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I'm thinking about starting Tau at 1000 pts. What do you think of this list :

Commander : TL Plasma Rifle, Iridium Battlesuit, Maker Drone x2, Drone Controller
Total: 162

Fire Warriors x12 : Sha’sui, Maker Drone x2,
Devilfish
Total: 222

Fire Warriors x12 : Sha’sui, Maker Drone x2 ,
Total: 142

Kroot x12 : Sniper rounds
Total: 84

Stealth Team x3 : Fusion Blaster, Shas’vre, Maker Drone x2,
Total: 129

Crisis Team x3 : TL Plasma Rifle x3, Flamer x3
Total: 141

Pathfinder x10 : Shas’ui
Total: 120

Just before I start you need to know that I have a small non competitive tau army, I don't play tau to WAAC so YMMV with this advice.

Right now the "buffmander" is riding the world with his abilities to make any unit he joins ignore cover, H&R, MH/TH, and TL, I would recommend you take him, and give him duel flamers for over watch reasons.

Everything else looks pretty good, except for the battle suits, if you take my advice on the "buffmander" then you won't need Tl plasma rifles, just take 2 rifles. Flamers I think are not 100% necessary on battle suits because if you do it right most of the time they will be either dead, or to damaged to hurt you after over watch (plus you can JSJ).

And lastly the pathfinders have no marker lights, and are weaker then fire warriors so I WOULD make them fire warriors for more shooting.

I have no opinion on the stealth team because I have never used it.

@ Arbiter, Pathfinders come stock with Markerlights, so really he just needs to split them from 10 to two of 5.

Lets with a few general pointers on Tau that I see biting you in the list.
1) Drones with a FW squad count against total transport space in a DF so you can't embark your squad on the the DF they bought as it is currently 14 models and a fish only holds 12.

2) Marker drones are not Networked so can not buff the squad they are with. They also are not equipped with target locks so must fire at the same target as the squad. This means you will find yourself either killing off the Markerlighted target or wasting shots alot.

3) Pathfinders in general need to be taken in multiple squads for maximum ML coverage. 10 MLs on a single target is almost always overkill. (unless gunning down hordes and need lots of squads to get MLs)

Based on the above I would pull all 6 ML drones off the squads, split the Pathfinders in to two 5 man units and drop the pathfinder 'vre to free the points for making the 6 ML drones in to drone squad. This gives you 2 stationary 5 man ML teams, and one mobile ML team. If you keep the drone controller on the Commander, you can run a "Mark'o" by attaching him to the drone squad for BS5 MLs.


On the stealth team, it is generally accepted that the FB is point trap, especially with out a Target Lock so it can fire at a different target than the Burst cannons. Given your lack of S8 else were, it is probably not to bad in this list.

I also agree that buffmanders are sick nasty awesome. However, you can go without if you want, BS 5 is pretty slick and fighting commanders still do work.

Since the commander has BS5, unlink those plasma rifles, as you hit on a 2+ already. Marker drone is OK cause they have BS5, but since your plasma squad can't benefit from the shots, you don't gain a lot. A good fighting commander is the Mark'O, who escorts a squad of marker drones(just take some from the fire warriors, and use his own). He tanks fire, and carries a target lock to shoot other targets while the drones mark stuff at BS5.

On the subject of markerlights, be careful about taking too many and not enough shooting. 2-4 markerlights will be all you need to make a squad dead lethal. Too much marker support means not enough guns to boost.

If you are keeping the marker drones on the fire warriors, give the 'ui a markerlight and target lock, so he can mark a seperate target with the drones, and the fire warriors dakka away. I would stick to using the warriors for dakka.

Stealth teams make decent marker mules(not as good as the mark'O) Since the 'vre has a multi tracker, they can shoot their markerlight and main gun. Again, splitting fire with the target lock using the burst cannons on something else.

Agree on taking 2 plasma for the suits over TL, even if you don't take a buffmander. Flamers are optional, but with JSJ and supporting fire your likely dead anyways, or fine.

Split your pathfinders into 2 squads of 5 so you don't overmark a squad.

Consider getting some more anti tank. Your fusion blaster is currently your only weapon capable of going through Av13+. Plasma will struggle against AV11/12, and a smart player will guard rear armor that your plasma can hurt. Dual fusion on the commander, or fusion crisis would help. You could also get a railhead in there. The onager gauntlet is a cheap way to make your commander scarier in a fight, while also adding in AT.

An ethereal will help your fire warriors and kroot with leadership, dakka and survival.

Even fighting commanders can take the neurochip and neuroweb jammer if points allow.

Sorry on the pathfinds, that was bad info for not looking it up.

Thx for all your comments and advices ! I tried to apply most of these and also to make my list more multi-tasked. What do you think of :


Commander : Command and Control Node, Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite, Puretide Engram Chip,
Total: 135

Fire Warriors x12
Devilfish
Total: 188

Fire Warriors x12
Total: 108

Kroot x12 : Sniper rounds
Total: 84

Stealth Team x3 : Shas’vre, Marker Light and Target Lock, Fusion Blaster, Advanced Targeting System x3
Total: 119

Crisis Team x3 :Fusion Blaster x3, Burst Cannon x3,
Total: 141

Pathfinder x5
Total: 55

Pathfinder x5
Total: 55

Marker Drone Squadron x8
Total: 112

Total: 997

 Dr. Serling wrote:


If you are keeping the marker drones on the fire warriors, give the 'ui a markerlight and target lock, so he can mark a seperate target with the drones, and the fire warriors dakka away. I would stick to using the warriors for dakka.

.

Unfortunately this does not work. The 'ui can target a different unit, but the Marker drones will still shot what the rest of the squad is shooting.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The second list is going to be a lot more painful to play against. A full Stormforge team with buffmander can make everything from Tanks to TH/SS to MC's worry.

I would use the ATS sniping to try and pick out any S8 Heavy weapons guys first, that will make your suits that much more surviveable. When you don't have a good FB target for the stealth team, try using his markerlight to bump the drone squad to bs3. that will significantly increase the markerlight hits.

What is the single devilfish doing other then lascannon bait? I say drop it and with points left take duel flamers on commander, and more drones.

Honestly, it's just there because it comes in the bundle I might buy XD .

Take that Devilfish and homebrew yourself a nice Railgun for it. Not to hard! Then you can have a nice Hammerhead!

Now that, is a blue print for success!

Also, if you have enough seeker missile bits you can DIY your own skyray from the devilfish.

My Opinion:

Second list is better but I would:

1: Too many markerlights for 1k points. MLs are force multipliers, in some cases it's better to reduce the multiplier and increase the base force. I would drop the marker drones altogether and bring 3 squads of 4 pathfinders. Those marker drones are BS2 without a commander.

2: I would drop the fusion on the stealth team. It splits up their purpose too much IMO. 12 BC shots on the move is something to worry about.

3: I would consider dropping the stealth team, I'm not a big fan of them but YMWV. I would consider another 3 man crisis team with 2x Missile pods each. double the wounds, 12 S7 AP4 shots. Without doing the math I would guess that dropping the drones and moving from 10 pathfinders to 12 in 3 squads would free up enough points to upgrade the stealth team to crisis suits.

4: Devilfishes usually at least need SMS upgrade to be worth it. Probably a DP too

Thx for all the advices !

It is our duty as followers of the Dakka to help/assist any and all people seeking genuine advice.

Good luck and have fun!