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Trying something a bit different for a tournament. Looking for a little feedback - for an 1850 list

Tau Empire ( Primary Detachment )
HQ -
Ethereal

Elites
XV104 Riptide - Ion accelerator, Twin-linked smart missile system, Velocity tracker
XV104 Riptide - Ion accelerator, Twin-linked smart missile system, Velocity tracker

Troops
6 x Fire Warrior Team - Devilfish w/ Disruption Pods
6 x Fire Warrior Team - Devilfish w/ Disruption Pods

Fast
Pathfinder Team x 6 - Bonding Knife Ritual
Pathfinder Team x 6 - Bonding Knife Ritual

Heavy
Hammerhead Gunship - Disruption pod, submunitions, Twin-linked smart missile system
Hammerhead Gunship - Disruption pod, submunitions, Twin-linked smart missile system
2 x XV88 Broadside - Twin-linked heavy rail rifle, Twin-linked smart missile system

Chaos Space Marines ( Allied Detachment)
HQ
Sorcerer - ML 3, Terminator Armor, Mark of Tzeentch, Force Stave, Combi-Flamer

Troops
5 x Thousand Sons - Rhino
5 x Thousand Sons - Rhino

Goal is to have some Psyker Support in terms of Deny The Witch, as well as some more tough troops to take farther afield objectives. I figured the extra charges from Rubricae and AP3 also help. Thoughts on where to hide the terminator sorcerer? Thoughts on discipline options?

I wouldn't have the Sorcerer in Terminator armor because you cannot hide him very well. He can't join the Tau units and cannot go into one of the Rhinos. I would just leave him in regular armor and attach him to one of the T-son squads.

As for the Tau, I would change the Broadsides to the HYMP. They are so much better than the Rail Rifles

I would also remove the termy armor and attach him to one of the squads.

Use Crimson Slaughter Codex to give him Balestar for Divination/spell familiar (where is your spell familiar?) and/or Daemonheart for 2+ in power armor.

Thanks for the assitance!

Don't own Crimson Slaughter, but I will add a spell familiar and ditch the termy armour. Since I am only fielding 2 broadsides I think I will go for HYMP.

Interesting, using csm just for the deny the witch.

Maybe use Summoning to get some Daemons going too? It would be quite funny to use Sacrifice on a Tson, turn him into a Herald with a Portalglyph, and before your opponent knows it he's facing a Tau gunline with Daemon Summoning. It's been something I've been wanting to try

Having two 5-man Thousand Sons squads used primarily for an extra WC isn't really ideal since the Aspiring Sorcerers are limited.

If you dropped one squad (185) and the lvl 3 Sorcerer (157?), you could take Ahriman and have 4x more Rubricae to fill the Rhino with 20 pts left over for Melta bombs, etc.

Drop both hammer heads, drop both pathfinder teams. They are not optimal.

Skyrays solve both problems of lack of aa and marker lights. Fusion blasters are taus best way to deal with heavy armor.

If you're going to run an ethereal max both firewarrior squads so when you get out you get 3 shots within rapid fire. That's 36 for the fish with 12 men and 33 for the fish with the ethereal. 69 s5 shots is nothing to scoff at.

Thank you for the additional advice. I really like the idea of squeezing in Ahriman and having a 9-man Thousand Sons squad in a rhino.

I understand what you are saying about the Skyrays, I just never have much luck with them. I always roll poorly, and I am getting superstitious with themm.

Tournament is tomorrow, so I will tweek the list a bit more. Thanks again!

One final question: Why Velocity Tracker on the Riptides? With Ion and SMS they won't be hurting Fliers much, so I guess they are there for anti-FMC?

IIRC, you can't take TSons as troops when Chaos are allies (unless 7th changed that), only works for primary.

No EWS?