Commanders are something that every army needs, and is a huge variable in determining the play style of your army. They can fill gaps in your capabilities, give your units a Ld boost, or take the fight to the enemy!
The first thing to decide is Shas'el or Shas'O.
Shas'el are the cheaper of the two. The have -1BS, WS, A, W and Ld. However, with a Targetting Array, they are the same BS as the commander, and are still 15 points cheaper. This is important, as a shooty army will always prize BS above nearly every other stat. However, it is not a done deal. The other benefits of the commander need to be taken into consideration!
Being able to follow up a devastating shooting phase with an assault against weakened units, thus hiding your commander in the opponent's shooting phase, is a tactic that is unreliable with the shas'el. While melee is generally not important to the tau, this is something to consider.
The Shas'O also has the benefit of having an extra wound, making him more durable against dakka. You must, however, consider that he will likely be targeted with weaponry capable of piercing armour and causing instant death. Helpful, but potentially not.
Another benefit to the Shas'O is that he has an extra support slot open vs. a Shas'el+, meaning he can take a shield generator if he needs to! But (much) more importantly, he has the ability to take a positional relay! Or twinlink weapons!
The Final benefit is that he can be used to buff unit leadership more effectively than his cheaper counter part.
It really is personal preference, and the way you intend to use him, but I feel it comes down to loadout. And play style. That cost difference means a Shield drone-potentially more useful than can be ignored!
I have been tempted by the BS 5 crisis suit in the past . . . but I think the point return on BS 4 vs BS 5 is nowhere near as good as BS 3 vs BS 4, especially with twin linking.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like to do is to run my suits at BS 4 be they Crisis Suits or Broadsides. I find this allows me to make better use of my Markerlight tokens in big lists or get by without marker units in smaller lists.
On the other hand, this means that if I want multi-weapon suits I need multiple Shas'vres with their ability to take 2 weapons, a Targeting Array and a Hard Wired Multi-Tracker. the only way to do that is in HQ slots using them as body guards.
So as a result you'll see me with a Shas'el and a pair of Shas'vres as body guards kitted out ususally with Fusion Blasters and Plasma Rifles. The entire unit is BS 4 meaning that at 12 inches I hit with an average of 4 shots that wound MEQs and TEQs 5/6ths of the time and ignore their armour. That typically means 3 MEQs or TEQs out of a squad of 5 are gone. No chance for FNP. It's also a heck of a unit for killing vehicles too.
On the downside it is pretty close range, so you have to make sure that your hitting the right target with it, especially on a deep strike. Stay away from things with good invulnerable saves.
Another downside is it is a pretty costly unit. But the results it gets on the table justify it nicely. Besides I save some points on my Elite slots using Twin-Linked weapons (typically missile pods) and Targeting Arrays.