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Hey wargamers, I'm new to 40k as I haven't played since early 6th edition and can remember very few rules.
From what I've remembered and research I have done, I am looking into putting together an 1850pt Tau army.
I have three potential ideas, one using the Tau Empire and the other two using Farsight Enclaves.

The idea for all forces is to use the Commander with the Drone Network as a Mark'O providing Markerlights for the Stormsurge.
My biggest concern is what the rest of the force should be to accompany this idea and which units I could add to maximise point cost, markerlight usage and kill speed; not to forget units capable of seizing objectives.

All advice would be much appreciated!

IDEA 1 - Tau Hunter Contingent

Hunter Contingent

Hunter Cadre

Commander (1) - 170pts
1 Commander: Crisis battlesuit,2 Missile pods,Target lock,Drone controller,Neuroweb System Jammer,Puretide Engram Neurochip,XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit

Strike Team (5) - 45pts
5 Fire Warrior: Pulse rifle

Strike Team (5) - 45pts
5 Fire Warrior: Pulse rifle

Strike Team (5) - 45pts
5 Fire Warrior: Pulse rifle

Pathfinder Team (4) - 44pts
4 Pathfinder: Pulse carbine and Markerlight

XV8 Crisis Monat (1) - 57pts
1 Crisis Shas'ui: 2 Fusion blasters, Early warning override

XV104 Riptide (1) - 225pts
1 XV104 Riptide: Ion accelerator, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Stimulant injector, Early warning override

KV128 Stormsurges (1) - 385pts
1 KV128 Stormsurge: Pulse driver cannon, Twin-linked airbursting fragmentation projector, Early warning override

Optimised Stealth Cadre

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuits (3) - 430pts
1 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit: Two MV5 Stealth Drones, Cyclic ion raker, Twin-linked fusion blaster
2 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit: Two MV5 Stealth Drones, Cyclic ion raker, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Target lock

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (3) - 90pts
3 XV25 Stealth Shas'ui: Burst cannon

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (3) - 90pts
3 XV25 Stealth Shas'ui: Burst cannon

Drone-Net VX1-0

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

______________________________________________________________________________

IDEA 2 - Enclave CAD with Optimised Stealth Cadre

Combined Arms Detachment

Commander (1) - 170pts
1 Commander: Crisis battlesuit,2 Missile pods,Target lock,Drone controller,Neuroweb System Jammer,Puretide Engram Neurochip,XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit

XV8 Crisis Team (3) - 169pts
1 Crisis Shas'vre: 1 Plasma rifle, 1 Cyclic ion blaster, Bonding Knife Ritual
2 Crisis Shas'ui: 1 Plasma rifle, 1 Cyclic ion blaster, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV8 Crisis Monat (1) - 57pts
1 Crisis Shas'ui: 2 Fusion blasters, Early warning override

XV104 Riptide (1) - 226pts
1 XV104 Riptide: Ion accelerator, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Stimulant injector, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

KV128 Stormsurges (1) - 385pts
1 KV128 Stormsurge: Pulse driver cannon, Twin-linked airbursting fragmentation projector, Early warning override

Optimised Stealth Cadre

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuits (3) - 433pts
1 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit: Two MV5 Stealth Drones, Cyclic ion raker, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Bonding Knife Ritual
2 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit: Two MV5 Stealth Drones, Cyclic ion raker, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Target lock, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (3) - 93pts
3 XV25 Stealth Shas'ui: Burst cannon, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits (3) - 93pts
3 XV25 Stealth Shas'ui: Burst cannon, Bonding Knife Ritual

Drone-Net VX1-0

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

______________________________________________________________________________

IDEA 3 - Enclave CAD with Riptide Wing

Farsight Enclave - Combined Arms Detachment

Commander (1) - 165pts
1 Commander: Crisis battlesuit, 2 Missile pods, Drone controller, Neuroweb System Jammer, Puretide Engram Neurochip, XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit

XV8 Crisis Team (3) - 199pts
1 Crisis Shas'vre: Plasma rifle, Cyclic ion blaster, Early warning override, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Bonding Knife Ritual
2 Crisis Shas'ui: Plasma rifle, Cyclic ion blaster, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV8 Crisis Team (3) - 199pts
1 Crisis Shas'vre: 2 Fusion blasters, Early warning override, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Bonding Knife Ritual
2 Crisis Shas'ui: 2 Fusion blasters, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

KV128 Stormsurges (1) - 385pts
1 KV128 Stormsurge: Pulse driver cannon, Twin-linked airbursting fragmentation projector, Early warning override

Riptide Wing

XV104 Riptide (1) - 226pts
1 XV104 Riptide: Ion accelerator, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Stimulant injector, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV104 Riptide (1) - 226pts
1 XV104 Riptide: Ion accelerator, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Stimulant injector, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

XV104 Riptide (1) - 226pts
1 XV104 Riptide: Ion accelerator, Twin-linked fusion blaster, Stimulant injector, Early warning override, Bonding Knife Ritual

Drone-Net VX1-0

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Drones (4) - 56pts
4 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

Hi mate! out of the three lists, the last one is probably the strongest. The riptide wing is ridiculously good right now and with the back up from the stormsurge you will be putting out a lot of firepower!
As a heads up, of the two weapons on the riptide, the heavy burst cannon benefits more from the riptide wing. If you nova charge the ion accelerator you cant fire your other weapon due to ordanance. Heavy 12 with rending is scary.
You definitely wont find yourself short of markerlight support with the drone net. I'm assuming you are putting the commander with one of the squads of drones?
The neuroweb jammer doesnt seem worth it to me, vectored retro thrusters might be more useful. The puretide chip is also kinda useless if you are just using the commander for markerlight babysitting.
The crisis suit team with fusion blasters doesnt need EWO, i assume they will be deepstriking in to pop tanks yeah? If so EWO will be useless on them.
Final point, id always take the shield generator on the stormsurge, 3+ is too easy to remove.

I'm just going to make a big picture observation. 8th edition is coming soon, early summer if rumors are true. So planning around a Riptide Wing, whose benefits you may soon have to pay for in points, or a Stormsurge, whose unit type (gargantuan creature), may no longer exist, would be risky.

My advice to you is this: If you want to be competitive without wasting money, wait. Wait for it all to shake out.

If you don't care about competition, buy what you think looks cool.

Honestly shrike, i didn't even think about that! But you are completely right! We don't know how much the rules are going to change yet, so waiting is definitely a good idea.

Thanks for the advice. I have only bought so far a 500pt army:

18x Fire Warrior w/ 2x Shas'ui
1x Ethereal (I like the 12" buff for low pt play)
3x VX8 Crisis Suits (all will be magnetised)
and the Tau Codex

Thats definitely a good start, perfect models for both friendly and competitive play!
But like shrike said, its probably best to wait a few months before you choose to buy too many models based on their rules.

Well, it's my aim to get these built and painted then relearn the game before I purchase anything else. I already have dice and templates.

Here's hoping I can find people to play 500pt games with to get myself back into things.

I'll post the list below:

Combined Arms Detachment

Ethereal (1) - 50pts
1 Ethereal

Strike Team (10) - 115pts
1 Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Pulse rifle, Markerlight and target lock
9 Fire Warrior: Pulse rifle

Strike Team (10) - 115pts
1 Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Pulse rifle, Markerlight and target lock
9 Fire Warrior: Pulse rifle

XV8 Crisis Team (5) - 220pts
1 Crisis Shas'vre: 2 Missile pods*, Early warning override, Puretide Engram Neurochip
2 Crisis Shas'ui: 2 Missile pods*, Early warning override
2 MV7 Marker Drone: Markerlight

* Fusion Blasters if deep striking

Definately a good idea mate!
For 500 pts that is a pretty damn good list!
Personally id prefer 2 plasma rifles over 2 missile pods

Aviax wrote:
Definately a good idea mate!
For 500 pts that is a pretty damn good list!
Personally id prefer 2 plasma rifles over 2 missile pods

The beauty is, with magnets I can experiment with all the loadouts. Missile pods just have a similar range to Markerlight drones so synergy is pretty tight. But as an Ethereal boosted gunline, plasma rifles would be very effective. I'll most likely switch the loadouts depending on the situation.

True that mate! Ive got a set of crisis suits back home waiting to be magnetized myself!
I do agree with the point about synergy though.
Have you considered magnetizing your drones? I know it sounds tedious, but again you wont want marker drones every time, shield drones are also snazzy.
An ethereal gunline is nasty at 500pts!

"I already have templates and dice" .....guess you didn't hear about templates going away huh

I'm actually sad about that development, if true. There's just something about a flame template that really stirs the imagination.

Nice 500 point list. I'd fit in some Munitorium Containers. They are dirt cheap, and let you re-roll 1s when shooting. Worst case scenario GW does away with usable terrain (why would they? no rumors on this). And you have some cool terrain for the table.

Aviax wrote:
Have you considered magnetizing your drones?

It seems like too much effort when I know I will always need marker drones. If I ever need different drones I'll likely just buy them; you can never have too many drones.

wait what? Templates are going?? Where did you hear this shrike?

Haha yeah look thats a fair point! You can never have too many drones!

I'm excited to give this Gunline a try now.

You guys think we should make a separate thread for 500pt Tau Army discussions? The possibilities are endless.

You can if you want mate!