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So here's my kinda weird list designed as a TAC. Uses all HQ, Elite, FA, and HS slots of a patrol, plus 2x free slots,

Designed to use TTL, RND, and Engage as secondaries.

Shadowsun buffs broadsides and lets the melee Coldstar roam and be a general menace.

2x3 Railgun broadsides with SMS and full drone compliment seems a no brainer, Shadowsun takes them to the next level. I like 2 marker drones and 4 shield drones to make sure they can mark for themselves quite reliably. Unit can stretch out pretty nicely and zone out a lot of space too.

The big flamer unit is my answer to Custodes bikes w/ -1 to hit, turning off rerolls, and Transhuman on top of their 2+/4++ (something T'au really struggle with). Under Montka and buffed by coordinated strike and focus fire they trade very nicely into those buffed bikes. They are a TTL target so they cant be suicided. 10x shield drones keep them going so much longer than they should thought they suffer vs blast of course (pretty niche situation to worry about). With Exemplar of Montka up for reroll wound in both shooting and overwatch, they are just an intimidating unit. They get followed by the ethereal, giving them -1 to hit (starting on their deepstrike turn using Wisdom of The Many. Just a ton of possible buffs thrown onto a big, tough, efficient unit that alpha strikes and cant really be safely charged or held in combat by anyone. Under montka, they'll kill 7 marines on overwatch just kinda scary.

Alpha strike turn 1 with stealth team; 10 drones lets you basically stretch the unit anywhere on the map from any deployment of the stealth team. Stealth team then immediately wall of mirrors to snag objectives or retrieve data (hence 6 model unit).

Bodyguards let you do stupid bodyguard things if they enemy doesn't have something to counter them. Hold an objective 14'' away with your Coldstar, sure why not. Cheapish (136 pts) makes them not a terrible option just to do actions or hang back screening.

Kroot, kroot hounds, and tac drones provide a variety of screens and engage. I really enjoy the tac drones as a 32 point units with deepstrike, just never not worth while. They can hold objectives even though they can never be objective secured. Kroot and kroot hounds can be outflanked for 1 cp.

This list has a lot of tough shooting, with tools vs most types of unit. It has significant out of LOS shooting. It has a brutal alpha strike. It has some depth in utility units. It has significant mobility from deepstrike, advancing crisis, and jumping coldstar. What do y'all think?

++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (T'au Empire) [101 PL, 7CP, 1,849pts] ++

+ Configuration +

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

Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]

Sept Choice: T'au Sept

+ Stratagems +

Stratagem: Emergency Dispensation [-1CP]: Additional Relics

+ No Force Org Slot +

Crisis Bodyguards [8 PL, 136pts]
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas'ui: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas'vre: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. 3x Shield Drone: 3x Shield Generator

Kroot Hounds [1 PL, 24pts]
. 4x Kroot Hound: 4x Ripping Fangs

+ HQ +

Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit [9 PL, -1CP, 185pts]: 1. Precision of the Hunter, Fusion Blaster, High-output Burst Cannon, Onager Gauntlet, Shield Generator, Stratagem: Promising Pupil, T'au Flamer, Thermoneutronic Projector
. 2x Marker Drone: 2x Markerlight

Ethereal [5 PL, -1CP, 85pts]: 2. Sense of Stone, 3. Zephyr's Grace, 6. Exemplar of the Mont'ka, Hover Drone, Stratagem: Promising Pupil
. 2x Marker Drone: 2x Markerlight

+ Troops +

Kroot Carnivores [3 PL, 60pts]
. 10x Kroot: 10x Kroot Rifle, 10x Quill Grenades

+ Elites +

Crisis Battlesuits [23 PL, 450pts]
. Crisis Shas'ui: Shield Generator, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer
. Crisis Shas'ui: Shield Generator, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer
. Crisis Shas'ui: Shield Generator, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer
. Crisis Shas'ui: Iridium battlesuit, Shield Generator, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer
. Crisis Shas'vre: Shield Generator, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer, T'au Flamer
. 10x Shield Drone: 10x Shield Generator

Stealth Battlesuits [9 PL, 129pts]: Homing Beacon
. 2x Shield Drone: 2x Shield Generator
. 3x Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: 3x Burst Cannon
. Stealth Shas'vre: Burst Cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Tactical Drones [2 PL, 32pts]
. 4x Gun Drone: 8x Pulse Carbine

Vespid Stingwings [5 PL, 72pts]
. 5x Vespid Stingwing: 5x Neutron Blaster, 5x Stingwing Claws
. Vespid Strain Leader

+ Heavy Support +

Broadside Battlesuits [18 PL, 338pts]
. Broadside Shas'ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas'ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas'vre: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. 2x Marker Drone: 2x Markerlight
. 4x Shield Drone: 4x Shield Generator

Broadside Battlesuits [18 PL, 338pts]
. Broadside Shas'ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas'ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas'vre: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. 2x Marker Drone: 2x Markerlight
. 4x Shield Drone: 4x Shield Generator

++ Supreme Command Detachment +2CP (T'au Empire) [8 PL, 2CP, 150pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [2CP]

Sept Choice: T'au Sept

+ Primarch | Daemon Primarch | Supreme Commander +

Commander Shadowsun [8 PL, 150pts]: 2x High-energy Fusion Blaster, Warlord

++ Total: [109 PL, 9CP, 1,999pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe




Automatically Appended Next Post:
First game vs Deathguard

His list:
-Termi Lord w/ huge Flamer
-Tallyman
-termi sorcerer w/arch contaminator
-Typhus
-2x6 Blightlord Terri's
-2x8 Plague marines
-3x Plague burst crawlers w/ entropy
-1x Defiler

Not quite optimized but still have some Good Stuff TM.

He got first and was deepstriking a bunch so I kauyoned and redeployed so only mortars could ping off some shield drones.

Turn 2 he held off and I managed to make a screen over the whole board except his quarter. Tac drones and vespid together were great for that.

Turn 1 and 2 I kill PBCs, he pings off drones.

He lands turn 3 and kills all my screens, charges and kills my commander who was filling a gap. DG not slowed down by -2 to charge, a miscalculation on my part.

My crisis land and flame down 3x termis under coordinated engagement and focus fire, broadsides clean up that squad and the defiler. Without much left and pinned in his corner eith a buffed super unit bearing down on him, he concedes. GG, fun proof of concept. Need to try against higher tier lists now.

Take away:

PBC die SO FAST to new rail guns it's ridiculous.

Always take hits on shield drones, don't get fancy trying to use the broadside 1+ in cover.

Screening is an art that needs practice, this list brings a ton of tools for it though. Screen with you're sacrificial retireve data unit, they served their purpose.

Broadside drones give the unit surprising coverage and movement ability, they can touch middle objectives quite quickly.

Flamer suits don't do quite as much damage into 2+ saves as you'd hope without Montka on top of coordinated engagement, so be careful.

The ethereal command phase "action and shoot" ability is VERY good on the missions.

First off, you can take the Kroot hounds without using up a slot since you have a unit of carnivores.

Seems like an interesting list, I'm always a fan of in your face Tau armies. Depending on how much use you are getting out of the hounds and gun drones, it might be worth swapping them for a pair of Krootox. They're still quite fast and pack a much larger punch.

Krootox can't score engage anymore is the big issue

Iron-Fist wrote:
Krootox can't score engage anymore is the big issue

Wait, seriously?! Where does it say that? I must have missed it. Does it count for other objectives too?

It was in the new chapter approved rules I think, need a unit of at least 3 models to score objectives now.

Hmm... think you don't have enough to screen against fast melee threats. Your list has no problems killing stuff. But what if its a fast in your face Ork Goff army? Or a fast Aldaeri army?

10 kroot and one stealth unit are not going to be enough to screen multiple units all trying to get right up close on turn 1.

In fact, in a mirror Tau match, if you are facing another Tau with a strong alpha strike, how will you handle it?

Went 2-1 at the tournament. Ended up having to take 2x 10 kroot instead of kroot hounds because I couldn't find those models on the day of... had to drop 3x shield drones from the crisis unit too.

Had some fun in 3x games. I went second in all 3. I Montka'd in 2 games and Kauyoned in 1.

Game 1 vs FSE Tau
2x enforcers
1x cold star
Farsight
2x3 crisis (burst, plasma, afp, shield gen; no drones)
1x4 crisis (same)
1x HBC riptide
1x Ion riptide
2x10 breachers
2x devilfish

He went first, deepstriking 2x3 man crisis teams. I deployed aggressively with the broadsides and then montka'd when I should have kauyoned. I was able to successfully hide only 1 broadside team, second one got hit by 4 man crisis and a riptide, other assets cleaned up some kroot and the stealth suits (blocking me from homing beacon). Luckily, he was able to on chew threw broadside drones (2 wound shield drones are just amazing). He ended up cleaning up that unit but he failed a lot of riptide saves vs rail guns turn 1 and his crisis just didnt clear that much even with FSE drop zone clear (I had 27 drones vs his zero, plus shield gens on every crisis). His infantry got picked up immediately and the 600 pts he had in commanders just wasnt quite as cost effective. Dakka commander was very effective for me, killing firewarriors and commanders. Broadsides felt oppressive in LOS, even killed farsight in combat (his attacks mostly whiffed). Broadsides with montka and Shadowsun rerolls actually do quite well in combat tbh...

Around 85 to 80 victory for me, drones and rolls going my way swung it in the end. Great game vs a great player, mirror match to open the day with completely different armies, love to see it.

Game 2 vs Thousand Sons
-TS chaplain guy
-2x TS sorceror on disk
-2x TS exalted
-2x 10 man TS terminators
-2x 5 man spawn units
-2x 10 man cultist units
-5x flamer TS marines

Big blobs of buffed, double moving terminators throwing out a blistering number of mortal wounds...

Hard game. He almost deleted the crisis unit in one turn. I made some headway into the terminators, slowing them down with the resonators and (in one instance), the MSDA on the kroot shaper. He timed out just as he got into my lines and I came out just on top, 86 to 85. The crisis Shasvre surviving the squad being blown up and blowing up a sorceror on disk with broadsides made the difference.

Weird game, maybe a little sweaty, and his army just had so many powers and buffs in every part of the game... but yeah he ended up timing out fast and lost a close one. A learning experience and onto table 2 in the last round.

Game 3 vs Necrons
-1x lord
-3x chronomancers
-2x5 melee tripod dudes
-1x6 wraiths
-1x5 scarabs
-3x5 immortals
-3x6 flayed ones
-Nightbringer
-Void Dragon

700ish pts of ctan, this guy was a necron expert, been playing them for years, and had teched specifically to counter Tau and Custodes. Burst commander helped me bring them both down in turn 3 but he'd expertly zoned me out and the quarters deployment (mission 22) and my inexperience (these are my only in person games with Tau since the codex) showed as I timed out early Turn 4. I was behind at that point and needed those last 2 turns to catch up. Lost 85-75 or so.

Great game vs a great guy, ended up out of the top 3 but had a fun time with the new codex.

I like this list, 2x3 broadsides makes poking your head out just a terrible idea. It was really refreshing to actually be able to kill things. They are much slower though, and I wasn't playing the objective game as hard I could with more crisis suits I think. Also just a lot more moving parts to this army than it was in the last codex, need to be disciplined and decisive to get all your time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Eldenfirefly wrote:
Hmm... think you don't have enough to screen against fast melee threats. Your list has no problems killing stuff. But what if its a fast in your face Ork Goff army? Or a fast Aldaeri army?

10 kroot and one stealth unit are not going to be enough to screen multiple units all trying to get right up close on turn 1.

In fact, in a mirror Tau match, if you are facing another Tau with a strong alpha strike, how will you handle it?

The mirror match was won with shield drones. I wonder if the tau player with the most shield drones just comes out on top there...