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Hey everyone,
So I have some money to spend on 40k and want to add to my tau to get over 1000 points.
Right now I have the battle force (12 firewarriors, 3 xv8s, 3 stealth suits, and a piranha) as well as another box of firewarriors.
I am thinkibg about getting 3 more xv8s do you guys think that's a good idea?
Or should I go a broadside or hammerhead?

I would recomend atleast 1 box of Pathfinders since their markerlights will help the rest of the army hit better. I also recomend getting 2 or 3 missile broadsides, Another group of Crisis Suits is always good. And a Hammerhead or two is great aswell.

Though, I'm no expert, I only played 2 matches in the new codex myself and is also having trouble desiding on what to buy next.. XD

I'd suggest an HQ choice and finders. Then a hammerhead. Then a riptide then 3 missilesides. But that's just me.

Well I have an xv8 as a commander. Also I font really want pathfinders really. (I also don't fully understand markerlights yet).

I was looking at the riptide but the price for a single model is to much imo.

Are xv8s not the backbone?

Pathfinders are a very important part of your army. They fire markerlights at the enemy. Example, 10 Pathfinders fire at the enemy unit, 4 of them hit, That means you can increase the BS of one group fiering at that enemy group by 4, Or 4 groups by 1, Or remove their coversave by spending 2 marker lights. Basically, It makes the rest of your army hit alot better and thus kill the enemies faster

it depends on how you play, but this is why to use finders.

2 5 man squads from one box for 110 points = 10 markerlights.
Markerlights are roll to hit, number of hits = number of counters.
1 counter = +1 to BS for 1 unit (you can use any number)
2 counters = negate cover (including night fighting, fortifications i.e aegis, stealth, shrouded, jink etc.)

You can use them for snap firing any hits can be used to increase the BS of other units firing at that target, i.e. overwatch or flyers.

You can also launch additional seeker missiles if you want to (i dont use seekers).

If you dont want a riptide then you dont have to get one. They are awesome though.

Crisis suits are good yes but honestly they only do so much.

3 crisis suits with dual missile pods = 12 S7 AP4 missiles
you could instead go with 3 broadsides with missile pods = 12 S7 AP4 missiles and 12 S5 AP5 ignoring cover dont need line of sight missiles.

Crisis suits with burst cannons can be swapped for stealths with little difference.

So Fusion and Plasma are the best options for them IMO.
So range is a factor, but they can jump.

I dont think they're the backbone anymore personally, others would disagree.

Pathfinders are not necessary. They are cheap/easy markerlight, but they are also very fragile and must focus all their MLs onto the same target which is often overkill.

You can always look to ML drones and firewarrior shas'ui with markerlight / target lock as alternatives.

I'd go for the 3 additional XV8s. It doesn't matter if you have removed cover/boosted your BS skill if you don't have enough damage dealing guns around to get the job done.

Wait so I'm sort of confused... After reading the explanation and looking in my codex I'm noticing it doesn't say adds 1 to normal shots. Does it only add it to snapshots?

I might get 3 more xv8s but also get a pack of 4 drones to use as marker drones in their own unit if I need them

you definitely need to have at least one hammerhead but they work better when you have two of em. after that id look into what you are missing from your army. fire warrior spam is just brutal for amount of fire. ethereals or cadre fireblades make fire warrior spam even more brutal.

check ebay for forgeworld stuff. barricudas, either of the FW Shas'Os, Sensor tower are all good choices and they look awesome.

so for sure more firewarriors and a devilfish or two. lets you be able to run around late game to grab an objective if necessary. broadsides are still good but if you arent planning on doing 2k plus point games then i have problems fitting them in for my lists. if you can borrow from a friend and see what works for you for models/lists then do that first to avoid wasting money.

Ya I won't be playing above 1500 points, most likely 1000 for most of the games. I do like some of the forge world stuff especially the tetras are they good?

Riptide. Better then crisis suits.

As many have said Pathfinders are ideal. In adition you can turn a pathfinder team into deadly HQ assassins if you attach Darkstrider.

If not them more crisis suits would be a good idea. I would go in on hammerheads after you break the 1000 pts. I only take them in 1500 pt games as of late.

Riptide costs 100 bucks for a single model or I could get 3 crisis suits for 80. Even if the riptide is better I would rather 3 crisis suits, more painting which I like.

As I asked before do markerlights add 1+ to bs even for normal shots?

But I would agree with bringing the hammerhead at 1500 points or more, just seems a lot for 1000.

Markers add bs to any shooting a unit does provided they exchange a counter (marker light hit) for +1 BS. You can exchange 2 counters for +2 BS. It only apples to the unit that uses the counter.
It can also affect snap shots in the respective phase.

Okay now I see the benefit of them, I thought it just affected snapshots. Well marker drones here I come.

chiefbigredman wrote:
Riptide costs 100 bucks for a single model or I could get 3 crisis suits for 80. Even if the riptide is better I would rather 3 crisis suits, more painting which I like.

As I asked before do markerlights add 1+ to bs even for normal shots?

But I would agree with bringing the hammerhead at 1500 points or more, just seems a lot for 1000.

A riptide is more versatile, cheaper for what it does then a crisis team and is so fun to put together.

More expensive in cost tho, I can't justify 100 dollars on a single model, regardless of how amazing it is

It is 3 and it is very good and you will find yourself justifying the cost after you play with is a bit.

You can't use the marker light drones to boost crisis suits that are in the same unit. Only lights from other squads will work.

Alternatively, give your commander drone controller and CnC node and stick him and 2 marker drones in a fast attack slot drone squad and you get 6 BS 5 re-rolling marker lights

Riptide + Markerlights = All my Nids dead in a pile =(
Played two Tau army's with Eldar allies at a tournament this weekend and I was bummed in both games.

Tau are filth and with a few Eldar are stupidly powerful.

Hmm, maybe i should start eldar instead of DE. Although I think i will wait until the SM codex comes out to see if they work well with tau(Maybe some bikes ad drops pods to take the heat off my fire warriors.

I don't recommend anyone getting a Broadside, at least not the new kit. There is no justification for a T4, 2+/ -- 2W model costing $50. It's the size of a Dred, cost of a Dred, and uses a Dred base, but it's the table top equivalent of an Obliterator with no invul or relentless.

The Hammerhead is better in just about all rolls except anti-air, but at least it's priced as a tank for getting a tank.

Sopoko, I dunno why you would even bother with the C&C node. BS5 is already plenty accurate and it just seems like a waste of the BS5 on the commander. Try giving him a target lock and dual missile pods. It should prove effective.

Tau/SM would be dirty no doubt but Tau/Eldar are really strong together.
Eldar won the tournament I was at and It was very competitive with 2 masters winners and loads of the top 50 ranked in the UK on RHQ(RankingsHQ).

Would like to start a little Tau army after seeing their new rules. I mean no cover saves and 2s to hit on my Nid's tore me a new one!!!

"What's that flyrants? Markerlights Go! *Dead Flyrants*" =(