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I haven't been keeping up with the Tau Talk lately, so I was wondering what you think of this list.  Tanks all over, but that's okay because I loves me the Tau Tanks.  If it's not okay, tell me why.

Should I swap out the IonHead for a SkyRay?  Or no? I have everything bought for this list except for the IonHead, so I don't know what to get for that last Heavy slot.

Knock it or like it, let me know.

1 Commander Shas'o (HQ)
      Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

1 Stealth Team Leader (Elites)
     Burst Cannon; Drone Controller
     2 Gun Drones
   5 Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon

2 Crisis Battlesuits (Elites)
     TL Missile Pod; Targeting Array

 

2 Crisis Battlesuits (Elites)
     Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

 

12 FireWarrior Team (Troops)
     Pulse Rifle (x12)
  1 Devilfish w/Decoy Launcher
       2 Mounted Gun Drones

10 FireWarrior Team (Troops)
     Pulse Rifle (x10)
  1 Devilfish w/ Decoy Launcher
       2 Mounted Gun Drones

10 FireWarrior Team (Troops) 
     Pulse Rifle (x10)
  1 Devilfish w/Decoy Launcher
       2 Mounted Gun Drones

 

7 Pathfinder Team (Fast Attack)
     Pulse Carbine & Markerlight (x7)
  1 Shas'ui Team Leader
     Pulse Carbine & Markerlight
          Bonding Knife
          Hard-wired drone controller
              2 Gun Drones
    1 Devilfish
          Marker Beacon; Smart Missile System
          Decoy Launcher

1 Hammerhead Gunship (Heavy Support)
     Railgun; Smart Missile System
     Multi-tracker
     Decoy Launcher

1 Hammerhead Gunship (Heavy Support) 
     Railgun; Smart Missile System
     Decoy Launcher
     Multi-tracker

1 Hammerhead Gunship (Heavy Support) 
     Ion Cannon; Burst Cannons
     Decoy Launcher
     Multi-tracker

Models in Army: 68

Total Army Cost: 1843

Have you played this list yet? I ask b/c I just need 2 more Devilfish and I've got one eerily similar.

I've played my Tau a whopping two times so far at 1500 points. Things I've discovered:

-The Stealth Suits are great, especially with Pathfinders in the back lighting up units
-All tanks need the ability to be able to fire as if they were a fast vehicle(forgot the name of the wargear)
-SMS are very nice against non MEQ's.
-I personally prefer the Railhead over Ionhead. Against non MEQ's, the Railhead can still throw down the large template (it kills Dire Avengers quite nicely), and you still have the uber anti armor gun in the game.

Good luck

Rules of Tau:

Work for the Greater Good
Listen to the Etherals
Always take Railguns on Hammerheads

Considering you don't own it, go for the 3rd Railhead, you will need it, trust me. Worst comes to worst, magnetize that sucker so you can swap it out.

Tau suck

I think Ionheads are fine if you take enough meltagun pirahna to aid your tank popping, btw. would need to be like 8-12 of them.  but I don't think a mix of ionheads/hammerheads is a real winner, only two antitank guns == the suck        

Looks pretty decent to me. The Ionhead does better than the Railhead at taking down Eldar skimmers, so there just might be some new life in it yet. Personally, I'd drop the gun drones on the Stealths in order to buy Multitrackers for your Devilfish. Also, if you need to free up points, you can always drop your Shas'O down to a Shas'El with a Target Array and hardwire his Multitracker.

Don't overcommit yourself; against a castling shooty opponent, you may find that you have to resort to playing points denial. Don't feel that you always have to drive up and rapid fire either: That many Fire Warriors will shred Gaunt swarms or Eldar, and can go on Land Speeder duty in a pinch. Against fast-moving assaulters or Drop Pods, you'd likely be best off castling up behind a wall of skimmers, and just shooting. Otherwise, the overall strategy should be to divide and conquer, rapid firing the heck out of the enemy with markerlight support and using skimmer walls to block off choke points. I'm at a loss as to how you plan to beat Zilla Nids, though.

Only reason to take a Shas'O is if you want BS5 and something other then a targeting array on your third hard point. A popular config is Shas'o with vectored thrusted, HW multi-tracker, feel no pain and weapons of choice. He can tie up units and is rather resileint in close comabt aslong as the enemy unit lacks S8. Then he hits and runs in your turn if needed and lets more shooting rain down on the unit.

The leadership thing or reserve thing is also something you could give a Shas'O.

If you want a BS 5 Fireknife commander, take a Shas'el with a TA and save yourself some points, otherwise give that 'O a FB in addition to his other weapons for some more versatility, or run the Ninja'O : VRT, Stimms, SG, FB - 127pts

IMHO: Running 2 ion and 1 rail is the way to go with 3 pirannas for back-up tank busting.

SMS on EVERYTHING Nothing like reaching out and touching someone when they can't see you (Completely demoralizes your enemy, by turn 3 or 4 people have often given up saying "man I can't even shoot at you without coming out of cover and making it so that you utterly destroy me")

FCW teams should be 12 strong to get the most out of FOF

Oh ya, and you die if you play necrons... not much to it, you just die.

Thanks very much for your advice and opinions, everyone!

As far as NBecrons go, eh, none of my regular gaming group plays them, and if i play them, then it'll be a challenge!

I think I will just do a TA Shas'el for the BS5. I don't want him in combat.

The Ninj'o does sound interesting though. Wouldn't it be difficult to pull off using him that way? Never thought of it before. Would giving him the Airburst gun be good here, as he can slam a pie plate down on the unit before he goes back in to assault.

Never really thought of using him for a C and C Node either, would be very handy for the Pathfinders and making sure they light up what's necessary when necessary.

I love the SMS, but I wanted to try and keep the DFs relatively cheap. Adding the SMS's would force me to drop something else. And I would love to get 12 FCW in each Fish, but I don't think it'll happen. Points aren't there...

I am still on the fence about the Ionhead. The cannon would be decent against MEQs, light tanks, skimmers. I will be playing against marines, other Tau, Eldar, maybe Lost and the Damned. I could see that being useful and it's nice and cheap...

I don't recommend the AFP on an HQ suit. Since it doesn't roll to hit, it's a waste of a perfectly good BS5. It's a nice weapon for Elite squad leaders, though.

For the Ninja'O, Plasma and either Fusion or the CIB usually work well.

Hey Grimteef, budro from the waaagh.

I often run 2 Railheads and an Ionhead.  Partly for points - since I'm only running two Fish, that gives me most of the points to put SMS on them.  It's fairly effective vs MEQ's, with your markerlights boosting it to BS5 it should be deadly.

(BTW, buy the skyray box - you can use it to make any tank you want with the help of a few magnets.  Even without magnets you can always switch out the turrent to make it a Rail/Ion head instead of a skyray).

Good luck.