Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Farsight Gunline:

Farsight: 170

Shas’O, TLMP, shield gen, HWTL, Irid, Stims, HWDC, 2 shield drones: 183

3 Broadsides, ASS, Ld, w/ HWDC, 2 S.Drones 275

Railhead, MT, DP, SMS: 175

11 FW, Ld w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 171
11 FW, Ld w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 171
10 FW, Ld w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 161
X3= 503

3 Deathrain suits w/ 2 Shield drones (194)

1500

Scaled to 2k:

3 Deathrain suits w/ 2 Shield drones (194)

2 Deathrain suits w/ 2 Shield drones (141)

12 Gue’vesa, ld. 82

11 Gue’vesa, ld. 76

+1 FW to fill out the undermanned squad.

2000

So, I've posted this before, and a couple of games has narrowed this down as my most effective list.

It's gunline army, using photons grenades and gue'vesa meatshields to keep the Firewarriors standing long enough for farsight to countercharge. Alternatively, gue'vesa can deploy in the second rank and countercharge themselves. Both commanders attach to frontline firewarrior squads so as to keep them alive.

The list runs 4 rail guns, 3 twin-linked and one at BS4, which can likely focus fire on AV14 and likely kill it. The Deathrain teams can deal with any other armor, and in particular, are the list's answer to wave serpents and the like. On turn one, while everything is still 30'' away, the firewarriors can light up important pieces or armor, so as to negate it's cover saves. later on, they will be used to kill the cover saves on enemy squads I turn my railguns on.

Thoughts?

Looks nice, but I think this:

Shas’O, TLMP, shield gen, HWTL, Irid, Stims, HWDC, 2 shield drones: 183

Can not attach to a squad with the shield drones. Out of town and no books with me, but I am pretty sure it says in the FAQ that your CMDR is an independent squad as long as they have drones.

Actually, the codex state plainly that he may join a unit even if has drones with him. The only time he is not an independent character is if he has a bodyguard.

You'll get more help with your list if you don't use fancy names for your crisis suit configurations and if you don't use anacranyms (sp) for your wargear options.

For instance, having twinlinked your Shas'O's BS5 missle pods is wasteful. At BS5 he's going to hit. If he's already got sheild drones, does he really need a sheild generator too?

On the troops, do photon grenades really slow down assaults? They might, but I'd rather have a devilfish as it increases the threatness of your army and blocks enemy assaulters, and provides more mobility.

I don't remember what the deathrain configuration is.
I might go for a target light on the hammerhead.

Can't think of anything else atm. (woot anacranym)

Sazzlefrats wrote:You'll get more help with your list if you don't use fancy names for your crisis suit configurations and if you don't use anacranyms (sp) for your wargear options.

I have simply removed most of the acronyms in the list so as to make it easier to read. Removed a shield gen and fleshed out a squad. Otherwise, no changes.

Farsight: 170

Shas’O, Twin-linked missile pod, Hardwired Target Lock, Iridium Armor, Stimulent injector, Hardwired Drone Controller, 2 shield drones: 163

3 Broadsides, Advanced Stabilization System, Shas’vre, w/ Hardwired Drone Controller, 2 S.Drones 275

Railhead, Multitracker, Disruption Pod, Smart missiles: 175

12 FW, Shas’ui w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 171
11 FW, Shas’ui w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 171
11 FW, Shas’ui w/ Light, 2 S. Drone, photon: 161
X3= 503

3 Twin-linked missilepod/Target Array suits w/ 2 Shield drones (194)

1500

Scaled to 2k:

3 Twin-linked missilepod/Target Array suits w/ 2 Shield drones (194)

2 Twin-linked missilepod/Target Array suits w/ 2 Shield drones (141)

12 Gue’vesa, ld. 82

12 Gue’vesa, ld. 82

1994

I personally dislike mech tau. They have never, ever, fit my particular play style. I’ve had too many situations where I tried to rapidfire a squad of MEQ’s or something, only to kill 2 or 3, and lose the whole damn squad in retaliation... from shooting! I’m left thinking that the only reason to take fish would be to get to objectives faster, where… what, I place the guys down and hope for the best? Why not just play gunline at this point? Or I leave them in the tank, and have 100 points (per fish!) or so doing nothing for half the game? Plus fish of fury doesn’t really work all that well anymore, or so some people have said. It would probably help if someone wrote up how to actually play mech tau, and then I would consider playing them again. But as it stands, gunlines that “die on their feet” seem more appealing for the moment.

It’s also a issue of models: I co-own my army, and Every 2 months, I have to come over to the guy’s house and fix half the damn models because he’s pretty bad at maintenance. The tanks are barely holding together, and it’s frankly embarrassing. So I decided to play gunline, as the infantry are the one part of the army that looks reasonably good, and that I can repair without having to buy a ton of custom vehicle sprues to replace damaged parts.

are gue'vesa still legal to use? The rules are pretty old - didn't the tau empire dex come out since their rules?

I would love to use them for 80 points of 10 man markerlights and objective holders....but I can't say they're tourney legal...anyone?


Ibushi

i've heard air fragmentation blaster is good. Also iridium sucks a bit, get a 4+ invulnerable shield gen and a single bodyguard for insta death wounds.

Any form of 3+ armor army will roll your tau the way you have it set up right now.

Twin-linking on a crisis suit is giving up valuable room for adding another weapon that can fire at the same time.

I'm pretty sure that my chaos army will run you off the board in 4 turns.

Farsight
Shas'O w/ Stim Injector, Iridium (assuming on both of these items they don't take a hardpoint) Plasma Rifle, Missle Pods, Fusion Blaster, Hardwired Target lock, Hardwired Drone Controller, 2 Sheild Drones.

3 Crisis Suits, Missle Pods, Plasma Rifles, Target Lock, Team leader with 2 Sheild Drones

8 Fire Warriors
9 Fire Warriors
9 Fire Warriors

8 Pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades
Devilfish with Target Array, Decoy Launchers, Disruption Pods, SMS

3 Broadsides w/ Target locks, Team Leader with 2 Sheild Drones

1 RailHead Railhead, Multitracker, Disruption Pod, SMS, Decoy Launcher and TargetLock.

I might be off on points at 1500, and you might need to drop all the toys off the devilfish and just use it to block charges or running fire warriors from point a to b.

Anyhow that is how I see your list revised at 1500pts. You've got a lot more armor punching firepower, about the same regular firepower, and another gun to shoot at armor 14 vehicles. The pathfinders give you markerlights, and those are the single greatest improvement for tau in the Empire codex and especially for 5th edition.