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I currently have a pretty large chaos space marine army including

Abaddon The Despoiler
Ahriman
Kharn the Betrayer
Chaos Sorcerer Lord in Terminator Armour
Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour
Chaos Lord
Chaos Sorcerer (x4)
Khorne Lord on Juggernaught
Daemon Prince with Wings (x2)
Warpsmith
Chaos Space Marines (x60)
Chaos Cultist (x40)
Chaos Terminators (x10)
Obliterators (x3)
Khorne Berzerkers (X20)
Thousand Sons (x32, 4 Aspiring Sorcerers)
Havocks(x6)
Forgefiend
Heldrake (x2)
Defiler

So as you can see I have plenty of CSM's but i am seriously considering selling some and maybe all of it to get a tau army, just cause i really like the models more then most of the chaos models. Dont get my wrong my chaos havent let me down ive beaten Nids, GK, DA,other CSM, Vanillia SM, DE, and Necrons with them, I have a pretty good feel of how they work but i cant help but feel a pull toward the tau, I have read the tau codex but i wanted to hear from actual tau players how they like thier armies and what are the ups and downs of playing the tau, I know with my CSM i can cover almost every niche, can the tau do the same or are the less versitile.

Just trying to get an idea before i make a big decision. Feel free to post your tau army list and give any advice.
thanks in advance

here's some pro's and cons from a tau player~

Pro's:
1) We posses the ULTIMATE in sniper rifles, the railgun
2) Every tau grunt has a 5-5 Sniper rifle
3) JSJ
4) Even better metal boxes
5) If you really want to, take 4 Firewarrior squads at 1k and cap them with Emp grenades and bum rush your enemy, lulz everywhere and profit

Cons:
1) what's our WS? Toughness? Save?!!
2) Not that many choices in models
3) Guard outweigh us in firepower
4) Flyers, forcing you to take AA (AGL or the Aeronautica Remora drone)
5) poke a tau in the wrong side and you will die shamefully


Do you want me to post my list?...

 UltramarineRV wrote:
here's some pro's and cons from a tau player~

Pro's:
1) We posses the ULTIMATE in sniper rifles, the railgun
2) Every tau grunt has a 5-5 Sniper rifle
3) JSJ
4) Even better metal boxes
5) If you really want to, take 4 Firewarrior squads at 1k and cap them with Emp grenades and bum rush your enemy, lulz everywhere and profit

Cons:
1) what's our WS? Toughness? Save?!!
2) Not that many choices in models
3) Guard outweigh us in firepower
4) Flyers, forcing you to take AA (AGL or the Aeronautica Remora drone)
5) poke a tau in the wrong side and you will die shamefully


Do you want me to post my list?...

Yes id like to see it and get some idea,
I like the robitic look of the tau so i dont plan on getting any stingwings or kroot should i swap out my armies.

I'd say keep the Chaos as it serves as a way to slowly switch between the two, and you can keep some aspects of both, which is what i did with my Space marines. This is what I was running for a while with my tau, it works, but i'm coming up with a new one



Hq-399
Shas’O- 75
Cyclic Ion Blaster- 15
Missile pod- 12
Multi Tracker- 5
Ejection system- 15
Iridium Armor- 20
Hard Wired Drone Controller- 0
X2 Shield drones – 15
Stimulant Injector- 10
--
BodyGuard team x2- 70

--
Plasma-20
Fusion Blaster-12
Targeting Array-10
Drone Controller-0
X2 Shield Drones-30
Multi Tracker-5
--
Plasma-20
Fusion Blaster-12
Targeting Array-10
Drone Controller-0
X2 Shield Drones-30
Multi Tracker-5


Troops- 560
X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light-10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light- 10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light- 10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Markerlight- 10
Fast Attack- 263
X8 Pathfinders- 96
Shas’ui- 10
X8 Photon Grenades- 8
X8 Emp Grenades- 24
Devilfish- 80
Disruption Pod- 5
Flechette Dischargers- 10
X2 Seeker Missiles- 20
Sensor Spines- 10

Heavy- 285
Broadside(s)- 70
Shas’ui Leader- 5
Targeting Array- 10

Hammerhead- 90
Railgun- 50
Burst cannons- 10
Disruption Pod- 5
Target Lock- 5
Multi Tracker- 10
X2 seeker Missiles- 20
Flechette Discharger- 10
Sensor Spines- 10

 UltramarineRV wrote:
I'd say keep the Chaos as it serves as a way to slowly switch between the two, and you can keep some aspects of both, which is what i did with my Space marines. This is what I was running for a while with my tau, it works, but i'm coming up with a new one



Hq-399
Shas’O- 75
Cyclic Ion Blaster- 15
Missile pod- 12
Multi Tracker- 5
Ejection system- 15
Iridium Armor- 20
Hard Wired Drone Controller- 0
X2 Shield drones – 15
Stimulant Injector- 10
--
BodyGuard team x2- 70

--
Plasma-20
Fusion Blaster-12
Targeting Array-10
Drone Controller-0
X2 Shield Drones-30
Multi Tracker-5
--
Plasma-20
Fusion Blaster-12
Targeting Array-10
Drone Controller-0
X2 Shield Drones-30
Multi Tracker-5


Troops- 560
X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light-10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light- 10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Marker Light- 10

X12 Fire warriors- 120
Shas’ui- 10
Markerlight- 10
Fast Attack- 263
X8 Pathfinders- 96
Shas’ui- 10
X8 Photon Grenades- 8
X8 Emp Grenades- 24
Devilfish- 80
Disruption Pod- 5
Flechette Dischargers- 10
X2 Seeker Missiles- 20
Sensor Spines- 10

Heavy- 285
Broadside(s)- 70
Shas’ui Leader- 5
Targeting Array- 10

Hammerhead- 90
Railgun- 50
Burst cannons- 10
Disruption Pod- 5
Target Lock- 5
Multi Tracker- 10
X2 seeker Missiles- 20
Flechette Discharger- 10
Sensor Spines- 10

Ive done a once over on the codex but im not as warm and fuzzy with it as i am my Chaos Marines, just out of curiosity how does your list fair against MEQ units? and earlier you said everyone can have a sniper rifle, how so? Also i know alot of people say that the tau is a gunline army but with BS 3, it seems like they are below the power curve when it comes to shooting... just my opinion by thats the same BS as my vics have in my chaos army, almost all my troops hit on 3's or better...

My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

IMHOTO (In my Humble Tau Opinion) I find that my Tau are not so much a gunline/ static or any other current catchphrase 40k style.

I use various units to support each other and a very mobile fire and displace fighting style.

Yes Tau have bs 3..oh well, use one markerlight hit and now you have BS 4 effective for that shooting unit.

Every unit in a tau unit needs to support each other and target priority is key, stay out of assault as much as possible, and don't be afraid to displace.

I don't really do pros and cons, since I dont really believe in them, its just unit capabilities and realize how they fit in a fight.

They are currently a challenging army to use, but meh..still fun, and hopefully next year we will see a new Tau codex

Myself I like Hammerheads, but many prefer Broadsides, its all part and parcel to what tickles your fancy or your playstyle.

Personally I use them cause I love the look and fluff of them.

But dont even try and compare them to a Chaos army..the numbers will disapoint

Tau may be a shooting army but they do not do a great gunline, as they get outshot by most other shooty armies (guard,shooty marines, even shooty orks).

One of the main advantages with Tau is vehicles. Disruption pods stacking with jink gives Tau arguably the most survivable vehicles in the game. I would seroiously consider running a mech tau list, they are great fun.

Also, crisis suits are awesome fun with JSJ and a heap of special weapons.

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 reddwarf54 wrote:
Tau may be a shooting army but they do not do a great gunline, as they get outshot by most other shooty armies (guard,shooty marines, even shooty orks).

One of the main advantages with Tau is vehicles. Disruption pods stacking with jink gives Tau arguably the most survivable vehicles in the game. I would seroiously consider running a mech tau list, they are great fun.

Also, crisis suits are awesome fun with JSJ and a heap of special weapons.

So if i understand you correctly the tau are a shoot and move army. I cant just line them up like my havocs or oblits and fire and fire and fire unitl what im shooting at is dead? And yes i was looking to make a mech style army i dont like the kroot and stingwing models at all.

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

The biggest pro to tau is their small arm. Pulse rifles are INSANE.

With a 36" threat range, their small arms might as well be able to target anything on the board. With their refurbished 15" double-tap range, they're putting out more firepower faster. And it's Ap5, which means you're shredding hordes... with a 36" threat range! Wounding on 2's or 3's and ignoring armor is a great way to thin out any horde.

And then they're S5, which means that they don't need special weapons to handle AV10 vehicles, monstrous creatures, or most fliers.

Seriously, tau small arms are insane. And they're put on a unit that gets a 4+ armor save, so isn't nearly as beholden to hiding in cover. For not a very high price cost. Firewarriors are the best infantry unit, pointswise, in the game at the moment.

The rest of their army isn't too shabby either. They have MSM, which means you'll win a lot of games because your opponents won't be able to shoot at the guys who shot them. The downside is that everybody will want to punch you in the face and eventually stop playing against you. Crisis suits are also pretty good. They have a much better statline, along with deepstriking special weapons.

And broadsides. Extra awesome. And AV13 vehicles that run around with a permanent 4+ cover save.

6th ed made a lot of changes. Some armies were crushed, and some had mixed pros and cons. Tau got almost only better, and got a LOT better with 6th ed rules.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 reddwarf54 wrote:
Tau may be a shooting army but they do not do a great gunline, as they get outshot by most other shooty armies (guard,shooty marines, even shooty orks).

One of the main advantages with Tau is vehicles. Disruption pods stacking with jink gives Tau arguably the most survivable vehicles in the game. I would seroiously consider running a mech tau list, they are great fun.

Also, crisis suits are awesome fun with JSJ and a heap of special weapons.

So if i understand you correctly the tau are a shoot and move army. I cant just line them up like my havocs or oblits and fire and fire and fire unitl what im shooting at is dead? And yes i was looking to make a mech style army i dont like the kroot and stingwing models at all.

Standing and shooting works for some units, such as Broadsides, but Tau are really good at avoiding fights by running away/hiding. It goes without saying, but Tau really suck in melee. If even a single marine gets into combat with some fire warriors, there is a good chance that you will lose combat and get swept, so you have to kill one unit at a time, and make sure it is very very dead.

WHAAATTTTT?!?!!?! I actually had a Daemon prince assault me in cover, AND I MURDERED HIM.... But yeah, one or two standard marines will kill a handful of Firewarriors, so yeah, maybe pack a small unit for sweeping those few models for the rest of the army

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

i just read his profile in the codex, does that mean your crisis suits are scoring units or you can just take more than one to a unit,i dont quite understand.

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

i just read his profile in the codex, does that mean your crisis suits are scoring units or you can just take more than one to a unit,i dont quite understand.

It means your Requirements also include a mimimum of 1 Crisis suit team, idk about scoring

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

i just read his profile in the codex, does that mean your crisis suits are scoring units or you can just take more than one to a unit,i dont quite understand.

It means your Requirements also include a mimimum of 1 Crisis suit team, idk about scoring

Ok so it means to have this dude you have to not have shadowsun, be above 1500 pts and have at least i unit of crisis suits, seems like an awefull lot just take take extra battle suits, and you lose the option for the stealthsuit, pathfinder,hammerhead,broadside, skyray, and priahnas, is have the extra battlesuits even worth the trade off, or do i have something wrong here?

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

i just read his profile in the codex, does that mean your crisis suits are scoring units or you can just take more than one to a unit,i dont quite understand.

It means your Requirements also include a mimimum of 1 Crisis suit team, idk about scoring

Ok so it means to have this dude you have to not have shadowsun, be above 1500 pts and have at least i unit of crisis suits, seems like an awefull lot just take take extra battle suits, and you lose the option for the stealthsuit, pathfinder,hammerhead,broadside, skyray, and priahnas, is have the extra battlesuits even worth the trade off, or do i have something wrong here?

No, you can still take everything else, you cant have three hammerheads, just one (for example) but the Crisis suits are indeed very dangerous, espically if they're equipped to gib Meq's or otherwise, since they can all take wargear.

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
My list can hold it's own against MEQs, If I can create a "killbox". Every grunt has either a pulse rifle, A str 5 ap 5 30" max and 15" rapid fire, or a Pulse carbine, Str 5 AP 5 18" pinning. The best part of tau is Markerlights, using those to bump squads to Bs 4 or 5, and knocking out coversaves. Shooting is as simple as figuring out what MUST die, not shooting at all the weaker units that soak up damage

Ok i see thats what the big deal about markerlight is, ive heard it talked about. But was never really sure. and with BS 5 id hit on anything but 1's so thats much better. My next question is you say you have to shoot at what must die. Can they focus fire or is that just the same as anything else, only characters who shoot and roll a 6. And im in the army so i understand what you mean by making a deadzone, killbox, fatal funnel, whatever you want to call it.

Thanks alot for the explination i was starting to get worried id just be ignored again.

Also i notice when looking online lots and lots of people take like 8-12 battle suits, can you do that i thought they were just heavy support, why do people have so many of them in thier army?

From the sound of it i like this army i may swap out my chaos for them after all,i think im going to try and find someone who plays them already and test drive thier army first though.

Allright, so what I meant was killing units that pose the biggest threat to you, Mainly the the blobs go towards the rest of the teams, but if you start trying to gib beefier units or important items like terminators orother really powerfull ranged units. It's really just focus fire at strength 5.

And the 8-12 Battle suits is known to me, like Draigowing, I dub it now, Farsight wing. In the tau codex, there is a special character that you can take at 1500 points, which is Commander farsight, who is, by far, the most CC potent tau out there, He boosts your Bodyguard team for you HQ to 1-7 Suits.... At the cost of dropping Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, Hammerheads, Broadsides, Sky rays, and Prianhas to one "unit" so you can only use one elites choice per, so [Broadside team of three, Hammerhead, and a skyray]. he's on page 45

i just read his profile in the codex, does that mean your crisis suits are scoring units or you can just take more than one to a unit,i dont quite understand.

It means your Requirements also include a mimimum of 1 Crisis suit team, idk about scoring

Ok so it means to have this dude you have to not have shadowsun, be above 1500 pts and have at least i unit of crisis suits, seems like an awefull lot just take take extra battle suits, and you lose the option for the stealthsuit, pathfinder,hammerhead,broadside, skyray, and priahnas, is have the extra battlesuits even worth the trade off, or do i have something wrong here?

No, you can still take everything else, you cant have three hammerheads, just one (for example) but the Crisis suits are indeed very dangerous, espically if they're equipped to gib Meq's or otherwise, since they can all take wargear.

Ok so assuming i sell my chaos space marine army for around a grand, these are two big army list im looking at buying to jump start my tau, i dont know which really is the better deal, i also notice that one of them doesnt come with a sniper guy and sniper drones which i really like the look of, but i can get him or a couple of him with any left over from selling my CSM army. Anyway the first is

Commander Farsight
76 x Firewarriors
12 x Firewariors NIB
5 x Hammerhead Tanks
1 x Piranha
14 x Battlesuits
2 x Battlesuits NIB
50 x Drones with all the options
6 x Broadside Battlesuits (just primed white)
5 x Metal OOP Stealthsuits (really cool looking, and not chunky like some of the really old models)
Tau Codex

for $700 dollars

the second is

1x Shas'o R'myr's
3x Strain leaders
2x Commander farsight
2x Crisis Battlesuit commander
18x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits (A couple of them are in rough condition)
12x XV25 Stealth battlesuits(one is incomlpete)
34x Firewarriors
22x Kroot Carnivore
4x Devilfishs
2x Piranhas
15x Vespid Stingwings
20x Gun drones
24x Pathfinders
3x Broadside battlesuits
2x Hammerheads(also one of them can be switched to be a sky ray missle defence gunship also comes with ION cannons)
3 squads of sniper drones( one of them are unbuilt)
1x Tau Empire Codex

$750-850ish

Just wondering which you would consider the better deal. Also i plan on selling the stingwings and kroot so you can ignore them on the second list.


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And what is a strain leader


Automatically Appended Next Post:
nevermind,its the vespid dude, sorry bout that

What I can tell you about Tau (although I'm sure most if not all of it has already been said)

Overall, the army suffers from being two editions old. Most choices are overpriced, there is a lack of diversity, and chunks of the codex have been completely invalidated by rules changes. That being said, 6th was fairly kind to them, so they are far from the weakest army out there. I would argue that they are on the lower end of the middle tier, and are above Dark Angels, Black Templars, Eldar, and arguably 'nids.

The basic fire warrior went from being ok in 5th to great in 6th. They can rapid fire from 15" away (which means that you position yourself properly your opponents have about a 1 in 4 chance of being able to charge you after you rapid fire). Devilfish got a lot better thanks to the FAQ giving Distruption pods shrouding, but they are still overpriced by about 20 to 30 points. Fire Warriors are also over price by about 1 to 2 ppm as well. They also suffer from being unable to take heavy or special weapons, however a useful trick is to give the Shas'Ui a Target Lock and a Pulse Carbine, allowing him to attempt to pin one unit getting close to you while continuing to shoot a high-priority target.

The crisis suit is one of the top contenders for "best unit in the codex". It is where the army gets its flexibility to handle different threats. Need an AT unit? Take twin-linked fusion blasters, a Shield Generator, and sheild drones, and Deep Strike next to an enemy tank and melta the heck out of it. Need Autocannons? Take Missle Pods? MEQ in your face? Plasma Rifles (complete with worse Strength, AP, and no gets hot). My only advice is to stay away from Burst Cannons (Tau have enough S5 shooting as it is) and team leader upgrades (the cost of upgrading a crisis suit isnt worth the benefit)

Broadsides are the other contender for best unit. They are arguably one of the strongest AT units in the game, giving you the ability to reliably take out even the toughest armour from across the field. I would strongly advise against playing a game with no fewer than two of them. They are also surprisingly good AA, as a squad of three has about a 92% chance of hitting a flier on any given turn, and with S10 and AP1, if it hits, the odds are that it's going to take a penetrating hit and either blow up or be crippled.

 UltramarineRV wrote:
Cons:
1) Save?!!

4+ is excellent, trust me.

 Bobthehero wrote:

 UltramarineRV wrote:
Cons:
1) Save?!!

4+ is excellent, trust me.

I know, it's saved my gibs many a time from pesky marines


But again to the OP.... Are your sure you want to sell your chaos?... I mean, If they're your "main" army, it'd be kinda like selling off something that was faithful to you..... but if that's the way you wanna roll i wont stop ya.

and also, remember the allies special everything. Run tau alongside your Chaos boys, and then receed chaos.

but option A is better IMHO, more railguns, but one extra heavy support slot not in use, so use the hammerhead as a devilfish or something

I love the models but ive shelved my tau army tile the new codex now showing my orks some love wile making lots of different tau / kroot/ human auxiliary conversions kit bashing. if you want tau id say wait tile after the tau codex comes out once we find out if its good or not. wait for one of the leaf's in the wind to want to drop his tau army in favor of a new flavor of the week.and get a army at a good price from one of them.

Commander Farsight
76 x Firewarriors
12 x Firewariors NIB
5 x Hammerhead Tanks
1 x Piranha
14 x Battlesuits
2 x Battlesuits NIB
50 x Drones with all the options
6 x Broadside Battlesuits (just primed white)
5 x Metal OOP Stealthsuits (really cool looking, and not chunky like some of the really old models)
Tau Codex

This is a pretty good start. Plenty of HH (i prefer them over broadsides) which can also be used as DF. You have more FW than you'll ever need, so you'll prob want to see off the 12 NIB. Coming in with Farsight and 16 BS and 6 Broadsides... damn. That's a nice army. You've got your Heavy, HQ, Troops, and Elites all filled out. As for Fast Attack, Tau are already kind of limited IMHO. I would prob go with more Piranhas. They can be nasty little buggers.
I would warn you about 2 things however.
1) Trading off your chaos for all of this is a pretty big switch. I'd be hesitant about selling off your whole army... I was in the same position as you a year ago. I had about 2k of chaos and i traded it all for Tau. I love my Tau, but often times I miss my first army.
2) If you do this trade, your going to wind up with 200+ models to paint. Thats going to be very intimidating to start. Trust me. I;ve got 5k of tau sitting on my work bench wanting some paint.
No matter what happens, welcome to the Tau! Always good to have another commander.

 Freytag93 wrote:

Commander Farsight
76 x Firewarriors
12 x Firewariors NIB
5 x Hammerhead Tanks
1 x Piranha
14 x Battlesuits
2 x Battlesuits NIB
50 x Drones with all the options
6 x Broadside Battlesuits (just primed white)
5 x Metal OOP Stealthsuits (really cool looking, and not chunky like some of the really old models)
Tau Codex

This is a pretty good start. Plenty of HH (i prefer them over broadsides) which can also be used as DF. You have more FW than you'll ever need, so you'll prob want to see off the 12 NIB. Coming in with Farsight and 16 BS and 6 Broadsides... damn. That's a nice army. You've got your Heavy, HQ, Troops, and Elites all filled out. As for Fast Attack, Tau are already kind of limited IMHO. I would prob go with more Piranhas. They can be nasty little buggers.
I would warn you about 2 things however.
1) Trading off your chaos for all of this is a pretty big switch. I'd be hesitant about selling off your whole army... I was in the same position as you a year ago. I had about 2k of chaos and i traded it all for Tau. I love my Tau, but often times I miss my first army.
2) If you do this trade, your going to wind up with 200+ models to paint. Thats going to be very intimidating to start. Trust me. I;ve got 5k of tau sitting on my work bench wanting some paint.
No matter what happens, welcome to the Tau! Always good to have another commander.

Yeah well i have won a few times with my chaos but the thing is i dont like being in close combat, and yes while the chaos marines can slug it out no problem (especially with my termi's and zerkers) i would just prefer to shoot and move, and well i like the tau army models more than the IG models, when i first started playing i was torn between tau and regular space marines, i went with regular space marines (ultramarines) to learn the game, after awhile i switched over to chaos cause in my opinion i got more options per unit than i did with the regular space marines, but even then the itch to play a tau army has always been there, now that i know the game well enough i think i should be able to handle the switch, i'll prolly lose the first few games while still feeling out my army but i plan on doing well over all, and as far as painting the models, well right now im looking at over 260 models to paint for chaos, i have painted exactly 11 of them so far, Being active duty in the army with a wife and one year daughter doesnt leave you alot of free time, but hey i manage.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 kwah wrote:
I love the models but ive shelved my tau army tile the new codex now showing my orks some love wile making lots of different tau / kroot/ human auxiliary conversions kit bashing. if you want tau id say wait tile after the tau codex comes out once we find out if its good or not. wait for one of the leaf's in the wind to want to drop his tau army in favor of a new flavor of the week.and get a army at a good price from one of them.

I agree with you on the waiting to try and get them for a good price,but i think i have found a pretty good price for a nice army already, and as far as the codex goes, from what i understand Tau got alot better with the changes in the rules of the BRB, so hopefully that carries over even farther into their codex. At least thats what im banking on, But seeing has how the codex is rumoured not to drop until mid next year, im not gonna wait that long for the switch, might as well get it over with while i have my mind made up you know

This is a good list for Tau starters
HQ
Farsight with bodyguard
Elites
3 squads of 3 Crisis
Troops
2-3 squads of 8 FW with pulse rifles, photon grenades (optional) and EMP grenades (optional) each squad in a Devilfish. Squad Leader with Ta'lissera

Arm the Crisis suits with Plasma, Fusion, Burst Cannon, Flamer, Multi-Targeting System and/or Shields. Upgrade one Crisis to squad leader and arm them with hard-wired MTS and a Ta'lissera (bonding Knife)

This list is good for JSJ but will not work as a static firing line. With Tau ALWAYS keep moving. Never keep your squads in one place more than two turns cause you'll get caught and cut down by most units. The only case where you can charge is with Farsight, cause he can deal some damage in CC, but bear in mind that he might emerge alone and with his bodyguard dead.
That's my piece of advice, take it or leave it or adapt it.

Being a Soldier myself (13F 3/509th) I can understand your interest in the Tau, and they do have the most "modern Military" feel to the playstyle, one of the reasons I have taken to them in a big way, but 40k has a abundance of assault oriented armies and on a typical 4x6 table it can get crowded real fast.

I wish you the best of luck and if I can help in anyway (modeling, painting , conversions, tactics) just let me know, and feel free to check out my galleries, I took a bit more military look for my Tau..cant really do bright colors I guess

they are a rewarding army to play though, and with some of the new rule changes they can even give a few surprises.

One tip..XV-9 Hazards are a great QRF unit.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
Being a Soldier myself (13F 3/509th) I can understand your interest in the Tau, and they do have the most "modern Military" feel to the playstyle, one of the reasons I have taken to them in a big way, but 40k has a abundance of assault oriented armies and on a typical 4x6 table it can get crowded real fast.

I wish you the best of luck and if I can help in anyway (modeling, painting , conversions, tactics) just let me know, and feel free to check out my galleries, I took a bit more military look for my Tau..cant really do bright colors I guess

they are a rewarding army to play though, and with some of the new rule changes they can even give a few surprises.

One tip..XV-9 Hazards are a great QRF unit.

Love my F.O.'s im an 11B myself and you guys have saved my ass more than once in afghanistan, big guns really do never tire!
and yeah i dont know how im gonna paint mine up yet, but im pretty sure im sold on the switch though.
Just changed up my account as you can see. I wanted to use this as my picture but it was too big



anyway i was thinking of doing mine purple with light blue accents, just to be different.

As others have said, 6th was pretty kind to Tau. Our basic troops improved a lot, which was a major weakness in 5th; moving and shooting is the way to go with them and use drones upfront to absorb incoming fire. I'd say it's 50:50 between gun and shield drones for troops; gun drones are cheaper and have pinning fire, but shield drones have the 4+ invulnerable. With suits it should always be shield drones.

Again disruption pods make our vehicles really hard to kill, but if your going to be hiding them in terrain a lot then consider sensor spines, as they've been FAQ'd to ignore dangerous terrain tests. The age old advice, if your buying Tau tanks get the Skyray box; it's the same price as a Hammerhead and has the bits for everything. Very easy to make it interchangeable too. If your group is OK with it, consider getting some Tetras, they're a very resilient source of marker lights and a cool (and reasonably priced!) Forgeworld model. Some of the other stuff from the recent Tau update is worth a look too.

With suits, particularly Broadsides, consider using Target locks, as the new FAQ once again allows a unit to split fire. Although Crisis are the rock of the army, Stealth suits have also been improved by 6th and can be very difficult to kill; they make a really annoying harassment unit.

Finally, put Black Sun Filters on everything, ignoring night fighting when it's pretty much guaranteed to occur in the basic missions is invaluable. As mentioned in an earlier post, Tau suffer from 4th edition syndrome, in that they are about 10-20% overpriced; this means evrything with them is about aximising effectiveness. You can't afford to have a unit being useless for even a single turn.

 Jadenim wrote:
As others have said, 6th was pretty kind to Tau. Our basic troops improved a lot, which was a major weakness in 5th; moving and shooting is the way to go with them and use drones upfront to absorb incoming fire. I'd say it's 50:50 between gun and shield drones for troops; gun drones are cheaper and have pinning fire, but shield drones have the 4+ invulnerable. With suits it should always be shield drones.

Again disruption pods make our vehicles really hard to kill, but if your going to be hiding them in terrain a lot then consider sensor spines, as they've been FAQ'd to ignore dangerous terrain tests. The age old advice, if your buying Tau tanks get the Skyray box; it's the same price as a Hammerhead and has the bits for everything. Very easy to make it interchangeable too. If your group is OK with it, consider getting some Tetras, they're a very resilient source of marker lights and a cool (and reasonably priced!) Forgeworld model. Some of the other stuff from the recent Tau update is worth a look too.

With suits, particularly Broadsides, consider using Target locks, as the new FAQ once again allows a unit to split fire. Although Crisis are the rock of the army, Stealth suits have also been improved by 6th and can be very difficult to kill; they make a really annoying harassment unit.

Finally, put Black Sun Filters on everything, ignoring night fighting when it's pretty much guaranteed to occur in the basic missions is invaluable. As mentioned in an earlier post, Tau suffer from 4th edition syndrome, in that they are about 10-20% overpriced; this means evrything with them is about aximising effectiveness. You can't afford to have a unit being useless for even a single turn.

the overpriced thing doesnt really bother me, i played a thousand sons army for awhile so im used to my units being a bit more pricey than most others, and as most have said if the new codex for every army is as balanced as the CSM codex was they should be fine when the new dex drops.

I have only played a handful of games with my tau but they are undefeated. I have only played Ultramarines, Black Templars and Blood Angels. It must be said that I wasn't playing against hardcore tournament players but to call them bad players would be wrong.

Against Templars I only lost a single gun drone (failed a dangerous terrain test (in 5th edition) and one tau fire warrior (he shouldn't have got out of his devilfish).

Against Blood Angels I only lost one gun drone (again to dangerous terrain).

Against Ultramarines I lost a little bit more but it was a much bigger game and it was still a big victory.

In all these games I relied heavily on using smart missile systems to pepper the enemy from behind cover. The amount of S5 tau can put out is very scary and with broadsides and hammerheads to take out any vehicles (even if they are in cover thanks to markerlights) is a real advantage. The ability to strike and leave before any retaliation can occur makes for a very effective army.

This army is heavily influenced in its fighting style by my eldar. Every unit has a specialism and they go after specific targets. That way every unit knows what it should be doing.

Commander with twin plasma rifles
3 Crisis suits with twin plasma rifles
12 Fire Warriors with devilfish
12 Fire Warriors with devilfish
12 Fire Warriors with devilfish
8 Pathfinders with devilfish
6 Gun drones
6 Gun drones
3 Broadsides
2 Hammerheads