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HQ
Commander
TL Missile Pod
Drone Controller
2xMarker Drones

HQ
Commander
TL Missile Pod
Drone Controller
2xMarker Drones

ELITE
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
Velocity Tracker

ELITE
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
Velocity Tracker

ELITE
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
Velocity

TROOP
12xFirewarriors
Shas'ui

TROOP
12xFirewarriors
Shas'ui

TROOP
12xFirewarriors
Shas'ui

TROOP
12xFirewarriors
Shas'ui

HEAVY
Hammerhead
Submunition
Distruption Pod
Flechete

HEAVY
Hammerhead
Ion Cannon
Distruption Pod
Flechete

HEAVY
Hammerhead
Ion Cannon
Distruption Pod
Flechete

What are your commanders doing with drone controllers but... no drones to control?

lol, you dont need a drone controller just to have drones anymore.
Why 2 deathrain commanders? you can drop 1 and pick up a bodyguard and get an ethereal to buff all the FWs. Then you can dump the FW Shas'ui.
Then drop Flechete for Point defense (Or get longstrike for the railhead), way more useful for helping out your other units.

Updated: I meant marker drones.

Adgee with Jackster,
I'm sure Etherial must have for this amount FWs

Tau (1850/1850pt.)

@HQ [ 2 ]

Commander (293pt.) Crisis battlesuit; Twin-linked missile pod; Drone controller; Marker drone (x2);
# 2x - XV8 Crisis bodyguard team (156pt.)
> 1x - Crisis Bodyguard (72pt.); Crisis battlesuit; Twin-linked missile pod; Drone controller; Marker drone;
> 1x - Crisis Bodyguard (84pt.); Crisis battlesuit; Twin-linked missile pod; Drone controller; Marker drone (x2);

Ethereal (50pt.)

@Elites [ 3 ]

XV104 Riptide (205pt.) Riptide battlesuit; Riptide shield generator; Ion accelerator; Twin-linked smart missile system; Velocity tracker;

XV104 Riptide (205pt.) Riptide battlesuit; Riptide shield generator; Ion accelerator; Twin-linked smart missile system; Velocity tracker;

XV104 Riptide (205pt.) Riptide battlesuit; Riptide shield generator; Ion accelerator; Twin-linked smart missile system; Velocity tracker;

@Troops [ 4 ]

12x - Fire Warrior team (108pt.)
> 12x - Fire warrior (9pt.); Combat armour; Photon grenades; Pulse rifle;

12x - Fire Warrior team (108pt.)
> 12x - Fire warrior (9pt.); Combat armour; Photon grenades; Pulse rifle;

12x - Fire Warrior team (108pt.)
> 12x - Fire warrior (9pt.); Combat armour; Photon grenades; Pulse rifle;

12x - Fire Warrior team (108pt.)
> 12x - Fire warrior (9pt.); Combat armour; Photon grenades; Pulse rifle;

@Heavy support [ 3 ]

Hammerhead (150pt.) Ion cannon; Flechette discharger; Distruption pod; Gun Drone (x2);

Hammerhead (155pt.) Railgun with solid shot; Submunition rounds; Flechette discharger; Distruption pod; Gun Drone (x2);

Hammerhead (155pt.) Railgun with solid shot; Submunition rounds; Flechette discharger; Distruption pod; Gun Drone (x2);

Created by Head Quarters - online roster builder

Will bookmark..both variations of the list will be tried.

Need to get some early warnings on those riptides....they're just priceless

A few points:

If you're taking drone controllers on the Commanders get more drones. A unit of 4 marker drones for each gives you huge ML potential. Or just drop the 2nd commander he's not really needed.

Why Velocity trackers on the Riptides!?!???!! They have poor AT fire. They need EWO and stim injectors. No other support systems are worth it for them.

Fire warriors should be in min units. Bigger units are too much of a liability in assault.

You have no fire power for AV14. Ionheads and Riptides do a similar job do you need both? Missilesides would support the Riptides better (and are probably the best thing in the codex).

If you want hammer heads Longstrike in an Ionhead is almost too good not to take. The flyers and Piranhas and fusion suits with mech firewarriors fit with them.

 FlingitNow wrote:
A few points:

If you're taking drone controllers on the Commanders get more drones. A unit of 4 marker drones for each gives you huge ML potential. Or just drop the 2nd commander he's not really needed.

Why Velocity trackers on the Riptides!?!???!! They have poor AT fire. They need EWO and stim injectors. No other support systems are worth it for them.

Fire warriors should be in min units. Bigger units are too much of a liability in assault.

You have no fire power for AV14. Ionheads and Riptides do a similar job do you need both? Missilesides would support the Riptides better (and are probably the best thing in the codex).

If you want hammer heads Longstrike in an Ionhead is almost too good not to take. The flyers and Piranhas and fusion suits with mech firewarriors fit with them.

I thought commanders were limited to two drones?

With the ion cannon they should be able to kill flyers no problem..thats why velocity trackers...and why do you think they would not be able to kill flyers?

What is the best configuration for fire warriors?

I figured I have a lot of High Str pie plate attacks...plus regular shooting if enemies get too close.

Not sure what the last point means...

Yes commander is limited to 2 drones but if you put him in a drone squad they all get the benefit of the controller!

The Ion cannon is 3 Bs3 S7 shots against AV11 (most common AV closely followed by 12) you get 1.5 hits on average glancing on a 4+ means you do less than a Hull Point a turn, without them even jinking. Against AV12 you're down to. 5 Hull points, so on average you'll kill one if you spend 6 turns of the game shooting at it! The Riptide is not good against flyers even with a VT. EWO is brilliant on them though. Was just up against a drop pod Wolves army. Between the 2 Riptides and 2 Missileside teams I was doing more damage in his turn than I was in mine!

Minimum 6 is my favourite config. Though Brotherkose (a Tau general on here who I definitely respect) swears by 9s. They don't need any upgrades. Possibly the ui but I prefer to just keep an Ethereal nearby.

You need melta or anyone with a Landraider runs over you.

My point was Longstrike + Hammerhead with Ion Cannon = win.

You really should put blacksun filters on your hammerheads...its 1 pt and can make or break your game. If you go against some backfield tanks with high AV, your suits wont be able to touch it for a turn or two due to range but your hammerhead can.
Riptides with IAs can punch basilisks n the such but not AV14 (least not with any real reliability).

Also, ditch the drone controller if you arent putting him into a mass of drones via crisis teams or a drone squad.
Not to mention Commanders have 4 slots, you used 3. With the new FAQ you dont need the TL version of missile pods you can just take 2 non-TL'd versions and noone can call cheese-hunting on you since it got FAQ'd to shut them up. Either way, you still have an unused slot and since you arent running the buffcommander list you outta fill it up with either a second gun (keeping the TL pod) or something cheap/useful like Targetlock or Adv Targeting (w/o keeping the TL pod)

EDIT: As for the commander having more than 2 drones thing:
He is referring to the Drone Squads in the Fast Attack slot. They are drones, and as such when an IC joins them gains the benefits of the drone controller. This lets him get up to 8? drones counting the 2 he normally has (going off memory i forget how big that drone squad can get)
The other way to get more than 2 drones is add in a Crisis suit team with the same role in mind (in this case, missile pod spam) and give them more drones. Each suit can have 2 drones each, whether they have a controller or not.

Give the newest Tau FAQ, I would swap the TL MP, for 2 single MP to get best use of that BS5.

Thanks for all the advice.


What about fire warriors? What is the best way to run them? I had 12 with the leader upgrade, but I was told that was a bad idea.