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Hi Folks,

I’m looking for suggestions for 500 to 1500 point lists. What’s good, what’s junk?

My collection so far has about 30 FW with rifles, 10 Pathfinders, 8 crisis suits with a bunch of different guns (easy to magnetize), 9 Stealth Suits, a pile of Kroot with an Ox and several hounds, a pile of drones, a pirhana, a Devilfish and a Riptide and an Ethereal. (All second hand)

I’m using one of the suits as a commander, feel like I should get a Fireblade to add on. I’m thinking MSU FW squads for Troops. I’d like to focus on suits, as that’s my main attraction to the models.

So I’m wondering which Septs are strong, when built focussing on suits? What would you take at 500, 1000, and 1500 points?

Thanks for the help!

Suits aren't the most effective part of Tau unless it's a Riptide sadly. I wouldn't bother with the kroot or pathfinders either. The rest is the core of a pretty solid list.

By far the most used sept historically is Tau sept for the 5+ overwatch. Going into 9th a lot of people are favouring farsight enclave for the ability to take 2 commanders in each detachment. With that many suits it may be a good idea to run a double patrol and use 4 commanders.

There’s definitely play with Tau sept on big suits for 5+ with CDS as a core to deter charges, backed up by precision Enclave Crisis units and Commanders.

But ultimately the army as a whole is in a garbage spot for 9th and that isn’t likely to change until a new Codex, which I don’t expect till 2021

Well, I do like a challenge and if they get better after I git gud with them, that’s just gravy I guess.

If I go the Tau sept route, would Dark Strider and a Fireblade be a good addition to, say, 4 or 5 5-man Fire Warrior teams, or would making larger squads of 10 maybe be a better way to go? Does anyone use Dark Strider, or is he a trap of some kind?

I'd suggest that you give custom sept a try. Initially I would suggest trying the 'Hybridized Weaponry' and 'Soldiers in Arms' tenets, but I would say that you stay fluid with sept tenets, and use one's that enhance whatever you choose to bring to the table.

Try to avoid applying 8th edition logic to 9th edition list building. It's a different game in many ways and all options should be kept on the table. I think Vior'la definitely has some play in 9th edition. The ability to advance and shoot assault weapons is a great way to gain early board control without sacrificing damage output. While T'au Sept is good, it's not nearly as good as it was. You can't just castle up and expect to win games anymore. You have to be mobile and you have to be able to branch out and take objectives. Crisis suits are not bad. I would argue they're the best they've ever been. The tactical flexibility they bring to the table is invaluable in 9th edition and they got a bunch of new stratagems in Psychic Awakening which make them quite powerful. Don't overlook historically "bad" units either, like Piranhas and Kroot. Piranhas are very fast objective grabbers and very irritating to shift, since after they're gone they drop Gun Drones, which now also have to be removed if your opponent wants to deny you victory points. Kroot are a great conduit for objective actions. Ghostkeels and Stealthsuits are shaping up to be absolute all-stars in 9th edition. Infiltrate deploying on objectives with tough to kill units is a solid path to victory.

All of that is to say, there is no best Sept or "build" at the moment and you should experiment.

Thing is, it's all new to me. I don't have any real experience playing with or against Tau, so I appreciate advice.

Would you say the stratagems are *critical* to getting good value out of the suits? I didn't purchase PA and don't really want to, if I can help it. I mean, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum if need be... but if it isn't critical I wouldn't worry about it.

 greatbigtree wrote:
Thing is, it's all new to me. I don't have any real experience playing with or against Tau, so I appreciate advice.

Would you say the stratagems are *critical* to getting good value out of the suits? I didn't purchase PA and don't really want to, if I can help it. I mean, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum if need be... but if it isn't critical I wouldn't worry about it.

Absolutely! My worry is that you'll get lots of 8th edition advice based on 8th edition lists, which are not necessarily relevant anymore. It's like playing a brand new army in many ways, for even experienced players, so take any advice you get as a grain of salt. Try out what you have, experiment with different Septs, take your knocks and revise from there.

Is the Psychic Awakening critical for Crisis Suits, and T'au in general? I would argue, yes. Psychic Awakening really shored up a lot of the army's weaknesses. It's a solid supplement. We don't know when our 9th edition codex will drop and I think our Psychic Awakening is essential to 'keep us in the game' so to speak going into 9th edition. I highly recommend getting a copy.