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So, hey guys. Recently got my hands on some old Tau, and upon a bit of stripping and re-painting, they look decent enough for a force. Plus, with a bit of extra cash stashed away in my modelling jar (every time I reaaaaaaaaly want to buy something add a fiver, as pioneered by my GF in an attempt to not make me waste all my cash very quickly ) I've got enough for a couple of boxes of stuff. Combined with me wanting to shake things up, as all of my previous armies have been quite movement focused, I want to go gunline Tau. Oh yes. I don't, however, want to be That Guy and take a Stormsurge to a 850 point game, so there you go. I'm going up against BA, and my mate adores drop pod dreads and death company (rip and tear!)

This is what I'm currently thinking:

Commander- 85pts

Cyclonic Ion blaster- 15pts
TL burst cannon- 15pts
Stimulant injectors- 15pts
Early warning override- 5pts
Iridum battlesuit- 25pts
x 2 MV4 shield drones- 12pts each (24pts total)

Total points: 184

Ethereal- 50pts
Hover drone- 5pts

Total points: 55

x 2 Squads of fire warriors:
+ 6 men to each squad (9pts each)
+ 1 Shas'ui to each squad (19pts)
+ 2 MV1 gun drones to each squad (12pts each)
All armed with EMP grenades (because dreads.)

Total points per squad: 166

5 'naked' pathfinders: 55pts

1 Riptide Battlesuit- 180pts
Ion accelerator- 5pts
Stimulant injector- 35pts
Early warning override-5pts
TL smart missile system

Total points: 255 points.

That brings me up to a sexy sexy 849 points, so if I really wanted to I could add a bonding knife to the Riptide I suppose. What do you guys think? Ethereal to help the fire warriors pump out firepower, Riptide to bring the big guns against dreads and drop pods, pathfinders for markerlights and the commander for a bit of extra dakka. I could drop the commander and go for a hammerhead (perhaps with Farsight to get that sweet, sweet BS,) but otherwise I like it as it is. Thoughts?

I don't think you have enough gun line You're going to want more Fire Warriors and Broadsides, definitely Broadsides. All the Broadsides. I don't see how your Commander helps your game plan. True, he is the only source of Rhino busting at the moment, but I would replace him with Crisis suits with Missile Pods or even include a Cadre Fireblade to give one of your Fire Warrior teams extra extra dakka.. In general, Gun Drones in Fire Warrior teams aren't great. For 3 less points you can just take another Fire Warrior. Same wounds, same majority toughness, same armour save and same Dakka with +1 BS. You won't need the Shas'ui upgrade either, your Ethereal's LD bubble pretty much makes your gun line fearless.

As for next steps. I would work up to a Ranged Support Cadre (3x units of Broadsides, 3x units Pathfinders). I would also take a look at the Tidewall pieces. All great additions to a gun line. The Ethereal council is worth a look, too. You can invoke all four power each turn and the LD bubble is increased to 24". Sniper Drones are also a good include they can help protect the Ethereals while throwing out some Sniper shots. I hope this helps.

I was eying the tidewall, but ultimately it'a hell of a lot of points for not much extra survivabity. I should have mentioned the Shad'uis have the markerlight upgrade, and yes, the commander is there for when he drags along his devastators with their stupuidly lucky razorback (THAT THING HAS KILLED A SQUAD OF 2+ COVER STEALTHSUITS!) I went pretty broadside light, mostly because I don't have that many models of them. The fire warriors are already maxed out, so I took the gun drone for that extra little bit of dakka.

I suppose with a little fiddling I could fit another naked 5-6 man fire warrior squad in there, but I'm really considering buying some more broadsides and just using the Ethereal as my warlord.

 Dannyrulx wrote:
I'm really considering buying some more broadsides and just using the Ethereal as my warlord.

For gun line, that's a good plan. Just keep the Ethereal out of line of sight. You don't need to buy the full Tidewall. Even just a couple shield lines would work nicely.

I've got some ADL which I can just say were tinkered with to make them more tidewall-y to by honest.

Updated list (goddamn BattleScribe is a lifesaver)

Ethereal w/ hover drone: 55pts

Riptide
EWO
Ion accelerator
Stimulant injector
TL Smart missile system
Total: 225 points

2 squads of 12 fire warriors:
Shas'ui with target lock and markerlights on each of them
EMP grenades
Total: 157 points each

6 naked pathfinders for 66 points total

1 squad of 3 XV88 Broadside Battlesuits
All armed with the same:
Seeker missiles, TL HRR and TL smart missiles. 73 points each
Total 219 points

That's all a single CAD, so lotsa objective secured if I (phah) need to move.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm 4 points over but this is just a friendly game, so that's fine.

Much better It wouldn't hurt to do some MSU organizing. Perhaps 4x units of 6 Fire Warriors (keep Markerlights in two) and then 3x units of solo Broadsides. In general, High Yield Missiles are better than Heavy Rail on Broadsides. They make up for the lack of AP with volume. You're only playing Blood Angels though, so the Heavy Rails have a place. Plus, they look way cooler. I would pair them with Plasma or Fusion though. Fusion will help against those Dreadnoughts whereas Plasma would be better if your opponent likes his Terminators and Death Company.

He does rediculous amounts of DC, unbound so he can take more of the damn things, so TL plasma rifles seem likely. Also, thank god the guy didn't plastic glue the models, because I could take them apart and bitz them to have magnetised options .

Go with high yield missiles on the broadsides. The whole tidewall is a big points sink and tough to move because of all the stuff. But a shield wall is much more feesable as at 60 points gives you a way to move but not move, - psudo relentless, and as icing on the cake you can wound enemies on the roll of 6 for cover saves. With a cadre and an ethereal you can pump out 4 shots per warrior(3 in the squad without cadre). Serious dakka for a 9 point model.

Also since you're going gun line I really like sniper drones. Often overlooked they can benefit from storm of fire and they have serious range. Also bs5 and extra marker lights. They are a great way to start your shooting phase with potentially 3 shots per drone, that's 27 shots a squad plus 3 markers. Weakening the squad and then giving your next squad that shoots bs+1 and ignores cover probably.

Yeah, I'm swapping the HRR to heigh-yield missile pods. Not gonna take shield wall; too much of a point sink. The cadre is a model I don't have, although he's not too expensive, so I'll probably stick him with a squad and try to give me enough points somehow. Honestly, marker drones are needed more than snipers, although I would take snipers for a bigger point list.

Tau vs BA is heavily in your favor honestly, you won't need to super power game to walk away with a win (super lucky razorbacks not withstanding)

But on the broadsides, since they can take only 1 support system, I like taking 2 target locks, so they can choose to fire at different units at the same time if there are other worth targets, and 1 with EWO. This way you have 1 more model with quality interceptor fire, and you aren't forced to super over-kill 1 unit with 12 TL s7ap4 shots, for 1 or 2 marines.

also, bringing 1 tidewall piece to keep your broadsides on gives them 4+ cover versus las cannons, and lets them move the 6" not counting as moving since they aren't relentless.

Marker drones either need the drone net formation or a commander with drone controller to be effective.

Early warning override all day long on the broadsides and riptide, really anything with good guns worth70+ points needs them.

Interceptor is one of the best special rules tau could ever have.

+1 For swapping Broadside HRR for HYMP.

I personally dislike the Ethereal a lot and Fireblade is only another 5 points more, nets you Volleyfire and +1 Markerlight. Might try and sneak that in for something, perhaps for one less Pathfinder?