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So yeah as the title says, this is my first 500 point list for Tau, put together using the Battleforce. Otherwise I would probably drop the kroot haha. Here goes nothing.

HQ
Shas'el - 97
PR, MP, TA, HW-MT

Elite
Stealth Team x 3 - 116
BSF x 2
Drone Controller, Gun Drones x 2

Troops
FW x 6 - 140
Devil Fish dedicated transport

FW x 6 - 60

Kroot x 12 - 84

Total:497

Obviously it needs some anti armor, so maybe a fusion blaster on the Stealth Team? I would still be under 500 points. The reason for the two BSF on the Stealth Suits is the codex says if one takes a support system they all must and its the cheapest option. Did that get FAQed or am I correct?

Anyways, plan on infiltrating the Kroot and Stealth teams, have the Fish ready to drop a FW squad on a late game objective or get line breaker. Use the Fireknife Commander to annoy the enemy, pop any light transports before they tear into my FWs hopefully.

Any advice on what to watch out for from other 500 pt lists? Any comments and concerns welcome!

Welcome to the side of the Greater Good!

Your HQ choice is good. The only thing I would change is giving him a Hard Wired Blacksun Filter.

As for your Elites, a good build for stealth suits is to give each one a Drone controller with a single Gun Drone. You shouldn't have much of a problem with taking out most vehicles at this point level as they usually won't be very well armoured and can be glanced to death by S5 shooting. However there is a chance you could run into a Leman Russ or Land Raider, so having a Fusion Blaster on one guy would be good. In that case he should have a Targeting Array to increase his chances of hitting.

At this points level, two troop choices should be enough, and taking a larger Fire Warrior squad will make them more survivable. You can also give them a Shas'ui with a Bonding knife, as they generally have morale problems.

I'd Leave the Kroot as they are.

So basically I suggest something like this:

Shas'el - 97
PR, MP, TA, HW-MT

Stealth Team x 3 - 122
Targeting Array, Fusion Blaster
2 x Drone Controller, Gun Drones x 2

Fire Warriors x 10 - 195
Shas'ui, Bonding Knife
Devil Fish dedicated transport

Kroot x 12 - 84

Total: 498

The main problem with 500 point games is that it's easy to make incredibly broken armies at this point level. This is why many places put restrictions on list building at 500pt (no 2+ armour, no 4W models, no Vehicles with total armour value over 33 etc.)
The best thing to do against massively unbalanced armies is to agree with your friends on restrictions. Assuming you're playing against balanced armies, you should be fine.

Awesome Borntolose, thanks for the advice! I almost assumed the list was perfect because no one responded haha. Yeah I am just getting into the hobby so I decided to pick up the (new) starter set so my wife and I can each have an army. As an added advantage my painting skills will be better when I get the Tau Battle force!

I would have taken Borntolose's list, drop the knife and 2 kroot and add 2 firewarrior, and a HWBSF on the commander.

Seems more effective to me. (also totaling to 500 points sharp.)


Also, as a general note-on stealth suits you get more millage from adding more drones then placing TA, with the only cost being a larger footprint. take that into consideration. (you can have 5 drones there, 2 on each "regular" one, and 1 on the fusion)
They cost the same, the drones provide a slightly better hitting rate and additional wounds/melee attacks.

4TheG8erGood wrote:
Stealth Team x 3 - 116
BSF x 2
Drone Controller, Gun Drones x 2

BSF is silly as the guns are only AP5 and the range is 18". Recheck Night Fight rules and you'll see BSF is mostly for railguns and maybe MPs on Deathrains.

4TheG8erGood wrote:
Obviously it needs some anti armor, so maybe a fusion blaster on the Stealth Team?

No. I did that for a while. Poor results. Leave Stealths as dedicated anti-Infantry. FBs are too short in range. Your suits will get assaulted next turn and there goes the show.

4TheG8erGood wrote:
I would still be under 500 points. The reason for the two BSF on the Stealth Suits is the codex says if one takes a support system they all must and its the cheapest option. Did that get FAQed or am I correct?

Cheapest option is actually the Drone Controller, for 0 points.

All your next purchases are 3 b-sides and then 7 more Crisis Suits. Once you own 4 XV8s, then shelve your Stealths.

4TheG8erGood wrote:
I would still be under 500 points. The reason for the two BSF on the Stealth Suits is the codex says if one takes a support system they all must and its the cheapest option. Did that get FAQed or am I correct?

Cheapest option is actually the Drone Controller, for 0 points

Pg 26 Codex Tau
Drone Contoler
"... model with a drone controller must take one or two Gun, Marker or shield..."

So the minimum points for a drone controller is 10

Here's what I'd do:

Shas'El - 102
Fusion Blaster, Missile Pod, Shield Generator, Hardwire Multi-Tracker Hardwire, Hardwire Blacksun Filter

8 Fire Warriors - 140
Devilfish

11 Kroot - 77

Stealth Team - 160
Shas'Vre w Markerlight, Multi-Tracker
Shas'ui w Drone Controller 2 gun drones
Shas'ui w Drone controller, 1 marker drone

499

Brothererekose wrote:

All your next purchases are 3 b-sides and then 7 more Crisis Suits. Once you own 4 XV8s, then shelve your Stealths.

That was my plan! Is there a place to get Broadsides or do I need to get ten suits and 3 upgrade packs? The forge world broadsides look cool but are pricey.

Robinson, I like your list but the FW squad would be 160 points,so id have to knock them down to 6 Fw. Also I feel like people always suggest using shield drones before the generator, have you had sucess with the generator?

Unles you feel like converting a shield drone I'd just use the suit one, if I was using the commander to attach to another squad I'd use 2 drones you just have to factor in if the drones die it's leadership tests all around is all.

Also depending on where you are based depends on price. ATM in aus it's cheaper to buy Forgeworld Broadsides and even FW crisis suits then the GW ones..... xD

My plan is to use spare Fusion Blasters to make railguns I'm not paying £8 for an upgrade pack, and then spending £15 on the suit... If you have a pile of bitz that's an option

4TheG8erGood wrote:

Brothererekose wrote:
All your next purchases are 3 b-sides and then 7 more Crisis Suits. Once you own 4 XV8s, then shelve your Stealths.

That was my plan!

See, you're a smart fellow!

4TheG8erGood wrote:
Is there a place to get Broadsides or do I need to get ten suits and 3 upgrade packs?

ebay.

4TheG8erGood wrote:
The forge world broadsides look cool but are pricey.

I forget if b-sides have gone resin/FailCrap but I was willing to pay more for the ForgeWorld to avoid dealing with the metal bits. And they're cooler looking.

Brothererekose wrote:
I forget if b-sides have gone resin/FailCrap but I was willing to pay more for the ForgeWorld to avoid dealing with the metal bits. And they're cooler looking.

Having only recently gotten back into 40k, I can tell you while I have never had a Finecost model, from what I've heard they are the devil haha. I agree they look much cooler too. Well I guess I know where all my disposable income will be going

Brothererekose wrote:

4TheG8erGood wrote:


All your next purchases are 3 b-sides and then 7 more Crisis Suits. Once you own 4 XV8s, then shelve your Stealths.

I disagree. stealth suits are very useful now, and many times are worth taking a single squad of (3 man team with 6 drones/6 man team/ 6 man team with 12 drones are the main setups)