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.

2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones

2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece

Rate and constructive criticism/changes pl0x
Is there any army this list might have a lot of trouble with? Is there any way i can change it without list tailoring to any specific army? Keep in mind that i want a list that will do well against most armies, not just do superbly against one in general.

2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

Drop the SMS on these. You get 6 shots for less points with the same profile almost, as opposed to 4.

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

Try the flechettes and see if you like them. I am torn...Agaisnt horde, they can be okay. For 10 points though? Probably not.

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

I like this. Wouldn't really change it.

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

This is also how I run my firewarriors. It's the perfect mix if you are running pathfinders. However, I also run 2 squads of kroot. You are going to be hurting at 1500 with only 2 troop choices. BADLY.


3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

I'd drop targetting arrays, pick up either multitracking because its cheap and sometimes good, or A.S.S. for those times your opponent feebly attempts to hide from you. Also, shield drones are basicly a must on these units.
1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones
Drop the shield drones. Trust me. I've been tempted to run them like this many a time. They sink too many points. Also, I'd drop the TA...with BS4 and some pathfinders, this unit should be fine
2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece
Same advice on the shield drones. You can take the points you spent on those, plus the points you gain back in my other suggestions and max out your crisis suit slots. This is where all your killing power is with Tau. Team leader with TA isnt too bad on these units. I'd only drop it if you needed points to get more suits. 9 suits is the way to go.

bdix wrote:2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

Drop the SMS on these. You get 6 shots for less points with the same profile almost, as opposed to 4.

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

Try the flechettes and see if you like them. I am torn...Agaisnt horde, they can be okay. For 10 points though? Probably not.

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

I like this. Wouldn't really change it.

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

This is also how I run my firewarriors. It's the perfect mix if you are running pathfinders. However, I also run 2 squads of kroot. You are going to be hurting at 1500 with only 2 troop choices. BADLY.


3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

I'd drop targetting arrays, pick up either multitracking because its cheap and sometimes good, or A.S.S. for those times your opponent feebly attempts to hide from you. Also, shield drones are basicly a must on these units.
1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones
Drop the shield drones. Trust me. I've been tempted to run them like this many a time. They sink too many points. Also, I'd drop the TA...with BS4 and some pathfinders, this unit should be fine
2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece
Same advice on the shield drones. You can take the points you spent on those, plus the points you gain back in my other suggestions and max out your crisis suit slots. This is where all your killing power is with Tau. Team leader with TA isnt too bad on these units. I'd only drop it if you needed points to get more suits. 9 suits is the way to go.

problem is that i dont wanna get close to the enemy within 18" to use the burst cannons, and the SMS can hit units behind cover. The flechettes are nice in that if an opponent assaults a squad of piranhas, then they take wounds on 4+ for EACH flechette in the squadron as implied by the squadron rules. So, they are used as a blocking unit to prevent people from assaulting them to get through to the stuff they will be guarding. I think that the TAs are necessary because of the fact that the pathfinders aren't something i necessarily want to rely on in order to actually have shots hit. If anything, they will just be a minor boost to all of the squads, as i can use the counters over many different squads to increase to bs5 as opposed to just spending multiple for only one squad

You could always keep the shield drones on your leader than drop them from the crisis suits and just have your leader join up with a team to give them the added defense. If I am reading your list correctly you only have 3 crisis suits ya/ 1 Shasel and 2 Shas'ui leaders each as a 1 man squad? thats the only thing I might be worried about, only having 3 crisis suits.
But either way I would agree with the above post that the shield drones should be taken off your 2 shasui, your opponent will more likely be focused on the piranha your shoving right in his face, and 2 suits with Missile Pods prob wont seem like as much of an immediate threat.
I will agree that it is certainly a very mechanized list

rockprime wrote:

bdix wrote:2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

Drop the SMS on these. You get 6 shots for less points with the same profile almost, as opposed to 4.

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

Try the flechettes and see if you like them. I am torn...Agaisnt horde, they can be okay. For 10 points though? Probably not.

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

I like this. Wouldn't really change it.

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

This is also how I run my firewarriors. It's the perfect mix if you are running pathfinders. However, I also run 2 squads of kroot. You are going to be hurting at 1500 with only 2 troop choices. BADLY.


3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

I'd drop targetting arrays, pick up either multitracking because its cheap and sometimes good, or A.S.S. for those times your opponent feebly attempts to hide from you. Also, shield drones are basicly a must on these units.
1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones
Drop the shield drones. Trust me. I've been tempted to run them like this many a time. They sink too many points. Also, I'd drop the TA...with BS4 and some pathfinders, this unit should be fine
2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece
Same advice on the shield drones. You can take the points you spent on those, plus the points you gain back in my other suggestions and max out your crisis suit slots. This is where all your killing power is with Tau. Team leader with TA isnt too bad on these units. I'd only drop it if you needed points to get more suits. 9 suits is the way to go.

problem is that i dont wanna get close to the enemy within 18" to use the burst cannons, and the SMS can hit units behind cover. The flechettes are nice in that if an opponent assaults a squad of piranhas, then they take wounds on 4+ for EACH flechette in the squadron as implied by the squadron rules. So, they are used as a blocking unit to prevent people from assaulting them to get through to the stuff they will be guarding. I think that the TAs are necessary because of the fact that the pathfinders aren't something i necessarily want to rely on in order to actually have shots hit. If anything, they will just be a minor boost to all of the squads, as i can use the counters over many different squads to increase to bs5 as opposed to just spending multiple for only one squad

About the flechette.... the newest pdf for the army nerfed it. Not only do you now have to buy it for every piranha in the squad now if one gets it, but its only one 4+ per model regardless of how many in squad. Its bs I know considering one grey knight purifier can charge a 30 boyz squad and do the same. BUT now when vehicles go down any drones on them are destroyed without giving up an extra killpoint. If you detatch them before and they die they still add a killpoint tho.

Orock wrote:

rockprime wrote:

bdix wrote:2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

Drop the SMS on these. You get 6 shots for less points with the same profile almost, as opposed to 4.

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

Try the flechettes and see if you like them. I am torn...Agaisnt horde, they can be okay. For 10 points though? Probably not.

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

I like this. Wouldn't really change it.

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

This is also how I run my firewarriors. It's the perfect mix if you are running pathfinders. However, I also run 2 squads of kroot. You are going to be hurting at 1500 with only 2 troop choices. BADLY.


3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

I'd drop targetting arrays, pick up either multitracking because its cheap and sometimes good, or A.S.S. for those times your opponent feebly attempts to hide from you. Also, shield drones are basicly a must on these units.
1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones
Drop the shield drones. Trust me. I've been tempted to run them like this many a time. They sink too many points. Also, I'd drop the TA...with BS4 and some pathfinders, this unit should be fine
2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece
Same advice on the shield drones. You can take the points you spent on those, plus the points you gain back in my other suggestions and max out your crisis suit slots. This is where all your killing power is with Tau. Team leader with TA isnt too bad on these units. I'd only drop it if you needed points to get more suits. 9 suits is the way to go.

problem is that i dont wanna get close to the enemy within 18" to use the burst cannons, and the SMS can hit units behind cover. The flechettes are nice in that if an opponent assaults a squad of piranhas, then they take wounds on 4+ for EACH flechette in the squadron as implied by the squadron rules. So, they are used as a blocking unit to prevent people from assaulting them to get through to the stuff they will be guarding. I think that the TAs are necessary because of the fact that the pathfinders aren't something i necessarily want to rely on in order to actually have shots hit. If anything, they will just be a minor boost to all of the squads, as i can use the counters over many different squads to increase to bs5 as opposed to just spending multiple for only one squad

About the flechette.... the newest pdf for the army nerfed it. Not only do you now have to buy it for every piranha in the squad now if one gets it, but its only one 4+ per model regardless of how many in squad. Its bs I know considering one grey knight purifier can charge a 30 boyz squad and do the same. BUT now when vehicles go down any drones on them are destroyed without giving up an extra killpoint. If you detatch them before and they die they still add a killpoint tho.

I would have to disagree about the flechettes. The newest errata says that the whole squadron must buy the system. It doesn't say that only one of the launchers will work.

How often are your pirahnas getting assaulted by something where that will actually matter though? Any smart horde player is going to go...ahhh, no thank you, you can shoot that 1 fusion blaster shot into my squad of 30; or, they will position heavy hitting shots at it, in which case it has done its job without the flechette.

Also, without the TAs and shield drones on the suits, you can get another squad of crisis suits. Seems plenty worth it to me.

Thaylen wrote:
I would have to disagree about the flechettes. The newest errata says that the whole squadron must buy the system. It doesn't say that only one of the launchers will work.

That's what I thought at first... but a discussion I read concluded that you must buy it for each piranha separately.

If you want me to include the whole argument, I can... or you can just believe me.


Before the new FAQ came out, I would have said never get SMS. Now that it will ignore all cover except area terrain, I'd still suggest against it, but it is slightly more acceptable than it was.


Get rid of those shield drones on your single-crisis suit teams. Really, that is a horrible waste of points to try and keep a low-cost model alive.


I don't really have much more to say... I think 3 broadsides and piranhas are overkill at 1000 pts - or the points for the piranhas could be better spent elsewhere.

I would suggest getting rid of the piranhas for more crisis suits (I'd suggest blade-storms... or maybe some dethrains.)

The point of the pirhanas against horde armies is to act as a blocking unit so that the horde has to move around the pirhanas in order to not take enormous casualties by assaulting the piranhas. And i think that fireknifes are completely worthless if they are at BS3 as they will be missing too many shots to make their cost worth it, so the TAs in my opinion are necessary

rockprime wrote:The point of the pirhanas against horde armies is to act as a blocking unit so that the horde has to move around the pirhanas in order to not take enormous casualties by assaulting the piranhas.

Fair enough, but a kroot shield would probably last longer and do more. (Or split the piranhas into 2 units of 1 so that you can to 2x damage with the fletchettes)

rockprime wrote:And i think that fireknifes are completely worthless if they are at BS3 as they will be missing too many shots to make their cost worth it, so the TAs in my opinion are necessary

Mathhammer would agree with you.

It is more effective (kill/points) to get a TL with a TA than to not.

Check out the link in my sig.

rockprime wrote:The point of the pirhanas against horde armies is to act as a blocking unit so that the horde has to move around the pirhanas in order to not take enormous casualties by assaulting the piranhas. And i think that fireknifes are completely worthless if they are at BS3 as they will be missing too many shots to make their cost worth it, so the TAs in my opinion are necessary

Ya I could see this working to your advantage, the only problem I see is perhaps not enough guns to shot at the hordes your blocking? say the enemy kills your piranha but youve successfully managed to block the horde or advancing enemy from taking a direct route to you. Wouldnt you say your army does not have enough shots to kill the advancing army after it goes around the road block? You certainly have powerful guns, two hammerheads and 3 broadsides, but more crisis suits or even more troops like kroot could get you more shots to fire off at advancing enemies

You also gotta remember, guys, that the theme of this army is mobility, with only the broadsides being static. I play the army by using the broadsides as bait so i can draw the enemy into a hail of templates and plasma/missile fire. Most of the army can move around the board very quickly. The pirhanas also can adt as tank hunters, moving across the board quickly to take out any threats from afar. They are also good against TEQs or other heavy infantry. For the horde problem, I am considering toning down a few things so that i can add a flamer/burst cannon battlesuit to one of my fireknife squads, since it is both effective and inexpensive. But no shield drones on the individual units? I will definitely consider that.