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Hello. First post since long.

I updated my Tau list to the latest edition, and came up with this. Some things to keep in mind:
My regular opponents will be dug-in IG with Forgeworld stuff, Space Wolves, Orks with those Autocannon orks and Sisters of Battle.
I don't want to make a specific list against each one, or buy more models than needed.
The ABF and CIB are there because I think they're cool, mostly, and also to make the squad viable against non-heavy infantery.

Anyway, onwards to the list:

XV81 'O; Shield Gen; Plasma; HW MT;BK 145
XV8 Bodyguard; Plasma; ABF; MT 75
XV8 Bodyguard; Plasma; CIB;MT 70
290

XV8 'vre TL MP; BSF; BK 55
XV8 TL MP; BSF 46
XV8 TL MP; BSF 46
147

XV8 'el; Shield Gen; TL FB 83

XV15 'ui, leader; BK; Marker 50
XV15 'ui 30
XV15 'ui 30
110

FW 'ui; BK; Marker; HWTL 30
FW 'la *7 70
100

FW 'ui; BK; Marker; HWTL 30
FW 'la *7 70
100

Kroot*10 70
Kroothounds*6 36
106

Pathfinder 'ui;BK 27
Pathfinder 'la *7 84
Devilfish 80
191

Hammerhead; Railgun; SMS; MT; DisPod; TL 180

Hammerhead; Railgun; SMS; MT; DisPod; TL 180

Total 1487

The Commander's retinue is equipped to deal with Heavy Infantery, or mobs.
The Shas'El is deepstriking against enemy armour.
The Crisis team is used to enaged light enemy armour, like transports. The Black Sun Filters are just there to fill up the third slot.
Stealth & FW teams deal with infantery and mark targets.
The Kroot will Infiltrate and enter the board from another edge, hopefully, to disrupt the enemy.
Pathfinders will mark targets and skirmish.
Hammerheads are pretty obvious.

Some questions remain: what to do with the last 13 points?
How to use that Devilfish effectively?
Are the SMS & TL on the Hammerheads worth it?

Any other suggestions and ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Shas'O's are never worth it. It's much more in your interest to make him a Shas'El and give him a TA. Also, the way that's written, your 'O only has two hardpoints filled. Does he have something other than the plasma rifle, and if he doesn't, what's the MT for?

Seems to me like your firewarriors are going to be static? In that case, you might want to convert one of them to a FoF squad, to use the devilfish for. Or if you don't have the points, you could go with the good old upgradeless 6-man FW squad that never leaves the fish, and upgrade the fish to a heavy, formidable warfish that can be used to capture objectives because it has the FW inside.

TL is Target Lock, right? I'm just asking because this is such an illogical choice for a Hammerhead. It has no use for this upgrade, since it should be out of SMS range most of the time anyway. Utilise the crap out of that 72" railgun range. Also, the SMS itself probably isn't worth it, since it will frequently be out of range, and unless you're playing cities of death, not many things will be out of sight within 24". It's better to take BC's, to save points. If you are really afraid of infantry getting within 18" to assault, go with flechettes, especially if you are playing low save armies like Orks and Guard.

Just a brief response.

The Shas'O is in an XV81 suit, which is a variant from Imperial Armour 3. It has an SMS as an inbuilt weapon choice.

I'm not sure about the FoF, since one lucky hit is enough to kill it. It certainly is something I'd like to play with, but in larger armies then.

I was wondering about the Hammerheads, yes. No TL's and BCs make a lot of sense. That gives me an extra 43 points to spare. Add two man to each FW squad?

Thanks for the advice so far!

You could consider going with a more focused strategy. I've heard you've got some excellently painted Kroot, why not buy more and contact this godly painter to help you augment their esthetics through the athmosphere?

I prefer more suits to more Kroot, despite their godly paintjob.

Has anyone an idea how effective Fishes of Fury are?

GawainBS wrote:I prefer more suits to more Kroot, despite their godly paintjob.

Has anyone an idea how effective Fishes of Fury are?

Fish of fury is a tactic, not a unit. and for the record, Devilfish are good. Fish of fury tactic... not so much. I prefer using devilfish to pour tons of shots into targets, acts as a scoring unit (with firewarriors inside), and to block enemy movement (in which case the firewarriors hang out in reserve).

And how do you pour tons of shots in an enemy unit? If you disembark the FW in Rapid Fire range, they get assaulted the next turn.

GawainBS wrote:And how do you pour tons of shots in an enemy unit? If you disembark the FW in Rapid Fire range, they get assaulted the next turn.

Deploy the firewarriors between two devilfish that are in a V shape with a 2" gap between the narrow end and the V pointing toward the enemy you want to fire on. Fish of Fury doesn't work very well anymore because of Armor saves and cover saves everywhere. AP5 just doesn't do it. Moving suits up behind devilfish useing the Fish as moveable cover works well.

Yorick_of_Tau wrote:TL is Target Lock, right? I'm just asking because this is such an illogical choice for a Hammerhead. It has no use for this upgrade, since it should be out of SMS range most of the time anyway. Utilise the crap out of that 72" railgun range. Also, the SMS itself probably isn't worth it, since it will frequently be out of range, and unless you're playing cities of death, not many things will be out of sight within 24". It's better to take BC's, to save points. If you are really afraid of infantry getting within 18" to assault, go with flechettes, especially if you are playing low save armies like Orks and Guard.

I agree with the Burst Cannons but you should take the Target Lock. Being able to fire the Railgun at a tank or transport and the SMS at a nearby infantry squad or troop of some type is worth the 5 points. You manage to save 10 points and get 2 more shots with the burst cannons but you lose 6" of range. This would help give you SMS on the pathfinder devilfish and get rid of the gun drones and a kill point there.

Markerlights on firewarriors are generally not worth it. Spend the points elsewhere.

Why aren't those Markerlights worth it? Even with these two and a full PF unit, I still feel I'm short of them.
BTW, FoF won't be for use with this list, since a) I'd need to buy two more Devilfishes and b) this list is more or less all I own, so I'd like to stick to it, if possible.

Thanks for your input so far!

rogueeyes wrote:

GawainBS wrote:And how do you pour tons of shots in an enemy unit? If you disembark the FW in Rapid Fire range, they get assaulted the next turn.

Deploy the firewarriors between two devilfish that are in a V shape with a 2" gap between the narrow end and the V pointing toward the enemy you want to fire on. Fish of Fury doesn't work very well anymore because of Armor saves and cover saves everywhere. AP5 just doesn't do it. Moving suits up behind devilfish useing the Fish as moveable cover works well.

Actually...no.

I actually feel you should almost never voluntarily disembark firewarriors unless you intend to sacrifice the fish next turn to slow down an assault unit.

What I was referring to is the idea of taking 2 devilfish with SMS and TA, and 2 railheads (with burst), moving 6'' or less when the target's within 18'', and using those units to focus fire on a target, forcing it to make lots of saves. This is not "fish of fury" or anything else with a silly name; it's just using the dedicated transport as a way to put more wounds on infantry.

To be honest, I'd like to keep my Hammerheads as far away as possible.

It's hard to read the list with all of the abbreviations :/ and I've played Tau for the past year (although I just sold the army). Do you think you could post another down here with things listed out?

HW =Hard Wired
CIB = Cyclic Ion Blaster
FB = Fusion Blaster
BK = Bonding Knife
SMS= Smart Missile System
TL= Target Lock or Twinlinked
Gen= Generator.