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New to this TAU thing, been waiting for a while for a new codex, models, etc. Anyhow, any TAU oldies out there that can critique this list for me. Understand that I am not use to TAU, so, I have played ORKS, CSM, Space Marines and Space Wolves. So try to not freak out if I put a completely useless item on something, first list for TAU,

HQ
Commander (Shas'O)
TL Plasma Rifle
Shield Generator

ELITES
XV8 CRISIS TEAM 1 (3)
TL Missle Pod(3)
Flamer(3)
Counterfire Defense System(3)
Gune Drone/Sheild Drone
(Commander attached)

RIPTIDE
Ion Accelerator
Counterfire Defense System
(Blob reducer/Destroyer)

TROOPS
FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 1 (7)
Shas'ui
Pulse Carbine(7)
Shield Drone/Gun Drone
(Planned Forward Movers)

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 2 (7)
Shas'ui
Pulse Carbine(7)
Shield Drone/Gun Drone
(Planned Forward Movers)

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 3 (7)
Shas'ui
Shield Drone/Marker Drone
(Planned Objective Holders)

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 4 (7)
Shas'ui
Shield Drone/Marker Drone
(Planned Objective Holders)

FA
SUN SHARK BOMBER
Automated Repair System
Decoy Launchers
Blacksun Filter
(Chaos Maker)

PATHFINDER TEAM
Ion Rifle
Shas'ui
Marker Drone

HS
HAMMERHEAD GUN SHIP
Longstrike
Submunition
(Hard Target Killer)

BROADSIDE TEAM 1
Early Warning Override
(Flying Killer)

1499

Why not take any signature systems? The irdium armour one now gives you a 2+ save with no drawback, and there is another one that / if opponent shoots at you withing X range their weapons now have 'gets hot'

The crisis team has too much wargear - crisis only have three points not four so maybe get rid of the CDS.

Agree with above that iridium is better than getting the invulnerable save from the shield generator - just JSJ away from S10 shots. While you used four hard points on the regular crisis suits you only used three on the commander who has four - not sure if on purpose or for points? Maybe if you really want the greater commander survivability then use the points you saved from dropping the 3 CDS on a stim injector.

One specific tau thing is not mixing your suit loadouts. Putting your 24" range commander with your 36" range team may not be exactly what you want.

Last thing - I hate 'ui's in firewarrior teams. Taking a drone or two I guess is nice, but taking two more Firewarriors in each squad will probably be better. That said, shield drones in FW squads is a pretty nice addition in this dex, but since I haven't tried it yet I can't say one way or another if it's worth it.

XLIMil wrote:
The crisis team has too much wargear - crisis only have three points not four so maybe get rid of the CDS.

Agree with above that iridium is better than getting the invulnerable save from the shield generator - just JSJ away from S10 shots. While you used four hard points on the regular crisis suits you only used three on the commander who has four - not sure if on purpose or for points? Maybe if you really want the greater commander survivability then use the points you saved from dropping the 3 CDS on a stim injector.

One specific tau thing is not mixing your suit loadouts. Putting your 24" range commander with your 36" range team may not be exactly what you want.

Last thing - I hate 'ui's in firewarrior teams. Taking a drone or two I guess is nice, but taking two more Firewarriors in each squad will probably be better. That said, shield drones in FW squads is a pretty nice addition in this dex, but since I haven't tried it yet I can't say one way or another if it's worth it.

Sorry, my first list for Tau. By hard points, do you mean the points you can allocate to weapon systems and upgrades? I am not totally familiar with the term Hard Points? I will take a look at the FW 'ui's, I wanted them for two reasons, one was the plus up in leadership which wasn't great but better than 7, the second was the codex says you have to take them in order to take drones. I figure with the weaker save, why not turn it into a invulnerable so I couldn't get them pie plated by some high strength weapon system that would insta-kill them without it. It seemed a theme in early lists that people that played Tau would focus down the troops and they would lose the chance for scoring. Hence why I used 4 troop choices at only 1500 where I would normally have used only 3. Any advice here?
I will also rebook the system upgrades again, like I said I just got the codex so, I am still running through it a lot for clarifications and because I miss things. I don't know why I missed the battle suit range differences there.,..I was trying not to do that. Thanks for all the great advice I will re look it again today and post later...


Just a question: The crisis team has too much wargear - crisis only have three points not four so maybe get rid of the CDS?
It is not listed in the Codex the way you describe it. You can select three items from Ranged Weapons (1 TL Missle Pod, 1 Flamer) and Support System (CDS)? I only selected 3 on each. The Drones are not listed as being part of that selection. It says that any 'ui or 'vre can take up to two drones? Not sure how this isnt legal.
NEVERMIND- Answered my own question...TL counts as two choices....will relook the list again...sigh

P.95 Tau codex: "A twin-linked weapon counts as two choices from this list"\

A TL weapon and another weapon is 3 choices.

Ok, thought about doing a 1500 Farsight Enclave instead. Some of the rules meshed in are pretty nice, so you kinda get a Farsight Deathstar:

HQ
Commander Farsight
XV8 CRISIS BODYGUARDS (3)
Flamers(3)
Iridium Battlesuits(3)
Fusion Blasters(3)

ELITES
RIPTIDE
Ion Accelerator
Velocity Tracker

TROOPS
FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 1 (8)
Shas'ui
Shield Drone

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 2 (8)
Shas'ui
Shied Drone

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 3 (7)
Shas'ui
Shield Drone

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 4 (7)
Shas'ui
Shield Drone

FA
PATHFINDER TEAM 1 (8)
Ion Rifle
Shas'ui w/ Blacksun Filter
Pulse Accelerator Drone
Marker Drone

PATHFINDER TEAM 2 (8)
Ion Rifle MC=8
Shas'ui w/ Blacksun Filter
Pulse Accelerator Drone
Marker Drone

HS
HAMMERHEAD GUN SHIP 1
Longstrike
Blacksun Filter
Submunition
2 Gun Drones

HAMMERHEAD GUN SHIP 2
Blacksun Filter
Submunition
2 Gun Drones

1494
So I know it's a change in tactics.

Not got my codex here but are you allowed 3 iridium suits? I thought they were on the 'one per army' list?

Anything under the unique list (forgot the codex name) is a one per army. But no where does it say as to how many the commander can take.

So a commander can in theory take all of them once.

sindavathar wrote:
Anything under the unique list (forgot the codex name) is a one per army. But no where does it say as to how many the commander can take.

So a commander can in theory take all of them once.

The commander can take all the signature systems, but he is still part of the army and the whole army can only have 1 of each. Also, the commander wouldn't be taking three suits of iridium, each of his bodyguard would be taking their own suit which is illegal.

Ok, more to follow, will look at the signature systems again....

Sorry "hard points" is an artifact of the last codex and it simply refers to the maximum number of item choices you can have on a suit - now four weapon/support systems on the commander and three on the regular xv8's.

I like this second list more. As already said you can only take 1 of each signature system, but the iridium is a must if you are thinking of taking farsight into close combat. Also, consider the puretide neurochip (one of), onager gauntlet (one of), and stim injectors (as many as you have points for) as they would all make a farsight lead close combat suit team much more viable.

Also, it seems that the shield drones in this edition have gotten a lot weaker as far as I can tell as they no longer confer their invulnerable save to the unit they are in. I may be wrong, but this conclusion is what has been showing up here.

XLIMil wrote:
but the iridium is a must if you are thinking of taking farsight into close combat. Also, consider the puretide neurochip (one of), onager gauntlet (one of), and stim injectors (as many as you have points for) as they would all make a farsight lead close combat suit team much more viable.

I don't think Farsight can take additional equipment.. Not 100%sure on that one tho.

XLIMil wrote:
Sorry "hard points" is an artifact of the last codex and it simply refers to the maximum number of item choices you can have on a suit - now four weapon/support systems on the commander and three on the regular xv8's.

I like this second list more. As already said you can only take 1 of each signature system, but the iridium is a must if you are thinking of taking farsight into close combat. Also, consider the puretide neurochip (one of), onager gauntlet (one of), and stim injectors (as many as you have points for) as they would all make a farsight lead close combat suit team much more viable.

Also, it seems that the shield drones in this edition have gotten a lot weaker as far as I can tell as they no longer confer their invulnerable save to the unit they are in. I may be wrong, but this conclusion is what has been showing up here.

Yea for sure I messed that one up big time. Only one per Army list for Signature Systems. Now with that being said I can not upgrade Farsight himself from what I am tracking. But, with the other systems I will rebook the bodyguard for him, for one he can DS without scatter and also take up to 7 bodyguards which are higher cost than the other XV8s due to some extra items they can take on them. A normal Commander can only take 2 rather than the 7 Farsight can.
I will have to look up the Shield Drone, if the unit doesn't get the Invun save from the shield drone why on earth would you even have it? I am not tracking that the unit doesn't get the Invun save, is that in FAQs? I will take a look and rework the 2nd list again....thanks for all the good feedback, I am learning a ton!

I didn't write that clearly - didn't intend to say take that wargear on farsight himself, but rather on his bodyguards.

As for the shield drone - they are listed as having the shield generator wargear which reads,"This generator projects a cohesive energy field capable of protecting the bearer from heavy, ordinance, and anti-tank weapons fire. A shield generator confers a 4+ invulnerable Save." this means a few things:

First, in order to be used properly you must move them so that they will be the closest model to the incoming fire so that they get the wound assigned to them and can then take their invuln save. This is why they are taken and very effectively used against rocket sniping and the like for crisis suits.

Second, they are effectively useless for protecting a blob of fire warriors - or anything - from templates and blasts as those hit everything underneath them.

This makes sense as the other option would be insanely great - that a 22 point upgrade to a fire warrior blob gives every model in the blob a better-than-terminator invuln save. Take marker drones if you have points to burn with fire warriors and want to make them a bit more versatile.

tl;dr - shield drones don't give saves to other models and don't help against blasts and templates.

Drop the shas'ui and shield drones and take more fw but first use the points on an ethereal.... he makes them all ld 10 and boosts them.

Don't take the shas'ui on the pathfinders. They have no need for a blacksun filter. Markerlights are not affected by night fight (or cover for that matter). Since they are range 36", they can hit their full distance during night fight, and since they only need to hit, it doesn't matter what kind of cover the enemy has.

 PraetorDave wrote:
Don't take the shas'ui on the pathfinders. They have no need for a blacksun filter. Markerlights are not affected by night fight (or cover for that matter). Since they are range 36", they can hit their full distance during night fight, and since they only need to hit, it doesn't matter what kind of cover the enemy has.

Ah yes, learning a lot now, very wise, ok think this might be the last iterration of the other mess ups:

HQ
COMMANDER FARSIGHT
W/
XV8 CRISIS BODYGUARDS
XV8 Loadout 1
Flamer(1)
Burst Cannon(1)
Repulsor Impact Field(1)
Stimulant Injectors(1)
XV8 Loadout 2
Fusion Blaster
Target Relay
Neuroweb System Jammer(1)
Stimulant Injectors(1)
XV8 Loadout 3
Fusion Blaster
Target Relay
Stimulant Injectors(1)
**Deep Strike- Mayhem!!!- Drop the Neuroweb on closest unit in prep for following shooting phase, hoping for some Get's Hot!; Weather what they have hope someone charges for the Repulsor Impact Field; following shooting phase gave a couple target relays so they can fire the AP1 STR8's at something different if needed; FNP with the Stims

CADRE FIREBLADE
Gun Drone(2)
**Attached to FW Team 2

ELITES
RIPTIDE
Ion Accelerator
Velocity Tracker
**Air/Ground Support

TROOPS
FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 1 (6)
Shield Drone
**Home Objectives- Sit and try not to die...

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 2 (10)
Shas'ui
Gun Drone
**Fire Support / Fireblade- Backup Kroot/Markerlight Advantage Killers

KROOT CARNIVORE SQUAD 1 (16)
Shaper
**Forward Objectives-shock obsorbers/tarpit

KROOT CARNIVORE SQUAD 2 (16)
Shaper
**Forward Objectives-shock obsorbers/tarpit

FAST ATTACK
PATHFINDER TEAM (10)
Ion Rifle(2)
**Marker Light Droppers-Ion Advantage Shooting

HEAVY SUPPORT
HAMMERHEAD GUN SHIP 1
Longstrike
Blacksun Filter
Submunition
**Tank Hunter

HAMMERHEAD GUN SHIP 2
Blacksun Filter
Submunition
**Fire Support

1499

I like this a whole lot. Haven't used kroot in the new edition, but they certainly are more interesting now. Abuse their cover save in woods if you can and always infiltrate.

Only suggestion i have would be to split the pathfinder team in two. Also, I just tried the ion rifles and they are wonderful.

I put kroot into a forest and they did marvelously against a 10 man tac squad shooting at them. But when the flamer hit... meep.. Otherwise amazing to hold objective for certain (for a cheap price to!)

Yeah definitely split the pathfinders into two teams of 5. That way you can spread the love...I mean markerlights if need be. But if you really need a bunch of markers on one unit, you can shoot both at it.

 PraetorDave wrote:
Yeah definitely split the pathfinders into two teams of 5. That way you can spread the love...I mean markerlights if need be. But if you really need a bunch of markers on one unit, you can shoot both at it.

Wow, I sat thinking about this last night, splitting the area for which I could throw out marker lights, sounds good, other than that working with what I got,
Ordered the Enclave from GW already, cant wait to dig into that puppy when I get the chance!

Thanks for the assistance!

For the squad of Firewarriors that you plan to sit back and hold home objective, I'd honestly think about bonding them. That way the enemy has to completely wipe them out for them not to hold the objective, because right now if they lose 4 guys, you're rolling LD on snake eyes. For 6 pts, you can allow to roll on 7 instead.

I've been looking at bonding, and think it's totally worth it for FW/Pathfinders, and especially Crisis Teams/Broadside teams that include drones.

After spending some time working through the forums, reading some battle reports, etc, making some tweaks to my list again.

HQ
COMMANDER FARSIGHT
W/
XV8 CRISIS BODYGUARDS
XV8 Loadout 1
Fusion Blaster
Target Relay
Stimulant Injectors(1)
*Repulsor Impact Field*
XV8 Loadout 2
Fusion Blaster
Target Relay
Stimulant Injectors(1)
*Puretide Chip*
XV8 Loadout 3
Fusion Blaster
Target Relay
Stimulant Injectors(1)
*Iridium Armor*


COMMANDER (DRONE)
Missile Pod (2)
Drone Controller
Marker Drone(2)
**Attached to Drone Squadron

ELITES
RIPTIDE
Ion Accelerator
Early Warning Override


TROOPS
**Got rid of the drones, maxed the two squads, dropped the Kroot to stick with the Farsight theme**
FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 1 (8)
**Home Objectives-Bonding Knife

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 2 (12)

FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 3 (12)

FAST ATTACK
**Debating on if I want to split these into two different squads but not sure**
PATHFINDER TEAM (10)
Ion Rifle(2)
**Marker Light Droppers-Ion Advantage Shooting

DRONE SQUADRON
Marker Drones (4)

HEAVY SUPPORT
**Enjoy these versus the Hammerheads with the marker light system, ability to fire at what they mark themselves, disruption pods remind me of flicker fields on the DE**
SKYRAY GUN SHIP 1
Smart Missile System
Disruption Pods

SKYRAY GUN SHIP 2
Smart Missile System
Disruption Pods

1495

Any more suggestions that I am missing, got alot of what I need to build and start painting soon...

Split the Pathfinders, 2 smaller teams is harder to kill and can mark more targets.

Essential for the Farsight unit: One suit has MultiSpeS and Cmd&ContrlNode. This twin-links every body, and all toys Ignore Armor. Also, give each suit two guns, dual FBs, a PR/FB combo (called Helios in 'Net jargon) or dual PRs.

A general rule for tau, more offense, so if you need points, toss the StimInjectors, as they only work 1/3 time anyway.

And Target Relays are over spending on Precision Shot. There won't be *that* many specific models you want to allocate wounds. Done right against most MarineTac units, there won't *any* dudes left.

Brothererekose wrote:
Essential for the Farsight unit: One suit has MultiSpeS and Cmd&ContrlNode. This twin-links every body, and all toys Ignore Armor. Also, give each suit two guns, dual FBs, a PR/FB combo (called Helios in 'Net jargon) or dual PRs.

A general rule for tau, more offense, so if you need points, toss the StimInjectors, as they only work 1/3 time anyway.

And Target Relays are over spending on Precision Shot. There won't be *that* many specific models you want to allocate wounds. Done right against most MarineTac units, there won't *any* dudes left.

Yea, for having both multi-spec and cmd & control is good combo but ignores cover, instead of armor? My thought behind the load outs was this. After deep strike, the chip gives tank hunter, relays allows firing at any unit and gives better chance for pen. I added the the injectors for the squads ability to absorb some shots after they deep strike. I had the iridium on on also absorb shots and for auto pass Look out rolls.
Target relays are really so I can attack more than one model upon landing after deep strike, essentially, giving me tank hunting/AP1 shots at three different targets, say 3 transports or back armor shots. Trying to threaten the Big Bang units. What do you think? I could have some flawed logic on these things so that's why I am trying to explain the load outs.

The 2nd commander is really just for the marker drones giving more support to the other units. Also, I gave the pathfinders a ion to, in case I have a good marker coverage with the Drone Commander, I can produce some S8 shots. They are more for marker lights. Thoughts I changing the drone squadron to more guns and a few markers?