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Tau with kroot

A T'au Hunter Cadre during a battle.

A Hunter Cadre is the most common type of cadre deployed by the T'au Empire. It is a multirole, combined arms formation, combining Fire Warrior infantry, battlesuits and grav vehicles all in the same unit.

A cadre is T'au terminology used to indicate the size of a unit comparable in size to what the Imperium's Astra Militarum would call a company of soldiers. The T'au were once a species of hunters and gatherers and the T'au who now make up what is the military Fire Caste were the most-skilled hunters of that ancient time. Even though the T'au are now a xenos species gifted in some areas with technology that is more advanced than that available to Mankind, the T'au Lexicon still makes use of much terminology derived from their hunter-gatherer period and companies of T'au warriors are always referred to as cadres in the Low Gothic translation.

Hunter Cadres pursue two basic strategies that characterise all T'au warfare -- the Mont'ka and the Kauyon. Each strategy is taught at the Fire Caste academies on every major T'au Sept World. Both strategies are derived from the ancient Fire Caste's role as the greatest hunters of the neolithic T'au species. The Kauyon strategy seeks to bring the prey to the hunter, while the Mont'ka requires the hunter to run his prey to ground and finish it off directly. When a T'au Commander employs one strategy or the other they will build a Hunter Cadre that contains the most appropriate tactical components.

Hunter Cadre Composition[]

HunterCadre

Sample Hunter Cadre Order of Battle

A T'au Hunter Cadre normally consists of six Fire Warrior Teams and several battlesuit and Stealthsuit Teams. They also are always led by a T'au Commander who has achieved the rank of shas'el or shas'o, and normally are supported by T'au armour, including gunships like the Hammerhead and Sky Ray.

Auxiliaries such as Kroot and Vespid troops are often attached to a Hunter Cadre, but can be detached by higher command to deal with missions for which they are especially suited. There also exists many more specialised types of Hunter Cadres, such as Infiltration or Reconnaissance Cadres that consist primarily of Pathfinder and Fire Warriors in Stealthsuits, or heavy armour cadres, which make use of Devilfish-mounted Fire Warrior Teams as well as full squadrons of Hammerheads and Sky Rays.

Sources[]

  • Codex: Tau (3rd Edition), pp. 34-35
  • Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition), pg. 22
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