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I am trying to build a 1000 point and 1500 point all round Tau army mainly to take on Orks and Grey Knights. At the moment I have:-

1 Hammerhead/ Devilfish
1 Sky Ray/ Hammerhead
1 Commander
1 Crisis Suite
2 Broadsides
6 Stealth Suites
24 Firewarriors
12 Kroot

I need to increase warriors, I like the Stealth Suites but they are pricey in points or to get loads of Kroot, but then there are Crisis Suites.........
Any advice would be helpfull, as I am a new mature player.

OK, so here's my advice:

Stealth Suits: I have had good luck infiltrating them although they are not as good as crisis suits in either firepower or survivability.
Crisis Suits: Fireknife configuration (PR, MP, MT) is the best, as pretty much any Tau player will tell you.
Broadsides: A must have.
Fire Warriors and Kroot: There is much debate among Tau players as to the effectiveness of these units. Some say FWs suck and only field a minimal number. Based on the models you have, I'd recommend getting a second devilfish and running two 12 man squads in devilfish. Kroot are pretty much meat shields and used to provide cover saves for Broadside suits. They really can't do anything else.
What to get: As I said previously, definitely get another devilfish for your fire warriors. Definitely get more crisis suits. Also a must: pathfinders. Their markerlights are invaluable. At 1,000 points, 2 broadsides is more than enough anti-tank,, but as you expand, piranhas with fusion blasters can be a good option.
What not to get: Vespid are absolutely terrible. Their S5 AP3 guns are their only redeeming feature and even they aren't that good, as they're only range 12". Also Sky Rays. The points can be much better spent. If you want seeker missiles, you can put twice as many on other vehicles for roughly the same points.

You definitely need more Crisis suits. Pathfinders aren't mandatory, and are hard to fit in at this points level, but that's up to you. Another Broadside or two in addition to your Hammerheads should be able to handle heavy armor.

Oh, and some more Kroot.

I agree you need more crisis suits, i would generally take 4 broadsides myself, for tank killing but against the orks go Hammerhead to template them.
So basically IMO you should have

Crisis Suits: Alot, use plasma or missile pods(keeps range)

Fire Warriors: more FW then Kroot since they can survive the shooting phase better then kroot

Kroot: yes im fighting with myself a little, but the kroot can outflank your enemy, and distract him, ive done this on occasion and it works well i have found.

Broadsides: basically a must in a Tau army, i would suggest Advanced Stabilization Systems on them to keep them mobil if need be. your TwinLink should rarely miss.

HammerHeads: use these against horde armies or gurad, large blast generally kills a good chunk but solid round is not relyable.

Against orks mass fire is a must, use broads to kill transports and fast moving buggies and the like while the FW kill the boyz and nobs, just watch out for those with eavy armor, suits can be used in the same way as FW.

Against Grey Knights, all i can really say is stay away from them, i have never actually fought against them with Tau, even though i own both armies, but an incinerator would kill basically ANY tau unit excluding vehicles, its a mobile game against these guys, if you can keep your distance after deep strike you should fare well since you prolly have better range then anything they have, tho i gotta say i have yet to think of a way to protect the broadsides against the DS, perhaps surround in kroot but at that point they would be stuck in place and easy to template.

Well i guess i am done ranting for now.

I think your main problem is your playing against such a superior player lol :p

Joking aside, battlesuits with plasme rifle's will ruin my day. Just like nemesis weapons ruin yours.

Oh wow, okay...

Taylor, can you tell me a couple of things about GK before I give your friend advice:

Can you get fearless easily? Ie, can your normal marines get it?
Also, what lists do you generally play for GK?

I know how to handle orks (as only Tau can) but I've never played against GK.

The prob with GK is they have loads of weapons that hit hard with no saves, and a flames template that can be projected 12" than placed where it can do most damage also with no saves, plus the nemisis weapon, but having sais that I had best result yet (despite rubbish dice) took his 1500 GK army down to 500 points.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The prob with GK is they have loads of weapons that hit hard with no saves, and a flames template that can be projected 12" than placed where it can do most damage also with no saves, plus the nemisis weapon, but having sais that I had best result yet (despite rubbish dice) took his 1500 GK army down to 500 points. Oh I "borrowed" some Orks to use as Kroot giving 3 squads 12,14,14,

The Bringer wrote:Oh wow, okay...

Taylor, can you tell me a couple of things about GK before I give your friend advice:

Can you get fearless easily? Ie, can your normal marines get it?
Also, what lists do you generally play for GK?

I know how to handle orks (as only Tau can) but I've never played against GK.

Well my whole army is fearless, due to being purifiers. every squad has at least 2 psycannons S7 AP4 Heavy 4 or Assault 2 Bothy are rending. and the rest have S5 stormbolters. I equip every guy with halberds +2 initiative and a nemesis weapon. and we get cleansing flame which hits every model in combat with my gk with a S4 Hit. I can cast that every turn. and i also use psybacks which are razorbacks with S7 assault cannons on them.

Oh almost forgot my Dreadknight. hes a monstrous creature with a heavy incinerator, and a sword that lets him reroll to hit wound and armour pen. he has the equivelant to a jump pack and once per game can move 30inch. hes T6 S6 W4 and after modifiers will be A4.

I think that is the worst of of it. Cheers.

grey knights are tough buggers but, need to get across the field to be truely useful, i have found the shooty game to suck with the grey knights, yes they can do the job but assault is way better and other races especially the tau can and will out shoot them if the grey knights are not close enough.

You also forgot to mention their saves which you get quite often

this is quite true, id dont think any of the grey knights minus the inquisition have less then 3+, Note plasma is your friend

well as far as i now tau are not completely lacking in AP3 weaponry? Plus you know how the dice god's hate me lol.

Okay, i can tell you right now you'll need more than what you have to take on GK.

Never take kroot - my first piece of advice. Orks boyz can outdo them in all respects.. and GK can flay them just as easily.

Here is a... fun... list that could be used against GK:

Bladestorm Commander
83 pts.

Bladestorm Crisis Suits (3)
174 Pts.

Bladestorm Crisis Suits (3)
174 Pts.

Bladestorm Crisis Suits (3)
174 Pts.

Fire Warriors (6)
60 Pts.

Fire Warriors (7)
70 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
Plasma Rifles/MTs
255 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
Plasma Rifles/MTs
255 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
Plasma Rifles/MTs
255 Pts.

1500 Pts.

bladestorms are BC/PR/MT btw

This list would probably die hard (lack of troops and anti-troop weapons)... but you have 19 plasma rifles, 9 of which are twin-linked, and you also have 9 TL railguns to go with it

I'll post a more competitive list later... and one that could hold against orks as well.

I don't play Tau, but I'm not sure if The Bringer is giving the full picture.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/364017.page

Thats a 2000 point battle report between jy2 and sabrx (GK v Tau). jy2 isn't running his purifier list, but whatever. SabrX is running a ton of kroot... In fact from what I can tell from army list threads, and battle report threads, is that kroot are superior to fire warriors for cost.

Basically, I would take the advice of people telling you to write off kroot with a grain of salt.

I like this list the only thing i would say is maybe replace the kroot with something, thats just me though, not a big fan of kroot.

Kroot are superior in the way of fighting, they can contend in CC if needed and they still have the shooty if needed and your can get 17 kroot for the same price as 12 FW, the only one up the FWs have is their 4+ armor, but against alot of GK weapons that doesnt really matter, i could see massing kroot quite benificial against them. i like that battle report you posted Akaean, and it just goes to show the kroot will hold back the force while the suits and railguns do some major damage.

Kroot are superior against certain units for their cost.

I don't think one should take them vs. orks because the ork boy is superior in all respects except inflitrate and woodcraft (or is it fieldcraft... can't remember XP)

Against GK, cleansing flamer will wipe out kroot because of their lack of save... which is why I wouldn't suggest them.

I could be wrong on that point... it just seems like it that way to a spectator.


Here is a list that I would consider much more playable against orks and GK:

Bladestorm Shas'el
83 Pts.

Bladestorm (3)
174 Pts.

Bladestorm (3)
174 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
Targeting Arrays
240 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
Targeting Arrays
240 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
A.S.S.
240 Pts.

1151 Pts.

Then here are two idea of what you could do for troops

with kroot:

Fire Warriors (10)
100 Pts.

Kroot (15)
Hounds (3)
123 Pts.

Kroot (15)
Hounds (3)
123 Pts.

Total - 1497


and then without kroot:

Fire Warriors (11)
110 Pts.

Fire Warriors (11)
110 Pts.

Fire Warriors (11)
110 Pts.

Total - 1481



This is all very rudimentary... but I think a good idea is to keep at least 6 crisis suits with Plasma rifles, and 9 broadsides.

i like his lists, i would generally take the FW myself, but i can see the charm they have, the only thing is, against purifiers FW die just as fast since the incinerators are AP4, Kroot/FW killers


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the kroot's charm

Ive had a chat to Warris tonight and we are both unaware as to what bladestorm crisis suits are? Could someone please enlighten me?

blade storms are burst cannons and plasma rifles with a multi tracker

Are burst cannons really that good? At least he would have some more mobile anti tank with the missiles?

Well... they kill things with a 2+/3+ better than the missile pod... and they are cheaper (though you do lose strength and range.)

Look at the link in my sig for crisis suit configurations and mathhammerings of them.

i agree with Bringer, burst cannons will be better suited to fight the knights, they only thing i see is that you will be in range of stormbolters at that point, so it all depends on if you wannna get shot back at or hit them more often

What are your views on the "pathfinders" is there a reason why no-one has mentioned them. I see they can move in, in a Devilfish, and set a marker beacon allowing "deep striking Crisis Suits" to re-roll direction dice?
Weaponry is a matter of choice can i equip Suits with burst cannon, plasma rifle and missiles but only pay for the ones I am using according to who I am up against?
I always use multitrackers but also like advanced stabilisation system can I use both ?

Well, pathfinders really help, but they tend to die very fast.

Almost all my opponents concentrate fire one them, and kill them turn one so that they are no longer a nuisance...

Also, to get pathfinders, you need devilfish XP.... which are a huge points sink... so unless somebody already has devilfish I usually don't suggest pathfinders.


You don't need A.S.S. on your Crisis suits, it does absolutely nothing for them.
For your crisis suits, you should only show what you actually have payed for on the model. Thankfully you can clip the weapons into the slots, and easily change them for different loadouts - without gluing anything.

Orks and Grey Knights? Give the Commander a cyclic ion blaster: plenty of rending attacks right there.

i didnt even thing about that, forgot about that weapon, but yes great choice.

Where does it state that the Cyclic Ion Blaster is "rending", have I missed something. I can only find that rolls to wound of a 6 are AP1. BTW I have started fighting with Orks as well incase there was some confusion. Trying to decide which I like best as an all round army

Changing to ap 1 is rending, remember tau codex wording is old

Except for the part where rending gives you like an extra D3 armor penetration when you roll a 6.