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My list for my tau army (will be facing tyranids, guardsmen or space marines)

HQ

Battlesuit Commander w/ Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Iridum Armour, Drone Controller, 2 marker drones, Puretide chip - 165

TROOPS

6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66

ELITES

2 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion blasters, - 110
3 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods, - 126
6 Stealth suits w/ Shas'vre, markerlight and target lock and fusion blaster - 200


FAST ATTACK

6 pathfinders w/, EMP Grenades - 77
6 pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades - 77

HEAVY SUPPORT

Hammerhead w/ Longstrike, Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 191
Hammerhead w/ Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 151
2 Broardside battlesuits w/ TL Plasma rifles, velocity trackers, TL Heavy rail rifle - 160

1511 points

Any advise or tactics to use? Comments and criticism welcome!

Your battlesuit commander can't take stims, drone controller and counterfire and two guns. You should drop counterfire defense systems from every unit though, as it does not matter very much and is just there to kill spare points or systems. Take a neuroweb on the commander, it is just too good and too cheap to leave behind. The neurochip is not bad either.

Stim injectors are OK on the commander, but drop them from the suits. They are too expensive and wont save you from the majority of weapons your suits really worry about. T5 on the commander and being the warlord makes the stims OK here.

Lose the EMP grenades from every unit, get more fire warriors with the points.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
Your battlesuit commander can't take stims, drone controller and counterfire and two guns. You should drop counterfire defense systems from every unit though, as it does not matter very much and is just there to kill spare points or systems. Take a neuroweb on the commander, it is just too good and too cheap to leave behind. The neurochip is not bad either.

Stim injectors are OK on the commander, but drop them from the suits. They are too expensive and wont save you from the majority of weapons your suits really worry about. T5 on the commander and being the warlord makes the stims OK here.

Lose the EMP grenades from every unit, get more fire warriors with the points.

Thanks, dropping the CFDS and stimulants on all battlesuits which will give me 110 points to play with. What should I get with that? (I am out of fire warrior models so I can't have any more of them :( ) Also added a neurochip to the commander.

Your scoring units are fairly fragile, so adding some kroot would be good, or a devilfish to transport and protect the warriors.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
Your scoring units are fairly fragile, so adding some kroot would be good, or a devilfish to transport and protect the warriors.

15 Kroot with sniper rounds added to main list! (Don't have any spare devilfish, converted the last one as a hammerhead :(

Main list also updated with changes.

If your not going to give them anything special drop the body gaurds and take them as normal crisis suits its 10 extra points for Sworn protector rule which isn't that awsome. just put them in front of him.
i would give one of your squads nothing but pulse carbines as QRF unit and toss them in a devilfish (if you can aford to get a new one). i'm not sure about the Tyranids but space marines and gaurd can be pinned.(keeps the assault squads off you mostly.)
i would repulser field on your HQ

Also Imperial gaurd is going to just chew through your list. Since most run a lot of tanks.

And while 15 sniper rounds does sound great i just don't like using kroot they never work out well for me.

You also need to take in account if the other guys are using flyers. For mine i took one less hammer head and took a broadside team with velocity trackers.

Edited the main list with further suggestions! I know he has a Valkyrie for the guard and a flying monsterous thingy for nids so I have squeezed in a group of 2 broardsides. Not too interested in the devilfish and pulse carbines though...

You seem to have a lot of errors with your list's point costs. Here's the actual cost of what you've posted so far...

HQ
Battlesuit Commander w/ Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Iridum Armour, Drone Controller, 2 marker drones, Puretide chip - 187

TROOPS
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66

ELITES
2 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion blasters - 104
3 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods - 156
6 Stealth suits w/ Shas'vre, markerlight and target lock and fusion blaster - 200

FAST ATTACK
6 pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades - 78
6 pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades - 78

HEAVY SUPPORT
Hammerhead w/ Longstrike, Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 206
Hammerhead w/ Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 161
2 Broadside battlesuits w/ TL Plasma rifles, velocity trackers, TL Heavy rail rifle - 180

TOTAL - 1614

I also don't see the 15 Kroot that you mentioned. My suggestions are:
• Add the Kroot like you said. gaining 105 points
• Remove all emp grenades (you have 6 anti vehicles you don't need 6 more options). saving 72 points
• Remove seeker missiles from the hammerheads and put them on the broadsides (they have skyfire). You'll lose 2 missiles and 16 points from this
• Combine some of your Fire Warrior units. Fire Warriors have low leadership and a moral test usually causes them to run off the board. This also helps against Leadership Testing psychic powers which I'm almost certain you will face.
• You're still 131 points over. You'll have to make some cuts in order to get down to 1500 again. There are several ways you can achieve this so pick your poison.

Terkul wrote:
You seem to have a lot of errors with your list's point costs. Here's the actual cost of what you've posted so far...

HQ
Battlesuit Commander w/ Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Iridum Armour, Drone Controller, 2 marker drones, Puretide chip - 187

TROOPS
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66
6 Fire Warriors w/ EMP grenades - 66

ELITES
2 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion blasters - 104
3 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods - 156
6 Stealth suits w/ Shas'vre, markerlight and target lock and fusion blaster - 200

FAST ATTACK
6 pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades - 78
6 pathfinders w/ EMP Grenades - 78

HEAVY SUPPORT
Hammerhead w/ Longstrike, Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 206
Hammerhead w/ Submunition rounds, SMS, 2 seeker missiles, disruption pods - 161
2 Broadside battlesuits w/ TL Plasma rifles, velocity trackers, TL Heavy rail rifle - 180

TOTAL - 1614

I also don't see the 15 Kroot that you mentioned. My suggestions are:
• Add the Kroot like you said. gaining 105 points
• Remove all emp grenades (you have 6 anti vehicles you don't need 6 more options). saving 72 points
• Remove seeker missiles from the hammerheads and put them on the broadsides (they have skyfire). You'll lose 2 missiles and 16 points from this
• Combine some of your Fire Warrior units. Fire Warriors have low leadership and a moral test usually causes them to run off the board. This also helps against Leadership Testing psychic powers which I'm almost certain you will face.
• You're still 131 points over. You'll have to make some cuts in order to get down to 1500 again. There are several ways you can achieve this so pick your poison.

Wow! Thanks for your very detailed answer. I'm going to rewrite the list and this will be the one that will be played (as I set off to the gaming club in an hour)

HQ

Battlesuit commander w/ Plasma Rifle, Fusion blaster, iridium armour. - 145

TROOPS

12 Fire warriors - 108
12 Fire warriors - 108
10 Kroot w/ sniper rounds - 70

ELITES

2 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Fusion blasters - 104
3 crisis suits w/ Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods - 156
6 Stealth suits - 180

FAST ATTACK

6 Pathfinders - 66
6 Pathfinders - 66

HEAVY SUPPORT

Hammerhead w/ Longstrike, Submunition rounds, - 170
Hammerhead w/ Submunition rounds - 130
2 Broardsides w/ 2 Broadside battlesuits w/ TL Plasma rifles, velocity trackers, TL Heavy rail rifle, seeker missile each - 196

TOTAL - 1499

Thank you all for your help - will post the results and my verdict on the list after it has been played!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well I ended up playing imperial guard - an army I have never played against before. I was expecting alot of tanks, but was met with a pink tide of recruits and shock troops. There was also a punisher (which chewed up fire warriors and kroot for lunch) and a battle tank (which thankfully scattered off the board every time it wasn't stunned) as well as LOTS of lascannon heavy weapon teams and mortar squads. My longstrike hammerhead failed to hit every time it was called upon to make the S10 shot ans the other one was stuck firing submunition rounds all over the battlefield, ending up with a kill count of about 5 models at the end of the game. I needed more fire warriors for them to be successful (The first unit ran off the board in turn 2 and the other one couldn't get out of the forest and into a good firing position because they were too busy watching the wildlife and deciding whether to convert that species to the way of the greater good or not) and the kroot should have stayed at home. However, on the plus side, my broardsides managed to blast a Valkyrie out of the sky but landed right on top of the newly arrived (and painted) stealth suits who infiltrated behind the infantry hoards and got into a great firing position to spit out 24 S5 shots per turn; but lo and behold, 3 died from the tumbling wreckage and some fething rats shot the others to oblivion! The commander and crysis teams were the stars of my army though as the unit of two took some hull points off of the tanks and the commander took revenge on those company commanders who managed to make every fething lascannon twin-linked without failing the leadership of a grot once!

Sorry if that brief battle report seemed to be very negative but that was a terrible battle in my opinion. I enjoyed it thoroughly thought and have learned alot of things about fighting a hoard army with big guns and the power of 50 guardsmen shooting with volley fire should NOT be underestimated. Can't wait to get back to the club when I am next off school in the midweek ( Probably Easter be the looks of it : Xmas = Club closed, Spring half term = Away on holiday ). The hunter cadre of Aun'migs have made a tactical retreat and are ready to come back with some flamers!

Sorry to hear that. So would you say your downfall was too many AP 2 with with not enough volume of fire?

Terkul wrote:
Sorry to hear that. So would you say your downfall was too many AP 2 with with not enough volume of fire?

Like stabbing ants with a toothpick :( , yes

Try allying with farsight so that you have 2 more scoring units

 hey801 wrote:
Try allying with farsight so that you have 2 more scoring units

I like this suggestion. Terkul's advice is pretty much spot on as well.

I'd drop the Stealth Suits for....

Allied Farsight Enclave

Commander 2xBurst Cannon, Drone Controller, 2xGun Drones
and Upgrade the 3 suit Crisis Squad to 2xBurst Cannons, 6xGun Drones


That squad can drop ~28 GEQ/Turn if they don't have cover without the aid of Markerlights. Its one of my favorite HQ/Squad Layouts.

Nets you two more scoring units and a greatly increased Horde control fulfilling a similar role(minus infiltrate) that the stealth team was doing, just so so much better and durable.

Alternatively simply ally in an Ethereal to make your Crisis Scoring, should be able to rustle up 50pts.

 Zagman wrote:

 hey801 wrote:
Try allying with farsight so that you have 2 more scoring units

I like this suggestion. Terkul's advice is pretty much spot on as well.

I'd drop the Stealth Suits for....

Allied Farsight Enclave

Commander 2xBurst Cannon, Drone Controller, 2xGun Drones
and Upgrade the 3 suit Crisis Squad to 2xBurst Cannons, 6xGun Drones


That squad can drop ~28 GEQ/Turn if they don't have cover without the aid of Markerlights. Its one of my favorite HQ/Squad Layouts.

Nets you two more scoring units and a greatly increased Horde control fulfilling a similar role(minus infiltrate) that the stealth team was doing, just so so much better and durable.

Alternatively simply ally in an Ethereal to make your Crisis Scoring, should be able to rustle up 50pts.

Thanks! I will consider this in my next list! I'm going to get my hands on the supplement soon.