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Got my butt kicked by the dark angels the other night granted it was my first game ever played and i played tau.

HQ:
Crisis suite
Bodyguard x2
All three with plasma guns

Troops:
Fire warriors (12 + Dedicated transport) x2

Heavy Support
Broadsides x3 all with rail guns

Any ideas for tactics or improvements to this army ?

I was considering next time round to have another broadside unit and a hammerhead.
Need thoughts and ideas asap, im due for a rematch soon.

1) how much points do you play
2) what kind of army is he playing? ravenwing, deathwing? give some little information about is army
3)for all the suits, take plasmarifle and missle podsand HWMT if you can
4) the DT (the devilfish i thought) isn't needed for the warriors... they are youre only vehicles and if you have only 2 vehicels in a army, it will be cut down really fast... put your warriors in cover en blow everything away!!! LOL

after that, we can help you

Im not sure of the term for what formation he used but his army composed of an HQ on a bike, 2 squads of marines in rhinos and a dreadnought.
I was lucky to take out the rhinos with the broad sides but failed once his HQ came into close combat and then his SM followed suite, taking out my fire warrior squads. My HQ weren't lucky enough and didn't land any thing worth mentioning, that said i lost two of the body guards fairly quickly.

I need some advice for my next round. I was opting to rid myself of the transports in favour of the hammer heads.
My next go will be with an army like this:

HQ:
Crisis Battle suite Commander
2 Body Guard Crisis suites

Troops:
Fire Warrior Team (12 units x2)
Kroot Squad (10 units + Shaper) x2

Heavy Support:
Broadside (3 units Plasma x2 missile x1) x2
Hammerhead x2 (Rail-gun vs. ion-cannon)


Any ideas how i might use this to survive my next match of about 1000 pts, mind its a kill points game.

VS meq at small points the ion cannon is great - wounds on 2+ but gets 3 shots and ignores power armor. It is also 35 points cheaper per model. Excellent. Bust your fire warriors into squads of 6 so when one gets chewed up in combat you DO NOT STAY ENGAGED...and can shoot the marines that ate a 60 pt squad of fire warriors. Leaving 2 6 man squads on foot in the back in front of your broadsides allows them to shoot pulse rifles and provide a screen for your heavy weapons and crisis suits.

equip the suits all with targetting array, plasma rifles, and missile pods (you can put an AFP on your Shas'el if you want a barrage/pinning weapon) so when the marines get close you can rapid-fire plasma into them, again ignoring their armor save. Broadsides should take advanced stabilization systems (ASS) so they can shuffle around to draw better lines of sight to targets.

Omit the kroot shapers. Yes they give an armor save to your kroot, but it makes them more expensive per model and 99 percent of all shooting weapons in the game ignore 6+ saves anyway. Save the points and stick to cover, going to ground when they get shot at so they get a 3+ save and then screen your fire warriors (who are in turn screening your broadsides and crisis suits, remember).

Give it a try and let us know how it does. Experience is the best teacher.

You need to make sure you are staying mobile. Never step forward without stepping back with tau. If its your first game I give you props for choosing Tau, there is quite a learning curve involved in playing them well. Make sure to give your broadsides target lock so they can split fire it is invaluable with rail guns. Avoid castling as well many people start tau and try not to move the whole game, this will not work. I would recommend looking up tau tactics in this forum as there are quite a few threads

More crisis suites, if i play against a dark angel army you just can get enough of them.

Some of the advice that I can give:

1. Move the Crisis Suit bodyguard to the elites slot. It gives you more units which allows you to better divide your fire. Also, never take a Shas'Vre unless you can't fit any more suits in anywhere else, 10 points for +1 WS and +1 I isn't worth it, as they won't be killing much in combat anyways.
2. Drop at least one devilfish, if not both. A turn that the FW are in the DF is a turn that they aren't killing anything.
3. Look to get more suits. Crisis and Broadside suits are the best units in the Tau army.
4. Look for a Hammerhead. With the distruption pod upgrade it is one of the most durable tanks in the game (remember to check the latest FAQ, distruption pods now give shrouding). The railgun and ion cannon are both strong choices.

Unless you are buffing your shots with markerlights then there is almost no reason to keep those units togeather. Shooters are more effective in minimum size squads for many reasons. Return fire will more often overshoot, and it allows you to hit multiple targets w/o spending extra points on Target Locks. Assaulters will seem a lot less scary when they charge 6 FW or 1 broadside than 12 FW or 3 broadsides, and this will usually leave them out to get shot again next turn instead of tied in combat.(this is pretty important for successful tau play and took me a long time to learn).

Plasmasides,Plasmasides,Plasmasides! A lot of people say that they are a waste of points....I have a lot of negative things to say about these people that I will keep to myself =). Seriously though 15 points for a multitracker and a TWIN LINKED PLASMA RIFLE is a steal...for any codex...period... I don't care if 24 inches is too close for comfort...It happens every game. If you are fighting marines or any kinds of MCs you will be glad you spent the extra 15 points to almost double your firepower. In high point games always put a shield drone or two on your broadsides but in 1k or less they are a waste IMO.

Other stuff! Ionheads were already mentioned. Cheap, durable, reliable MEQ killers nothing negative to say about them other than they take heavy slots away from your broadsides, Devilfish are the biggest point dump in the codex. I don't recommend ever buying one unless you are taking pathfinders (becasue you have to). Personally I prefer using alternatives for markerlights but if you are using any deepstrikers the pathfinders are more tempting because they make your deepstrikes safer.

I would go on with more stuff but i JUST realized that someone necroposted. This thread was started in 2011 and the OP isnt even gonna read this! lol


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