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Hello everyone! I took a break (2 editions) from 40k and came back a grown up with disposable income, so I decided to finally build a Tau list, which I'd been wanting to do since their introduction way back when. So this is both my first post on the forum as well as my first Tau list! I'd love to hear all your feedback. Thanks in advance!

HQ- 169
Commander
Command & Control node
Drone Controller
Twin Linked Missile Pod
Cyclic Ion Blaster
2x MV7 Marker Drones

Elites- 578
XV104 Riptide- 260
Ion Accelerator
Target Lock
Velocity Tracker
2x MV84 Shielded Missile Drones

XV8 Crisis Team- 174
3x Crisis Shas'ui
Plasma Rifle
Twin Linked Missile Pod
Bonding Knife Ritual

XV8 Crisis Team- 144
3x Crisis Shas'ui
Flamer
Twin Linked Fusion Blaster
Bonding Knife Ritual

Troops- 261
Strike Team- 72
8x Firewarriors with Pulse Rifles

Strike Team- 63
7x Firewarriors with Pulse Rifles

Strike Team- 63
7x Firewarriors with Pulse Rifles

Strike Team- 63
7x Firewarriors with Pulse Rifles

Fast Attack- 194
Pathfinder Team- 55
5x Pathfinders

Pathfinder Team- 55
5x Pathfinders

Drones- 84
6x MV7 Marker Drones

Heavy Support- 300
XV88 Broadside Battlesuits- 130
2x Broadsides
Twin Linked Heavy Rail Rifle
Twin Linked Smart Missile System

XV88 Broadside Battlesuits- 170
2x Broadsides
Twin Linked High Yield Missile Pod
Twin Linked Smart Missile System
Velocity Tracker

Grand total- 1500

And that is that. The general idea is the general Tau thing. Mark things, shoot things. Commander will probably start off joining the Drone squad for good markerlight effect, then depending on how things go, could join the Missile/Plasma Crisis team. I realize I could probably save some points there and get cheaper weapons on him, but it just seems like such a shame to have a battlesuit that doesn't bristle with guns. Missile/Plasma Crisis team will be bolstering the troops, Fusion/Flamer Crisis team tries to hit a big tank quick, or in the unlikely event of a no heavy armor army, can burn things I guess. One Broadside team is there for additional anti-tank duties, and the other is on flyer patrol. I admit that I am not extremely familiar with the capabilities of flyers in 7th edition, so I'm not really sure how much more or less anti-air I need.

Anyway. Again, thank you for your feedback in advance.

On mobile so I can't type much. But a quick thing I saw is that you have the riptide with drones. Danger there is that if one drone dies, you gotta take a morale test, and your big ol tide might just run off the board. If you lose the drones, also lose the target locks.

Also, dunno how useful it is to have the commander have different weapons. Not the most efficient use as he won't always be able to shoot that cib if he is far away.

Thanks for the tips!

Yeah, drones with the riptide, upon looking at it, are a bit of a point sink in addition to the problematic potential of a morale check, as you mentioned. I think I will lose those (and target lock) to perhaps beef out my troops a little more.

And as far as the Commander's weapon choice, I see what you mean. So I could run TL Missile pods and a missile pod? Shooting all of the missiles is an undeniably appealing option.

No problem!

I'm fairly new myself, so i'm mostly parroting advice I've heard elsewhere. Though it tends to make sense intuitively.

So a couple other things, I don't know if the commander necessarily needs his MP to be twin linked, he's got BS5, so I think the point difference may be marginal? Not sure, but just kinda my gut feeling on the matter.

Also, the squad of plasma/MP suits, same sorta issue as the commander. They're ideal ranges become mixed and they might not be able to be fully effective all the time. Like, plasma wants to be within 12 inches to rapid fire, while MPs want to be nice and far away.

Flamer/fusion blaster is a bit more reasonable, but I'm not sure that squad knows what it is doing, if you catch my drift. Do they want to be near vehicles and pop them? Do they want to be near hordes of infantry? Just sorta makes them harder to place/ DS. I think from what I've read you want your squads of suits to have a focus.

Additionally, have you seen the drone net formation? From what I've seen/been told it is a more reliable source of marker lights than pathfinders who are quite squishy. With the drone net you get at minimum of 4x4 drones that now have jink, interceptor, and split fire. Additionally, as long as 2 of those squads are up, all drones in your army (even outside the formation) have +1 BS.

I also haven't seen that many lists with large amounts of foot slogging fire warriors, while I adore their look and the aesthetic, i'm not sure if it is the most competitive thing right now. That's a bit more personal preference though,, undoubtedly they are pretty good as far as basic infantry goes.

I like the direction your heading but I would make these suggestions

-Command and Control node on your HQ. I would take this off as it limits his shooting. If he's going to go with the marker drones (which is one of my favorite ways to run a Commander) I would leave it off.

-Avoid mixing weapon types. Different profiles and ranges give you the impression of "jack of all trades" but you end up really limiting yourself in fire power for little in return. Additionally I rarely find that Twin-Linking your weapons is worth it compared to adding a second weapon. I would double up on whatever weapon choice and go with that instead.

-Pogman already covered this but I would avoid drones on your Riptide. I had a Riptide run off the board for losing one drone and that was the last time I used them.

-I like seeing Fire Warriors & Pathfinders in a list. Pathfinders are pretty squishy and most opponents know how to root them out of cover with ease - keep this in mind! You might want to check out the Drone Net Formation (as I see Pogman suggested)

-I love Broadsides especially High Yield Missile Broadsides. The Heavy Rail Rifle is fun in theory but with only one shot it's not as effective as I would like it to be. YMMV, but I think this is a general consensus.

-You can't go wrong adding support systems to some of your larger suits, Early Warning Override will save your tail against some of the more aggressive deep-striking/outflanking opponents.

The other guys covered the tactical stuff; I'll just say before you acquire a million models, don't discount the Forgeworld options. The Y'Vahra riptide is an absolute beast, the R'Varna riptide is underrated, tetras are just about as good as the drone net formation, and there's some cool crisis suit options that are overcosted but fun.