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Hello all first post,

Just after a critique of my army list really, i struggle to last a whole game without getting destroyed.

HQ

Shas'O suit with Cyclic ion blaster, Plasma rifle and Multi Tracker.

Shas'vre Bodyguard w: Plasma Rifle, Multi Tracer, Missile Pod and Targeting array.

Elites:

6 Crisis suits with Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, Multi tracker, Targeting array.

Split into 2 Squads of 3

HQ:

2 Hammerheads With Railgun, SMS, Target Lock, Disruption Pod

1x Broadside with Targetting array, Railgun, SMS

Troops:

12 Firewarriors

11 Firewarriors





These are unused units that i own but havn't had success with, so havn't made the list.

3 Pirahna's
6 Stealthsuits
6 Vespids
12 Firewarriors
Sniper Drone team
Skyray attatchments

A shed load of various drones.

Play mainly against eldar,dark eldar and abit of chaos and space marines. only playing with my buddies, so we're not too bothered if the right weapons are on the model. as long as it's made clear before game.

Tau are going to lose more than they win with equal players due to their out-dated codex. That said they can give people fits. Ultimately, a list is a list and what I see tells me nothing of how you play the list. Some ideas that way will help everyone advise you.


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Also, how are you losing? Are you getting tabled? Losing on objectives? Kill points?
How many games have you played? What do your opponents take and do?
I can say, in general, if you are dying in assault you are doing it wrong. With my Tau I take 2 minimum units of FW, put them in reserve in Devilfish, and put more points into CS's. Drones are good to block assault lines, as are Kroot. Pirahnas are good harrassing units, but you have to basically pick if you want them to be AI or AT.
I typically don't screw around with markerlights or Stealth Suits. Vespids are absolute trash.

Thanks BlackMath, I stopped playing when 3rd edition was out. Coming back and learning 6th edition is taking a while.

My normal strategy is to leave my railguns near the back, along with the fire warriors. then have the crisis suits move up and Jump shoot jump to try and avoid fire. Then if playing an objective based game, move the fire warriors up when the rest have softened the army up to capture objectives

Some critique of your list:

-You can get a Shas'el commander with a TA for the same BS as a Shas'o for 15 points less.
-Your elite crisis suits are illegal as they can't have 4 hardpoints of wargear.
-Try to get at least one more unit of troops into your army. Try running 3 squads of 9.

In general, Tau don't want S5 weapons on crisis suits. Suits are the only platform you can get plasma and MP so I would utilize that. S5 weapons are so easy to get in a Tau army I wouldn't use your suits for more. Also, I wouldn't use bodyguards until you max out your elite slots, which you have. Kroot in this edition, for me, are terrible. They have no save and not much firepower so anything that looks at them funny will kill them. Finally, anything that will be consistently shooting over 36" will probably want a BSF; HH, broadsides and DR crisis suits.

more troops ..and add some kroot carnivores ..and vespids ...
less weaponry on the crisis suits and heavier weaponry on the suits ...
take your point base to 2k ( you have the models already )

take high S weapons with Low AP numbers wherever you can ..(avoid gets hot weapons)

infiltrate with the stealth suits ...and infiltrate with kroot ..make the enemy guess where your striking from ...

i would not agree with kroot and vespids... look at them wrong and they die.

yea they can die pretty easy no saves ..
but that is less fire going at the suits ..
kroots are infiltrators ...they need to infiltrate appearing behind and amoungst the enemy ...where they can either snipe from jungle/forest cover (4+ for kroot)
or Assult from behind ..remember kroot can be infiltrating snipers ...and even with a hunting rifle their Close Combat is harsh to take..
in anyevent they are an inexpensive unit point wise compared to suits and every shot they take is a shot a suit is not taking ...

For the suits, you want plasma rifle/missile pod. This is the most flexible configuration, as they are anti meq, anti light vehicle. Abuse the jet pack rule to stay out of assault range. Get them drone controller and use shield drones to live longer. Tau plasma rifles don't get hot, but lose a STR.

In most cases, broadsides with the upgrade that lets them move a bit and fire are better than hammerheads. They get three times the railgun shots, and that's why you have them. If you are shooting a target with a railgun, you probably need to use more than one. Give the broadsides shield drones and hilarity ensues. 2+ saves are the bomb now and the shield drones get it too. Put them in front and watch the sad faces, especially at 1250.

If you have the $$ get a couple of tetras from Forgeworld. They are very useful.

Get devilfish for your troops so they don't get shot at by crap like heavy bolters and scatter lasers. You might have to cut out both hammerheads. So be it. They are good, but not "get all my troops killed" good. The Broadsides will railgun everything to death you need railgunned.

Vespids are totally worthless. Vespids need 4+ poison and a 4+ save or something to make me even consider paying for them. Actually, I'd redesign them with 2+ poison because they only get one attack I think. That would be useful unit then. Screw you, monstrous creatures!

Kroot, the dog things, and krootox are not worthless. But at 1250, I'd stick to the basics. The Krootox, however, are particularly improved with the new rapid fire rules. The Kroot suffer against schemers like me that pack in a decent amount of "ignores cover" in their lists. I so love to hurl flaming whirlwind death at Pathfinders. Unfortunately for you, this fries Kroot too.

Try this for spamy list. At 1250 I don't see how you can fail (just don't let your opponent see the list or he will bring 3 vindicators).

Ethereal - 50
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
2x Tetra - 100
Hamerhead Gunship with disruption pod and railgun - 145

Allied Orcs:
Warboss with cybork body and mega armour (which comes with free power klaw) - 110
30 orc boyz \w sluggas and choppas - 145

1235 points

60 str 5 shots at 36 inches and 120 at 18 inches are going to ruin anyones day. The orcs block anyone from just charging on through (although they give intervening model cover saves).

I rate the hammerhead higher than the broadsides because it gets a 3+ cover (jink + shrouded) and it can fire large blast templates. With marker lights you hit on 2+ and opponent gets no cover save giving you a ~50% chance to insta-gib a predator and ~25% chance to blow up a land raider. With hammerhead you also get to land on top of buildings etc to get a better line of fire.

You really need a few marker lights. If you can get 55 points get a Tetra from forgeworld. BS4 4shot marker light platform. Comes standard with a D-pod


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wtnind wrote:
Try this for spamy list. At 1250 I don't see how you can fail (just don't let your opponent see the list or he will bring 3 vindicators).

Ethereal - 50
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
12 firewarriors + champion - 130
2x Tetra - 100
Hamerhead Gunship with disruption pod and railgun - 145

This isnt legal. He needs 1+ firecast commander. Ethereals are also terrible. Drop the Ethereal and take a Shas'el with TL MP, TA and some shield drones

The issue with the above list is you have to take battle suit hq, its 1+ <sadface>

Given the models available i would suggest using all your FWs, give the broad side some shield drones for added survivability, only taking a Shasél HQ to save on points.

Magnetise all your battlesuits weapons so you an experiment with all the combinations to find what works for you. Currently I am fond of flamers and missile pods.. i don't like paying the 20 points for plasma rifles

Experiment with running all three pirahnas in seperate units with meltas zooming ahead, disembarking thier drones to just plain get in the way of stuff, make the baddies shoot them instead of the things you care abouts, suits FWs and stuff

What about this:
--------------------------Team Cheese and the Slaughter-fest Boyz-----------------------------------------------
Commander (Shas'el) TL flamers (56 points) - purpose is to make this guy as cheap as possible so you can spam more fire warriors and orks. Have this guy join a fire warrior team so he isn't instagibbed.

12 fire warriors - 130
12 fire warriors - 130
12 fire warriors - 130
12 fire warriors - 130
11 fire warriors - 120

2x tetra - 100

hamerhead gunship with distruption pods, railgun, smart missile system (looks like you have to take 2 weapons) - 165

Warboss with Mega-armor - 100 (no longer has cybork body 5+ invuln)
30 orc boyz - 180 points

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long range shooting:
2 tetras = 4 marker light hits
2 fire warrior squads hitting on 2+
3 fire warrior squads hitting on 4+
= 20 hits + 17 hits = 37 hits
wounding on 3s
= 24 wounds
= 4 dead terminators or 8 dead marines

Thats a pretty awesome list for the points level, Will be able to tarpit with the boys, got more than enough bodies for objectives. Only thing i would say it lacks is heavy weapons. Maybe if you can fit some seeker missiles to the Hammerhead for the tetra to target any light vehicles. since i suspect a broadside would be too expensive. Also split the Tetras into 2 squads if you havent already and give them both TA for 10 points to make then BS4.
If your planning on getting your commander close enough to use a flamer might as well give him a fusion blaster. TL FB and a Flamer or TL flamer and a FB so he can handle any tanks people decide to bring, IG and other such armies will still bring heavy armor at low points, a deep striking TL FB could make shot work of any russes.