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Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User




Hey guys. Getting back into the game for the first time in a while (last played in 5e). I picked up the Tau start collecting box, as well as a fire warriors box, a pathfinders box, and a devilfish box. This is the list I came up with. If I load up on options I can get these models up to 1000 points, but I dont want to bloat the list, so I tried to limit it to 800.

Models I own
1x Ethereal
20x Strike Team (10 not assembled, maybe make breachers?)
3x XV8 Suits (not assembled, will probably magnetize them)
10x Pathfinders
1x Devilfish

Plus all the drones that come in every box. None are assembled yet.

List:



Thanks for your input. I would love tips on what to change and how to expand from here.
   
Made in us
Death-Dealing Dark Angels Devastator



Southeastern U.S.A.

I am not an expert, but I would recommend the following changes.

1. Remove the Gun Drones from your Strike Team. Without a Drone Controller, they are only BS 2. The drones range is only 18" but your Fire Warriors will want to be at up to their max of 30".
2. Drop the Shas-ui from the other Strike Team and remove the Markerlight and Marker Drones. Same reason as above with the Drone Controller, also they would have to shoot at the same unit your Fire Warriors were shooting at.
3. Change the Crisis Suits from twin linked Plasma Rifles to two Plasma Rifles. From what I have heard two shots at BS 3 is better than one rerollable shot at BS 3 because it gives the chance of four hits at up to 12" and two at up to 24". Twin-linked will be either one or two shots.
4. The Pathfinders will be your Markerlight source so I would recommend dropping the Pulse-Accelerator Drone since they will be using their Markerlights instead of their Pulse Carbines.
5. With the points from the changes, I would recommend adding more Pathfinders to the squad or another squad of Fire Warriors.
   
Made in us
Dark Angels Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries




Id recamend making a drone squad. They will give cover to the squas(s) behind them, not terribly exspincive, and make a decent speed bump/tar pit unit. Your crisis team id make into an hq and body guard and at 800 take at least one with two fusion blasters to take on armor. At 800 you could expect to see as much as 2 av 13/14 vehicles in a listmaybe more depending on what codex they will be useing.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Los Angeles

I am an 11 year tau vet and I have been using the new 'dex since its release.

Poster spect_spidey is right on his #3. Dual guns are better than a TL gun, in the 7e meta, especially with ML support. 7e is more about volume fire (as GW puts more models on the table in Formation detachments) than 5e.

On his #4 though, I disagree. Marker Drones are far better (though BS2) than Pathfinders, with higher T and JSJ for safety. To make them better, you could go with a Baby-Sitter HQ -
Dual Missile Pods, Drone Controller (they now use the Cmdr's BS5! ) And always, Irid Armor to make it far harder for an opponent to score Slay the Warlord. The Baby-Sitter should always purchase two MarkerDs of his own, making a 6 pack when he joins a FA Marker D unit.

With you only owning 2 other Crisis Suits ... I'd go dual PRs or dual FBs ... depending on the amount of armor you face. At 800 points ... yeah you could face AV 13/14, but I'd doubt it. Volume fire to kill the mostly infantry lists you face under 1k points.

At this point, you mostly need advice on purchases:
1. ebay - 3 more Crisis Suits to complete a MSS/C&CN supported unit:

a. Vre - MSS/C&CN, maybe flamer for Wall of Death when charged. Do not put the MSS/C&CN on the Cmdr. as you're sacrificing the Cmdr's BS5 for the 'Vre's BS3.
Cmdr - dual guns (I recommend dual PRs) Irid Armor and VRT. That PEN chip is good, too.
3+ other suits, dual guns. Skip Target Locking them as they need to erase whole units and the splitting fire of 4e and 5e doesn't hold quite as well in 7e.
Maybe 2 Gun Ds for ablative wounds.
b. If you can get it done well, then yeah, magnetize the guns.

2. Riptides - 3 of them for the Riptide Wing, rules found in the Mont'ka book set (a deep stab in your wallet for Trip-Tide and Assassin rules, but there ya go). This unit is inclusive on a lot of tourney lists, eldar, tau or muhreens. I've been using it and man, they pack a wallop with HBC guns and durability Riptide durability.

3. A StormSurge or two. Gargantuan Creature rule mechanics are awesome and the Storm's dice output is nuts. Although, I personally haven't spent the money yet.

4. I dunno if I'm sold on Ghostkeels ... I don't own the models (so haven't tried 'em). The few games I have had to fight against them means it is best to ignore them, so far. Their range is medium with a pretty good amount of gun dice. Being highly Shrouded, and being MCs (an enemy's problem in h2h) means they are a tough unit to kill. At least for how my armies have been set up lately. I regularly use a WraithKnight, and going h2h against 3 Ghostkeels is a mistake ... too many AP2 slaps.

5. Vehicles - Park your tanks. Battle Company is great because SM get free rhinos (at like 1600 point games in order for it to really work) but the rest of the races have far too high points costs to be competitive on a points-to-transport ratio to be worthwhile. Eldar 6e Wave Serpents had great fire power to make them the foundation of a list, but that's gone now.


My Bob and Fred comic makes comment on that, below.

Seriously, the rest of your purchases are in the Big Boys (monstrous creatures) category, so get ready to spend money.

"You can bring any cheesy unit you want. If you lose. Casey taught me that." -Tim S.

"I'm gonna follow Casey; he knows where the beer's at!" -Blackmoor, BAO 2013

Quitting Daemon Princes, Bob and Fred - a 40k webcomic 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





Ditch the etherial, get a cardre fireblade (or 2). Keep the pulse carbines, they have pinning and can fire 2 shots out to 18", 3 with a cardre fireblade HQ. Split your pathfinder squads in two, ditch the rail rifle.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/05/22 20:04:34


 
   
 
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