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I've been playing around with this for awhile, and I would love some feedback.

1850 pts.

Main: Tau (Units 4, 5, 6, and 7)
Allies: Tau Farsight supplement (Units 1, 2, and 3)

Unit 1 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
Commander
2x Plasma Rifle
Target Lock
Drone Controller
3x Crisis Suit
Bonding Knives
2x Plasma Rifle
Target Lock
6x Markerlight Drones

Unit 2 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
3x Crisis Suits
TL Fusion Blaster
Bonding Knives
3x Shield Drones

Unit 3
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
Earth Caste Pilot Array
TL Plasma Rifle

Unit 4
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
Velocity Tracker
TL Fusion Blaster

Unit 5 (Troop)
12x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
Devilfish

Unit 6 (Troop)
12x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
Devilfish

Aegis Line w/ Comms Relay

Unit 7 (behind Aegis)
Commander (Warlord)
Drone Controller
Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite
PENchip
Iridium
3x Broadsides
HYMP
TL SMS
Target Lock
6x Markerlight Drones



4 scoring units
12 BS5 Markerlights
Lots of Plasma
Some Fusion
2 Riptides
Plenty of S7 that ignores cover and has Tank Hunters
Comms relay to increase odds that crisis suits come in from reserves on turn 2


Am I missing anything? Any glaring weak spots?

I'm confused on which units come from the Empire and which come from the Enclave. Is your warlord joining the broadsides?

 Invasive Rhamnus wrote:
I'm confused on which units come from the Empire and which come from the Enclave. Is your warlord joining the broadsides?

Correct. Added titles, hopefully to make it a little more clear.

Either unit could be the main/allied, but right now I have the main Tau as the main detachment, and the Farsight supplement as the allies, but it could be easily flip flopped.

By giving the Broadsides Markerlights you basically just made your Marker Drones less mobile. Also the broadsides themselves won't be able to benefit from them. I suggest separating the markerlights from the Broadsides. If you want to keep them attached, then be sure to attach 2 to the commander. That way he can separate and fire the markerlights, should the need arise.
The Iridium armour on your Commander most likely isn't going to be worth it's points. Your majority toughness is still going to be 4, and you can also use lookout sir to get the broadsides 2+ Sv.
Attaching your Commander to a Riptide would probably yield a larger benefit. He'll get the advantage of the T 6 Riptide, and will make the Riptide more accurate. You could keep him on the Broadsides for the PEN chip. If so then consider Vectored Retro Thrusters. Your Broadsides will need to be as far forwards as possible and fairly stationary. Hit and Run could save them.
The Devilfish kind of seem like a waste to me. You have an Aegis Defense Line they can hide behind if need be. The biggest problem is that it's 160 points for some mobility. The points would perhaps be best spent elsewhere.

Terkul wrote:
By giving the Broadsides Markerlights you basically just made your Marker Drones less mobile. Also the broadsides themselves won't be able to benefit from them. I suggest separating the markerlights from the Broadsides. If you want to keep them attached, then be sure to attach 2 to the commander. That way he can separate and fire the markerlights, should the need arise.

With the Broadsides being front and center behind the Aegis, and markerlights have 36 inch range, I don't feel like they need to be mobile. At worst, its no different than having a squad of pathfinders using markerlights.

Additionally, the Broadsides, in this configuration, don't need markerlights for anything. They're already twin linked, they already ignore cover because of the commander...do they really need 1 more BS? I don't think so.

To that end, they all have Target locks, so the drones are free to shoot at other things and support the riptides.

Terkul wrote:

The Iridium armour on your Commander most likely isn't going to be worth it's points. Your majority toughness is still going to be 4, and you can also use lookout sir to get the broadsides 2+ Sv.

Perhaps. Might think on this one. He's there ideally to tank for the broadside unit, with 2+ armor, T5, and 4+ cover. Only an S10 could double him out, which he could just pass off anyway.

Terkul wrote:

Attaching your Commander to a Riptide would probably yield a larger benefit. He'll get the advantage of the T 6 Riptide, and will make the Riptide more accurate. You could keep him on the Broadsides for the PEN chip. If so then consider Vectored Retro Thrusters. Your Broadsides will need to be as far forwards as possible and fairly stationary. Hit and Run could save them.

One riptide (the earth cast) is pretty independent, and doesn't need support. The other is supported by the markerlights to have him re-roll Gets Hot, Scatter, and give him Ignore Cover.

You have a point about the Broadsides being far forward, but I haven't had a problem with it thus far.

Terkul wrote:

The Devilfish kind of seem like a waste to me. You have an Aegis Defense Line they can hide behind if need be. The biggest problem is that it's 160 points for some mobility. The points would perhaps be best spent elsewhere.

Good point. I was thinking of dropping one Devilfish and just keeping them static behind the line. I've found that having two full squads behind a line is too cramped though, and really makes you weak to any kind of blast, even if it doesn't ignore cover.

Markerlights nor earth caste array will allow you to reroll ion accelerator gets hot!. The earth caste allows you to reroll 1s to hit and markerlights only benefit BS.

Gets hot on blast weapons cannot be prevented currently

part 1) Do you need the extra BS? No, but it would be nice. BS 3 Twin Linked is 75% hit rate. BS 4 Twin Linked is 88.8%. The main issue is what happens if you don't have a good shot (locked in combat, LOS blocking terrain, and so on). These are the advantages you'll have to consider.
The disadvantages are that you don't get the survivability benefit for both the Broadsides and the Drones. The point cost is higher for the equivalent separate markerlight unit.
part 2) You already have the Aegis defense line for low ap shots. And if there's any high Str. shots, you could pass those off on your drones.
part 3) The Support Commander can do this too. The main benefit is that your warlord would be harder to kill while still gaining all of the benefits you wanted.
part 4) The only real problem is that devilfish costs so much when you're only using them for transportation. You could drop one devilfish and bring something that already has mobility.

 gameandwatch wrote:
Markerlights nor earth caste array will allow you to reroll ion accelerator gets hot!. The earth caste allows you to reroll 1s to hit and markerlights only benefit BS.

Gets hot on blast weapons cannot be prevented currently

Re-read your gets hot section. I made this mistake too. You can reroll the gets hot. It specifically says so.

 gameandwatch wrote:
Markerlights nor earth caste array will allow you to reroll ion accelerator gets hot!. The earth caste allows you to reroll 1s to hit and markerlights only benefit BS.

Gets hot on blast weapons cannot be prevented currently

From the BRB:
"If a model has the abiliry to re-roll its rolls To Hit (including becauseof BS 6+, or Twin-linked), a Wound is only suffered if the To Hit re-roll is also a 1; it may also re-roll Gets Hot results of 1 for weapons that do not roll To Hit."

Except that blast weapons gain no benefit to BS beyond 5 except a reduced scatter, the do not get the re-roll like shots normally would for being BS6, so therefore you cannot reroll the gets hot. The gets hot roll for blast weapons has nothing to do with hitting, since the roll for blast weapon gets hot is rolled before the scatter die is rolled, and if the gets hot occurs, the weapon does not fire...

 gameandwatch wrote:
Except that blast weapons gain no benefit to BS beyond 5 except a reduced scatter, the do not get the re-roll like shots normally would for being BS6, so therefore you cannot reroll the gets hot. The gets hot roll for blast weapons has nothing to do with hitting, since the roll for blast weapon gets hot is rolled before the scatter die is rolled, and if the gets hot occurs, the weapon does not fire...

Sure, except the Earth Caste Pilot Array allows re-rolls of 1's when rolling to-hit (i.e. re-roll the get's hot)

 gameandwatch wrote:
Except that blast weapons gain no benefit to BS beyond 5 except a reduced scatter, the do not get the re-roll like shots normally would for being BS6, so therefore you cannot reroll the gets hot. The gets hot roll for blast weapons has nothing to do with hitting, since the roll for blast weapon gets hot is rolled before the scatter die is rolled, and if the gets hot occurs, the weapon does not fire...

The person right above you quoted the rule, and the last few words prove you 100% out of whack.

 Mulletdude wrote:

 gameandwatch wrote:
Except that blast weapons gain no benefit to BS beyond 5 except a reduced scatter, the do not get the re-roll like shots normally would for being BS6, so therefore you cannot reroll the gets hot. The gets hot roll for blast weapons has nothing to do with hitting, since the roll for blast weapon gets hot is rolled before the scatter die is rolled, and if the gets hot occurs, the weapon does not fire...

Sure, except the Earth Caste Pilot Array allows re-rolls of 1's when rolling to-hit (i.e. re-roll the get's hot)

Except that blast weapons do NOT use BS when rolling to hit, the use a scatter dice and 2d6. You guys need to check "gets hot and weapons that do not roll to hit" in the "gets hot" special rule.

The earth caste array allows you to reroll to hit rolls of 1, the gets hot for blast weapons is not a roll to hit.

You guys need to read the rules more closely cause you seriously out of whack

 gameandwatch wrote:

 Mulletdude wrote:

 gameandwatch wrote:
Except that blast weapons gain no benefit to BS beyond 5 except a reduced scatter, the do not get the re-roll like shots normally would for being BS6, so therefore you cannot reroll the gets hot. The gets hot roll for blast weapons has nothing to do with hitting, since the roll for blast weapon gets hot is rolled before the scatter die is rolled, and if the gets hot occurs, the weapon does not fire...

Sure, except the Earth Caste Pilot Array allows re-rolls of 1's when rolling to-hit (i.e. re-roll the get's hot)

Except that blast weapons do NOT use BS when rolling to hit, the use a scatter dice and 2d6. You guys need to check "gets hot and weapons that do not roll to hit" in the "gets hot" special rule.

The earth caste array allows you to reroll to hit rolls of 1, the gets hot for blast weapons is not a roll to hit.

You guys need to read the rules more closely cause you seriously out of whack

What part of "it may also re-roll Gets Hot results of 1 for weapons that do not roll to hit" is hard to comprehend?

You guys need to check "gets hot and weapons that do not roll to hit" in the "gets hot" special rule.

And you need to re-read "Gets Hot and Re-rolls".

Ugg, Ill say it again:

Earth caste pilot array: "The model rerolls all rolls of 1 TO HIT in the shooting phase, and may reroll dice when using a Nova reactor..."

The gets hot for the large blast ion accelerator, being a blast weapon, is not a roll to hit:

Gets hot "...Gets hot and weapons that DO NOT ROLL TO HIT: Weapons that DO NOT ROLL TO HIT (such as blast weapons) must roll a D6 for each shot immediately BEFORE firing.

It is really quite simple, neither markerlights, nor the earth caste array do anything for rerolling the gets hot for the weapon.

And just to be sure it isnt games workshops end, I am using the farsight enclaves digital book and the Large BRB

 gameandwatch wrote:
Ugg, Ill say it again:

Earth caste pilot array: "The model rerolls all rolls of 1 TO HIT in the shooting phase, and may reroll dice when using a Nova reactor..."

The gets hot for the large blast ion accelerator, being a blast weapon, is not a roll to hit:

Gets hot "...Gets hot and weapons that DO NOT ROLL TO HIT: Weapons that DO NOT ROLL TO HIT (such as blast weapons) must roll a D6 for each shot immediately BEFORE firing.

It is really quite simple, markerlights nor the earth caste array do anything for rerolling the gets hot for the weapon.

And just to be sure it isnt games workshops end, I am using the farsight enclaves digital book and the Large BRB

And what does the "Gets Hot and re-rolls" say about weapons that do not roll to hit.

It's been quoted for you several times.

Whoops, missed that last sentence...

Oh well, means that I have been playing it wrong :/

so that mean that that a riptide can reroll a gets hot of 1 for his ion blast, what if he rolls again and gets another 1. Does he re-roll that?

No matter what, you can only ever reroll a die once. So whenever a reroll occurs you must always abide by the second roll, even if it's worse than the first.

MadmanMSU wrote:
I've been playing around with this for awhile, and I would love some feedback.

1850 pts.

]Main: Tau (Units 4, 5, 6, and 7)
supplement[/b] (Units 1, 2, and 3)

]Unit 1 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
Commander
2x Plasma Rifle
Target Lock
Drone Controller
3x Crisis Suit
Bonding Knives
2x Plasma Rifle
Target Lock
6x Markerlight Drones
i would drop the target lock and either change the drones to gun drones and give your guys two burst cannons or just drop the drones. also no point of them starting in reserve with marker lights

Unit 2 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
3x Crisis Suits
TL Fusion Blaster
Bonding Knives
3x Shield Drones
Drope the drones and take a double weapon. here would be a good place to put the target locks

Unit 3
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
Earth Caste Pilot Array
TL Plasma Rifle

Unit 4
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
Velocity Tracker
TL Fusion Blaster

Unit 5 (Troop)
12x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
Devilfish
devil fish are expensive drop them to save points
Unit 6 (Troop)
12x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
Devilfish
devil fish are expensive drop them to save points

Aegis Line w/ Comms Relay

Unit 7 (behind Aegis)
Commander (Warlord)
Drone Controller
Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite
PENchip
Iridium
3x Broadsides
HYMP
TL SMS
Target Lock
6x Markerlight Drones



4 scoring units
12 BS5 Markerlights
Lots of Plasma
Some Fusion
2 Riptides
Plenty of S7 that ignores cover and has Tank Hunters
Comms relay to increase odds that crisis suits come in from reserves on turn 2


Am I missing anything? Any glaring weak spots?

if you change up your list i.e. droping your devil fish you can take more units like another hamer head or more crisis troops(if you take farsight as lead). i made a mobile version of this list. no agis but i also use more crisis suits / hammer heads also didn't take any riptides so adjust to how you want to play accordingly.

First, I appreciate all the feedback. It's given me some things to think about.

Below is the modified result. I've switched the Farsight supplement to be the main detachment.

Its got 36 S7 shots.
One dedicated anti tank crisis unit
One dedicated anti elite crisis unit
Two Riptides with markerlight support
Two different kinds of markerlights, hopefully making it harder to take them all out
A Cadre with the Firewarriors to give them extra shots and extra leadership
No dedicated anti-air: the sheer Mass of S7 with tank-hunters should be enough
Weak to monstrous creature spam? Maybe, although riptides can pull double duty by Nova Charging and double firing their plasma/fusion

Should be strong in the current meta of Serpent spam and Necron air?

1850 pts.

Main: Tau Farsight Supplement
Allies: Tau

Unit 1 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
3x Crisis Suit
Bonding Knives
2x Plasma Rifle
4x Shield Drones

Unit 2 (Troop)(Starts in reserve)
3x Crisis Suits
TL Fusion Blaster
1x Flamer
Bonding Knives
3x Shield Drones

Unit 3
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
Earth Caste Pilot Array
TL Fusion Blaster

Unit 4 (Troop)
Commander
C&C Node
MSSS
PENchip
Iridium
2x Markerlight Drones
Drone Controller
3x Crisis Suits
2x Missile Pods
Target Lock
Bonding Knives
6x Markerlight Drones

Unit 5
Riptide
Ion Accelerator
EWO
TL Plasma Rifle

Unit 6 (Troop)
Cadre Fireblade (Warlord)
12x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles

Unit 7
10x Pathfinders

Unit 8 (behind Aegis)
3x Broadsides
HYMP
TL SMS
6x Missile Drones

Fortification
Aegis Line w/ Comms Relay