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HQ (341 pts)

-Commander Shas'o with Cyclonic Blaster, Missle Pod, Plasma Rifle, bonding knife, ,stimulant injecter, hardwired drone-controller, and Multitracker at 147 pts
-Bodyguard with Missle pod, twin-linked plasma rifle, and hardwired multitracker at 82 pts
-Bodyguard with Missle pod, twin-linked plasma rifle, and hardwired multitracker at 82 pts
2 x Shield Drones at 30 pts

Troops (460 pts)

2 x 12 Fire Warriors with pulse rifles at 240 pts
2 x Devilfish with Smart Missile system, Decoy Launchers, and Disruption Pods at 220 pts

Elite (106 pts)

2 x Crisis Battlesuit with twin-linked fusion blaster and targeting array at 106 pts

Heavy (585 pts)

3 x Hammerhead with Railgun, Smart Missile System, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pods, Flechette Discharger, Multi-tracker, and Target lock at 585 pts


Total: 1492 pts

The two Crisis suits with fusion blasters are used for deep striking in behind vehicles, yes they're suicidal lol

thoughts and comments welcome

you cannot put the targeting array on the shas'o because it cannot be used to increase his ballistic skill above 5. Other than that, seems pretty ok and could do some stuff. If you want to go another way with your tau. I won second in a tournament spanning mass fire warriors and the extensive use of pathfinders w/markerlights.

From my own experience with fighting tau, I personally thin 3 hammerheads are a waste, their anti-armour is poor (without markerlights) and their large blast is mediocre IMO when facing them (Eldar).

I would suggest replacing one hammer head with 2 broadsides with a shield drone, but not knowing the costs, it may end out the same or cheaper.

Also why do you have 2 units of just a single battlesuit? I have never seen someone run this, so It maybe better than a larger unit.

Maybe someone who plays with not against tau could be more help than I.

ChaosFanatic#1 wrote:you cannot put the targeting array on the shas'o because it cannot be used to increase his ballistic skill above 5. Other than that, seems pretty ok and could do some stuff. If you want to go another way with your tau. I won second in a tournament spanning mass fire warriors and the extensive use of pathfinders w/markerlights.

Your very right lol, sorry I just checked my Army Builder and it was a typo on my part :p but I thought mass fire warriors would be awesome.

Squig_herder wrote:From my own experience with fighting tau, I personally thin 3 hammerheads are a waste, their anti-armour is poor (without markerlights) and their large blast is mediocre IMO when facing them (Eldar).

I would suggest replacing one hammer head with 2 broadsides with a shield drone, but not knowing the costs, it may end out the same or cheaper.

Also why do you have 2 units of just a single battlesuit? I have never seen someone run this, so It maybe better than a larger unit.

Maybe someone who plays with not against tau could be more help than I.

Well, the the Hammerheads have a Targeting Array so I thought with BS 4 they would be pretty mean, I prefer them over Broadsides for their maneuverability and the sub-munition. Yes the blast is mediocre but I think with 3 Str 10 Railguns I'll have a good chance to remove the opponents long range threats. I suppose I could use Pathfinders to increase the BS to 5 but how long do Pathfinders live before getting shot to hell?

thank you guys for your input very helpful.

I have taken a hammerhead and a Broadside in my army now for the past 4 games. The hammerhead was immediately targeted for destruction from turn 1 while the Broadside went on to take out the enemies vehicles himself. Me personally with the 2+ armour save and a couple shield drones, I am thinking of taking full broadside teams with the Advanced Stabilization system. That gives you 3 twin linked railgun shots per team. You give the team leader a multi-tracker and you get the 4 shots from the Smart missile system. But, that is me personally.

I actually like the idea of Fire Warriors and using Pathfinders behind. Since Markerlight range is longer than Pulse Rifle range, you can use Pathfinders behind your Fire Warriors to give them cover from everything except aircraft. I like using Hammerheads and Broadsides in conjunction - Hammerhead for versatility, Broadsides for sheer anti-vehicle, and with Pathfinders they perform much better. With 72" range, they don't need stabilizers, I think, and any other weaponry on them is kind of a waste, since it is also no good against vehicles (their main target). Give the broadsides some shield drones for invulnerable saves and more 2+ armor wounds to take, and a Hammerhead with a Disruption Pod (maybe a multi-tracker if you intend to move around a lot).

I think the bodyguards are a bad idea. They are too susceptible to a large blast or other heavily damaging thing (such as a squad of infantry in rapid-fire range with bolters or the like) for suits to be together. Drop the bodyguard, make your crisis suits individual (two commanders if you want), take pathfinders, use the Devilfish to re-roll deep strike scatter, and you're set. I don't mind suicide crisis suits, since 80 pt Crisis suits make up their points if they kill almost any vehicle. Take note that if you want to use extensive use of this, you need less broadsides and hammerheads than otherwise.

All-around, you've got the right idea. Tau was my first army, and they are good for beginners, with forgiving armor, simple codex, and great weapons all around. I don't know if this is your first army or not, but I really love Tau, and I think you will too.

Here is some quick advice, I don't have too much time:

One should never take bodyguards while they can take standard Elite Slot suits. Those are cheaper, so why not take them.

Secondly, decoy launchers fail at life. They will barely ever come into effect, they aren't worth the cheap points value that they cost.

On your hammerheads, always take Burst Cannons. You get two more shots at half price, only sacrificing some range and a ok-ish special rule. Its always worth it.


I would change your commander's weapons. I would make him Fusion/Plasma or Plasma/Missile, with a multi-tracker naturally. I would also down-grade him from a 'o to a 'el.

All of that together should give you about 100 points or so, and I would spend that on either pathfinders, or some more crisis suits.



Three hammerheads is nasty at these points just because of how good the template is. If you find that three hammerheads can't take out armor, then I would get rid of one and get a broadside unit of two or three.

Just adding to TheBringer's advice:

Apostle Pat wrote:HQ -Commander Shas'o with Cyclonic Blaster, Missle Pod, Plasma Rifle, bonding knife, ,stimulant injecter, hardwired drone-controller, and Multitracker at 147 pts
-Bodyguard with Missle pod, twin-linked plasma rifle, and hardwired multitracker at 82 pts
-Bodyguard with Missle pod, twin-linked plasma rifle, and hardwired multitracker at 82 pts
2 x Shield Drones at

Avoid taking the bodyguards. Take them as single suits instead, and you'll save points. While *this* set up yields TL-PlasRifle, yummy, if you went regular Elite, Team Leader, you'd save 5 points, only losing the worthless WS3 and Init3. And still have your TLPR, MP and hwMT.

Apostle Pat wrote:2 x Devilfish with Smart Missile system, Decoy Launchers, and Disruption Pods

Run either *just* the DisPod or go the whole she-bang:
SMS, TA, MT and Dispod. Adding the SMS without an MT means it has to sit still to shoot 7 dice. The TA makes those 7 dice hit.

Apostle Pat wrote:2 x Crisis Battlesuit with twin-linked fusion blaster and targeting array at 106 pts

I've seen this advocated by a 3rd Edition veteran, but that's a lot of suicide points.

Apostle Pat wrote:3 x Hammerhead with Railgun, Smart Missile System, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pods, Flechette Discharger, Multi-tracker, and Target lock at 585 pts

Again, Decoy Launchers, toss. And BCs cost less and add dice.

Generally, yes, all of the "go Broadside" advice is good; but then again, HHs have a Cover Save and their noses are pretty hard. If anything, you can always double one as a d'fish.