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Hi, throwing together a 1500 pt list for my 1st games back to the hobby in yonks, I primarily own a Tau army, but have a smaller force of CSM on the side. I'm running them as SM Raven Guard though I reckon, as Chapter tactics seem to much better represent the kind of 3.5 CSM list I originally built. I've read a bit, but in the end i've accepted i'll most likely lose fast and hard for a while, so 'ive simply put together a list with units that are fully painted and a nice variety from what I own modal collection wise.

I've read that stealth suits and Raven Guard in general aren't the best, but i'd like to give it a shot! Saying that, if this list is total junk, let me know as I do own the usual suspects of hammerheads, crisis suits and devilfishes, it's just that I am in the process of making them fully WYSIWYG for this edition weapon wise and I wanted to play with some of my toys in the meantime...

HQ:

Ethereal 50 pts

Elites:

3 Stealth Suits 90 pts

3 Stealth Suits 90 pts

3 Stealth Suits 90 pts

Troops:

9 Fire Warriors 81 pts

9 Fire Warriors 81 pts

9 Fire Warriors 81 pts

10 Kroot W/Sniper Rounds 70 pts

10 Kroot W/Sniper Rounds 70 pts

10 Kroot W/Sniper Rounds 70 pts

Fast Attack:

4 Pathfinders 44 pts

4 Pathfinders 44 pts

Allied Detachment: Space Marines (Raven Guard Chapter Tactics)

HQ:

Librarian 65 pts

Troops:

10 Tactical Marines W/1x Lacannon & 1x Plasma Gun 175 pts

10 Tactical Marines W/1x Lacannon & 1x Plasma Gun 175 pts

Heavy Support:

10 Devastators w/4x Lascannons 220 pts

Total = 1496 pts

Idea is to combat squad the marine squads for lots of MSU throughout the army (17 units in all exl HQ choices). Most of the units have Scout or infiltrate, and a healthy amount of the stealth USR 1st turn so heres hoping for tables with some cover on them... Stuck to the old rule of "boys before toys".

I'm hoping that the extra deployment options along with the flexibility of MSU means that I have a shot at objective missions whilst still retaining a high body count and lots of small arms fire. Speaking of which, would using the forgeworld raptor rules be considered official or still a bit iffy? I know at least when I last played, forgeworld was eyed a bit suspiciously when it came to balance. The raptor rules are similar to raven guard except they have the option of making their bolter heavy 1, rendering, in exchange they lose the jump pack benefits raven guard get.

Well, the good news is Tau are getting a new codex probably about August/September time frame so who knows, maybe Stealth Suits will be good by then.

I won't be picky since you said you're working with painted models but your tac squads need Rhinos or Drop Pods; some type of mobility.

Cheers for the reply, I should mention that my tau are pretty much fully painted, just an issue of swapping in SMS instead of burst cannons on tanks for example and converting up some skyrays with spare seeker missiles as I own the old 3rd ed hammerheads & devilfish chasisis. Crisis suits are ready to go bar needing to find some extra missile pods. I just prefer everything to be fully wysiwyg and optimised. I could probably pretty soon run a full tau army with what I've read is the good picks this edition, double missile pod crisis suits, 3 skyrays, mounted fire warrior squads in develfishes etc.

Pretty much just missing the broadsides and riptides which I plan to hold off on till the new codex, in case they get the nerf bat treatment.

Regarding this list, I figured combat squading so half the tac squad would stay back as bullet catchers for the lascannons whilst the other half would scout into 24 inch range with bolsters/plasma and librarian. Alternatively they could outflank purely for annoyance factor to harass some backfield objectives. If this is pie in the sky thinking this edition though let me know!

Are stealth suits that bad? I was thinking in a list that lacks mobility outside of deployment options they might be a decent source of AI and objective captures. I figured crisis suits in a list with lots of modals would just be a prime target for any instant death weapons.

Well, they're just too expensive. 30 points?! For what? Now, if they were 18-20, that would be the sweet spot. Still, they need to be moved back to the FA slot because no matter how cheap they get, they're still not competing with Crisis and Riptides.

Heck, even if Riptides get the nerf bat, and stealth suits get cheaper, Crisis are still going to be only 1-4 points more expensive. That is still going to be worth the trade every single time. For that 1-4 points against our imaginary new cheap stealth suit, I get +1T, have the same mobility, and can take more (and better) weapons.

GW has to do more than make them cheaper. They have to make that trade worth it, OR, move them to FA.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

Back in 3rd/ early 4th edition I watered down my lists and started to include some Stealth suits instead of just crisis suits/hammerheads/kroot/cheap HQ crisis suit which was the order of the day back then if you wanted a decent Tau list iirc. I actually found the Stealth suits rules and infiltrate back then made them a decent at least choice, for all the ragging they got on them. Terrain dependent maybe though and they could back then, fill in the unit with gun drones for ablative wounds/extra shots.

I realize they can't really stand up to crisis suits which can field the equivalent of two melta guns or autocannons these days each for points equivalent to less then two stealth suits! Or Riptides which do every role as far as I can tell.

As a stand alone anti infantry unit with pretty much every deployment rule, some mobility and durability if in cover, are they really that bad in non tourny armies? I mean like fire warriors, they strike me as decent units, just better alternatives out there. Unlike say Vespid, who seem to be utter crap still.

Also, I meant to ask, any point in Pathfinders in a list like this? I could invest those points in more shots as the Tau element ain't really fielding any weapons that require ignore cover. The extra BS is nice, but I could just as easily invest in a few more guns..

No, there is no point in Pathfinders. There's literally nothing that would benefit from them. All your guns are only AP5/6 anyway. I mean, if Orks were like, the most popular army, I'd say sure. But they are among the least popular.

This army has zero AA; sub-optimal AT, sub-optimal mobility and sub-optimal resiliency. Truthfully, it sucks. But, there's really no reason to despair, the codex is a few months away and you can afford to wait until then before plunging into a buying spree to improve it.

Thanks, I don't mind the honesty :-)

I'll probably over the next few weeks introduce my crisis suits/skyrays/devilfishes/marker drones and so forth, whilst phasing out the SM & whatever is not working Tau wise. For my 1st game back in 3 editions, I suppose I may just run with this as I want to whip out the modals I find cool whilst i'm still living in ignorance of how bad they may be! (Haven't used my fire warriors or pathfinders since Tau came out in 3rd ed after quickly realizing that they were not the best.)