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.

Just starting out WH40k again and trying Tau for the first time. I'm looking for a balanced army that is reasonably competitive but still fun to play (and play against). Thoughts and comments are appreciated, as I haven't played this game in years!

Farsight Enclave - Primary Detachment

Cadre Fireblade - 60pts

Crisis Team - 188 pts
- 3x suits with 2x Fusion Blasters each
- VRT on one suit
- 2 shield drones

Crisis Team - 188 pts
- 3x suits with 2x Plasma Rifles each
- VRT on one suit
- 2x gun drones

Drone Squadron - 84 pts
- 6x Marker Drones

Skyray - 121 pts
- Sensor spines
- TL Smart Missile System
- Blacksun Filter

Tau Empire - Allied Detachment

Commander - 155 pts
- Drone Controller
- 2x Missile Pods
- Neuroweb System Jammer
- Target Lock
- Iridium suit

Fire Warrior - 99 pts
- 11x FW

Fire Warrior - 99 pts
- 11x FW

The commander will join with the marker drone squadron and sit 36" away, tanking hits for the marker drones. The FW, skyray, and Cadre Fireblade will castle up nearby, while the two crisis suits go and hunt down TEQ/Tanks. My goal was to be able to deal reasonably well with flyers as well as AV14. I chose shield drones for the FB crisis suit team because the targets the unit will be engaging will likely not be hurt by gun drones, and I already have a bunch of markerlights. The gun drones on the plasma suits are because they will generally be a little farther away from danger, and could potentially cause a wound or two on the intended targets of that team.

This list gives 4 scoring units at 1000 pts, two of which are very mobile and reasonably tough to kill.

I like what is going on in this list. It should be a strong while avoiding sheer cheese or spam.

One major thing you should do is rework your ally/main detachment. As it stands, your farsight enclave could be the ally, and the empire your main. I strongly suggest doing this so you can make the commander your warlord over the fireblade. Swapping out your T3 4+ armor save warlord to a T5 2+ save warlord goes a LONG way towards negating slay the warlord. You could even get technical and move the fast/heavy choices from the enclave to the empire detachment. Since it does not really matter for gameplay, it would be a good point to develop for the fluff and backstory of your army. Has the enclave sent crisis troops and a hardened fireblade to lead the tech savvy but...coward empire, or is the Enclave accepting new warriors and tech into the ranks? Creative license and the ability to have fluff while being competitive is always great.

You have a few spare points, enough to grab an onager gauntlet for the commander. An S10 hit in melee at inatitive is a very nice "just in case". You could also drop a fire warrior to get a disruption pod for the ray.

Thanks! You make a good point on the ally/main switch, and I like the idea of having an onager gauntlet in case.

Looking back over the list, I switched the skyray out for a 2x broadside team + 2x missile drones as well. Per mathhammer, even without skyfire or markerlights, I can strip about 0.7 hull points per turn off a Heldrake, with 6% chance of killing it outright. Compare this to a Skyray alpha strike (assuming BS5 with self boost from ML), which strips 1.7 hull points with a 18% chance of killing it. With a single markerlight hit, the broadside team goes up to 1.3 hull points stripped with a 11% chance of killing it, not quite as good still, but a much more consistent amount of damage than the one shot deal of the skyray.

I lose the skyfire ML, but gain a ton of dakka (that can overwatch too) on the ground.

As a side note, I have some concerns about using the commander as a meatshield for the drone squad as he should now be majority T4 and ID-able by S8-9 anti tank weapons, I guess the iridium armour still helps against krak missiles though.

Updated List:

Tau Empire - Main Detachment

Commander - 184 pts - Warlord
- Drone Controller
- 2x Missile Pods
- Neuroweb System Jammer
- Onager Gauntlet
- Target Lock
- Iridium suit
- 2x Marker Drone

Fire Warrior - 81 pts
- 9x FW

Fire Warrior - 81 pts
- 9x FW

Drone Squadron - 56 pts
- 4x Marker Drones

Broadside Team - 156 pts
- 2x Broadside with TL HYMP and TL SMS
- 2x Missle Drones
- Bonded

Farsight Enclave - Allied Detachment

Cadre Fireblade - 60pts

Crisis Team - 188 pts
- 3x suits with 2x Fusion Blasters each
- VRT on one suit
- 2 shield drones

Crisis Team - 188 pts
- 3x suits with 2x Plasma Rifles each
- VRT on one suit
- 2x gun drones

Total: 994 pts.

I am fairly certain that the instant death rule kicks in on a per model basis, and not majority toughness, meaning only S10 will instagib him. It all wounds on majority T, but S8+ wounds T4 or 5 just the same.

Since you have some extra extra points, you could throw advanced targeting systems on both broadsides, or an EWO on a single suit. Or on the crisis, or whatever.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
I am fairly certain that the instant death rule kicks in on a per model basis, and not majority toughness, meaning only S10 will instagib him. It all wounds on majority T, but S8+ wounds T4 or 5 just the same.

Since you have some extra extra points, you could throw advanced targeting systems on both broadsides, or an EWO on a single suit. Or on the crisis, or whatever.

Ah ok, looks like I misread that section. I like the idea of ATS on broadsides, with twin-linked on everything upping the chances of getting a 6. Thanks!