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Hi, I'm planning starting Tau as my new army. I've a fair share of experience with SM and wanted something different. Tau armies are a rarity around here. I want to have a tournament-level competitive list and rather lose by my own mistakes than the shortcomings of the list if at all possible. That said, is there a Tau list that can reliably handle double lash (2xLash DP, 3x5 Plague Marines w/2meltas and Rhinos + 3x3 Obliterators, very common at the top tables here, might be because most other armies seem to be out of the pages of WD) and other most common power builds out there? My latest attempt @1500:

Shas'el, plasma+missile+multiracker 87
3x2 Crisis plasma+missile+multiracker 3x124
2x6 Fire Warriors 2x60
2xDevilfish, smartmissiles+multitracker+disruption pod 2x115
10 Kroot+6 Hounds 106
3x2 Broadsides, ASS, teamleader+2 shield drones 3x195

Suggestions? Lacking in Pathfinders/scoring/contesting units/anti-tank/anti-infantry/something else entirely? Starting to get desperate...

Hey there, and welcome to Tau. As I've recently typed and typed and typed suggestions on Tau lists, I'm going to ask you to go check out some of the other army lists and suggestions....I've got a really long post in one of them, and most tau lists have detailed notes and criticism. After doing that, my comments below will make more sense...I've explained WHY in other threads and how it benefits gunline tau, here I'm just going to tell you WHAT.

1. Take 2 x3 broadsides, not 3x2. SMS + shield drones...check. Team leader needs a target lock.

2. Other heavy support: Snipers. Or an Ionhead. Or a Railhead. Or nothing.

3. Your troops: Check. Lose smartmissiles, put in sentry drones (pinning opportunities)

4. Suit configurations suck. Fireknife is *really* overrated and underperforming. Against your targets, you need Fusion/Plasma.

5. Lose your kroot and hounds. Add more suits, more plasma, more plasma, more fusion, and more plasma.


Fusion/Plasma suits eat lash DPs, plague marines, any marines, obliterators, and anything else too. If your enemy has obliterators instead of tanks...you can instant-kill a couple per turn. I promise, I've explained all this well elsewhere...here: Read this

ptapanin wrote:Crisis plasma+missile+multiracker

Is anyone else tired of seeing this suit setup? It's bad! You have a 48" S7 AP4 transport buster attached to a 24/12" TEQ killer. Either put TL missile pods and a flamer on them to hang out in the back and bust transports or swap the missiles for a meltagun for more TEQ killing goodness.

Once you pop their Rhinos with a couple TL Missile Pods from across the board those Plague Marines aren't all too scary.

A three-man squad of melta/plasma will butcher Oblits, DPs and Plague Marines just fine, especially with marker light support.

Speaking of marker light support, you have none. This is an issue. Drop the kroot and the fish from your Fire Warriors, pick up two min squads of pathfinders and they'll provide the fish for your Fire Warriors.

In all of your suit setups you need to take advantage of Wound Allocation. Slap a bonding knife or some such on a leader, for 5pts you just made that team that much more survivable.

You don't really need six broadsides. Don't get me wrong, broadsides can be great, but a hammerhead would help out for horde control with its submunition shot and can still drop the railgun shot into something you need dead.

I can't remember, are obliterator cults susceptible to instant death?

The double Lash will mess with your Crisis Suits a fair bit, pushing them out of effective firing range for your next turn or dragging them somewhere you don't want them to be. I'd dedicate a turn to killing one of these guys so long as you remain relatively safe while doing it. A single lash isn't nearly as bothersome as double.

Ninja edit: Didn't quite intend this to be a "I mirror most of what Dash said" but his post kinda wasn't there while typing this one... meh.

Obliterators can be insta-killed. And Kirby, I'll accept your tribute with grace. =p When are we going to play another Ork vs Tyranid game? =p

Thanks for the replies. Forgot to mention the ASS on the broadsides, I think it's near mandatory.

I've pondered having 2x3 broadsides, this would save the points of a team leader and 2 shield drones. However, aren't they more vulnerable that way, as losing even one unit will be a major blow? Although not many units can put the hurt to them, some can. IG Vendettas come to mind. And their Ld8 isn't anything to write home about either. A Hammerhead would be ok for contesting and providing cover for the elite suits, butThe its firepower isn't that amazing considering its cost.

The smart missiles were points fill and can be cut if necessary. I however see some value in them against non-MEQ armies.

IMO the Fireknife suit isn't that much worse at popping Rhino hulls than the Deathrain. For a single BS 3 suit vs AV11 the Fireknife gets .41 averages and .25 glances vs the Deathrain's .5 pens and .25 glances (assuming the plasma is in long range, a reasonable assumption against Rhinos closing in).

Comparing it to the Helios(?)(the plasma+fusion suit) against MEQ in the open at <12" the Fireknife averages 1,1 and the Helios 1,25 wounds. Against MEQ in cover at <12" should get .69 for the Fireknife and .625 for the Helios.

Against my particular problem, the PM in the open nets .805 kills for the Fireknife and 1,1 for the Helios while in cover the respectable stats change to .47 and .54.

However, I consider the Fireknife superior as it can somewhat succeed in both of the roles of the Deathrain and the Helios, whichever the situoation calls for. Although the Helios indeed is superior against Plague Marines, it won't do squat in the first turns while the Fireknife can at least try to destroy Rhinos or shoot at the DPs. Considering you proposed attacking the oblits with plasma/fusion suits, how do you intend to get to them throught the PMs and DPs? Moreover, if the Helios suit intends to shoot at all, it has to risk being within 18" of the enemy during his turn. Doesn't sound that nice.

Do you really think 2 Troops (after losing the Kroot) would be enough? The Devilfish is only middle-of-the-road in survivability, plus most tournaments reward more points for bigger wins. Pathfinders would be very nice to get despite them being a high priority target for the anti-infantry guns of the enemy. But a Pathfinder Fish can be commandeered by 10-12 Kroot as well, right? Wouldn't they be better at taking objectives if you ever need to disembark?