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Not sure if this is better in tactics or army lists, it is not a list as such so hoping it will fit here.

My brother plays Tau, currently runs -

Fireblade
24 FW's
10 Pathfinders
Devilfish
Small drone Squadron

He wants to add a big chunk into the army but is torn between buying a battleforce or some loose units, I have allowed him to proxy all manner of combinations but still it is not clear which option works better.

Option 1

Get a battleforce that will give him -

Fireblade
36 FW's
10 Pathfinders
Devilfish
Big drone Squadron
3 Stealths
3 Crisis Suits
A Pirahna

Option 2

Buy some loose units that will give him

Fireblade
24 FW's
10 Pathfinders with Darkstrider
A Skyray/Hammerhead that will allow him with the Devilfish to run any two of the three in a game as he needs them
3 Stealths
3 Crisis Suits
Medium sized Drone Squadron

I would probably go for option two as for the loss of 12 FW's and a Pirahna he would have the ability to play 2 devilfishes, a hammer and fish, skyray and fish or hammer and skyray depending what he needs and Darkstrider with the Pathfinders will create some havoc as he loads them with a mixture of heavy weapons as well as markerlights.

Oh and don't even ask about HQ, he swears by the Fireblade and frankly having felt the damage 39 S5 shots can do at AV11 or a Tactical squad I kind of agree with him

Option 2.

General recommendation.

Don't run a vehicle that isn't a Skyray or Hammerhead if you can help it.

I don't find the fish too bad tbh, he has been using it for grabbing objectives which helps with Tau IMO as they tend to suit a gunline.

Saying that having also played against a Hammerhead and Skyray combo recently I can see why that would be a good choice, you don't need to snatch objectives if the enemy have no troops left to get them themselves!

I would avoid stealth suits, fire warriors, smart missiles and drones cover your S5 needs. Go with crisis suits instead-they can be customized to fit what he needs.

Piranha's are ok, darkstrider is a cool model and he can always use em as a 'ui for the finders or whatever.

A hammerhead/skyray would also be good, as his list has virtually no AT shooting.

A broadside would be a good upgrade instead of the stealthsuits for that list.

Longstrike would be good, because the list and hardly any very high strength attacks.

I would recommend getting a riptide first. That's one if the most important units in the tau codex.

Riptide or Broadsides sir. Can't go wrong with either.

Riptides are the typical staple people bring with tau. They do have two inherit problems though:

1) Expensive model. In theory you can just stash your model money longer than usual to toss this aside, pretty hard to do that in practice though lol (if funds are an issue that is)
2) Theyre viewed as cheese. Despite not being anywhere near the most powerful thing in the game, least for me i see WAY more hate towards Riptides than anything else (even helldrakes now days). I field them because the model is epic and i field what i think looks cool, which is why i still play orks btw, not whats epic. I avoid spamming them though because they ARE powerful and get kinda lame with numbers.

Riptides arent required to play an effective tau army. If anything theyre a hindrance because if you dont use it properly thats a lot of points wasted - or - most opponents expect 1-2 of them and bring big guns to deal with them. Crisis bombs instead of riptides can throw a lot of people off their game.

Anyway, rant over. Back on topic lol

I would avoid the battle force for Tau. Its one of those "little of everything, not enough of anything" problems. Piranhas, firewarriors, crisis suits, and drones are all cool and useful but not in the numbers that thing gives you lol. I refuse to field piranhas without atleast 4, ideally a full 5 squad. And most people insist the piranha is worthless, and if you/your brother think the same then thats wasted money.

Battle force is not a money saver unless its the Ork one (which is 10bucks or so). Its a convenience thing only.

I would buy more firewarriors (in a 1250-2000pt game i field 40 firewarriors on average), crisis suits, a hammerhead/skyray or two, and excess drones if you feel the need (usually best to ebay that one). That would be the basic get it no matter what list. After that it depends on what you want to do, as getting everything can get way too expensive. Do you want more big guns, or numbers? Decide that, then go for either crisis suits/more firewarriors or riptides/more tanks/broadsides.

Kroot, devilfish, sniper drones, stealth suits, and the fliers are all units that have their place but is more a preference than an effective, best solution. They arent Vespid, which is totally useless lol. Personally i think our snipers are insane, problem is Heavy is usually clogged up with "must brings" lol

I think he is going to get a skyray/hammerhead kit, 3 crisis suits a box of Firewarriors and Darkstrider for now.

Totals him up to around 1450 pts overall so a nice force.

1000-1500 is the good all around points list to get a feel for an army. I wouldnt advise going higher until you kinda know what youre doing, otherwise you'll end up like me with Orks and have like 8k worth, but most in boxes still because you bought them a little rapid lol. My 4k in the siggy is what i can actually field, not what i have lol