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With the release of the Farsight Enclaves and the fact that you can finally (seriously, this has been my major complaint about the Tau since they debuted in 3rd edition) build a Mobile Infantry style army I would like to tailor a list for that so that I can finally play the shoot and scoot army I’ve always wanted to on the table top. My Tau have been under revamp anyways, so this is a good way to tweak them out prior to completing them.

I'd like to build a 1500/1750/2000 point list so that I can scale up or down easily as needed, and would like some help with tweaking my list. As a general note, I don't want to stray outside of suit based or aircraft based models if I can help it. Cap troopers don't deploy with guys in flak armor (at least in the book they don't). I would consider 1 squad of Kroot to represent allied Skinnies.

1500 points (currently at 1460pts total)

HQ:

Shas'O - 2x Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller, Bonded

Elites:

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Earth Caste Pilot Array, Early Warning Override, Fusion Blasters

Troops:

Crisis Suits (3 man) - 2x Plasma Rifles each, 2x Shield Drones, Bonded
Crisis Suits (3 man) - 2x Plasma Rifles each, 2x Shield Drones, Bonded
Crisis Suits (3 man) - 2 with Burst Cannon and Flamer, 1 with CIB and Flamer, Vectored Retro Thrusters, 2x Gun Drones, Bonded
Crisis Suit (1 man) - 2x Fusion Blasters, Bonded
Crisis Suit (1 man) - 2x Fusion Blasters, Bonded

Fast Attack:

Razor Shark - Decoy Launcher, TL Missile Pod
Marker Drone Squadron - (Shas'O joins them)

Heavy Support:

Broadside (1 man) - Drone Controller, Bonded, 2x Missile Drone

That's 30 points shy of 1500. Should I go with a HYMP on the Broadside or a Heavy Rail Rifle? If I went with the HYMP I could drop the Drone Controller and take Early Warning Override on it I suppose. It gives me more firepower that way.

To go to 1750 (currently at 1700):

Stealth Team (3 man) - Bonded, Shas'vre, Marker Light/Target Lock, 2 Target Locks, Drone Controller, 2 Marker Drones
Broadside (unit now 2 man) - Drone Controller, Bonded, 4x Missile Drones


To go to 2000 (currently at 1949):

Crisis Suits (3 man squad) - 3x Burst Cannon, 3x Plasma Rifle, Bonded, Drone Controller, Vectored Retro Thrusters, 2x Gun Drones
Crisis Suits (3 man squad, combine the two lone man fusion suits) - 2x Fusion Blasters Each, Bonded, Target Lock on each

I'm tempted to add in a Stealth Suit, Target Lock, and Fusion Blaster to go with the Stealth Team at this level

I will hurt against AR14 to some degree, though I've tried to pack in plenty of Fusion Blasters at all levels. Should I squeeze in some VRT and Drones on my other squads (I could get a drone and vrt on two squads for 34 points)? Purchase Counterfire defense systems? Ditch the Broadsides all together and cram in more suits?

Something a friend of mine fully believes in is more is better. To really get the feel for this new adaptation I would suggest as many troop suits as possible. You will quickly find out weather you need the broadsides, flyer, marker drone team or stealth suits.
After all, what can your support elements do that your troop suits don't already do?
You have the option to do a max missile squad, plasma squad, fusion squad, flamer squad, burst cannon squad and support squad. Go nuts and see what happens.

I would drop the razor shark and add marker drone squads to keep up with the mobility.

 VorackTheGrim wrote:
Something a friend of mine fully believes in is more is better. To really get the feel for this new adaptation I would suggest as many troop suits as possible. You will quickly find out weather you need the broadsides, flyer, marker drone team or stealth suits.
After all, what can your support elements do that your troop suits don't already do?
You have the option to do a max missile squad, plasma squad, fusion squad, flamer squad, burst cannon squad and support squad. Go nuts and see what happens.

That's not a bad idea. I had thought about dropping the Razor at 1500 points to put more suits in.

The fact that it packs six Strength 7 shots, or a strength 8 pie plate made it very tempting for crowd and light vehicle control. It's cheaper than the Sunshark, with a larger footprint high strength pie plate while acting as anti air support of a sort. It isn't a game breaker, but I think it could do better than it appears to in a normal Tau list for the pie plate/some AA duty it brings.

It's all about volume of shots for this army and being mobile, mobile, mobile. For this reason I do agree to drop the broadsides and look at a better stealth squad perhaps. They're the cheapest way you can get lots of anti-troop shots into the list. I'll look at no markers as well and see if I like what jumps out at me.

Thanks for the feedback, I am looking to get back into the game with this list, and while it doesn't need to be ultra competative (it won't be staying with a MI theme), I want to at least have fun with it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I rethought things a little bit more based on what you've said, and based on what some others have said:

1496 points

HQ:

Shas'o - 2x Missile Pod, Bonded, Drone Controller, 2x Marker Drones
Bodyguard (2) - 2x Missile Pod, Bonded, 2x Target Lock

Elites:

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Earth Caste Pilot Array, Fusion Blaster

Troops:

Crisis Team (3 man) - 6x Plasma Rifle, 1x Shield Drone, Bonded
Crisis Team (3 man) - 6x Burst Cannons, Bonded, Drone Controller, Vectored Retro Thrusters, 2x Gun Drones
Crisis Team (3 man) - 3x Burst Cannon, 3x CIB, Bonded, Drone Controller, Vectored Retro Thrusters, 2x Gun Drones
Crisis Team (3 man) - 6x Flamer, Bonded, Drone Controller, Vectored Retro Thrusters, 2x Gun Drones
Crisis Team (3 man) - 3x Plasma Rifle, 3x Missile Pod, 1x Shield Drone, Bonded
Crisis Team (3 man) - 6x Fusion Blaster, 2x Target Lock, Bonded


Then for 1747:

Add two more Marker Drones to the Command Squad for 4x Marker Drones in total
Stealth Team - 4x Stealth Suits, 3x Target Lock, Shas'vre, Marker Light/Target Lock, Drone Controller, 2x Marker Drones, Bonded
+1 Shield Drone for the Fusion Blaster Squad
+1 Shield Drone fro the Plasma Rifle Squad
Early Warning Override on the Riptide

Boosts up the marker lighting, adds some survivability, while also adding in a crowd control squad.

Then to hit 1996:

Razor Shark - TL Missile Pod
XV9 - Drone Controller, 2x Gun Drone

At 1500 that's (not counting rapid fire) 48 STR 5 AP 5 shots a turn, 18 Str 7 AP 4 MP shots plus 9 Str 7 AP 4 or 3 STR 8 AP 4 Blast shots, plus 9 Str 6 AP 2 shots (18 if rapid firing), 6 STR 8 AP 1 Fusion shots, 3 Str 7 AP 2 shots or 1 Str 9 AP 2 Ordanance blast (also could include extra Fusion shot depending on how the Riptide is used) and 6 Flamers.

Going to 1750 that adds in potentially 16 STR 5 AP 5 shots (more likely 12), and at 2000 points that adds in 12 STR 5 AP 5 shots a turn (twin linked) plus 6 Str 7 AP 4 shots or 2 Str 7 AP 4 shots plus Str 8 AP 4 Large blast.