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.

TAU 1500 Point List

HQ
1 Ethereal (2 shield drones) - 74 points

ELITES
2 Crysis Suits (Twin-Linked Fusion Blasters, Drone Controller w x2 Missile Drones, Homing Beacon) - 121 points
2 Crysis Suits (Twin-Linked Fusion Blasters, Drone Controller w x2 Missile Drones, Homing Beacon) - 121 points

TROOPS
10 Firewarriors (EMP Grenades) - 110 points
10 Firewarriors (EMP Grenades) - 110 points
10 Firewarriors (EMP Grenades) - 110 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points

FAST ATTACK
8 Pathfinders (Bonding Knife Ritual, EMP Grenades) - 112 points
8 Pathfinders (Bonding Knife Ritual) - 96 points
8 Pathfinders (Bonding Knife Ritual) - 96 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
1 Sky Ray Gunship (Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Point Defence Targeting Relay, Disruption Pod) - 140 points
1 Sky Ray Gunship (Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Point Defence Targeting Relay, Disruption Pod) - 140 points

-----------------

With this list I wanted as much firepower from firewarriors as possible, and really exploit the ethereal's extra pulse shot invocation for a limited point list.

Tactics: Ethereal should be clustered into a packed firewarrior gunline to provide the gunline with a ridiculous amount of shots if the enemy is close enough. Stay back to begin with, but start moving forward well in advance of endgame for objectives. Crysis suits should handle heavy tanks whilst Sky Rays should handle fliers. After an early payload from the skyrays, their job will be to either pick off cheap distant objective holders with smart missiles, support the gunline with point defence, or simply act as mobile cover for firewarriors to grab objectives later in the game. EMP units will be spaced around to offer anti-tank support where non-flier AVs get a little too confident moving forward.
Im debating swapping out a single squad of firewarrior emps to make room for some kroot, so that mobility in terms of grabbing objectives late game isnt an issue, but im worried about the kroot arriving early and just dying needlessly.

-------------------


Thoughts and ideas are welcome. What would you considering tweaking with this list?

+ I would drop the emps altogether. If you have to use them, then you have let them get too close.
+ Add an adl to cover your fw and paths
+ I would most definitely take kroot x 10 with a hound
+ 2 biggest things this list is lacking is low ap and ewo. Drop pod list will hurt you. That is why misslebroads and/or tides are a must in a tau list. If you don't have the units or option then take more kroot to safely screen your gunline.

Most of this is from my expriences and I hope it helps. I have played most of my games vs drop pods.

wise words. cheers. I didn't think about drop-pod armies (as silly as that might sound).

I'll see what I can do about getting some EWO in there, if I swap out the EMPs. It should help serve as some anti-AV whatever happens anyway. Or maaayyyybe swap out a sky ray for the broadsides to make points room for the aegis/kroot.

I'm not too worried about low APs with the sheer extent of the fw firepower, but it's true an aegis defence line would be nice. If I had to pick between an aegis line and a blocking squad of kroot, which would you recommend? (id have no intention of taking the quad gun or anything). The nice thing about kroot is that they are a mobile wall, whereas the aegis is immortal. My concern before you brought up droppods with this list was mobility, so im not anticipating sitting in one spot forever. Thoughts?

Out of interest, with the kroot what is the value in having a single hound? Does it give the rest of the squad some benefit? I was under the impression an entire squad needed to be beasts in order to benefit from beast-movement and stuff. But maybe there's something else i'm missing.

Hi, cool list but i would change a few things. I would drop the Shield drones on the Ethereal as his survivability comes from the Firewarriors that he's in the squad with and if the Firewarriors he's with get low on models you should move the Ethereal to a squad which has more models in to ensure that he's always safe, the Ethereal really shouldn't be on it's own for the shield drones to take effect.

Sad to say but the Crisis Suits cannot take Missile Drones, it was a mistake in the codex and the FAQ made them only available to Broadsides. They also don't have the option to take Homing beacons.

I agree on dropping the EMP Grenades as the price adds up if you take many of them and the Firewarriors shouldn't be that close to vehicles to begin with, so i doubt they'll be used often, especially as there Rifles can deal with many of the transports in the game anyways. You are right in saying that all the Firewarriors have a lot of good shots but they are also extremely weak, with them only being slightly tougher than Guardsmen (and everyone knows how fast they get owned), and i feel they'll be killed especially fast with your tactic of crowding them in one area of the board around the Ethereal. Perhaps have two squads with the Ethereal and another two squads in Develfish and boost there models to twelve each so it isn't so much of an 'all eggs in a basket' strategy and will help with mobility which the list lacks at the moment. If you don't want Develfish then maybe some outflanking Kroot would help (having a single Hound gives them acute senses so they can re-roll which side they come on).

Pathfinders are never bad to have but i find it's best to keep them as they are with no upgrades, they won't need the EMP's for the same reason as the Firewarriors and the Bonding Knives aren't so good as Pathfinders are usually near the back of the board so when you fail a morale test they usually run off the board and won't get a chance to regroup. I also think having three squads of them is one too many, especially with the Skyrays to help with Markerlights as well, you might find you'll have spare Markerlights left at the end of turns which will be wasted.

I think your list needs more long range high strength and low AP things, and units which can draw fire away from your Firewarriors with their toughness. Hammerheads, Broadsides or a Riptide might help you.

I like the idea of a big horde of warriors, but that is also a weakness. Any barrage, large blasts, templates etc will absolutely wreck you. It is still a lot to kill, and the ethereal does bolster your line(but your ethereal will be targeted).

Drop the drones, instead take more warriors or something that can shoot. At the end of the day, your ethereal just needs anything to jump in the line of fire, might as well have something that shoots back.

For suicide melta crisis teams, take non twin linked fusion guns. 4 fusion shots into most armor should do the job. Your odds of getting a hit are about the same TL or not, but with 2 you could potentially get more. Drop everything else, as they are there to pop heavy armor.

Drop the EMP grenades from the fire warriors. Other than drop pod dreds, they will only come up once in a blue moon. Points you could spend towards buying units designed to killing armor. Remember, mass pulse fire can wreck Av10-11.

Kroot are really good, also cheaper, and just as durable in cover. Not saying much, but they are better in assault than warriors.

Markerlight support is nice, but you have a LOT of markerlights for 1500. 4 markerlight hits is the sweet spot-it gives you ignore cover and BS5, which is all you really need. If cover is not an issue, then you only need 2 for BS5. Skyrays are great marker platforms, and so are drones led by a commander. Pathfinders are OK, but 24 is a LOT. If you keep them, drop EMP and bonding. In a unit of 8, bonding will only come into play when you are down to a single model, and since pathfinders are not scoring, why does it even matter? Bonding is good for suits taking a lot of drones, and someitmes for full warrior squads if your thinking of playing agressive.

Skyrays are fantastic, for both AA and marker support. After the missiles are said and done, they are great mobile cover and marker support. The point defense target relay won't save your fire warriors if anything serious is assaulting them(the extra 4 shots rarely matters). Sensor spines are good to make use of cover if you have the points.

Get some broadsides, or more crisis, or something else for mid/long range heavy shooting. Consider dropping pathfinders for a commander leading some marker drones, or maybe a second ethereal. Adl is also a decent idea.

Great suggestions all-round. OK. So in light of everyone's advice, I've put together a revised list. Dunno if my riptide is kitted out as he should be I was back and forth between Ion&Burst and Fusion&SmartMissile.

Anyway, hopefully most of this addresses what people were talking about before. I was tempted to not bother with the riptide and instead have a commander with marker drones, but the EWO against drop-pods argument won me over.

HQ
1 Ethereal - 50 points

ELITES
2 Crysis Suits (Twin linked Fusion Blasters only) - 84 points
2 Crysis Suits (Twin linked Fusion Blasters only) - 84 points
1 Riptide (Ion Accelerator, Twin Linked Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker) - 210 points

TROOPS
10 Kroot Carnivores + 1 Kroot Hound - 65 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points
10 Firewarriors - 90 points

FAST ATTACK
6 Pathfinders - 66 points
6 Pathfinders - 66 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
1 Sky Ray Gunship (Twin Linked Smart Missile System, Sensor Spines) - 120 points
1 Sky Ray Gunship (Twin Linked Smart Missile System) - 115 points
2 Broadsides (High Yield missile Pods, Twin Linked Smart Missile System, Early Warning Overrides) - 140 points

FORTIFICATIONS
1 Aegis Defence Line - 50 points

Thoughts? Better? Worse?