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Hello there

We are starting up an escalationleague in my club and first game (late august) are 750, no formations, no LOW and on 4'x4' table.

Since my Tau are really limited to douchebag lists like 5-7 riptides + 2 stormsurges and the liking i was thinking of building a whole new lists. The theme are sneaky and fast.

Lots of Scout, infiltrate, coversaves and some fast ekstras :-)


The meta in the league are MEQ so i thought breachers in a devilfish would be fun. AP3 driveby :-)

Ethereal + Breachers burning up the board flanked by piranhas, jump out and shoot stuff, last 5 fire warriors "protects" the rear. Ghostkeel and stealths takes sneaky positions, while the pathfinders hide and lights the board.

Well the list is here:
+++ New Roster (759pts) +++

++ Tau Empire: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment) (759pts) ++

+ HQ (60pts) +

Cadre Fireblade (60pts)

+ Elites (317pts) +

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (142pts) [2x MV7 Marker Drone]
····Stealth Shas'ui with Burst Cannon [Target Lock]
····Stealth Shas'ui with Burst Cannon [Target Lock]
····Stealth Shas'vre [Burst Cannon, Drone Controller]

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuits (175pts)
····Ghostkeel Shas'vre [Cyclic Ion Raker, Stimulant Injector, Twin-linked Fusion Blaster]

+ Troops (227pts) +

Breacher Team (182pts) [7x Fire Warrior with Pulse Blaster]
····Fire Warrior Shas'ui with Pulse Blaster [Markerlight and Target Lock]
····TY7 Devilfish [2x MV1 Gun Drone, Sensor Spines]

Strike Team (45pts) [5x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle]

+ Fast Attack (155pts) +

Pathfinder Team (55pts) [5x Pathfinder]

TX4 Piranhas (100pts)
····TX4 Piranha [Fusion Blaster]
····TX4 Piranha [Fusion Blaster]

At low points like this, beefing up the fire warrior strike team a bit and sticking a fireblade with them would make them a decent area denial unit (and have decent damage output at 30"). But I've never been a fan of breachers, mostly because devilfish are crazy expensive for a transport. I'd also drop the 'vre upgrade on the stealth team, and and the 'ui on the breacher team.

I'd say the Ghostkeel's velocity tracker was unnecessary and quite expensive at 750pts.
If someone drops around 20% of their points in a flyer at this level, you should be able to take out the rest of their units by ignoring it!

I'm the opposite to Wolfblade and love my breachers. Even if they are a glass-hammer they do it well. MEQs just go away. And the ethereal is a good shout to run with them. However, with the new FAQ, the Auns can no longer hide in the Dfish and buff from inside. Therefore, he's a risky option and practically a free victory point for you opponent!
Also the same for your DisruptionPods. If it jinks, your breachers are jinking next turn too... Up to you though. Obviiously depends on if the new FAQ is in play. Perhaps sensor spines would help instead to find some natural 4+ cover?

The fireblade is a nice option for objectivecamping strike teams.
Perhaps drop the breachers to a pure squad of 6-8 and no shas'ui. Though an extra markerlight is great, I find it confuses their battlefield role.
Then add a few more to the striketeam and stick the Fireblade in there.

I think you need more markerlights. Any knowing opponent will just take out your pathfinders turn one and neuter your capabilities.
Do you have any more you could put in (i know drones are better, but I gather you're going for a non-standard meta list.)?

Or add a drone controller to your Stealth'vre and go for the Stealth-Mark'vre load out (im sure there's a better more eloquent name!). Add a couple of MarkerDrones, give target lock to your other two stealthsuits so they're not wasted.

Ghostkeel will wreck face in the shooting phase at this points, and will soak up an inordinate amount of fire too. However, 35pt Stims are expensive and could fund the changes above. But that's up to you.

I never get on well with my piranhas. But perhaps you might try given them the Fusions instead of Bursts to give you another option to pop those rhinos and unleash your ap3 fury!

I'd say keep the stimms on the ghostkeel, just because most heavy weapons will be aiming for it, and the stimms will help keep it around, and make it soak up more fire that instead could be directed at the devilfish (which would neuter the breachers heavily)

I'd drop the squad leader upgrades, etheral, and a couple breachers. Then I'd put fusions on the piranhas if you must have them, and beef up the strike team so the fireblade has more effect. I don't think you need a full group of 10 breachers, especially as there will be a good amount of overkill, even vs a 10man squad squad of marines. (I've also never liked piranhas much either)

Any extra points might be well spent on either more pathfinders, or a HYMP broadside to sit with the strike team, or keep the 'vre upgrade on the stealth team, drop the fusion blaster and grab 2 marker drones for some durable markerlights. As for the devilfish, YMMV, but sensor spines if you're using the unoffical FAQ, or dpod if not.

Honestly though, you only have 2 threats. The ghostkeel and the breachers. Strike team might kill a couple of marines or glance a rhino, but as it is, if the breachers or ghostkeel die or get locked up in cqc, you lose a lot of your hitting power.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I've tweaked the list around your words and even thou you both came with great ideas i tried to get them into use.

I looked in our league and we are using the FAQ so dispod are gone. Thanks for that too :-)

List are edited in first post

One of my favorite sneaky Tau squads is Darkstrider with a Pathfinder squad. These guys outflank onto the board with their devilfish then hop out and blast away anything and create a firebase you can reinforce reliably, creating an entire new Tau flank. The Recon Drone has a Homing Beacon, essential in making this combo very deadly. The special rules on the recon drone allow it to confer its homing beacon to the dfish while inside (it mounts to the hull) allowing you to bring down crisis team reinforcments if needed. Its expensive but fun and pretty strong when used right. (One game I used it in a tau vs tau match I came in behind a Marko squad and fully wiped it, buffmander included, with 1 round of shooting.) The setup:

10Pathfinders 3with Rail Rifles, Shas'ui upgrade for Recon Drone and Pulse accel drone Riding in a Dfish with sensor spines/dpod and tlsms. I also like to take the upgrade that allows vehicles to overwatch, can't remember its name.

I always run this squad with two units of 2 crisis suits waiting in reserve to reinforce this squad. Its not too strong, not too weak, and pretty fluffy Tau tactics wise. Your crisis suits can use the Dfish to JSJ behind while it jinks for a 3+ cover save too!

Personally, I'd drop those 2 target locks and swap them to a marker light/targetlock instead, or another strike team member.

Drop the team leader upgrade from the breachers. You want him shooting his blaster, not hoping to drop a single BS3 markerlight down range. Cascading markerlights is a cool idea, but generally doesn't work very well. Again, with the points I'd go for another strike team member or two as 5+1 firebvlade isn't the scary area denial you're looking for, or the third large threat you need to help keep pressure off the other two (so the breachers can actually get into that 5")

Dio: Pretty sure the crisis only get a 4+ from a jinking devilfish obscuring them iirc. Also, that's a TON of points spent on T3 5+ models, especially without stealth or shrouded.

I have been ninja'd by several good post. This what I get for forgetting to hit send.

Of hand you need to reallocate stuff in your list, since your not making the best use of things you are spending points on, and you are spending points on things you might not want too.

First bad point lay out is in the breacher team. These are the last place you want marker lights, put the points to the Guardian Drones which you really need for the team.

If you are going to use the stealth team for ML support get the 'vre upgrade and target lock+ markerlight upgrade.ML's make them a target so get the most out of it.

Since you are basically fish of fury'ing the breachers, getting Smart Missile to up your support fire and taking PDT Relay could be points well spent.

On the Dpod, if you need to jink and don't there is a good chance your breachers are not making it either. Dpod is there to get you to were you need to be. Better to snapfire than not fire at all. and after you disembark using the DF as a mobile cover will make the dpod very good to have.

From personal taste, I am not even sure the pathfinder team is worth it in this list. the points would be more effective beefing up the breachers and strikers. Markerlights are not nearly as important to Tau as people seem to think. Are they good, oh yes, but your really need to build the list around them and be sure to have enough of them. I don't think this list does it well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wolfblade wrote:


Dio: Pretty sure the crisis only get a 4+ from a jinking devilfish obscuring them iirc. Also, that's a TON of points spent on T3 5+ models, especially without stealth or shrouded.

It is just a 5+ cover for intervening model. The Jink and Dpod do not affect the Crisis team at all.

barnowl wrote:


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wolfblade wrote:


Dio: Pretty sure the crisis only get a 4+ from a jinking devilfish obscuring them iirc. Also, that's a TON of points spent on T3 5+ models, especially without stealth or shrouded.

It is just a 5+ cover for intervening model. The Jink and Dpod do not affect the Crisis team at all.

So it is, I'm always mixing the 5th rules up with the current ones for cover.

Also, I think the pathfinders could be a good use here, it's only 55pts on the pathfinders, and on average will get 2.5 markerlights on a unit, either giving ignores cover to the breachers or bumping them up to BS5, while the stealth team can provide support for other units that they can chip away at, supporting the strike team or ghostkeel.

Didnt mean that the crisis team gets cover. They move behind the Dfish and out of line of sight so they cant be targeted while the Dfish jinks for a 3+ cover save (4+ from jink, +1 from dpod)

True its a lot of points but its something different that is flexible and strong. It fits the OPs sneaky and fast category's quite well too.

Oh I see what you mean now. I thought you meant the crisis would get a 3+. However, I still think the pathfinders are too expensive and squishy to be of any use when built like that. I mean, one railrifle pathfinder is 26pt, and the entire squad is 208pt before the fish, and they have mixed purposes (carbines pin/kill hordes, rifles kill TEQ). And they're still just T3 5+ models.

I think for this list however, 5 pathfinders (who could easily be dropped to 4 to up the strike team numbers) is fine as they are. Cheap decent source of marker lights.

barnowl wrote:
First bad point lay out is in the breacher team. These are the last place you want marker lights, put the points to the Guardian Drones which you really need for the team.

This! I totally forgot about the guardian drone. Saved my bacon once or twice!

Wolfblade wrote:Oh I see what you mean now. I thought you meant the crisis would get a 3+. However, I still think the pathfinders are too expensive and squishy to be of any use when built like that. I mean, one railrifle pathfinder is 26pt, and the entire squad is 208pt before the fish, and they have mixed purposes (carbines pin/kill hordes, rifles kill TEQ). And they're still just T3 5+ models.

I think for this list however, 5 pathfinders (who could easily be dropped to 4 to up the strike team numbers) is fine as they are. Cheap decent source of marker lights.

I agree that at this points level, sinking nearly 300pts into that would be ludicrous. However it's something I'm going to try as I never remember about pathfinders taking devilfish and legitimately using the recon drone inside!

 Dioxalyn wrote:
Didnt mean that the crisis team gets cover. They move behind the Dfish and out of line of sight so they cant be targeted while the Dfish jinks for a 3+ cover save (4+ from jink, +1 from dpod)

True its a lot of points but its something different that is flexible and strong. It fits the OPs sneaky and fast category's quite well too.

DF is not going to give a BLOS to a Crisis all that often. Joy of True line of Sight in 7th and flying bases.

True line of sight draws from the models head, pretty much all infantry shorter than a crisis suit (which i'm pretty sure crisis suits are the tallest infantry models? might be wrong but most things are shorter) won't be able to see over the top of the devilfish. 1-2 crisis suits can easily get out of LOS behind a Dfish thats positioned properly.. Just tested this with my models, with the Dfishes engines the suits can easily be concealed standing behind the Dfish. By the time the suits drop in and fire in tandem with the pathfinder squad while also being close to a board edge, you should have no problem putting the Dfish in front of all potential enemies.

Another fun strat with this is after unloading your pathfinders and they shoot, flat out the Dfish in front of them so they can't be shot at. Low T and Saves problem solved , they have to fight through a 3+ jinking dfish before they can shoot your pathfinders. Don't underestimate the mixed shooting. Its actually a blessing in disguise to have lots of str5 ap5 then 6 str6 ap1, you can choose to shoot whichever first, if you can sneak in behind the unit (most people put their tanky models up front) you can blast away their squishies with the pulse carbines before sniping the strong characters with the rail rifles, or vice versa. Darkstriders -1 T allows the rail rifles to insta death T4 models too. Quite nice for any multi wound characters or anything with FnP (Looking at you necrons..)

Unless there is more than one enemy unit that wishes to shoot at them, and simply flanks. Plus, it's ANY part of the body that isn't banners/sensors/etc (i.e. an arm is a valid shot)

As for mixed shooting, again, it's almost always bad, especially since most units are always the same T/Sv (with some exceptions) meaning it would be better to have all AP2/S6 (i.e. PRs on crisis) or all S5 AP5.

That unit also costs well over 400pts iirc, and again is a bunch of T3 5+ save models. First flamer that gets in range and they're gone. Or even bolters if they get caught out of cover. Devilfish might block LoS for a turn or two, but it's still a skimmer meaning skyfire can take it down (a good bit of which has ignores cover), and if they're in the devilfish, then they're not shooting.

And they can still shoot the pathfinders, assuming they can see a couple of the models, either through the flyerbase area of the devilfish, or again, by flanking it.

And on top of that, if you're not using a formation, you're giving up valuable markerlight shots.