Mont'ka: The 11th-Edition T'au Killing Blow Detachment

Two clauses, both running from the first battle round to the third.

• During the first, second and third battle rounds, ranged weapons equipped by T'AU EMPIRE models from your army have the [ASSAULT] ability.
• During those same rounds, while a unit is a Guided unit, its ranged weapons have the [LETHAL HITS] ability.

Check which half is which, because it is very commonly reported the other way round. [ASSAULT] is the army-wide clause: every model you own can Advance and still shoot for three battle rounds, unconditionally, with no Observer involved. [LETHAL HITS] is the conditional clause, and it only applies while a unit is Guided, which means you have spent an Observer's shooting to mark the target.

That asymmetry decides how the detachment plays. The mobility is free and universal, so use it on everything. The lethality is bought one target at a time, so concentrate it. The natural sequence in each of your first three Shooting phases is: pick the one enemy unit that must die, mark it with your cheapest Markerlight Observer, then fire everything Guided into it while everything else advances and shoots wherever it likes.

The structural weakness is the mirror image of Kauyon's. From the fourth battle round you have no detachment rule at all, in a game that runs to five. A Mont'ka list that has not converted its advantage by the end of round three is a list playing the last 40 percent of the game with nothing.

Six, and the two most expensive are both defensive, which tells you what this detachment expects to happen to it.

• Aggressive Mobility (1CP, your Movement). One T'au unit that has not moved; if it Advances, do not roll, and instead add 6 inches to the Move characteristic of its models until the end of the phase. Combined with army-wide [ASSAULT], this is a guaranteed 6 inch reposition that still shoots at full effect. It is the detachment's signature.
• Focused Fire (1CP, start of your Shooting). Two T'au units that have not shot, and one enemy unit; until the end of the phase both of your units can only target that enemy, and improve Armour Penetration by 1 when they do. Cannot be used in the fourth or fifth battle rounds, which is the same window as the detachment rule.
• Combat Debarkation (1CP, your Shooting). One T'au INFANTRY unit that disembarked from a TRANSPORT this turn; until the end of the phase it can re-roll the Wound roll against the closest enemy unit. This is the reason a Mont'ka list runs a Devilfish.
• Pinpoint Counter-offensive (1CP, any phase). One T'au unit that is not a KROOT unit and was just destroyed, even though it was destroyed; until the end of the battle, your non-Kroot units can re-roll the Hit roll against the enemy unit that killed it. A revenge buff that lasts the rest of the game, which is unusually long for one command point, and it is the one Mont'ka stratagem that still does something in rounds four and five.
• Pulse Onslaught (2CP, your Shooting). One T'au INFANTRY unit that is not KROOT and has just shot, plus one enemy unit that is not a Monster or Vehicle and was hit; until the end of your opponent's next turn that unit is shaken, subtracting 2 from its Move and 2 from Advance and Charge rolls. The best defensive tool in the detachment and worth the second command point.
• Counterfire Defence Systems (2CP, opponent's Shooting). Just after an enemy unit selects its targets, one of your T'au units that was selected; until the end of the phase, subtract 1 from the Damage characteristic of each attack allocated to it.

The habit to build: spend freely in rounds one to three, because that is when everything works, and always keep 2CP in hand for Counterfire Defence Systems, because a Mont'ka list is standing further forward than it wants to be by the start of round two.

Four, and one of them exists purely to extend the clock.

• Exemplar of the Mont'ka (10 pts). T'AU EMPIRE model only, excluding KROOT SHAPER models. While the bearer is leading a unit, the Killing Blow rule applies to that unit during the fourth battle round as well. The cheapest enhancement in the detachment, and it directly answers its only structural weakness. Put it on whichever block you most need still functioning in round four.
• Coordinated Exploitation (30 pts). T'AU EMPIRE model only, excluding KROOT SHAPER models. Faction Pack v1.2 rewrote this. While the bearer is leading a unit, each time that unit is an Observer unit, ranged weapons equipped by models in a Guided unit have [SUSTAINED HITS 1] while targeting their Spotted unit until the end of the phase. This stacks with the detachment rule's [LETHAL HITS] on the same attacks, which is the most damage a single enhancement adds anywhere in the faction.
• Strategic Conqueror (15 pts). T'AU EMPIRE model only. At the start of the first battle round, before the first turn, select one objective marker; while a friendly T'au model is within range of it and the bearer is on the battlefield, add 1 to that model's Objective Control. A scoring enhancement in a killing detachment, and the reason a Mont'ka army does not simply lose on points while winning on kills.
• Strike Swiftly (45 pts). T'AU EMPIRE model only. Faction Pack v1.2 rewrote it: in the Resolve Pre-battle Abilities step, select up to two friendly T'au units within 6 inches that do not have Scouts, and until the end of the battle all models in them have Scouts 6 inch.

Strike Swiftly is also the clearest live example of how volatile enhancement points are. The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 prints it at 45 points with an explicit +10 increase marker; the community mirror, reading v1.2, still shows the previous 35. Confirm every point value in the app rather than from a printout.

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

• Crisis Starscythe Battlesuits gain most from army-wide [ASSAULT]: a volume-of-shots squad that can advance into range and still fire in exactly the rounds the rule is live. Build and list them under this name, because the generic Crisis Battlesuits datasheet is Warhammer Legends in this pack.
• Crisis Sunforge Battlesuits are the anti-armour half of the same plastic kit, and Faction Pack v1.2 rewrites the Sunforge ability to re-roll both the Wound roll and the Damage roll against Monsters and Vehicles. Advance, shoot, delete something in round two.
• Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit is the fastest enhancement carrier in the army, which is what an early-aggression detachment wants from its character. The generic Commander in Crisis Battlesuit datasheet is Legends; the Commander kit builds this one.
• Pathfinder Team is what the [LETHAL HITS] half runs on. Without a Spotted unit there is no Guided unit, and half your detachment rule does nothing. The pack rewrites their Target Uploaded ability.
• Devilfish enables Combat Debarkation, which only works on a unit that disembarked this turn. The pack adds the FRAME keyword to it.
• Breacher Team is the short-range infantry that wants to arrive by transport and fire immediately, which is exactly what Combat Debarkation pays for.
• Hammerhead Gunship is the long-range gun that does not need to advance, so it can spend three rounds killing whatever your suits cannot reach yet. The pack adds FRAME to it as well.

One omission to note: Longstrike, the T'au tank ace, is a Warhammer Legends datasheet in 11th edition, so he is not the Hammerhead upgrade an older aggressive list would have taken.

Take Mont'ka when you want to play proactively and decide the game in the first half, and when you are content to field a single detachment rather than a combination. At 3 DP it is a complete army, and there is a real advantage in that: you get six stratagems and four enhancements all pointing the same direction, rather than two half-suites that do not talk to each other.

Be clear-eyed about the two costs. No partner detachment, so no 1-DP cadre patching a weakness. And no detachment rule from the fourth battle round, which is why Exemplar of the Mont'ka at 10 points is better value than its price suggests.

Sample gameplan: deploy to threaten two objectives rather than one, and use Strategic Conqueror on the objective you intend to hold rather than the one you intend to take. In round one, advance everything, because [ASSAULT] is free, and use Aggressive Mobility on the unit whose Advance roll you cannot afford to gamble on. In each Shooting phase, spot the single unit that most threatens your plan with your cheapest Markerlight Observer and put all your Guided fire into it. Spend Focused Fire in round two when two units can share a target worth killing. Keep 2CP back every turn for Counterfire Defence Systems. By the end of round three you should be holding more of the board than your opponent, because from round four you are a normal T'au army with an expensive enhancement.

If you would rather have a partner detachment, Kauyon at 2 DP is the aggressive player's compromise: it plays the opposite half of the game but leaves a Detachment Point to spend. For the fundamentals, read the T'au Empire army guide.