinary units, that there is no likely chance of failure. In assault unit versus assault unit match ups, mutually assured destruction is usually good enough. It's acceptable to loose an assault terminator squad to take out a Thunderwolves unit.
I'm not a very aggressive player. I think this is a result of Eldar being my first army. I've never held much stock in relying on close-combat for victories since my games always featured my expensive exotic aspect warriors bouncing off of regular old tactical marines.
Tau is the first army that I've played where I think a defensive strategy will work. It has cheap units to absorb charges, and sturdy units that can stand up to ranged fire. Many of the units are also decently fast enough to go on the offensive when the situation calls for it. I can build an army that will force my opponent to think about how to attack it. Or better yet, one that my opponents don't know they have to think carefully about approaching.
Anyway that's my hope. Based on the enormity of my experience(2 games).
So how does this relate to not wanting Tau to be the next codex? I don't want to have to relearn the army for Adepticon. Especially with as late as a march release window for the next codex. I also don't want to have to do any marathon painting sessions to get a rebuilt army ready in time.
I've been rethinking my list a little in the meantime though. I was worried about the Necron solar pulses. A ranged army really doesn't need to loose 2+ turns of shooting, so I removed a few gun drones to fit in some black sun filters. I haven't read the Necron rules, so I would be grateful if someone would confirm if the standard anti-night-fight equipment works against solar pulse.
New list follows:
| Unit Name | Upgrades | Qty |
| Shas'el (Commander) | ||
| Missile Pod | ||
| Plasma Rifle | ||
| Multi-tracker | ||
| Hard wired black sun filter | ||
| XV8 Team | 3 | |
| Missile Pod | 3 | |
| Plasma Rifle | 3 | |
| Multi-tracker | 3 | |
| XV8 Team | 3 | |
| Missile Pod | 3 | |
| Plasma Rifle | 3 | |
| Multi-tracker | 3 | |
| XV8 Team | 2 | |
| Twin linked Missle pod | 2 | |
| Black sun filter | 2 | |
| Fire Warriors | 6 | |
| Fire Warriors | 6 | |
| Devilfish | ||
| Seeker Missiles | 1 | |
| Disruption Pod | ||
| Kroot Squad | 10 | |
| Kroot Hounds | 7 | |
| Kroot Squad | 10 | |
| Kroot Hounds | 7 | |
| Pathfinder Squad | 8 | |
| Devilfish | ||
| Seeker Missiles | 1 | |
| Disruption Pod | ||
| Piranha | 1 | |
| Fusion Blaster | ||
| Targeting Array | ||
| Piranha | 1 | |
| Fusion Blaster | ||
| Targeting Array | ||
| XV88 Broadsides | 2 | |
| Team leader | ||
| Hard-wired black sun filter | ||
| Hard-wired target lock | ||
| Drone Controller | 1 | |
| Shield Drone | 2 | |
| Black sun filter | 1 | |
| Hammerhead | ||
| Rail Gun | ||
| Smart Missile System | ||
| Black sun filter | ||
| Disruption Pod | ||
| Multitracker | ||
| Sky Ray | ||
| Smart Missile System | ||
| Disruption Pod | ||
| Black sun filter | ||
| Multitracker | ||
| Targeting Array |
