Printer friendly version | Rate this Article | Comment on this Article
Thanks to 42 for this.
Well it stands for fish of fury and is one of the main reasons that a mechanised Tau force will do so well in battle. It involves a full Fire warrior squad mounted in a Devilfish (Often two.)
Ok, you have your 2 Fire warrior squads mounted in their devilfishes. Firstly you have to look for a weak spot in the enemy's line; this isn't absolutely necessary but it helps, just somewhere where your devilfish can fit and you are confident of taking out a target/squad.
Basically the devilfish hovers up to about 12" to the opponent, stops and then unloads the fire warriors. The fire warriors "hide" in the gap between the two devilfishes.
![[Image] The Devilfish makes a 'gap' for the Fire Warriors](http://www.tauonline.org/Articles/Tau_Tactic_General_FoF.gif)
Then the Fire warriors fire at the enemy squad from underneath the devilfish (Seeing as it's a skimmer this is allowed in the rulebook), unleashing 24, rapid fire shots (48 when used in pairs; a wise idea.)
Well I hope so! But the tactic is there so even if the Fire warriors can't wipe out the whole squad (Unlikely with 48 rapid fire shots...), they still can't be assaulted. Yes, even though they are well within assault range (12" for normal units with a 6" move then 6" assault,) the unit fired upon (Lets call them Tactical Marines for example) can't assault the Fire warriors from underneath the Devilfishes and therefore have to go round the back, this will take them more than 12" so they will not be able to assault the fire warriors.
Well there should be few of the enemy left and lots of you so another round of shooting (This time from the devilfish's burst cannons as well) should finish off the squad. If you aren't confident this will work or you have lost too many Fire Warriors/more enemy are in assault range now, then don't panic. Just simply load up the Fire warriors in their fishes again and scoot away 12" to safety (Into cover would be nice but just general retreat is fine.)
Firstly, as said before, you have to choose the squad wisely, a squad of Terminators is Plasma rifle prey, not FoF prey, but if you have no other choice but to take on a fairly tough squad (Wraithguard, Chaos with feel no pain etc) then remember you are not just limited to those pulse rifle shots, there are the drones on the devilfish, and you could bring in a Crisis or Stealth team to help you out (Just make sure their 6" assault phase move will bring them out of assault range from the targeted squad)
Again, choose your target squads wisely. Jetpack squads are not a good idea to use this tactic on and should be a top priority by your battlesuits instead. As for fleet of foot/claw/hoof opponents then not to worry. Look back at the diagram and you will see that the enemy still has far more than 12" to travel.
Also just remember there is a good chance you will have completely wiped this squad out, or caused it to break and fall back, so even if (By a miracle!) it manages to assault, you should only have to deal with very few models and the fire warriors should actually win the assault! (This situation should never arise however.) Then after wiping the enemy out in assault (Sounds odd, you'll probably never need this advice) consolidate back into the safe sanctuary of the Devilfish.
The target squad will be severely depleted when they come to attacking back. Furthermore grenades hit skimmers [Like the Devilfish] on a 6, so will everything in assault with it so you needn't fear the fish being blown up in assault. There is a danger from Rocket launchers and heavy weapon squads, but the Devilfish has a handsome front armour value of 12, and with only glancing hits and decoy launchers you should be fine! Bear in mind if the squad fires their Heavy weapon, they can't assault or move at all.
One thing you do need to be wary of though is ordinance and template weapons (Heavy flamers etc) however the template (Blast and Ordinance) weapons should be dealt with anyway and bear in mind they scatter. Also, when picking the target make sure there is no enemy that can take a clear shot at the rear armour of your Devilfish, or the Fire warriors can be assaulted by a different squad from behind (This is why it helps to pick a more isolated squad for this tactic)
So to conclude my one piece of advice is planning, plan exactly who and where you are going to strike, make sure it's totally safe and that you have a backup plan if you don't kill as many as expected (E.g Bring in a crisis team.)
I hope this answers anyone's queries about the FoF tactic and will encourage people to use it for themselves.
If you like this site, please consider helping us out greatly by donating to us.
This article currently has a rating of 9.4 (out of 10).
You must be logged in to rate this article. Please login or register to continue.
This article has been commented on 21 time(s).
You must be logged in to comment on this article. Please login or register to continue.
| Comment made by Norn Queen on 14:42:43, 29 February 2008 |
|---|
| Thanks for the tutorial! |
| Comment made by MOOMOO on 02:51:00, 20 February 2008 |
|---|
| Well written and well explained summary of the Fish Of Fury, good work :) |
| Comment made by obsidian_k3 on 06:30:17, 19 February 2008 |
|---|
| you say about pulling back in assault, i thaught they couldnt go within 1" of a model/unit unless they wnat to assault, so you are safe unless they go for the fish in which case the will be held up for needing 6's and your chrisis teams can mop up, i wouldn't put full teams in, in this situation the chance of combat is bad as it can tie up your units in CC, by having small squads they die easily leaving the enemy open to fire, add to that the fact that you won't neccasarrily fit all your warriors behind in a shooty-frienly way, only about half of your men will shoot or you risk some poking out and being assaulted, so... 6man squads in fish, with 6 footsloggers coming up to support, hide behind dont get tied down in combat...XD |
| Comment made by taugundrone on 10:02:35, 18 February 2008 |
|---|
| Ive used this and won every time. |
| Comment made by Shas'O Check'Sa Bar'naby Kias on 09:27:53, 8 December 2007 |
|---|
| FoF sounds good, I don\'t get to play much but i\'ll give it a go. |
| Comment made by 42 on 13:37:51, 3 December 2007 |
|---|
| Cheers for the kind words guys, I wrote this ages ago when I first started out as a Warhammer and Tau newbie but glad to see it\'s still of use! |
| Comment made by Mr X on 01:48:20, 25 November 2007 |
|---|
| Give the fish a multi tracker and it\'ll be able to shoot on the turn it moves into position |
| Comment made by SkullzD on 13:09:04, 22 November 2007 |
|---|
| Good. Old tactic but in good format. Now my Friend will meet a certain death :twisted: |
| Comment made by astrix0 on 10:48:07, 29 October 2007 |
|---|
| Nice article. This tactic relly helped. :D Thanks |
| Comment made by piggy on 15:27:24, 17 October 2007 |
|---|
| what does FoF mean????? |
| Comment made by TheEvilOne on 11:38:56, 2 October 2007 |
|---|
| good artical im starting tau and i had no idea for a tactic this gives me something to think about! |
| Comment made by darrrrren on 20:44:19, 1 October 2007 |
|---|
| awesome article. well written. |
| Comment made by battlesuitguy on 14:32:54, 31 August 2007 |
|---|
| good article, clear well defined strategies, easy to understand, keep it up |
| Comment made by blazingeclipse on 10:54:31, 9 July 2007 |
|---|
| Why does this article only describe the firepower of the fire wariors? the devilfishes itself are able to do quite some damage too. And the devilfishes might get lucky and forces them to make pinning tests, thats another extra turn of way to much rapid fire from your shas'la. |
| Comment made by recursivecoin on 08:15:34, 11 May 2007 |
|---|
| I have seen many articles like this before, But I like the Q&A format. It makes for an easy read. |
| Comment made by Kroot121 on 16:38:43, 17 March 2007 |
|---|
| THis is great, i llove the way it is explained! !!!! |
| Comment made by shasasui on 12:43:02, 18 February 2007 |
|---|
| really good i knew knew about fof but found it hard to understand . this really makes everything clear!! |
| Comment made by Mitch: the noob on 21:58:39, 11 November 2006 |
|---|
| nope, if your within 12 inches it dosent matter if you moved or not, you can still rapid fire... or so im told :-) great article |
| Comment made by Squire on 06:23:30, 19 October 2006 |
|---|
| Dont troops with rapid fire weapons count as having moved when they disembark? This tactic should be used with pulse carbine equipped squads to force pinning tests on whatevers left, and you get an extra 3" range over a firewarrior with pulse rifle having moved |
| Comment made by O`Shi on 02:06:54, 5 October 2006 |
|---|
| Before rushing forwards with a `fish or two, make sure you can use available cover to your advantage. Fly behind a forest/tall building, then fly over it and blast the stuffing out of the enemy. This way, the deadly cargo within arrives in one piece. Always buy a multi-tracker so that the devilfish can act as a light support gunship when the fire warriors have disembarked to do their job. Front AV 12 is no protection against Strength 6 fire. Be aware of the dangers rapid-fire plasma guns can pose to your fire warriors, and do NOT FoF hard-to-kill hostile personell carrying melta weapons, unless you can kill them in one turn. The meltas will either destroy the `fish, or incinerate a fire warrior. If you misjudge the distance to the enemy, he might be able to assault you. If you cannot make the enemy squad fall back, then make them fail a pinning test. Remember that Pathfinders with RAIL RIFLES have got TARGET LOCKS! The humble (and dangerous) rail rifle has saved my brave fire warriors on numerous occations. FOR THE GREATER GOOD! |
| Comment made by MyenMontKa on 00:29:26, 13 August 2006 |
|---|
| It should be noted that, since enemy models must stay at least 1" away from yours untill the Assault Phase, even a lone Fire Warrior team can pull this off against non-Fleet opponents, as the total distance around the Devilfish perimiter is signifigant. And a Multitracker-equipped Devilfish, especially if sporting the Smart Missile upgrade can add its own firepower to the inital shooting. (for a potential 31 shots, S5 AP5, per Fish) |