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My Sa'cea Tau army

HQ:
Shas'el Commander w/ cyclic ion blaster, missile pod, shield generator, stimulant injector and hard wired multi tracker

Elite:
Three xv25's with burst cannons

Elite:
Three xv8's w/ burst cannons, missile pods and multi-trackers

Troop:
12 Fire warriors with pulse rifles

Troop:
12 fire warriors with pulse rifles

Troop:
12 fire warriors with pulse carbines and a devil fish (with a multi-tracker and disruption pod)

Troop:
14 kroot, 1 shaper, 5 hounds and a krootox

Fast Attack:
5 stingwings and a strain leader

Heavy Support:
2 xv88's with railguns, smart missile systems and multi-trackers. One is a team leader with a hardwired target lock

Heavy Support:
Hammerhead gunship with railgun, burst cannons, target lock and disruption pod

Heavy Support:
Sniper drone team

What do you think? Two additional questions: should I swap the hammerhead and broadside team for two hammerheads or two broadside teams or keep with one of each? and is it worth sacrificing a couple of kroot or some upgrades to make my commander a shas'o?

Cheers

I am assuming you have made this list with out researching anything to do with the Tau other than reading the codex?

I would suggest you have a good look around on here or advancedtautactica and get some info on each unit and how its works with other units etc....

Ill be quick and fast with my replies but I'm sure someone will go on a tangent for a wall of text about what to fix =]

HQ = Ditch the Stealth Gen and Stim Injector.

Elites: Ditch the Stealthsuits and get more XV8's Fill out all 3 slots with 3 suits each... Most likely Firestorms, Fireknives or Deathrains

Troops: Take squads of 6 Man Firewarriors. Bury them in a Devilfish with a Disruption pod and put them BOTH in reserve to start.

Kroot are fine to protect valuable assets or steal onjectives late game... either way you run them ditch the shaper... to many points for nothing.

Fast Attack: Vespids are pure Meh. Trade them in for Piranhas with Fusion Blasters or Pathfinders 4-8 man teams. (I prefer more Piranhas myself)

Heavy support: Ditch the MT on the XV88's You wont be firing both rounds anyways. Either Take a ASS system or a Targetting Array and dont forget 2 Shield Drones.

Ditch the TL on the Hammerhead,

Ditch the Sniperdrone team altogether and focus on getting more suits, more XV88's etc....


This is common Tau advice...... You will find more tweaks as you go along... and you will also find more opinions than mine... Everyone is right =]

I can't agree more with Milisim here. My only tid bit to add is to take a MT of the Hammerhead, you want to be able to move more then 6" and still fire you Railgun.

Milisim wrote:Ditch the Stealth Gen and Stim Injector.

Milisim is right. Take a Shield D if you want Invuln Protection.

Milisim wrote:Ditch the TL on the Hammerhead,

Here, I disagree. Target Locks are good in that the RG hits an ugly vehicle, like a Psyfileman or SRG, and the BCs force purifiers to make saves.

A-Hivemend wrote:My only tid bit to add is to take a MT of the Hammerhead, you want to be able to move more then 6" and still fire you Railgun.

Absolutely.

Good list. i'd like to hear how it works!

Thanks for all the advice! You're right milisim I have been a long time fan but only just got the codex and threw together this list! I'll definately look up some more tactics. :]

The reason I kitted my commander up is because my regular gaming buddy likes to make it his progative to always massacre my commander :L is it worth upgrading him to a shas'o?

I'll take your advice with the crisis teams but what are firestorms, fireknives and deathrains? I assume they are types of battlesuit with specific loadouts? :]

Do you mean change all my fire warrior teams down to six men? or change one to a six man squad with a devil fish leaving me with two df teams and a full 12 fw squad? And do I not want all the fire power I have on at the start of the game to shoot the nasty close combat elements of the other army? (although i realise I am a noob so this is probably not the case?) The shaper is very expensive!

I debated about pathfinders when i first built the list but I think i'll go with a piranha or two.

Good shout with the broadsides. Is it worth getting another team (if my points stretch that far) instead of the hammerhead? I didnt imagine that the hh would be moving much but i suppose if my opponent deep strikes something nasty near by i may need a quick getaway and that would mean I would forfit my shot.

Im playing with this list later and so unfortunately dont have time to make the adjustments but i'll let you know how it goes and post a revised list (on which again comments appreciated) aswell




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also i noticed that the codex is fairly dated, are tau getting a new one anytime soon?

Talon31 wrote:The reason I kitted my commander up is because my regular gaming buddy likes to make it his progative to always massacre my commander :L is it worth upgrading him to a shas'o?

Tau HQs are relatively expensive and generally not terribly more effective than a regular crisis team. If he wants to devote extra effort to remove an overcosted XV8, by all means let him! Move your HQ away from your force and make your opponent chase him.

Shas'o are generally not worth the extra points, unless you plan on sending the HQ into close combat. You can give your 'el a Targeting Array to get BS5 and save some points.

Talon31 wrote:I'll take your advice with the crisis teams but what are firestorms, fireknives and deathrains? I assume they are types of battlesuit with specific loadouts? :]

Deathrain: TL Missile pod + Flamer or Blacksun Filter. Alternatively, a Deathrain+ is TL Missile pod + Targeting Array. It's cheap, has range, and is the standard anti-transport unit.

Fireknife: Plasma Rifle + Missile Pod + Multi-tracker. Most Tau lists use mostly or all Fireknives. Has range and is effective against MEQ.

Firestorm: Burst Cannon + Missile Pod + Multi-tracker. Not everyone likes these. Slightly more expensive than a Deathrain, but over twice the number of shots.

Helios: Fusion Blaster + Plasma Rifle + Multi-tracker. Can be an effective tank-hunter, but they are also really great against MEQ/TEQ.

Talon31 wrote:Do you mean change all my fire warrior teams down to six men? or change one to a six man squad with a devil fish leaving me with two df teams and a full 12 fw squad? And do I not want all the fire power I have on at the start of the game to shoot the nasty close combat elements of the other army? (although i realise I am a noob so this is probably not the case?) The shaper is very expensive!

Typical Tau lists in 5th run minimum size squads of Firewarriors. They may have great guns, but they can't shoot very well. The points saved is almost enough to afford another Fireknife, which is more resilient and kills marines much better than a full squad of FWs.

Talon31 wrote:Good shout with the broadsides. Is it worth getting another team (if my points stretch that far) instead of the hammerhead? I didnt imagine that the hh would be moving much but i suppose if my opponent deep strikes something nasty near by i may need a quick getaway and that would mean I would forfit my shot.

Broadsides are generally more reliable than Hammerheads. They shoot more accurately, and can be brought in greater numbers. With a 2+ save and a 4++ from shield drones, it takes a considerable amount of fire to get rid of them. Plus, the entire Broadside team can benefit from the markerlight hits, which usually means 2 or 3 Railgun shots at BS4/5 and no cover save. Hammerheads still have their place, however, as they have greater mobility and have one of the few blast weapons in the army.

Having mobile Railguns is important. It's not difficult to position vehicles behind cover, and sometimes it's possible to get them out of LOS. Being able to move 12" can sometimes be enough to deny your target a cover save.

Talon31 wrote:Also i noticed that the codex is fairly dated, are tau getting a new one anytime soon?

Rumor is yes, but the timing is uncertain. You can look through the Rumor board to get more info.

The other thing you can do with your commander is to add him to a unit since he is an IC.

You can add him to broadside teams which will make him very hard to deal with. I usually put my 'el with other Fireknives to make it 4 in 1 unit.... I think its gives a lot of bang for buck against 10 man SM units....

Also if you are playing in friendly matches.... Take a look at forgeworld Tau units... They are GW legal and should be able to be used in any local tournaments if you get the ok...

They have Tetra Light Skimmers which are imho superior to Pathfinder teams... and you can also purchase Sensor Towers which allow re-rolls on firing if within 6".... Fantastic!

The other bonus is they sell an upgrade piranaha skimmer which is TL FB for 5 points more than the regular one! Stunning!

Those firewarriors are going to need Marker light support units unless you are relying on your other units.

You need pathfinder or other support for the units to effectively be used together.