Auxiliary Cadre: The 11th-Edition T'au Kroot and Vespid Detachment

Two handouts, going in opposite directions.

To your auxiliaries. Friendly KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS units gain Harnessed Alien Instincts: in your Shooting phase, this unit can select one visible enemy unit within 12 inches, and that unit is prey-marked. While a unit is prey-marked, it has +3 inch detection range.

To your stealth suits. Friendly GHOSTKEEL BATTLESUIT/STEALTH BATTLESUITS units gain Localised Stealth Projectors (Aura): when a friendly KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS unit within 6 inches of this unit has shot, those attacks do not prevent that unit from being hidden.

Be precise about what prey-marking is, because the name invites confusion with the army rule. It is a detection effect, not a targeting one. It does not make a unit Spotted, it does not create a Guided unit, and it gives you no accuracy. It makes the enemy easier to see. In an edition where a lot of the board is concealed, that is worth having, but it is not a substitute for a Markerlight.

The second half is the sleeper. A Ghostkeel or Stealth team parked centrally gives every Kroot and Vespid unit within 6 inches the same protection the Advanced Acquisition Cadre gives to Pathfinders: shoot and stay hidden. On cheap, numerous bodies that is a lot of survivability for free.

Faction Pack v1.2 states in the rule text that this detachment has the AUXILIARIES tag and cannot be taken with another AUXILIARIES detachment. The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 names the same tag AUXILIARY and records it on the Kroot Hunting Pack as well. We do not state a tag name as fact, and the pairing consequence is the same either way.

Three, all 1CP, and the third is the reason the detachment is worth a Detachment Point in a suit list rather than only a Kroot one.

• Experimental Modifications (your Shooting or the Fight). When a friendly KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS unit is selected to attack, that unit's attacks have +1 AP. Note it says attack rather than shoot, so it covers a Kroot unit that shot on the way in and then fought, which is the whole Kroot pattern in one stratagem.
• Alien Expertise (your Movement). When a friendly KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS unit is selected to make an advance move, that move does not prevent your unit from being eligible to declare a charge. On a 12 inch Vespid unit this is an enormous threat range, and it is most of why Vespid stop being a scoring afterthought here.
• Guided by Unity (your Shooting). When a friendly T'AU EMPIRE unit that is not a KROOT or VESPID STINGWINGS unit is selected to shoot, that unit's ranged attacks that target a unit within 9 inches of a friendly KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS unit have [LETHAL HITS].

That third one is the detachment. Your cheap auxiliaries become a mobile [LETHAL HITS] beacon for your expensive shooting, and unlike the army rule it costs no Observer's shooting phase to switch on. Position Kroot for where you want to shoot, not only for where you want to score.

Community mirrors still list Guided by Unity under its older name, Guided Fire. The pack's current name is the one above.

Two, and they want two different characters, which is worth planning for at list-building time.

• Student of Kauyon (20 pts). KROOT SHAPER model only. In the Declare Battle Formations step, you can select up to three friendly KROOT CARNIVORES/FARSTALKERS units; those units have Deep Strike. Three Kroot units arriving from reserve is the strongest single Kroot effect in the edition, and it is the reason to field a Shaper in a list that is otherwise all suits.
• Admired Leader (20 pts). T'AU EMPIRE model only, excluding KROOT models, so this one goes on a T'au character rather than a Shaper. In your Command phase, select one KROOT/VESPID STINGWINGS unit within 12 inches; that unit has +1 Ld and +1 OC until the start of your next Command phase.

One correction, because it is repeated widely: Student of Kauyon is an Auxiliary Cadre enhancement, not a Kroot Hunting Pack one. Older write-ups list it among the Hunting Pack's toolkit. It is not, and since the two detachments cannot be taken together, that distinction decides which list can use it.

If you can only take one, take Student of Kauyon in a list with real Kroot numbers and Admired Leader in a list where the auxiliaries are there to hold objectives.

(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)

This is the part to read before you build a 2,000-point list, because the list in question is the one the models point at.

Kroot Hunting Pack (2 DP) + Auxiliary Cadre (1 DP) costs exactly 3 DP, which is a full Strike Force budget, and it is thematically perfect: the detachment that makes Kroot the army, plus the detachment that makes Kroot better.

It is illegal. Both detachments carry the same Unique Tag, and no two detachments in your army may share one.

The two official documents disagree about what that tag is called, and not about anything else. The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 prints UNIQUE: AUXILIARY on both the Auxiliary Cadre and the Kroot Hunting Pack. Faction Pack v1.2 prints UNIQUE: AUXILIARIES above the Auxiliary Cadre page and restates it in the rule text, and does not print the Kroot Hunting Pack at all, because that is a codex detachment. The community mirror reproduces the pack's own internal inconsistency, printing an AUXILIARY badge above an AUXILIARIES rule text on the same page.

So we do not tell you what the tag is called. What we can tell you is that every source that names the tag on both detachments names the same tag on both, which is the only question that decides legality. We never suggest this pairing anywhere on this site, in either direction.

The alternatives cost you very little. If you want Kroot as your army, take Kroot Hunting Pack plus the Advanced Acquisition Cadre. If you want Kroot supporting a T'au core, this detachment plus Kauyon (2 DP) is legal, is 3 DP, and gives your auxiliaries a genuine job in a list that also shoots properly.

• Kroot Carnivores are the cheapest unit that can prey-mark, and one of the two datasheets Student of Kauyon can Deep Strike. Note that they do not gain BATTLELINE here; that keyword comes from the Kroot Hunting Pack detachment, which you cannot take alongside this one.
• Kroot Farstalkers are the other Student of Kauyon target and the better shooting unit, so they are the ones you actually want arriving from reserve within 9 inches of your next target.
• Vespid Stingwings are the most improved unit in the pack, and Faction Pack v1.2 reprints their datasheet in full: 12 inch Move, Deep Strike, a 30 inch neutron rail rifle with [DEVASTATING WOUNDS], and an Airborne Agility ability that removes the unit to Strategic Reserves at the end of your opponent's turn. With Alien Expertise they advance and charge.
• Kroot Flesh Shaper is a KROOT SHAPER, so a legal Student of Kauyon bearer, and the cheapest way to unlock the three-unit Deep Strike.
• Ghostkeel Battlesuit carries the Localised Stealth Projectors aura and is the durable one of the pair, so it is what you park behind a Kroot screen.
• Stealth Battlesuits carry the same aura and are mobile enough to follow an advance rather than anchor it.
• Ethereal is a cheap T'au character that is not a Kroot model, which is exactly the Admired Leader profile. The pack errata it to add the For the Greater Good faction ability.
• Crisis Sunforge Battlesuits are the Guided by Unity payload. Build and list them under that name, because the generic Crisis Battlesuits datasheet is Warhammer Legends in this pack.

Take it when you have a T'au firepower core and want your auxiliaries to earn their points, or when you like objective play and want cheap units that also contribute damage. Guided by Unity is a genuinely strong effect for one command point, and it does not compete with your Observer economy the way most T'au buffs do.

Be clear-eyed about the limits. Prey-marking is a detection effect and will do nothing at all in a game where your opponent is not using concealment. The rule gives your auxiliaries no accuracy, no durability and no damage of their own. And the detachment is locked out of the one list most of its buyers want, which is the Kroot Hunting Pack pairing.

Sample gameplan: pair it with Kauyon (2 DP). Spend rounds one and two putting Kroot and Vespid on objectives and baiting the advance, which is what Kauyon wants anyway, and keep a Ghostkeel central so those units shoot from concealment. From the third battle round, when Patient Hunter switches on, use Guided by Unity to add [LETHAL HITS] to your Broadsides and Riptide firing at whatever walked within 9 inches of your screen. Take Student of Kauyon if you can field three Carnivore or Farstalker units, and Admired Leader otherwise.

For the fundamentals, read the T'au Empire army guide.