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I've gotten kinda tired of painting Space Marines, and I've always liked the Tau models, so I was thinking of picking up a few and maybe working up to a Tau army eventually. The thing is I don't really know all that much about the Tau, and wasn't sure where to start. Aside from the battleforce which is a bit outside of my budget at the moment, are there any units that you guys would suggest?

The Tau have an update coming their way soon. I would suggest waiting for a bit, as many models are getting remade (Crisis suits for one, and those are very important to the army). Fire Warriors and all the tanks are probably save buys though.

Go with the Baleforce. It's a great buy, gives you a lot of models/units you'd buy and most of the stuff in ther should survive the update.

Always by the Skyray if you buy a tank. It has all the parts for the Devilfish and the Hammerhead in it and costs the same as the Hammerhead. Get some magnets going and you can quick swap between all 3 configurations.

Broadsides are a must have unit, but they are a really awful kit. Pending them being remade I'd suggest buy extra crisis suts, magnetize thoroughly and either build your own railguns or SMSes or look for compatible systems like you can find on the Paulson Games website.

A few things to keep in mind when thinking about or starting tau.

Their firepower is in their elite and heavy support slots. Broadsides, hammerheads and crisis suits.

Their primary troops, fire warriors need markerlights to be effective. Markerlights are cheapest from pathfinders, but they are static and cannot move and do their job. They are also small in number, 8 at most, with 2 extra drones to take hits being possible.

Tau fold in melee. If you get caught consider yourself dead. Never take photon grenades, you want to be able to shoot those that assaulted, not stay locked in melee.

Take shield drones on battlesuits, at least 2. Same with broadsides, at least 2.

The battleforce is the best deal to get your troops and transports, plus everything else. It's all useful. Consider stealth marker teams instead of pathfinders.

Due to the new release that should be coming soon, ignore buying battlesuits since they should be re-done soon.

Things to not buy: Sniper drone teams (until next edition maybe), Ethereals, Vespid. Skyrays are useless technically, but buy the box since it has all the parts for skyrays and hammerheads.

I would focus on getting the basic troops first.

Fire Warriors and Kroot are not likely to see new models in the new Codex (whenever it is released). Plus they are must haves for 5th edition when it comes time to capture objectives.

The DF is also likely to stay the same and are quite useful on the table. I have 1 for all six possible troop choices and another half dozen for other uses (Pathfinders, HH, etc).

There are some good deals on eBay right now because the Tau have been slipping in public opinion. Everyone knows a new Codex is imminent, but with no dates carved in stone yet, some players can't/wont wait.

This is a good time to start collecting Tau actually. By the time your troops and transports are painted and ready to go, a new Codex should be on the horizon.

Comeing from a long time Tau head.
For a starting army you will need at least one HQ, I would get a crysis suit for this aun are awful.
Next two troops. one box of FW could manage this by breaking them down too 2x6 man squads.
Now that your leagl load up on suits and broadsides.
I would strive to have 10 suits, 6 Broadsides, 2 Devilfish, HammerHead, 12 FW, 12 Kroot, 6-10 Shield Drones, 8 Pathfinders. With this you could be competitive. With less you will be stomped by most armys, dont lose confidence.
While you dont need all of this , it gives you some tactical flexability.

I'd certainly wait a lil to get the battleforce and codex, that will be your best startpoint, that gives you your HQ, 3 Troops, a transport and 3 stealth suits, then the codex lets you decide from there.

The 'general' idea behind 'competitive' tau lists is 4-6 Broadsides, 6-9 Crisis Suits, 2-3 sets of 6 Firewarriors, 6 Pathfinders and a Devilfish, and either a hammerhead or another 2-3 broadsides.
- You equip the the Crisis Suits in a variety of goal orientated loadouts in squads of 2-3.
- You run the broadsides in squads of 2-3, the hammerhead with 2 burst cannons and a disruption pod.
- You place the pathfinders somewhere useful using their scout move, and on turn 1 put the Fire Warriors in the Pathfinders Devilfish.

But ultimately, you can just have fun with it and do what you like.

Oh - and as to the update coming up - that's all the more reason to buy. Battlesuits and Firewarriors will still be needed. FW aren't likely to change much apart from to go up in price.
It'll be significantly cheaper to start now, than after a re-release.

Wow thanks for the input guys. I think I'll start with a set of firewarriors, because I'm fairly certain it won't hurt to have a lot of troops. Now a color scheme is gonna be a bit tough... maybe tan and black or something.

This thread reeks of Xenos.

AtariAssasin wrote:Wow thanks for the input guys. I think I'll start with a set of firewarriors, because I'm fairly certain it won't hurt to have a lot of troops. Now a color scheme is gonna be a bit tough... maybe tan and black or something.

This is another reason to grab the codex first. It'll give you ideas, and you can get it dirt cheap (I got mine for £4 brand new from ebay)
Though tan and black probably won't hurt.

And tbh - Tau is one of those where depending on the list.. it might. I mean - a 'normal' list isn't likely to be running more than 2-3 squads of 6.
A gunline will need more, but most people seem to just convert them into pathfinders.

Personally I'm going for a full blown Tau Gunline as my ultimate goal. I've started with a semi-competitive list (6 battlesuits, 12 fw, 16 pathfinders, 2 devilfish, 2 hammerheads and a skyray), but I'm working towards 84 Firewarriors and an ethereal. With all of 3-4 Battlesuits to hold against light armour, 9 sniper drones and a pair of hammerheads. throw in 18-24 pathfinders and we're set .

Most folks will say this is a silly list. And it is. But it's hilarious all the same.

GL with your Tau.