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Hey guys this is my 600 point nasty tau list that I am thinking of taking to a local tournament, comments and criticism are welcome.

HQ - Cadre Fireblade

Elites - Riptide w/HBC, SMS, EWO
Elites - Riptide w/HBC, SMS

Troops - 6x Fire Warriors
Troops - 6x Fire Warriors

Fast Attack - 6x Pathfinders

I am thinking dropping the EWO from the Riptide and adding n Ion Accelerator to one of the tides for some AP2?

Drop the Fireblade for the superior Ethereal and that frees up points to put good weapons on your Riptides.

 FlingitNow wrote:
Drop the Fireblade for the superior Ethereal and that frees up points to put good weapons on your Riptides.

I like this suggestion as the Ion Accelerator is a superior weapon however, the Cadre Fireblade gives me another markerlight @BS5 and really buffs a single unit of firewarriors, also he does not give up an extra victory point when killed.

I find the HBC a better gun over the IA. It is just my preference but i usually run 2 HBC riptides and then the third is the ion. HBC are extremely good at killing wave serpeants and FMC.

So you would advocate to keep the list as it is or go one of each and add interceptor to the riptide that currently doesn't have it... atm im thinking of keeping the list as it is.

Your list is solid, i would drop the fireblade for an ethereal and pathfinders and put in some marker drones. Their ability to fire the marker light on the move and the 4+ armor i think makes up for the bs 2. They are relentless after all. At higher points i guide the drones with a farseer and they are amazing. Also maybe find a way to give one riptide a velocity tracker as i am sure you will face at least one FMC.

Yes the heavy burst cannon is amazing at killing Wave Serpents with it averaging 0.33 HPs of damage a turn that means you should kill a Wave Serpent in a mere 9 turns of shooting. Wow what an amazing use of 200 points. They can do a number on FMCs but if you want to kill those 2 targets you're better off with Broadsides that is their job. S8 Ap2 blasts is where the Riptide does its damage.

Whilst the Ethereal does give up an extra VP hiding him with a Riptide can help that. He also gives out an Ld10 bubble, buffs all your FWs not just 1 unit (and potentially pathfinders) and can give a FnP buff out to. Even a stubborn buff can help a Riptide hold up a Hive Tyrant for quite some time.

the benefit of the HBC is not seen until you use the nova reactor, then i think it becomes far better than the IA for almost everything. Except for killing t4 models. The reason for this is because the HBC won't stop shooting the IA will when you roll a 1 on that Str8 blast.

If you successfully Nova charge. With Nova charge that's 12 shots 6 hits 1 glance 0.5 Hull points gone a turn. Yes 4 MLs or a Buffmander make this better for you. But those things make it almost pointless to roll the dice with a broadside unit as that Serpent is dead dead dead.

So with 4 MLs AND a Nova charge you're looking at 10 S6 hits (rending makes no difference against a Serpent with Shield up). 1.67 HPs gone. In 6 turns that's 4 with Nova 2 without on average dice (though in my experience it would be maybe 2 turns tops with Nova as I've successfully Novad 3 times in 13 attempts). And with 4 ML hits every turn then you'll do on average 8.89 HPs and nearly killing 3 Serpents. Killing 1 a turn is massively optimistic even with very strong ML support.

A unit of 2 Broadsides for 188 points with the same ML support does 6.56 HPs a turn and a total of 39 HPs over the same 6 turns. See the difference?

The issue with the HBC is that it is a good weapon when Nova charged but requires further buffs to really shine as its on a Bs3 platform. Without Nova it is a poor weapon and a waste of a 200 point unit.

broad sides will be snap firing, most likely. where the riptide can chase the vehicle down. He can sit in the middle of the board turn 2 and move to where you need that fire support. Broadsides are good i just find them too static. they are expensive and prone to insta death from an IA riptide or any other str8+ weapon. The riptide is durabile and is highly mobile.
I have the opposite i had 34/42 successful nova reactor rolls this weekend with 1.5 ia get hot rolls per game.
I run 3 riptides 2 HBC one with a buffmander the other with a farseer. i usually guide the marker drones, and presience the other HBC riptide and let the ia run free.

Anyways i think we will agree to disagree and back on topic
I think the OP's list is solid and won't make any friends.

Whether or not the Sides are snap shooting is heavily debatable. But even if they are that's 3.778 HPs stripped per turn with 4 ML support...

Oh and sorry my maths above from non-snapshooting was a full unit of 3 not 2. It should have be 4.37 HPs a turn with 26.222 over the course of a 6 turn game.

Either way the Broadsides are massively more efficient at that job. The Riptide has another job. The ECPA makes the HBC Riptide decent and even a good AA platform.

Agree on the solid list, but I'm on the side of running one of the riptides with an Ion Accelerator. Having the ability to cause a large number of ap2 wounds with a template is a great way to negate deathstar type units sans demons. Also, with 6 pathfinders your probably not going to be able to share markerlights between the two, and having a large blast template that cares a little bit less about markerlights than the HBC will, I think, greatly ease some concern while playing.

I would also consider swapping out a sms for a plasma rifle or fusion blaster. The list seems like it'll handle swarms well, but have difficulty with more heavily armored opponents.

What's the point of 2 riptides in such a small game? It's either a hit or miss. U either demolish everything without a chance. Or get killed by something like a few wave serpents or battlewagon boyz also without any decent chances.

 koooaei wrote:
What's the point of 2 riptides in such a small game? It's either a hit or miss. U either demolish everything without a chance. Or get killed by something like a few wave serpents or battlewagon boyz also without any decent chances.

I think double Riptide nails Battlewagon boyz pretty quickly and actually is OK against Serpent spam as they can hurt the Riptides.

But the point is at 600 points Wave Serpents get taken off by double broadsides in probably turn 1. Battlewagon boyz get nailed by Purifiers in Rhinos or Missile Pod Enclaves, double Riptide gets nailed by Wraithknight or double Dreadknights, Wraithknight gets nailed by DE etc etc etc. Whatever competitive build you take it will be a bit rock, paper, scissors.

Personally I'd take a Riptide and a unit of Broadsides as it gives more firepower and can deal with almost any type of army. But that loses to double Riptide as they take my sides off turn 1 and then it's 2 Riptides vs 1.

I just say that cheezy 1-edged spam is gona be boring and sometimes an autowin or autoloose. Why not make it more ballanced.

Btw, i haven't lost to riptide spam with my battlewagon rush in a long time. Maybe tau players are too relaxed and don't know what a bunch of boyz in wagonz are capable of