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Hello all,

I am looking to start a tau army, or I have been for a long while, but the fact that they were so sub par until recently really put me off, especially with the pricey suits. At any rate, I am looking to create a (surprise surprise) farsight oriented list. As I know almost nothing about playing tau aside from the basics (lousy at CQBCould you guys help me by offering me advice on:

1) How effective is the tau codex in general in relation to other codexes?
2) How viable is a farsight centric list?
3) should I be taking advantage of his special crisis bodyguard?
4) What should I be taking for troops/ elites/ fast attack/ heavy support etc
5) What weapons/ systems should I be gearing my suits with?

1. It's currently one of the best codexes in the game in terms of killing power, but it doesn't place well in tournaments because they have trouble scoring a lot of objectives. But if you just want to win every game by tabling your opponent or having 1 more VP than them, Tau is one of the best.

2. Pretty viable, but it's a deathstar type list and it's not worth taking Farsight if you don't take a lot of bodyguards to go with him. Space Marine allies for a librarian with Gate of Infinity works well with Farsight's no-scatter special rule.

3. Yes. Use a cheaper commander like an XV8 if you're going to only take a few bodyguards or none, or use a generic HQ like an Ethereal or Cadre Fireblade, or Shadowsun/Darkstrider.

4. Fire Warriors, Sniper Kroot, Riptides, XV8 teams, Pathfinders, Markerlight Gun Drones, and XV88 Missile Broadsides. There are a lot of other good units in the book too like Piranhas, Skyrays, and Hammerheads.

5. Whatever you need to counter the threats you're likely facing. Seriously, there is no wrong answer (I've ran deep striking suits with 2 flamers before against an ork foot horde to pretty reasonable effect. Although in retrospect that wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had).

For specific loadouts I recommend burst cannon/plasma (preferably with a couple gun drones). This is the "bladestorm" configuration. it kills pretty much everything through weight of fire and plasma. Alternatively double plasma is always nice against lots of marines, but bladestorm is just as good usually. Dual fusion blasters are good on tank hunters (usually deep striking suicide units).

About the only weapon I'd stay away from completely is the missile pod, since broadsides have made it pretty obsolete and it really doesn't have much of a place anyway except against light vehicles and heavy infantry that aren't marines.

Tau is very good. They have only been out for almost 3 months but since they have been out they have really been showing in high amounts in tournaments. Farsight lists are just one of the viable tau lists. Personally I don't like it because I feel it is over kill but it has worked out to good success, unless your opponent is ready for it you are probably going to win. As for loadouts on the list, you will want all 7 bodyguards and 2 gun drones each.

One suit needs a command and control node and multi-spectrum sensors and possible a puretide chip (if it is not on your commander).
One suit should be able to take out light vehicles, so 2 missile pods and a target lock.
One suit should be able to take out heavy vehicles, so 2 fusion blasters and target lock.
4 other suits for killing infantry. Double plasma is good. A few burst cannons are good too. or flamers. You can mix it up.

You can add on either shadowsun for shroud + stealth or you can add a commander with iridium armor and stimulant injectors to tank shots and los the shots he can't take to drones. The advantage of a commander over shadowsun is that you can always have sv2+ fnp and bs5 gun drones, at bs5 all those gundrones can kill about 7.78 marines a turn on their own.

For your 4 infantry killing suits, If taking target locks then there is no reason to take two different weapons. You are better off taking 2 double plasma and 2 double burst cannon then to take 4 burst cannon + plasma suits.

I dug back through my post history and found this. It might be helpful for inspiration if nothing else.

I made a multipurpose full bore farsight bomb once, just to see how many points I'd have to sink into it to go all out.

Farsight, of course

shadowsun, because it's fashionable

"It will not die"- iridium suit, stim injector, shield generator

"monkey wrench" - C&C node, Multispectrum, Puretide chip, Neuroweb, vectored retros, drone controller

2x swarm hunter - flamer, burst cannon, target lock

2x MEQ hunter - dual plasma, target lock

1x Tank hunter - dual fusion, target lock

14x gun drones

Total comes out to 967 points. Absurd? Absolutely! Hilarious when it lands, of course.

Tau are very, very good. The problems they have holding objectives are overblown. Kroot can be very effective due to their cheap cost, pseudo bolters and the ability to hit weak spots with accurate outflanking. Combine that with boosts from an Ethereal and markerlights and you have a unit that can far outperform its cost.

Farsight is very viable, though it requires you to build around him. I would recommend Shadowsun, an Iridium bodyguard with buffing gear (Multi-spectrum Suite, Puretide). I'd also bring a SM librarian to the party for accurate teleportation (Gate of Infinity).

I think that Kroot outperform Fire Warriors. They have more overall shots so they gain more from force multipliers such as the Ethereal and Markerlights. For heavy support the Sky Ray and Broadsides with HYMP are both incredible. You really can't go wrong with either. For Broadsides, some folks prefer HRR, though I would much rather have the extra shots as they benefit more from Markerlights and can do plenty of damage through massive amounts of dice. They do have a more limited range, though this can be mitigated by the Ethereal (has a power that lets you run then snapshot) as well as Markerlights (boost your snapshots). This effectively can increase their range from 36" to 36" + 6" + D6", it isn't as great as the range on the HRR, but more than serviceable considering two of deployments put armies fairly close to one another.

For elites the obvious star is the Riptide. It's damage output will generally be lower than that of Crisis suits, but it is highly mobile and very, very durable. I'd consider at least 1-2 Riptides (and the model is great!).

Fast Attack houses the major source of markerlights, Pathfinders. I would probably consider a squad or two of these, though it may be wiser to invest in more durable Markerlight platforms (Sky Rays) due to the impending meta shift towards anti-Tau. Piranhas are also nice for anti-infantry power as they boast a good number of shots on a fast and relatively durable platform (being immune to bolters is always nice).

Food for thought and good luck! Tau are very, very fun and quite good to boot.

There's a lot to consider here. It seems there are quite a few options available for creating an effective list with this Dex. It seems a general agreement that riptides are pure win and I should invest in a few regardless of what list I am building. What sort of ways do you run your troops whether they be fire warriors or kroot? Is the devilfish worth investing in?