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Hey dakka, I have been trying to gather together a competitive list for a small model count army, and tau seem to be the perfect option, considering how I already have a stormsurge and a riptide.

Tau-

Riptide wing -

Riptide -
Ion Accelerator, FNP, EWO

Riptide -
Ion Accelerator, FNP, EWO

Riptide -
Ion Accelerator, EWO

Drone Net -

4x 4 Marker Drones

Heavy Retribution Cadre-

Stormsurge -
EWO, Pulse Driver Cannon, Shield Generator

Stormsurge -
EWO, Pulse Driver Cannon, Shield Generator

GhostKeel -
Fusion Collider

I have never played Tau before, and only barely played against them, but I think I cobbled together a decent list.

My only worry is my lack of marker lights, on average I'll only have 8 markerlights on any targets a turn.

Thoughts? Opinions? Thanks!

The Heavy Retribution Cadre is cool, but it's two units of surges. This is a key distinction because ITC and other formats are 0-1 LoW slots.

I would just take a CAD if you want to run double surge, plenty of people do.

We don't play ITC here. All competitive games are just 1850 maelstrom.

Any thoughts on the power of the list?

Oof, well, this list sure is tough then. I wouldn't want to face it. I hope your group is hardcore or your opponent isn't going to have any fun lol. But I'll assume that's the case. A couple tactical thoughts:

-What I would fear most is your lack of psychic defense. A lot of Tau GT-style lists include a Cullexus or a couple squads of Sisters of Silence for the null zone thing. It's important, because Magnus is out there, Cabal is out there, and they have that scary power that let's them use a unit of yours in the shooting phase against you. That's a problem if you're running Stormsurges. Not to mention all the other psychic shenanigans but I'd fear that most.

-The second thing I'd fear since you say it's just Maelstrom is that you have 6 scoring units. Granted, they're all reasonably mobile and resilient, but that's not many. Most games, you're going to score an objective or two, score the kill a unit ones, but often you'll be playing to table.

-As for equipment, I would run the Pulse Blaster Cannon on your surges. If you run the Pulse Driver, you're going to be tempted to anchor, as well you should be. If you anchor, good players are going to find a way to tank shock you and kill you. Besides, you want to be Stomping, and if you're aggressive with them and in Stomp range, the PBC is better.

Thanks for the advice.

I mean for the army to be super tough. I never really want to go to tournaments, but a lot of the super hardcore guys either don't get to play or have to pull punches and bring crappy lists to fight mid tier armies. My Ynari is mid tier and I want to give people some more tough, kick your teeth in type games.

The culexus is a good idea, any idea on how I can fit him into the list?

I am kinda inexperienced with tau

The only thing I can think of is to redesign the list sans Riptide Wing...but I'm not sure you'd be making it better. I'll think some more.

Thanks! Although Stormsurges are awesome I feel its more the riptides holding the list together, mainly for overwatch.

Well, it's not much, but if you drop Stims and one EWO on the tides that's enough for 1 squad of Sisters of Silence. They'll at least be easy to hide. It will not protect you against a lot of psychic shenanigans but if you keep them near the surges, it will guard against the "Why are
you shooting yourself?" power.

Good call.

Magnus isn't here much, there's a lot of warcons (two piloted by amazing players, two played by terrible players) and eldar jetbike spam played by a very good player.

But if he does, then that will be very useful.

Do you prefer SS or a culexus

I don't own any SoS; heard good things. but the Cullexus isn't bad even if you're not facing Magnus/Psychic Deathstars. Is it better than having 140 points of Tau? No. Is it close to an auto-lose if you don't have him against the aforementioned? Yes, mission dependent.

Thank you very much for the advice!

I think I can slot in a SoS squad, and that'd help against any psychers because they seem to be a blindspot. If worst comes to worst they can act as bubblewrap