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Hi Guys,

I recently sold the majority of my Tau army and bought all new kits to start fresh. I haven't really played much since early 6th and all these detachments kind of took my by surprise when I finally looked into it. I'm really on the fence between whether I want a classic Tau army using the hunter contingent or whether I want to style it after the farsight enclaves using dawn blade contingent (farsight doesn't leave a lot of flexibility to drop down to 1500 without losing all the detachment bonus'). Below are two lists I put together after struggle with in the new FOC.

I'm hoping to get some suggestions on:

- whether or not I can improve them in any way
- whether they are even battle forged (I believe I used the detachments properly)
- which would be most competitive


Hunter Contingent

hunter cadre

187 commander: 2x plasma rifle, shield generator, stimulant injector, iridium armour, neuroweb jammer
209 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 1x flamer, MSS, CCN, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, advanced targeting system, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
45 5x strike team: pulse rifles
45 5x strike team: pulse rifles
45 5x strike team: pulse rifles
45 5x strike team: pulse rifles
44 4x pathfinders
44 4x pathfinders
86 sniper drone team: 2x marksmen, 4x sniper drone

firebase support cadre

190 2x broadside + 4x missile drone: 1x shas'vre /w HYMP, SMS, 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
190 2x broadside + 4x missile drone: 1x shas'vre /w HYMP, SMS, 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
225 riptide: ion accelerator, TL fusion blaster, EWO, stimulant injector

1746


Dawn Blade Contingent

contingent headquarters

165 farsight
150 bodyguard(2) + 2x gun drone: 2x bodyguard /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded

retaliation cadre

140 commander: 2x plasma rifle, shield generator
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
191 riptide: ion accelerator, TL fusion blaster, EWO, bonded

ranged support candre

90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
48 4x pathfinders: bonded
48 4x pathfinders: bonded
48 4x pathfinders: bonded

1744

I recently came back as well and after cruising around the forum for a few months, I can share with you the consensus Tau order of battle:

Monster Mash: Heavy Retribution Cadre with 2x Stormsurges (Usually with Shields, EWO, Airbursting Frag Projector and the Pulse Blaster Cannon; usually referred to as the 'D Shotgun') + 1 Ghostkeel, then a Riptide Wing and a Drone Net. Some find room for a Cullexus assassin to mitigate the close combat oriented deathstars running around out there, some don't bother. Regardless, it's nasty.

PM a guy on here names TurtleSoup for an alternative. He runs a pretty traditional Hunter Contingent and does well in the ITC. He does take a Stormsurge, but only 1 iirc. He even takes his riptides within the Hunter Cadre, forsaking the hailfire bonus of the wing, in order to gain Coordinated Firepower.

TL;DR: Riptide Wing is simply too amazing not to use if you play somewhat competitively; stormsurges aren't far behind. Ditto Drone Net. It's one of the great frustrations of the game for many players right now. As it stands, most armies have "must takes" or even "must builds" in order to compete. Rumor has it they're taking their time with 8th edition, and I think rather than returning to a pre-formation 40k what we'll get is two ways to play. "Oldhammer" and "AnythingGoesHammer." I'll leave it to others to critique your list but my implied criticism I guess is, it isn't monster mash...

Both lists are battle-forged and the most competitive would be the Hunter Contingent methinks. The problem with the Retaliation Cadre is the deep strike. Unless you have a reliable way to not scatter, it's a dangerous game to play. All in all, you're spending an awful lot of points on Bonding Knives, Gun Drones and 'vre upgrades. All of those things are unnecessary expenses. If you're going for ITC competitiveness, then I'll echo what The Shrike said, you need more Riptides.

 counterwavecounter wrote:
Both lists are battle-forged and the most competitive would be the Hunter Contingent methinks. The problem with the Retaliation Cadre is the deep strike. Unless you have a reliable way to not scatter, it's a dangerous game to play. All in all, you're spending an awful lot of points on Bonding Knives, Gun Drones and 'vre upgrades. All of those things are unnecessary expenses. If you're going for ITC competitiveness, then I'll echo what The Shrike said, you need more Riptides.

Thanks for the feedback. My goal is for a semi-competitive list, something I can bring to the store and on average have a decent chance of winning.

One of the main restriction I have is that my army needs to be compact and easily transported. I try to build it so that it fits into a midsized backpack and my KR multicase bag. On average that means I can fit 8 crisis suits, 25 infantry, 25 drones, 6 broadside sized suits, and 2 riptides. Also any Tau list I build has to have crisis suits - I have had success with them in the past and they are one of my favourite 40k units.

To squeeze in a second riptide into the hunter cadre I am open to suggestions. I have been debating dropping the sniper drones and path finder squad to squeeze in a drone network with 4x4 marker drones. Also I'm curious about your suggestion to cut gun drones from my crisis teams. My intention is for them to absorb some wounds before they start cutting into my crisis teams. How do you avoid losing crisis suits without the meat shield in front - the jet pack roles aren't always forgiving :(

 gossipmeng wrote:
I'm curious about your suggestion to cut gun drones from my crisis teams. My intention is for them to absorb some wounds before they start cutting into my crisis teams. How do you avoid losing crisis suits without the meat shield in front - the jet pack roles aren't always forgiving :(

Yes, they are ablative wounds, but not very good ones at T4 with a 4+ save for a mean 24 points. The main problem with Gun Drones though is that they increase your squad size. If you lose both, you're rolling LD. If you break with one XV8 left, you're only regrouping on double ones because you're below 25%. I think the LD drawbacks far outweigh a couple T4 wounds. If you use your JSJ well and adhere to the Tau doctrine of focus firing something until it's dead, you shouldn't need the extra wounds. If you lose the Drones you can add more XV8s.

 gossipmeng wrote:

 counterwavecounter wrote:
Both lists are battle-forged and the most competitive would be the Hunter Contingent methinks. The problem with the Retaliation Cadre is the deep strike. Unless you have a reliable way to not scatter, it's a dangerous game to play. All in all, you're spending an awful lot of points on Bonding Knives, Gun Drones and 'vre upgrades. All of those things are unnecessary expenses. If you're going for ITC competitiveness, then I'll echo what The Shrike said, you need more Riptides.

Thanks for the feedback. My goal is for a semi-competitive list, something I can bring to the store and on average have a decent chance of winning.

One of the main restriction I have is that my army needs to be compact and easily transported. I try to build it so that it fits into a midsized backpack and my KR multicase bag. On average that means I can fit 8 crisis suits, 25 infantry, 25 drones, 6 broadside sized suits, and 2 riptides. Also any Tau list I build has to have crisis suits - I have had success with them in the past and they are one of my favourite 40k units.

To squeeze in a second riptide into the hunter cadre I am open to suggestions. I have been debating dropping the sniper drones and path finder squad to squeeze in a drone network with 4x4 marker drones. Also I'm curious about your suggestion to cut gun drones from my crisis teams. My intention is for them to absorb some wounds before they start cutting into my crisis teams. How do you avoid losing crisis suits without the meat shield in front - the jet pack roles aren't always forgiving :(

I would just find ways to take solo suits if you're determined to run crisis. You could run two Retaliation Cadres as auxiliaries in a Hunter Contingent. Points would be tight but it would be super MSU without losing marker support.

I've been looking over all the suggestions and building various lists. Trying hard to avoid a combined arms attachment as I want to take advantage of detachment special rules. Also after reading the recent FAQ I noticed that farsight enclave can take tau signature systems so I added those back.

I realized how amazing the drone network is and think it can solve my markerlight issues and make up for the loss of the hunter cadre special rule. For now I think I will leave in the sacrificial gun drones as I had success with them saving my suits back in 6th - also even if I freed up points I don't think I could transport additional xv8/xv88 as the 2 riptides take up a lot of physical space in my bag.


dawn blade contingent

retaliation cadre

172 commander: 2x plasma rifle, shield generator, iridium armour, neuroweb jammer
203 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 1x flamer, MSS, CCN, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
198 crisis(3) + 2x gun drone: 1x shas'vre /w 2x fusion blaster, target lock, 2x shas'ui /w 2x plasma rifle, bonded
190 2x broadside + 4x missile drone: 1x shas'vre /w HYMP, SMS, 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
191 riptide: ion accelerator, TL fusion blaster, EWO, bonded

firebase support cadre

90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
90 1x broadside + 2x missile drone: 1x shas'ui /w HYMP, SMS, bonded
191 riptide: ion accelerator, TL fusion blaster, EWO, bonded

drone-net xv1-0

56 4x marker drone
56 4x marker drone
56 4x marker drone
56 4x marker drone

1747

Another bonus is that it can be converted to 1500 points by dropping the firebase support cadre, boosting the xv88 squad in retaliation cadre to 3 man/6 drones, and giving the remaining riptide earth caste pilot array.