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I've been playing Tau since 5th edition was released and After about 2 years of running a Railhead, a Broadside, and a Skyray, I'm sick of it. So here's what I'm thinking about.

HQ
1x Shadowsun

Elite
3x Heatwave XV8 with Fusion Blaster

3x Firestorm XV8

3x Deathrain XV8 with DC
3x Marker drones

Troops
8x FW Shas'la
1x FW Shas'ui
Bonded

8x FW Shas'la
1x FW Shas'ui
Bonded

8x FW Shas'la
1x FW Shas'ui
Bonded

14x Kroot
06x Kroot Hound
01x Shaper

Fast attack
7x PF shas'la
1x PF shas'ui
bonded
1x devilfish
1x Disruption pod
1x flechette:

Heavy Support
3x XV88s with Target lock
3x XV88s with Target lock
1x Railhead with BC, Disruption pods, and Flechettes

Whole Idea behind this is to Castle up around Shadowsun, have the heatwaves DS and the kroot...I dunno HOW they'll enter the game yet(leaning towards Outflanking), but the heatwaves and the kroot are all about slowing down the enemy (usually some variant of SM) another turn or so. I only have two tanks because I hate painting tanks with a passion. The Pathfinder's Devilfish will pick up a squad of FW and run them to an enemy Objective( or the closest objective I don't already have).

any particular reason you're using shadowsun? she's not really any better than a similarly outfitted crisis suit commander, some of her rules don't apply any more in 5th edition, and she's instakillable by str6. she's a close range attacker in an army that you don't want to get into close range. if you simply have and really like the model (i do), then put her on a 40mm base and use her as a standard commander with shield generator, drones, and twin-fusion guns.

i wouldn't take target locks for the broadsides. you need at least two of them to reliably destroy a single av 12 vehicle (3/4 to hit, 4/6 to pen, 3/6 to destroy). even if you decide to split your fire, you're overpaying by 5pts because you're taking 3 target locks (you have no choice but its still true). if anything, i'd recommend taking a targetting array for all 3 (bs4 twin linked so you won't have to use your one squad of markerlights on the broadsides) and upgrading one to a team leader or shas'vre with target lock. you'll still be able to split your fire that way. also, you *need* drones for your broadsides. nothing annoys an opponent more than shooting a lascannon at the broadsides and getting a 50/50 chance (cover save) of killing a 10pt drone instead of an 80pt suit.

also, i wouldn't upgrade a FW to a shas'ui unless you're more heavily invested (full squad of 12). with the price of the upgrades you give to basic FW, you can afford another squad of them instead.

hope that helps. i run a similar list (one unit of markerlights-pathfinders, two squads of 3 crisis suits, and two squads of 3 broadsides with FW backup) and found that drones for defense and broadsides for top of turn 1 offense tend to win games.

I do just love the Shadowsun model, but I use her because of the 18 inch LD:10 bubble, she's a stealthsuit, so she can't be picked off by a lascannon from 48 inches away(and pop my LD bubble), and the fusion blasters are nice for any T4 Special HQs that may slip through. I was thinking of dropping the Flechettes and a marker drone(throw a flamer on one of the deathrains and call it a day) for Drones on the XV88s.

Take two

Tau Army(2000)
-----------------------
HQ
-----------------------

Shas'o Iur'Tae'Mont
(Shas'O with Plasma rifle/Missle pod/multitracker)

Total:112
----------------------
elites
----------------------
3x XV8 w/ TL Flamers and a Fusion Blaster

3x XV8 w/ burst cannon, missle pod, and Multitracker

3x Xv8 w/ Plasma Rifle, Missle pod, and Multitracker

total:483
----------------------
Troops
----------------------
9x Shas'la

9x Shas'la

9x Shas'la

19x kroot
12x kroot hounds
1x shaper

total: 503
----------------------
Fast attack
----------------------
8x pathfinder shas'la
1x devilfish
1x Disruption pod

total:181
----------------------
Heavy support
----------------------
2x Broadside shas'ui with targeting array
1x Broadside Shas'vre with targeting array/HWDC/HWTL
Bonded
2x Gun drones

1x Railhead with Disruption pod/ Burst cannons

2x Broadside shas'ui with targeting array:
1x Broadside Shas'vre with targeting array/HWDC/HWTL
2x Gun drones
Bonded

total:715
---------------------
total:1994

Shas'O attaches to other PR/MP Xv8s.

Pretty much same plan as before, but no more LD bubble, no more TL s7 ap4 shots, and more kroot.

Not a fan of Burst Cannons and Missile Pods on the same suit. I would TL the pods or downgrade the suits into stealth suits

while the last two crisis suit combos are the most common and efficient (burst/missle and plasma/missle), the first one is a complete waste (flamer/fusion). you're paying for a unit to have two completely different and mutually exclusive roles. if you arm it with fusion guns, you'll want to go after medium to heavy vehicles and the flamer is useless against them. if you arm it with flamers, you'll want to hit max concentrations of troops and the fusion gun won't help much there (can only kill 1 model). in theory it makes the unit multipurpose but in actuality it just means you're paying for something you guaranteed won't be using to full effect. as for the stealth suits, no one uses them because something else can do the same job better for less points. don't take them unless you simply need points filler and don't have any other models.

I like the TL Flamer suits for the Burny Bits (and Rerolling wounds=win). Just through the Fusion guns on them as a serious "just in case". Like if I'm fighting an army where I don't need the flamers as much as the fusions. If I had to choose between TL flamer suits or TL fusion, TL flamers all the way. Anyways, how do you think that last hardpoint on thr TL Flamer suits.

the general thinking with TL-flamer crisis suits is to go as cheap as possible and spam them. you get in close and simply hope that you can make the enemy roll enough saves to fail one for each model. the TL-flamer with blacksun filter is the cheapest possible suit combo and a frequent component of what is called the farsight bomb (a maxed out bodyguard squad with farsight). i'd say if you're going with TL-flamers, go the el-cheapo route.

personally, i prefer the all-purpose fireknife combo which you also have (plasma/missle/multitracker myself. it's good against marines (which is i'm facing 90% of the time locally), they're ok vs medium to light vehciles (str7 missle pods and str6 plasma), and mediocre vs lighter troops (can kill 4 dead per turn max) which i don't face too often.

if you want variety, go with one squad of each general type. since you're planning on going with 9 suits, go with the following.

Squad El-Cheapo: TL-flamers, blacksun filter (great for horde)

Squad Expensive: Plasma, Missle, Multitracker (kills marines and rhinos dead)

Squad Middle Ground: Burst Cannon, Missle, Multitracker
or
Squad Melta: TL-fusion, missle pod (vehicles, what vehicles?)


you'll have something for everything. personally, i'd skip the fusion suits as broadsides are much better at taking out vehicles safely (read: from far away).


you'll have something to take out everything.

True. No real point for Fusion, even more so when you see my list with the 7 Railguns. >.>

I love my Burstcannon/Missle pods suit. Every list since I've ever played Tau has had Burst Cannon/ Missle Pod.

To Kenshin620, Not a big fan of Stealthsuits, even more so since I'm not running Shadowsun.

Edit: with the FB out, I could shrink the kroot to original size and add Pirahas....



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Take three

Tau Army(2000)
-----------------------
HQ
-----------------------

Shas'o Iur'Tae'Mont
(Shas'O with Plasma rifle/Missle pod/multitracker)

Total:112
----------------------
elites
----------------------
3x XV8 w/ TL Flamers and Blacksun fliter

3x XV8 w/ burst cannon, missle pod, and Multitracker

3x Xv8 w/ Plasma Rifle, Missle pod, and Multitracker

total:438
----------------------
Troops
----------------------
9x Shas'la

9x Shas'la

9x Shas'la

19x kroot
06x kroot hounds
1x shaper

total:432
----------------------
Fast attack
----------------------
8x pathfinder shas'la
1x devilfish
1x Disruption pod

1x Pirahna
Disruption pod

1x Pirahna
disruption pod

total:311
----------------------
Heavy support
----------------------
2x Broadside shas'ui with targeting array
1x Broadside Shas'vre with targeting array/HWDC
2x Gun drones

1x Railhead with Disruption pod/Burst Cannon

2x Broadside shas'ui with targeting array
1x Broadside Shas'vre with targeting array/HWDC
2x Gun drones

total:695
---------------------
total:1988

Same list and Plan as before, except I added Pirahnas. Two different squads to contest more objective and to be annoying to two different squads.