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Alright so this isn't a formal list but its an idea.

HQ: Shadowsun
Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire Warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse carbines (just a thought)

Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits

I love stealth suits! what do you all think

stealts arent that good and shadowsun...um she is near useles x-8 suits ftw and your fws are doomed as footslogga and they have carbines..dear god

Pulse carbines are horrible for fw, you want range, why take it away?
Shadowsun is a nice points hole, they go in, but nothing comes out.
Stealth suits are anti-light infantry, ok but what are the firewarriors for then?
Basically, its a good way to get killed if thats your fancy. :/

A well built list could make one of the above (stealths, shadowsun, carbines) work.. but not all 3 in the same list.

Yeah, this army has a lot of Str. 5 AP 5, but it will die hardcore to anything but orcs and maybe nids. Also, shadowsun, however good she is, can't be accountable for destroying all your enemies vehicles.

It would be better to go with a normal commander with a retinue than it would be to get Shadowsun.

For a relatively close number of points, you could get a Shas'el and two bodyguards with fusion blasters, missile pods, and multi-trackers; which would be by far superior.

It's a crapy idea, dont go for this. i'd say go get some real tau battlesuits, crisis! Dont go for Shadowsun either, she might be pretty but not that good in my opinion.

The_HoFF wrote:Alright so this isn't a formal list but its an idea.

HQ: Shadowsun
Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire Warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse carbines (just a thought)

Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits

I love stealth suits! what do you all think

If some oen shows up with a pair of leman russ battle tanks your in trouble. Unless those stealth suits are armed appropriatly.
Honestly I would bring a pair of broadsides. Something for some ranged punch.

I love the carbines by theway. Problem with Tau is our codex is just so bad right now compared to what you will most likely face.

Zero anti-tank, which is all Tau are good for anyway. If nobody here can convince you that the stealths are a bad idea, at least give them some fusion blasters...

Blind wrote:Pulse carbines are horrible for fw, you want range, why take it away?
Shadowsun is a nice points hole, they go in, but nothing comes out.
Stealth suits are anti-light infantry, ok but what are the firewarriors for then?
Basically, its a good way to get killed if thats your fancy. :/

Pulse carbines are Assault 1 which means you can MOVE and fire at 18". You have range WITH movement unlike the rifles. That's why you equip them with pulse carbines.

Stealthsuits give you a good capability for moving around without being able to be shot at. The squads need a team leader with a fusion blaster and a target lock however. This will add some nice anti-tank into this list.

Shadowsun teams up nicely with stealthsuits as well. She's very costly though and typically not worth it. The ability for one model to split fire between 2 targets is crazy and not seen anywhere else I can think of. Still not worth the points even with all her drones and the stealth field.

With those changes this could be a capable list that could do something. This will not be a highly competitive list but the list could be an enjoyable experience and something different then what is usual.

For the OP:
What's the point cost your shooting for? Overall this is around 1075 points. Typical games are 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 1850, 2000, 2500 and Apocolypse. With more information you would get better ideas to improve upon the list. I like the general idea of it. I feel like it's a forward scouting party that's inserted under the cover of night. The stealthsuits go out and look for targets while the firewarriors secure forward objectives and strong points waiting for the rest of the Hunter Cadre to show up in the coming days.

I calculated the points a little back, and I believe it was around 900 when I did it - but I could be mistaken.

I never really go with stealth suits. They are cool and all, but it is generally better to go with 3 fire warriors for every suit... and you have a lot more advantages with the fire warriors than with the stealth-suits.

Well I was going for 1500. I wanted to do an army other than crisis suits. I was thinking of doing a gun line with the 24 fire warriors with rifles. Then as the enemy draws closer I was going to try and pin them with the fire warriors with the carbines in the DF and since they have 18 range they will be out of typical charge range. I was going to throw in some pathfinders and maybe some sniper teams for the ML's. This way I can really take advantage of BS 5 str 5 pulse rifles. Once the enemy gets close I want to drop my stealth suits behind him/her with fusion blasters, burst-cannons and TL carbines from gun drones. I heard Shadowsun can deepstrike though I can't find it anywhere in the codex. If she can then DS her with the suits I think would be a formidable force. This would force the enemy to presue the fire warriors or fight the suits, splitting him. I am also am going to include a hammerhead in the list for the long range support. To me this list seems like it can work. I always hated playing against stealth suits haha.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also if I include the pathfinders there devilfish will help me insure that my suits arrive where they need to.

XV25s are not bad to kill infantries. But you need open enemie's trasport vehicles first.

Replace all XV8 units(Yes, their models are ugly, especially when you see FW XV9 models) with XV25 units would made you lose many fire against heavy infantries and light vehicles.

You can have a try, some like this may help:

HQ: Shas'el missile, plasma
HQ: Shas'el missile, plasma
Elite: Stealthsuit *6
Elite: Stealthsuit *6
Elite: Stealthsuit *6
Troop: Fire Warrior*6
Troop: Fire Warrior*6
Troop: Kroot Carnivore Squad, 10 Kroots, 7 Kroot Hounds
Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit 2Battlesuit,1 Shield Drone
Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit 2Battlesuit,1 Shield Drone
Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit 2Battlesuit,1 Shield Drone


Big FW units are not effective. 30 inches? Yeah, a full squad fired, 6hits, 4 wounds, and kill...1 tactical marine. They are awesome!

Its not that I think the models are ugly I just want to do a tau army that hasn't really been seen. Everyone uses crisis suits so I want to use stealth suits. I understand what your saying about heavy infantry but I would have 8 fusion guns with a hammerhead rail gun and sniper drones to deal with more elite units. Given I might have troubles against terminators but even they can fail an Armour save.
Quick question I was looking at the infantry wargear for a Shas 'ui and I noticed you can only take one of each type of war-gear. However are drones considered war-gear? Would I only be able to take 1 gun drone? I was going to give the FW a ML because they are just hanging back in a gun-line, but I want to give my stealth suits a couple drones, and if I can only give them one then that wouldn't really work out.

Fusion? Sacrifice 3 suits for deliver only 1 meltagun, to pop tanks? Oh no!

You would want your battlesuits have more turns to shoot your enemies to pieces. Making them too close to enemies is...not safe.

To make XV25s work well, you must have enough weapons to crush enemies' transports, and then you could kill passengers with XV25s.

1 railgun cannot be called "enough weapons".

Yeah that makes sense, I'll consider some broadsides.

rogueeyes wrote:

Blind wrote:Pulse carbines are horrible for fw, you want range, why take it away?
Shadowsun is a nice points hole, they go in, but nothing comes out.
Stealth suits are anti-light infantry, ok but what are the firewarriors for then?
Basically, its a good way to get killed if thats your fancy. :/

Pulse carbines are Assault 1 which means you can MOVE and fire at 18". You have range WITH movement unlike the rifles. That's why you equip them with pulse carbines.

And you would move them forward?

Toward any and every model/unit in the game that is better at h2h than FWs? When h2h focused armies like SWs, 'nids and now BAs being all the rage (no pun intended).

Um, no.

Pulse Rifles.

Best case scenario with Carbines:
Pathfinders get a 8 full Markerlight hits on the enemy (Space pups, lets' say).
2 MLs for FW BS. You hit 10 times, wound ~7.
~1.5 marines die.
Use the other 6 MLs to penalize the leadership check and Pin them.

Great. One SW unit hunkered down for now. What are the other 3 to 4 puppy units up to?



Automatically Appended Next Post:
@The_HoFF
Okay, going with your preference to *not* have XV8s.

The_HoFF wrote:HQ: Shadowsun

Like everyone else said, she's better for The Greater Good Recruitment posters and PR campaigns of conquered human worlds ... the posters where her "special suit" is from Victoria's Secret, and the caption reads:
"Once you've gone Tau, Wow!"

Go with a minimal Shas'el Fireknife.

The_HoFF wrote:Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire Warriors pulse rifles
Troops: 12 Fire warriors pulse carbines (just a thought)

Warfish. SMS, DisPod, Target Array, MT. FW units should always have them.

Yes, you mentioned the desire to have an army that isn't everybody elses'. The reason why some armies aren't on the tables is because they aren't real viable.

The_HoFF wrote:Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits
Elites: 6 stealth suits

For anti-Tank, which you need, you could make one crew with the team leader, FB, Target Lock and all that, in lieu of Broadside (that is, if you're not going to get B-sides, which you *should* have at 1500). I'd leave the other two crews as anti-I. Team Leader each one and Bond.

However, I really would *not* recommend putting FBs on any stealth crew, even with Target Lock. It just brings them too close to an enemy. Remember the FB's melta capabilities don't kick in until under 6 inches ... too darned closed to getting caught in h2h.

Edit: -------> Ah, good, you're going with XV88 railgoodness.

Alright I am going to take a shas'o commander with missle pod, plasma rifle, and multitracker with two body guards geared out the same way.
I'll have 12 stealth suits instead of 18 and give them all burst cannons.
2 units of 10 fire warriors (gun line) and a unit of 12 in a fish (I need some mobility).
2 broadsides, 2 sniper teams, and some pathfinders.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thankd! for all the feedback!

If you want an unsual army that others haven't tried don't collect Tau. Space Marines for instance have as many HQ choices as Tau have Choices!!!

Tau have very few choices and even fewer of those are really viable. The reason why so many Tau armies are so similar is because that is the only way the army is even remotely effective.

Give me 2 Land Speeder Storms with scouts (about 300 points total) and I'd table your army in about 2 turns literally. Gunlines don't work in a game where your opponent can assault you in turn 1 full stop, give up on that idea.

Units you should never use in the Tau codex:

ANY of the special Characters (except possibly O'Shova in a friendly game).

Ethereals.

Carbine Fire warriors

Vespid

Skyray

Sniper teams

Then there are units of limited value (that can be used sparingly in the rigth build):

FWs

Kroot

Stealth teams

Once you then look at what is left that you can build an effective army out of you'll work out why Tau armies are essentially cookie cutter.

As to your final list, dump the snipers they kill on average about 1 marine out in the open a turn, not 80 points well spent. Mech up the gunline FWs unless you know you will have intact buildings to hide in. Get at least 4 Broadsides and I'd advise probably 1 Piranha for late game objective contesting with the way you've built your list.

I'd also advise FBs on the stealthsuits with targetlocks, that is the only way they can hope to gain their points back.