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So, I've had a ton of Tau models sitting around for a while in a state of partial completion. I bought a lot of them and was really into it but when GW screwed all the store hours I was kind of uninspired to keep working on them since I can't even get there to play on weekdays anymore. But regardless, I want to try to work on them and maybe get a game in on Saturday or something, so here's my newbie list. Warning: I have never played a single 1000 pts game of any kind, and have not played as my Tau yet at all. Most I've done was a 500 pts SM game.

So here we go:

1000 Pts - Tau Empire Roster - 1000 Tau List

Total Roster Cost: 996

HQ: Commander Shas'el (112 pts)
1 Commander Shas'el, hwMT, MP, PR, TA, +1 Shield Drone

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (139 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, hwMT, MP, PR, TA, Team Leader
1 Crisis Battlesuit, MP, PR, MT

Elite: Crisis Shas'vre (116 pts)
1 Crisis Shas'vre, TL-MP, TA, Shas'vre (Just had extra points. Hence the Shas)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, TL-MP, TA

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (104 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, Flamer, TL-FB, hwMT, Team Lead
1 Crisis Battlesuit, Flamer, TL-FB

Troops: Fire Warrior (180 pts)
7 Fire Warrior
1 Shas'ui, Bonding Knife
1 Devilfish, Disruption Pod

Troops: Fire Warrior (180 pts)
7 Fire Warrior
1 Shas'ui, Bonding Knife
1 Devilfish, Disruption Pod

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship, Railgun, Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod, MT

Feel free to dissect and let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Nyx

I know alot of people prefer broadsides to hammerheads, dor the same points as the hammerhead,you could take 2 broadsides with target arrays, giving you 2 twin linked, bs 4 railgun shots a turn

Othr than that, i guess dakka will like it, personally i dont like battlesuits but they are what make a tau army soid, so nice to see 7 of them in 1k (my 2k list has 7 in it )

NyxErinyes wrote:Elite: Crisis Shas'vre (116 pts)
1 Crisis Shas'vre, TL-MP, TA, Shas'vre (Just had extra points. Hence the Shas)

Skip that. It does nothing consequential in stats. I'll see if there's another place the points could be used.

NyxErinyes wrote:Hammerhead Gunship, Railgun, Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod, MT

Add Target Lock. Your BCs shoot infantry and the RG pops tanks. Much better use of points than a meaningless 'vre upgrade for a suit.

Overall, 'tis okay, but the 'fish aren't contributing much. I like Warfish SMS, TA, MT, DisPod, but that'd be a suit out for the two 'fish to upgrade.

hlaine.larkin wrote:I know alot of people prefer broadsides to hammerheads, dor the same points as the hammerhead,you could take 2 broadsides with target arrays, giving you 2 twin linked, bs 4 railgun shots a turn

Thanks for the tip about the broadsides.. I will keep it in mind. I mostly built it this way because I already have a hammerhead, and don't actually own any broadsides yet.

Brothererekose wrote:

NyxErinyes wrote:Elite: Crisis Shas'vre (116 pts)
1 Crisis Shas'vre, TL-MP, TA, Shas'vre (Just had extra points. Hence the Shas)

Skip that. It does nothing consequential in stats. I'll see if there's another place.

NyxErinyes wrote:Hammerhead Gunship, Railgun, Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod, MT

Add Target Lock. Your BCs shoot infantry and the RG pops tanks. Much better use of points than a meaningless 'vre upgrade for some a suit.

Overall, 'tis okay, but the 'fish aren't contributing much. I like Warfish SMS, TA, MT, DisPod, but that'd be a suit out for the two 'fish to upgrade.

Good point on the Target Lock! For some reason I was thinking it would cost more than the points I had free without the Shas'vre upgrade. I'll take another look and make that change.

As far as the fish go, they're mostly just there for mobility. The firewarriors are slow and clunky, so the 'fish are there to keep them mobile should anyone start getting too close for comfort. I could possibly drop one of the Flamer/FB suits to free up the points for warfish, but I'm not sure if that's really how I want to go. I'll think more about it.

Pretty good list for a new player. I'll second the Broadsides as I personally prefer them at this point level, Hammer heads at a bit higher, and Broadsides again around 2k.
I would also recommend picking up some Kroot and some Hounds if you don't have them already.

Only thing I really have a problem with is this.

NyxErinyes wrote:Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (104 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, Flamer, TL-FB, hwMT, Team Lead
1 Crisis Battlesuit, Flamer, TL-FB

Flamers and FB are some of the worst weapons you can put on a Crisis suit. A Crisis suit within 12" of an enemy is a dead Crisis suit.

This is the list I run at 1k. I've been using it alot recently because I talked my 2 roommates into starting 40k.
It's more or less similar to your list, essentially the same list with the above mentioned changes.

HQ
Shas'el Crisis Commander
- Plasma Rifle
- Missile Pod
- Multi-Tracker

Elites
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Plasma Rifle
- Missile Pod
- Multi-Tracker
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Plasma Rifle
- Missile Pod
- Multi-Tracker
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Plasma Rifle
- Missile Pod
- Multi-Tracker

Shas'ui Crisis Team Leader
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Targeting Array
- Hard-wired Drone Controller
- Shield Drone
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Target Lock

Shas'ui Crisis Team Leader
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Targeting Array
- Hard-wired Drone Controller
- Shield Drone
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Target Lock

Troops
Fire Warrior Team (6)
- Devilfish
- Smart Missile System
- Multi-Tracker
- Targeting Array
- Disruption Pods

Kroot (10)
- Hounds (5)

Heavy Support
Broadside Team Leader
- Advanced Stabilization System
- Hard-wired Drone Controller
- Shield Drone

Broadside Team Leader
- Advanced Stabilization System
- Hard-wired Drone Controller
- Shield Drone

Kroot are spread out in a big line to give cover to/block assaults on your Crisis and Broadsides. The Broadsides should be positioned so the drones are behind LoS blocking terrain with the Broadsides out in the open.
The TL MP teams jump over the Kroot wall every turn and then back in the Assault move to keep them safe. With the MP Suits and Broadsides you should be able to keep your opponents vehicles locked down fairly well.
HQ + 3 man team go around and nom on pretty much whatever you want dead, you can use the Devilfish as mobile cover at your discretion depending on the game objectives.

Lastly if you live somewhere big enough to have a GW store there should be some other private game shops around so I would recommend looking for them and seeing when they run 40k if you cant make it to the GW game nights.

Dorion wrote:
Shas'ui Crisis Team Leader
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Targeting Array
- Hard-wired Drone Controller
- Shield Drone
Shas'ui Crisis Battlesuit
- Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Target Lock

You only need one of these squads. They aren't effective enough to take two. A firestorm (Burst cannon Missile pod MT) would be better at a 1k match.