Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Comments on this TAU Army List which i am trying to finalise at 2500pts.

What do you think of the list and what would you take a sole hammerhead or two Sniper Drone Teams?

(Background info - We have a large table with Foilage, ruins, etc, there are four armies including this Tau army the others are Necron with Ctan, Eldar with Eldrad and Chaos with the heavy mob!!).

=HQ=
1 x XV-8 Shas’El Helios.
Plasma Rifle, Fusion, TA, HWMT 97pts

1 x XV-8 Shas'O with MP, PR, MT 112points
(Accompanying one of the Broadsides and not always attached that is important for survival)

=Elites=
Team 1: 3 x XV8 Deathrains
Twin Linked Missile Pods, TA
Team leader has HW Target Lock 169pts

Team 2: 3 x XV8 Deathrains
Twin Linked Missile Pods, TA
Team leader has HW Target Lock 169pts

Stealth Team
6 Stealths with 6xBurst Cannons, 180pts

=Troops=
Fire Warrior Team 1: 10 Warriors (Shas’Ui upgrade) Pulse Rifles, 110pts
Devilfish Transport DL 85pts

Fire Warrior Team 2: 10 Warriors (Shas’Ui upgrade) Pulse Rifles, 110pts
Devilfish Transport DL 85pts

Kroot Team 3: 10 Kroot 70pts
Kroot Team 4: 10 Kroot 70pts

=Fast Attack=
2 Gun Drone Squads: each 8 Gun Drones strong 96pts per Team

Pathfinder Squad: 6 Pathfinders & one Shas’Ui with Target Lock 129pts
Devilfish Transport DL 85pts

=Heavy=
XV88 Team Leader with A'S'S, HWTL, HWMT, HWDC and 2 Shield Drones 125pts
2x XV88 with A,S,S, 160pts

1 x Hammerhead: Burst Cannons, Multi Tracker and Decoys 165pts OR
2 x Sniper Drone Teams (2 Spotters, 6 Sniper Drones) 160pts

XV88 Team Leader with A'S'S, HWTL, HWMT, HWDC and 2 Shield Drones 125pts
2x XV88 with A,S,S, 160pts

2473pts

All Comments, suggestions or Advice is welcomed and appreciated, Thanks in advance.

I'll get the nitpicks out of the way first. Are your Fire Warrior squads a base of 10 Fire Warriors and then a Shas'Ui at 20 points for him, or is one of the 10 Fire Warriors is actually the Shas'Ui? If it's the latter, which I suspect, then your squads are 10 points more than they should be and you have 20 points to spare. I notice little things, I should be CSI or something.

The HWMT on your Broadside team leaders isn't really required in my opinion. Sure, both of them will be able to target another squad(a squad of Hormagaunts hiding behind some forest, for example) and combined that's 8 shots between them and the Railguns on top of that. Not really that much, if you look at what Tau can put out. I'd get rid of it, but keep the HWTL, that could be very useful(Armored Company can blow my Railgun ).

I'd take the Hammerhead hands down. I'd even beef it up with a SMS, TL and DPs for soaking up enemy AT(which redirects it from instant killing your suits).

I like the Helios Shas'El, I tend to use him in lower point games though(as he is, comparitively, pretty cheap points-wise). And seeing as you'll be facing either Chaos, Necrons or Eldar, why not take a few more? I love the Deathrains, don't get me wrong, but is 6 of them overkill for light vehicles? What are you gonna do with them on turn 2 after all the transports are all smoking craters? I think you should swap out a Deathrain squad for a Helios one. They own MEQ all across the board and the fact that there's 3 of them should make up for the lack of BS and twin linkage.

Not sure about the speedbu-I mean Kroot, but I don't tend to use them much anyways so I wouldn't be the expert on them.

Nice list though, should be a lot of fun, and a pain in the ass for your opponent.

What set up would you have for the Helios XV-8's?

Don't you think the sole Hammerhead would be a bit of a sitting duck on its own?

I would have thought havin 2 teams of Snipers (6 in total) would have been quite useful (never use them though so would not really know!!), particularly against Ctan, Daemon, Eldrad where the snipers could reduce there wound counts and soften them up a bit??

The reason for the Kroot for the points they are very useful in either infiltrating or in my case protecting the Broadsides backside, the kroots will be split up and each one will protect the respective broadsides from any surprising CC, and atleast provide some LOS or even kill the units they engage they are not totally useless...lol.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions.

Personally Im not too big a fan of the hammerhead.

Small amounts of kroot with a lot of cover seems like it could be good but I haven't playtested or used them. Can't really speak from experiance but points could be better spent shooting instead of static defense what ifs.

So rather than critique'ing the list, I'll show you what I'd do at 2500 points.

It's quite different because I don't believe you've made a very good army for the points.

Here's what you get in mine:

2 Railheads.
15 Fire Knife.
2 counterattack units.
2 FW markerlight units.
3 sniper drone teams.
4 piranhas designed for tank hunting.
2 piranhas designed to stop ground troops from advancing at you.

I realize it's an expensive army, and that's the way the cookie crumbles--enjoy!

2500 Pts - Tau Empire Roster - Tau 2500

1 Commander Shas'el @ 239 Pts
Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Target Lock; Crisis Bodyguard; Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker
2 Crisis Bodyguard @ [144] Pts
Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

1 Commander Shas'el @ 239 Pts
Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Target Lock; Crisis Bodyguard; Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker
2 Crisis Bodyguard @ [144] Pts
Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 186 Pts
Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 186 Pts
Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 186 Pts
Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

5 Fire Warrior @ 80 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Rifle (x5)
1 Shas'ui @ [30] Pts
Markerlight; Pulse Rifle

5 Fire Warrior @ 80 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Rifle (x5)
1 Shas'ui @ [30] Pts
Markerlight; Pulse Rifle

5 Fire Warrior @ 80 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Rifle (x5)
1 Shas'ui @ [30] Pts
Markerlight; Pulse Rifle

10 Kroot Carnivore Squad @ 112 Pts
Add Kroot Hounds; Kroot Rifle (x10)
7 Kroot Hounds @ [42] Pts

10 Kroot Carnivore Squad @ 112 Pts
Add Kroot Hounds; Kroot Rifle (x10)
7 Kroot Hounds @ [42] Pts

2 Piranha Light Skimmer @ 120 Pts
Burst Cannon (x2); Gun Drones (x2)
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines

2 Piranha Light Skimmer @ 140 Pts
Burst Cannon (x1); Fusion Blaster (x1); Gun Drones (x2); Seeker Missle (x1); Targeting Array (x1)
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines

2 Piranha Light Skimmer @ 140 Pts
Burst Cannon (x1); Fusion Blaster (x1); Gun Drones (x2); Seeker Missle (x1); Targeting Array (x1)
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines

1 Hammerhead Gunship @ 180 Pts
Railgun; Smart Missile System; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock; Targeting Array

1 Hammerhead Gunship @ 180 Pts
Railgun; Smart Missile System; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock; Targeting Array

1 Sniper Drone Team @ 240 Pts
Drone Controller; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array; Sniper Drone Team; Sniper Drone Team
3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
Rail Rifle and Target Lock (x3); Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array
1 Sniper Drone Team @ [80] Pts
Drone Controller; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array
3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
Rail Rifle and Target Lock (x3); Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array
1 Sniper Drone Team @ [80] Pts
Drone Controller; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array
3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
Rail Rifle and Target Lock (x3); Stealth Field Generator; Targeting Array

Total Roster Cost: 2500

I believe the whole idea that we're helping people with their lists, not making completely different lists for them. You might aswell throw up a Tyranid list for him and tell him to go buy the models for it or GTFO. Don't be dumb, I know you love your army builder and you know your way around it better than MJ does a little boy's body, but give it a rest.

Here's some actual advice, that believe it or not, will help wether good or bad. Atleast I tried.

Hammerheads are much more resilient thanthey're made out to be, you just can't be gung ho with them. Make strategic moves, keeping them behind enough terrain to block LOS with enemy AT while still getting a target. If you have to sacrifice not shooting a the ideal target to keep it out of harms way, I'd normally do it. If you give it SMS it won't need LOS anyway and should be able to hit something. Just a couple hours ago my Railhead wiped out a squad of Genestealers(6 of 8, my Stealths wiped out the last 2) from the Submunition round alone. Everybody underestimates Hammerheads because they're Tau and they think they're flimsy. If they don't then yes, everything will be shot at your Hammerhead including the kitchen sink and maybe even a few cultists will be thrown at it as projectiles. That's why you hide it when it's in danger. If you can't hide it, then chances are he can't hide either.

As for the Helios suits, make one into a team leader, give him a bonding knife and HWMT, and give them all TA. The bonding knife is for when he ends up solo, if he does and the TA instead of the MT was something I had to think on. The Plasma Rifle can be kept at a 30" range if things get hairy and be able to hit on 3s instead of fours which for something like a PR is a no brainer. If you have to make use of the FB for it's Anti-Tank, you won't have to use the PR, and again, hittin on 3s. If you do end up facing something like Terminators then you can always choose between insta-killing SM commanders or pulping Termies with PRs and the one or two shots less is more than worth the BS. If played right, the Helios suits shouldn't be one turn units.

And I think Kroot are awesome, especially for 7 points a bump. Just never used them myself.

Moose wrote:I believe the whole idea that we're helping people with their lists, not making completely different lists for them.

Maybe the original poster really meant what he said.

FistofFury wrote:All Comments, suggestions or Advice is welcomed and appreciated, Thanks in advance.

I'm sure he did, but I'll put it in lamens terms for you since your skull seems to be too thick. If someone asks for a chocolate bar, ANY chocolate bar, you don't give them a bag of chips. Seriously, do you even realise what you type?

Late night IS the best time to get in personal attacks and cheap shots, the mods are all asleep.

So, are you done yet?

You just did it again, I won't explain what it is because you'll just do it again. Confused? Good.

I was actually hoping to get caught, makes things more exciting. Alas, my work shall never be done while people like you still troll the forums. I'll be reading some Eisenhorn, post something intelligent if you need me.