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OK my stated goal is as follows:

I will build an anti-Leafblowing 2500pt Tau Cadre that shrugs-off pie-plates and pops Manticores like kettle corn.

Wait a sec... how the heck am I going to do that?!

C'mon Tau players. Help a brother out... for the greater good?

Well if you got into the semi-finals of 'ard boyz, you must have some idea of how to write a competitive list.

No No No No No No. I'm tourney novice.

I have never played in a tourney. I'm looking forward to soon, but my Ork list seems a bit weak (Kans and sloggers). Especially against the much reviled IG. I want a humiliating defeat of an IG list with Tau... mainly because I'm sick of being humiliated by them and I want to start a Tau list.

Lots and lots of suits and shield drones lol.

Kroot/Hound spam for troops or FW?

HQ:
Suit?

TROOPS (Fish or no fish?)
Kroot w/Max hounds + Shaper
Kroot w/Max hounds + Shaper
----OR----
FW @ Max w Markers?
FW @ Max w Markers?

ELITE:
Crisis x3
Crisis x3
Crisis x3

HEAVY:
Broadsides x3
Broadsides x3
Broadsides x3

FA:
Dunno

Doctor_g is on the right track. I'd go with piranahs in the FA. Probably about 2-3 with fusions. Pretty much make them suicide squads that their goal is to pop any thing that can drop pie plates on turn two and if there gone due to insane broadside shooting then go after transports. It's alot easier to kill IG with suits when they don't have a metal box to hide in. I'd go with missile/plasma suits with multi-trakcers, a team lead with a drone controller and drones on the broadsides. Give him a HW Target lock and the broadsides get multitrackers with railguns and missiles.

I'd jsut like to preface one thing since you are looking to "start" a Tau army. If you are trying to start Tau to be "Uber-Competitive" then you are in for a load of sadness. In the current metagame, Tau are commonly referred to as near the bottom if not at.

Many can state their opinions on the matter, but it's a sad and brutal truth that the Tau codex is lacking in a large way in the current tournament environment.

Blue Blue Blue: Metagame? The brutal truth is that my Tau will someday rule the universe with an iron fist of benevolence er... been-violence...

Akromah: Thank you. I like the Piranhas and was hoping an enlightened cultured gamer such as yourself would suggest them to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. Do you think Kroot for screening the suits or keep the FW in Devilfish for screaming forward to deploy in the grills of the Chimeras.

woodbok wrote:Well if you got into the semi-finals of 'ard boyz, you must have some idea of how to write a competitive list.

I actually did make it to Round 2 with my Tau, and I'm not planning on quite tailoring just for leafblower. To be honest, I see a whole lot more of elite/fast marine armies like Blood Angels or Grey Knights that would make more sense to prepare for. My list is centered around 9 Deathrain suits for tank popping and pretty good anti-infantry. 1 Fireknife command team, 3 units of kroot, 2 full foot units of Firewarriors, 2 pathfinder groups, 6 broadsides, and a hammerhead fill out the list. Not a whole lot of AP, but it makes up for it in volume of fire.

I think the volume of fire idea is a very mathematically sound reason. just concerned about those dang 'liths and raiders.

Gus Indo wrote:

woodbok wrote:Well if you got into the semi-finals of 'ard boyz, you must have some idea of how to write a competitive list.

I actually did make it to Round 2 with my Tau, and I'm not planning on quite tailoring just for leafblower.

Not a real accomplishment, on hearing how 'thin' the competition was at several events. And how bad it was at my LGS, with 5 players. I was actually there to see how poorly it was run. The Favorite LGS had the local guys taking spots 1 & 3. Anyway, if you survive Round 2, and then you're a bad-ass.

@doktor_g
To tailor against IG, 9 b-sides is a good start. All with Team Leaders, Bonded, 2 Shield Ds, A.s.s. or Target Arrays and a hwTarget Lock for the Team Leader. And, this is the rare occasion to actually field an ethereal. Attach him to one XV88 crew, with his own two SDs. You've got a Fearless unit now, with 4 Shield Drones, with a dozen or so wounds, and ample Wound Allocation Shenanigan opportunities, where LoS to everyone else for Morale re-rolls. Against IG, there isn't a lot of worry about Outflank, if this unit is in Center table (Al'r'heem *cough* or however you spell his name).

After that, spam the Deathrains or FireStorms. Forget Fireknives, as their priciness and STR6 AP2 isn't great versus the Emperor's Hammer. Kroot for Outflanking, not for bubble-wrap, as any decently terrained table will have enough Cover for your b-sides to deploy into.

You'll still get beat by most other codexes, of course, but you'll at least turn the parking lot into a junk yard.

Brother:
That's very eloquent idea. Daddy like.

DrG