1. Might be better to use your snipers as part of mobile link teams rather than have the chunky double sniper team, because if the terrain is a bit dense or you don't get the good deployment zone, the sniper team can sometimes be a bit dead weight. It's also unwieldy to use turn 1 because you need to start with one sniper prone but end up with both standing. Having teams with only 1 sniper standing up is more straightforward. If the board is really open you can always chop up your links a bit and go back to the double sniper team. Additional benefit: the Sukuel ML can roll with a Sakiel viral and Makaul for a decent alpha strike team.
2. I want to give the clipsos sniper a go. I love Lasiqs and while the clipsos doesn't have viral and is -1BS, it is TO and only 1SWC (cost is 25 versus 26 on the clipsos). It has tremendous potential to dominate late game and I really like having an infiltrating sniper for those games where you get a sniper tower just outside the DZ. TO sniper traps are also delicious. Will also be using the Nikoul more, but the 1.5SWC is pricey (though 2W for 28 points!).
3. The most reliable kill unit across all my games so far has been the Sakiel with viral combi by an order of magnitude, which has surprised me given he has no MOD stacks, a poor range band and only BS12. However, as long as the target doesn't have a big MOD stack, B4 means you typically do get a hit, and with 2 damage rolls on viral (and shock) it tends to put things down even with just that single hit. I'm going to experiment with running 2 and saving the SWC on attack weapons for more snipers instead. The Makauls mean you can very reliably and efficiently get into combi-rifle range. I haven't found much need for HMGs recently, which is funny because I started to get into Tohaa after the release of the Sukuel, whose HMG profile I thought made Tohaa viable.
4. K1 combi rifles just kind of suck, at least if you're not facing down TAGs. If your target is in cover they need a 10+ to save a wound. That's pretty good odds. Even against HI the viral is about the same stopping power, and is significantly better against lighter targets.
5. It's really nice to have a couple of Chaksa's around to do sensor in button-pushing missions to reveal any TO dickheads waiting around for final turn shenanigans. The baggage can also come in very handy, especially as these guys are only 10 points but rock a heavy flamer so killing them is not straightforward the way killing most baggage units is. Chaksa's are just awesome frankly.
6. Tohaa do not have much of an alpha strike. I'm going to experiment with the following team: Makaul, Sakiel viral combi, Sukuel missile launcher + light shotgun. They are all 4-4 and you've got eclipse. Bomb it down a flank killing things with the viral, then turn a corner with either the Sukuel light shotgun (B3, BS13 and mimetism makes for a tasty cluster of ftf rolls) or the flamethrower depending on the target and let rip. The ML also allows you to exploit DZs that are empty across but not visible from your end of the table. Again, bomb it up a flank, then turn the corner, see exposed clumbs of infantry far away, fire missiles for multiple dead units per shot. Your ML can then also own that or other crossfire lanes. Like Phalanx you can then take shots against your Sukuel on the reactive while throwing smoke with Makaul...tasty (this is the broken Pheonix + Myrm technique - Pheonix's ftf is usually pretty good and once it is over you are in a smoke cloud and nobody wants to assault you because you can engage ARO with PH13, kinematic and massive CC potential: Makaul can do similar).
7. I experimented with a Gorgos for the alpha strike. It can be good, but it hems you in to 10 orders (not so bad when you can't be stripped of two, but not really core Tohaa strategy, which is really about running 14 orders). The key thing is that you can't defend it from hackers and you also can't snipe with it because it has a spitfire rather than a HMG, so you sometimes need the symbiomate to shake off a hit as you pass through a repeater defense. A secondary important consideration is that while it hits very hard against units that don't stack MODs, just a couple of MOD stacks will make it suddenly quite ineffectual, TO snipers being an obvious example. It can be good to simply take a few hits on it on the way in (it has so.many.wounds) and double move so as to get it into the backfield and wreck havoc, then leave it on suppression in cover to drain orders. I want to try it a bit more. I'm not sure what the best matchups for it are and I also need to see whether I can get it into a 2 combat group build. What I like about it is that people do not expect Tohaa to use it, so they will take lists that aren't geared for killing TAGs. This can then make it tougher and more effective than it would otherwise be.
8. My impression is that the 4 triad + plus 2 floaters build is preferable to the 3 triad + 4 floaters build, but it may depend on the mission and I haven't playtested enough. Some of the floaters are pretty great: Chaksa Auxiliar, Clipsos, Nikoul, Kumotail with servants. Others are, at least in my opinion, more mediocre. I just don't think the Rasail is worth the near 40 points for a unit that brings the same thing as a Sakiel + Makaul (the extra wound seems redundant to me) and can't drag a specialist as part of a link team nor throw eclipse to get into viral range (and can be hacked). The Kaauri's are only good against combined army and only if they are running a speculo, which they often aren't. Chaksa flamers are otherwise superior. Hassassins deploy in IMM-2 against Tohaa, which makes them easy to discover, they can't put your symbiont guys out of commission in a single hit, and the triad formation means you can usually make it lame for them to come to hurt you. The Gorgos is a bit expensive outside of Show of Force. The Tarsos charges you a lot for a wound you don't really need. And the preceptors are a very expensive (points and orders) source of not very reliable smoke. If they had impetuous they would be awesome and in all my lists.
4 Triads + 2 floaters usually works out to 3 attack triads in group 1 plus a floater, and then a more defensive triad in group 2 plus a floater. Admittedly, one of the attack triads usually sits idle, which is why I think perhaps I should be using the 3+4 build more often. However, each triad has a slightly different role, so the idle triad changes each game. For example, I usually have 1 that is pure offence, 1 with the Gao Rael spitfire and a specialist for sweeping camouflaged units (who is otherwise inferior to a viral-totting Sakiel) and then a second Sakiel team with a specialist. If my opponent doesn't have a lot of camouflage or I can neuter it with my Gao Rael sniper in team 2, then the Sakiel's can go forward for carnage and/or button pushing, and leave the slow Rael at home. I also find that I often bring the third triad online only in turn 3 to rush out and press a few buttons.
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