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I've recently made a 2000 point list with the new tau codex. I'm just getting back into 40k after a moderate hiatus, so any critiques, criticisms and recommendations are highly appreciated.

HQ: Commander
Missile Pod
Missile Pod
2 Markerlight drones
Iridium Armor
Drone Controller
target lock
command-link

Shadowsun
2 fusion blasters
Command Drone
advanced targetting system


Troops:
Firewarriors x10
Firewarriors x10
Firewarriors x10

Kroot w/ sniper rounds x10

FA:
Pathfinders x8

Markerlight Drone squad x4

Heavy:
Hammerhead
Longstrike
Submunition
twinlinked smart missiles
Automated repair system
disruption pod



Broadsides x2
2 missile drones
skyfire x 2

broadsides x2
4 missile drones
target lock x2


Elite:
Crisis Squad x3:
Crisis shas'ui x3
Plasma Rifle
plasma Rifle
target lock x3
shield drone



Crisis Squad x3:
Crisis shas'ui 22pts
fusion blaster
fusion blaster
target lock




Riptide:
riptide battlesuit
ion accelerator
twin-linked smart missiles
Stimulant injector
Early warning override



My plan for this list is to have the commander join the markerlight team and take the brunt of the pain while they fire off the markerlights. Pathfinders will also be firing their markers but hopefully will avoid the brunt of the fire with the commander markerlight team taking most of the heat. Shadowsun will join with the riptide and they'll be planted in cover in order to both of them to maximize their 2+ cover save while drawing a lot of fire and pumping out the large blasts on tougher enemy elite units.. The fire warriors will form gun lines along with the kroot. The broadsides with skyfire will be ready for fliers while the other team will batter enemy infantry squads. The Hammerhead will be gunning for enemy armor along with the the deep striking crisis team with fusion blasters. The other crisis team will move along the line to support wherever their high ap weapons are needed.

Riptide needs a drone to count as a squad and let shadowsun join it. Otherwise it's a monstrous creature that she can't join.

With the pathfinder team so cheap (i.e. no grav drones or anything like that) you're really gonna need to support them. Also this army is gonna be really slow on foot, I would still throw at least one devilfish in there to redeploy.

It may work better, if you're planning on footslogging, to drop the pathfinders and give the firewarriors marker drones instead. The costs will be slightly lower and you'll still have just as many markerlights.

Also, with such large fw squads, you may want to consider bonding them. On a 6 man team below half strength isn't such a loss if they run, but with a 10 man squad you're missing an extra 2 shots. Again though, YMMV

Overall this list basically looks like the exact sort of list I'd run, just with a little less invested in each squad in order to field more models.

 dbsamurai wrote:
Riptide needs a drone to count as a squad and let shadowsun join it. Otherwise it's a monstrous creature that she can't join.

With the pathfinder team so cheap (i.e. no grav drones or anything like that) you're really gonna need to support them. Also this army is gonna be really slow on foot, I would still throw at least one devilfish in there to redeploy.

It may work better, if you're planning on footslogging, to drop the pathfinders and give the firewarriors marker drones instead. The costs will be slightly lower and you'll still have just as many markerlights.

Also, with such large fw squads, you may want to consider bonding them. On a 6 man team below half strength isn't such a loss if they run, but with a 10 man squad you're missing an extra 2 shots. Again though, YMMV

Overall this list basically looks like the exact sort of list I'd run, just with a little less invested in each squad in order to field more models.

The prohibition isn't against units of one model, its against units that always consist of one model. Ex a lone wolf can only be taken as one model, so no IC's allowed. The riptide can take up to 2 shield drones, therefore the unit CAN have up to 3 models (>1) but doesn't need to actually buy the drones.

Larger squads are better in the tau as they allow you to make more efficient use of markerlights. I would suggest 2 units of 12xFirewarriors and 1 unit of 20x Kroot (with a hound) for the troops (i run this setup, though I feel that I wouldn't mind a second set of 20 kroot).

For the riptide I would either suggest the plasma (its S6 AP2 synergizes with the Ion accelerator) or a fusion blaster (which adds anti-AV13+ and is a nightmare to any deepstriking dreadnoughts) The SMS is a weak choice as the weapons strength and AP's don't synergize with S7 AP2 well. The SMS would combo better with the heavy burst cannon, but I believe the heavy burst cannon is a weaker choice (it requires nova charge to be effective and only adds mid-strength shooting to your army, you already have a crapton of scoring bodies with s5).

For the crisis team with fusion I'd suggest dropping the Target locks for flamers. 6 shots at BS3 is only 3 hits, which nets about 2-3 pens, you are just barely killing a single tank with this firepower. Split fire doesn't help as you wound 2 units instead of killing 1. The flamers would add versatility and allow you to engage light infantry and discourage assaults. I would advise something similar with the plasma but plasma suits play little differently.

I don't have too much constructive advice for broadsides, their immobility kinda kills it for me. (Railsides lost S10, and HYMP are only 36" range and can't move, this allows enemy fliers to use careful movement to mitigate them through superior range vendettas are a hard counter here)

I thought the prohibition of units with only one model extended to the table, not in options. So because no other models were added it still counted as a MC and couldn't be joined by MCs.

You know, it's funny, your suggestion on the Firewarrior squad sizes is the exact opposite of what I saw on another 2k point list like three days ago. Personally I agree with you but with the new codex people seem to think that 6 model units is somehow a good idea even though devilfishes can carry up to 12...

Also I agree with your plasma assertion, the low AP and rapid fire synergyzes well not only with the ion's blast but also his intent to run it as a deathstar to draw fire. Nothing scarier than AP2 shots flying everywhere in addition to ion blasts.

 dbsamurai wrote:
I thought the prohibition of units with only one model extended to the table, not in options. So because no other models were added it still counted as a MC and couldn't be joined by MCs.

You know, it's funny, your suggestion on the Firewarrior squad sizes is the exact opposite of what I saw on another 2k point list like three days ago. Personally I agree with you but with the new codex people seem to think that 6 model units is somehow a good idea even though devilfishes can carry up to 12...

Also I agree with your plasma assertion, the low AP and rapid fire synergyzes well not only with the ion's blast but also his intent to run it as a deathstar to draw fire. Nothing scarier than AP2 shots flying everywhere in addition to ion blasts.

The rule for ics trying to join mcs is that if the model is always solo, like a Daemon Prince, then no, but if it can be a unit, like the riptide or spyders, then it's ok.