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Hello once again fellow Commanders! Now I am considering putting together a Farsight Enclave list, however part of me wants to move away from the standard boring x3 Riptide style of army. WIth this list I am hoping to maximize the number of suits I can take, add in some better anti-armor instead of IA Riptides and still be competitive. Basically from you guys I want you to put your input as to the pros and cons of the list and any changes you feel that are needed. Thanks for your input guys!

BATTLESUIT SPEARHEAD:

HQ:

-Commander
*w/ x2 Missile Pods, Drone Controller, Shield Generator, Counterfire Defense System
-x2 Crisis Bodyguard
*w/ x2 Missile Pods Each

ELITE:

-Riptide
*w/ Ion Accelerator, TL Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker, Earth Caste Pilot Array

TROOPS:

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Missile Pods Each

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team *Deep Striking*
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Suits with x2 Fusion Blasters Each, x2 Target Locks, x1 Suit with x2 Flamers

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Burst Cannons Each

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Burst Cannons Each

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Plasma Guns Each

-(x3) Crisis Suit Team
*w/ Bonding Knife, x2 Plasma Guns Each

HEAVY SUPPORT:

-Sky Ray Missile Defense Gunship
*w/ Smart Missile System, Blacksun Filter

-Hammerhead Gunship
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Blacksun Filter, Sensor Spines

-Hammerhead Gunship *Longstrike*
*w/ Smart Missile System, Submunition Rounds, Sensor Spines, Automated Repair System

TOTAL ARMY: 2000 POINTS

As was pointed out to me recently, by the time you're done buying target locks, the 12pt drones for the crisis teams are actually not cheaper than the 14pt fast attack slot drones. Why not grab 2 marker drone squadrons, put a commander with each, and leave the missile suits on their own, forcing your opponent to deal with EITHER your backfield scoring units or markerlight support, rather than getting to focus-fire those two squads and get 2 for the price of 1, plus your warlord?

CDRAlbrecht wrote:
As was pointed out to me recently, by the time you're done buying target locks, the 12pt drones for the crisis teams are actually not cheaper than the 14pt fast attack slot drones. Why not grab 2 marker drone squadrons, put a commander with each, and leave the missile suits on their own, forcing your opponent to deal with EITHER your backfield scoring units or markerlight support, rather than getting to focus-fire those two squads and get 2 for the price of 1, plus your warlord?

Actually originally had x2 Marker Light Drone squads with the commander, however figured it would cut down on KP's and save some points, didn't realize that I was not making it any cheaper for my suits.

 gmaleron wrote:
Actually originally had x2 Marker Light Drone squads with the commander, however figured it would cut down on KP's and save some points, didn't realize that I was not making it any cheaper for my suits.

Yeah, it's an easy thing to overlook. If you add the 15 points from the target locks to the 6 drones, they come out to 14.5 points each.

Whereas, if you give the commander 2x marker drones of his own, have him join a squadron of 4 marker drones, the drones average to 13.3 points each, still with BS5.

It's not a significant difference in points. The trade-off is:

- More wounds and leadership into a single "support" squad with your HQ, missile suits and marker drones.

vs.

- Two separate units, forcing your opponent to make tougher decisions on what to target, although the missile suits and the mark'o squads become somewhat easier to focus-fire down, and the missile suits are more likely to break and run.

The second option saves you about 14 points overall. I think either setup is viable, but yeah -- consolidating them isn't actually cheaper, unless you remove their target locks and force them to shoot at whatever the drones are lighting up -- which, with 36" S7 weapons, isn't a horrible idea. Missile pods can hurt just about anything, but it makes you less flexible.

I'll pile on to that, you can still buy 2 marker drones for the commander at 12pts each and leave his ability to join the FA drone squad unaffected, that way the FA squad can be only 4 and still be good.

Couple other tweaks. Never, ever, mix weapons on a single suit. Don't do 1+1, 1+1, 1+1. Instead, do x4 Flamers, x2 Fusion (Target Lock)- 124 with bonding.

Consider taking 1 burst cannon unit as Missile pods instead, then consider replacing both M pod units with plasma suit teams. If you're determined not to use Ion Accelerators, you'll need the AP2. You can mix in fusion with them if you want like x4 plasma x2 fusion (target lock). That would give you 2 units of flamer+fusion skirmishers (great units), 2 units of plasma for ap2 (markerlight support here!), 1 burst cannon+gun drone squad for dakka devastation and 1 unit of m pods to pop light/medium transports and hold a backfield objective.

If you face a fair amount of eldar, daemons or UM with tigurious in your meta, consider taking the talisman of moloch on the riptide. He then becomes 260 points but he's worth it if you protect him.

If you have the points and are determined to take Hammerheads over Skyrays then consider taking Longstrike in one of them; he makes them go from like a 4/10 choice to like a 6/10 choice as a selection. But my recommendation would be to go at least 1 Hammerhead (longstrike here) and 1 skyray.

That's all I've got! It's super fun to spam suits.

 The Shrike wrote:


Consider taking 1 burst cannon unit as Missile pods instead, then consider replacing both M pod units with plasma suit teams. If you're determined not to use Ion Accelerators, you'll need the AP2. You can mix in fusion with them if you want like x4 plasma x2 fusion (target lock). That would give you 2 units of flamer+fusion skirmishers (great units), 2 units of plasma for ap2 (markerlight support here!), 1 burst cannon+gun drone squad for dakka devastation and 1 unit of m pods to pop light/medium transports and hold a backfield objective.

If you face a fair amount of eldar, daemons or UM with tigurious in your meta, consider taking the talisman of moloch on the riptide. He then becomes 260 points but he's worth it if you protect him.

If you have the points and are determined to take Hammerheads over Skyrays then consider taking Longstrike in one of them; he makes them go from like a 4/10 choice to like a 6/10 choice as a selection. But my recommendation would be to go at least 1 Hammerhead (longstrike here) and 1 skyray.

Hmm very good advice! Definitely understand the meaning of not mixing and matching weapons on suits, will definitely look into that. Also I know everyone preaches plasma but in my experience the number of shots that I put out with my burst cannons have really been more effective then anything plasma can do, however I do respect the AP2. Will definitely look into changing this up, however question:

-I am running the Farsight Enclave Book, can I still take Longstrike?

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this, why do you have 3x target locks on those 3 man squads? you only need 2.

 chillis wrote:
I'm surprised no one's mentioned this, why do you have 3x target locks on those 3 man squads? you only need 2.

Meant 2

Updated List! Yesterday I played a 2000pt. game with my original list against some Mech Vet IG and due to the experiences that game (a bloody game but I still emerged victorious) I have tweaked the above list at the top of the thread for your critique, thank you for all your tips as well have added a lot of them into the new list! Basically my thoughts on the above list:

-x3 Hammerheads to handle Long Range Anti-Armor duties. Took a third Hammerhead with Longstrike in place of a second deep striking Crisis Suit team, why sacrifice some suits when you can pop armor at a distance.

-Put Commanders in Drone Squadrons to minimize losses when Missile Suits are targeted, bad experience last game with some lucky shooting from my opponent.

-Limited myself to x1 Deep Striking team of Suits with Flamer Spam and x1 with Fusion Blasters. Last game one unit of these guys (the other scattered badly and got shot to death next turn) landed right up against his Aegis Defence line and I was able to wipe out a lot of Guardsmen and his Icarus Lascannon!

Please leave some tips, I have a few games scheduled this week (before I leave for Thanksgiving holiday) against some powerful armies, thanks guys!

I like the way this army looks >

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've just been flicking through both books and cannot see in the Riptide options where it's able to take signature systems only up to two support systems. How can it be equipped with earth caste pilot array as this is a signature system

It literally says right under the entry that it is for "battle suits only." A riptide is an XV-104 battle suit.

Sorry that's not what I was asking. I meant what I asked which was that the riptide can take 2 support systems but it doesn't mention being allowed to take signature systems which is what the pilot caste things cones under right?

mickthesplit wrote:
Sorry that's not what I was asking. I meant what I asked which was that the riptide can take 2 support systems but it doesn't mention being allowed to take signature systems which is what the pilot caste things cones under right?

Yes it does, in the Farsight Enlcave book it states the following: "Note that XV104 Riptides in your army may select items from the Signature Systems of the Farsight Enclaves." So yes I can take the Earth Caste Pilot Array on my one Riptide and any other Signature System I want as long as there is only one of each selected for the entire army.

Besides the confusion on that, what are your guys thoughts in regards to this revamped list? Just need tips as I have a few games tomorrow!

OK thanks I was looking in the Tau Empire book at Riptides and was then going to look at the signature systems page of the enclave book and wondered why people were selecting them.