A Winning Nature Aun'aturel

Tau Eldar

They can run but they can't shield.. Ethereals can make your opponents' chances of victory disappear into the ether. Play a solid command game to build cities in the sky and exhaust the enemy warlord to beat the inebriated upstart to death.

This setup is a take with a few twists on the more or less classic way of playing Aun'shi. The idea is to be able to determine pre-commitment where to send your warlord and still benefit hugely by not committing to planet one; either claim the first planet through unshieldable force, or trigger multiple battle-abilities through Negotiations and gain a decisive advantage for the next round.

Tactical notes:
- The Shrouded Harlequin: this curious little card is included specifically to either bloody or kill off the enemy warlord in one devastating combat round. It is simply played on the first planet with the sole purpose of dying quick. Once it is dead you exhaust the enemy warlord and then use Kayon Strike of orbital cities to bring in your strikeforce and shoot until the job is done.
- Fire Warrior Elite: even though these are not elites by trait, they may help Aun'shi survive long enough to finish the job and then leave the planet himself in regard to the kill move from before; they may do the same for a Recruit or a XV88 enabling these to hit very hard, but keep in mind that there are only two copies included; use them carefully.
- Tense negotiations is a very powerful trick if you have a Orbital Cities on the table. You can potentially trigger, say, Taurus three or four times if Carnath is there too giving your a game-decisive advantage.

Mulligan draw for these cards:
1. Ksi'm'yen Orbital City
2. Ksi'm'yen Orbital City
3. Ambush Platform / Honor Blade
(Aun'shi's Sanctum is a great card too, but rarely so on the first turn because of the two cost and lack of development from the off.)

Weaknesses and oddities:
- 'Staying power': Aun'shi can have trouble dealing with opponents who can take some beat-downs and still survive, like heavy elites or maybe just the Orks with their high HP count. Don't commit to a bit fight unless you can eye a path to victory or simply set yourself up really advantageous for the next round.
- The Destructors can help with the staying issue and while they don't gain the Armourbane ability from the commander, they are solid enough as it is.
- No Earth Caste Technicians. I might not be their biggest fan exactly, but these can be added of course. (Personally I have an unusually unlucky miss-ratio with their ability, which also includes key cards consistently going to the bottom of the deck.. But from a mathematical point of view the Technician certainly is a great card).
- Be very careful when deciding where to commit Aun'shi. Always consider the unexpected out of your opponents faction(s) as much as you can: if you get bloodied your game from there usually becomes very difficult. If you're having trouble with this I recommend you add one or two copies of Seer's Exodus. Unfortunately it didn't make the fifty card-cut here, but I think it is a great card all the same.
- While the Broadside may be too expensive for most sensible players, I find the possibility of ambush a Gun Drones or the Ion Rifle for 1/0 onto them so good that I run a single copy. Remember the excellent Ethereal Wisdom in this regard too.

Unless you really, really have to, never use the Honor Blade as shields, but give it to Aun'shi. That +1 ATK to all but the Warlock Destructors and the kamikaze Harlequin is quite powerful indeed.
Remember that Area Effect is not considered to be an attack, so neither the Envoys nor the Prelates swings back home chilling if they attack with Area Effect two with Gun Drones attached. (By using an AE they are still considered to be attacking, but technically it does not count as an attack).
Any comments and/or critique are more than welcome :)