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Willing to accept any advice that does not include adding a Riptide or Pathfinders. I do not have the models, and do not ever plan on using the units.

HQ:
Battle Suit Commander
Cyclonic Ion Blaster, Missile Pod, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Advanced Targeting System, Neuroweb Systems Jammer, Target Lock

Ethereal

Troops:
12 Firewarriors
Pulse Rifles

11 Firewarriors
Pulse Rifles

Elites:
Crisis Team
2 Crisis Suits w/ Missile Pod, Missile Pod, Velocity Tracker
1 Crisis Suit w/ Team Leader, Command and Control Node, Multi-spectrum Sensor Suit, Vectored Retro Thrusters

Fast Attack:
Piranha
Two Gun Drones, Fusion Blaster, Disruption Pods

Heavy Support:
Broadside Battlesuit
Twin-linked High-yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker

Hammerhead Gunship
Rail Gun, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Disruption Pods, Blacksun Filter

I will be facing one land raider/drop pod Space Wolf list, one big bug/fly tyrant Nid list, a venom spam Dark Eldar list, a wave serpent spam Eldar list with a flier, two foot Marine lists with thunder fires, and two mech Guard lists w/ fliers.

I only played Tau before the new Dex. But from what I know based on my experience and experience playing the new dex, there are a couple of points id note:

1. No pathfinders is wrong. Plain wrong. There is a reason people joked about Codex:Tau being Codex:Markerlights. They are awesome. Get some. 1 squad minimum or youre doing it wrong. 2 small squads is best.

2. Only a single piranha is quite flimsy. Id recommend taking a pair at least. More if possible. Piranha's are a solid unit, but not too robust under much more than S4/5 fire.
If you cant do this, maybe remove a few FW's and remove the Piranha, and add a second Broadside.

3. A commander is very expensive at this points level. Just something to bear in mind....

I agree with you that a second Broadside would be amazing, but I can not make my Rail Gun my only anti-tank. What happens if the Land raider or a Lemon Russ takes out me Hammer Head Turn one, after that I am screwed. The Piranha is there for three reasons:

1. It gets a 3+ cover save after moving flat out, and a unit that moved flat out directly in front of a unit is extremely likely to get shot at by that unit. So I can move him in front of a unit that would be ideal to take down Firewarriors or even my tank/crisis suits, and that unit is extremely likely to waist all of its shots on AV 11 with a 3+ cover. I have in the past had a whole squad of Long Fangs waist a game shooting at just two Piranha and failing to kill both.

2. The Piranha will most likely be shot at first by the Land Raider or any Lemon Russ as it will be closer.

3. The Gun Drones the Piranha Carries are both annoying and effective. Every player in my club has wasted whole turns trying to kill a unit they get nothing for killing. They give a 5+ cover save to ally units hiding behind them, and make enemy assault units move around them to get closer to objective or my battle line.

As for Pathfinders:
I have been playing Tau for 13 years, they were my first army, and my only army for 11 years. I tried Markerlights, I wanted to love them, but these are my reasons against them.

1. Pathfinders have a 5+ Save, they are toughness 3 with a 5+ save. They die faster then even Kroot, as at least Kroot have Stealth in Forests.

2. Markerlights are Heavy Weapons, they have to snapfire after moving. This means they have to start the game in line of sight of the enemy and stay there to be effective, and they can be shot back by the enemies whole army.

3. They do not have Stealth or Move Through Cover, If they have to move it takes forever, and if they get shot at they get no bonuses.

4. They are BS 3, only half of them will hit each turn, meaning a maximum of 5 hits per maximum squad, and only 2 hits with a minimum squad.

5. A squad of 4 Marker Drones that can move 6" and still fire their Markerlights at full BS costs only 12 points more, has a higher Armor Save, and a higher Toughness.

6. If joined by a Commander w/ a Drone Controller they fire these Markerlights at BS 5 after moving 6" and can then Jet Pack Away.

7. There is not a single whole unit in the codex equipped with both Markerlights and Target Locks, meaning I can only Markerlight a single unit per turn.

8. Marker light tokens spent only count towards a single units shooting each shooting phase. If I land two Markerlights Only one squad gets ignore cover or +2 BS. A negligible bonus on most units.

That is my breakdown and why I will never take Pathfinders. If they FAQ Stealth onto them, or Target Locks, I would be glad to take them, but as it stands Markerdrone Squads are better, and Markerlights are not even all that useful. I would rather have more Dakka.

fair enough not taking riptides, I understand they are in everyone's list so you'd feel like you don't want to jump on the band wagon, cool.


Your commander sounds good, however thats a whole lotta points going into a flimsy unit. ( I'm guessing hes going with the crisis team)

I'd look to alter the amount of hardware your boys have, at such low points, I beleive you're better off with sticking with your guns and avoid taking any specials-unless you've got the spares at the end.

Why decoy launchers? they suck.
Why Vectored? are you planning on making an assault with long ranged flyer hunters?
Why so many V trackers? thats 60 points gone and two of your hardest hitting units focusing on hitting flyers I feel like it might be too much. now lets see... 900 points.



Ethereal 50

8 Fire Warriors 72

8 Fire Warriors 72

8 Fire Warriors 72

Crisis Team (3)
4Missile Pods
1 target lock
1 cyclic ion blaster
1 airburst frag projector ( synergie, 18" range, blast templates.)
161

Crisis Team (3)
6 Flamers
99

Piranha
Fusion Blaster
Disruption Pods 65


2 Broadside
Velocity Tracker
HYMP
SMS
170

Hammerhead
SMS
Ion Cannon
Blacksun Filter
126


886 points Total.

If it where me, I'd drop the missile suits for plasma suits. you never know when you're gonna come up against TEQ but at 900, It shouldn't be too common.

The only bit thats missing is marker light support. I tend to go the way of the drone with the commanders bs5 but everyone has their preferences and I don't want to seem pushy. I'd consider dropping the piraña for some extra points, as a bs3 fusion blaster tends not to be so good.


You've got some shuffling to do, but heres just my 2 yen.

All the best man.

Okay,

If you have a 50% chance of facing fliers you need Skyfire, and more then one unit with it. With only one Skyfiring unit the flier, Vendettas, Flyrants, and Eldar Fighters will wipe it from the board the turn they come in. All of the above Fliers have AP 2 weapons that cause Instant Death to Broadsides, so my broadside has a 75% chance of death the turn they arrive. That is a 75% chance of dying before he can shoot at it.

The Multi-Spectrum Systems Suite and the Command and Control Node give my whole Crisis Team and Commander Ignores Cover and Twin-linked with all their weapons. This makes 7 Str 7 hits per turn at 36" and 10 Str 7 hits per turn at 18". That will wipe most infantry squads, and with the Puretide Engram Neurochip they will wipe any vehicle AV 12 or lower and any Monstrous Creature in a single turn. That makes them a wonderful death star unit and at only 346 points. Since the average Flyrant costs over 250 points that seems fair to me considering the Commander can fire separately, and deal with a light vehicle, or a damaged infantry squad.

As for Plasma Rifles, I respond with Target Allocation. Three Crisis Suits Plasma Rifles and the upgrades I gave them above will land 4.5 hits at 24" and 9 hits at 12". That will translate to 3.75 wounds vs Termies and only 2.5 kills at 24", and 7.5 wounds vs Termies and only 5 Kills at 12". My 23 Firewarriors with Storm of Fire will land 34.5 hits at 15" and 23 wounds on Termies leaving 3.83 dead. This means my firewwarriors are almost as good as 3 Crisis Suits armed with two Twin-linked Plasma Rifles that Ignore Cover. You use your weakest unites to hit their strongest units and your strongest to kill their weakest, that is how you win a game.

That being said no Crisis Team should ever be within 12" of an enemy infantry squad. They may do damage, but will die the very next turn almost guaranteed. That is 99 points you are throwing away on Flamers to kill 3 Space marines or 7 Guardsman on average a game.

Your list also gives me only one weapon that can deal with AV 14 and I already mentioned I expect to face those. Three of our players here use AV 14 in every game. one fusion blaster on an AV 11 vehicle that has a BS of 3 will not cut it.

Finally, Firewarriors should only be taken in squads of 6 or above 9 as any other number results in a net loss of effectiveness vs point cost. This is due to the Leadership Test after losing 25% casualties rule.

Hmm … From what I can tell a Skyray might interest you. It’s Str 8, so while it’s not ideal for taking out Land Raiders, it’s still something. It’s AP 3 so it’s good against MEQ. Flyrants are typically T 6 Sv 3, meaning a seeker missile works wonders against them. It has skyfire for those pesky Vendettas. Finally, when shot using a markerlight it ignores the venom’s Jink save.

I don’t know how I feel about that Piranha. My problem with it mainly just comes from assaults. The main reason you got it is to deal with the Land Raider. However if the Space Wolf player is smart he will escort it with an assault unit. Meaning if you get within 9” of the Land raider, sure you have a 14.6% chance to explode it, but your Piranha is guaranteed to be dead. So the main purpose of the Piranha is to serve as a distraction. Meaning you should have something worth those 50 points. If you decide to keep it then consider combo-ing it with Longstrike. He has a pretty good chance of exploding a Landraider. Since you’re facing IG, you’ll get the preferred enemy that game as well. Though this option presents its own problems (like the sheer cost of 1 unit).

I’m worried about that ethereal. You’re most likely going to group him with the Fire Warriors. He is a pretty big target, so I typically like to give him some defense. This is most likely a moot point since you’ve most likely already thought of this.

The Fire Warriors would probably be best split into smaller groups. I agree that a smaller group does make them vulnerable, but that’s what the Ethereal is there for. The main reason for that is so you have more scoring units. It’s another insignificant point, but I thought I might as well mention it while I’m here.

Finally I just want to talk about the death star. For 1/3 of your points they don’t seem to have a lot of defense to back it up. They are T4 Sv 3 leaving you extremely vulnerable to Monstrous Creatures, Blasters, IG Large Blast templates, plasma, etc. Shield drones would go a long way with this list. To begin with it makes your VRT a lot better. Your initiative would be 4; 1 higher than your commander and 2 higher than the Crisis suits. You would also have an invulnerable save to defend yourself against any low AP shots that you might find yourself taking.

I just get this feeling that this list is stuck between a couple good lists. A minor tweak in one direction or another and you’re golden. I know that what I’ve mentioned isn’t ideal, but hopefully it’ll inspire you to something that is.

That was the most helpful advice I have ever received. I think the Shield Drones would help, but the suits will be hiding directly behind the Hammerhead, meaning the units in front of the Hammerhead will not be able to shoot them, and anyone off the sides can only kill one or two of them max and those get a 4+ cover from an intervening tank.

My changes:

HQ:
Ethereal
Honor Blade

Troops:
9 Firewarriors
Pulse Rifles

8 Firewarriors
Pulse Rifles

10 Kroot
Kroot Rifles
3 Krootox
Kroot Guns

Elites:
Crisis Team
2 Suits w/ two Missile Pods and Velocity Trackers
1 Suit w/ Team Leader, Multi-spectrum Systems Suite, Command and Control Node, Puretide Engram Neurochip

Fast Attack:
Piranha
2 Gun Drones and Fusion Blaster

Piranha
2 Gun Drones and Fusion Blaster

Heavy Support:
Hammerhead
Rail Gun, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Submunition, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

Broadside
Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker