Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys, I've recently started playing a Tau army, and am now looking to expand it further.

So far I've been using pretty much what you get out of the battleforce, my army list looking like:
Shas'el (PR, MP, TA, HW-MT) - 85pts
XV8 (MP, BC, MT) - 50pts
3 Stealth suits - 90pts
12 Fire Warriors - 120pts
Devilfish (Disruption pod) - 85pts
10 Kroots - 70pts


So far I've mainly been facing an IG army a friend has (thus the BC on the Crisis suit, for example), but will soon meet other armies too.

I'm looking for advice on what to expand to 750, and then to 1000, points with. The above are the models I have right now (+2 kroots), but I'm likely to get some more Fire Warriors and another Devilfish (from a friend) soon too.

What would you guys recommend that I get for the next 250 points? I've been thinking along the lines of additional Crisis suits, Hammerhead, Piranha... But I'd love to hear your ideas!

hmm burst cannon isnt a really good choice for a crisis suit but if you glued it already its fine. what you need is long range so a hammer head is a must have for S10 and a blast. I would suggest also to bump up kroot numbers (they die like flies if not in cover), stealth suit numbers, and maybe a few more fire warriors.

By no means am I experienced, however, I've been doing a lot of research in an effort to build my own Tau army up from a Battleforce. Here's what I've been told:

For your next step you're going to want a railgun. As is, you don't have much way of coping with heavy armor. You should either pick up a Hammerhead or some Broadsides. The Hammerhead's nice because you get a submunition round to help take out mobs of enemies. However, you only get one shot a round. For similar price you can nab two Broadsides, each with twinlinked railguns. In exchange for mobility and crowd control, you get much more solid tank-killing abilities. If you can only choose between one or the other, I think two Broadsides slightly trump a Hammerhead. Better yet, get two Broadsides and a Hammerhead.

Crisis suits are your next priority. You're going to want somewhere around 6-8 of them. Equip a couple as Fireknives with plasma guns, missile pods and multi-trackers, slap the rest with twinlinked missile pods, turning them into Deathrain. The 'Knives inflict more damage at the cost of accuracy and range. The others make fantastic snipers capable of tearing up heavily armored infantry and medium vehicles.

Lastly, bolster your Kroot. Consider two squads of 10 with an additional 4-7 hounds each. Use them to hold points, to harass flanks, block charge lanes, and to create a general nuisance of themselves.

Eventually as you expand beyond even 750 pts. you're going to want to drop the stealth team and replace them with 5 pathfinders focuses solely on markerlights. Plan on splitting your Firewarriors into 2 squads of 6, having one use the Pathfinder's mandatory Devilfish while the other brings its own. They'll sit in their respective vehicles, allowing the Devilfish to capture points. Throw in another Hammerhead at some point, maybe a few Piranha. You'll have a fairly solid, mostly mobile force.

The Gribster wrote:For your next step you're going to want a railgun. ... Better yet, get two Broadsides and a Hammerhead.

This is sound thinking. But there won't be a lot of armor until 1k. The Missile Pods on your Crisis suits will do fine against transports up to your present level, even to 1k (except for the AV14). I'd start with the Railhead tank. Very useful. And all tau players should know how to use, arguably, the best tank in 40k.

When you buy b-sides, consider spending the extra cash for the ForgeWorld models: the reason being that it is all resin and not having to deal with the heavy railgun pieces gluing precariously to the shoulders of plastic, with those ridiculous ankles supporting the weight. Or failing to.

I own 3 and smirk (try to hide it though) when I see another guy's broadside with its honked-up, mangled, multiple-glue-repair 'look'.

The Gribster wrote:Crisis suits are your next priority. You're going to want somewhere around 6-8 of them.

I agree with the number, but not Gibster's loadouts: FireStorms, Deathrains, Helios and the perenial fav, FireKnife, are all good, just having different applications. Glue a pair of FireKnives. Then REM convert the other six or so so you can switch out weps per your evolving style of play and heck, in between games. The conversion is a pain (was), but I feel worth it. But, now that I have 5 years tau experience, I now will just glue any new suits as FK or FS as I have 5 REM'd suits that I can change guns between games.

kenshin620 poo-poo-ed the Burst Cannon. I disagree. It is great at 1k and lower games. Enemy armies are mostly infantry at low point games anyway and the BC is the best anti-I gun a suit has: volume fire.

Pathfinder advice: As you head to 1250 to 1500, buy a set of Fire Warriors and equip them with the carbines**, but call 'em Pathfinders. Maybe paint 'em with a little camo. You'll save a lot of cash over buying the blister packs (metal figs). And, go the whole 8 guys for the unit when you make a list.

So:
1. Hammerhead (buy the Skyray box as it has parts for all three tanks)
2. Two to three XV8s OR pair of b-sides
3. 2nd Hammerhead
4. Another B-Force box.

This will yeild all the troops you'll need (even a set of PFs with you follow that advice** and a decent 1500 to 1850 list, with 2 transports and 2 tanks, 2 XV88s and a handful of suits.

I HIGHLY recommend keeping your Crisis suits modular, by the way. As you can see there's some disagreement on what the best loadouts are. I find that weapons and system upgrades snap in securely without the need for glue or magnets. I've yet to have a weapon pop off short of knocking the model over. If in your experience upgrades don't want to stick, add some magnets. It's so nice being able to swap loadouts on the fly before every battle. You can determine for yourself what the best Crisis suit is without buying models by the score.

Furthermore, the Devilfish, Hammerhead and Skyray all use the same body. You can magnetize them and swap out turrets on the fly, saving you a hefty chunk of change.

P.S. I admit my advice is focused more on building beyond the 750pt. games. More reason to build modularly. Burst cannons might be good in a low point setting, but as you continue building your forces you're probably going to want different loadouts for your tanks and battlesuits.

Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate it, and keep it coming!

I'm definitely with you on keeping the suits modular. No weapons glued on so far (they seemed to stick well enough just putting them into the slots for the first few games), and I have a big bag of mini magnets to use on them.

Reading your posts I'm leaning toward getting a Hammerhead next. Two of my most frequent opponents will be IG and Orcs, so the sub. round will be welcome, and the solid shot can help punch through any tanks that comes along.

Next to that I might be able to fit in up to 2 more suits (don't have the Codex with me right now, at work) and still keep under 750pts. Might have to remove a Fire Warrior or two though. The Burst Cannon is cheap and works well against the hordes of IG (so far he's going for an infantry heavy army) and Orcs. Alternatively might try to the Deathrain, all the misses I've had in the last few games makes the twin linked an appealing option!

The number quoted for the suits, 6-8 of them, is that for 1000 points or more when I get to 1500/2000?


Massive thanks again, keep it coming!

Alright, had a look and came up with this for 750 points, what do you think?


Shas'el (PR, MP, TA, HW-MT) - 85pts
XV8 (MP, BC, MT) - 50pts
2x XV8 (TL-MP, TA), (TL-MP, TL) - 101pts,
3 Stealth suits - 90pts
10 Fire Warriors - 100pts
Devilfish (DP) - 85pts
10 Kroots - 70pts
Hammerhead (RG+BCs, DP, MT) - 165pts

Total: 746

The last few points could be spent on a HW-Blacksun filter for the Shas'el, I guess. Or possibly to change the XV8 with MP/BC/MT to TL-MP/TA.


Looking forward to all C&C!

Slight change to the suggested 750pts list, as I realized I could get another Deathrain suit instead of one with BC. So what do you think about this one?

HQ:
Shas'el (PR, MP, TA, HW-MT) - 85pts

Elite 1:
XV8 (TL-MP, TA) - 53pts

Elite2:
2x XV8 (TL-MP, TA), (TL-MP, TL) - 101pts

Elite3:
3 Stealth suits - 90pts

Troop1:
10 Fire Warriors - 100pts
Devilfish (DP) - 85pts

Troop2:
10 Kroots - 70pts

HS:
Hammerhead (RG+BCs, DP, MT) - 165pts

Total: 749

Anyone?

I like it...but I'm not big on Kroots

In terms of purchases the next few things I would look at would be a hammerhead, two more suits (magnetize them if you can), some Kroot Hounds, another DF, and some pathfinders.

OK... looking at all that that's probably well above the 250 points you want to hit lol

At least do the HH first. This way, as others have mentioned, you good anti armor-anti-horde attacks on one of the best tanks. Buy an extra weapons sprue from GW and build an extra Ion Cannon (I know... I know... but it's sub 1000 so it's forgivable) and this way if you're facing a non mech army you've got 3 anti-meq shots. PLUS you get an extra set of SMS's for a DF.

After that I'd go for the suits, as that's our swiss army knife. Magnetize if you can - I've got some videos on Youtube that I can link if you can't find them on a search.

Next I'd put in pathfinders and another DF. Split your 12 FW into two units, dedicate one DF to one and start the second and the Pathfinder DF on the field and mount up early. Those marker light hits are ever so much fun.