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Hello once again fellow Dakkadakkaians! As I am seriously contemplating Tau as my second army I have been playtesting a few list ideas including the feared "Farsight Bomb" list and after a few games today I will admit though the Bomb is effective on paper it can be quite underwhelming in the actual game. I played against two Eldar players (who both were able to tear apart the bomb very quickly, Wraithguard are nasty against it especially when my shooting whiffing when the bomb arrived) and a Space Marine player I was able to beat decently even though my Bomb did not do well when it arrived.

I usually am a big fan of taking chance armies (especially since my Elysians are a very high risk army) but the underwhelming performance of this list made me rethink this tactic. As me and my friends discussed the game I thought back to how effective the Eldar Mech lists were and thought, why cant ours be just as good if not better? After some research and discussion with my friends I came up with a "Mech Tau" list that I feel would be pretty competitive, especially since the local meta is very infantry heavy. This is a FIRST ATTEMPT with this list so please any thoughts, comments and advice are more then welcome, thanks for reading and posting guys!

HQ:

-Ethereal

ELITES:

-Riptide
*w/ Ion Accelerator, Early Morning Override, Velocity Tracker

-Riptide
*w/ Ion Accelerator, Early Morning Override, Velocity Tracker

TROOPS:

-x6 Fire Warriors *Ethereal Here*
*w/ EMP Grenades, Pulse Carbines
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ EMP Grenades, Pulse Carbines
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ EMP Grenades, Pulse Carbines
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ EMP Grenades, Pulse Carbines
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ EMP Grenades, Pulse Carbines
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod

HEAVY SUPPORT:

-Hammerhead Gunship
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

-Hammerhead Gunship
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

-Hammerhead Gunship "Longstrike"
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

TOTAL ARMY: 1850 POINTS

Tactics:

-Really wanted to take a Fireblade but the Ethereal will do a lot more for my army as the 12inch stubborn bubble will be useful especially if my Devilfish get hit, either way will be taking the Fireblade Model to represent him.

-The x2 Riptides in my arsenal are on point for Air Defense as well as being able to focus on Armor as well as infantry. I like these guys a lot as they will be able to maneuver and keep up with this army.

-x30 Fire Warriors with EMP Grenades and Carbines to get the x2 shots at 18inches and to be able to take any armor they come across. They are all mounted in Devilfish with Burst Cannons and Smart Missiles with a bonus to their jink save and the ability to repair any immobilized or weapon destroyed result (not sure how effective these are so any info on them will be great). The idea against most opponents is to keep moving and kiting them at range with my missiles, using the burst cannons if there is the need or opportunity.

-x3 Hammerheads with Submunition Rounds and Longstrike with the usual primary role of taking care of my opponents armor. The Submunition Rounds are there to focus on infantry after the armor as been destroyed. They also have the ability to repair an weapon destroyed or immobilized result and wont be hindered by night figting if I go first.

Overall the idea behind this list is speed, speed and mobility. I will be relying on my jink saves to keep my devilfish alive while they return fire with their smart missiles and burst cannons if they are in range. The same goes for both my Hammerheads and Riptides with their primary job focusing on armor, however the Riptides may target infantry with their blast template ability depending on the army I am fighting.

Why VTs on the Riptides? That's just throwing away 40 points.

What is your plan against flyers you have no units that are a threat to them.

Why Long strike in a Railhead which uses next to none of his rules?

What's your plan against Landraiders? Assault them with Riptides or pray to get very lucky with Hammerheads?

I am wondering how you were running the bomb? Wraithguard wound you on 2+ granted but your 2+ cover save and auto pass LoS should mean you laugh them off.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also the stubborn bubble is terrible you never ever want to use it. Unless you're trying to lose that is. Why on earth would you want to be stubborn? You're a shooting army why give up the opportunity to shoot a unit that has assaulted one of your units?

Its and interesting idea i must say but really depends what your definition of a mech list it.

Devilfish are just underwhelming and dont really do much for your fire warriors as they cant shoot when in them and all it does is move them up the board into more danger.

Does the ethereal powers work while he is in the devilfihs??

If i was building a "mech" list i would just go mass suits. and a few riptides. Use broadsides with HYMP as this covers the AA problems in your current list the a few riptides to help out. This would mean just taking 2 groups of 6 fire warriors and hiding them for dear life.

Anyways just my 2 cents,

Hope it goes well

Yal

 FlingitNow wrote:
Why VTs on the Riptides? That's just throwing away 40 points.

What is your plan against flyers you have no units that are a threat to them.

-Riptides with Skyfire and Interceptor with Ion Accelerators do a fantastic job against flyers, was the best part of my army and always was able to intercept them and shoot them down. This is a GREAT investment and its not "throwing away" 40pts, there I completely disagree.

Why Long strike in a Railhead which uses next to none of his rules?

-He is in a Hammerhead which uses all of his rules? Again dont understand what you mean?

What's your plan against Landraiders? Assault them with Riptides or pray to get very lucky with Hammerheads?

-Yes Hammerheads would be my answer to Landraiders, but I have not seen a Landraider played for a long time especially at my store and S10 is nothing to laugh at when it comes to fighting armor.

I am wondering how you were running the bomb? Wraithguard wound you on 2+ granted but your 2+ cover save and auto pass LoS should mean you laugh them off.

I was running it with this:

-Farsight
-Shadowsun
-Suit with CCN, MSS, NSJ
-x4 with x2 plasma guns each
-x2 with x2 fusion guns each
-x2 Drones per Suit

The Wraithguard both times had those AP2 flamers. The first time against Eldar I played to aggressive and banked on a great shooting turn, I whiffed my shooting pretty badly (even with twin linked) and then my jump away roll was only a 3 . He was able to jump up his last Wave Serpent and his guys had the S4 AP 2 flamers in that unit...was not pretty. Second game my shots just kept bouncing off his stuff even with ignoring cover or twin linked against the other players Wave Serpents (those things are hard to kill especially with a warlock casting conceal). I like the Farsight Bomb but it just kept doing underwhelming performances, not knocking the Farsight Bomb list as it is awesome but I just made this to try a different approach with Tau.

A long strike hammer head has a 50% chance of exploding a land raider. i think its well worth the points though shoring it up with some fusion phranans is a good idea.

i think you can afford to change one of the hammerheads to a sky ray though. little extra assurance against flyers + they arnt too bad against vehicles.

TLDR, mech Tau isn't comparable to mech Eldar or IG because devilfish is not good for it's cost, army list if you want to stick with mech at the end.

The reason mech eldar were and are again good, is because their transports are extremely durable, exceptionally fast, both of which nearly guarantee they can get their payload where it needs to be. On top of all that, they are very capable gun platforms in their own right. IG, on the other hand have VERY cheap transports with decent weapons and the ability for up to 5 models to shoot out of the top. Tau do not have this. I'm going to compare the devilfish to the other iconic transport of the times though, the ubiquitous chimera because, to be perfectly honest, it can't come close to the wave serpent at this point. The devilfish is a capable transport, being more resilient than a chimera, but it's not that great of a weapons platform with BS 3 and average guns. Also, while it's a bit more mobile than a chimera due to being able to move over terrain, it's not technically faster. All this means, imo, that it's a wash between the chimera and devilfish in regards to effectiveness, but the fish clocks in at nearly TWICE as many points as a chimera after disruption pods. And for only 35 more points after upgrades, Eldar get a superior transport in every regard.

Also, trying to go mech tau really pigeon-holes you. There are few, if any, versatile non-forgeword vehicle based markerlights, yet the hammerhead and riptides LOVE markerlights. So then you either have gunships that won't be as effective as they would with some markerlight support, or you have to fill those spots with something non-mech that don't need markerlights as much (i.e. broadsides). I view the new Tau as a symphony of ranged destruction, whereas a mech list makes them more like a lone tuba blurting out notes randomly.

Disregarding all this and assuming you love the mech idea too much, my biggest problem with the proposed list is that the ethereal's devilfish has a huge red blow me up target on it. Blow up the devilfish, then land a couple pie plates on his head and since he only has 6 fire warriors to give him extra wounds, you have given up warlord and the bonus ethereal VP. At 1850 I can't imagine a decent list that will not be able to do this very early.

In regards to the longstrike on a railhead not using hardly any of his rules post earlier. This seems silly to me. Especially since you then say are you going to rely on your hammerheads to get lucky against AV 14? Ever shot a BS 5 str 10 ap 1 re-roll to pen gun at AV 14? It does some work. I play against a lot of IG Leman Russ tanks and he can take out 4-5 per game easily. He may be more versatile with the ion cannon, but he is effective in this loadout. To the OP, remember that Longstrike's battlesuit gives him a BSF so you don't need to buy one.

The railheads and riptides are screaming for markerlights. Those high str bs 3 shots really want to be more reliable. I would try to find a way to work some ML into the list. Personally, I don't like the ARS's on anything. They are going to get HP'd out more often than immobilized or weapon destroyed and the remote 1/6 chance you might repair something is not worth it. MAYBE on longstrike, since he is so good, but not on the rest. If they could repair HP it would be different, kind of like It Shall Not Die for a vehicle, but as is it's way to situational IMO.

I would combine at least one of the fire warrior units into an 11 strong unit to put the ethereal with, thereby dropping a devilfish. I also don't like EMP grenades. Getting that close to the enemy means your firewarriors will be assaulted (pretty much everything in existance wants to get into CC with FW's). Then you will be losing your scoring units. You should have enough AT firepower to not need them. I would also drop the BSFs on the 2 devilfish that have them. Their range is going to allow them to fire regardless, and SMS already ignore cover so who cares about bonuses to cover saves. I want to agree that the velocity trackers are not great on the riptides, but if you need them, then I get it since you really have little other AA and not nearly the dakka of a typical Tau list. I think I would drop the VT's and a hammerhead, and pick up a sky ray instead. This puts the points at 1578. It's hard for me to suggest what to do with the remaining points, since I don't play mech Tau. I want to suggest tetra's but idk if they are available to you. They would give you reliable, mobile vehicle based markerlights. I would also suggest stim injectors for the riptides. 3 tetra's and the stim injectors leaves 52 points to play with, which I would purchase a seeker missile for each hammerhead with since you now have markerlights and maybe sensor spines for the tetra's so they can hide in ruins for a nice 3+ cover with their disruption pods.

Last note, I think the pulse carbine is a bad gun on fire warriors. I get that the devilfish are supposed to help you get closer and thereby utilize the 18" range, but they can do the same at 15" with the rifle. 18" maximum range is just too short. You are only getting an extra shot over the rifle from 16-18". That's not much of a tactical advantage. But being able to outrange any 24" or less gun with a 30" range pulse rifle, however, is HUGE. The only benefit to the carbine in my mind is the ability to assault after shooting ... don't do that.

HQ (50 pts)
Ethereal (50 pts)

Elites (450pts)

XV104 Riptide (225 pts)
Early warning override, Ion accelerator, Stimulant injector, Twin-linked smart missile system
XV104 Riptide (225 pts)
Early warning override, Ion accelerator, Stimulant injector, Twin-linked smart missile system

Troops (681 pts)

Fire Warrior Team (99 pts)
11x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle
Devilfish (105 pts)
Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

Fire Warrior Team (54 pts)
6x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle
Devilfish (105 pts)
Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

Fire Warrior Team (54 pts)
6x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle
Devilfish (105 pts)
Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

Fire Warrior Team (54 pts)
6x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle
Devilfish (105 pts)
Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

Fast Attack (180 pts)

Tetra Scout Speeder Team [FW] (60 pts)
Disruption pod, Sensor Spines

Tetra Scout Speeder Team [FW] (60 pts)
Disruption pod, Sensor Spines

Tetra Scout Speeder Team [FW] (60 pts)
Disruption pod, Sensor Spines

Heavy Support (483 pts)

Hammerhead Gunship (198 pts)
Disruption pod, Railgun with submunitions, Seeker missile, Twin-linked smart missile system, Longstrike

Hammerhead Gunship (154 pts)
Blacksun filter, Disruption pod, Railgun with submunitions, Seeker missile, Twin-linked smart missile system

Sky Ray Missile Defense Gunship (131 pts)
Blacksun filter, Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

6 pts left over, Actually, now that I've put it all into type, I think I might have to give this list a shot. Could be interesting to play 7 tanks, 3 speeders and 2 MC's.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 FlingitNow wrote:

Second game my shots just kept bouncing off his stuff even with ignoring cover or twin linked against the other players Wave Serpents (those things are hard to kill especially with a warlock casting conceal).

Was he casting conceal on his wave serpent? Can't do this. Conceal targets the psyker, and he confers it to his unit. Since he is not joined with the serpent, the serpent gets no bonus from conceal. It would be utterly disgusting if this was allowed. Serpents are powerful enough without it.

I agree the problem with Devilfish is that they are not fast skimmers (why I don't know), they are not as durable or as good at shooting as Eldar transports. I think the Tau's power is in strength in # of shots which the devilfish takes away. I like using them for objective grabbing, but putting all my troops in them is not something I think will be very effective. I do like longstrike and I do like your riptide build. The only way to know how it works is to run it a few times, however I think you will come to the same conclusion, but if it works for you and your local meta - go for it man

I think tau are meant to overwelm in shots, I think eldar are built for speed and precision strikes (something I think tau are not as good at).
Sure there are ways to help like take a commander with the ability to allow others in his squad to shoot at his balistic skill if he does not fire, pathfinders (but honestly I have been pretty underwhelmed by them).

Thanks for the tips man I really appreciate it, the only reason I am considering this list is because there are several Tau players at my store and all of them seem to run the Farsight Bomb or at least a version of it. I do understand the drawbacks of this list as it does lack firepower when compared to most Tau lists however what I get out of it is speed, manuverbility and a bit more surviveabilty for my infantry. Thank you again for the tips however in regards to the Tetras I know they are good but probably will not run them as I already have a Forgeworld list and already deal with a little flak for playing it, however Pirahnas are definitly an option. I will be sure to repost a new list shortly in regards to the advice you guys have given.

A long strike hammer head has a 50% chance of exploding a land raider.

Where are you getting your maths from? 5/6 to hit, 5/9 to pen 1/2 to explode is a 25% chance not 50.

-Riptides with Skyfire and Interceptor with Ion Accelerators do a fantastic job against flyers, was the best part of my army and always was able to intercept them and shoot them down. This is a GREAT investment and its not "throwing away" 40pts, there I completely disagree.

1.5 S7 hits for 210pts is not excellent skyfire. It won't even make most flyers jink. If you had fusion on him too for area denial I could see it but even then he's not great AA. How you've be always able to kill flyers I don't know, but if your dice are that lucky then any build could work.

-He is in a Hammerhead which uses all of his rules? Again dont understand what you mean?

The Railhead gains little benefit from his rules. 1 shot is barely even worth rolling for on Overwatch. Whilst tank hunters is also largely wasted. Against AV10-12 its not really needed against AV14 you suck with or without TH so it is only really for dealing with AV13. Put him in a Ionhead get a more threatening overwatch, get a better blast for less points and get a gun that can strip Hull Points rather than relying on getting lucky on the damage table.

-Yes Hammerheads would be my answer to Landraiders, but I have not seen a Landraider played for a long time especially at my store and S10 is nothing to laugh at when it comes to fighting armor.

But 1 shot means your chances are low. Most of the New books are getting worse against Landraiders I wouldn't be surprised to see more cropping up in the future. But if that's not your meta then don't worry.

As someone pointed out you can't conceal Wave Serpents. So perhaps your opponents generous interpretations of the rules made a difference.

Alright here is the updated list as promised, let me know what you guys think! :

HQ:

-Fireblade

ELITES:

-Riptide
*w/ Ion Accelerator, Early Morning Override, Velocity Tracker

-Riptide
*w/ Ion Accelerator, Early Morning Override, Velocity Tracker

TROOPS:

-x6 Fire Warriors *Fireblade Here*
*w/ Pulse Carbines (or) Rifles
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ Pulse Carbines (or) Rifles
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ Pulse Carbines (or) Rifles
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

-x6 Fire Warriors
*w/ Pulse Carbines (or) Rifles
-Devilfish
*w/ Smart Missile System, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

HEAVY SUPPORT:

-Hammerhead Gunship
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod, Blacksun Filter

-Hammerhead Gunship "Longstrike"
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Automated Repair System, Disruption Pod

-Sky Ray Missile Defense Gunship
*w/ Blacksun filter, Disruption pod, Twin-linked smart missile system

TOTAL ARMY: 1655 POINTS

The Following two options are what I am deciding to add to this list, let me know which one you think would be better!

#1: Makes my army 1848pts.

-Commander
*w/ x2 Missile Pods, Drone Controller
-Drone Squadron
*w/ x5 Marker Drones

#2: Makes my army 1850pts.

-x3 Piranhas
*w/ Fusion Blasters, Disruption Pods

Tactics:

-Taking a Fireblade as my HQ as pointed out before an Ethereal gives my opponent an additional victory point when he is killed and in an army chalk full of kill points I figured I could deny im one less.

-The x2 Riptides in my arsenal are on point for Air Defense as well as being able to focus on Armor as well as infantry. I like these guys a lot as they will be able to maneuver and keep up with this army.

-x32 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles or Carbines, they are all mounted in Devilfish with Burst Cannons and Smart Missiles with a bonus to their jink save ). The idea against most opponents is to keep moving and kiting them at range with my missiles, using the burst cannons if there is the need or opportunity.

-x2 Hammerheads with Submunition Rounds and Longstrike with the usual primary role of taking care of my opponents armor. The Submunition Rounds are there to focus on infantry after the armor as been destroyed and both have night fighting if the scenario allows it. I also have one Skyray (as recommended) to get some markerlights on the table and those x6 missiles may come in handy, not sold on the skyray so will see about that.

Now to the options.

-For the Commander and Marker Drone squadron their job will be sitting back in a support role (either in cover or using a skimmer as cover) tossing out marker lights at BS5 and two missile pods focusing on another target.

-The Piranhas if I go with them will be a hard hitting anti armor-MC unit with disruption pods to give them more survivability. *Note, I could also drop the disruption pods and take a fourth Piranha with a burst cannon to give a few more shots to the unit, let me know one this please!*

To be honest, i find DF to be trash. Since you won't shoot with your FWs, you are spending 159 points for a burst cannon and a TL-SMS. In an army that has its strength in pure firepower, this is a bad choice...

Teschio wrote:
To be honest, i find DF to be trash. Since you won't shoot with your FWs, you are spending 159 points for a burst cannon and a TL-SMS. In an army that has its strength in pure firepower, this is a bad choice...

Think they have potential, being somewhat the middle ground between Chimeras and Wave Serpents, and also if you take pulse rifles you could have your fire warriors start out on the board if you go first to add more shots, or utilize the "Sea Turtle" tactic that Tau players do. That tactic is when you cheapen of your Devil Fish to minimum points and use them as a mobile screen for your fire warriors, basically you shoot the fire warriors and then move flat out with the devilfish to move in front of them to screen them from return fire, works pretty well. Also if your areas meta is very infantry heavy I could see this list doing very well, my only concern is the lack of shots in this list so I would take three hammerheads and give two of them Ion Cannons so you can get some more shots, leave Longstrike with the standard Hammerhead with submunition rounds. If you do that, take the Piranhas with Fusion Blasters as they fit your list better in terms of fluff and would give you a fast moving hard hitting unit.

These look like old codex lists to be honest. If Tau still had the option to shoot as "fast skimmers" then Tau mech lists would be solid still.

Fusion Piranhas would be a good fit for the list.