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This is my current 1500 point tau army list. Any suggestions tips would be great as this is my first tau army.

HQ:
Tau Commander Shas'el; Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Multitracker: 87 points
(I understand this HQ isn't very good, I simply wanted to not waste my points on one model)

Troop:
6 man Fire Warrior sqaud w/ devilfish; Distortion Pod: 145 points
6 man Fire Warrior squad: 60 points

Elite:
3 XV8 Crisis Suits w/ a team leader upgrade; Twin-Linked Missle Pods, Flamer, 2x Gun Drone 166 points
3 XV8 Crisis Suits w/ a team leader upgrade; Twin-Linked Missle Pods, Flamer, 2x Gun Drone 166 points
3 XV8 Crisis Suits; Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Multitracker: 186 points

Fast Attack:
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, Disruption Pod: 75 points
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, Disruption Pod: 75 points
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, Disruption Pod: 75 points

Heavy Support:
3 XV88 Broadsides w/ a team leader upgrade; Advanced Stabilization, Target lock (TL), 2x Shield Drones 280 points
1 Hammerhead: Railgun, Twin-linked Smart Missle System, Targetting Array, Multi-tracker,
Disruption Pod,Target Lock: 185 points

Like I said, this is my first Tau army, I havn't completed assembly yet, still need to finish one of the deathrain Crisis suit squads, hammerhead, and piranhas, but so far i'm really enjoying Tau, my other armies are space marine so its a nice change of pace. Thoughts and suggestions welcomed.

Looks good for me but maybe try to add another devil fish and give the Comander a targeting array ?

Forgot to add my broadside team leader has a target lock.

As far as adding the targetting array to my commander I don't see a real point, Maybe its just me but from what i've read Tau seem to have the most useless HQs in 40k. Between me and my roommate we have 5 codexs (SM, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar,Tau, and Eldar) and I've read through all the others while waiting at my local store for an open table. It seems like my HQ doesn't do anything for my army but fill a slot that has to be filled.

You are very low on troops for 1500.

It might be more excusable if you had a second devilfish to protect your second fire warrior unit, or at least another fire warrior unit. As is, it will be quite easy for your opponents to wipe out all your scoring units.

Also, the SMS on the hammerhead is not twin-linked. The 2 burst cannons are cheaper than the SMS, and they have more shots, so I would always take them if I were you. Beyond that, I don't have much to say....

You have 4 railguns and 6 TL Missile Pods, so I would get rid of your piranhas, you don't need any more AT.

With those points, I would get a 2nd devilfish, and give both of your devilfish (with these upgrades it is commonly called a warfish):

SMS
TA
MT
DP

And then I would get a unit of pathfinders. It would look like this:

HQ:
Tau Commander Shas'el; Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Multitracker: 87 points

Troop:
6 man Fire Warrior sqaud w/ Warfish: 180 points
6 man Fire Warrior squad: 60 points

Elite:
3 XV8 Crisis Suits w/ a team leader upgrade; Twin-Linked Missle Pods, Flamer, 2x Gun Drone 166 points
3 XV8 Crisis Suits w/ a team leader upgrade; Twin-Linked Missle Pods, Flamer, 2x Gun Drone 166 points
3 XV8 Crisis Suits; Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Multitracker: 186 points

Fast Attack:
Pathfinder Team (6x): 192
Warfish

Heavy Support:
3 XV88 Broadsides w/ a team leader upgrade; Advanced Stabilization, Target lock (TL), 2x Shield Drones 280 points
1 Hammerhead: Railgun, Burst Cannons, Targetting Array, Multi-tracker,
Disruption Pod,Target Lock: 175 points

I believe that is 1492 points total...


The pathfinder devilfish would go to your fire warriors then, and help keep your 2nd unit alive.

Ah, I appreciate the input.

The reason I didn't add many troops when I started the list cause the only game type i've really ever played is annihalation (only been playing for about 6 months now).

Do you just always roll 5 and 6 for it? Or do you decide?

Most people at my local store just want to play annihalation. Me and my roommate are working on building our own terrain and table so we can play campaigns and different missions.

My question is: who keeps telling all the new tau players that shield drones are good?

First, a couple of housekeeping matters.

The correct kit on a devilfish is as follows: Devilfish + disruption pod + smart missile system + targeting array + multi-tracker = 120 points. This gives you a tough, mobile light gunship that's pretty good at hosing infantry. If you're taking anything other than this kit on your devilfish, you're doing something wrong.

Second, drones in general are kind of awful. I played around with using drones as ablative wounds for a long time until I realized all they were doing was taking up points I could be using on good models ('good' being defined as models that help me win games). Drones just don't do anything other than die and trigger 25% leadership checks. The only reason you have drones in your army is because your piranha come with two of them.

Third, the best kit on crisis suits is either TL Missile Pod + Targeting Array or Plasma Rifle + Missile Pod + multi-tracker + hard-wired targeting array. I typically run the former on my elite suits and the latter on my HQ suits.

Fourth, the best kit on hammerheads is as follows: Hammerhead + railgun + burst cannons (because they're cheap and you want to be moving 12" a turn anyway) + multi-tracker + disruption pod = 165 points. However I will point out that in foot tau lists (ones that don't run ANY vehicles at all) broadsides are strictly better because they afford you TWO railguns for 5 points less than properly kitted out hammerhead.

Other than that, I think your list has a lot fewer problems with it than most new tau players' lists. I'm glad you don't think stealth suits are good, because they're not. I also like that you take piranha over pathfinders. My only beef with that is that I think you should take more piranha, but I understand it's only 1500 points.

As for the HQ: it's not you, it's the codex. The tau codex is really starting to show it's age. The HQ is a holdover from EARLY 4th ed, back when 4th ed was still transitioning from 3rd, so the HQ is going to be all kinds of awful. However, you have the best HQ the codex can spit out. I'm very happy to see you weren't fooled by all the shiny toys HQ's can take. Usually I have to beat that out of new tau players.

That said, if you predominately play annihilation at only 1500, here's what I would recommend:

--HQ-- 1465/1500

1 Shas'el 73
-TL Missile Pod
-Target Lock

--Elites--

3 Crisis Suit 159
-Deathrain

3 Crisis Suit 159
-Deathrain

3 Crisis Suit 159
-Deathrain

--Troops--

6 Fire warriors 180
-Warfish

6 Fire Warriors 180
-Warfish (that's the kit I told you about)

--Fast Attack--

1 Piranha 75
-Fusion Blaster
-Disruption Pod
-Targeting Array

1 Piranha 75
-Fusion Blaster
-Disruption Pod
-Targeting Array

1 Piranha 75
-Fusion Blaster
-Disruption Pod
-Targeting Array

--Heavy Support--

1 Hammerhead 165
-Railgun
-Disruption pod
-Burst Cannons
-Multi-tracker

1 Hammerhead 165
-Railgun
-Disruption pod
-Burst Cannons
-Multi-tracker

I don't think this is optimal (I personally hate fire warriors + devilfish) but from what I gather this will probably encompass a lot of what you own. If you're looking to expand, pick up some kroot and kroot hounds. Because kroot hounds are so expensive though, I would recommend buying these for counts-as: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod770031a&rootCatGameStyle=
And buy more broadsides. I think broadsides are almost strictly better than hammerheads, but I think you want to run a mech list, and hammerheads are better in a mech list than broadsides. I would only run broadsides in a straight foot list.

This list has 35 points to spare and I'm not sure what I would try to stick in it. I might actually drop an elite suit squad and beef up the HQ to include bodyguards (which are actually good because you can give them plasma rifle + missile pod + multi tracker + hard-wired targeting array. But do what you feel.

Hope this helps.

Knute

Wow guys, I didn't expect much response, but I really appreciate the suggestions. And i'll be incorporating quite a few, I'll post my finished list whenever I get a chance to redo it.