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.

Looking for any comments or suggestions on this list. I want it to be able to deal with a variety of threats. Any help appreciated as I haven't played tau before but Farsight enclaves looks fun to paint and play with, so I may start them as my next army.

HQ
1x Commander with fusion blaster, plasma rifle, target lock and 2x shield drones- 144
2x Crisis bodyguard with twin-linked plasma rifles- 108

Elites
2x Riptide with ion accelerator, twin link fusion blaster, EWO and velocity tracker- 420
1x Riptide with HBC, twin-linked SMS, ATS, and CDS- 188

Troops
3x crisis suits with TL fusion blasters, 2x shield drones- 153
3x crisis suits with TL plasma rifles, 2x shield drones- 153
2x crisis suits with TL burst cannons and 1x crisis suit with TL flamer, 2x shield drones- 133

Heavy Support
3x broadsides with TL high yield missiles and TL SMS- 198

Total= 1497

I like putting twin-linked weapons on most of the crisis suits, because it offsets their BS 3 and eliminates most of the needs for marker lights, but I am open to suggestions. Also having specific roles for each squad (tank-hunting, heavy infantry, light infantry) seemed like a good idea to avoid wasting shots. The only thing I'm worried about is durability, because after all there aren't very many bodies in this list. Another thing I'm worried about is the limited mobility of the broadsides. My original idea was just to park them on my side of the board and destroy anyone who comes close, but they are pretty useless if they aren't within their 36" inch range of enemy troops for most of the game.

Let me know what you think, thanks!

Advanced targeting system for me seems to be useless on a riptide unless you are having a buffmander allied in join with him.

For your commander I think it is a waste of points to have fusion blaster and a plasma rifle, in most cases you're better off with 2 of one weapon because if you are facing a tank with that fusion, the plasma rifle is going to be useless. I suggest dual missile pods, it worked for me, it worked for many people I believe, and it will probably work for you.

I have mixed feelings about riptide with VT and EWO, especially 2 of them. But I've never tried that so go for it. I'd suggest SI, the look on your opponent's face is priceless...I mean 35pt. But considering what I'm about to talk about, I'd say have EWO and CDS, or even just EWO.

Crisis Suit load out will depend on the other elements in your army. Your riptide has the plasma covered, unless you play in a meta where there's a lot of TEQ I think you're better off with something else. I would also split the fusion suit into 3 1-man suicide teams, that's more personal preference. Missile Suits or burst suits are nice, and honestly I think burst suits with maybe 2 flamer suit will make this list more balanced. You'd have anti-infantry(crisis troops) anti-tank(broadsides) anti-TEQ (riptides) anti-heavy tanks(crisis suiciders) and with Farsight enclave, take the Talisman!

It saved my army so many times (damn puppet masters!)

Lastly, VT is just sooo great on missilesides! Take it here instead of the riptides.

Excuse my terrible paragraphs, I tried to put all the relevant topics in each but my mind is too jumpy.

Thank you for all of your help! I think your right, I probably don't need quite that much AP2 and should trade some plasma on the crisis suits for burst cannons.

The only thing that I don't like about those one-man suicide fusion teams is that they only hit 50% of the time, and I don't have any markerlights in this army to raise their BS.

The reason I took the fusion blaster on my commander was cause I felt like twin-linking one of the other weapons would just be useless, because he's already hitting on 2+.

And I totally agree with you about the VT on the misslesides, that's where I had then originally, but I removed them because I realized that they might not be in range of most flyers. I put them on my riptide a because those will be playing more forward and all oncoming enemy fliers will be in range of at least their ion accelerators.

Bodyguards usually aren't worth th points, especially when you can just get a 2 x Crisis Team for cheaper that is a troop choice.

I would probably get rid of the Shield drones. Not worth it in my opinion.

Earth Caste Pilot Array is a must in a Farsight list, especially if you have a Burst tide. ECPA, VT, and EWO is the loadout I would go with.

Talisman is also a good Signature System. Worst-case, throw it on your Commander to give him an invuln. save and extra psychic defense.

Missile pods work well for the crisis suits. I would suggest them over burst cannons. I just don't like the burst cannons range. Puts your suits in too much danger.

Praetoricron wrote:
Thank you for all of your help! I think your right, I probably don't need quite that much AP2 and should trade some plasma on the crisis suits for burst cannons.

The only thing that I don't like about those one-man suicide fusion teams is that they only hit 50% of the time, and I don't have any markerlights in this army to raise their BS.

The reason I took the fusion blaster on my commander was cause I felt like twin-linking one of the other weapons would just be useless, because he's already hitting on 2+.

And I totally agree with you about the VT on the misslesides, that's where I had then originally, but I removed them because I realized that they might not be in range of most flyers. I put them on my riptide a because those will be playing more forward and all oncoming enemy fliers will be in range of at least their ion accelerators.

You're right about the fusion suits, in that case I think 2x Crisis w/ TL fusion is cheap and pretty effective too, give a shield drone and you're ready to takedown anything.

For the commander a fusion costs the same as a plasma rifle, so shouldn't be a problem at all.

Missilesides with good deployment shouldn't be out of range of anything they should be shooting at, since transport vehicles are dangerous only if they are coming to you, and flyers will have to circle around towards you unless he wants to leave a blind spot/go to hover, which works in your favor too. And again always have drones with them. Always. Edit: my mistake for not bringing it up earlier.

Okay thanks for the help both of you, what do you think of this revised list?
HQ
1x Commander with cyclic ion blaster, and plasma rifle- 115

Elites
2x Riptide with ion accelerator, twin link fusion blaster, EWO and velocity tracker- 420
1x Riptide with HBC, TL SMS, CDS, and Earth Caste Pilot Array- 215

Troops
2x Crisis suit with TL fusion blaster, 2x shield drones- 110
2x Crisis suit with TL fusion blaster, 2x shield drones- 110
3x Crisis suit with TL middle pod, 2x shield drones- 153
3x Crisis suit with TL plasma rifles, 2x shield drones- 153

Heavy Support
3x Broadsides with TL HYMP AND TL SMS, 2x shield drone -222

Total= 1498


So I'm still planning on using the riptides for anti-air, instead of the broadsides, just cause I want to actually play test that concept as I think it may work really well. I would've taken the talisman on my commander, but I couldn't easily free up the points anywhere. If you guys see a place to drop those 25 please let me know. Any more suggestion would be great, thanks!

Lose the VTs on Riptides, add EWOs to the broadsides, then replace the 2 shield drones with 4 missile drones.
I would also suggest replacing shield drones with marker drones or gun drones for the crisis teams, or removing them altogether. With the points saved you can turn the commander into a buffmander, or add some kroot.

Interesting ideas, although if I lose the VTS, I won't have hardly any reliable anti-air, and I will waste valuable riptide shots by only hitting on 6s. Also, while I do appreciate the added firepower of missile drones, this would make my units a lot less survivable.

Praetoricron wrote:
Interesting ideas, although if I lose the VTS, I won't have hardly any reliable anti-air, and I will waste valuable riptide shots by only hitting on 6s. Also, while I do appreciate the added firepower of missile drones, this would make my units a lot less survivable.

Shield drones add very little survivability at all, and the marginal increase is FAR outweighed by the benefits of having missile drones.
You seem to be assuming that IonTides are "reliable AA"? They really aren't. If you're still convinced that broadsides aren't enough, then put a VT on the BurstTide (CDS is a waste of points anyway).
As it is, you're spending 40pts to attempt to turn the riptides into what they aren't.

Tactical_Genius wrote:

Praetoricron wrote:
Interesting ideas, although if I lose the VTS, I won't have hardly any reliable anti-air, and I will waste valuable riptide shots by only hitting on 6s. Also, while I do appreciate the added firepower of missile drones, this would make my units a lot less survivable.

Shield drones add very little survivability at all, and the marginal increase is FAR outweighed by the benefits of having missile drones.
You seem to be assuming that IonTides are "reliable AA"? They really aren't. If you're still convinced that broadsides aren't enough, then put a VT on the BurstTide (CDS is a waste of points anyway).
As it is, you're spending 40pts to attempt to turn the riptides into what they aren't.

After thinking about it, I realize you are actually right. You mean replace the shield drones on the broadsides only right? And keep them on the crisis suits? Also I think you're right about riptides not being geared towards anti-air. I'll rewrite the list again, and post the new version soon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok here's my new and revised list, what do you guys think?

HQ
1x commander with 2x missile pods (not TL), EWO, and drone controller- 128

Troops
2x crisis suits with TL fusion blasters, 2x shield drones- 110
2x crisis suits with TL fusion blasters, 2x shield drones- 110
3x crisis suits with TL missile pods, 2x marker drones- 153
3x crisis suits with TL plasma rifles, 2x shield drones- 153

Elites
3x riptides with ion accelerator, and TL SMS- 555 total

Heavy Support
3x broadsides with TL high yield missile launchers and TL SMS, 6 missile drones- 285

Total= 1494 (let me know if you know how to spend 6 points)

I use a similar list to this and there are two things that you get in the farsight enclaves list that you arnt making use of: the talisman and the earth caste pilot array. I would find points for these two items.

your list is not bad, I have played this kind of list for a while at various tournaments so take my advice if you want its upto you I am only giving my opinion

. in your list above you have zero anti air (apart from broadsides since there twin linked) take the burstide with earth caste and VT

I don't know if its a typo but your broadside unit is 15 points over I would give them EWO but use intercept wisely I use it for intercepting SMS on chaff troops or jet bikes that have just come on. they are not bad anti with the drones so I would think carefully before intercepting a flyer as the drones cant intercept.

I am assuming the commander goes with the marker drone unit as the drone controller doesn't work on missile drones. the mark'o commander is good I use him my self and always does well. what I would suggest is have more marker drones to benefit from the BS5. also the missile suits and the commander should take target locks if this is your plan, for 5 points you drastically increase the squads effectiveness.

I agree with what has been said above, shield drones arnt the greatest choice as models are removed from the front.

here is a similar list a bit of a mix between my current list and the list above:

commander 2 missile pods target lock drone controller 2 marker drones 152

troops
2 suits TL fusion blasters 86
3 crisis suits 2 missile pods target locks 4 marker drones 222
3 suits tl plasma 129

elites
riptide ion fusion EWO 190
riptide ion fusion EWO 190
riptide HBC ecpa VT 230

3 missilesides EWO 6 missile drones 285

1484

Thanks for the advice. And yes I did have EWO on the missile-sides, I just forgot to write it in there.

And I actually was planning on having the commander with the missile-sides. I must have not seen where it says that the drone controller doesn't work on missile drones. Do you know what page number that is in the codex?

I like your list a lot as well and will factor some of your ideas into the next rewrite of mine.

page 68.

I don't personally run suicide melta suits but I can see the appeal to using them.

if you move onto larger games deeply consider a skyray they synch well with the burstide.

also I don't know how much experience you have with riptides but marker light support is needed makes them very efficient.

Alright here's the next rewrite. I decided to take an aegis defense line with Icarus lascannon for my main anti-air as I think that will be the most effective. The drone marksman will be manning it with BS5. And the broadsides will be backup anti-air.

HQ
Commander with 2x missile pods, drone controller, 2x marker drones- 147

Troops
2x Crisis suits with TL fusion blasters- 86
2x Crisis suits with TL fusion blasters- 86
3x Crisis suits with TL missile pods- 129
2x Crisis suits with TL missile pods, 2x marker drones- 110 (commander goes with this squad)

Elites
1x Riptide with ion accelerator and TL plasma rifle, ECPA- 215
2x Riptide with ion accelerator and TL plasma rifle- 370

Heavy Support
3x Broadsides with TL HYMP and TL SMS, EWO- 213
1x marksman, 3x sniper drones- 58

Fortifications
1x aegis defense line with Icarus lascannon- 85

Total= 1499