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Hi, I'm new to 40k and have just finished going through the rule book a week ago and after having some conversations with some of the players at my local store and got some advice with the owner, I have chosen (surprise) tau to be my first army. A blizzard closed the store today so I can't run it by the owner or the only other guy that plays tau at the shop (his advice was mass missiles, because why not). So I decided I would post it here so I can have it critiqued.
Note this is my first list ever so if you see something that makes you go " Why the blasted hell would you even consider that!!" you know why as I have not actually played before but I've been watching people play for over a month.

HQ:
Commander
iridium battlesuit
twin-linked missile pod
vectored retro-thrusters
(now that I think of it I should move these to the elites, but you can't take it back after you start so I'm going to leave it how I wrote it.)
135
bodyguard x2
twin-linked missile pods x2
239

Troops:
Fire warrior squad 1 (rear support squad)
extra troops x6
carbines x6

Fire warrior squad 2 (forward assault squad)
extra troops x6
shas'ui
markerlight

Fire warrior squad 3 (forward assault squad)
extra troops x6
shas'ui
markerlight

613

Heavy Support:
Broadside team (rear team)
extra unit x1
seeker missile x2
target lock x1

Broadside team (forward team)
extra unit x1
seeker missile x2
target lock x1
middle pods x2

915

Elites:
Crisis team
extra unit x1
twin-linked plasma rifle x2

999

Seeing as you haven't played before I will give you a little bit of advice. I don't have my codex on me but this is how I kit out some stuff in my army.
Which models do you currently own? If your open to new models you can go something like this.
Your heavy support hasn't shown up on the list but what I see missing is some armour piercing weapons. Missile pods just don't do it.
For commander I would go:
Commander
Plasma
Plasma
Flamer (just in case)
Drone controller
2 marker drones

Elites
Xv8
Missile pod
Missile pod
Target lock
2 marker drones
Xv8
Plasma
Plasma
Target lock
2 marker drones

I kind of like the stealth suits and deep strike them in a burst cannon everything it gets 12 shots which is awesome destraction unit in my opinion...some people disagree
Lots of people like rip tides but if your just starting I'm sure dropping $100 on a single unit might not be a good idea when starting.

Troops
8 fire warriors (never take carbines on them not enough range
8 fire warriors
8 fire warriors

Fast attack
Pathfinders (good for marker lights which are really important for a tau army)
Piranha...these are pretty cool because for 40 points you get 2 attached drones (worth 24 points) so essentially you are paying 16 points for a deep striking skimmer with 4 burst cannon shots....it normally makes up its points values.

Heavy support
Broadsides are excellent
I always take a hammerhead with a rail gun against people who bring armour and the ion cannon against horde armies.

Hope that gives you some advice. Just let us know what units you have. Other people will give other advice but that's mine
EDIT: noticed you changed a few things so broadsides look good, plasma xv8s look good I would just take off carbines on the fire warriors. Also make those body guards an elite slot (cheaper). Take target lock on xv8s so you can fire each at a different unit...very useful.

 chiefbigredman wrote:
Seeing as you haven't played before I will give you a little bit of advice. I don't have my codex on me but this is how I kit out some stuff in my army.
Which models do you currently own? If your open to new models you can go something like this.
Your heavy support hasn't shown up on the list but what I see missing is some armour piercing weapons. Missile pods just don't do it.
For commander I would go:
Commander
Plasma
Plasma
Flamer (just in case)
Drone controller
2 marker drones

Elites
Xv8
Missile pod
Missile pod
Target lock
2 marker drones
Xv8
Plasma
Plasma
Target lock
2 marker drones

I kind of like the stealth suits and deep strike them in a burst cannon everything it gets 12 shots which is awesome destraction unit in my opinion...some people disagree
Lots of people like rip tides but if your just starting I'm sure dropping $100 on a single unit might not be a good idea when starting.

Troops
8 fire warriors (never take carbines on them not enough range
8 fire warriors
8 fire warriors

Fast attack
Pathfinders (good for marker lights which are really important for a tau army)
Piranha...these are pretty cool because for 40 points you get 2 attached drones (worth 24 points) so essentially you are paying 16 points for a deep striking skimmer with 4 burst cannon shots....it normally makes up its points values.

Heavy support
Broadsides are excellent
I always take a hammerhead with a rail gun against people who bring armour and the ion cannon against horde armies.

Hope that gives you some advice. Just let us know what units you have. Other people will give other advice but that's mine
EDIT: noticed you changed a few things so broadsides look good, plasma xv8s look good I would just take off carbines on the fire warriors. Also make those body guards an elite slot (cheaper). Take target lock on xv8s so you can fire each at a different unit...very useful.

The thing is a little finicky with my phone and posted it before I finished.
Thanks for the advice, the thing about this first list is it's also my shopping list so to say.