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Hey all,

After playing 10-15 games of 40k ive got the bug to create and army. Ive played dark vengance chaos which was a great start but now i wish to make an army and i have chosen Tau. (mostly due to the awesome models and theyre perfect for airbrushing!)

After purchasing the codex and a few models i came up with this list - please feel free to crit it as ive never played Tau before and maybe way off the mark with my 1000 point army. If you do suggest changes can you please state why so i can learn what and why certain things are better than others.

This list will be playing mostly against Necron AV13 and Ultramarines and potentially flyers -

Commander (149pts)

XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit
Command and Control Node
2x Shield drone

XV8 Crisis Team (156pts)

Crisis Shas'ui
Fusion Blaster + Plasma Rifle

Crisis Shas'ui
Fusion Blaster + Plasma Rifle

Crisis Shas'ui
Fusion Blaster + Plasma Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (108pts)
12x Fire Warriors,12x Pulse Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (108pts)
12x Fire Warriors,12x Pulse Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (108pts)
12x Fire Warriors,12x Pulse Rifle

Pathfinder (55pts),
5x Pathfinders, 5x Pulse Carbine and Markerlight

Hammerhead Gunship (146pts)
Blacksun filter, Disruption pod, Railgun, Two Gun Drones, Submunition Rounds

XV88 Broadside Team (85pts)
Broadside Shas'ui
Twin-linked High Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Velocity tracker (Skyfire)

XV88 Broadside Team (85pts)
Broadside Shas'ui
Twin-linked High Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Velocity tracker (Skyfire)

My plan was to run the Commander as a tanking HQ leading the unit of Crisis and taking hits to allow the Crisis suits to advance forwards to pop AV13.
The 2+ save and 2 No. shield drones for this for taking hits and low ap hits taken onto the drones with the control node to make the unit more effcient at hitting. Crisis plasma also for clearing termies and cron equivilants.

3 units of warriors will sit as a gunline but moving towards objectives towards the game end.

The pathfinders will be in cover marking priority targets where possible (i want these in so i can learn about markerlights)

Broadsides will be in seperate untis fully decked with missiles and skyfire to hopefully take down any nasty flyers

Hammerhead is in for ranged tank popping and submunitions for templates if required.Blacksun Filters to get the night fighting shots in and to make a round 1000 points.


Feel free to comment on this list and point out any wastes of points or more effective ways of spending points etc.

I have the following models not used in this list - Riptide, 3x Stealth Suits and a Hammerhead/Skyray with Longstike so feel free to comment on those if you think they would be better subsitutes.

Look forward to seeing what you guys have to say about my first Tau list.

Thanks

What weapons does the Commander have? Fusion/Plasma, as the suits do?

I like the list, and think it's a fantastic start. I would exchange the Hammerhead and a few Fire Warriors for your Riptide, though. Riptides are fantastic units that can take much more punishment than a Hammerhead while dealing out similar damage. Fire Warriors will be fine at 10 models each.

To the above the commander would have no weapons as he has the c&c node.

To the op: I would recommend changing the weapons on the suits. IMO its not the best to rely on 1 melta shot to kill a tank better to have more. We now have the option to run double weapons and it is generally the best plan.

Skyfire is overpriced on broadsides. for a fraction of the price you can get intercepter which adds a lot of versitility (you're still twinlinked so shooting flyers isn't that bad).

At 1000 points I would drop some of the warriors and get more guns (maybe upgrade the commander with the PEN chip and MSSS)

Why only 1k? Sounds like you have enough to bump up to 1500...

I'll second trading VT for EWO on the Bsides.

Riptide. Definitely. Not only are they great at killing things (with marker support), not only are they resilient, but they are excellent at getting you linebreaker, and when you attach your warlord, can prevent you from losing StW. So that's a 2 VP swing in some games.

Give the commander an MSS as well and attach him to the Riptides with IA you're going to squeeze in. S8 AP2 large blast that is TL+Ignore Cover is nasty.

Definitely double up on weapons in Crisis teams. Even in a team with mixed weapons, a better loadout would be x2 Plasma + x2 Plasma + x2 Fusion (Target Lock). Get it?

Skyray > Hammerhead if you do go up in points. It's got VT for extra AA, and once it blows its missiles, it provides marker support and free SMS.

As FirePainter suggested the Commander has been spec’d to not shoot but to boost the shooting of the Crisis unit he joins with the control node.
Also he can take hits from ap3 and above with any ap1 or 2 hits being saved on the 4++ drones out front of the unit. Well that was my plan but please advise if you think it’s a total waste of a commander. (so many options its mind boggling!)

Regarding the Crisis suits I have 3 meltas in the squad so there would be 3 melta shots @FirePainter unless I have misunderstood your comment? Apologies if I have...

I will investigate the removal of skyfire on the broadsides although I wouldn’t have any dedicated anti-air without it and those necron flyers scare me!

I am not fully up to speed on interceptor rule but is that were I can shoot at the unit coming onto the table before they shoot? I will check this rule.


From your comments guys it seems the fire warriors can be thinned out a little and i will look into a revised list with commander tweaks and hammerhead/riptide changes although i love the hammerhead and longstrike they are my favourite tau models which is why the hammerhead got the nod over the riptide! Also due to the points but as you mentioned it perhaps doesn’t have the same utility and oh s**t factor as the riptide – im torn between riptides, broadsides and hammerheads as they are my fave models! Decisions decisions

Doesn’t sound like I’m too far away from a half decent start from what you guys have said – thanks for your positive comments thyre much appreciated. I get back with comments when i can looking to the options you have mentioned.

Thanks



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@ The Shrike appoligies i didnt refresh before posting my reply and missed your commments - again you seem to give the nod to the Riptide too over the hammerhead so will play with points and see what i can do here,.

We play 1000 points because at the minute we are very slow at playing and it takes us a long time but hopefully we can speed up so we can increase the points

I maybe missing something as you and FirePainter both mentioned the Crisis weapons load out being doubled up. What difference is it having Melta+Melta with Plasma+Plasma to having Melta+Plasma with Melta Plasma etc

Sorry if im missing the obvious here...but im interested to know why - sorry im a bit of a newbie

I was pointing out that 1 shot per suit is not the best. Take a look at the loadout that The Shrike put up that is a good way of doing it. Personally i would do two two man squads 1 with 2xplasma on each suit and 1 with 2xfusion on each suit and flip put the commander with the fusion. Broadsides with EWO are still good AA even though they are snapfiring you are twinlinked and have good volume of fire.

I like firewarriors. Shrike will tell you that no tournament list has them but they are still one of the best infantry in the game. They put out good volume of S5 firepower and can be buffed well from an etheral or fireblade.

Hammerheads are good as well but to me they are not the best. You are relying on 1 shot to kill a tank now that one shot is S10 AP1 so its an amazing shot but then you miss and its wasted.

EDIT: to answer your questions

The reason most people go double weapons now is target focus. Better to have each squad of crisis a specialist armed to take out a specific threat. Thats why I suggest the 2 two man squads.

Riptides are great for board control and damage output (with markerlights) however niether weapon is good anti-tank so don't use them for that purpose use them to pick an infantry squad and delete it.

Ah ok i see what you mean so you are saying that specialist units are more effective than a mixed unit. I could maybe take a fusion body guard with the commander with Fusion and a unit of 2 plasma suits.

Then i could pop a tank and hit the contents with the other unit.

I went mixed as i only had one unit and i wanted veristility and the commander to join it as a hit/wound tank but this may need a review as the commander would maybe need to loose some gear if i was to give him double fusion??

Would 2 melta crisis be enough when coming up against necron armour as they can pack a fair bit of av13 in 1000pts? Maybe 2 untis of two crisis fusionx2 and riptide for heavy infantry etc?.

Some good food for thought thanks guys

2 units of two fusion would certainly give you a lot of anti-tank and versitility as well given that depending on deployment you can deepstrike them to get rear armour hits with the melta.

As I said a riptide with the ion and markerlights will pretty much delete any infantry unit per turn. If you are going with firewarriors they can provide volume of fire against the rest of the necrons scoring units.

Ah yes i like the idea of gambling one of the units for a deepstrike on an important enemy unit such as barges and arks etc. and perhaps hang the commanders unit back and not deepstrike them - all depends on the board and enemy deployment as you said but it gives me options.

thanks ill try and get a list togther now...


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I’m thinking that having the Multi Sensor Suite to ignore cover maybe better on my commander when running with crisis suits. My reasoning for this is that due to good saves necron troops I’ve come across don’t tend to hug cover quite as much as other armies (rightly or wrongly?) so I think that removing the jink save off the vehicles may be better to ensure my fusion does the trick.
Rerolls to hit and ignores cover is pretty reliable on the vehivles although I can’t help but think it would be best to run my commander with 3 suits rather than 2 groups of two suits as they wont both benefit the from the commanders special rules etc if ran separately.
Once the tank busting is done then he could probably leave the group and hop over to the riptide as that sounds like a devastating combo.
My list is looking good although I have spare points now will define it and post shortly.


Once the tank busting is done then he could probaly leave the group and hop over to the riptide as that sounds like a devastating combo.

My list is looking good although i have spare points now will define it and post shortly.


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i may even have enough points spare for another broadside or ethereal or more pathfinders

I'm glad you're excited Iceman. I would note, if you love certain models; use them! It sounds like you and your buddies are all learning; so it isn't necessary to take all optimized units and loadouts. Just learn to magnetize your models so that when you want to turn the hammerhead into a skyray and change crisis' weapon loadouts, you can.

@Firepainter, haha, my Firewarrior hate was in the competitive realm; nothing wrong with them in friendly games or even RTT type deals.

Another note to Iceman; when shooting at Necrons, eliminate a unit completely before moving on. This is a good general rule against anyone, but specifically them as it affects their ability to reanimate.

Here we go taking into account your comments -

Commander (169pts)
Command and Control Node, Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite , 2x Shield drone, XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesui

XV104 Riptide (193pts)
Advanced targeting system, Early warning override, Ion Accelerator, Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

XV8 Crisis Team (156pts)

Crisis Shas'ui
2x Fusion Blaster

Crisis Shas'ui
2x Fusion Blaster

Crisis Shas'ui
2x Plasma Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (90pts)
10x Fire Warriors, 10x Pulse Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (90pts)
10x Fire Warriors, 10x Pulse Rifle

Fire Warriors Team (90pts)
10x Fire Warriors, 10x Pulse Rifle

Pathfinder Team (72pts)
Bonding Knife Ritual, 6x Pathfinder, 6x Pulse Carbine and Markerlight

XV88 Broadside Team (70pts)
Broadside Shas'ui
Early warning override, Twin-linked High Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System

XV88 Broadside Team (70pts)
Broadside Shas'ui
Early warning override, Twin-linked High Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System

That list looks like more than 1000 ponts.

I would leave off the riptides ATS. It doesn't add much for him.

And with this setup I would consider (as in its up to your playstyle) putting the two fusion suits as solos. That would give you a little more flexibility in deployment but they are weaker individually. That one is up to how you like to play.

@The Shrike, no worries I perhaps like them a bit to much as my kroot always fail me

My thoughts here are that Commander still runs with Crisis suits all as one unit to benefit from the commanders MSS and Command Node (as I had the points after the shuffle around)

The riptide will hop about attempting to clear any troops falling out of popped vehicles. Added targeting system as if I’m targeting a unit with a HQ why not (spare points again) also for the early warning override as i think this could be useful if coming up against deepstrikers and Ion of course .

Warriors 10 now x3 squads

Additional Pathfinder and bonding ritual to save them from running (think this is worthwhile on this unit. ? )

Hammerhead removed and Broadsides now with interceptor rather than skyfire as after reading the rules more i understand the choice especially when looking at the cost!

Pretty pleased with this now i think - shame i couldn’t get a aegis line in but i didnt have as many spare points as i thought.


@Shrike - tell me about it i hate those reanimations! It’s like feel no pain on 75%+ of the army! So many times ive killed 3 and they just stand back up wasting my shooting!

Frustrating but its maybe my tactics too lol

I’m happy to swap a hammerhead for a riptide as i really wanted to use them both but didn’t want to remove the broadsides! so many good choices and nice models


@FirePainter its bang on 1000pts but i have left some points on for each unit by accident as i forgot to delete them as it was exported from an app - ooops.

Ill have a think about the 2 squads of crisis as i like the idea of one suicide unit and another not deepstriking but was concerned about their resistance without the commanders USRs. Maybe something i will have to trial and error when playing.

Thanks for your help guys



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list now edited to hopefully read clearer

Don't waste points on bonding. It doesn't allow you to test morale unmodified; it lets you REGROUP unmodified. I think you'll agree that if you're down to 2 guys; it's already over for them.

Ah i didnt quite appreciate that i didnt read up on it enough tbh and like you say 2 left is pretty much game over for that unit.

Thanks for the tip!

On reanimation protocols, just destroy the whole squad. If there is nobody left in the squad, they cannot reanimate.

Thanks feasible ill make sure I nuke each squad to prevent them become a pain in my ass !

Thinking about this list a second time im just not 100% on wether this has enough of a anti air threat as im expecting to meet multiple flyers occasioanlly and havent got anything in the way of skyfire other than twin linked missilesides who dont have the skyfire USR.

Although you guys advise against the anti air option on the misslesides at 20 pts each (and i kinda agree its an expensive option) but against one flyer id gamble but against two im not sure 2 twinlinked misslesides would do the trick?

Any words of advice on ways of dealing with flyers other than taking flyers? I dont like the Tau flyer model enough to buy one id rather have heavy support models

More misslesides would help but at 1000 points i cant really get more than two in at 70pts a piece with the interceptor 5pts increase.

Having not played Tau as yet im not 100% sure on the units but i think misslesides and skyrays are the staple antiair?

My friend and i are currently arranging a 1k game so ill report back when i have a result although it maybe a week or so

This is part of the reason people don't take Hammerheads in competitive environs. Skyrays do many things well. They have a VT; so they double as AA if you need some that game. They can alpha strike, they have 2 networked marker lights, and after they fire off the missiles, they're such a low priority target that you can usually spend the rest of the game firing the markers and SMS with impunity.

Having said that, intercepting Broadsides are very very good. No need to doubt them, even just re-rolling snap shots. If you swap the HH for a Skyray, you'll be fine on AA.

In my experience Missilesides do just fine as anti-air with EWO and not skyfire. Its about the volume of fire, I would add more but as you said at 1000 its tough to find the points. A skyray would also do wonders as both an alpha strike and for its skyfiring markerlights.

I would keep the list you have now and see how it plays out before looking to change things. Good luck on your game.

You guys are probably right with regards to trying out this list before I doubt it.

Missilesides are my favourite models so I should give them first chance and I have HH/SkyRay I can try also as the points go up. Also I do have a broadside with rail rifle that I can proxy in as another missileside also.

Thanks again for your tips - I think the reason I maybe twitchy about AA is the fact that I know my necron buddy has a few flyers and the death ray and/or dropping troops can be pretty nasty.

Lets see how it goes table booked at warhammer world for the 11th


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also just to confirm the missilesides get BS3 4 twinlinked smart missiles and 4 twinlinked high yield missile pod shots?

I'm not missing anything here am I that is correct?

That is correct.

If I were to markerlight a flyer with a SkyRay networked marker light and for example say i hit a maximum of two markerlights would all other units without Skyfire then get a +2 BS bonus?

Missilesides hitting flyers on BS3 (4's) for example?

The codex says pinpoint increases ballistic skill of snap shots and overwatch is shooting at flyers classed as a snap shot? I assumed so but wished to check with you knowledgable lot