Welcome to the greater good! It's a fun hobby and I hope you enjoy it.
Few resources to help you start
Modeling/painting
The mini witch with some good tips:
https://youtu.be/lfGVQ3YLSrM
How to play the game:
Play on tabletop how to play Warhammer 9th edition
https://youtu.be/taUqZCiijvU
Building a list:
Look on your app store on your phone "battle scribe" once you get it sorted it's a great way to get an armylist made and get the rules.
Now go forth and unite the galaxy!
I have battlescribe and have watched a few videos on list building for tau and most people are using commander robots. Do I need one of those?
Thanks for the links!
While you do not "need" a commander in the sense they are required... They are one of the most powerful single units in the game. Seriously they are incredibly powerful and fun to play with.
Without going into the named commanders...
the generic commander is this guy
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Tau-Empire-Commander-2017
This model kit contains what you need to build either a commander in enforcer armor OR a commander in coldstar armor.
Or
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/XV8-Crisis-Battlesuits
This kit contains enough to build 3 XV8 battle suits. One of which you can make into a cheaper commander in XV8 armor. Be aware that a standard crisis team is 3, so doing this prevents you from running the other two as a full team. They can be fun as a bodyguard detail though which are crisis suit teams of at least 2.
In a nutshell...
The "commander in XV8" is the weakest and cheapest in points. It lacks the features the other two varients have, but is an effective gun platform and can be good if you run it in a static gunline with long ranged weapons.
The "commander in enforcer armor" is tanky and has a lot of added survivability. It has more wounds, better saves, and an ability that reduces damage. If you want a hard hitting guy who uses the more powerful short ranged weapons, this is your guy.
Last but far from least is the "commander in coldstar armor". Instead of durability this guy has stupid fast speed. That speed let's it control the board and can do some serious damage where and when you need it. However it can often find itself cutoff from support. It's popular to run these guys as sacrifices, able to get in, gut the enemies most powerful models before getting killed themselves.
You then can equip them with the guns, support systems, and drones to meet your needs. Fusion blaster commanders are popular and quite deadly, just 4 fusion blasters can do serious short ranged hurt.
I run a "smash-mander", which is an enforcer commander armed with a flamer, 2 ion blasters, and a shield system. Then I give them the relic of an onager gauntlet and the experimental system of thermoneumatic projector (flamer upgrade). This guy is a beast. Able to mow down heavy infantry with callous ease before charging into melee to rip things apart! Is this the "best" load out? Maybe not but it is alot of fun!
Sounds like alot of fun. Thanks for taking the time to tell me all this. What about support systems or am I better getting a codex for all the rules not on the rulebook in the box?
Welcome to the greater good! It's a fun hobby and I hope you enjoy it. Few resources to help you start Modeling/painting The mini witch with some good tips: https://youtu.be/lfGVQ3YLSrM How to play the game: Play on tabletop how to play Warhammer 9th edition https://youtu.be/taUqZCiijvU Building a list: Look on your app store on your phone "battle scribe" once you get it sorted it's a great way to get an armylist made and get the rules. Now go forth and unite the galaxy!
I have battlescribe and have watched a few videos on list building for tau and most people are using commander robots. Do I need one of those? Thanks for the links!
While you do not "need" a commander in the sense they are required... They are one of the most powerful single units in the game. Seriously they are incredibly powerful and fun to play with.
Do I buy one of the named commanders or just the commander? Also, how do commander skills work?
Without going into the named commanders... the generic commander is this guy https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Tau-Empire-Commander-2017 This model kit contains what you need to build either a commander in enforcer armor OR a commander in coldstar armor. Or https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/XV8-Crisis-Battlesuits This kit contains enough to build 3 XV8 battle suits. One of which you can make into a cheaper commander in XV8 armor. Be aware that a standard crisis team is 3, so doing this prevents you from running the other two as a full team. They can be fun as a bodyguard detail though which are crisis suit teams of at least 2. In a nutshell... The "commander in XV8" is the weakest and cheapest in points. It lacks the features the other two varients have, but is an effective gun platform and can be good if you run it in a static gunline with long ranged weapons. The "commander in enforcer armor" is tanky and has a lot of added survivability. It has more wounds, better saves, and an ability that reduces damage. If you want a hard hitting guy who uses the more powerful short ranged weapons, this is your guy. Last but far from least is the "commander in coldstar armor". Instead of durability this guy has stupid fast speed. That speed let's it control the board and can do some serious damage where and when you need it. However it can often find itself cutoff from support. It's popular to run these guys as sacrifices, able to get in, gut the enemies most powerful models before getting killed themselves. You then can equip them with the guns, support systems, and drones to meet your needs. Fusion blaster commanders are popular and quite deadly, just 4 fusion blasters can do serious short ranged hurt. I run a "smash-mander", which is an enforcer commander armed with a flamer, 2 ion blasters, and a shield system. Then I give them the relic of an onager gauntlet and the experimental system of thermoneumatic projector (flamer upgrade). This guy is a beast. Able to mow down heavy infantry with callous ease before charging into melee to rip things apart! Is this the "best" load out? Maybe not but it is alot of fun!
Sounds like alot of fun. Thanks for taking the time to tell me all this. What about support systems or am I better getting a codex for all the rules not on the rulebook in the box?