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Hail Dakka Dakka!

So after a pretty long hiatus a few of my mates have talked me back into Warhammer 40K. I played Eldar in the early 2000's but am moving on to Tau.

Currently I have a Battleforce box and plan on expanding my army to 750pts (and then 1000, 1250, 1500, etc.) for an upcoming escalation league close by. I would like to use most of what came in the box but if I leave out a piranha or stealth suit squad it won't upset me. I am looking for a solid base to build up from without much waste .

I love the shooting from afar aspect of tau and especially love the suits/tanks (although Fire Warriors and Pathfinders are cool also) so I would like a competitive list built with that in mind.

Here is what I have currently put together as far as my planned 750 list is concerned.. After the list I will add that I am thinking about as far as future expansion. All comments/suggestions are more than welcome.

FOR THE GREATER GOOD!

+ HQ
* Commander
Advanced targeting system, Crisis battlesuit, Drone controller, Fusion blaster, Missile pod, Puretide Engram Neurochip
* 2x Gun Drone

+ Elites
* Stealth Team
* Stealth Shas'ui
Burst cannon
* Stealth Shas'ui
Burst cannon
* Stealth Shas'ui (fusion)
Fusion blaster, Target lock

* XV8 Crisis Team
* Crisis Shas'ui
Crisis battlesuit, Fusion blaster, Missile pod
* Crisis Shas'ui
Crisis battlesuit, Fusion blaster, Missile pod
* 2x Gun Drone
2x Twin-linked pulse carbine

+ Troops
* Fire Warrior Team
(Supporting Fire)
8x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle, Photon grenades
* Devilfish
Burst cannon, Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

* Fire Warrior Team
(Supporting Fire)
7x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle

+ Fast Attack
* Pathfinder Team
* 6x Pathfinder Shas'la
6x Pulse carbine with Markerlight

* Piranhas
* Piranha
Blacksun filter, Fusion blaster

That hits 750 exactly.

In higher point games would it be better to add an Ethereal?

For other additions up to 1000 and beyond I was thinking of increasing the Fire Warrior squads to 12 each, adding 2 more Piranhas, and then a Broadhead with longstrike or possibly a Riptide.

Thanks in advance for all the advice!

The battlesuits are little scattered. Fireforges are not bad, but are not great, especially now with the option to run dual Fusion Blaster or Dual Plasma.

In this list the suits really need to be tank hunters, the stealth team is probably better with 3 BC than the 2 BC/FB.

What Barnowl said. go for dual weapons on suits.

I'll add that you should make the pathfinders 2 squads of 4. This will mean you can markerlight 2 different units per turn.

Also if you can make the fire warriors squads of 9 you can loose an extra man before taking a leadership test.

I'm not a fan of Ethereals, I don't think their worth it unless its Aun'va.

As for riptide or longstrike their both awesome. The riptide can do just about everything you could want it to while Longstrike is amazing at tank hunting or even instant killing T5 characters in the open

Just noticed the question about the ethereal. I love running them in Gundrone and FW heavy lists. Makes overwatch just ugly, and adds a lot of volume to that mid range fire power. I also play a methodically advancing foot list, so makes the Ethereal more useful.