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Hello all!
I've been a long-time 5th ed IG player. I've decided to pick up the Tau as well as part of a 6th ed escalation league.
I'm not terribly experienced with the Tau or 6th ed yet, so I'm looking for C&C wherever you're willing to give it, thanks.

HQ:
Cadre Fireblade: 60
Darkstrider: 100

Troops:
Fire Warriors (10): 90
Fire Warriors (6): 54
Devilfish (SMS, decoy launcher, sensor spines): 100

Fast Attack:
Pathfinders (6, 2 rail rifles): 96

Total Points: 500

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Cadre Fireblade: 60
Darkstrider: 100

Two named characters at 500 is going to make for a lot of losses. I'd go with an ethereal or a Cadre FB and leave Dark Stomper out.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Troops:
Fire Warriors (10): 90
Fire Warriors (6): 54

Do ya have two more FWs? Try two crews of 9. Better mechanics on Morale Checks.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

Devilfish (SMS, decoy launcher, sensor spines): 100

At 500, this is a really pricey transport, with little fire power to show for it. I'd simply have more FWs.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Fast Attack:
Pathfinders (6, 2 rail rifles): 96

RRs out. Just go MarkerLs

Is this a Wish List or models in hand?

Personally, i would drop dark strider and the devil fish.
Add another Cadre Fire blade.
Add a Hammerhead. Drop the Rails from the pathfinders. then plus up your fire warriors.
This would make a solid list.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

HQ:
Cadre Fireblade: 60
Darkstrider: 100

Troops:
Fire Warriors (10): 90
Fire Warriors (6): 54
Devilfish (SMS, decoy launcher, sensor spines): 100

Fast Attack:
Pathfinders (6, 2 rail rifles): 96

Welcome to the Empire. This isn't a bad start, but here are a few things you might want to consider:

HQ. The fireblade is good for this point level, since you're mostly just fire warriors. You'll probably want to leave him at home in favor of other HQ choices at higher points levels, until you get into 2k+ games, where he can be in your second FOC. Darkstrider is pretty lackluster, and although I enjoy the concept of him, he's not worth the points, especially at such a low level game. I'd recommend an ethereal, if you want to take another HQ.

Troops: Yep, drop the devilfish. For future reference though, the decoy launcher and sensor spines are probably a point sink for this vehicle. Also, 6man units are really flimsy, so I'd put some of those extra points into bulking up that unit to 8-10.

Fast: you'll want markerlights only from pathfinders, so drop the rifles. You might consider taking fewer, if you want to spend points elsewhere.

Heavy: a single missile side can be really influential at this points level. I'd consider using some of your savings on at least one.

I have a bunch of videos on my youtube channel that you might find helpful too. Here's a few that relate to this post specifically...
pathfinders http://youtu.be/gXbYiCZ2vmY
fire warriors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfJGe_BPvrQ
ethereal http://youtu.be/R3KzLzSpoLc
broadsides http://youtu.be/p9WNNpAuWCA

You have had some great advise so far but I would stick with darkstrider , if you attach him to your pathfinders he knocks -1 toughness off of non vehicle units which makes the units pulse carbines a lot more effective

Revised List:

HQ:
Fireblade: 60
Ethereal: 50

Troops:
Fire Warriors (11): 99
Fire Warriors (11): 99

Fast Attack:
Pathfinders (6): 66
Pathfinders(5) 55

Heavy Support:
Broadside (High Yield Missle Pod, Early Warning Override): 70

Total Points: 499

Everyone is pretty spot on. Dark strider is meh, so dropping him is for the best. Drop the devilfish too, you'll save points. You can probably replace it with kroot to outflank objectives.

you might have too many pathfinders. There is such a thing as too many marker lights.

If I lower my count of pathfinders and limit the fire warriors to 10 man squads, I may be able to fit another missile-side.
what do you think of that?

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
If I lower my count of pathfinders and limit the fire warriors to 10 man squads, I may be able to fit another missile-side.
what do you think of that?

Seems like a good idea. The only benefit you're getting from taking the 11th fire warrior is the extra pulse rifle (as opposed to brining the 9th, which increases the number of deaths needed to force morale check from 2 to 3). So, dropping down to 2x 10 is fine.

As for dropping pathfinders: yeah, probably good on that too. Markerlights are great, but only insofar as you can acutally spend them. With only a few units, 11 markerlights shooting at 1 or 2 units is a bit much with only 3 units able to capitalize off of them. Besides, broadsides are pretty markerlight-independent due to their weapons being twin-linked.

Ok, here are the two potential lists that I've come up with.

List A:


List B: