Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello all,

Brand new to wargaming and Warhammer 40K, my wife got me the Tau Empire Battleforce (2013 edition) as a present and i just finished reading the rule book and painting my first set of units. Right now i need some help about where to go to next, namely my next purchase as well what should I do with all the Drones that came with the kit. I plan on slowly adding to my army till it is full but any advise or help will assist, also i have no idea who to attach the drones to, or should i run them as independent. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated

Right now I have configured the battleforce and how I perceive the units being used (hoping to find some people to play me despite the lack of an HQ so i can get the flow of the game down):

HQ - NONE (need one going to buy one soon)

TROOPS -

FW x 6 - use these guys to take objectives and what not as well as fire support, need to be careful as i only have 12 total

FW x 6 - the same as above

ELITES -

Stealth Team, BC x 2, FB with target lock x1 - Plan on using these guys to kill infantry behind enemy lines as well as using the FB in suciude runs to take out heavier things that will kill me

Crisis Team
suit 1 - Plasma x 2 (non twin linked) and target lock
suit 2 - Missile Pod, Burst Cannon
suit 3 - Missile Pod, Burst Cannon

The plan for these guys would be to use the Missiles for medium targets and then have the ability to turn out a lot of fire with the BC if stuff gets too close, the plasma guy will be used to take out heavy stuff farther away, should i add any additional war gear other than the target lock to the unit?

FAST ATTACK -

Piranha x 1 with BC - this guy will zoom around harass infantry formation as well as be used a screening element for FWs advancing on objectives or the Suits if they have to move in the open, i would also like to put a seeker missile or 2 on this bad boy once i get marker light support

Left Over:

8 gun drones
1 marker drone

As previously stated what should i do with these?

also my friend is sending me a sniper drone team he has so that is in the mail sometime or another

Right now my purchase plans are as such:

#1 - HQ - ethereal, cheap at 50 points and will work well with my next purchase of
#1 - Fire Warriors - works with the ethereal who will stay near/behind both 12 trooper squads enhancing their skills

#2 - Hammerhead - break out the big guns
#2 - Pathfinders - to light up targets for the big gun

is this a good direction to go or do i need to get more suits?

thanks in advance!!!

If you have the bits i would turn 5 gun drones into marker light drones. Then add a commander with a drone controller. I just started using these guys and they work really good.

I think it depends on what type of list you want to play. I have seen 5 squads of 12 firewarriors with an ethereal do really well, or if you want to run a lot of suits you can do the farsight enclave with the suppliment where your crises suits are troops. If you want to run a 2+ heavy list try broadsides and riptides. You also have the choice of running vehicle heavy, i haven't seen it but you could. You have a lot of options so don't be affraid to proxy and test them out.

pathfinders and suits are essential for tau imho riptide never hurt and hammerhead or skyray is also very useful. Etherals aren't bad but I haven't found them that useful in most matchs ive played.
Go for a commander as your HQ. Drones are something you get used to having lots of and nothing to really do with half of em i have about 50 of em and i'll maybe use 5-10 in a list at most.
If you're looking to expand your army check out ebay and kijiji I've built up almost 3000 points of tau through this. I spent about the same price on most of my army as I did on a riptide and a set of suits from GW.

Thank you both for the reply,

I can see that you are both much higher on the Commander than the Ethereal, I guess unless you are spamming FWs the suit is a better choice. I'm very intrigued by the MARKO commander you have described as this would allow some of the pathfinders (if/when I get them) to take specialized weapons making them a fast strike force and allow their force multiplying abilities to be covered by the MARKO commander. Good stuff , I'm so green that none of this occurred to me!

I will actually be able to go the way of the Commander HQ section as thanks to your suggestion cuss (via Craig's List) i just picked up a 5th edition unpainted Tau battle force for a great price, so i will be able to add:

+ Crisis Suit CDR into HQ
+ the kroots or FWs as my second troop choice
+ a transport for the troops until i get my pathfinders
+ and some more stealth suits, which i'm not sure if i'll be able to use but i might try to give them marker drones and use them as quasi pathfinders
+ even more Drones

I am actually also playing my first game with the previously posted list, so we'll see how it works out!

It all depends on what kind of list you want to run. There are many different kinds of Tau armies you can field.

You can build a Tau gunline out of Firewarriors hidden by lines of kroot led by an Etherial backed up by the heavy support of Skyrays and Broadsides.

You can build a mainly mechanized force with firewarriors in devilfish, Etherials, Hammerheads, and Pirahnas. Though this isn't high on the competetive rankings.

You can build a suitbased army especially with Farsight Enclave.

You can build a Riptide and Broadside centered army backed up by a Commander sporting the latest and greatest signature systems with a small support army around it.

You can build a Farsight bomb army, basically Farsight and a full bodyguard dropping on the enemy.

Any more and every shade in between.

You have so many options, my best advice is to start playing a couple of games and figure out what style you like best and develop a cohesive force out of it. Alot will depend on what level you are playing at and what style of play you prefer.

Ultimately your force will need to be able to threaten to some degree, heavy armor, massed infantry, low save(2+) units, monsterous creatures, and flyers. Build with those goals in mind an you will be off to a great start.


Me, I'm running Riptides and suits in a Farsight Enclave Army, becasue I love suits. Any Fire Warriors I include are custom make smaller drones.

Edit: As to suits, they work best with two of a certain kind of weapon them. I personally love Double Burst Cannons, Double Fusion Blasters, and Twinlinked or Double Missile Pods.

good eye on the cheap battleforce and welcome to the greater good .
I also like suits and have a 1500 pt list i like to run in the tourny circuit. It is a little cheesy but i find it fun to play because pretty much everything can shift position in the assault phase. I am pretty light on wounds so any return fire wears my list down fast.
I run my drone commander with 2 missle pods, a target lock and a drone controller with the marker drones because it give me mobile support(drones are relentless) the pathfinders are great but they can't move and shoot their marker lights accurately and sometimes you need that 6' to hit that target.
but like zagman said play a few games and find a style that works for you.

As I am short Pathfinders, I actually use a Gundrone wall of 2 8x gun drone squads. Since I am facing alot of marines giving the opponent a 5+ coveris not a big deal, while the charge wall and return 5+ cover can be very very helpful.

Firstly welcome to the hobby.

A few things to note. The Commander with marker lights is pretty awesome. I used to run the Forge World Tetras until the new edition dropped. If you give your commander drone controller and target lock the drones hit on 2's and your commander can still shoot at whatever he wants.

I would advise against devilfish. They are very overpriced for the roll they perform but that is just personal preference. Pathfinders are ok but are pretty squishy and as said above I think at the moment the marker drone commander is more useful.

FW's are good and its useful to have a solid base of them, however I have favoured using sniper kroot that can outflank for line breaking or backwards objectives or just infiltrate them as a 70 point distraction unit. With the addition of sniper rounds I feel kroot have become more viable.

Riptides and Misslesides are probably the best units in the codex. Hammerheads are good but you only get the one shot so I wouldn't say it was the most reliable anti tank (with the exception of markerlight assistance). Skyrays are nice, good Anti air and additional markerlights help.

I field less crisis suits since the riptide landed but suits are still ace. I tend to run 2x plasma or fusion with a single MP. This makes them pricey but are nice for all sorts of enemies. The extra range on Fusion makes them very nice. When choosing your loadouts just look at the roll you want them to play. Plasma if you already have that anit tank. Fusion if you are lacking AV14 control.

Let us know how you get on!

ATO

All,

Once again thank you all for the feedback and input in my short time in this hobby I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of support vets give green players like myself. Now onto your responses:

So i played my first 500 point game using only what came in the battle force box (I used the Crisis suit with 2x plasma as an HQ with marker drones, DC and overload chip thanks to everyone's suggestion) and my results weren't to bad for my first 2 games. I'm still getting a feel for the game but I can see how a Tau force needs both synergy and versatility in both its movement around advancing troops and its shooting and fire support (mark lights) actions.

Now that i have added the 5th generation battleforce to my 6th generation battle force (plus a box of pathfinders in picked up at the game night) I can field a 1000 point army which is broken down as such (thanks to many of your suggestions)

HQ -

Commander (157 pts) - Command and Control Node, Multi-spectrum suite, Drone Controler Flamer, Marker Drone x2

(he is a force multiplier attaching to a unit to greatly enhance the joined units ability to hit targets, as well as adding marker light support for other units, the flamer is there just in case something gets to close for comfort, he will attach to either my Crisis Suit team or FWs based on what the opponent is fielding)

Elites

Stealth team I (100 pts) - 1 suit with Fusion Blaster/target lock

(this team will infiltrate and hang out in cover and harass infantry and or take out armor with marker light support)

Stealth team II(100 pts) - 1 suit with Fusion Blaster/target lock

(this team will deep strike from reserves, hopefully get to cover and attack the enemy from behind providing more harassment)

Crisis team (150 pts) - 3 suits each with advanced targeting system, burst cannon and missile pod

(sit back and shoot with missiles, use burst cannon to lay down a lot of fire in intermediate range, possible force for CDR to join)

TROOPS

Fire Warrior team I (142 pts) - 12 FWs including Shas'ui, x2 marker drone

(this is the primary unit for my CDR to join it adds 2 more marker lights to his high BS as well as greatly enhances the 12 S5 range 30" shots the FWs get to pour out)

Fire Warrior team II (54 pts) - 6 FWs

(this is the move around take objectives team)

FAST ATTACK

Pathfinder Team (240 pts) - x 2 marker drones

Devilfish with 2x seeker missiles

(marker light support for a target other than the one the CDR and his team is shooting at)
(DF gets the pathfinders into cover quicker)

Piranha (56 pts) - BC, 2x seeker missiles

(shoot missiles quickly then skim around and harass massed infantry)


So that is where my list is now based on available models, I will definitely build/paint my 12 kroot this week and attempt to insert them into a list with the suggested sniper rounds, I also just received the sniper drones and will build/paint those soon to add into the force as they look like they aren't half bad for their cost.

I have someone coming over today bringing a 1000 point Necron list which the aforementioned 1000 point Tau list will challenge, i'll follow up with if and how it worked


DOC

Well I learned that I need bigger stronger weapons and more of them in my army, dude I was playing had a Necron army in which his transports and vehicles had A14 thanks to some sort of shield generator upgrade, so only my FBs and MPs could inflict damage, I was rather impressed with how well the stealth teams did once they are in Cover they are HARD to kill

If you buy the new Hammerhead set, it comes with the bits for the skyray and the hammerhead options

So I bought the hammerhead kit and a devilfish

and put the skyray bits on the devil fish,

you save a bit of money and get both

Well unfortunately I think with your list that was always gonna happen but it is very good to try out what you have before spending money on extras.

Crisis suits with Fusions Blasters make for some nice deep striking fun. Hammerheads are ok, with the dark strider upgrade, should help you with those AV14.

Riptides are also a very nice addition. Although they are pricey they are one of the most durable units we have and are replacing crisis suits in most lists.

I would certainly purchase a hammerhead, don't glue on the turrets and try out ion, rail and sky ray and see which one suits your needs best.

ATO

I just got my arse handed to me as necrons by tau via rip tides. I would get at least one of those for now and maybe some more fir warriors for fire volume. I don't play as tau but those are solid choices.

KonTheory, I just bought the Hammerhead at my local game shop and will definitely use your advise to save some cash on the skyray if i go that way, I might even kit over my existing DF if i don't see a future need for it; but right now i'm leaning towards missile-sides in lieu of the skyray, but we will see.

ATO, just got the hammerhead last night and will give both variations a try before I see what the final verdict is, i'm leaning towards the Rail configuration but i'll see what the Ion brings to the battle, also going to get Long Strike as soon as the local store has one in stock.

Kevcron, I think that my next purchase is going to be a RIPTIDE, I saw one in action the other night at the weekly game night, not only is it a beautiful model it deals out a lot of punishment and is very versatile.

overall my long term thinking/plan is to add:

(1) a RIPTIDE, (not sure what the lay out will be) but be a swiss army knife of sorts
(2) 2 misslesides kitted out for intercept and or anti air - take out drop pods, and fliers well also providing anti infantry support.
(3) another crisis team with FB and or Plasma - back up for heavier stuff, leaning towards the plasma due to the extra 6 inches of range it affords, and that i'm carrying FBs on my stealth teams.

right now my crisis team is dual MP (non twin-linked) and i'm a HUGE fan of 12 shots @ S7 AP4 at a 36 inch range, what makes it even better is that I attach the CDR with his command and control and they re-roll all misses plus a possible boost from marker lights and you are looking at around 10-11 hits on said target... BIG FAN

as always thank you all for the advice and please let me know what you all think.

DOC