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To aid in covering the XV95 Ghostkeel's large size, the Battlesuits are deployed accompanied by two MV5 Stealth Drones. These Drones project overlapping stealth fields which help support the XV95's own internal stealth field generators. While some Drones are seen as expendable assets, these two are invaluable to the Ghostkeel's Shas'vre, who often forms an unnaturally strong bond with them while on extended missions behind enemy lines. However, the key point is that if the T’au Commander is tagged in combat, he is then all but useless for at least the following turn. In this section i will look at the matchup and suggested comp for each faction. Currently tau is regarded as one of the best factions so most matchups are generally favorable but only if you use the right "tools". You have one of the best rosters (as we've seen a lot of units are quite exceptional) but not the best eco to spam as much as some other can past the early stages so you need to take good trades. XV95 Ghostkeels also feature an AI Electrowarfare Suite and Holophoton Countermeasures for use in active combat against the enemy. The Ghostkeel's Electrowarfare Suite, mounted on the Battlesuit's left arm, aggressively scans enemy targetting spectrums and invades the foe's sensor arrays, filling them with false information and scrap-data that makes it almost impossible to effectively fire upon the Battlesuit at range. The Holophoton Countermeasures, mounted between the Battlesuit's secondary weapon systems, are triggered by AI-assisted threat-warning protocols and take the form of a targetted barrage of holo-decoys, friendly target simulacra and stroboscopic blasts. This confounds enemy weapons, causing safety switches to engage and Machine Spirits to rebel while their operators are left bewildered and blinded by the overwhelming sensory overload. Together with the Battlesuit's stealth field generator, an XV95 Ghostkeel becomes a near impossible target for enemies to engage from range.
Overall the most solid of the 3 despite not having as much of a swing and also the only one that buffs vehicles. Can get one early on or wait a bit but try to always have one around turn 50-55. Presumably Mont’ka will appear in the Codex, but for now Tau only have access to Kauyon, which is sort of ironic because you’d think the Mont’ka hotheads would be first out of the gate, with the patient hunters holding off until the codex. Who knows what the next T’au codex will do for the Ghostkeel. I hope that GW does something interesting with it. It’s such a fantastic sculpt, and it would be great to see more variety on the tabletop. When their gun are overcharged they get an absolutely astounding amount of blast damage and can devastate 3 - 10 model squads. They can literally oneshot enslavers. If provided with markerlight it's very common to see them onsehot light-medium armor infantry squads in cover, even the likes of necron warriors. Nids are a somewhat reliable tau counter, their immunity to morale shenanigans and a roster generally designed for mobility and killing low armor targets is perfectly suited to handle tau.
So, this is the section where i give tips on the actual city development. As i said previously, i will focus on a "utopia compliant" approach, though i know other strats exist. Everyone knows that T’au in 8th edition really only had one competitive list — Riptides, Commanders, and Drone spam — and while it’s too early in the edition to predict how a competitive T’au army is going to look, I want to make the best case for taking some of the lesser-seen models in the codex. On the tabletop, this is represented by Adaptive Camouflage, a Sept Tenet that considerably improves the durability of your units:
As far as which septs best enhance the abilities and action the Ghostkeel will be engaged in, I lean towards T’au or potentially Dal’yth. The T’au sept just has a lot going for it and being a part of that sept mean it’ll be able to take advantage of things like a T’au sept Commander’s Mont’ka’s, Kauyon’s, Savior Protocols, and Focused Fire stratagem. Plus, since you already know you’ll be within charge distance most of the time, having the improved overwatch is great. The Dal’yth sept gives the Ghostkeel a bit more mobility and resiliency. Normally you’ll struggle to claim a bonus to save from cover for the Ghostkeel, since it’s not
The T’au are masters of technology. While the other empires of the 41st Millennium have long stagnated, using millennia-old designs and fearing innovation, the T’au Empire make up for the youthfulness of their dominion by constantly innovating and developing. The forces of Dal’yth, for instance, have all but mastered stealth field technology, outfitting anything from their Fire Warriors to their tanks with the latest patterns. As I said, the Tiger Shark is a little more adventurous, but veteran T’au players might certainly want to give it a go. During deployment, the Ghostkeel and any accompanying drones can be set up anywhere on the battlefield that is neither in your opponent’s deployment zone or within 12″ of an enemy unit Of course, terrain bonuses may make it more favorable to go with the second option but there's no downside to adding influence as well afterwards.
Let’s dig a little deeper into these shooting options. The Invictor has a total of 15 plus D6 shots. The two ironhail heavy stubbers offer six strength 4, AP-1, damage 1 shots at 36″; the heavy bolter offers three strength 5, AP-1, damage 1 shots at 36″; the twin ironhail autocannon offers six shots at strength 7, AP-1, damage 1 at 48″; and the fragstorm grenade launcher offers D6 blast shots at strength 4, AP0, damage 1 at 18″. Sure, they need to be stand still to get full firepower but that's a small price to pay. With fantastic armor, good range, high model hp and plenty of units that can buff them these units make your positions unassailable. They also get seeker missiles which is just amazing. Because they have 2 model hp: anything that can ignore their ranged reduction will absolutely murder them. Unfortunately for them, many faction can ignore ranged reduction, commonly with melee, so... Now obviously you do have to take the two drones with the ghostkeel but if we are discussing competitive play then you will be taking at least that many drones for each broadside to keep them alive. Arguably with their higher toughness and native -1 to be hit the Ghostkeels need a slightly lower total investment in protective drones.
Special Rules and Wargear
This one depends heavily on the map size. Early on chaos has an overwhelming advantage, your early units just aren't suitable to stop a spawn/zerkers/lord rush, your morale shenanigans don't work, your units aren't durable enough and you have nothing to really take out the lord efficiently (which in turn can oneshot your crisis suits with just an axe from level 1).
A Ghostkeel has the For the Greater Good rule, like almost all Tau units, allowing it to fire overwatch in support of nearby units. The whole team also has the Infiltrator rule, like their smaller cousins, allowing them to deploy anywhere onto the field outside the enemy deployment zone and more than 12″ from enemy models.
Contents
The Ghostkeel, as you might expect, is at its most basic level a scaled-up version of Stealth Suits- it can deploy anywhere and is tough enough to survive some discouragement from the enemy when holding an objective. However, you should not let this fool you because the Ghostkeel does not function like Stealth Suits do. Stealth Suits are good for holding distant objectives, performing actions, and basically being annoying to an opponent at a minimal cost. With the Ghostkeel being A, not infantry and B, 150+ pts, it is not good at these things. However as the game progresses your army will outscale his. You want as much chaff early to slow things down while you rush out some hammerheads so make fire warriors and piranhas. There are a handful of other comparisons to similarly-priced options in a variety of other factions, but the Ghostkeel seldom comes out looking good. It wouldn't make sense to start anywhere else, since the most distinct mechanic of the faction is "Utopia". Alternatively, you might have decided to make an ethereal early and want some suits to accompany it, the ethereal compensates for much of the shortcomings.
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