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Made in th
Oozing Spawning Vat





Hey all, after deciding i'm gonna start a Tau Gunline ive put together this 1500pts list. All credit is due to 'Dashofpepper' as it was from primarilly reading/cutting/pasting his Tau posts that i was able to come up with this list without using too much brain power of my own!

I will mainly be facing Eldar, Necrons and CSM with this list, so please have a look and see what you think needs adjusting...

HQ
Shas’el (50pts)
Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), multi-tracker,(5pts) iridium armor (20pts),
HW drone controller(0pts) 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[137pts]

ELITES
Crisis Battlesuit Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team leader) (80pts)

· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts),
HW drone controller (0pts), Marker Drone (30pts), Shield Drone (15pts)
[236pts]

Crisis Battlesuit Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team leader) (80pts)

· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts),
HW drone controller (0pts), Marker Drone (30pts), Shield Drone (15pts)
[236pts]


TROOPS
Firewarrior Team
Shas’la [x12] (1 Shas’ui) (130pts)
· Handheld Markerlight (10pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Gun Drones (20pts)
[160pts]

Firewarrior Team
Shas’la [x12] (1 Shas’ui) (130pts)
· Handheld Markerlight (10pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Gun Drones (20pts)
[160pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT
Broadside Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team Leader) (215pts)
· Target Lock (5pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[250pts]

Broadside Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team Leader) (215pts)
· Target Lock (5pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[250pts]


Total [1429pts]


There you go...so i have 71pts leftover for some fine tuning..

I realise i have quite an issue with objective grabbing, and have only two scoring units in the firewarrior teams...is this a big problem? If i were to drop a shield drone/gun drone in order to add a Devilfish to one squad would that help matters?..or am i better to do away with my second crisis team entirely in favour of another firewarrior team (or two) and have enough points leftover to give them all Devilfish transports? I also expect i may have to alter suit configurations to take advantage of wound allocation, is that correct? - what would you recomend?

Couple more questions..
Would pathfinders benefit me in a game of 1500pts?
Is there any advantage to upgrading my Broadsides to include TL Plasma Rifles?
In what instance would you use an Ionhead over a regular Hammerhead? (unrelated but i'm keen to know!)

Hope you guys can give me a hand with fine tuning this list...am open to any suggestions whatsoever! Thanks in Advance..

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2009/07/15 04:42:16


 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Feasting on the souls of unworthy opponents

Greetings, your list has a solid core, and glad to have helped with the idea. My critique:

1. You need some crowd control potential. Why not give your Shas'el an airbursting fragmentation launcher? I think its almost a mandatory piece of wargear in a gunline...something to thin hordes out. Your list will absolutely wreak havoc with MEQs and necrons, which is what you'll see the most of, but if you run into Tyranids, Orks, or other swarm armies, you need the ability to throw down a large template here and there to cull the ranks.

2. I don't favor markerlight drones in crisis teams outside of a Farsight Bomb; you only have 5 models in a crisis team (with two drones) and its too easy to take down that markerlight drone, costing you a significant 30 points. I tend to go with shield drones with my forward crisis teams because they're GOING to take fire. Hopefully they'll be in cover when they're taking fire and benefit from cover saves in addition to 3+ armor saves. If you want marker drones, put them on the line with your firewarriors instead of gun drones. You'd be surprised how little firewarriors in your own deployment zone will get shot at. They're not out stealing enemy objectives, and they're not as much of a threat as Ap1 and AP2 death jumping around in the face of your enemy....they get ignored a lot. If you put them in cover (ruins are great!) then you're almost broken in how awesome they are.

3. Speaking of markerlights...you're going to have to practice with those handheld markerlights. They aren't networked, so the immediate unit they are attached to doesn't benefit from them. Keep that in mind.

4. Speaking of more markerlights....those Fusion/Plasma combos are DEADLY. However, crisis suits have BS3. You have to make sure you have reliable markerlight support to make them hit on 2+ or 3+ to insure that they're doing their job. Pathfinders, networked markerlights on a firewarrior line, a skyray with markerlights, handheld markerlights....a lot of ways you can do it, just make sure that you do.

5. Broadsides: Don't waste the points on twin-linked plasma rifles. I think your broadsides are missing a third battlesuit option? Typically folks either take a multi-tracker or advanced stabilization systems.....pick one. If you deploy your gunline well, your broadsides will be protected by the rest of your gunline, and there should be no reason for them to be trying to pop terminators on your gunline with plasma shots....that plasma would be wasted against anything else other than tyranid monstrous creatures that get past your elite choice screening line. Save points, go with the smart missile systems.

6. Objective taking: You don't *NEED* to go out and take objectives. You need only deny the opponent their objectives, which suits can do just fine. Honestly, tabling someone works too. In capture and control, you will own one. In seize ground, you're going to get to place 2-3 objective markers to make 3-5 objectives on the table. You can position them so that regardless of which side you get, there's an objective in your gunline, and one in the middle in WIDE OPEN GROUND (if possible). Objectives in the middle in the open are great killing zones. Play a few games, see what happens. Some folks feel the need to mech up and put devilfish forward on the field....I prefer to leave mine in cover in my back or midfield and use them as a firebase until the end of the game.

7. Pathfinders would benefit you because they would let you deep-strike suits if you need to. Nothing messes with MEQs or necrons more than suits with freakin' plasma/fusion rapid-firing into them. Two teams of them is just unfair.

8. Use an Ionhead instead of a regular Hammerhead when you're not taking Fusion/Plasma teams and you need long range MEQ killing power. Ionheads work best (IMHO) against Chaos, who have more of a tendency to field things that you can actually knock down with them. Necrons too, although against necron players, I'm a big fan of sniper teams. Adding sniper teams to your current list with the modifications I listed gives you a pretty guaranteed win against necrons; even swarms of scarabs will fall before your shas'el.

9. As for taking a devilfish or a hammerhead somewhere....try it and see if you like it. I don't mix and match mechanized and gunline for a reason: Every player (including you) takes a mix of anti-infantry and anti-tank. When you have no vehicles, all that anti-tank goes to waste. How would you feel if all your six broadside suits had to fire on each turn was a space marine squad? In cover?

Anyway, that's enough from me for now.

Aside from that...that's my advice.

   
Made in th
Oozing Spawning Vat





Okay, after some more tinkering, here is the revised listing for my gunline Tau. I have added networked markerlights to the Firewarrior teams to help support the Crisis suits, a Fragmentation Projector and Cyclic Ion Blaster to help deal with swarms, fleshed out the Broadsides with Multi-trackers and dropped a Firewarrior from each team to bring it under 1500pts...

HQ
Shas’el (50pts)
Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Airbursting Fragmentation Projector (20pts)
Multi-Tracker,(5pts) Iridium Armour (20pts), HW drone controller(0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[157pts]

ELITES
Crisis Battlesuit Team
Shas’ui [x2] Shas'vre [x1] (85pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Cyclic Ion Blaster (15pts), Multi-tracker (5pts), HW drone controller (0pts),
2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[209pts]

Crisis Battlesuit Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team leader) (80pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts)
· Fusion Blaster (12pts), Plasma Rifle (20pts), Multi-tracker (5pts),
HW drone controller (0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
[221pts]


TROOPS
Firewarrior Team
Shas’la [x11] (1 Shas’ui) (120pts)
· Handheld Markerlight (10pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Marker Drones (60pts)
[160pts]

Firewarrior Team
Shas’la [x11] (1 Shas’ui) (120pts)
· Handheld Markerlight (10pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Marker Drones (60pts)
[160pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT
Broadside Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team Leader) (215pts)
· Target Lock (5pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
· Multi-trackers [x3] 15pts
[265pts]

Broadside Team
Shas’ui [x3] (1 Team Leader) (215pts)
· Target Lock (5pts), HW Drone Controller (0pts), 2 Shield Drones (30pts)
· Multi-trackers [x3] 15pts
[265pts]


Total [1497pts]

Please give us your 2 cents on the matter...have i got any glaring weaknesses that i hav'nt addressed? Or does this list look good to go?!
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Feasting on the souls of unworthy opponents

You have three weapon systems on your Shas'el. I think you should focus each unit on a purpose. What's the purpose of this unit? MEQ and TEQ killing or horde control?

I think you should make it AFP + Flamer, or AFP + Cyclic Ion Blaster, or something....but focus it on one project.

   
 
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