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So I'm starting BFG with Tau. I plan to primarily use Forgeworld ships, on the grounds that they are cheaper, and better looking. Reading some old posts, consensus seems to be that the GW Tau fleet is actually more powerful (though on paper it seems opposite) but as it's just for friendly games, it's no biggie.

So any tips about what works there? Emissary looks neat, but doesn't seem particularly powerful. Are the Allied ships any good? Thought about putting in a Demiurg ship just for the good looks. Nicassar Dhows seem nice on paper, but there doesn't seem to be a model?

The Demiurg battleship is a beast! It's a nice model, too. There is a GW Dhow model, but it has been OOP for a while now. You might find some on eBay or in one of the trading forums.

As for the rest of the ships, I'm not sure as I play the GW Tau. The guy you really want to talk too is Horizon; he has a beautiful FW Tau fleet and has a lot more experience with them. I'm sure he'll be stopping by soon .

If I remember correctly, the Protector class cruisers from the forgeworld selection are the bets cruiser choice in a forgeworld fleet.

I'm not really too experienced though but as Ruckdog says Horizon will come and give you so much info you'll love him for ever

Oh my, the pressure...

first lets start here:

the rules for the Forgeworld vessels as written in IA3 Taros Campaign ain't bad or unbalanced. Pretty okay actually. But the rules are not innovative or anything. It is the GW Tau rules minus/plus some things.
Here you can d/l the pdf for those:
http://sg.tacticalwargames.net/fanatic/
Issue 75.

Then we have this:
check this link:
http://tinyurl.com/23nul8q

contains FAQ/Compendium 2010. Including Tau Commerce Protection Fleet (Forgeworld)
the drafts are currenly pending for GW's stamp of approval. But they are made by the official rules commitee.

These new rules are more innovative & cooler for the FW Tau. I think.
A different play style, more guns less attack craft (yay).

Makes armada the Tau battlefleet and the CPF the raider fleet. cool.


All in all, any rules you use, the core of Tau are Protectors + Castellans.

If you buy one pack of each model at FW (Custodian, Protector, Emissary, Wardens) and two pack of Castellans you are able to buy a good allround 1500pts fleet.

Enjoy!



ps
GW Tau models ain't ugly in r/l. FW Tau rock though!

Ok, thanks for the tips. Do people mix & match FW and GW fleets? They seem compatible, though visually they look very different. Anyway, GW Tau ships are grossly expensive money-wise, cruisers cost same as other fleets battleships

yep, expensive.

If you follow the pdf found in the second link (the tinyurl) you will find a fleet list that allows mixing old & new.

An example, gothicomp 2009 fleet category winner:

Nice! Well, they don't look _that_ bad together, unified scheme helps and pictures at GW site are kinda crappy...also, the ships seem bit bigger than I thought, compared to FW ones which I've seen live.