In almost 90% of situations, my Kroot have been in cover. If they aren't they die like flies. I always plan my Kroot to move from cover to cover. Or I plan them to die protecting some other formation (though then dying without saves is part of the plan, so it's ok).

Is it not feasible for Tau infantry to be the FF element and the armour be the shooty element of Tau lists? Each type of unit would have a specific tasking then. The organisation could be adjusted to compensate for possible overpower i.e less armour available etc.

Even with a 4+ in FF I would nearly never choose to assault with Firewarriors. From my point of view it would still be too risky. There might be some more opportunities where I could choose it, but mostly it would be more or less defensively. Kinda another aspect my opponent has to think about.

In essence, I hate it, that in general I already know my FW get wiped out when the assault is announced and not the problem, that I cant or shouldnt do assaulting myself.

why not? You could easily pull the Eldar guardian trick of having skimmer transports up front (do d'fish have RA like wave serpents?) soaking up hits and FW behind dishing out the FF attacks. Worked a beaut with mech guardians against 2x terminator fms last night (though admittedly, I didn't initiate the assault!)

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numquam culum es

Wave serpents suit this type of assault much better though because their armour is essentially twice that of a devilfish.

Having said that though, i would totally initiate a well planned engagement with 4+ FF FWs.  You'd need to stack the odds in your favour beforehand but that's always the case with engagements (Barring those pesky terminators) and it's half the fun!

Swooping hawks have a 4+ FF and a 5+ sv, as do stormtroopers and people don't seem to have too many reservations about engaging with them.  Perhaps you like to err on the side of caution with engagements Assariel?

@Matt: Good to see you enjoying the eldar dude.  I really love the Eldar army and all the cool things it can do whilst walking the thin line of avoiding biting off more than they can chew.

Well, Swooping Hawks havent been that effective in our games so far. Most of the time it was alot more risky for the eldar player to engage with them, in comparison to other formations he had. The thing with them is, they cant do anything else I believe. I am not 100% sure, but they only have small arms, right?

In that regard I normally to tend to shoot with Firewarriors rather than engage. But you are correct with the need to stack the odds beforehand. I am not sure, but it seemed to me, the eldar had more opportunities to increase his probabilities than me. Mostly due to very speedy units like jet bikes. But then again they also have those inspiring units, that admittedly cost addiotional points. Therefore thats okay. But for the record, I never said I want to be exactly as good in assaults as the Eldar. Thats their expertise.

As for devilfish in front it makes no real differnce imo. They dont have RA and only a 5+ armour save.

Well it does make a difference of not allowing the enemy units to countercharge into CC range with your firewarriors (Fishes are skimmers and as such can force firefights even in base contact).

Yeah, you are right but in this case the talk was mostly about FF and not CC considering FW are fresh meat in CC. It can help but 4 DF arent enough to cover all FW from CC most of the time.