Retaliation Cadre: The 11th-Edition T'au Close-Range Battlesuit Detachment

Two nested bands, and the pack changed the inner one.

• Each time a T'AU EMPIRE BATTLESUIT model from your army makes a ranged attack that targets a unit within 12 inches, improve the Strength characteristic of that attack by 1.
• If that attack targets a unit within 8 inches, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic by 1 as well.

The Armour Penetration band was 9 inches before Faction Pack v1.2 and is 8 inches now. That is the single most important number in this detachment, because 8 inches is inside most opponents' charge range and 9 was marginally outside it. If you have movement trays, threat-range markers or a memorised deployment habit built on 9, redo them.

Note what the rule does not give you: no accuracy whatsoever. No Ballistic Skill improvement, no rerolls, no [IGNORES COVER]. Strength and Armour Penetration only matter once you have hit, so a Retaliation Cadre list without Markerlight Observers is a list that hits at its printed profile and then hits harder than it needs to. Pathfinders are not a luxury here.

Note also the keyword: BATTLESUIT, not Battlesuit Character. Every suit in your army benefits, including a Riptide and a Ghostkeel, not only your Commanders. That is the opposite scope to the Experimental Prototype Cadre, which is worth knowing before you compare them.

The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 and the community mirror both record UNIQUE: BATTLESUIT on this detachment. Faction Pack v1.2 does not print it, because it is a codex detachment, so the pack does not corroborate the name. We claim no tag as fact, and it makes no practical difference here: at 3 DP there is nothing to pair with anyway.

Six, and together they describe a cycle rather than a list of effects.

• The Shortened Blade (2CP, your Movement). Faction Pack v1.2 changed the distance from 3 inches to 6. One T'au BATTLESUIT unit arriving by Deep Strike this phase can be set up anywhere more than 6 inches horizontally from all enemy models, and it cannot declare a charge that turn. Six inches still puts you comfortably inside both bands of the detachment rule, which is the whole trick, and it is now much safer than the old 3 inch version.
• The Torchstar Gambit (1CP, your Shooting). One T'au BATTLESUIT unit that can FLY and has resolved its attacks; if it is not in Engagement Range it can make a Normal move, and it cannot declare a charge this turn. This is the fade half of strike and fade, and it is what stops the suit you just dropped at 6 inches from simply dying.
• The Arro'kon Protocol (1CP, your Shooting). One T'au BATTLESUIT unit that has not shot; until the end of the phase its attacks against an enemy unit of 6 or more models have [SUSTAINED HITS 1], and against 11 or more have [SUSTAINED HITS 2] instead. The horde answer, and the reason this is not purely an elite-killer.
• Stimm Injectors (1CP, opponent's Shooting or the Fight). Just after an enemy unit selects targets, one of your T'au BATTLESUIT units that was selected has Feel No Pain 6+ until the end of the phase. Cheap insurance on the suit standing in the open.
• Grav-inhibitor Field (1CP, opponent's Charge). Just after a charge is declared, one of your T'au BATTLESUIT units that was a target; that enemy takes a Battle-shock test immediately, and you roll one D6 per model in it, dealing 1 mortal wound for each 6. Against a large charging unit that is a lot of dice.
• Fail-safe Detonator (2CP, any phase). Just after a T'au BATTLESUIT model is destroyed, target its unit even though it was destroyed. If the model has Deadly Demise, do not roll and instead choose a result of 1 or 6; if it does not, roll one D6 for each unit within 6 inches and deal D3 mortal wounds on a 4+.

The cycle to build: Shortened Blade in, shoot inside 8 inches, Torchstar Gambit out, with a command point held for Grav-inhibitor Field or Stimm Injectors when your opponent tries to punish the suit that stayed. Every stratagem in the detachment names a T'AU EMPIRE BATTLESUIT unit, so nothing here helps your Fire Warriors, your Kroot or your tanks.

Four, all T'AU EMPIRE BATTLESUIT model only, and all four assume the bearer is standing somewhere dangerous.

• Starflare Ignition System (20 pts). At the end of your opponent's turn, if the bearer's unit is not in Engagement Range, you can remove it from the battlefield and place it into Strategic Reserves. This is the enhancement that turns the detachment from a single alpha strike into a genuine cycle: drop, shoot, leave, drop again somewhere else. Usually the best of the four.
• Internal Grenade Racks (20 pts). The bearer has GRENADES, and each time it ends a Normal move you can select one enemy unit it moved over; roll six D6 and deal 1 mortal wound for each 4+. Three mortal wounds on average, every turn, on a model that was going to move anyway.
• Prototype Weapon System (15 pts). Each time the bearer is selected to shoot, choose [LETHAL HITS] or [SUSTAINED HITS 1]; the bearer's ranged weapons have it until those attacks are resolved. Choosing per shooting phase rather than once per battle is what makes 15 points good value.
• Puretide Engram Neurochip (15 pts). Faction Pack v1.2 rewrote it: each time you target the bearer's unit with a Stratagem, roll one D6, and on a 4+ you gain 1CP. In a detachment with six stratagems, several of which you will use on the same unit every turn, this substantially pays for itself.

If you take two, take Starflare Ignition System on the unit you intend to cycle and Puretide Engram Neurochip on whichever unit you spend most stratagems on, which is usually the same one. Read the Neurochip carefully before doubling up: it triggers on targeting the bearer's unit with a stratagem, so it wants to be on the unit that receives them.

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

If your collection is battlesuit-forward, the list you will reach for is Retaliation Cadre plus the Experimental Prototype Cadre. One buffs Battlesuits inside 12 and 8 inches; the other adds 6 inches of Range to Battlesuit Characters. They read as two halves of one design.

They cannot be taken together, for two independent reasons.

The arithmetic settles it on its own. Retaliation Cadre is 3 DP. A Strike Force army has 3 DP. There is no Detachment Point left for a 1-DP cadre, or for anything else.

And they share a Unique Tag. The Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 and the community mirror both print UNIQUE: BATTLESUIT on this detachment and on the Experimental Prototype Cadre. Faction Pack v1.2 names the Experimental Prototype Cadre's tag RETALIATION, which points at this detachment from the other direction. The two official documents disagree about the string and agree completely about the consequence, so we state neither as fact and never suggest the pairing.

SprueSentry previously published pages that recommended this combination from both ends. They were wrong, and this wave replaces them.

There is a consolation, and it is a real one. Because the two detachments have opposite scopes, you lose less than it looks. Bonded Heroes applies to every T'au Battlesuit in your army, not only characters, so a Retaliation Cadre list already buffs the Crisis suits, the Riptide and the Ghostkeel that the Experimental Prototype Cadre would ignore. What you give up is the reach, and reach is not what this detachment is for.

If you want long-range character suits instead, run Kauyon (2 DP) + Experimental Prototype Cadre (1 DP), which is legal and is the better list for a player who likes to stay back.

• Crisis Sunforge Battlesuits are the core. Fusion blasters inside 8 inches with +1 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration is the hardest hit T'au can land, and Faction Pack v1.2 rewrites the Sunforge ability to re-roll both the Wound roll and the Damage roll against Monsters and Vehicles. Build and list them under this name; the generic Crisis Battlesuits datasheet is Warhammer Legends in this pack.
• Crisis Starscythe Battlesuits are the volume-of-shots half of the same kit, and the natural Arro'kon Protocol target because [SUSTAINED HITS] scales with the number of attacks you already make.
• Crisis Fireknife Battlesuits are the middle-distance option, and the one that most often sits in the 12 inch Strength band without entering the 8 inch band, which is the safer way to play the rule.
• Commander in Enforcer Battlesuit is the enhancement carrier and the most durable Commander, which matters when every enhancement assumes the bearer is in the enemy's face. The generic Commander in Crisis Battlesuit datasheet is Legends; the Commander kit builds this one.
• Commander Farsight is the thematic centrepiece and benefits from both bands, but as an Epic Hero he cannot carry any of the four enhancements, so plan on a second Commander if you want one on the table.
• Riptide Battlesuit is a Battlesuit, so it gets both bands, and durable enough to be the model that stays inside 12 inches while the smaller suits cycle. The pack rewrites Nova Charge and both Ion Accelerator profiles.
• Ghostkeel Battlesuit can hold the middle of the board alone while the Crisis suits are in reserve, which is the position an all-deep-strike list otherwise leaves empty.
• Pathfinder Team is not optional. The detachment rule improves Strength and Armour Penetration and gives you no accuracy at all, so the Ballistic Skill improvement and [IGNORES COVER] from For the Greater Good is the piece the list is missing without them.

One omission to note: the XV9 Hazard Battlesuits, the R'varna Battlesuit and the Y'vahra Battlesuit are all Warhammer Legends datasheets in 11th edition, so none of them is a matched-play close-range suit however well they fit the theme.

Take the Retaliation Cadre when your collection is battlesuit-heavy and you enjoy high-risk, high-reward play: dropping suits into the enemy's space and daring them to answer. At 3 DP it is a complete army, and the compensation for having no partner detachment is that you get six stratagems and four enhancements that all describe the same cycle.

Be clear-eyed about the costs. No partner detachment, so nothing patches the gaps. No accuracy in the rule, so you must pay for Observers out of your own shooting. And 8 inches is inside charge range for most armies, so every turn you spend in the inner band is a turn you are inviting a fight your suits do not want.

Sample gameplan: hold two or three Crisis units in reserve rather than deploying everything. In your second turn, bring the first unit in with The Shortened Blade at 6 inches, mark its target with a Pathfinder Team so the shots actually hit, fire inside the 8 inch band for +1 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration, then spend The Torchstar Gambit to walk it back out. Put Starflare Ignition System on that unit's Commander so it can leave the board entirely at the end of your opponent's turn and drop again somewhere else. Keep the Puretide Engram Neurochip on whichever unit you spend the most stratagems on, and hold a command point in your opponent's turn for Grav-inhibitor Field if they charge or Stimm Injectors if they shoot.

If you would rather have a partner detachment and still hit hard up close, Mont'ka at 3 DP is the other complete army, and Kauyon at 2 DP is the only aggressive-adjacent option that leaves a Detachment Point to spend. For the fundamentals, read the T'au Empire army guide.