but their superior guiding systems should enable them to target valuable synapse creatures much better than mass bombardments and good luck should it not? masses of dumb Nids protecting the synapse creatures wont help much against pinpointing strikes using missiles and drones
@@MrJay_White This. Make literal clouds of small spores that are just big enough to make the missile blow up in the air. Or create creatures that can fool the guiding systems and deflect the missiles.
@@fnors2 They will get a few still though before the critters can create effective adaptations though. Could be enough to turn the tide at a critical moment.
The imperium tends not to put much value in human life since they have so many people that a single person tends not to matter, since the tau are a small empire the lose of an individual is much greater, and since their strategy is to make their people relatively happy as happy people are easier to control, and to build up trust among the population it makes sense.
@@AceDan-gc9po Indeed, but the imperium has an almost limitless supply of people, even losing a systems worth of them doesn't have much impact in the grand scheme of things.
@@Nyghtking It also doesn't help that most of their population consist of illiterate hive dwellers, who the Imperium either by choice, or neglect, are kept purposefully ingorant of even basic education, that isn't related to their assigned roles, if their so lucky to have one.
Povilas Zemaitis the tactics seem like they could be a glass cannon to conventional armies. Hit or miss depending on how competent the conventional army is. The problem I see with the flexibile and dynamic nature of tau battle tactics is its extremely reliance on everything going as planned, which you know, can’t be relied upon. “A plan never survives contact with the enemy” and all. So while their specific battle practices can be eminences effective, they are also immensely vulnerable. I think the seige of vraks shows the advantages of more conventional methods. While one side or another could have horrible defeats, their conventional battle line focused style meant that no one defeat would completely cripple either the kreigers or the Vraksians. It was a grinding campaign. While Tau stratagems again would be all or nothing.
Tau: Orks, Man, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, Necrons! What the hell is wrong with this Galaxy?!!! Imperial Guard: First time in space? Welcome to hell. Krieg Guardsman: Welcome in the real world. Space Marine: Just another day at work.
Bruh, considering how much effort is put into preventing casualties (both civilian and not), the Tau would most likely go fucking catatonic if and when they meet the krieg. It would also be funny to read about that battle. Highly mobile warfare against an entrenched enemy. It would most likely go a little something like this: Tau: "the enemy is entrenched and we really wanna avoid a direct assault - can we go around?" And then they would figure out that the Krieg indeed made a trench, but that they made it circle around the world, because fuck you and your outflanking.
I am starting to think you can beat the Tau with a platoon of modern day US Marines and conventional firearms. Hell send them unarmed and they figure out a way to steal Tau weapons and use it against them.
@@thesystima the two things I want to see the most are the DKoK being sent to play with a Scept World and Angron and the World Eaters making their friendly introduction.
@@Philtopy I keep telling people that it's the Ordos Chronos, but every keeps screaming about the 'Patreon' nonsense. Clearly they're collaborators and are deserving a slow dip in an acid bath.
The moment they run out of ammo and there are still a shitton of enemies... As once a guardsman said before being overrun by nids. Quote: "You know you're fucked when even the Commissar starts shooting at the enemy."
It sounds like the Tau empire's defensive strategy essentially boils down to bluffing: When threatened, lash out with such disproportionate force that the attacker assumes they will be overwhelmed in a sustained conflict. Similar to how a small dog will be extremely loud and aggressive to intimidate anything that might prey on it.
Essentially but it’s been working and if the Fifth Sphere Expansion is able to kick off and consolidate itself. Then that chihuahua the Doberman-like Imperium has considered too insignificant to bother dealing with will rapidly become a scruffy Boxer it cannot kill without taking some serious wounds
It's not a really a bluff. Rapid, decisive response works well if you've got the preparation and mobility to pull it off, which the Tau have. They can't use the Imperium's response which is to drag the enemy through a defense-in-depth until the conflict bogs down into a war of attrition. They don't have the meat to throw in the grinder. The Imperium can't use the Tau's response, their systems aren't efficient enough. Each play to their strengths. The Tau's strategy works well against enemies like the Orks and Tyranids where you need to knock out the enemy beachhead asap. You don't want to get into a war of attrition with Orks, that summons more Orks, though it usually works well enough for the Imperium. You don't want to get into a war of attrition with the Tyranids because they can turn the planet into more tyranids. That's why the Imperium has basically adopted the same strategy for dealing with genestealers. If a genestealer cult is discovered or raises rebellion, the Imperium rushes top-tier rapid response forces like the Astartes and major navel elements to the world. Punching the devouring abomination in face when pokes it nose through the door is much easier than wrestling with it in your living room.
@@TheDubDisciple The Tau cannot expand without SERIOUS plot armor. They are literally surrounded by the Ork at this point and they CANNOT WIN against Ork. Their entire strategy is to hit and run and win quickly. The moment they get into a drawn out grind, they lose quickly. ALL wars against Ork are meatgrinders that last years and years where a hundred thousand deaths a week are common on both sides. The Tau cannot sustain those losses. A few months and they lose entire defense forces that leave their other worlds literally defenseless. An Ork raiding group requires between a 6th and a 5th of their defense forces. This is a raiding group, not even a Waaagh! and they are already taxing their defenses at an empire level. GW should have the Tau poke the hornet's nest and a Waaagh! goes through and wipes out a full 3rd of their planets. Have the only reason they don't get wiped out, being that the Waaagh! gets bored and attacks nearby Imperial worlds forcing the Imperium to also respond to it. People need reminding how fragile the Tau Empire really is and how small they are compared to everyone else. In the table top, sure, they can compete. The moment we get into full on war however...they honestly cannot compete with any other faction. They don't have the numbers or supplies to do so.
T'au: well at least those imperium psychopaths aren't about to genocide us all I can't believe such a horrific empire managed to survive this long T'au 5 minutes later: oH dEaR gOd ThAt'S hOw
So what I’m hearing is, use the Death Korp. The won’t turn traitor, they’ll fight to the last, long range attacks can’t break their morale, and they would dominate in melee. *Happy Gas Mask Noises*
What you do is send a relatively small Catachan group (not even a company) to out scout and out maneuver the Tau, with a Dummy base and command center set up to look like typical Cadian base. Lets the Blueberries come in, then flank them in on all sides with a krieg siege army with Inquisitorial and Astarties Reinforcements.
@@lukasperuzovic1429 Problem is, with how maneuverable the tau are, you could never get a slow grinding army such as Kreig to ambush them, in fact outside of picked engagements, the tau would just avoid the Krieger's altogether. the guard armies that would stand the best chance would be the Elysian drop troops, and as you said, catachans, as they are both mobile and cable of picking their fights as well as the tau do. storm trooper would work well for the same reason, but astartes, unless an entire chapter/multiple companies is unleashed will get mowed down by railguns and missiles, and pulse rifles. They simply don't have the numbers.
Sure, but the problem is, Krieg relies on artillery and a slow grinding advance. That is the exact opposite of what would be needed to counter the tau. Kreig doesn't have the speed to keep up with the tau and even if they did, they would be shot o pieces before they made it into range. what you need is some Catachans, Stormtroopers, or Elysian drop troops. Each has the mobility to engage the tau at close range and on their terms. with Krieg, they would never be able to pick or even react properly to their engagements, and the end result would be similar to the Germans of WW2 blitzkreiging through France. Heck, Krieg even uses WW1 tactics, which have been rendered useless for a century. They would be pulverized by the tau hunter cadres. And I'm talking mostly pre Damocles crusade stuff. Kreig works well against nids, orks, and most of chaos, however the instant they face someone using sensible tactics, they fall apart (or would if the GW writers haad any sense in them).
The tactics of commanders from 200BC could best the Tau....and have bested the Tau. Only reason Tau hold the Imperium typically is STRONG plot bias. I mean Tau don't even defend strong points, a basic 3 commander chain of command could hit Arch's hypocritical Starport and take it with more ease than if the Tau had actually stood their ground and sallied forth with mobile strike forces AFTER the enemy had committed to the offensive against the Star Port. TF2 logic can highlight that logic and the failure of the Tau garrison's failure. Spy and Scout are best when your back is turned to them and you're too busy shooting at something else. Tau are trying to take Spy and brawl like they're a Soldier. And it just takes a slight change to the Tau Strategy...but it grounds the Tau forces and it violates the "we're the Federation the story should just let us Win" that Tau were born of.
@@darkblood626 Yes, but obviously the Inquisition hasn't actually taken notice of the Tau yet. You can tell because there is still such thing as the Tau.
@@darkblood626 but they took away Kryptman's exterminatus button, since then Inquisition related exterminatus' have gone down 40,000%...while pretentious blueberry related exterminatus have gone up 6000%.
@Lord Admiral Spire Splinter fleet that they also had to ask a few crusading imperial ships late to the party for help to defeat. And a splinter fleet that got partially wrecked by the awakening of a Necron tomb world.
@Maintenance Renegade nah.. taus and necrontyrs have similarities (very fast technological progress, short lifespans), but the comparison stops here. necrontyrs has a society based around a cult of the dead and were driven foward by the hope of escaping the radiation of their shitty sun that caused their bodies to decay at a very early age; and they eventually found out that they could go as far as they wanted and wouldn't have escaped their issue, that was genetically encoded at this point. Unlike the Tau, they were NOT unified in any measure (and the War in the Heavens was instigated partly as a way to unite the necrontyr dynasties that were tearing eachother apart by giving them a common enemy and the promise of immortality), beign far more individualistic, and weren't trying to create a large empire, rather expanding out of desperation for a mean to fix their lifespan. As for Ethereals being C'tans.. you think they would have made sacrifices to themselves a norm then, as the ctan are nothing if not hungry space entities. hell, they would have made the Tau into necrons by now (more obedient, immortal to serve them better, and as a bonus the Ctan gets to eat the souls.. and it's the ctans more than the necrontyr that developped biotransferance). On top, necrons and C'tans are NOT friends at all by now :p The ethereals may be creepy old blueberries... but being C'tans doesn't fit how they operate. that, and as far as we know, only living metal can contain the essence of a C'tan and give it a physical form (once there though, mimicing an organic being is possible... even fooled imperial assassins to the very last moment): something the tau don't know how to produce at all, and you would think the C'tans would have put in high priority. lastly, the necrontyr themselves where not artificially engineered. Only the old one did such a thing, and it was only after the war in the Heavens was already well on its way and that the Ancients were losing to the Necrons (with new races meant to be weapons against an army of immortal soldiers led by physical gods, the results being Eldars, Krorks (no idea how these differ from orks), jokaeros and a few other unknown races (humans were NOT one of them, and the tau are too young as a race to have been made by them either) TLDR... nope, the tau can't be a necron-related race
Hey look buddy, I'm a Fire Warrior. That means I solve problems, not problems like "What is beauty?" Because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems, for instance: how am I going to stop some big mean Gue'vesa from tearing me a structurally superfluous be-hind? The answer, use a gun, and if that don't work... Use more gun.
I think my favorite Tau/Dark Eldar story is when they first met the DE and Prophets of flesh, who showed up as mercs to help them fight off some other enemy. As payment they demanded 70 members of each cast and 7 etherials. Then, at a later battle some of the Tau noticed that among the DE army were creatures of a familure hue, screaming in agony and rage. Upon being confronted, the DE laughed and broke the alliance, then prepaired to attack an important Tau location. The tau raced there and started to fight, only to realize they were fighting holograms. Suddenly, a distress call came in from a nearby world and they raced there to fight off the real DE army. When they arrived, no living thing existed in the colony and there weren't even bloodstains anywhere to be found.
Need to take over a Hive World? Tau Shields. Need to defend against an orbital bombardment? Tau Shields. Need to get those tough grease stains out your new jeans? Tau shields.
I actually really like the way the Tau wage war. They're not super human or space wizards, and they don't have billions in reserve to be able to just keep throwing bodies into the grinder. They have to fight smart, because they can't rely on overwhelming numbers or individual martial prowess. At least, when they don't have plot armor. They actually care about their soldiers and do everything they can to minimize casualties, even if it is for the purely pragmatic reason of they don't have an endless well of manpower like the Imperium. I think a legitimately well written book on the Tau, where they overcome long odds through the tactical superiority they're supposed to have would be really interesting. Unfortunately, writing a book that features tactical skill requires knowledge of tactics to begin with, something that isn't that much of an issue for most of the other factions.
Yeah You have to actually understand warfare to write the Tau well in a macro view that not even generals of our time dominated I like Crisis of Faith but the Tau actions are made to glorify how cool Farsight is And the strategy is leave considerably ambiguous Apart for the strategy "Propaganda to make slaves revolt and then arm them and use as manpower"
Step 1: Charge the enemy civilians in melee combat, to conserve ammo. Step 2 Get your entire army destroyed by a 9 year old Cadian little girl, who is armed with a broken chair leg.
Hey as long as the guardsmen in question dont have a pretend viking theme to them, they good! Personally I prefer the Gudrunite Rifles tho, mostly because they upstaged actual honest to god space marines with their shooting skills. OK it was in a weird altered dimension where a circle could have more then 360 degrees and they had prior experience unlike said space marines, BUT STILL! Even the DeathKorps and Cadians cant quite claim to have had consistently better marksmanship then a spacemarine in an engagement, afaik.
You have just described the entire 40K universe. Everyone and everything is so unbelievably powerful that the adeptus arbites could probably beat the Tau. I'm not surprised they have to rely on plot contrivance to keep them relevant.
@@metaljugger well they just up the power of Tau guns to the point that a Tau gun line can withstand a Tyranid tidal wave... everything in WH40k is supposed to be ridiculously overpowered anyway lol it just depends who's the main characters of the current plot
“The Tau love getting intelligence on everyone and everything” Everything but..... ^places ethereal skull on the doorstep on the Tau Commanders Headquarters before he steps out, picks it up and his entire Headquarters goes up in flames from a dozen stealthily places Demo-charges^ *SLY MARBO*
The day the Black Templar discovered the T'au was a dark day for the T'au Empire. It warms my heart to think about how their leaders must have reacted when they found out that not everyone is the same as them.
I love the tau war mindset since it is opposite the imperium and both ways of war work with the guard in waves of human bodies lasguns and steel and the tau of fall back and shoot
W need a book trilogy about Guilliman going on vacation by organizing recreational Crusade against fishfaces. You know, something nice and relaxing to take a bit of rest from chaos.
@@jamesm783 And he'd do it in a hawaiian shirt and flip-flops, sporting sunglasses and sipping a drink, all while laying on a bench carried around on the backs of captured Word Bearers and World Eaters.
As funny as the image is of Guillemen in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops trying to convince his alien gf to wear a bikini, the man is all about efficiency. He would actually embrace the T'au as potential allies in exchange for some technology exchange, heck the Earth Caste inventors and the AdMech working together could probably figure out a way to technologically enslave the Necrons and slam the door on the Webway in a week.
The Tau didn't talk sense into the Imperium in that book. The Tyranids were invading Ultramar space as the "crusade" was in mid swing and having taken heavy losses. The Imperiums forces were ultimately ill matched against the Tau. Many troops were needlessly lost. So The Imperiums options were to dig in and turn the "crusade" into a years or decades long siege as reinforcements are raised... While also raising forces to fight the Tyranids. Which was not really possible given the time frame. Or, they could make a temporary truths with the Tau in order to deal with a much more real and present danger. They even told the tau that this was outside of the norm and was only even an option because of the Tyranids. They should feel lucky. I'm curious what the "Many Armed God" story arc is going to be after their latest sphere expansion.
The T'au didn't HAVE to "talk sense" to the Imperium, the Crusade shattered against the first Sept World it tried taking on, so it was either, "stay here, die to the last man, and MAYBE take the planet for a few weeks at best" or "get out of an unwinnable situation and go help out elsewhere, cover our retreat as best we can, and pray to the Emperor that this wasn't all for nothing".
Erm....it actually happened during the Damocles crusade, a small armored unit, wrongly supplied, without the means to take the tau on at a distance, with no other options, actually did a full on massed bayonet charge into the tau ranks :D And the tau got whooped! Then that unit decided to temporarily go AWOL until some ultramarines found them and went ">:( THE FUCK, YOU BROKE YOUR OWN RADIO?! REEEE!!!!!"
@@creyzi4j Last time we fought you blueberry bastards we destroyed your navy and only destroyed one planet. Clearly your ego is going to have to understand that if we wanted to we could just throw enough at you until we destroy your navy again and actually destroy all of your rocks like we should have originaly.
@@creyzi4j .....erm....*recalls a story about Ciaphas Cain* .....Did you check on those two heroic Tau you picked up a while ago back on that imperial rimworld? Yknow the ones that had first contact with the Tyrranids? No? Whats that? You took them back home to a sept world? You put them in positions of command and authority, like the good loyal servants of the greater good they are? ............. You might wanna check your flanks....
I love the Tau because they're what Humanity usually is in almost every other sci-fi. It's unfortunate that they're just not written well relative to the galaxy that they're in. But, that's a storybook problem, I still think they're really cool.
1:01:30 it was a surprise that the crusade commander did decide to ally with the tau but a smart commander would see that if the IoM and Tau fight, the winner would be to weak to beat the tyranids. So it actually was a good move and i'm glad it happened. I think if the IoM could have more situations like that and the BR/Nec situation we may see them become allies with the tau, Aeldar, and necron (certain dynasties or individuals like the one who helped cawl) in this new era of choas (it's right...). if all 4 joined forces to beat choas it would be a very interesting course. Plus the tech that could be made......of course there would be hard liners on all sides but then there is the old thing about ' the enemy of my enemy is my friend.... atleast for now...'
Well he kinda proved it was necessary in this video not only does he compare the tau to communists he 1 does it badly and 2 does it inaccuratly for example he thinks that an authoritarian command economy with a caste system is communist which is just wrong
@@Juryiat except they literally are as communist as you can be. An authoritarian caste based system where you're born to work a certain role by a powerful elite that demands you do what they tell you to do and if you disobey the leaders you're in for a world of hurt, not to mention their "greater good" slogan.
The Orks noticed us. We've been swatting them down ever since. Admittedly, it's hard to truly "beat" them, but we manage. The Empire noticed us. We kicked the Damocles Fleet in the teeth and sent them running. The Tyranids noticed us. We...okay, we lost a fair number of planets before we won, and they'll probably be back later. Eh, we'll cross that bridge later. The Necrons noticed us. We screamed and ran away. They grumped about "kids on the lawn" and largely left us alone. Mortarion noticed us. We're shooting him in the face right now. It seems to be working so far.
The Emperium's strategy to end the Tau now is just to redirect all the horrors of the 40k universe their way. Basically, we just tell them to "Get Fycked"
James Custodio well they do have two hive fleets doing a slow motion pincer on them so why bother fighting them. Although I wouldn't be surprised if they beat them back with the heart of the cards
Seeing the artwork of this video i decided to buy a couple nice Tau battlesuits. To modify them into ork megaarmor of course and possibly put a couple of the bigger weapons on an ork battlefortress^^ Just imagine a XV88 Broadside Battlesuit but with the front broken open, an ork inside and extra armor bolted on top, maybe one of the legs replaced with a crude ork construction. Or the gun of a stormsurge nailed to the side of an ork kampfpanza...
a relatively small chaos force made a pretty significant fraction of the Tau desert, namely the Farsight Enclaves, they gave them such PTSD that they no longer wanted to serve the ethereals. the moment the general Tau population finds out about the full and unfiltered existence of chaos, is the moment the Tau lose.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 Maybe, maybe not. Farsight still serves the T'au'va, he just doesn't think the T'au need the Ethereals entrenched at the top anymore.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 Necro comment, but did you even read the books, man? The Ethereals were fooling with Farsight for years, sending him on fool's errands and denying him reinforcements to stomp out the Beg'el. They also lied about knowing the threats of the warp exist. Him being the commander of the Firecaste, the idea of withholding crucial information of potential encounters and the subsequent loss of the Ethereals at Arthas Moloch was the straw that broke the camel's back. Whilst there are no Ethereals on the Enclaves, they still practice the same way of life. Farsight still believes in T'au'va and the Eight hold the wolrds together, not expanding, but defending them well. What PTSD are you even on about? It is a well-known fact that death of an Ethereal is one of the saddest moments for any T'au, but it wasn't their death that made Farsigh splinter. Hit the books
So a Hunter Cadre is a Brigade Combat Team, miniaturized to a company size. For perspective, U.S Army company consists of roughly 150-200 Soldiers; a brigade consists of roughly 3000-6000 Soldiers, depending on the number of battalions and support elements that are attached.
Arch. You absolutely need to do a video on the Tau 4th expansion fleet when the poor Tau learned just how horrifying human warp travel is. The lore is just too hilarious not to.
I'd love to see the tau survive in the current landscape of multiple hive fleets attacking them from multiple directions....That would be fascinating. Cause I believe the tau would actually have some of the best chance at being able to find counter measures to the hive fleets.
I could see the Imperium working out some kind of insurance agreement with the Tau, they pay a tithe in men and materials and in exchange the Imperium will make an effort to help them with issues only the Imperium has experience dealing with (genestealers, chaos corruption, dark eldar raids) and if an actual hive fleet shows up or something equally dire an actual crusade will eventually arrive to deal with it. The reasoning for this most generous arrangement is that it's all well and funny when your neighbor's house is on fire but you can't keep laughing until the fire spreads to your property, even if you have miles of land it's still your land and that fire will spread if left unchecked. It's also a diplomatic thing, paying a tithe at all is an admission by the Tau that they need the Imperium, sure they can look after themselves mostly and if shit hits the fan they might be able to hold out a while but they're still only a single hive fleet, Ork waagh or Necron fart away from utter annihilation. A gue'vesa regiment of the Imperial Guard will spread the philosophy of the greater good far and wide however the Imperium has very little to fear from that, totalitarian communism isn't really all that different to a totalitarian dictatorship and without the influence of the water caste the philosophy will be adapted and watered down to irrelevance, the Imperium is already incredibly divided ideologically, a bit of blueberry to the pot won't spoil the stew. On the other hand the Tau will have gue'vesa returning after serving in the Imperial Guard and that will have a profound effect on Tau society, these guardsmen will still be gue'vesa but they'll be battle hardened and just spent years if not decades working alongside regiments that practice various forms of the Imperial Creed, for the Tau their presence will greatly undermine the authority of the Ethereals. For the Greater Good of The Emperor! *BLAM*
My favorite short story that involve the Tau is the one who thought a Chaos Marine was the person all the enemy worshiped, Slaanesh. The are adorable, like a quadriplegic puppy.
Imagen if a chapter of space marines where to convert to the greater good, no limitations on numbers, no sticking to imperium tech, unstoppable, all chanting "for the greater good!" rather that for the emporer, that would be awesome
The Tau. Sure they can’t melee worth a damn (except Farsight and sometimes Shadowsun) but Golden Throne help you if you’re in their line of Fire for more than a millisecond.
Yea everyone gives the Tau shit for being super tiny compared to the Imperium and getting whacked in the Damocles crusade, but honestly how many races in 40k could withstand a Tyranid invasion and keep the planet they're standing on, while being so much of a bother that the Imperium agrees to an armistice? xD
how to invade a tau planet make sure every guardsman in the invasion force has a bayonet on their lasgun as standard issue and say one extra ration bar to the one with the most kills the planet will be cleansed within months
Well. Its not really Surprising I guess. The German Army in WW2 was pretty much in the same Situation. Having extremely Limited Ressources, an Technological Edge, being vastly Outnumbered and being Focused on Fast and Decisive Actions. Therefore the German Army was usually Forced to work on Recon Information and try to Counter and Overwhelm the Enemy in one Area at a Time as they cant possibly hope to Fight the vastly Superior Enemy on several Areas at once effectively. Actually. Thinking about this. The Tau seem to be having quite a few Similarities to the German Empires during the Times around the 1st and 2nd World Wars. A Few Individuals Uniting a bunch of formerly Divided Tribes/States which then go on into an insanely fast Development Spree sounds quite alot like Bismarck. The German Empires also had a Huge Focus on Incorporating Conquered Territories and Foreign Units and Technology. In a Sense. The Empire of Mankind Represents in alot of Areas the Harsh Reality of Germany in WW1 and WW2. With all its Perversion, Political Indoctrination and Tyrannic Absolute Leadership. While the Tau seem to Represent the Ideal German Empire that the Propaganda had Promised to the People during WW1 and WW2 which never became Reality. What People often dont Realize. Is that especially in Germany during WW2. Alot of the Promises was very Communist Oriented. Promising Work and Good Life for absolutely everyone etc. In the Name of the Greater Good of the Community etc etc.... This of course never really happened. Because unlike the Promises made by the German Government and the Propaganda of absolut Technological Superiority etc etc. But the Tau seem Extremely Close to that Ideal Propaganda that Germany Promised before and partly even during WW2.
The Tau behave a lot like Germany in WW2 with the strategy of Switzerland, they can easily undertake a small scale campaign and come out of it relatively victorious and not excessively damaged due to superior tactics and technology, like the Polish French and Norwegian campaigns but the second the campaign becomes a full war theatre they have to commit pretty much everything they have and pray to God that another front does not open up otherwise they know they will loose, like the Soviet campaign and eventually after the Normandy Landings. Switzerland because they are alive right now simply because for most other major players in the galaxy they are nothing but a nuisance but by god if you poke them they will retaliate simply to spite fully make it as difficult for the enemy to take them over that the enemy will simply not bother with it, not because they could not win but because it would not be worth it to win anyway with the amount of hassle they'd have to go through.
After hearing it out, I'm surprised at just how bad Tau defense and ground armies are. Not only they are incredibly small thus not allowing for any mistakes, but they are incapable of any serious fighting outside of hit and run tactics or decisive blows at the very most. Meaning that any casualties or anything which would force Tau into a pitched large scale battle would wreak an absolute massive losses upon their military forces. It is no wonder that Damocles crusade almost managed to wipe the entire Tau military out of the face of the universe with so few troops.
If I remember older fluff correctly Tau planets that faced Tyranids (at least few first) were devoured before any response could be send. So they are as screwed as humanity. Maybe Shadow in the warp has not as devastating effect on them but still. Nids are capable of omnonoming lightly "garrisoned" tau planets extremely fast.
I always hated the way the Tau just got ultra lucky all the time due not to just plot armor, but plotonium powered 10' mechanized plot armor. I loved your video. I knew about their 1st encounter with the tyranids, the necrons, the imperium and the dark eldar, but I am curious about how they ended up fighting the eldar (and how they did).
The Tau need to work on their orbital and planetside defences and just dig into every world they manage to get. They'll work things out eventually. They've advanced far too quick to just die. That and if they look into the Necron tech... things could get interesting.... But I agree, them managing to take a hive world... bit ott. When one was explained the idea of a hive world... the poor blueberry almost passed out at the thought of his entire empires population as JUST one of MANY hive worlds.... put into perspective the size of the Tau empire and that of THE Empire. XD
That's assuming the Tau would be dumb enough to try to take hive worlds through brute force, like the orks. The Tau's adaptability can effectively counter the Imperium's dogmatic approach to warfare. Besides, the Tau don't need to take out EVERY single individual on a hive world. They only need to take out the ones preventing the civilian populace from coming to their side, like the planet's PDF and arbites garrisons. Then the water caste can do its job. Plus with the rate Tau technology advances, they will have more and more options to counteract races that previously outmatch them, particularly the tyrannids and the dark eldar. GW doesn't seem to understand the difference between being underdogs and being completely irrelevant. The Tau are capable of going toe to toe with any race in the 40k universe, yet GW goes out of its way to hammer in the point that any of those races can wipe them all out if decide to put in actual effort. It is ridiculous how the Tau seem to be incapable of getting out of it's insignificant position in the galaxy due to plot reasons, while being kept in that insignificant position in the galaxy due to plot reasons. At least let them earn a few wins and the chance to be taken seriously by the 40k fandom.
@@patrickmcginty3234 to add to this: the water caste could turn the hive gangs against the imperial command and allow them to pick open strategic targets in the choas. People always forget the power of the 5 caste system. Yes the fire caste are the model range but tau water caste can be a lethal weapon and the earth caste allows tau tech to surpass imperial tech one day.
How to defend a Tau planet: pray nobody bothers landing enough troops to screw them up big time. If a proper Crusade or Hive Fleet comes their way they are dead. Thankfully for them they have been given tons and tons of plot armor
Yes and no. The Imperium COULD crush them, but it would involve redirecting entire Space Marine Legions away from other areas they're needed. It would be a pyrrhic victory at best.
I had to watch a 4 minute Brazilian folksong video as an Ad before this video; hope you apreciate the sacrifices I do for you Arch. Thank God for the mute button.
As mentioned here, the Tau strategies and their organization seem to have a lot in common with those of the Eldar Aspect Warriors. At the same time, the Tau's recipe for success and their rise as a technologically advanced species seems to have come out of nowhere. It makes you wonder if the Eldar might not be their real masters in disguise. There is actually a lot of hints that the Tau species was in fact created and "raised" by the Eldar to serve as an Ally in the future, similar to how the Eldar themselves were once created by the Old Ones as an ally.
Their tactic of attacking supply lines didn't work against the Tyranids because the Tau are the supply lines. Lol.
Lol
but their superior guiding systems should enable them to target valuable synapse creatures much better than mass bombardments and good luck should it not? masses of dumb Nids protecting the synapse creatures wont help much against pinpointing strikes using missiles and drones
@@phreakazoith2237 literally just throw nids at the incoming missiles. or just grow some flack nids
@@MrJay_White This. Make literal clouds of small spores that are just big enough to make the missile blow up in the air.
Or create creatures that can fool the guiding systems and deflect the missiles.
@@fnors2 They will get a few still though before the critters can create effective adaptations though. Could be enough to turn the tide at a critical moment.
*Tau actually evacuating civilians like a sane empire*
Imperium: "hey that illegal!"
Civilians ? You mean even more expendable guardsmen ?
The imperium tends not to put much value in human life since they have so many people that a single person tends not to matter, since the tau are a small empire the lose of an individual is much greater, and since their strategy is to make their people relatively happy as happy people are easier to control, and to build up trust among the population it makes sense.
Nyghtking the thing is it’s not the individual person that makes them heartless it’s the entire systems of people
@@AceDan-gc9po Indeed, but the imperium has an almost limitless supply of people, even losing a systems worth of them doesn't have much impact in the grand scheme of things.
@@Nyghtking It also doesn't help that most of their population consist of illiterate hive dwellers, who the Imperium either by choice, or neglect, are kept purposefully ingorant of even basic education, that isn't related to their assigned roles, if their so lucky to have one.
Tau Defense is Simple: shoot it before it gets remotely close.
If this fails follow Tau Command Step 2 : Run Away and Shoot Again
That's my actual defensive strategy, the tau stole it from the the sneaky communists!
'ERE WE GO, LADZ!
Seems like a good idea to me
Not letting the massive hulk of flesh with a hammer any were near me sounds like a good strategy
Kitten: "but they can't even fight in melee!"
Must end them. Power armor is for melee
The Emperor: That is .... *ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL*
Farsight laugh loudly
I don’t need psychic powers to see you are very biased on this matter.
Kroot & Vespid: Are we a joke to you?
Tau planetary defence strategy is amazing against any sane enemy army that uses conventional tactics.
Sadly, it is absolutely shit in 40k.
Orks will just brute force their way through and with the spores on the planet, could luck scraping that planet clean even if you win too
It seems only to work against the imperium.
Everything else no.
"Conventional tactics" "40k" choose one.
Povilas Zemaitis the6 seem fine and in reality to crack this but would kill the imperium via losing on every other front
Povilas Zemaitis the tactics seem like they could be a glass cannon to conventional armies. Hit or miss depending on how competent the conventional army is. The problem I see with the flexibile and dynamic nature of tau battle tactics is its extremely reliance on everything going as planned, which you know, can’t be relied upon. “A plan never survives contact with the enemy” and all. So while their specific battle practices can be eminences effective, they are also immensely vulnerable. I think the seige of vraks shows the advantages of more conventional methods. While one side or another could have horrible defeats, their conventional battle line focused style meant that no one defeat would completely cripple either the kreigers or the Vraksians. It was a grinding campaign. While Tau stratagems again would be all or nothing.
How to crush the Tau
Tell the tech priests that the Tau have a complete functioning STC on their home world producing these battle suits.
Oof, I can see their tech boner all the way from Terra
@@thegoatman9231 a new astronomicon has been created
@@MrJay_White
It is a sign! _WE MUST ALL FUCK OURSELVES!!!!!!_
@Goat Man why hello there fellow goat men
God damn children of chaos sprouting horns and hoofs
Tau strategy: massive firepower to keep enemies at bay.
Orkz strategy: ignore that silly idea
Orks love dakka, but they love beating the ever loving shit out of things more.
Chaos strategy: what idea?
Imperium strategy: Fix bayonets!
Tau: Orks, Man, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, Necrons! What the hell is wrong with this Galaxy?!!!
Imperial Guard: First time in space? Welcome to hell.
Krieg Guardsman: Welcome in the real world.
Space Marine: Just another day at work.
Chaos: for me it was Tuesday
More like, Kriegsman: “IKR?! Isn’t it amazing?! So many ways to die horribly for the Emperor!”
Bruh, considering how much effort is put into preventing casualties (both civilian and not), the Tau would most likely go fucking catatonic if and when they meet the krieg.
It would also be funny to read about that battle. Highly mobile warfare against an entrenched enemy.
It would most likely go a little something like this:
Tau: "the enemy is entrenched and we really wanna avoid a direct assault - can we go around?"
And then they would figure out that the Krieg indeed made a trench, but that they made it circle around the world, because fuck you and your outflanking.
I am starting to think you can beat the Tau with a platoon of modern day US Marines and conventional firearms. Hell send them unarmed and they figure out a way to steal Tau weapons and use it against them.
@@thesystima the two things I want to see the most are the DKoK being sent to play with a Scept World and Angron and the World Eaters making their friendly introduction.
Me: oh boy new arch warhammer video
*see over an hour long*
Me: oh dear neptune
how the hell can your comment be from 20 hours ago when the video was uploaded jsut 40 minutes ago? HERESY INTENSIFIES!!!
@@Philtopy I keep telling people that it's the Ordos Chronos, but every keeps screaming about the 'Patreon' nonsense. Clearly they're collaborators and are deserving a slow dip in an acid bath.
I FEEL THE WARP OVERTAKING ME!
Toughen up. Play some DF while you listen to this.
@@ornu01 this was a well hit answere with d3 mortal wounds to any argument. feel pround. you may clap now.
The moment they run out of ammo and there are still a shitton of enemies... As once a guardsman said before being overrun by nids. Quote: "You know you're fucked when even the Commissar starts shooting at the enemy."
Tau subject, one hour.
Mission objective: S U R V I V E.
Halo reach 💔
cheftrinker09 Spartans don’t die they just go missing in action
@@connorc6293 "if only that were true..."
Tyranid: Objective: Sample the tasty thing. Repeat until tasty thing no longer around. Weird how these blue tasty things can actually run away though.
It sounds like the Tau empire's defensive strategy essentially boils down to bluffing: When threatened, lash out with such disproportionate force that the attacker assumes they will be overwhelmed in a sustained conflict. Similar to how a small dog will be extremely loud and aggressive to intimidate anything that might prey on it.
Essentially but it’s been working and if the Fifth Sphere Expansion is able to kick off and consolidate itself. Then that chihuahua the Doberman-like Imperium has considered too insignificant to bother dealing with will rapidly become a scruffy Boxer it cannot kill without taking some serious wounds
It's not a really a bluff. Rapid, decisive response works well if you've got the preparation and mobility to pull it off, which the Tau have. They can't use the Imperium's response which is to drag the enemy through a defense-in-depth until the conflict bogs down into a war of attrition. They don't have the meat to throw in the grinder. The Imperium can't use the Tau's response, their systems aren't efficient enough. Each play to their strengths.
The Tau's strategy works well against enemies like the Orks and Tyranids where you need to knock out the enemy beachhead asap. You don't want to get into a war of attrition with Orks, that summons more Orks, though it usually works well enough for the Imperium. You don't want to get into a war of attrition with the Tyranids because they can turn the planet into more tyranids. That's why the Imperium has basically adopted the same strategy for dealing with genestealers. If a genestealer cult is discovered or raises rebellion, the Imperium rushes top-tier rapid response forces like the Astartes and major navel elements to the world. Punching the devouring abomination in face when pokes it nose through the door is much easier than wrestling with it in your living room.
All warfare is build upon deception.
The Tau basically follow the Art of War
@@TheDubDisciple The Tau cannot expand without SERIOUS plot armor. They are literally surrounded by the Ork at this point and they CANNOT WIN against Ork. Their entire strategy is to hit and run and win quickly. The moment they get into a drawn out grind, they lose quickly. ALL wars against Ork are meatgrinders that last years and years where a hundred thousand deaths a week are common on both sides. The Tau cannot sustain those losses. A few months and they lose entire defense forces that leave their other worlds literally defenseless.
An Ork raiding group requires between a 6th and a 5th of their defense forces. This is a raiding group, not even a Waaagh! and they are already taxing their defenses at an empire level.
GW should have the Tau poke the hornet's nest and a Waaagh! goes through and wipes out a full 3rd of their planets. Have the only reason they don't get wiped out, being that the Waaagh! gets bored and attacks nearby Imperial worlds forcing the Imperium to also respond to it. People need reminding how fragile the Tau Empire really is and how small they are compared to everyone else. In the table top, sure, they can compete. The moment we get into full on war however...they honestly cannot compete with any other faction. They don't have the numbers or supplies to do so.
T'au: well at least those imperium psychopaths aren't about to genocide us all I can't believe such a horrific empire managed to survive this long
T'au 5 minutes later: oH dEaR gOd ThAt'S hOw
ngl laughed a bit too hard and got weird looks from humies
Tau: Looses melee specialists
Imperium: Laughs in assault marine
Imperium: Looses melee specialists
Eldar: Laughing Striking scorpions and banshees.
Tau:Well, I tried, railgun in the chapter master
Melee?! Pffft! You cant melee after getting shot in the face.
Last time I was this early the alien smurfs were throwing sticks
.
So not that long ago
Clever
Well last time I was this early we are still in M2
Guardsmen: "Get closer!"
Tau: *distant Chinese fish derision*
Guardsmen: "REEEEE"
*distant Chinese fish derision*
The Tau version of "Gaze upon this!"
Keep firing. Keep firing!
@@fumarc4501 Sir only 3 of our guardsmen made it into bayonet range. The Tau were killed to the last.
@@zombiehunter501 that never happens
I thought the Tau are more Japanese-ish that Chinese-ish.
So what I’m hearing is, use the Death Korp. The won’t turn traitor, they’ll fight to the last, long range attacks can’t break their morale, and they would dominate in melee. *Happy Gas Mask Noises*
What you do is send a relatively small Catachan group (not even a company) to out scout and out maneuver the Tau, with a Dummy base and command center set up to look like typical Cadian base. Lets the Blueberries come in, then flank them in on all sides with a krieg siege army with Inquisitorial and Astarties Reinforcements.
Definately a very unhappy prospect for dem Tau boiz
@@lukasperuzovic1429 Problem is, with how maneuverable the tau are, you could never get a slow grinding army such as Kreig to ambush them, in fact outside of picked engagements, the tau would just avoid the Krieger's altogether. the guard armies that would stand the best chance would be the Elysian drop troops, and as you said, catachans, as they are both mobile and cable of picking their fights as well as the tau do. storm trooper would work well for the same reason, but astartes, unless an entire chapter/multiple companies is unleashed will get mowed down by railguns and missiles, and pulse rifles. They simply don't have the numbers.
Sure, but the problem is, Krieg relies on artillery and a slow grinding advance. That is the exact opposite of what would be needed to counter the tau. Kreig doesn't have the speed to keep up with the tau and even if they did, they would be shot o pieces before they made it into range. what you need is some Catachans, Stormtroopers, or Elysian drop troops. Each has the mobility to engage the tau at close range and on their terms. with Krieg, they would never be able to pick or even react properly to their engagements, and the end result would be similar to the Germans of WW2 blitzkreiging through France. Heck, Krieg even uses WW1 tactics, which have been rendered useless for a century. They would be pulverized by the tau hunter cadres. And I'm talking mostly pre Damocles crusade stuff. Kreig works well against nids, orks, and most of chaos, however the instant they face someone using sensible tactics, they fall apart (or would if the GW writers haad any sense in them).
@@aesonkeel6527 Did you just said the Death Corps of Kreig don't have the numbers?
I can just imaigne an inquisitor watching this video, nodding to himself and saying 'exterminatus it is'.
The tactics of commanders from 200BC could best the Tau....and have bested the Tau.
Only reason Tau hold the Imperium typically is STRONG plot bias. I mean Tau don't even defend strong points, a basic 3 commander chain of command could hit Arch's hypocritical Starport and take it with more ease than if the Tau had actually stood their ground and sallied forth with mobile strike forces AFTER the enemy had committed to the offensive against the Star Port.
TF2 logic can highlight that logic and the failure of the Tau garrison's failure. Spy and Scout are best when your back is turned to them and you're too busy shooting at something else. Tau are trying to take Spy and brawl like they're a Soldier.
And it just takes a slight change to the Tau Strategy...but it grounds the Tau forces and it violates the "we're the Federation the story should just let us Win" that Tau were born of.
@@codyraugh6599 It was a quip about the inquisition being trigger happy.
@@darkblood626 Yes, but obviously the Inquisition hasn't actually taken notice of the Tau yet. You can tell because there is still such thing as the Tau.
@@darkblood626 but they took away Kryptman's exterminatus button, since then Inquisition related exterminatus' have gone down 40,000%...while pretentious blueberry related exterminatus have gone up 6000%.
its not even remotely communist
Necrons and Nids: *exist*
T'au: *PANICKED FISH NOISES*
i thought they were more based on bovids than fish?
Tau have successfully defended against Tyranids. But the Necrons...everyone has a good reason to fear them.
@@valtersplume3726 they kill gods and can counter the warp
@Lord Admiral Spire Splinter fleet that they also had to ask a few crusading imperial ships late to the party for help to defeat. And a splinter fleet that got partially wrecked by the awakening of a Necron tomb world.
@Maintenance Renegade nah.. taus and necrontyrs have similarities (very fast technological progress, short lifespans), but the comparison stops here. necrontyrs has a society based around a cult of the dead and were driven foward by the hope of escaping the radiation of their shitty sun that caused their bodies to decay at a very early age; and they eventually found out that they could go as far as they wanted and wouldn't have escaped their issue, that was genetically encoded at this point.
Unlike the Tau, they were NOT unified in any measure (and the War in the Heavens was instigated partly as a way to unite the necrontyr dynasties that were tearing eachother apart by giving them a common enemy and the promise of immortality), beign far more individualistic, and weren't trying to create a large empire, rather expanding out of desperation for a mean to fix their lifespan. As for Ethereals being C'tans.. you think they would have made sacrifices to themselves a norm then, as the ctan are nothing if not hungry space entities. hell, they would have made the Tau into necrons by now (more obedient, immortal to serve them better, and as a bonus the Ctan gets to eat the souls.. and it's the ctans more than the necrontyr that developped biotransferance). On top, necrons and C'tans are NOT friends at all by now :p
The ethereals may be creepy old blueberries... but being C'tans doesn't fit how they operate. that, and as far as we know, only living metal can contain the essence of a C'tan and give it a physical form (once there though, mimicing an organic being is possible... even fooled imperial assassins to the very last moment): something the tau don't know how to produce at all, and you would think the C'tans would have put in high priority.
lastly, the necrontyr themselves where not artificially engineered. Only the old one did such a thing, and it was only after the war in the Heavens was already well on its way and that the Ancients were losing to the Necrons (with new races meant to be weapons against an army of immortal soldiers led by physical gods, the results being Eldars, Krorks (no idea how these differ from orks), jokaeros and a few other unknown races (humans were NOT one of them, and the tau are too young as a race to have been made by them either)
TLDR... nope, the tau can't be a necron-related race
Hey look buddy, I'm a Fire Warrior. That means I solve problems, not problems like "What is beauty?" Because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems, for instance: how am I going to stop some big mean Gue'vesa from tearing me a structurally superfluous be-hind? The answer, use a gun, and if that don't work... Use more gun.
Poot dispenser here!
Gue'Vesa are the Tau auxillary humans tho. Gue'la and Gue'ron'sha are the enemies
You mean a NEW structurally superfluous be-hind. The Tau already have a structurally superfluous be-hind right in the middle of their face.
Imao brilliant comment
I think my favorite Tau/Dark Eldar story is when they first met the DE and Prophets of flesh, who showed up as mercs to help them fight off some other enemy. As payment they demanded 70 members of each cast and 7 etherials. Then, at a later battle some of the Tau noticed that among the DE army were creatures of a familure hue, screaming in agony and rage. Upon being confronted, the DE laughed and broke the alliance, then prepaired to attack an important Tau location. The tau raced there and started to fight, only to realize they were fighting holograms. Suddenly, a distress call came in from a nearby world and they raced there to fight off the real DE army.
When they arrived, no living thing existed in the colony and there weren't even bloodstains anywhere to be found.
The Dark Eldar are actual twats, legitimately bastards. nobody likes them, not even themselves
the more impressive part is that the entire planets infrastructure was still intact. Lights still on, taps still running, the whole shebang.
Need to take over a Hive World? Tau Shields.
Need to defend against an orbital bombardment? Tau Shields.
Need to get those tough grease stains out your new jeans? Tau shields.
*accidentally loses an entire Imperial Guard regiment*
There's Got to Be a Better Way!
Tau: The galaxy isn’t that dangerous, I think we can handle this.
The entire 40k galaxy: *IM GOING IN DRY*
Tau: f
Me: I need to clean.
Arch: Posts video about Tau warfare.
Me: I need tea and hot pockets.
Arch's videos make great backgroung for almost anything.
Arch Lore videos are the best background entertainment while cleaning your flat rigorously
MizantropMan the Vraks series alone kept my house nice and clean while it lasted
I just watched/listened to this while washing dishes, so you can do both.
Literally cleaning while listening rn to this lol
I actually really like the way the Tau wage war. They're not super human or space wizards, and they don't have billions in reserve to be able to just keep throwing bodies into the grinder. They have to fight smart, because they can't rely on overwhelming numbers or individual martial prowess. At least, when they don't have plot armor. They actually care about their soldiers and do everything they can to minimize casualties, even if it is for the purely pragmatic reason of they don't have an endless well of manpower like the Imperium. I think a legitimately well written book on the Tau, where they overcome long odds through the tactical superiority they're supposed to have would be really interesting. Unfortunately, writing a book that features tactical skill requires knowledge of tactics to begin with, something that isn't that much of an issue for most of the other factions.
I love the Tau because it's so much more satisfying when you win. And I'm a whore for mechs lol
Yeah
You have to actually understand warfare to write the Tau well in a macro view that not even generals of our time dominated
I like Crisis of Faith but the Tau actions are made to glorify how cool Farsight is
And the strategy is leave considerably ambiguous
Apart for the strategy "Propaganda to make slaves revolt and then arm them and use as manpower"
Step 1: Charge the enemy civilians in melee combat, to conserve ammo.
Step 2 Get your entire army destroyed by a 9 year old Cadian little girl, who is armed with a broken chair leg.
You DON'T, fuck with Cadians.
At all.
@@Life-tastic *chuckles approvingly in Krieg*
@@anangrymarine9174
!!!! just because you kriegers use semi heretical birthing methods!
@@Life-tastic More of a Catachan myself...but the Cadians sure can hold a line!
Hey as long as the guardsmen in question dont have a pretend viking theme to them, they good!
Personally I prefer the Gudrunite Rifles tho, mostly because they upstaged actual honest to god space marines with their shooting skills.
OK it was in a weird altered dimension where a circle could have more then 360 degrees and they had prior experience unlike said space marines, BUT STILL! Even the DeathKorps and Cadians cant quite claim to have had consistently better marksmanship then a spacemarine in an engagement, afaik.
The tau are the 40k equivalent of *that kid*
"I have a X proof shield"
You have just described the entire 40K universe. Everyone and everything is so unbelievably powerful that the adeptus arbites could probably beat the Tau. I'm not surprised they have to rely on plot contrivance to keep them relevant.
@@metaljugger well they just up the power of Tau guns to the point that a Tau gun line can withstand a Tyranid tidal wave... everything in WH40k is supposed to be ridiculously overpowered anyway lol it just depends who's the main characters of the current plot
@@spiritvdc5109 The Stan Lee approach "Who wins in a fight, Thor or the Hulk? Well... Who's book does the fight happen in?"
@@justinweber4977 Yea pretty much... everyone in 40k has kicked everyone else's ass at some point xD
@@spiritvdc5109 except the grey knights, or the ultramarines, those seem to never lose
“The Tau love getting intelligence on everyone and everything”
Everything but..... ^places ethereal skull on the doorstep on the Tau Commanders Headquarters before he steps out, picks it up and his entire Headquarters goes up in flames from a dozen stealthily places Demo-charges^
*SLY MARBO*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The day the Black Templar discovered the T'au was a dark day for the T'au Empire. It warms my heart to think about how their leaders must have reacted when they found out that not everyone is the same as them.
PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGING WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH MY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN
“Inconsistent Tau shield”
We want to talk about inconsistent space marine or imperium equipment? 😂
I love the tau war mindset since it is opposite the imperium and both ways of war work with the guard in waves of human bodies lasguns and steel and the tau of fall back and shoot
W need a book trilogy about Guilliman going on vacation by organizing recreational Crusade against fishfaces. You know, something nice and relaxing to take a bit of rest from chaos.
I can imagine him just drinking a nice cool beer while issuing simple (for a primarch) orders to his forces as they completly roflestomp the Tau
@@somerandomguyfromthebeyond1821 Guiliman's a statesman first, his vacation would probably involve out-diplomacizing the water caste
@@jamesm783 And he'd do it in a hawaiian shirt and flip-flops, sporting sunglasses and sipping a drink, all while laying on a bench carried around on the backs of captured Word Bearers and World Eaters.
@@MizantropMan don't forget that Guilliman's big titty elf waifu will be with him
As funny as the image is of Guillemen in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops trying to convince his alien gf to wear a bikini, the man is all about efficiency. He would actually embrace the T'au as potential allies in exchange for some technology exchange, heck the Earth Caste inventors and the AdMech working together could probably figure out a way to technologically enslave the Necrons and slam the door on the Webway in a week.
What if the "crusade", "hive fleet" and the hive world were all played up by the ethereals as a form of propaganda
omg is that a 1984 reference
The Tau didn't talk sense into the Imperium in that book. The Tyranids were invading Ultramar space as the "crusade" was in mid swing and having taken heavy losses.
The Imperiums forces were ultimately ill matched against the Tau. Many troops were needlessly lost.
So The Imperiums options were to dig in and turn the "crusade" into a years or decades long siege as reinforcements are raised... While also raising forces to fight the Tyranids. Which was not really possible given the time frame.
Or, they could make a temporary truths with the Tau in order to deal with a much more real and present danger. They even told the tau that this was outside of the norm and was only even an option because of the Tyranids. They should feel lucky.
I'm curious what the "Many Armed God" story arc is going to be after their latest sphere expansion.
Pls man, where can get these stories you are talking about? Big fan of 40k here.
The T'au didn't HAVE to "talk sense" to the Imperium, the Crusade shattered against the first Sept World it tried taking on, so it was either, "stay here, die to the last man, and MAYBE take the planet for a few weeks at best" or "get out of an unwinnable situation and go help out elsewhere, cover our retreat as best we can, and pray to the Emperor that this wasn't all for nothing".
@@drakZes GW has their own book range called the Black Library. All stores will sell some books as well.
Fire Warriors: It’s true, we suck at melee
Too bad you’ll never get there
Erm....it actually happened during the Damocles crusade, a small armored unit, wrongly supplied, without the means to take the tau on at a distance, with no other options, actually did a full on massed bayonet charge into the tau ranks :D
And the tau got whooped!
Then that unit decided to temporarily go AWOL until some ultramarines found them and went ">:( THE FUCK, YOU BROKE YOUR OWN RADIO?! REEEE!!!!!"
Hope you enjoy exterminatus HERETIC!
Colonel Thyran It’s ok. I have my tau shields with me.
Well be happy looking at the fireworks as we bombard your ships with tau pulse cannons
@@creyzi4j Last time we fought you blueberry bastards we destroyed your navy and only destroyed one planet. Clearly your ego is going to have to understand that if we wanted to we could just throw enough at you until we destroy your navy again and actually destroy all of your rocks like we should have originaly.
@@creyzi4j .....erm....*recalls a story about Ciaphas Cain*
.....Did you check on those two heroic Tau you picked up a while ago back on that imperial rimworld? Yknow the ones that had first contact with the Tyrranids?
No? Whats that? You took them back home to a sept world? You put them in positions of command and authority, like the good loyal servants of the greater good they are?
.............
You might wanna check your flanks....
With the Greater Good ™ and anime, that's how.
Tau in a nutshell
"Dont fuck with me --i have the power of the greater good and anime on my side!!"
@@TKUltra971 *whistling inquisitior pressing exterminatus button*
When Anime comes to life, a planet is doomed...it's also why Weirdboyz are to be watched out for.
Nothing wrong with that 😉
crazybongo5
and warsuit-waifus!
You guys keep forgetting the goddamn warsuit-waifus!
How to defend a Tau world?
That's easy!
*Don't.*
How to defend Tau world?
*B U R N*
I love the Tau because they're what Humanity usually is in almost every other sci-fi. It's unfortunate that they're just not written well relative to the galaxy that they're in. But, that's a storybook problem, I still think they're really cool.
They are also like what humanity was like during the golden age of technology before the age of strife
@@shabah2644 except human tech from the dark age is absolutely overkill and that's only the crap we've found.
@@CThyran too right mate... the dark age tech we have seen is practically magic
1:01:30 it was a surprise that the crusade commander did decide to ally with the tau but a smart commander would see that if the IoM and Tau fight, the winner would be to weak to beat the tyranids. So it actually was a good move and i'm glad it happened. I think if the IoM could have more situations like that and the BR/Nec situation we may see them become allies with the tau, Aeldar, and necron (certain dynasties or individuals like the one who helped cawl) in this new era of choas (it's right...). if all 4 joined forces to beat choas it would be a very interesting course. Plus the tech that could be made......of course there would be hard liners on all sides but then there is the old thing about ' the enemy of my enemy is my friend.... atleast for now...'
By banning Archwarhammer from a subreddit he didn't even use.
Don't you mean a planet that he never visited? Teeheehee!
The Bush doctrine.
Emperor-damned Weaboo Space Communists....
Well he kinda proved it was necessary in this video not only does he compare the tau to communists he 1 does it badly and 2 does it inaccuratly for example he thinks that an authoritarian command economy with a caste system is communist which is just wrong
@@Juryiat except they literally are as communist as you can be. An authoritarian caste based system where you're born to work a certain role by a powerful elite that demands you do what they tell you to do and if you disobey the leaders you're in for a world of hurt, not to mention their "greater good" slogan.
tau: **about to assault the tyranid supply lines**
tyranids: "oooh, they have delivery!"
Yippie a video by *name redacted* my friday is complete.
Oh no, speak his name and he shall appear (!)
You can't really call yourself a major race in Warhammer 40k when your entire strategic doctrine can be summed up to:
"Pray we don't get noticed."
Yet, when they expand. They are practically screaming "NOTICE ME SENPAI!!!"
The Orks noticed us. We've been swatting them down ever since. Admittedly, it's hard to truly "beat" them, but we manage.
The Empire noticed us. We kicked the Damocles Fleet in the teeth and sent them running.
The Tyranids noticed us. We...okay, we lost a fair number of planets before we won, and they'll probably be back later. Eh, we'll cross that bridge later.
The Necrons noticed us. We screamed and ran away. They grumped about "kids on the lawn" and largely left us alone.
Mortarion noticed us. We're shooting him in the face right now. It seems to be working so far.
Hey Arch, I'm curious on your opinion of the Farsight Enclaves. I find them interesting, personally.
The Emperium's strategy to end the Tau now is just to redirect all the horrors of the 40k universe their way.
Basically, we just tell them to "Get Fycked"
IG: "waah, the universe is cold and brutal"
Tau FC: yeah! You, Tyrranids and Eldar are the worst!
IG: you hear of Chaos yet?
Tau:...wut?
James Custodio well they do have two hive fleets doing a slow motion pincer on them so why bother fighting them. Although I wouldn't be surprised if they beat them back with the heart of the cards
And in the case of Slaanesh worshippers, that is a quite literal statement.
Seeing the artwork of this video i decided to buy a couple nice Tau battlesuits. To modify them into ork megaarmor of course and possibly put a couple of the bigger weapons on an ork battlefortress^^
Just imagine a XV88 Broadside Battlesuit but with the front broken open, an ork inside and extra armor bolted on top, maybe one of the legs replaced with a crude ork construction. Or the gun of a stormsurge nailed to the side of an ork kampfpanza...
Personally, I'd strap a grot or two on the missile pods, making it look like he's eyeballing the damn thing XD
@@thegoatman9231 Great idea^^
*invader comes within view*
-So anyway, i start blasting
The Tau struggle against flexible opponents
*laughs in Slaanesh*
... Not _that_ kind of flexibility...
"The patient hunter gets it's prey" voice line makes alot more sense as a Devil Fish troop transport in dow1 now.
Answer: Horrible, and no where near the perfection that of which is man.
We apologize. The slated episode of "pimp my bunker" has been postponed to a later time slot. We appreciate your understanding.
Foe the Imperium has the ultimate combat ability, The Emperor protects. FOR THE EMPEROR!!!
Imperial Fists Slaanesh will have yer ass
@@charlottewalnut3118 The last Daemonette who tried received an Imperial Fisting via my Powerfist coated in Purity Seals.
for the greater good
I can't wait for Tau wormhole generators to unite enlightened xeno races outside of the 4th or 5th sphere so the Tau can experience the Eye of Terror.
a relatively small chaos force made a pretty significant fraction of the Tau desert, namely the Farsight Enclaves, they gave them such PTSD that they no longer wanted to serve the ethereals. the moment the general Tau population finds out about the full and unfiltered existence of chaos, is the moment the Tau lose.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 Maybe, maybe not. Farsight still serves the T'au'va, he just doesn't think the T'au need the Ethereals entrenched at the top anymore.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 Necro comment, but did you even read the books, man?
The Ethereals were fooling with Farsight for years, sending him on fool's errands and denying him reinforcements to stomp out the Beg'el.
They also lied about knowing the threats of the warp exist. Him being the commander of the Firecaste, the idea of withholding crucial information of potential encounters and the subsequent loss of the Ethereals at Arthas Moloch was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Whilst there are no Ethereals on the Enclaves, they still practice the same way of life. Farsight still believes in T'au'va and the Eight hold the wolrds together, not expanding, but defending them well.
What PTSD are you even on about? It is a well-known fact that death of an Ethereal is one of the saddest moments for any T'au, but it wasn't their death that made Farsigh splinter.
Hit the books
Little confused village between the empires of europe tearing at each other: "We can have militia too and fight!"
the rate at which these videos are churned out is simply mindblowing
Defend aka hope and pray they forgot ground forces. I’ve played enough stellaris multiplayer to know they will for the first 100 years
Tell me more about this “Ground Forces” of which you speak.
Try the 40K mod
then u aint playing it rightxd, then again i am using a lot of mods, or at least i was till the last update, rip mods
Tau defend a planet by running away and shooting over their shoulders while commanding their robot waifus to fight for them
Tau:
Evacuate civilians
Imperium:
👁👄👁
An arch video. The best birthday gift a man could ask for
So a Hunter Cadre is a Brigade Combat Team, miniaturized to a company size.
For perspective, U.S Army company consists of roughly 150-200 Soldiers; a brigade consists of roughly 3000-6000 Soldiers, depending on the number of battalions and support elements that are attached.
Arch. You absolutely need to do a video on the Tau 4th expansion fleet when the poor Tau learned just how horrifying human warp travel is.
The lore is just too hilarious not to.
the tau empire trying to fight the other races is a bigger mismatch than a random toddler challenging an MMA fighter
Oh boy,
I am currently preparing to go to my college graduation. And then, I see this.
This day is blessed by the Emperor indeed. :D
Gz's.
Man, I like the Tau. I really hope that the tyranids don't just straight up eat the entire empire.
When the Imperium of Man is your greatest enemy, but than you release it's the least a threat compared to everything else.
I'd love to see the tau survive in the current landscape of multiple hive fleets attacking them from multiple directions....That would be fascinating. Cause I believe the tau would actually have some of the best chance at being able to find counter measures to the hive fleets.
The Tau have my favorite aesthetic in 40k. Most of the the Imperium either looks like something out of WWI or like someone put a cathedral on legs.
"cathedral crip walking from stage left"
'you either drip or drown, brother'
I loved this video! Nicely done. Gotta finish painting my army, so i can add the new kroot. For the greater good
56:25 Aka. their new-player-protection expired
Tau Defense strategy:
1) Shoot
2) Run away
3) Repeat until enemy gives up in disgust
Id love one of these for Orks. Orks defense "Orks attack no defend"
I could see the Imperium working out some kind of insurance agreement with the Tau, they pay a tithe in men and materials and in exchange the Imperium will make an effort to help them with issues only the Imperium has experience dealing with (genestealers, chaos corruption, dark eldar raids) and if an actual hive fleet shows up or something equally dire an actual crusade will eventually arrive to deal with it. The reasoning for this most generous arrangement is that it's all well and funny when your neighbor's house is on fire but you can't keep laughing until the fire spreads to your property, even if you have miles of land it's still your land and that fire will spread if left unchecked. It's also a diplomatic thing, paying a tithe at all is an admission by the Tau that they need the Imperium, sure they can look after themselves mostly and if shit hits the fan they might be able to hold out a while but they're still only a single hive fleet, Ork waagh or Necron fart away from utter annihilation. A gue'vesa regiment of the Imperial Guard will spread the philosophy of the greater good far and wide however the Imperium has very little to fear from that, totalitarian communism isn't really all that different to a totalitarian dictatorship and without the influence of the water caste the philosophy will be adapted and watered down to irrelevance, the Imperium is already incredibly divided ideologically, a bit of blueberry to the pot won't spoil the stew. On the other hand the Tau will have gue'vesa returning after serving in the Imperial Guard and that will have a profound effect on Tau society, these guardsmen will still be gue'vesa but they'll be battle hardened and just spent years if not decades working alongside regiments that practice various forms of the Imperial Creed, for the Tau their presence will greatly undermine the authority of the Ethereals. For the Greater Good of The Emperor! *BLAM*
My favorite short story that involve the Tau is the one who thought a Chaos Marine was the person all the enemy worshiped, Slaanesh.
The are adorable, like a quadriplegic puppy.
meanwhile during the dark crusade:
*tau fighting a prolonged 7 way fustercluck*
I'd like to see one on elder tactics in and outs
Imagen if a chapter of space marines where to convert to the greater good, no limitations on numbers, no sticking to imperium tech, unstoppable, all chanting "for the greater good!" rather that for the emporer, that would be awesome
The greater good has one very small, tiny weakness: melee
And numbers
*ork about to hit a fire warrior* "yup that's me you're probably wondering how I got in this situation"
He who shall not be named will never be silenced.
Nothing weird about that Riptide shield. It has a 4+ invulnerability save!
The Tau. Sure they can’t melee worth a damn (except Farsight and sometimes Shadowsun) but Golden Throne help you if you’re in their line of Fire for more than a millisecond.
*laughs in basilisk*
*shoots in Riptide*
@@NewGuy2534 *laughs in exterminatus*
@@CThyran *laughs with you while watching xeno world succumbing to virus bomb*
first, you have to get them to SIT STILL LONG ENOUGH to pound them into oblivion.... NOT EASY.
I see a lot of hate for Tau but when I heard audio books it describes them as really good soldiers, and don't FCK with commander Farsight in melee!
Yea everyone gives the Tau shit for being super tiny compared to the Imperium and getting whacked in the Damocles crusade, but honestly how many races in 40k could withstand a Tyranid invasion and keep the planet they're standing on, while being so much of a bother that the Imperium agrees to an armistice? xD
how to invade a tau planet
make sure every guardsman in the invasion force has a bayonet on their lasgun as standard issue and say one extra ration bar to the one with the most kills
the planet will be cleansed within months
Well. Its not really Surprising I guess. The German Army in WW2 was pretty much in the same Situation. Having extremely Limited Ressources, an Technological Edge, being vastly Outnumbered and being Focused on Fast and Decisive Actions. Therefore the German Army was usually Forced to work on Recon Information and try to Counter and Overwhelm the Enemy in one Area at a Time as they cant possibly hope to Fight the vastly Superior Enemy on several Areas at once effectively.
Actually. Thinking about this. The Tau seem to be having quite a few Similarities to the German Empires during the Times around the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
A Few Individuals Uniting a bunch of formerly Divided Tribes/States which then go on into an insanely fast Development Spree sounds quite alot like Bismarck.
The German Empires also had a Huge Focus on Incorporating Conquered Territories and Foreign Units and Technology.
In a Sense. The Empire of Mankind Represents in alot of Areas the Harsh Reality of Germany in WW1 and WW2. With all its Perversion, Political Indoctrination and Tyrannic Absolute Leadership.
While the Tau seem to Represent the Ideal German Empire that the Propaganda had Promised to the People during WW1 and WW2 which never became Reality.
What People often dont Realize. Is that especially in Germany during WW2. Alot of the Promises was very Communist Oriented. Promising Work and Good Life for absolutely everyone etc. In the Name of the Greater Good of the Community etc etc....
This of course never really happened. Because unlike the Promises made by the German Government and the Propaganda of absolut Technological Superiority etc etc.
But the Tau seem Extremely Close to that Ideal Propaganda that Germany Promised before and partly even during WW2.
Unfortunately for the Tau, they only fare marginally better than Stormtroopers and Nazis against Tyranids.
I just love it how he makes explain the tau so funny
The Tau behave a lot like Germany in WW2 with the strategy of Switzerland, they can easily undertake a small scale campaign and come out of it relatively victorious and not excessively damaged due to superior tactics and technology, like the Polish French and Norwegian campaigns but the second the campaign becomes a full war theatre they have to commit pretty much everything they have and pray to God that another front does not open up otherwise they know they will loose, like the Soviet campaign and eventually after the Normandy Landings.
Switzerland because they are alive right now simply because for most other major players in the galaxy they are nothing but a nuisance but by god if you poke them they will retaliate simply to spite fully make it as difficult for the enemy to take them over that the enemy will simply not bother with it, not because they could not win but because it would not be worth it to win anyway with the amount of hassle they'd have to go through.
Alternative video name: "How the Blue Skinned Space Communists Defend a Planet?"
its not even remotely communist
@@Aconspiracyofravens1 better watch your mouth or your Tau overlords will reeducate you.
@Sizzil'n sausagebooi does the imperium work for the greater bad then?
@Sizzil'n sausagebooi I dont understand it either, im just a spiteful tau player ;(
@@Xfighter000 Oof my condolence.
It's a shame that you cant experience the Golden Macho bois of The Emperor.
After hearing it out, I'm surprised at just how bad Tau defense and ground armies are. Not only they are incredibly small thus not allowing for any mistakes, but they are incapable of any serious fighting outside of hit and run tactics or decisive blows at the very most. Meaning that any casualties or anything which would force Tau into a pitched large scale battle would wreak an absolute massive losses upon their military forces. It is no wonder that Damocles crusade almost managed to wipe the entire Tau military out of the face of the universe with so few troops.
If I remember older fluff correctly Tau planets that faced Tyranids (at least few first) were devoured before any response could be send.
So they are as screwed as humanity. Maybe Shadow in the warp has not as devastating effect on them but still. Nids are capable of omnonoming lightly "garrisoned" tau planets extremely fast.
I always hated the way the Tau just got ultra lucky all the time due not to just plot armor, but plotonium powered 10' mechanized plot armor. I loved your video. I knew about their 1st encounter with the tyranids, the necrons, the imperium and the dark eldar, but I am curious about how they ended up fighting the eldar (and how they did).
The Tau need to work on their orbital and planetside defences and just dig into every world they manage to get. They'll work things out eventually. They've advanced far too quick to just die. That and if they look into the Necron tech... things could get interesting.... But I agree, them managing to take a hive world... bit ott. When one was explained the idea of a hive world... the poor blueberry almost passed out at the thought of his entire empires population as JUST one of MANY hive worlds.... put into perspective the size of the Tau empire and that of THE Empire. XD
That's assuming the Tau would be dumb enough to try to take hive worlds through brute force, like the orks. The Tau's adaptability can effectively counter the Imperium's dogmatic approach to warfare. Besides, the Tau don't need to take out EVERY single individual on a hive world. They only need to take out the ones preventing the civilian populace from coming to their side, like the planet's PDF and arbites garrisons. Then the water caste can do its job. Plus with the rate Tau technology advances, they will have more and more options to counteract races that previously outmatch them, particularly the tyrannids and the dark eldar.
GW doesn't seem to understand the difference between being underdogs and being completely irrelevant. The Tau are capable of going toe to toe with any race in the 40k universe, yet GW goes out of its way to hammer in the point that any of those races can wipe them all out if decide to put in actual effort. It is ridiculous how the Tau seem to be incapable of getting out of it's insignificant position in the galaxy due to plot reasons, while being kept in that insignificant position in the galaxy due to plot reasons. At least let them earn a few wins and the chance to be taken seriously by the 40k fandom.
@@patrickmcginty3234 to add to this: the water caste could turn the hive gangs against the imperial command and allow them to pick open strategic targets in the choas.
People always forget the power of the 5 caste system. Yes the fire caste are the model range but tau water caste can be a lethal weapon and the earth caste allows tau tech to surpass imperial tech one day.
Probably be good to mention that Tau space travel is slow but they don't have to go far.
Imagine a total war game in this world setting, god damn that would be interesting.
When you finally conquer a neighboring nation only for the fog of war to clear and show another player took over half the continent
It’s like modern tactics from the Tau and imperial forces using WW1 tactics
How to defend a Tau planet: pray nobody bothers landing enough troops to screw them up big time. If a proper Crusade or Hive Fleet comes their way they are dead. Thankfully for them they have been given tons and tons of plot armor
Yes and no. The Imperium COULD crush them, but it would involve redirecting entire Space Marine Legions away from other areas they're needed. It would be a pyrrhic victory at best.
To be fair Ciaphas Cain was in the Damocles Gulf and that is a man who is far more interested in self preservation then killing anything non-human.
I had to watch a 4 minute Brazilian folksong video as an Ad before this video; hope you apreciate the sacrifices I do for you Arch.
Thank God for the mute button.
I Can feel your pain, bein a Brazilian and need to her the ''Brazilian Popular Music''(MPB) in praticaly all the ads
My white ass with TH-cam Red: I'm sorry, is this some sort of peasant joke I'm too rich to understand?
@@HippoKing.MP3 Thats wacism.
@@jamescawl6904 Nope, Brazilian polular music REALY sucks(But luckly some Brazilians older's band from 90's have some pretty good musics!)
As mentioned here, the Tau strategies and their organization seem to have a lot in common with those of the Eldar Aspect Warriors. At the same time, the Tau's recipe for success and their rise as a technologically advanced species seems to have come out of nowhere. It makes you wonder if the Eldar might not be their real masters in disguise. There is actually a lot of hints that the Tau species was in fact created and "raised" by the Eldar to serve as an Ally in the future, similar to how the Eldar themselves were once created by the Old Ones as an ally.
Tau aren't communists. They are basically Japan. They have almost the exact same class system
Average space encounter with the Imperium.
How many ships do the humans have?
Yes.
Ground battle it is.
*FINALLY I CAN NOW TAKE OUT MY NEIGHBOR EFFECTIVELY!!!!*
Tau: Boooo!
Space elves, super human vampires, and undead robots: Totally legit.
Sure. Whatever.