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So I am in this campaign where fluff is king and well i need a fluffy list to go with it.
and I chose to run Tau. I guess what I would like to know is if this fluffy enough so I wont get murdered too terrible. Not too worried about the 500 and 1k point ranges more worried about 1250 and up. any suggestions would be helpful. Again has to be fluffy! Also note that I only have 991 spent on the third list as I'm still trying to figure out what I would go good with this current set up and still stay true to the matches.

Campaign of Veranov Prime
Campaign length 5 games
Campaign length 5 weeks
Escalation Games
starting at 500, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1850
Allies standard rule book
Army must be painted
Try to make models WYSIWYG
Fluff matters
At least one paragraph of back ground fluff for your army
What you start with is the basis for your army and you are locked into one codex
Army may change if you can replace it for equal point value (if you have a squad of five space marine (90 point) you may exchange it for something of equal or lesser value)
One unit from the Forge world line is allowed
Have fun!

500 Point Tau

HQ
Shas'el 120
missile pod, plasma rifle, hard wired black sun filter, hard wired drone controller, hard wired, hard wired target lock, shield drone x2

Troops
Fire Warriors x11 110
Fire Warriors x10 100

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship 185
railgun, black sun filter, flechette discharger, disruption pod, target lock, target array, multi- tracker burst cannon

Total 495


1,000 Point Tau
HQ
Shas'el 120
missile pod, plasma rifle, hard wired black sun filter, hard wired drone controller, hard wired multi-tracker, shield drone x2
Body Guard x1 82
plasma rifle, missile pod, hardwired, multi tracker, targeting array

Elites
Crisis Suit x 2 140
plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, twin linked missile pod, drone controller, shield drones x2

Troops
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x7 155
devil fish, disruption pods, pulse carbines x7

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship 185
railgun, black sun filter, flechette discharger, disruption pod, target lock, burst cannon
Broadside x1 75
black sun filter

Total: 997


1,250 Point Tau
HQ
Shas'el 120
missile pod, plasma rifle, hard wired black sun filter, hard wired drone controller, hard wired multi-tracker, shield drone x2
Body Guard x1 82
plasma rifle, missile pod, hardwired, multi tracker, targeting array

Elites
Crisis Suit x 2 140
plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, twin linked missile pod, drone controller, shield drones x2
Stealth Suit x5 172
team leader, bonding knife, black sun filter x5, fusion blaster

Troops
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x7 155
devil fish, disruption pods, pulse carbines x7

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship 185
railgun, black sun filter, flechette discharger, disruption pod, target lock, burst cannon
Broadside x2 150
team leader, hardwired multi tracker, black sun filter x2

Total: 1244


1,500 Tau List
HQ
Shas'el 120
missile pod, plasma rifle, hard wired black sun filter, hard wired drone controller, hard wired multi-tracker, shield drone x2
Body Guard x1 82
plasma rifle, missile pod, hardwired, multi tracker, targeting array

Elites
Crisis Suit x 2 140
plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, twin linked missile pod, drone controller, shield drones x2
Stealth Suit x5 172
team leader, bonding knife, black sun filter x5, fusion blaster

Troops
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x7 155
devil fish, disruption pods, pulse carbines x7

Fast Attack
Pirahna Light Skimmer Team x2 180
fusion blaster x2, disruption pod x2, flechette discharger x2, black sun filter x2

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship 185
railgun, black sun filter, flechette discharger, disruption pod, target lock, burst cannon
Broadside x2 225
team leader, hardwired multi tracker, black sun filter x2

Total: 1499


1,850 Tau List
HQ
Shas'el 120
missile pod, plasma rifle, hard wired black sun filter, hard wired drone controller, hard wired multi-tracker, shield drone x2
Body Guard x1 82
plasma rifle, missile pod, hardwired, multi tracker, targeting array

Elites
Crisis Suit x 3 212
team leader, bonding knife, plasma rifle x2, missile pod x2, multi-tracker x2, twin linked missile pod, drone controller, shield drones x2
Stealth Suit x5 170
team leader, bonding knife, black sun filter x5
Stealth Suit x5 170
team leader, bonding knife, black sun filter x5

Troops
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x12 120
Fire Warriors x12 205
devil fish, disruption pods, pulse carbines x12

Fast Attack
Pirahna Light Skimmer Team x2 180
fusion blaster x2, disruption pod x2, flechette discharger x2, black sun filter x2

Heavy Support
Hammerhead Gunship 185
railgun, black sun filter, flechette discharger, disruption pod, target lock, burst cannon
Broadside x2 225
team leader, hardwired multi tracker, black sun filter x2
Sniper Drone Team x1 80

Total: 1814

What modesl do you have to work with and what is some of the fluff behind your army? This can better help in advice giving for tweaking and adjusting your list.

have i have
1 crisis suit commander
3 crisis suits
3 broadsides
2 hammerheads
20 koot
6 kroot hounds
24 fire warriors with pulse rifles
12 fire warriors with pulse carbines
a crap ton of stealth suits
2 devil fish
5 pathfinders
3 pathfinders with rail rifles
1 sniper drone team
2 piranha one with fusion gun
1 ethereal
1 xv9 with two twin linked burst cannons.

some fluff
This is the recon force of the amassed army with minimal tank and heavy support and no air support. The commander is a sash'el as this is his first major command of a cadre. He favors the killing blow technique with overwhelming fire power. He is an idealistic commander.

That is what I have so far. Trying not to buy new models as I am kind of broke at the moment or I would totally buy some tetras and a few more XV9 suits. Possible enemies of this campaign are the Space Wolves, Eldar, Vanilla Marines or Chaos Marines.

I take it this campaign allows forgeworld models then? If that's the case then you're in better shape as forgeworld has good alternatives that can help benefit the standard Tau codex options. I would offer up some general advice of trimming down excess wargear options in favor of getting more streamlined options on the board. By trimming off excess options you also allow yourself to get more units on the board.

For example, your HQ has both a shield generator and shield drones. You don't need both so I would pick one or the other and stick with it. Staying with your HQ, he also has a target lock but in your 500 point starting army I don't see any unit you'd want to join him too. I tend not to put my HQ with a firewarrior squad. Finally, I don't like to put any type of weapon on my crisis suits that I can get in mass numbers elsewhere throughout my army, so I would drop the burst cannon off the HQ and make him a fireknife with PR and MP. I would then add one crisis suit kitted out the same way to join the HQ to and call it a day. I think the AP2 plasma will be vital to you as 3/4 of the possible opponents you listed will be in power armor and you'll have a tough time punching through that with just BC and pulse rifles.

Your heavy support choice of a hammerhead I feel is the better option at lower points levels, although I love the hammerhead in general and favor it to broadsides but that's not important lol. But why the flechette dischargers but no MT? The MT gives you more mobility and better firing opportunities from your tank. Another thing I noticed was that you have a TL on your hammerhead but you didn't list if you were using SMS or BC as your secondary weapon. I would normally only run the TL if I was running SMS. If your campaign allows forgeworld I would look into the plasma turret for the hammerheads...those things are pretty good. If you stick with the railhead then I'd run it as: Hammerhead w/railgun, BC, MT, DP, BSF and it should come out to 170 points.

Your troops seems fine except I think the bonding knife and Shas'ui upgrade are unnecessary. You can have almost 3 more FW on the table for the cost of those upgrades from both squads. I'd just run however many FW's with the reamining points cost in your list. A Tau list with a hammerhead, 2 fireknife suits and 12-18 firewarriors should be enough to deal with whatever your opponent can throw at you. If you don't want to run the fireknife loadout on your suits I would look at deathrains, as TLMP can give you very nice results on the table (especially if you can get your AP2 plasma from your hammerhead if forgeworld is allowed). I hope this helped you in some way.

well i just got word from the organizer you are allowed one unit from forge world if I want.. So I have to think long and hard about if I want to bring and Forge world. Changed around some points and made things more cost effective.

The starting list looks better. Once you bump up from the original list I would seriously consider using all 3 of your additional crisis suits. They bring the only source of plasma in the entire Tau codex and they also bring the MP which is an amazing weapon. If you're going to run a bodyguard with your HQ, of which I have no problem and I do on occassion, make sure you take advantage of his ability to be equipped like a commander. Your bodyguard has both a PR and a MP but no MT to fire both weapons. I also feel the shield generator on the bodyguard isn't necessary when you're putting him with an HQ that has 2 shield drones already. I would run a bodyguard as PR, MP, TA, HWMT in order to up his BS and be hitting on 3's like the commander. If you're going to pay the extra points for the bodyguard might as well make him just as useful as the HQ.

I like the piranha, but one will get taken out quickly. If you're going to run it, then I would run at least 2 of them or not at all. An open topped, AV10 hull can be popped quick. I would go with a FB piranha instead of the BC but try it out and see how you like it. I'm a little disappointed with kroot in this edition. Shooting is more important now and kroot have no natural armor save so they will get shot up very quickly and 3 kroot hounds won't pack any kind of serious punch in assault anyway. Yes, they can speed bump but that's 130 wasted points. I would rather see you give one of your FW squads a devilfish to help keep them safer longer and give them a bit more mobility. Tau troops are fragile and with only 2 or 3 fragile scoring units to begin with, you want to give them all the protection you can.

Stealth suits are fine since you have a "crap ton" of them so no comment there except they don't all need BSF. If you give one a BSF then the entire benefits from its bonus until that specific unit is lost. Your hammerhead is illegal, as you can't add a targeting array. The bonus is included in the profile and base points cost and can't be added again.

In your 1k list I would think about dropping the piranha, kroot and kroot hounds, and the stealth suits. I would give one FW squad a devilfish w/DP, add a squad of crisis suits w/TLMP flamer loadout, give your bodyguard a TA and HWMT and add a 2nd hammerhead or a broadside squad. So a list I would run with the models you have available at 1k points would be:

HQ:
Shas'el (120)
-PR, MP, MT, HWBSF, HWDC w/2 SD
Bodyguard (82)
-PR, MP, TA, HWMT

Elite:
Crisis Suit x2 (102)
-TLMP, flamer
-Team leader w/HWBSF

Troops:
FW x12 (120)
Devilfish (85)
-DP

FW x12 (120)

Heavy Support:
Hammerhead (170)
-Railgun, BC, DP, MT, BSF

Broadside x2 (198)
-TLRG, SMS, TA
-Team leader w/HWBSF, HWDC w/2 SD

Total: 997

This gives you a little more long range firepower with the crisis suits over the stealth suits. The broadside squad gives you more high strength, long range railguns and the devilfish gives your FW's some mobility. It doesn't require you to buy any new models and the entire list can work together to be effective. It is light on scoring units, but Tau fluff dictates that they would rather give ground and destroy their enemy so that they can take the objective afterwards. Hope this helps.

 alabamaheretic wrote:
have i have

some fluff
This is the recon force of the amassed army with minimal tank and heavy support and no air support. The commander is a sash'el as this is his first major command of a cadre. He favors the killing blow technique with overwhelming fire power. He is an idealistic commander.
.

Going by your fluff of a recon team with minimum tanks and heavy supports I would go with pathfinders tetras piranhas and msu troops.

I don’t think an up and coming co would have access to fancy xv9s yet so if you win this escalation game treat your self to some as I think the co deserves it at that point lol.

well modified the list some more and I'm kinda stuck at 1814. so chaos and the vanilla marine dropped and there is supposed to be another tau player there so this should make things interesting. so only one power armor guy so that's a plus.

List looks a lot more streamlined. Only other things I have is that when you bring broadsides I would definitely bring shield drones and I wouldn't mix roles of crisis suits in a unit. The shield drones bring protection from all S8 weapons that your opponent will be pouring into the broadsides to insta-kill them. The fireknife/deathrain suit combo brings differing weapon loadouts which can make them less effective overall at doing what each suit is good at. I'm also skeptical of flechettes on hammerheads but can see them being more useful on the piranhas. Other than that just play smart and you should be ok. Good luck and have fun!

thanks brakkus ill let you know how things go. when we start.