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Hey guys. I am putting together a list for my buddy who wants to get started. I am a complete idiot when it comes to Tau so I am asking the Dakka Dakkas for some help. Right now this is what I have to work with.

1x Commander
6x Crisis Suits
12x Stealth Suits
48x Fire Warriors (can convert to path finders if need be)
8x Pathfinders
40x Kroot
3x Devil Fish
2x Hammer Head
1x Parahna
24x Gun Drones

I am trying to make him a 2000 points list out of the above options. Buying other pieces is out of the questions for a while. Here is what I came up with...without any upgrades.

HQ:
Shas'el Commander

Troops:
12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport

12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport

12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport

20x Kroot

20x Kroot

Elites:
3x Crisis Suits

3x Crisis Suits

6x Stealth Suits

Fast Attack:
8x Gun Drones

8x Gun Drones

8x Gun Drones

Heavy Support:
Hammer Head Gun Ship

Hammer Head Gun Ship

Base Total: 1614

I was wondering if you guys could give me some imput on kitting out the units and filling this list out to 2000 Points. Like I said im pretty lost when it comes to Tau. Thanks again everyone.

Well first off, you're going to need disruption pods for your Devilfishes and Hammerheads, they are a MUST to insure survival, also I highly do not recommend full squads of 12 Fire Warriors, I suggest taking 10 man squads and keep it at a medium, because Fire Warriors tend to die easily and they are very expensive. Equip your Devilfishes with SMS (Smart Missile) so you can fire away and pick off enemy troops and use your Fire Warriors to clean them up.

Ultimately, the Tau army you make will usually depend on what kinds on opponents you'll be facing, if you're going against Space MArines with 3+ and 2+ armor saves, take plasma rifles on your crisis suits. And for a 2000 points list, take a Shas, O you'll need that extra BS to take out many things. Take Shas' Vres for your Shas' O as body guards, the extra wounds will definitely help from getting instant death'ed by anti vehicle weapons like Lascannons.

If you are going to use gun drones, deep strike them so they act as speed bumps so the rest of your force can get into position more efficiently. Stealth suits with fusion guns are very deadly anti tank, so use that to your advantage. Add the accessories to your list and you'll reach 2000 points.

With your hammerheads, go with the rail guns. There 50pts each but have a strength 10 AP 1 shot and a strength 6 AP 4 Large Blast shot both from 72". In fact I cant remember the last time I saw an ion cannon being used. Maybe to keep the points down put some of your drones in the place of the burst cannons for pure points value. Replace one drone squad for a full pathfinder squad with 3 railguns, and give the rest carbines with marker lites, then give both your hammerheads 2 seeker missiles. Your shas'el maybe should be given a plamsa rifle and missile pods, this is what i give all my crisis suits and they always work for me. Also give him a stimulant injector, and a shield generator. The kroot are a good idea and can be used with this tactic very well,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_5vIIUwnvs&feature=player_embedded#
This means that your devil fish are kinda useless as this is a very static tactic. Drop another drone squad for vespid, with AP 3 weapons i have completely destroyed my friends tac squads with a squad of these guys. The fire warriors i give pulse rifles for a matter of preference really. Definatly give them photon grenades, but emp grenades i neever really use. Give your stealth suits two fusion blasters for stronger unit killing. Kit out your Crisis Suits however you like but try to cover both vehicles and troop killing. For finding a balance between these two use this
http://www.alice40k.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/superarmytester.xls
It is really useful for calculating your effectiveness against what ever you will come across in a game. Good Luck!

My Suggestions would be to equip 1 squad of suits with plasma rifle/missile pod and a multi-tracker and the 2nd squad as t/l missile pod with flamers.

Avoid Gun drone squads, BS 2 even twin linked is very blah.

Drop the firewarrior squads down to 6 each and drop one squad entirely, you only need to take 1 and I personally favor 2 in fish just to make them scoring.

I don't have a lot of experience with Kroot but from what I understand they can be a really strong asset to any Tau army.

Only having 2 railguns will be tough against a lot of AV 14 but it's what you got so protecting them with disruption pods is a must. Multi-Trackers will let you move a full 12 and shoot your railgun so that would work out best as well.

Personally I would kit out a stealth marker team to fill out points and give you at least a few marker lights for high priority targets as well as decent torrent fire when things start to close in.

Thanks a ton for the Replies guys. Here is what I came up with so far. Please tear it apart and help me get this beast semi right.

HQ:
Shas'O Commander
-TL Plasma Rifle
-Missile Pod
-Multi Tracker

2x Body Guards
-2x TL Plasma Rifle
-Missile Pod
-2x Multi Tracker

Troops:
12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport
-Disruption Pod
-Smart Missile System

12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport
-Disruption Pod
-Smart Missile System

12x Fire Warriors
-Devil Fish Transport
-Disruption Pod
-Smart Missile System

Elites:
3x Crisis Suits
-3x TL Plasma Rifle
-3x Missile Pod
-3x Multi Tracker

6x Stealth Suits
-2x Fusion Blasters

6x Stealth Suits
-2x Fusion Blasters

Fast Attack:
8x Path Finders
-3x Rail Rifle

Heavy Support:
Hammer Head Gun Ship
-Disruption Pod
-Rail Gun
-Smart Missile System

Hammer Head Gun Ship
-Disruption Pod
-Rail Gun
-Smart Missile System

Total: 1912

I'm not sure what else to add or drop. Thanks again guys.

Don't bother with the Rail Rifles on the Pathfinders. Pathfinders have one purpose: markerlights.

Drop one squad of Stealth and add in the Kroot.

If you DO want to keep the stealth, don't mix purposes. Either nix the Fusion Blasters altogether, or give them target locks (so they can fire at a different unit, one more deserving of S8 AP1.) Of course this will necessitate battlesuit upgrades for the other four models, but Drone Controllers with 2 Shield drones can add wounds and an extra twin-linked shot that also causes pinning! 6 Stealth Suits, two with Fusion Blasters and Target Locks, 8 gun drones is an expensive but really fun unit to really mess with your opponents head.

Reduce the Shas'o to a Shas'el, un-twin-link the PR and add a TA. Saves points. TL Plasma is nice, but you are basically paying 20 points (10 for the TL and 10 for the Bodyguard status) when really you could just bring another FK and supplement with ML support if you need to.

Oh, and Multi-trackers ont he Hammerheads. 12" move and still fire the monster? Yes, please!

Other than that, just have him play! He'll probably be discouraged at first because Tau are a difficult army to play well, but eventually he'll get the hang of it!

Dont put the gun drones in his army unless you want him to lose. The gun drones are complete garbage IMO because for 2 more points it gets worse stats and jump infantry. You hardly need jet packs because if hes smart he will put his Fire Warriors at the back.