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Been working on a Tau idea for a while and I've finally accumulated the models.

1849

HQ
Commander - 158
multi spectrum sensor suite -
irridium suit -
command control node -
drone controller -
onager gauntlet -

TROOPS
6 Firewarriors - 171 (FIVE IDENTICAL UNITS)
EMP -
Devilfish -
SMS -
Disruption Pod -



FAST ATTACK
5 Piranhas - 250
Fusion Blasters -

8 pathfinders 98
shas-ui -

8 pathfinders 98
shas-ui -

HEAVY SUPPORT
Skyray - 130
Disruption Pod -
SMS -

Skyray - 130
Disruption Pod -
SMS -

Skyray - 130
Disruption Pod -
SMS -

I started this because I get so angry at wave serpents so I wanted to be able to just tear them a new one. I'm pretty confident that this list is wave-serpent proof. (other than the piranha squad... it would get owned hard being in a squadron.. and the pathfinders)

a lot of armies are going to have a very, very difficult time dealing with 8 vehicles with such beefy armor. The Devilfish are tough to kill and put out quite a bit of damage... 8 S5 shots per.... half of them being twin linked and ignoring cover. using the devilfish in unison that should really do a number on infantry or even light vehicles. the devilfish is also big so board control will be improved. the fire warriors inside have emp in case its needed; i think 5 little squads will be able to capture effectively, bunker down when needed and put out some damage in return.

the piranhas actually seem like a huge threat to me...av 11 and 10 total hullpoints. theyre going to be where they want to go on turn one. with the flat out and the jink theyre going to be reasonably well protected. one question i forgot about... should i buy disruption pods for them? I could cut down on my pathfinders... they were a late addition to the list... thats 75 points but giving them a 3+ jink basically guarantees theyre going to get into a damage position unless i get spammed by ignore cover. the piranhas are there to really attack the high strength target. im thinking things like imperial knights... im fast enough to jink, skirt and then get behind them to drop all the fusion. BS3 stinks but it should still be enough.

also with the piranhas... I'll be detaching all the drones on turn 1. theyll attach to the commander. this is more of a fun unit... with all his buffs theyll be shooting 20 s5 twin linked, bs5, ignore cover pinning shots. that should really own a unit. I imagine theyll hang back, hide in cover and control my side of the board. hopefully i can keep about 2 objectives in my back quarters and have them stay within 18" of both of them. I gave the commander the gauntlet just in case. had a few points to burn... if it comes down to it, its nice to know that he has that s10 ap1 attack.

the pathfinders ill have to try to get into a good position early on. the idea is to use them to try to really light something up so the skyrays can just destroy it on turn 1. after the rays are out of missles then theyll also try to paint a target to increase the BS and drop cover so the piranhas can destroy something. i think the pathfinders, skyrays and piranhas have real synergy together. the devilfish will be a pain in the ass. the commander and the drones will just hang out.

im going to run a list very similar to this one way or the other because i think itll be a lot of fun but what do you guys think? any tweaks or tips? i did think about dropping one skyray for a longstrike hammerhead but meh, i think the skyrays will just be easier to manage.

You can drop the CnC node I think and be fine, that should free up some points. Maybe add a few Seekers to the piranaha or 'fish since you will have 3 sources for skyfire markerlights.

I play with my Tau pretty often, and I can tell you that Buffmander, 2nd commander with missile pods x2 and 3 crisis suits with missile pods x2 utterly destroy serpents. The unit spits out 16 36" range str 7 twin-linked, tank hunter, ignores cover shots that can split between 4 different targets. And the unit is very survivable with buffmander tanking the hits. Give it a try,

That does sound great, I just hate suits and don't want any in the list. Although if I start buying forgeworld suits then a similar idea to what you listed would be fun.

rmartin90 wrote:
I play with my Tau pretty often, and I can tell you that Buffmander, 2nd commander with missile pods x2 and 3 crisis suits with missile pods x2 utterly destroy serpents. The unit spits out 16 36" range str 7 twin-linked, tank hunter, ignores cover shots that can split between 4 different targets. And the unit is very survivable with buffmander tanking the hits. Give it a try,

^^This. That unit is the new black for Tau. I like the version with 8 marker drones as they serve the dual role of providing markerlight awesomesauce and being ablative wounds as the game progresses

How do seekers work now? I think I understand the skyray... but can I use lets say a pathfinder team to launch missiles off of a devilfish?

I'm an imperium player and don't know Tau that well, so go ahead and ignore if I'm missing something basic, but...

I'm not digging the pirhana unit against wave serpents. Ignore Cover ignores jink, and then you've got armor what, 10? Against strength 7 serpent shield hits? With the five of them all together, a wave serpent spam foe will wipe them out first thing, without wasting a single serpent on overkill.

why not drop the buffmander completely and take ethereals instead?

Buffmander is there to create a free super unit with the drones that detach off the piranhas. They're going to run off and pack fusion so the drones are useless to them.

I completely agree that serpents would own the piranhas, but I'm not using them to take out serpents. I'd likely leave them in reserve if I couldn't hide them.

I'm pretty confident that a skyray can take a serpent out in one volley, especially if it's got pathfinder support

raoiley wrote:
How do seekers work now? I think I understand the skyray... but can I use lets say a pathfinder team to launch missiles off of a devilfish?

A seeker missile may: Be fired normally like a HK Missile(P.66) or be fired by expending a Markerlight token(P.68). Also, a skyray can fire all of its weapons in an alpha strike if it doesn't move(rulebook).

well, played my first game last night and earned a narrow victory against a good tyranid player. i made some major mistakes.. boxed in the army... didnt fire seeker missiles off the piranhas before they got blown up. we played a maelstrom game and that really worked against me early on. the game ended turn 5 and I had killed all the synapse and basically just had 40 gaunts opposing me... but he had been very good at scoring points early on. i liked the list though, going to keep playing and tweaking!