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Just written this Tau list for an up and coming tournament and want to know what you guys think, I think it's pretty good.

HQ:
Cadre Fireblade*

Troops:
12 Firewarriors*

10 Firewarriors

Elites:
Riptide /w Ion Accelerator and EWO

Fast Attack:
5 Pathfinders

Heavy Support:
Broadside /W HYMP, 2 Missile drones and EWO.

What do you think?

I think an Ethereal would help your FW teams more than the Cadre.

If you were running MSU of firewarriors I'd agree with an Ethereal.

If you dropped down to an Ethereal I'd run four units of 6 FW, maybe cutting the EWO on broadsides and Riptide for the extra points.

As it is, it looks pretty good. What secondary weapon are you considering for the Riptide? Personally at that low point value I'd consider the HBC over the IA, it just seems a bit more versatile to me but the IA is just fine for reliability.

I was going to use fusion blaster just as a back up for armour 14 and just some added tank killing, and maybe the ethereal could be better to use for feel no pain and the extra rapid fire shot, however I would be a little worried with him in a 6 man squad due to victory points


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I also find that the ion accelerator works well in these points as people tend to use death stars quite often or units like terminators, centurions etc.

If you dropped the Fireblade, pathfinders and the excess 10 Firewarriors you could get a Buffmander and another broadside. That makes your Riptide infinitely better. You basically never give up STW until your Riptide dies (which it won't at this point level unless you've lost the game already). Whilst your Broadside unit just becomes an everything killer. Then you can start your FWs in reserve

 FlingitNow wrote:
If you dropped the Fireblade, pathfinders and the excess 10 Firewarriors you could get a Buffmander and another broadside. That makes your Riptide infinitely better. You basically never give up STW until your Riptide dies (*which it won't at this point level unless you've lost the game already*). Whilst your Broadside unit just becomes an everything killer. Then you can start your FWs in reserve

That's not necessarily true. By reducing your firewarriors to 2x6 man min squads and taking another broadside you're basically assuring that whatever you attach the buffmander to is going to be the focus of my entire army's firepower. If you attach it to the broadsides, I'm going to shoot/assault those. If you attach him to the Riptide I'm going to shoot/assault that. You have made my target priority a joke. Where as in the previous list, my knee jerk reaction is to kill the pathfinders but will I ever make it there with a Riptide, a Broadside and 24 Firewarriors laying down the hurt? Sure they have to share Markerlight tokens but the whole army is still a lot more effective than one unit with a bunch of buffs to it's shooting. So I have to decide:try to tie up/kill the units that are killing me or weather all that fire power to get to the unit that's enabling their killiness? That is a conundrum that has to be solved on the battlefield and most generals won't be able to. "hurr durr assault the Riptide" can be solved by anyone with a semi competent CC unit.

So what is a threat to a Riptide at this point level with shooting? If you're talking about assault it then cool you chase the Riptide whilst ignoring the 2 Broadsides who are killing a unit a turn.

You say its makes target priority a joke which is sort of true but most Tau players want you to shoot the Riptide. Unless you've got lots of AP2 shots you'll never kill it. If you have lots of AP2 shots you need to find a way to deliver them. Which again causes problems because we're talking Centurions, Exocrines, Sternguard or Black knights here which will all struggle to survive to get into threat range.

Shooting would mostly be to take off a wound or two since therss not much else to shoot at. Broadsides won't erase a unit a turn. Sure they have a ridiculous amount of shots but they're like Lootas that way and without markerlights or a Buffmander, they practically ARE Lootas. And have you ever seen someone take two Lootas? (i know it's an exaggeration because you cm only have 3 broadsides and you can have up to 15 Lootas but you get the point)

In assault I can list lots of stuff that would not only catch the Riptide but kill it handily.
Black Mace Prince
Heldrake Vector strikes
Mini Seerstar
Wraithknight (hard to fit but yeah, someone could)
Dark Eldar with poisoned weapons (venom spam could also just shoot it to death)
Space Marine Bikes (could also shoot it to death with grav guns)
Nemesis Dreadknight
Hit it with a Deffrolla wagon
Flyrant/Mawloc/Trygon/harpy/hive crone vector strikes
BA Vanguard Veterans (feth Yeah Heroic Intervention!)
Idk other stuff I'm probably forgetting.

*also, black knights won't have trouble catching a Riptide. Even with nova charged jet pack move and a run (5d6) your average is only like 21+12" move which sacrifices shooting and can fail and cause a wound whereas a bike can move 24" all the time*

The point is: One Riptide does not an army make.

At 750 a Riptide is tough to deal with your list of stuff:

Black Mace Prince - Dies long before it gets anywhere near combat. T5 means Broadsides just murder it.
Heldrake Vector strikes - ap3 are you kidding me?
Mini Seerstar - if it can get there alive it will take a long time to kill the Riptide and not much else comes out the other side if anything. Most likely it just dies before it gets there Fortune gives it a shot otherwise now way does it make combat.
Wraithknight (hard to fit but yeah, someone could) - that is actually something that would give him a real problem. But it could get locked in combat a while with a stubborn Riptide and may not survive much after that. 2 Wraithknights would almost auto beat the list and do the same to the original list. At 750 the game can become Rock paper scissors.
Dark Eldar with poisoned weapons (venom spam could also just shoot it to death) - Ha, no just seriously no.
Space Marine Bikes (could also shoot it to death with grav guns) with a max 30" threat range again they die before they get there. Even the bike command with 4 gravs remember wounding on 3+ due to the Commander has 12 shots 8 hits 5.33 wounds only 3.556 after invuns and the commander can tank some and this is assuming the unit gets to shoot at full capacity which it won't.
Nemesis Dreadknight - yeah he'd cause the list problems but again is likely to go down before he makes combat. Its quite hit and miss though. Between shooting and overwatch the Broadsides should do 2 wounds to him and then its can I do 2 wounds between the monster hunting shooting, overwatch and a round of combat from the Riptide and Commander (remember I go first in combat as you don't have grenades). The original lust has the same issue except it has no way to kill that Dreadknight before combat and not a huge threat to it after... also the Knights flamer actually gets to do something turn 1 when he shunts next to the Riptide. Obviously if I go first that Dreadknight should never make combat.
Hit it with a Deffrolla wagon - really? Did you just say that?
Flyrant/Mawloc/Trygon/harpy/hive crone vector strikes - Vector strikes are Ap3 again. Mawloc please that loses a fight and wants to go after the Broadsides, Trygons are never taken by competent players. Flyrant is a tough cookie similar thing to the Dreadknight but slower and will struggle to survive to make combat.
BA Vanguard Veterans (feth Yeah Heroic Intervention!) - Ha ha ha. I'm assuming that was a joke. No way do they live to make combat.

Black knights? Please again they die long before they get within the 12" threat range they need to be a serious threat.

Yes Wraithknight could cause the list problems and double Wraithknight practically auto beats it (but in turn practically auto loses to poison spam). But its 750 its going to be very rock papers scissors at that point level. Deathstars are used by most of the top tournament players for a reason.

It's not actually 750 it's 600 and only 600, no flexibility. And what does a buffmander do? I'm guessing its a pimped commander but what does it have? Kinda new to tau and I'm'm building this list for a friend.

Yeah posting on another thread for 750 point lists but my wires crossed.

Buffmander at this points level is commander with PEN Chip, MSSS and C&CN. Basically he makes your Riptide twin linked and ignore cover whilst also giving it Tank Hunter, Monster Hunter or stubborn dependant on situation. Twinlinking the Riptide is huge as not only does it massively increase his chances of hitting it also gives you rerolls on your gets hit roll. Whilst ignoring cover means you just kill what you hit.

He could also jump into the Broadsides if you were against Serpent Spam so they kill a Serpent a turn (at this point level they'll only have 2 tops).

He's very common on the Tournament scene practically every Marine or Tau deathstar includes one.

I thought IC couldn't join 1 man squads or am I mistaken/outdated?

I would drop the pathfinders and cadre for a marko. More efficient and harder to kill. Unless using pathfinders to draw turn one fire is your goal. Honestly you could use the pathfinders to draw your opponents forces into broadside range. Just fall them back

The Riptide is not a 1 model unit. It can purchase drones, which would make it a unit of 1-3 models. You don't need to purchase the drones, just having the ability to allows it.

Yeah ICs can not join units that are only ever 1 model. They are free to join units that can contain multiple models but you've only purchased 1 (like 1 man crisis teams, Riptides, Paladins, Carnifexes etc).

You can't afford a Mark'o who rubs at 196 but a buffmander at 135 is affordable and for me the best fit for this points level if you're taking a Riptide.

It would definitely be worth considering, so droping fireblade, pathfinders and 10 firewarriors for a buffmander and a broadside?

Yes it really increases both your damage output and your survivability.