MSU and the Tau Empire

One thing that I think is missing from ATT is discussion of how Tau can best utilize MSU power. This post is going to discuss MSU, look at a few very competitive builds out there and give an example of a Tau MSU build that I am planning on fielding for the 2011 tournament circuit. I’d really like the community’s input and dare I say, army lists that utilize MSU power.

What is MSU?

MSU is the abbreviation of “multiple small units” and most often refers to an army that contains lots of minimum or small sized units where nearly every FOC slot is filled. It’s not a new concept in 40k and harks back to 3^rd and 4^th edition in which victory points were the major determining factor in winning games.

Lots of the newer 40k armies like Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Imperial Guard and Dark Eldar have flexible Codices that can really take advantage of MSU power. A good example is the 5-man Blood Angel Assault Squad unit armed with a meltagun, infernus pistol and power sword, dropping its jump packs for a rhino or razorback. This unit actually doubles up an FOC slot as it gives you two units, a 5-man infantry unit and its transport (which can be a weapon in and of itself). The unit has meltagun-power and can fight in the assault too, due to the fact there is typically a Sanguinary Priest nearby to provide feel-no-pain and furious charge. That’s an example at the single unit level. Looking at the large context of the entire army, we’ll likely see 4-6 of these in the army (at around 155 points, they’re cheap), with around 5 or so predators, both Baal and regular preds and so on. Typical builds have almost every FOC slot filled up in some way. Space Wolves have a really great ability to fill up their armies with MSUs due their cheap points cost and access to special weapons and dedicated transports.

What does MSU do for your army?

The most important advantage of MSU is that builds in redundancy to your list and makes your army more durable to incoming fire and assaults. Who cares if you lose an assault squad you’e got 5 more of them! Also as your opponent’s units can only target one enemy unit at a time, his shooting needs to be divided up among small units instead of being able to concentrate fire on a single large threat. Because you have multiple units, losing one unit has little effect on your overall army because you have so many small units to replace the lost one.

Offensively, it makes your army more effective as well because you can allocate your fire better. Instead of having a single large unit overkill an enemy unit with shooting, your small unit can apply their firepower as needed without wasting redundant shots. This plays out well for broadsides. Sometimes a unit of 3 broadsides overkills an enemy tank, wasting a railgun shot or two, while 3 separate Broadsides can fire one at a time without wasting any shots.  

You can probably find  better explanation of benefits of MSU on Kirby’s Blog or on Yes The Truth Hurts. Mike Brandt from Whiskey 40k also had a great section on the 11^th Company Podcast discussing MSU in great detail.

Tau MSU 

The Tau Codex is structured well to take advantage of MSU. We have XV-8 Crisis Suits which by their nature are MSU and have access to special weapons. Broadsides work better when split up in to 3 units of 2, giving your army 6 railguns that can target 3 different enemies. Adding target locks to the Team Leader furthers this ability to spread railgun shots.

Piranhas are great too because not only can they be armed with powerful weapon, the fusion blaster, but they also come with a bonus of 2 drones as a unit. They’re also better off fielded as single units for blocking purposes. Fire Warriors while weak in general also fit into the MSU framework as well because they are cheap. What I also like about the Tau army is that for the most part, the units within it have lots of special rules without needing upgrades. For example, a Shas’El with two battlesuit weapons and a multitracker aleady has mobility, 3+ armor, the ability to deep-strike, counts as an infantry model and has acute senses. This is all without any fancy upgrades.

MSU is also important for Tau as having multiple small units builds layers of assault-protection and move blockers. Drones are great for this. Those little burgerbots are so useful in that they can be a serious nuisance to the enemy as you block their assaults with them and get in the way of enemy fire, providing cover for your units behind them.

The key is try and fill out all of your FOC slots with little units with minimum upgrades in favor of more guns on the table. It embodies the zen-like synergy that the Tau Empire aims to achieve. With Tau MSU, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

For me, perfecting Tau MSU is a work-in-progress so bare that in mind as you think about this post.

Sample Army List - 1750 points

Here’s a sample army list that after revisions from earlier will be taking to the field at The Conflict GT.

HQ- Shas’El with Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multitracker, Hard-wired Target Lock 87

HQ- Ethereal 50

Elites – 3 XV-8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pods, Flamers. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Elites – 3 XV-8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pods, Flamers. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Elites – 3 XV-8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pods, Flamers. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Troops  - 6 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles 60

Troops  - 6 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles 60

Troops  - 10 Kroot 70

Troops  - 10 Kroot 70

Troops  - 10 Kroot 70

Fast Attack - Piranha with Fusion Blaster 65

Fast Attack - Piranha with Fusion Blaster 65

Fast Attack - Piranha with Fusion Blaster 65

Heavy Support - 2 XV-88s with Advanced Stabilization Systems. 1 Upgraded to Team Leader. Drone Controller and 2 Shield Drones 195

Heavy Support - 2 XV-88s with Advanced Stabilization Systems. 1 Upgraded to Team Leader. Drone Controller and 2 Shield Drones 195

Heavy Support - 2 XV-88s with Advanced Stabilization Systems. 1 Upgraded to Team Leader. Drone Controller and 2 Shield Drones 195

This is pretty blatant departure from the on-going Mech craze, not because I think Mech is bad or anything, I just had a suggestion from Mike Brandt to remove Devilfish and it made sense to me. Hammerheads are a bit of disappointment as well. At any rate, you can see that just about every FOC section is filled. The list is actually 19 units in total with the drones off the piranhas. The amount of fire power this list can pump out at only being 1750 points is staggering. And it’s not all anti-mech firepower either, meaning that I’ll be able to hurt infantry as they pile out of transports.

The only thing missing from this article is a discussion of the effects of Kill Points. I think I’ll leave that to the next time.

Questions, Comments appreciated. I want to hear how you’re using MSU power to buff up your armies!