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sup guys,

if you cant guess by the username, I am all about mechs.

How is this Tau Mech List?


++ Vanguard Detachment -3CP (T'au Empire) [110 PL, 9CP, 1,998pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment CP [-3CP]

+ HQ +

Commander Farsight [7 PL, 130pts]: Warlord

Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit [9 PL, 185pts]: Advanced targeting system, Counterfire defence system, 2x Fusion blaster
. 2x MV4 Shield Drone: 2x Shield generator

+ Elites +

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit [15 PL, 275pts]: 2x Smart missile system, Heavy burst cannon

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit [15 PL, 305pts]: 2x Smart missile system, Advanced targeting system, Counterfire defence system, Heavy burst cannon

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit [15 PL, 275pts]: 2x Smart missile system, Heavy burst cannon

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits [5 PL, 93pts]
. Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: Advanced targeting system, Burst cannon
. Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: Advanced targeting system, Burst cannon
. Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: Advanced targeting system, Burst cannon

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit [9 PL, 175pts]: 2x Flamer, Advanced targeting system, Fusion collider, 2x MV5 Stealth Drone, Shield generator

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit [9 PL, 145pts]: 2x Flamer, Fusion collider, 2x MV5 Stealth Drone

+ Fast Attack +

Tactical Drones [4 PL, 50pts]
. 5x MV1 Gun Drone: 10x Pulse carbine

Tactical Drones [4 PL, 50pts]
. 5x MV1 Gun Drone: 10x Pulse carbine

+ Heavy Support +

XV88 Broadside Battlesuits [18 PL, 315pts]: Magna rail rifle
. Broadside Shas'ui: 2x Smart missile system, Advanced targeting system, Heavy rail rifle
. Broadside Shas'ui: 2x Smart missile system, Advanced targeting system, Heavy rail rifle
. Broadside Shas'ui: 2x Smart missile system, Advanced targeting system, Heavy rail rifle

++ Total: [110 PL, 9CP, 1,998pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Hey man, I have a mech heavy tau army too, although I concede to having 3 units of troops out of a desire to screen out my mechs.

That said you could probably get away with this list (presuming you don't want any troops) if you had more drones. I would consider having some shield drones in there too for duribility.

Few other points.

1. Take one riptide with prototype ion cannon, it's awesome.
2. You don't need that much ATS, especially on the ghostkeels and commander, have 3 fusions!
3. Are you married to farsight? Tau and Shadowsun is much better for this list.

 small_gods wrote:
Hey man, I have a mech heavy tau army too, although I concede to having 3 units of troops out of a desire to screen out my mechs.

That said you could probably get away with this list (presuming you don't want any troops) if you had more drones. I would consider having some shield drones in there too for duribility.

Few other points.

1. Take one riptide with prototype ion cannon, it's awesome.
2. You don't need that much ATS, especially on the ghostkeels and commander, have 3 fusions!
3. Are you married to farsight? Tau and Shadowsun is much better for this list.

So how many drones should I have? I really hate the Tau fish hooves troops so I would prefer to have drones instead.

Not married to farsight, I can change it to shadowsun np.

If you're not having troops, I'd say around 30 drones. You want enough that you can use them to hold objectives. Screen out deepstrike, movement block etc.

If you don't then as good as Tau overwatch is you'll get ovverun by some armies like Orks and daemons and they will hold all the objectives whilst you're stuck shooting the same unit of Boyz or plague bearers for the third turn in a row.

If you take 2 units of 10 then 5 units of 2 with the various mechs then you should be golden.

Also I'd make a lot of them marker drones rather than gun drones and maybe put drone commander on your commander. Marker lights make everything easier!

 small_gods wrote:
If you're not having troops, I'd say around 30 drones. You want enough that you can use them to hold objectives. Screen out deepstrike, movement block etc.

If you don't then as good as Tau overwatch is you'll get ovverun by some armies like Orks and daemons and they will hold all the objectives whilst you're stuck shooting the same unit of Boyz or plague bearers for the third turn in a row.

If you take 2 units of 10 then 5 units of 2 with the various mechs then you should be golden.

Also I'd make a lot of them marker drones rather than gun drones and maybe put drone commander on your commander. Marker lights make everything easier!

So what would you change about the list to include more drones?

Also what about FW mechs? I wouldn't be against using them so I have less models

The FW one just got pretty shafted in the latest release (and they weren't as good as riptides to begin with).

I'd drop either the stealth suits and/or a ghostkeel and a lot of ATS.

 small_gods wrote:
The FW one just got pretty shafted in the latest release (and they weren't as good as riptides to begin with).

I'd drop either the stealth suits and/or a ghostkeel and a lot of ATS.

Ill drop the short fat stealth suits before I drop the ghostkeel lol GK is the best looking tau mech

are ATS shield drones?

ATS is advanced targeting system, you don't need it on the ghostkeels, commander and I'd probably take the velocity tracker on the broadsides instead.

 small_gods wrote:
The FW one just got pretty shafted in the latest release (and they weren't as good as riptides to begin with).

I'd drop either the stealth suits and/or a ghostkeel and a lot of ATS.

did you mean to "add a lot of ATS"

Fusion Blasters already have -4AP so having Advanced Targeting System is pointless is what he is saying. So the Ghostkeel and Fusion Commanders should get rid of it. Same with the Broadsides Rail Rifles are also -4AP already.


What is your game plan with this list btw? You win most games by controlling Objectives and most objectives are in the center of the board. I'm curious on how you plan on taking and holding the points.

 The Greater Good Templar wrote:
Fusion Blasters already have -4AP so having Advanced Targeting System is pointless is what he is saying. So the Ghostkeel and Fusion Commanders should get rid of it. Same with the Broadsides Rail Rifles are also -4AP already.


What is your game plan with this list btw? You win most games by controlling Objectives and most objectives are in the center of the board. I'm curious on how you plan on taking and holding the points.

which Tau units are obsec? is it just troops or does it cover also other keywords such as battlesuits? I was looking for an answer and if any Forgeworld units can be obsec

Troops only, this is why Tau are in a bad place right now.

 LynxSarnage wrote:
Troops only, this is why Tau are in a bad place right now.

yeah that was my guess. This is why this game will never be a good competitive game.

bracketed releases and making some armies trash while others good its kind of a joke, but it makes them money so its all gucci

To be fair, you chose a Kill Army in an Objective Control game. Any unit can hold a point, Troops and armies with special rules just get priority over your suits.

Also, Triptide is dead because of the Riptide and Shield Drone point increases. I'd recommend going down to 1 with the Ion Accelerator with the Amplified Ion Accelerator Prototype and bring a squad of 4-6 Shield Drones to sit behind Obstructing Terrain to help keep it alive. People are taking mass gun drones over shield drones now because of the price difference and mathhammer says the gun drones will overall save more wounds for the value but I'm not a Mathhammer guy so I don't know the %'s lol.

Since you are big into suits only, try bringing 3 Patrol Detachments to spam Commanders. Yes, it will require 3 troops but taking 3 5 man Breacher squads is only 135 points naked (You can also give them a Shield Drone + Guardian Drone to make the a bit more resilient if you'd like for 210 points but they have 5+ invuls). Then fill out the Patrols to your liking of suits.

 The Greater Good Templar wrote:
To be fair, you chose a Kill Army in an Objective Control game. Any unit can hold a point, Troops and armies with special rules just get priority over your suits.

Also, Triptide is dead because of the Riptide and Shield Drone point increases. I'd recommend going down to 1 with the Ion Accelerator with the Amplified Ion Accelerator Prototype and bring a squad of 4-6 Shield Drones to sit behind Obstructing Terrain to help keep it alive. People are taking mass gun drones over shield drones now because of the price difference and mathhammer says the gun drones will overall save more wounds for the value but I'm not a Mathhammer guy so I don't know the %'s lol.

Since you are big into suits only, try bringing 3 Patrol Detachments to spam Commanders. Yes, it will require 3 troops but taking 3 5 man Breacher squads is only 135 points naked (You can also give them a Shield Drone + Guardian Drone to make the a bit more resilient if you'd like for 210 points but they have 5+ invuls). Then fill out the Patrols to your liking of suits.

that's what sucks about 40k, the deliberate trashing of armies in order to drive a strong sales cycle.

LOL, they don't deliberately trash armies for sales. Yes there is a power creep since GW doesn't write all the rules at the same time for all armies and actually talk to each other while doing so. This happens every edition. Armies without a codex are just behind until they get their codex.

Also, if you don't actually reply about your list and have discussion about it vs whining about GW then I'm done lol