Quote: (Honda @ 12 Mar. 2009, 22:32 )
Perhaps this hasn't been formally stated enough, but I and CS do not see the Tau as a foot slogger army. It is our intention to deliver something that is close cousins to say, an American Armored Cavalry regiment. Mechanization is expected to be a core feature of the list.
I think this philosophy needs a critical review. Mechanization is not a core feature as the list stands.
I went back through all the posted batreps for almost a year and out of all of them there was only one Tau army that had more than one mech FW formation, and that was done with the FW list. You might think that's due to an overall low number of FW formations taken (due to perceived balance issues), however, several of those lists had multiple footslogger FW formations.
I think the reasons for this are obvious. Working in coordination with battlesuits that move 15-20cm, the speed of Devilfish is a waste. Obviously, using Kroot has the same sort of restriction. Working with armor cadres and missile support in a static gunline, the speed of Devilfish is a waste. If you want to use any sort of GM force (armor gunline or air caste) the need for mobile MLs is better filled by separate Recon and Pathfinder formations than by mech FW with ML units attached and if you have those fast formations, then you don't need fast FW. You need the FW to provide bulk and holding power (as much as the army has, anyway), i.e. footsloggers.
The only way I see for mech FW to make sense is an army built entirely around them.
