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As some may know I'm starting a Tau army, I've got a commander and soon I'll have fire warriors. Then I'll save up for a battle force because the Tau one is actually tactically flexible. But what then? I've had a few ideas and I want to know what people think. One option is pathfinders to go in the devilfish, then I have a recon force. Another is some specialist Kroot like Krootox and a shaper for some harder assault troops. A piranha could irritate key units and a sky ray can provide defensive missile strikes. So which one should I get?

Voted Skyray AND other as the Skyray box is a skyray/hammerhead or devilfish. I'd recommend magnetizing it. Only got the hammerhead box but I think you could:

Turrets
-Construct Skray Turret
-leave HH pieces
-get the cockpit built

Nose
-magnetize all of the pieces (chassis and both turret parts)

Secondary Weapons (SMS/BC's)
-Get GD's from somewhere
-Don't glue the BC's/SMS in as then you can interchange between them

(for use)
Skyray - Put on Skyray turret, the sensor nose and secondary weapons of your choice
Hammerhead - Put on HH turret, the sensor nose and main and secondary weapons of your choice
Devilfish - Put the cockpit on the top, Burst Cannon nose and either GD's (from the battleforce) or SMS

Get the sky ray or Piranah and give it anti-tank weapons.

Get a skyray kit as it comes with all the parts to make a hammerhead as well. Be sure to magnetize the turret so you have a flexible loadout. The skyray's not a whole lot of good without enough markerlights so you're going to need pathfinder support.

Long term (suggestions):
9 crisis suits
3-6 broadsides
2-6 piranhas
12-24 more firewarriors
36+ kroot
20 kroot hounds
3 more devilfish
16 pathfinders (some with rail rifles)

Don't buy the krootox, you can't move and shoot and it takes away the nice bonuses your kroot get without it. People debate about shapers, I personally like them.

Welcome to the Greater Good!

I voted SkyRay because you get the Hammerhead and extra seekers with it. Hold off on putting the Sky Ray turret together, you'll want that for conversions down the road.

I like the piranha but they work best in squadrons and dont know your budget.

Pathfinders are an easy conversion fron carbine fire warriors(Leave off the arm shield, use the helmetless heads, and glue a proper sized rectangle piece on the carbine). So save your self some money.

Kroot? For now focus on acquiring hounds and wait for the next dex before investing in krootox or shapers. The reason I say this is that if either shaper or ox get better they will probably get a new model anf the old ones will go on clearance.

Just a few suggestions, hope they help.

BTW, Have you seen the Forgeworld Tau models?

Agree with O'shovah on everything except magnetizing the nose of the hull. It's a) a pain to magnetize well compared to the simplicity that is everything else in the Tau army b) devilfish can be gotten rather cheaply and c) 90% of the time, if you're running two devilfish, you're probably at a point level where you want to run a Hammerhead also.

Basically, get the Skyray, make it so you can switch between an Ionhead, Railhead, and Skyray (all very simple - you will need to GS mold one part for the Ionhead, and my experience is that you're better off pinning with a long pin instead of magnetizing due to the weight of the railgun), but I am not thrilled with my magnetized nosecone that would allow it to switch to a DF too - it basically never gets used, and has given me at least two instances of "where did the only copy of my nose cone sensor go??!".


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Oh, and the 'right', if not 'fun' answer is probably just "buy three more crisis suits" in terms of building lower level point armies (<1000). That will give you the best fighting force.

I voted other for Broadsides, having a unit that can move 6" and still fire a Twin linked S10 AP1 weapon every turn is great. Low BS hurts, but that can be remedied by Markerlights.

Skyrays are bad and people should feel bad for recommending them instead of Railguns.

The only specialist Kroot worth taking are Hounds, for they are cheaper bodies than regular Kroot, and Initiative 5 means that if you remove regular Kroot as casualties, you might be able to escape and rerally from close combat now and then. Or run down opponents if you beat them.

Piranhas are handy for move-blocking.

MagicJuggler wrote:Skyrays are bad and people should feel bad for recommending them instead of Railguns.

The only specialist Kroot worth taking are Hounds, for they are cheaper bodies than regular Kroot, and Initiative 5 means that if you remove regular Kroot as casualties, you might be able to escape and rerally from close combat now and then. Or run down opponents if you beat them.

Piranhas are handy for move-blocking.

Read what is being said instead of the word "Skyray" - the Skyray box comes with a Hammerhead + Skyray sprue. You should feel bad for recommending anyone buy anything other than the Skyray when it comes to Tau tanks .

100% right about shapers and oxen though

Jokorey wrote:You should feel bad for recommending anyone buy anything other than the Skyray when it comes to Tau tanks .

100% right about shapers and oxen though

The only other tau tanks you would want to buy are the Phiraha(not actually a tank, just a vehicle) or Devilfish boxes(if you want a DF but not heavier tank it's £7 cheaper).

Definately right on the Oxen, I'll ocasionally use shapers but only when I'm outflanking. The 2 extra attacks and capability to save 1 or 2 models (3w can be helpfull) is handy though I'll only use one if my other 24 are in use already, 4 kroots quite a bit better than a shaper.

I've have played Tau for along time, and the one unit that offers the greatest flexibility, is able to harrass and can be loaded out for specific uses is of course the XV8. You just can't go wrong with 'em.

I voted skyray. There have been times when I have not shot anything from the skyray and just use the marker lights. Then I have the pathfinders start launching missles off of it. Its a very versitile tank. Also you do get the hammerhead and Ion head parts with it. its a great model.


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I know people dont agree with my use of the sky ray but its always done very well for me. I wouldn't bring more then 1 though

I voted other for crisis teams as without them imho tau are a lot less flexible

I voted other. You've got no broadside battle suits, which I think should be the keystone that every Tau list is built around. Then again, I don't like mech. =p

If you plan on meching up, then piranhas.

Cheers guys. I've decided that next is sky ray followed by pathfinders.

I'm with dashofpepper, you need at least one, preferably two, broadside suit. str 10 ap1 linked weapons are a feather in your hat, don't leave them at home. they rarely miss with twin linked, and str 10 means you almost always pen what you shoot, ap1 means its dead at least 50/50.

Skyray is a good choice, missiles and markerlights huzzah!

pathfinders i find are bittersweet, Its a lot of markerlights and the devilfish does make them pretty fast going but all the markerlights fire at one target generally, and despite how fast they are they still cannot capture objectives.

I tried pathfinders at first, then ended up just putting fire warriors in the devilfish instead.

sky rays are useless IMO
6 shots at BS 5 and you can only shoot if you have a marker light
it's a much better idea to get some broadsides
TL railguns with S10 AP1 are one of the best weapons in the game outside apoc

Broadsies = win I like a block of 3 splitting fire 2 on one target one on another with 2 shield drones and A.S.S.

I found the Skyray to be fair as a whole, despite looking super cool.

Piranhas are awesome. Once you have at LEAST 2 broadsies (2 Broads & 2 Hammer heads or 1 Hammer head & 4 broads) Pick up a squad of piranhas, well worth the points as tank hunters.

I had to agree with a few others on this forum, I chose other. As Broadsodes should be one of the first stops of any Tau commander. I learnt this the hard way, not having got any broadsides until my Tau army hit the 1500pt mark.