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Hello there.

Just starting with the wargaming, looking to build a strong 500pts Tau Cadre, to expand from later on.

HQ

Cadre Fireblade - 60 pts

Troop

Fire Warrior Team - Bonding Knife, 6 models - 60 pts

XV8 Crisis Team - 3x2 Plasma Rifle, Bonding Knife, 3 models - 159 pts

Elite

XV104 Riptide - Ion Accelerator, TL Fusion Blaster, Early Warning Override, Earth Caste Pilot Array - 220 pts

Total: 499 pts

The idea is to stick the fireblade to the FW team for double shots, use the Crisis teams to grab objectives/decimate MeQ, and use the Riptide as wound soak. ECPA allows using Nova Reactor each turn, to facilitate the destruction.

Main questions are:
- Optimal Crisis weapons given the rest of the roster - PR are taken to kill MeQ, but is it really the most versatile choice?
- Riptide upgrades - ECPA worth it? Can take 3 extra FW instead, which may be better as they are buffed by the Fireblade. Lack of velocity tracker - nothing to drop Flying units - worth including it instead of ECPA?

Looking for any and all feedback.

Hello, welcome to wargaming and Tau!

One thing to note, at 500 Pts a Riptide puts too many eggs in one basket! If someone brings Grav or any other easy removal for a Riptide, it could be game over very quickly. I'll get to what you may want to replace him with later.

Secondly, don't bring Fireblades! Ethereals do what Fireblades do, only better and cheaper! The AoE stuff the Ethereal gives out is tons better than the Fireblade, and the LD10 bubble is invaluable at such a small points level.

As for the Crisis Team, Plasma is the best vs MEQ! However, you'll have problems vs big mech lists. To compensate, I suggest taking Missile Pods instead! Its the same RoF, but you get the important +1S as well as additional range. Much more versatile.

Personally, I would replace the Riptide with a squad of Broadsides. For the same points, you can get 3 Broadsides!

Here's what I'm thinking for a list:

Ethereal - 50

x9 FW - 90
Crisis Team (x3 Double Missile) - 159

Broadside (Missiles, Advanced Targeting System) - 69
Broadside (Missiles) - 66
Broadside (Missiles) - 66

This list comes out to 500 on the dot. You have lots of shots to throw around! The ATS on the Broadside will help you snipe out those pesky special or heavy weapons if the need arises.

If you need some more hardcore help, head over to Advanced Tau Tactica. They're pretty tough on new guys, so lurk around for a bit before trying to post too much over there.

Hope this helps!

Lucarikx

Thanks for the post Lucarikx, I appreciate the feedback.

To clarify, Fireblade was chosen over an Ethereal for several purposes
- BS5 Markerlight (the only markerlight out there) for high priority targets
- Much higher survavability (3 wounds and 4+ save),
- Better FW buff - Ethereal provides double shots only at half range, while Fireblade does so at full range.
Further, I expect the Ethereal to be very squishy with no save, 2 wounds, and very few units to hide in, thus it seems like basically giving the opponent 1 additional VP for killing an easy target.

Riptide was chosen over the broadsides for more versatility - relatively safe Nova Charging (ECPA gives Nova Charge a 89% success rate) allows to pick the buff needed by situation - for example Nova-Shield if I encounter a significant danger. However I do appreciate the higher damage output Broadsides provide, it seems like they have less flexibility overall, encountering different opponents.

On a side note, if I do pick Missile Broadsides, wouldn't picking Missile Crisis be redundant? I guess in this case arming at least one with Fusion Blasters will be required for tank killing duty (as Riptide is absent), and the rest will be better off with closer range weapons as well, since Broadsides provide a lot of missiles already.

I might be completely wrong on all of this as I have very little actual experience, so feel free to correct me when I'm wrong.

You make some good points! One problem you'll encounter at these low point levels is that you want to make sure you're units don't run off the table! The Ethereal may be extremely squishy, but he does give a lot of buffs in return. As I said before, his LD bubble is probably the best reason to take him - for example, if you're Riptide gets locked in combat, it won't immediately get run down if it loses by combat by even 1 point.

The Riptide is a good choice, but may be a bit risky. You literally lose half of your army if they tie him in combat, so you might have to be careful. The way you're running him, I would give him the HBC over the Ion Accelerator. If he gets his Nova off (which he probably will) he can start putting some hurt on any weird infantry lists you come up against, as well as having some pretty decent anti-air with 12 shots S6.

The missile Crisis are just their for wound saturation. I wouldn't advise giving them Fusion, though, as you want them as far from the enemy as possible.

Lucarikx