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At my local club we occasionally do small tournaments where we strip the armies down to basics. Only the force org from the rule book is allowed, and here is my 1500 list using only models I currently own, to try to stand a chance against any and all possible opponents.

Please dissect the list, tear it apart and help me to build it back from the ground up if need be.




Commander
two plasma rifles
iridium battlesuit

Fireblade

6 man strike team
shas'ui
2 marker drones

6 man strike team
Shas'ui
2 marker drones

5 man pathfinder team

5 man pathfinder team

stealth suit team
shas'vre
homing beacon
fusion blaster and target lock

4 man crisis team
4 plasma rifles on 2 guys
fusion blaster and target lock
flamer, MSSS, CCN

3 piranhas
1 fusion blaster

Hammerhead
submunition rounds
longstrike

Riptide
twin linked fusion blaster
Ion accelerator.

What other models do you own?

I think that the list could be a bit stronger, even if you are limited to use a CAD.
I would equip the Commander with Iridium, 2 Missile Pods, 2 Marker Drones, Drone controller and a Target Lock. Join him to a squad of at least 4 Marker Drones. This way you have a Commander with double missile pods that can shoot each turn, accompanied by at least 6 marker drones that can shoot at BS5 at a different target from the commander.

I would drop the Shas'ui upgrade from the Fire Warriors and make at least 1 unit of 10+ Fire Warriors, and make the Cadre Fireblade join them. You can have a 10-men squad plus the Fireblade and an additional 5-men squad this way.

Pathfinders are considered to be slightly less effective than drones, since they are way less mobile. You can swap the two 5-men Pathfinder teams with 2 Marker Drones squads (one of them goes with the Commander).

I would not use as squad of 4 Crisis, given that they have different ranges on the loadout you listed. You have to consider that losing 1 suit forces you to take a morale check, since it is the 25% of the unit. Consider having a 3-suit team with plasma rifles and a 3-suit team with double FB and/or double flamers. FB Crisis suits work well starting in reserves and deepstriking behind enemy tanks.

The Riptide and the Hammerhead are good.

Consider giving Early Warning Override to the plasma Crisis Suits and to the Riptide at least. Velocity Tracker may also be needed in case you play against flyers.

Yeah look at splitting the Crisis team, or making it a scary bomb. It is a little to in the middle of the road.

If I cut out the piranhas I can add two more suits in, one with 2 plasma one with 2 fusion, would that be scary enough?

I would take a look at some other options honestly. I know this is a friendly atmosphere house rule tournament but forge world has some amazing units for a CAD.

So I want to start with the troops, I'd buy a sheild line from the fortifications section. Being able to move 6" and fire as if stationary plus cover save plus being able to wound on cover save of 6 makes for a tough ish base for tau.

Commander should probably be the mark'o variant described above. You could also consider buffing up a unit of fire warriors with a cadre fireblade or an ethereal. But neither are the most competitive.

Now we can get to the fun parts. Fast attack, if you don't want a mark'o and would rather have a shooting commander of cheap out with a cadre/ethereal then tetras are still good. Take them in squadrons and take one disruption pod, tank hits with that one. These also could be drones. But definitely not pathfinders. If you want to be mean take a y'varha or two. Those are great.

Crisis suits to be used to fill a roll your list is lacking in, I would say double fusion on 3 suits, two with target lock. Or make them general purpose with double cyclic ion blasters, great all purpose gun now that they are unique weapons.

There aren't really any great heavy support choices anymore but hammerheads are the weakest of the bunch. Drop this and put points elsewhere. I'm actually a fan of sniper drones + ethereal + base of fire warriors. Makes for an absurd amount of shots.

If you feel you "need" a railgun the gunrig is actually a fairly cheap option. Putting a bs5 cadre fireblade on this is pretty nifty.

Epartalis wrote:
I would take a look at some other options honestly. I know this is a friendly atmosphere house rule tournament but forge world has some amazing units for a CAD.

So I want to start with the troops, I'd buy a sheild line from the fortifications section. Being able to move 6" and fire as if stationary plus cover save plus being able to wound on cover save of 6 makes for a tough ish base for tau.

Commander should probably be the mark'o variant described above. You could also consider buffing up a unit of fire warriors with a cadre fireblade or an ethereal. But neither are the most competitive.

Now we can get to the fun parts. Fast attack, if you don't want a mark'o and would rather have a shooting commander of cheap out with a cadre/ethereal then tetras are still good. Take them in squadrons and take one disruption pod, tank hits with that one. These also could be drones. But definitely not pathfinders. If you want to be mean take a y'varha or two. Those are great.

Crisis suits to be used to fill a roll your list is lacking in, I would say double fusion on 3 suits, two with target lock. Or make them general purpose with double cyclic ion blasters, great all purpose gun now that they are unique weapons.

There aren't really any great heavy support choices anymore but hammerheads are the weakest of the bunch. Drop this and put points elsewhere. I'm actually a fan of sniper drones + ethereal + base of fire warriors. Makes for an absurd amount of shots.

If you feel you "need" a railgun the gunrig is actually a fairly cheap option. Putting a bs5 cadre fireblade on this is pretty nifty.

As a single choice the Railhead with longstrike is pretty strong. S10 over watch is just to fun. It does not serve the same role as a broadside squad, though. A Longstrike Ionhead teaming with a Riptide can be very effective anti-transport/heavy infantry leaving the av 13/14 to fusion suits.

If you are going for a "scary bomb" you need something like 8 gun-drone, 3 Plamsa+Cyclic Ion+target-lock Suits, 'vre w/MSSS,CNC, Iridium. While it has a big foot print you can target up tp 4 units with twinlink, ignore cover shots. It is a threat to all infantry, and has enough shots (31 at 12") to break even horde units. If you want to up the pain swap the plasma for Fusion, you loose 3 shots and 6" of max range, but now everything is 18" and nothing can ignore the bomb. Either way the V're is there to soak ap3 and s8+ shots or Los! them on to drones.