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 everyone , I know that was a many themes like it , but i read already most of them. Here is my some qustion:
1. How to start with tau , what to buy , i already bought commander,etheral, hammerhead ,skyray and 4x12 fire warriors ( cuz of discount xD )
Im think that will be enough xd but what do you prefer kroots or fw ,why ,how many ?
2. How should look like a good tau list , what should i have and how many ?
3. And if you can, give me please some nice combo for tau ^^

For example i think that is a quite nice list ^^
1850 Puretide Tau
Ethereal
Ethereal
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, TL-Plasma, Early Warning Override
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, TL-Plasma, Early Warning Override
6x Stealth Suits - 2x Fusion Blasters
11x Fire Warriors
11x Fire Warriors
11x Fire Warriors
11x Fire Warriors
8x Pathfinders
8x Pathfinders
Sunshark Bomber
Hammerhead - Submunition Rounds, Disruption Pods, Gun Drones
Hammerhead - Submunition Rounds, Disruption Pods, Gun Drones
Skyray - Gun Drones

Not my but I will pattern on it ^^

As a long time tau player, I can say there are many different ways to play. It used to be all about the hammerheads, but now things are changing. Skyrays are important, and a riptide or two are becoming standard.
I don't use kroot, but thats more because I have horrible luck with them.
For 1500 points, I ususally field 2 riptides, 2 skyrays, a broadside team, 3-4 squads of fire warriors, and then mess around with the rest of the points. I favor the static gunline (come and get me so I can shoot you). A lot of people are fielding a lot of crisis suits and doing a retreating and more fluid game.
For heros, don't underestimate the cadre fireblade and etherial. Tau revolve around shooting, and getting extra shots is amazing.

What about devilfish ? Are they worth of buying them as transporter or not ? As i see most of the tau players dont even touch them ;p

Regular things to appear in my army lists include:

Commander - C&C Node, MSSS, PEN, Irridium Armour, Onager gauntlet. Sometimes Vectored Retro Thrusters if I need hit and run & sometimes a drone controller as well.

Firewarriors - I usually play with two squads of 12 with shas'ui but thats only because I don't seem to get a lot of objective games. 3 squads for objective games seems to be minimal.

Kroot - Instead of fire warriors sometimes I use kroot with sniper rounds.

Riptide XV104 - Stim Injector & Velocity Tracker with HBC

Riptide XV104 - Stim Injector & Early Warning Overide with Ion Accelerator

Riptide XV107 (Forgeworld model) - Stim Injector & Early Warning Overide

Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, Smart Missile System, 2 missile drones each and with Early Warning Overide

Pathfinders - 2 squads of 10 with a shas'ui

Hammerhead - Rail Gun with Submunitions, Longstrike upgrade, TL Smart Missile System, Disruption pods & Sensor spines

Crisis team - Usually kitted out with fusions for tank busting duties


Please note that I do not use all 3 Riptides at once unless its an apocalypse game. I may be cheesy but I'm not THAT cheesy

CatMan wrote:
What about devilfish ? Are they worth of buying them as transporter or not ? As i see most of the tau players dont even touch them ;p

I love using devilfish to rush units of firewarriors to wherever they are needed to rapidfire the enemy down. It's even better when you drag in an ethereal to grant extra shots.

Just keep in mind that devilfish are expensive. I put Dpods on mine to keep them alive longer, but it comes out to 95 points.

Devilfish are crazy expensive for what they do. If they allowed some of the firewarriors to fire, i'd be more willing to run them. Some people swear by them but to me....eh...the cost of them to move the firewarriors you usually bring, its costing you a broadside team or something to do so.

Always found it odd that a mobile shooty race has no transport to support that idea. Even something odd like a jet-propelled platform thats literally nothing but something for firewarriors to get some mobility lol.

My games are...

Farsight,

Two squads of 12 firewarriors,

XV8 team with missile pod and plasma rifles,

1 Railhead with missle pods,

1 Railhead with longstrile and burst cannons,

piranha with fusion gun,

stealth team,

Two broadsides,

And 4 pathfinders.

Without a riptide to can field so much more...

Not really. The riptide is ~40-50pts more than the tanks but vastly more survivable. And theyre actually cheaper than broad/crisis teams that use drones. In that case though the difference is rate of fire.

Only reason i bring the tanks at all is because they DO work and i like fielding vehicles. I enjoy being able to have a random tank or two and have them do something....unlike orks lol its all or nothing for that army.

Ok , tommorow i will play my first tau game ^^ , but i have another qustion , sometimes i see that players take drones/sms on for exmaple hammerheads , why ? Which one are better ? Two gun drones or sms ?

Imo on the Hammerhead the SMS is better because of weapon destroyed results. 30" away its an additional 4 twinlinked shots if they can hurt what youre shooting at (firing snaps if you moved but hey its TL so its not that bad).

Gun drones are mainly used as a cockblock. Two gun drones without a unit arent going to do anymore more than stand in a passway and go "You no go this way" which buys you another turn to get the hammerhead away from any close by problems. I usually dont do it because if i lose my hammerhead at all, i either lost already or it got sniped by a lascannon.

Remember that drone squadrons do not score or deny. Vehicle drones also dont award kill points, though, so theres that nice bonus.