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Hi everyone! Let me introduce myself starting with my various armie's. I have 1850+ of Tau, 1500pts of Zilla Chior, and 1000pts of First Turn Assault Kroot Mercenaries. I am not a rookie nor am I a veteran, but somewhere in limbo land. That limbo land is more like theory land because I have not had the luxury of play testing nor participating in many tourneys. It is a shame, but at least I am able to still build unique and entertaining lists and this is one I would like some feed back on.

My Tau list was unchanged for about six months and I now just decided to change it up due to a post on another forum. That post was about how to deal with heavy armor such as 3 AV14, or something to that effect. I looked at my old list and thought that it was up to the challenge, but I am uncertain so I decided to play around with the numbers and came up with this armor pounding tau list.

HQ: 248
2x1 Sun Fire’ O: Plama Rifle, Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Hard Wired Multi Tracker: 124

[Sun’ O begins in the Fire Knife mode knocking light AV’s out of the air till he can get close enough to IC’s or heavy AV’s and switches into Helios or Forge mode. He can also force models out of cover and into LOS of the BASS, but it probably won’t be needed.]

Elite: 364
1x2 Death Rain’s: Twin Linked Missile Pods, Black Sun Filter: 92

1x2 Death Rain’s: Twin Linked Missile Pods, Black Sun Filter: 92

[DR’s hug terrain while focusing on light AV’s, plus I need more MP’s and this configuration is best suited for that task.]

1x6 Stealth Suit’s: 180

[SS’s offset the BASS’s with swarm control, and they also allow me to grab key terrain or push back other infiltrators.]

Troop: 345
1x12 Fire Warrior’s: 120
- Devil Fish: Decoy Launcher: 85

[FW’s are fleshy and they are a waist if not taken in units of two Mech teams, but I do not want to add another Mech FW team on the table because I feel its like adding two wrongs to make a right. instead, I plan to have the FW’s fire at the same SS’s target, thus, making up for the loss of the second Mech FW team. As for the DF, I cut back on the war gear because my HQ’s are already non-scoring and expensive.]

1x10 Kroot: 70

1x10 Kroot: 70

[Despite what many may think I like Kroot (hint the 1000pt Kroot Merc’s list) and they can provide many uses that the purist tau list lacks: cheep inflation push back, speed bump, can hold their own in woods, victory point denial.]

Fast: 280
1x2 Piranha’s: Fusion Blaster, Target Array: 140

1x2 Piranha’s: Fusion Blaster, Target Array: 140

[The amount of things these little fishies can do is mind boggling: table quarter’s grabber, fast tank hunters, IC hunters, free drones, VP denial, 30” done speed bumps, block exits for exploding transports, block in units for tank shocks, etc… The reason they are in kill teams is because of the statistical chance of hitting and if one dies then the survivor can turbo boos back to safety retaining 50% integrity.]

Heavy: 610
1x1 Rail Head: Burst Cannon, Multi Tracker, Decoy Launcher: 165

1x1 Rail Head: Burst Cannon, Multi Tracker, Decoy Launcher: 165

[These guys are cheap because they are enemy number one on the opponents to kill list. I chose BC because these tanks are meant to stay away from the enemy weapons and not be lured into their own demise for the chance to shoot SMS.]

1x3 Broadsides: Team Leader, Advanced Stabilizer System, Hard Wired Bonding Knife, Hard Wired Drone Controller, 2x Shield Drones
-Other two Broadsides just have the ASS.
-280pts

[They scare opponents, but are a huge juicy target; however, I feel that they will give me a huge advantage by clearing the enemy armor earlier than later.]

Point Total: 1847

Strategy: I would give a strategy but I feel that the overview of each element suffices.

I look forward to comments, critiques, advice, etc…

Sorry for the long post.

Looks like a fine playable list. The only comments I have:

I think the pirahna would be better off being changed to 3 x 1 and then adding another squad of Kroot.

Kroot are fine for area denial and counter assaulting but it feels like your missing out on alot of medium arms fire I tend to see in tau armies. The again I'm used to seeing 12+ suits with missile pod/plasma combo.

How does your list handle meqs? and hordes for that matter.

@Longshot

Three solo Piranhas with an additional Kroot squad does give me more flexibility, but if any Piranha dies then the opponent will instantly reap the rewards. If one Piranha dies in a two man kill team they have to hunt down the other to make any points back. Piranhas also need that second member to make sure what they shoot at dies, unless they are on a suicide mission lol.

@gdurant

Medium arms? Is that Pulse Rifles 5S 5AP?

The most FK's I can think of being fielded in a Tau CC list would be 8, but 12+ FK! Do you play against Farsight? The reason I do not use FK's is because they cost way too much for their low stats and output.

I have not had the opportunity to field test it against any army so I can not really answer your Meq or horde question accurately. What I can answer is what weapons I have to deal with such armies.

Specifically to deal with hordes:
- 1x6 SS's
- 1x12 FW's
- 2x10 Kroot
- 10x Gun Drones from various vehicles
- 2x1 RH's pie plate

Specifically to deal with Meq:
- 2x1 PR, FB HQ's

Specifically to deal with MC's, Teq, and AV14's:
- 2x1 Sun' O's
- 2x2 DR's
- 2x2 FB Piranha's
- 2x1 RH's
- 1x3 BASS's

the Meq sure seems to be lacking...the only thing this list can do is try to use every aspect of fire power to bring down 60+ Meq's, which is going to make for a tough time. What to do what to do...how about this?

Changes In Red

HQ: 259
1x1 Vector'O: PR, CIB, Vector Retro Thrusters, HwStimulants, HwMT: 135

[This guy is the best Meq killer the tau army can field. He can also tie up squads during the opponents turn, then disengage, move, shoot, move, assault again!]

1x1 Sun Fire’ O: PR, MP, FB, HwMT: 124

Elite: 476
1x2 Fire Storm's: TmLd, TLMP, Air Fragmentation Projectile, HwMT, HwDC, 2x SD's: 102
-Fire Storm: BC, MP, HwMT: 50
-158

[This is a very unique unit that excels at killing swarms, just as good if not better at killing Meq's than FK's, and not so good at Teq or HiveTyranteq.]

1x3 Death Rain’s: Twin Linked Missile Pods, Black Sun Filter: 138

[Odd number, but that’s ok.]

1x6 Stealth Suit’s: 180

Troop: 405
1x12 Fire Warrior’s: 120
- Devil Fish: Decoy Launcher: 85

1x10 Kroot: 70
-10x Hounds: 60

[Ties up enemy troublesome squads and if possible kills them; however, I have no idea if this idea is viable, any thoughts vets? would these guys do well against shooty Meq's or Necrons]

1x10 Kroot: 70

Fast: 210
1x2 Piranha’s: FB, TA: 140

1x1 Piranha: FB, TA: 70

[I do not like the lone Piranha but it can tail the Sun' O and act as the second FB and not a lone element.]

Heavy: 495
1x2 Broadsides: TmLd, ASS, HwBK, HwiDC, 2x SD: 120
-BASS: 80
-200pts

[I scaled them back a bit, any thoughts?]

1x1 Rail Head: BC, MT, DL: 165

1x1 Ion Head: BC, MT, DL: 130

[Not the most favored Tau tank but it is built for taking out Meq's. Statistically it kills two a turn, which kind of makes it seem quite weak. I wonder if the RH pie plate can kill the same amount or if not more than two Meq's a turn? Maybe I can give it a Flechette Discharger and a TL and let it fire all 9 shots with out care, thoughts?]

I think your problem is that you have both Piranhas and Broadsides. I would suggest taking 2 Railheads and the Broadsides, one Piranha and more Fire Warriors or Stealth Suits for anti-infantry.

Either that or all the piranhas and 3 Rail Heads or the piranhas, 2 Rail Heads and the Ion Head.

The Rail Head is equally effective but the Ion Head is much cheaper.