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Here is my army list, thus far, but how do you think i should expand it?
I'm aiming for an army that is low on suits. Just so you know.

HQ
Commander suit
*plasma rifle
*fusion blaster (I change the weapons depending on the opponent)
*stimulant injector
*iridium armor
*hard.w. Drone controller
*hard.w. multitracker
*gundrone
*shield generator

TROOPS
12 firewarriors
*shasui
*drone controller
*marker drone
*photon granade

12 firewarriors (in Devilfish)
*shasui
*photon granade

13 Kroots
*shaper
*pulse carbine

14 Kroots
*shaper
*pulse carbine



Dedicated transport
Devilfish
*flachette discharger
*multi tracker
*disruption pod



FAST ATTACK
8 gundrones


HEAVY SUPPORT
Broadside
*team leader
*advanced stab.sys.
*shield generator
*hard.w. Multitracker

Broadside
(same equipment as the one above)



What are your thaughts?
Thinking about dropping the drones.
I'm gonna fill the kroots to 20 a' unit and maby 5-6 hound in each.

My next purchase is going to be either one Hammerhead or one Skyray and a Devilfish so I can make a Hammerhead too.

My list so far is aprox. 1100p.
Aiming for a solid 1700p, but play 1500-games, so I can alternate some.

Remeber: as few suits as possible!

Get the hounds and drop the gun drone squad. Get the sky ray box so you can make all three vechiles. Get a hammerhead. As for as little suits as possible you will be hurting yourself a bit. They are our elites and carry the best toys.

Going low suit is doable and can be very effective, My army uses only 3 XV8's (inc commander) and two broadsides and is very effective at it, but to do it you need to get every thing out of our army that you can and have to play it near perfectly to win. Suits are the Tau margin.

Heres an idea of what my army looks like,

Shas'El with posR TL Missle Pods Drone Controller and 2 shield drones

2 Crisis suits with tl melta and flamer

4 units of Firewarriors, 2 w/ devilfish

2 full units of pathfinders

2 Hammerheads,

2 broadsides 1 TL w drone controller 2 shield drones and target lock

if you are going for a low suitcount list you are going to want something at least somewhat similar to mine. and you are definitely going to want to fish up. If you arent taking suits, you have the points to take as many devilfish as you need which you should do. Devilfish are brutally effective and will allow you to Fish of Fury.


and you definitely are going to need some pathfinders.

thats my advice. take it for what its worth. I have been playing a low suit army for 2 years now and have been effective with it. Im not going to say its the best tau army in the game, i do lose a lot by being so annoyed at how ugly the suits are and having to massively convert all of mine which makes it so i have very few.

Guardpiper: Yeah, the drones has got to go!

Fizzywig: Your list seems like a lot of fun!
How come you don't use any kroots?

Pathfinders is just a way to get markerlights, right?
I know they are the the cheepest way to get the lights, but i think pathfinders suck. Don't really see any use for them. Isn't there any aother good - and cheep - way to get some lights?

I gneerally dont hav ethe points to shoehorn them in.

Pathfinders are amazing, they are the cheapest way to get markerlights, they have scout and so can outflank, and they come with a devilfish, so you dont need to buy one for a firewarrior squad.

their Pts per marker-light hit is way lower than anything else. easily the best way to get marker-lights on the table.

pathfinders also make a great 'bait' unit because most players will go after the pathfinders,

imo drop price of the commander and get another set of suits.

If you are going for the troop oriented army Flood the field with them. Say Atleast 4 full squads with drones and bonding knife. If that is the case also go with 10 kroot and 10 hounds. I will never run kroot without the hounds as they make them so much more formidable. Shaper is a toss up you get 4 more attacks and 3 wounds for the cost of 3 so.

I think 2 squads of broadsides can work with a troop list becuase your best strategy is to create 2 fire bases and split your enemy's army.

Since i have worked with them more. Gun drone are ok but I would prefer piranhas becuase you have 2 units to block fire from 1 piranha and, more importantly, block assaults. Remember FW in assault are dead firewarriors. I would squeeze in a Railhead in your 1500 + list, as the submunition is very nice for horde armys.

Goldtooth, he has said he doesn't particularly like suits. i know lots of tau players are suit mad, but some of us are not crazy about them. the best way tau do no suits is when they fish up and keep moving. don't create fire-bases if you don't have suits to support them, fire-warriors are too fragile to hold a fire-base alone, thats why you fish them up and keep them moving.

to block assaults use that nice big devilfish chassis in a classic FoF setup. if you aren't going to have the suits you really need to get every little bit out of your fire-warriors, witht eh s5 gun they become the glue that holds your force together. everything else is icing. take advantage of the fact that most people tend to disregard the effectiveness of firewarriors. and STRIKE SURGICALLY. Tau armies are denial armies. you may not rack up a ton of kill points but you will make damn sure neither will your opponent. choose targets carefully and KILL THEM DEAD.

Kroot are great when backed up with suits, but unlike fire-warriors, don't quite offer enough punch to spam when you don't have all that nice XV 8 weaponry flying all over the table (IMO)

A unit of them is great, going anymore than that in a low suit list is asking for trouble.

I would have 12 kroot hounds in each squad and maybe have one or two krootax in each squad and get a hammerhead for a heavy support tank and some pathfinders woudl be useful and have them all use rail rifles