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Hey Dakka,

I am looking for some feedback on this list. It is my first attempt at a Tau list. Is this list viable for 1500 pts?

HQ
Commander
Multi-spectrum Suite
Command and Control Node
Puretide Engram Neurochip
XV8-02 Crisis 'iridium' Battlesuit
Vectored Retro-thrusters

Troop
Fire Warriors x12
1x Marker Drones
1x Shield Drone
Bonding Knife Ritual

Fire Warriors x12
1x Marker Drones
1x Shield Drone
Bonding Knife Ritual

Fire Warriors x7
1x Marker Drones
1x Shield Drone
Bonding Knife Ritual

Elite
XV104 Riptide
Ion Accelerator
2x Shielded Missile Drones
Velocity Tracker
Target Lock

XV8 Crisis Team x3
3x Plasma rifles and Missile Pods
Vectored retro-thrusters
1x Shas'vre
2x Shield Drone
2x Missile Drone

Heavy Support
Broadsides x2
High Yield Missile Pod x2
2x Shield Drones
2x Missile Drones
Bonding Knife Ritual

Hammerhead Gunship
Ion Cannon
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

1498

Buffmander jumps around and helps out Broadsides, Riptide, and Crisis Suits. I also threw the Ionhead in because I just like it .

With the spare points you have, you could buy a neuroweb jammer for the buffmander. It is probably one of the best pieces of kit in the game for the cost. An onager gauntlet is also nice, but by no means required.

Drones and bonding knives are not worth it on warriors. They are not important enough for shield drones, marker drones can't network to the warriors, and gun drones have the shorter range. The knives only come into play if you A. are down to 2 or less warriors and the 'ui is dead, or B. Something has forced you to break and your under a leadership penalty. If you drop the drones and knives, you can max out your 3rd warrior squad, get an ethereal for leadership and elemental effects, and a drone controller on your buffmander.

Not a fan of shielded missile drones on the riptide, but I can kind of see the argument if your buffmander is hanging out(and has a drone controller). The target lock is a bit much regardless. Velocity tracker is OK, but better to take EWO and leave anti air to heavy burst cannon, skyrays etc.

The crisis team can't take missile drones. Shield drones are OK here, but they will die and force checks. It is worth it to bond if you have a battlesuit team with drones. A few points to regroup a lone suit is usually worth it.

With broadsides, I would go all missile drones. In the end, the drones are just sponges for bullets, so the extra defense is not that big of a deal if you have cover. Missiles at least can shoot back before they die.

Hammerhead and skyray are fine.

Awesome, thanks for the help! I guess i am confused as to why the crisis team can't take the missile drones (I may just be missing it in the dex). The neroweb is silly! I will add that on for sure.

The lightbulb went on for the FW's after i posted this. I will re-work the list and see what I can do to get the Ethreal in.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
With the spare points you have, you could buy a neuroweb jammer for the buffmander. It is probably one of the best pieces of kit in the game for the cost. An onager gauntlet is also nice, but by no means required.

Drones and bonding knives are not worth it on warriors. They are not important enough for shield drones, marker drones can't network to the warriors, and gun drones have the shorter range. The knives only come into play if you A. are down to 2 or less warriors and the 'ui is dead, or B. Something has forced you to break and your under a leadership penalty. If you drop the drones and knives, you can max out your 3rd warrior squad, get an ethereal for leadership and elemental effects, and a drone controller on your buffmander.

Not a fan of shielded missile drones on the riptide, but I can kind of see the argument if your buffmander is hanging out(and has a drone controller). The target lock is a bit much regardless. Velocity tracker is OK, but better to take EWO and leave anti air to heavy burst cannon, skyrays etc.

The crisis team can't take missile drones. Shield drones are OK here, but they will die and force checks. It is worth it to bond if you have a battlesuit team with drones. A few points to regroup a lone suit is usually worth it.

With broadsides, I would go all missile drones. In the end, the drones are just sponges for bullets, so the extra defense is not that big of a deal if you have cover. Missiles at least can shoot back before they die.

Hammerhead and skyray are fine.

One thing Missile Drones and the Shielded variants are not affected by Drone Controllers as the rule section specifically says Gun, Marker, and Shield Drones. (Still trying to grasp why the Shield Drones are when they don't have a gun. )

 Falco wrote:
Awesome, thanks for the help! I guess i am confused as to why the crisis team can't take the missile drones (I may just be missing it in the dex). The neroweb is silly! I will add that on for sure.

The lightbulb went on for the FW's after i posted this. I will re-work the list and see what I can do to get the Ethreal in.

It's in the FAQ on GW's website.

Figured lol...curses! Off to the FAQ I go!

Okay how does this look now?

Commander
Multi-spectrum Suite
Command and Control Node
Puretide Engram Neurochip
XV8-02 Crisis 'iridium' Battlesuit
Vectored Retro-thrusters
Neroweb Jammer

Ethreal

Troop
Fire Warriors x12


Fire Warriors x12


Fire Warriors x12


Elite
XV104 Riptide
Ion Accelerator
2x Shielded Missile Drones
Target Lock

XV8 Crisis Team x3
3x Plasma rifles and Missile Pods
Vectored retro-thrusters
1x Shas'vre
4x Shield Drone
Bonding Knife Ritual

Fast Attack

Heavy Support
Broadsides x2
High Yield Missile Pod x2
2x Shield Drones
2x Missile Drones
Bonding Knife Ritual

Hammerhead Gunship
Ion Cannon
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

1475.

Leaves me 25 points for something. I decided to keep the shield drones on the broadsides just in case .

Would it be a good idea to add a drone or 2 to the Ethreal?

Looking at the latest version of the list:

Buffmander is good goes with Riptide I presume.

Ethereal is a bit of a liability perhaps an ADL would be better.

Firewarriors work best in 6s or 9s. Keep them cheap, they'll attract less firepower and are less of a luability in assault (with 12 there's a chance some might stick around for a 2nd round of combat). My preference is 6 as they are cheap and easy to hide. 9s give the advatange of it requires 3 casualties to cause a panic check.

Riptide wants an EWO always. Interceptor is brilliant with a S8 blast, ruins drop pod armies.

Crisis suits shouldn't mix weapons pick what you want them to do and build them to do that. In this list perhaps a second Iontide would be the best fit for 190 points (compared to 232 of your unit). If you want AP2 then the Riptide seems the way to go. If you want S7 then get more Broadsides. Though double fusion could be a good fit as you have nothing that can deal with AV14.

Take missile drones on your Broadsides always. They are ludicrous for 12 points. Shield drones are pointless now as you get T4 from any drone and getting a 4+/5+ cover is pretty easy so always take one with a gun. The missile drones being by far the best in the codex, they really are stupid good. I tend not to bond my sides as they tend to die before their drones though it will depend on your meta and play style. Missilesides really are the best thing in the codex I would get the 3rd for the squad. Again they need EWO ALWAYS!!! Interceptor on your best AA unit is vital and an auto-include. It also ruins deep strikers and outflankers.

Not sure you need the HH if you want a S8 blast take a Riptide. Though I find Skyrays work better in pairs. So I'd swap that out for a second Skyray. Gives you duel threat and redundancy whilst also upping your AA, MLs and alphastriking abilities.

If you make the changes I suggest you could get a 2nd Riptide and fit in a squad of double fusion Crisis suits which would up your threat level survivability and ability to deal with all types of enemy.

Okay Version 1.3:

HQ
Commander
Multi-spectrum Suite
Command and Control Node
Puretide Engram Neurochip
XV8-02 Crisis 'iridium' Battlesuit
Vectored Retro-thrusters
Neroweb Jammer

Ethreal

Troop
Fire Warriors x6

Fire Warriors x6

Fire Warriors x6

Fire Warriors x6

Elite
XV104 Riptide
Ion Accelerator
2x Shielded Missile Drones
Target Lock
Early Warning Overide

XV8 Crisis Team x3
3x Dual Fusion Blaster
Vectored retro-thrusters
1x Shas'vre
4x Shield Drone
Bonding Knife Ritual

Fast Attack
Drone Squadron w/ 4 markerlight drones.

Heavy Support
Broadsides x3
High Yield Missile Pod x2
6x Missile Drones
Early Warning Overide x3

Hammerhead Gunship
Ion Cannon
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship
Blacksun filter
Sensor Spines
Disruption Pod

1500 on the dot.

I think that centering the Ethreal with the FW's will help alot. Especially with gaining the extra shot. Added in a Markerlight drone squad to light up targets and deny cover etc for more units.

play around a bit with that and see what you like. I perfer a beatstick (beat-gun?) commander personally. personally, i dont like small squads of fire warriors, because the give the feeling of more than is really, 4 squads of six is only 2 squads of 12. a good rule of thumb is 1 decent sized unit of troops for every 500 points (9-12 firewarrios, 10 kroot plus hound) these can be split up into smaller unit but its the numbers that are important. you NEED troops for this edition of WH40K