Tau FOC

[hiveguardalpha]

A friend has asked me to post this - he is playing Tau and is looking at the FOC - it's only a 600 point game, but it appears from the codex that he HAS to take a Commander as one of his HQ choices.

This has led to a spot of confusion - if he were to take any of the special characters that have the title Commander, does this replace the FOC requirement for a Commander.

It all seems insanely 'You must take X, Y and Z' in the forces for Tau.

Any clarification people can provide would be greatly appreciated

[Bot]

Where in the codex does it indicate that? On what page?

[Xenos and Proud]

Both the Fire Warrior Teams (Troops) and XV8 Commanders (HQ) are +1 choices in the Tau Empire codex. This means you MUST take at least 6 Fire Warriors as your Troops and an XV8 Commander (Shas'el or Shas'O with additional equipment - minimum 3 'soft-point' weapon/support systems) as your HQ.

It isn't really that bad a restriction as XV8's are great especially at low points and although most consider Fire Warriors rubbish I think they perform admirably. These minimum choices make up 2/3rd's of your mandatory unit selections anyway so you don't really lose out on anything.

What are you going to take instead anyway; Kroot, an Ethereal?

[hiveguardalpha]

The guy at the club wanted an Ethereal

I guess he's going to have to run with an XV8

[hiveguardalpha]

What about the special character Commanders? I don't tend to use special characters so I'm not certain how they work, but if you take one of them that's a Commander, do you still have to take an XV8?

[WestRider]

Shadowsun says that she counts as that 1+ Commander choice in the Codex, and Farsight was FAQed to say the same. So no, you don't have to take a plain Commander as well as one of the Special Character Commanders.

[albinoxeno]

well both the special commanders cant be used in games less than 1500 so your friend is lacking choices.