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Hi All,

I am a new player to Warhammer 40k and have chosen Tau Empire as my first army. I am currently buidling a 750pt list for use in my local game store's casual weekly league, using the 'Highlander' detachment rules (Army must be battleforged, can only include a datasheet once except for one Troops choice, only 5 command points maximum per army). I have already bought the 'Start Collecting' box set and am hoping to expand from there.

If possible, I would be very appreciative of any feedback more experienced Tau players could give me regarding the list before I purchase anything further. Thanks in advance!

Tau Empire Sept - Farsight Enclaves

H.Q:

Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit - 140pts
2 x Fusion Blaster
Shield Generator
Target Lock
Relic: Fusion Blades
Warlord Trait: Through Boldness, Victory

Cadre Fireblade - 42pts

Troops:

Strike Team - 73pts
10 x Pulse Rifles
Shas'ui with Markerlight

Elites:

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits - 217pts
2 x Shas'ui &1 x Shas'vre with 2 x Burst Cannon and Target Lock
Shas'vre with XV8-02 Crisis Iridium Armour
6 x Shield Drones

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit - 176pts
Fusion Collider
2 x Fusion Blaster
Shield Generator
Target Lock
2 x Stealth Drones

Dedicated Transport:

TY7 Devilfish - 98pts

2 x MV1 Gun Drones

Total = 746pts

Your Commander does not need Target lock since he doesn't have heavy weapons and even if he advances he is still hitting on 3s. Shield Generator is always a hit or miss.. I personally just go full send and give him 4 fusion blasters.

Target lock on the crisis suits is also a waste and if you are running 6 shield drones with them you wont need the iridium armour. So running all of them with 3 burst cannons is a good way to remove chaff and they will have good survivablility with the drones to keep clearing.

Ghostkeel can be very annoying to get rid of if you hide the stealth drones while keeping them within 3 inches of the ghostkeel.

And i would also give the devilfish smart missile systems for more range and can shoot stuff not in line of sight.

Other good units would be Riptide and broadsides.. in a casual game I would run very little shield drones or none with them because they pump out a lot of shots and usually delete a unit every turn.

Thanks for your advice! I will try to incorporate those changes into the list. I like the look of both the Broadsides and the Riptide so will perhaps make room for one of the two.

If you can, definitely magnetize the commander and crisis suits so you can eventually swap out the weapon load outs.

The Fusion Commander is very dangerous but generally will be taken out the moment he moves to take out a threat. If you simply like the Fusion Blades relic and can trade up against an opponents expensive model its fine, but in smaller games I've found commanders with Missile Pods or Cyclic Ion Blasters to provide a more consistent threat.

You could easily swap the TL on the Crisis for a Drone Controller, then swap shield for gun drones. This way they will put out a torrent of firepower when they land. The team goes from 24 shots to 56 with the following changes:

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits [15 PL, 210pts]
. Crisis Shas'ui: 2x Burst cannon, Drone controller
. Crisis Shas'ui: 3x Burst cannon
. Crisis Shas'vre: 3x Burst cannon
. 6x MV1 Gun Drone

you can always add back in the iridium if points allow or swap out the third Burst cannon for ATS if you don't like the looks of 3 weapons.

Lastly if you do mount Smart missiles on the Devilfish, keep in mind they are heavy weapons and will cause you to shoot at -1 if you move, but ignore cover and can shoot targets it can't see. Drones are cheaper and can be disembarked to join up with the Crisis suit blob to shield/benefit from the Drone Controller.

Thanks for your input! I think I will try to magnetize everything, the thought of being able to swap out weapons at will sounds great. I like the idea of swapping the shield drones for gun drones too.