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.

Hey so im rather new to the 40k scene. Ive been a part of the universe and played recreational games for a long time, but have never entered a tournament before. Ive seen many go down and thought I would try out an idea I had for my Tau army for the first tournament im actually playing in. I am a little unsure about the broadsides point values at the bottom, they are all in one man teams.

1846 points total
Commander and Elites
1 Shas’o
Plasma Rifle, Burst Cannon, Command and Control Node, Stimulant Injector
Total Points: 123

3 Crisis Suits*2
1 Shas’vre- Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker, Drone Controller
2 Shas’ui-Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
2 Shield Drones
Total Points: 472 points

3 Crisis Suits
1 Shas’vre- Twin Linked Flamer, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
1 Shas’ui-Flamer, Missile Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
1 Shas’ui-Flamer, Twin linked Missile Pod
Total:161

Troops
5 Fire Warriors*3
150 points

10 Kroot
70 points

Fast Attack
2 Devilfish
Disruption pod + Decoy launcher
180 points

4 Gun Drones *5
240 points

Heavy Support
1 Broadside *5
Twin Linked Railgun, Smart Missile system, Drone Controller
2 Shield Drones
Total Points: 450 points?

Now basically my whole strategy here is to unleash a ton of firepower while keeping my crisis suits and broadsides alive, and keep my troops out of action for as long as possible. In most circumstances I start the game with the broadsides and Devil Fish on the board with FW in each of the devil fish. then I deep strike my crisis suits in a striking position of the enemy army surrounded by the gun drone teams who (hopefully) deep strike in front of them, then proceed to unleash upon the enemy army or surround an objective. The broadsides are in one man teams to make them last longer, deployed on different areas of the board so they can target different units if needed. Summed up simply my idea is for a deep striking tau army, sorta like an ambush team. Any feed back would be helpful. And im a little unsure as to whether or not the drones give cover saves to my crisis suits?

The firewarrior minimum squad size is 6 not 5.

Hey there, I see a lot of common "new to Tau" problems, so I'm going to try to give you the best advice I can. I will spell words out the first time, and then use acronyms, so you can kind of get used to how lists are written/shorthand for Tau.

darkcloud92 wrote:
1846 points total
Commander and Elites
1 Shas’o
Plasma Rifle, Burst Cannon, Command and Control Node, Stimulant Injector
Total Points: 123

Right off the bat, the command and control Node literally has no function in 5th Edition. The rules that it governs no longer exists, and therefore it is a useless upgrade. Also, burstcannons are sorta horrible. Flamers for points conservation, missile launchers for versatility, Cyclic Ion Blaster if you're a gamblin' man (and I am) or Fusion Blaster for killiness. Also, Shas'O is grossly overcosted for what you get. The extra close combat stats do little for your overall mission, and the only real benefit is that extra wound, which isn't worth 25points, IMO. Stim Injector is kind of situational as well, and is usually better suited for a high risk suit (Plasma Rifle + Fusion Blaster, for instance). Here's some suggested commander loadouts:

Shas'El 130 points
Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Targetting Array, Hardwired Multitracker, Hardwired Drone Controller /w 2x Shield Drones
OR
Shas'El 127 points
Missle Pod, PR, TA, HW MT, HW DC /w 2x SD

Swap out MP for a Fusion Blaster if you want extra TEQ/MEQ killiness, you could probably run him with a Stim Injector if you did that (since he will have to be at much shorter range).

darkcloud92 wrote:
3 Crisis Suits*2
1 Shas’vre- Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker, Drone Controller
2 Shas’ui-Plasma Rifle, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
2 Shield Drones
Total Points: 472 points

Took me a second to figure out that you meant 2 sets of the same squad here, but i definitely figured it out when I got down to the points cost, which is tremendous. Lets see what we can do about streamlining that:
Shas'Vre upgrade is not required to make him a team leader. At the same time, team leader upgrade is not really required either. Tau only kill in one phase of the game, you need to maximize your output during the shooting phase. You can't win the assault phase, so you need to dominate movement as well. The key here is small unit footprints (so they can easilly JSJ in and out of cover) and maximum guns on the table. That being said you have a lot of frivilous upgrades that seem very powerful off the bat, but in reality are hampering your ability to put warheads on foreheads. Also, you appear to be having a little bit of composition trouble with the "Hardpoint vs. Hard Wired" rules.

The battlesuit wargear is in three colums. The first two colums are "hard points". You may select three items from these two collums, per suit (Twin Linked count as two). The third collum is wargear, any model that is elligible to carry wargear, can go nuts in this collum (except for special issue items, read the 'dex about that).

That being said, lets see how I would kit out these fireknives:

3x Shas'Ui XV8 Crisis Suits 186
PR, MP, MT

Ta da! That's it! Two squads of this run you a very lean 372 points, allowing for many more guns in other parts of your army. If your commander and his pair of shield drones hangs out with one of these squads, you can make that squad very survivable with his two shield drones, and his extra wound. If you gave your commander a FB for TEQ killy, than you may want to substitute the squad that is going to roll with him MP for FB.

darkcloud92 wrote:
3 Crisis Suits
1 Shas’vre- Twin Linked Flamer, Missle Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
1 Shas’ui-Flamer, Missile Pod, Hardwired Multi Tracker
1 Shas’ui-Flamer, Twin linked Missile Pod
Total:161

Whoa! Okay so I see that we're going for some wound allocation madness here, but there are a few mistakes. The Shas'Ui is authorized wargear (hardwired items) so his multitracker is illegal. It's also not logical, because if you are shooting your misslepods across the table, what are you doing shooting that flamer at the same time? Not going to work that way. I either run:

3x Shas'Ui 159 points <---- Highly mobile and accurate firebase, supreme light armor vaporizor.
TL MP, TA
OR
3x Shas'Ui 141 <---- still very accurate and deadly to light armor, but cheaper, and capable of roasting outflanking squishies that come it's way.
TL MP, Flamer

darkcloud92 wrote:
Troops
5 Fire Warriors*3
150 points

Minimum squad size here is 6. That being said with all the points you are saving everywhere, you are going to want to expand this to at least 9 (that way if two die, they don't run away.)

darkcloud92 wrote:
10 Kroot
70 points

I love Kroot! But 10 Kroot just isn't going to cut it. With all these points we are freeing up, I would expand this to at least two squads of 15 @ the 1850 level. Possibly mix in some hounds with spare points.

darkcloud92 wrote:
Fast Attack
2 Devilfish
Disruption pod + Decoy launcher
180 points

4 Gun Drones *5
240 points

Devilfish are only a fast attack choice when they are the mandatory dedicated transport for Pathfinders, who are a very important part of your army. Unless you meant piranha, in which case... what weapons are you running. EIther way, Gun Drones are a very weak choice, and cost you as much points as your fireknives! Invest these points elsewhere (x-nay on the ones-day). I would suggest running:

6 Pathfinders /w Markerlight Carbines
1 Pathfinder Devilfish
SMS, DP, TA, MT

Your pathfinders can deploy outside of their transport, and your firewarriors can hop in instead! The pathfinders markerlights are heavy weapons so you can't move and shoot. Use their scout move to make sure they are in a good location, with decent cover and firing lanes, and then let them sit and mark stuff up. The devilfish is built for anti-infantry, so use it to soften objective holders up before letting your fire warriors hop out and rapid fire pulse rifle goodness into them.

darkcloud92 wrote:
Heavy Support
1 Broadside *5
Twin Linked Railgun, Smart Missile system, Drone Controller
2 Shield Drones
Total Points: 450 points?

Is this... five squads of 1 broadside with all kinds of crazy gear? That just doesn't work man! You can only take 3 heavy support choices. I suggest a unit or two like this:

280 points
1 Broadside Team Leader
TL Railguns, SMS, Advanced Stab. System, Bonding Knife, Hardwired Target Lock, Hardwired Drone Controller /w 2 Shield Drones
2 Broadsides
TL Railguns, SMS, Advanced Stab. System


Well, thats my $4.02, since it was significantly more than 2 cents. If you have any glaring questions please PM me, I'm always willing to help. Also if you PM me your email address I can send you an extremely helpful .PDF that i've come across that can help you with your suit configurations.

Later days,
Cottonjaw

I dont like Burst Cannon or Stimulant Injector on HQ. Here is why: If they are targetting your HQ, then they are going to be hitting you with a weapon that will probably either instakill or nullify feel no pain. I dont like burst cannon here because if a model gets within 18 inches of a crisis suit in this edition, there is a good chance the suit is dead.

I'd give that unit of suits 1 shield drone or two gun drones. With two gun drones, atleast you are getting some shots from them. Two shield drones takes away from firepower too much to merit 30 points.
3 Crisis Suits

I'd make the second unit of crisis suits all TLMP and flamers. Definately no TL flamers- they are worthless to you. I ussually only take flamers as a cheap option.

You have to take 6 firewarriors in a squad. Only problem I see there.

I like the kroot as a shield.

Devilfish arent a fast option unless taken with pathfinders. The gun drones are illegal the way you have them broken down. That being said, I would take neither of them.

I dont understand your broadside situation. If you want to take a squad, make one a leader, give him a HW drone controller and 1 shield drone, then add 1 or 2 more broadsides to that unit. I would take 1 railhead just for the template shot.

Alright thanks for the help I found it very useful! I was a little confused about how many heavy support teams I could have, and then what is legal and illegal equipping since ive never played in a tourney before. Looking back I did slip up with the FW teams, forgot they have to be 6. Il take what you have given me and revise my list. The main thing I wanted to get here was an opinion on the deep striking crisis suits with gun drones tho.
I know deep striking crisis suits is a pretty controversial topic lol An I didnt was to just deep strike them and have them die immediately, the point of the gun drones were essentially to just die for the crisis suits.
Say I deep strike my crisis suits, then deep strike my drones. My plan would be to have the crisis suits shoot down my prime targets, then have the drones assault whatever targets I didnt want to shoot at my crisis suits on my opponents turn. A pretty risky strategy I know, but do you think itd be worth it?

So I quickly realized that with all the changes I suggested, you barely have a list @ 1850 points. So I figured I would post an example of my fully legal 1850 list, that I run with decent success on a fairly regular basis. Here you go:

==HQ== 135
Shas'El Commander [135]
CIB, PR, TA, HW MT, HW DC /w 2x Shield Drone, BK

==Elite== 513
3x Shas'Ui Fireknife XV8 [186]
PR, MP, MT

3x Shas'Ui Fireknife XV8 [186]
PR, MP, MT

3x Shas'Ui Deathrain XV8 [141]
TL MP, Flamer

==Fast Attack== 360
5x Shas'La Pathfinders [180]
1x Pathfinder Devilfish
SMS, TA, MT, DP

5x Shas'La Pathfinders [180]
1x Pathfinder Devilfish
SMS, TA, MT, DP

==Troops== 278
9x Shas'La Fire Warriors [90]

9x Shas'La Fire Warriors [90]

14x Kroot Carnivores [98]

==Heavy Support== 560
1x Broadside Team Leader [280]
ASS, HW TL, HW DC /w 2x Shield Drone, BK
2x Broadsides
ASS


1x Broadside Team Leader [280]
ASS, HW TL, HW DC /w 2x Shield Drone, BK
2x Broadsides
ASS

Comes out to 1846 points. You can spend 3 of the last 4 on a blacksun filter for one of your broadside team leaders or, run the kroot as 10 carnivores + 5 hounds if you have the models.

Well, do with that what you will, I think it's a fairly solid list, and it's performed well for me.

id say that looks pretty solid, im just wondering about the 2 pathfinder teams. do you ever find its a bit excessive? i guess it depends how many you equip with marker lights vs rail rifles, but I still figure an extra gun vs an extra bonus might be better? also I personally prefer to have my fish as dumb and ill equip as possible, basically just a mobile shield :p

I give them all markerlights.

Less than half of them will hit. Cover might negate even more. Besides, they get targeted early, and have two teams of five guarantees either A: You will have markerlights mid-late game or B: Your opponent spent a decent bit of firepower chasing your support unit.