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I am a new Tau player and I am looking for a solid 1000 point list to build off of for bigger games. This is what I have so far:

HQ

Commander
Shas’O
Airbursting Frag
Cyclic Ion Blaster
H.W. Multi Tracker
H.W. Target Lock
Stim Injector
Drone controller-2 shield
Total-170 pts

Body Guard
2-Shas’vre
2- Missile (1 for each)
2 Plasma (1 For each)
H.W. Multi Tracker
H.W. Target lock
Total-154 pts

Total HQ- 324 pts

Troops
2x (6) Fire Warrior Squads
2x Devilfish
Disruption Pod
Multi-Tracker
Targeting Array
Seeker Missile

Total Troops -360 pts

Fast Attack

Pathfinders
4 Pathfinders (1 Shas ui)
Devilfish

Total Fast Attack-144 pts

Heavy Support

Hammerhead
Railgun
Smart Missile
Targeting Array
Multi tracker

Total Heavy Support- 175

Army Total - 999
The plan is to have the Devilfish take the FW Squads and give them support to take objectives or to clear an area of enemy troops to drop them and defend them by providing cover. In the meantime I plan to use the pathfinders as marker lights for the Railhead to blast the enemy tanks and armor. The HQ will provide additional support where needed.

Please let me know what you think

You need more fire warriors/marker lights but besides that looks fine. I would give them all multi-tracker on the body guards. no need to split fire.

Thanks I will maneuver the points around a bit to include more markerlights and fw


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So i squeezed a bit out of my list and i got this new one:

HQ

Commander
Shas’el
Airbursting Frag
Cyclic Ion Blaster
H.W. Multi Tracker
Targeting Array
Drone controller-2 shield
Total-140 pts

Elites
2-Shas’vre
2- Missile (1 for each)
2 Plasma (1 For each)
H.W. Multi Tracker
Total-114

Troops
2x (12) Fire Warrior Squads
Pulse Carbines
Markerlights

Total Troops -260 pts

Fast Attack

Pathfinders
6 Pathfinders
Shas’ui
Bonding knife

Devilfish
Multi-Tracker
Targeting Array
Seeker Missile
Disruptor pods

Total Fast Attack -190 pts

Heavy Support

Hammerhead
Railgun
Smart Missile
Targeting Array
Multi tracker
Disruptor pods

Broadside
Shas'vre
Targeting Array
Advanced Stabilization

100 pts

Total Heavy Support- 275

Army Total - 979.

Looks like a pretty solid list. You are a bit lacking in anti-mech but its not a crippling flaw at that points level.

- I would consider adding a small Kroot squad, but it comes down to personal preference

- You should get rid of the bodyguards and just make them regular suits. You'll save 20 points and won't lose anything.

- Remove one of the Fire Warrior devilfish, and let them use the Pathfinder one. The pathfinders won't be needing it.

With the 100 points you saved you can buy a Broadside (my suggestion), or possibly a Kroot squad, or whatever else you want.

The pathfinders have to take a devil fish and I am not a fan of the kroot. I think that not taking the body guard would leave my HQ too vulnerable.

Pathfinders have to buy the devilfish but any other unit can still use it. Since the pathfinders will never need their 'fish, let the FW ride it to cap objectives, etc.
Your commander won't be any less protected if your suits aren't bodyguards. He can still join them if you wish and be equally protected, or go on his own if you choose. This way you get more options for less points. Besides, with those shield drones he will be very hard to kill even alone.

This is true.I was unaware that you could use the devilfish they purchased in that manner. thanks for the advice

You'd be surprised how tough a Shas'el can be with a couple of shield drones. I had my Shas'el go 4 rounds of assault with Logan on Saturday, after he gunned down Logan's 4 termie friends. Also I suggest all your vehicles get Disruption Pods, they're survivability greatly increases and its only a 5 point upgrade.

thanks ill add it immediately. I have it factored into points but its not on there for some reason lol

eldartau1987 wrote:This is true.I was unaware that you could use the devilfish they purchased in that manner. thanks for the advice

No problem, glad to help. Just remember that the Fire Warriors cannot start the game inside the PF 'fish. They must start on foot and then enter once the game begins.

never EVER give them carbines.
Pinning is useless as all the armies you would want to pin are fearless or have Ld8+
Rifles are always better for simple math fact
at 18" both a carbine and a rifle will get one shot, but at 12" the rifle gets two. Thus, even if you move, the rifle is better as the only reason you would move them (at least as it has been suggested) is in a fish which you can then use to get them within the pre requisit 12" ergo, you're trading 6" range for twice as many shots, which is no trade off at all, its a bargain
Like the idea of shield drones, always a great survivability booster,
Decoy launchers are also useful, as altogether its 10 points (with the disruption pod) and that means you can both always be obscured and can potentially save yourelf from the crippling damage of an immobilized result after moving flat out (something you should be doing with the fishes both for the distance and the cover save against targets less than 12" aways, and remember, never underestimate FoF against high ap weapons (nothing is funnier than a squad surviving a round of oblit plasma fire from the cover of the fish)
Also, I don't know if you're listing it due to it being a mandatory upgrade but you cannot give the hammerhead a targeting array as it already has one to give it BS4
Personally I don't give FW teams markerlights as A thats why you're sinking points into pathfinders and B it means you're giving up 11-23 other shots for a weapon that will hit half the time...but just me personally...
also, ignore the seeker missile. 10 points for a missile launcher without a blast that can kill one regular marine...maybe...is not worth it. you have a far superior number of weapons capable to doing that task, and for anti tank you may wish to find something different...I've found the MP is more effective (personally) than the CIB, but its "Poor man's rending" rule is something of a situational bonus..
In addition, and this goes without saying, bonding knife every squad you have. it is definately worth the cost, as it means that any guns your opponant thinks are lost can suddenly come back and shoot him in the face. Any squad bigger than 1 model should be bonding knifed (or is that knived...)
Frag is an awesome choice I wish more people used it, it's one of the best options for horde control on the tau (and so effectively used when given to an el or an el with array )
question for dakka: as I don't recall the FAQ, is the SMS counted as two SMSs that fire separately? or no, cause in the burst cannon entry ONLY it states they are separate...if they are not separate I would suggest this instead on ur railhead as it means six shots at 18" rather than 4 shots at 24" (six inch range for almost twice as many shots again...)
This is definately a scary list (with so many damn markerlights at such a low points level...that means you're getting three hits on average which is enough to up a firewarrior squad to BS5 and STILL drop a unit's cover save to 5+, which lemmi tell ya is some scary stuff for all those squishy orkzez and nids rushing at you...cause lets face it pulse rifle fire eats anything with T5 or less (including DPs...just from my personal exp) So yea good work, especially as a new tau player, you've really got the essentials in there. As my last bit i suggest a broadside also, as you can use it in case your hammerhead fails, or you can pop vehicles with it and save your sub round for horde units trying to hop in the vehicle. good work tho

I was thinking about adding another squad of 2 Crisis Suits

Missile pod x2
Flamer x 1
Fusion Plasma x 1

Bonding Knife
Targeting array
Drone Shield x2

Pts= 120

Which would leave me at 1009 and i do not think anyone would mind. Does this seem ok?

dbsamurai, remember that Devilfish aren't fast, and therefore can't move flat out.

eldartau, Battlesuits can only have up to 3 hardpoints filled by non-HW gear, inlcuidng weapons. So at most you could put 3, but you'll never want to put mroe than two so you can add a multitracker.

Yea but while deathrain is a nice combo for taking out light vehicles (like speeders) the flamer should only be a hold out weapon...the kind of thing you give to a team leader,
e.g. make him fireknife and fill the third hard point with a flamer and hw the multitracker...that way if his horde foes get to close he can nuke em with everything he's got


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and they can move flat out, their flat out is 12"...or am I thinking termanology wise of 4th edition where they did silly things like actually break that down in a chart of which weapons could be fired...

dbsamurai wrote:and they can move flat out, their flat out is 12"...or am I thinking termanology wise of 4th edition where they did silly things like actually break that down in a chart of which weapons could be fired...

Only 'Fast' vehicles can move flat out and gain a cover save for it. For a regular vehicle, moving 12 inches means they are moving at cruising speed, and cannot fire any weapons. However with a certain piece of vehicle wargear a Tau vehicle can fire as if it were a fast vehicle, meaning it can shoot 1 weapon while moving 12".

yea the multitracker
oh well, my mistake (stupid 5th edition terminology...god i need to read the BRB more closely...I swear I still refer to it as the glancing hit table)
regardless he'll still wanna move that fish 12" to get it in range of targets (and to move it into cover...)

So ive taken some of the suggestions and fixed it to:

HQ

Commander
Shas’el
Airbursting Frag
Cyclic Ion Blaster
H.W. Multi Tracker
Targeting Array
Drone controller-2 shield
Total-140 pts

Elites
2-Shas’vre
2- Missile (1 for each)
2 Plasma (1 For each)
H.W. Multi Tracker
Total-114

Troops
2x (12) Fire Warrior Squads
Bonding knife x2

Total Troops -240 pts

Fast Attack

Pathfinders
6 Pathfinders
Shas’ui
Bonding knife

Devilfish
Multi-Tracker
Targeting Array
Seeker Missile
Disruptor pods

Total Fast Attack -190 pts

Heavy Support

Hammerhead
Railgun
Smart Missile
Targeting Array
Multi tracker
Disruptor pods

Broadside
Shas'vre
Targeting Array
Advanced Stabilization
H.W. Drone Controller
2 x shield
100 pts

Total Heavy Support- 305

Army Total - 999 pts

*added the bonding knives and Broadside.

niiiiiiiice god that list is pretty sick...I may have to steal that to kill my guard friend with...

I am going to keep the seeker missiles as a fallback just in case the hammerhead and broadside bite it.


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dbsamurai wrote:niiiiiiiice god that list is pretty sick...I may have to steal that to kill my guard friend with...

Please do! I work at the local GW so i need to have a good list to back my station up lol.

o wow nice lol
and to be fair I personally think there HAS to be a better anti tank option there...cause the seeker...
you're buying an extra firewarrior in cost that hits like a krak missile and requires TWO successful rolls to hit AND can't even nix a termie...
I swear in the next codex it needs to be Str 10 ap- that rolls 2D6 and picks the highest for armor pen...THEN it'd be worth the ten point/fireing sequence cost

Well if it does not work i can always take it out and go with your option but for now I am going to give it the college try and see how it turns out in a few games.

I think you could lose the TA on the broadside, in my experience Twin linked weapons is plenty. But I run mine with Plasma rifles, for those pesky Terminators I can't kill after blowing their Raider to hell.

Your newest list looks great. Personally, I run with minimum-sized FW units in Fish to make points for Kroot but its personal preference, and since you don't like Kroot your troops look good.

Man good looking list tell us how a battle goes with it. Do you have the models or still shopping?

I am still shopping and buying a little at a time. I am waiting to get paid and i will have the rest of what i need next fridayish

Ewy, Why would you give up 4+ save and a St5 AP5 weapon for a St4 t3 Sv- character? Personally I prefer making that nice 130point hole in my list rather than reducing the power of my most powerful troop choice... (whaqt i mean is run two full squads and fill out the rest of your points with the kroot you can afford) I do run them however, they're great at taking objectives my opponant thinks are safe

Agreed. I will still have the kroot they are just not going in at this level. Im buying the battleforce so i will have them ready in case i want to play a 1500 or so point game.

yea but make sure you get kroot hounds
personally i've found LoTR wargs are the cheapest/most accurate version you can get...and you'll need a lot of them

So I recently came into some Tau. I got 2 hammerheads (One I converted from a Skyray), 2 devilfish, a thing of kroot, 2 fire warriors squads and two x8 battle suits, a forgeworld piranha, and a stealth team. I also purchased a broadside out of some funds I had. I think this would bring me to the 1500+ teir. Im going to buy two more broadsides any other suggestions?

Crisis suits, always crisis suits. You have by my calculation 5 suits. Crisis suits are your friend. At 1000 I run 2 teams of 2 plus commander, at 1500 its 3 teams of 2 (or 3 depending on the opponent). Beyond that I think you'll be fine. Oh and MAGNETS!!! magnetize your suits. Helps you to switch up equipment between matches and find combo's that work for you.

You have 2 Hammerheads and will eventually have 3 Broadsides, which gives you a good amount of Railguns on the field. I think your good on heavy support.