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Hey guys, first post here and brand new to 40k - I havent even played a game yet. Ill be playing some friends when I get all my units in from ebay, I went on a buying splurge and bought a bunch of stuff. Let me know what you think of my list guys, Ill probably be playing Adapta Sororitas when I play. But reguardless - let me know what you guys think of my 1500 pt list.

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Commander Shadowsun - Commandlink Drone (155)

XV8 Crisis Body Guard team x 2 (167)
A) Cyclic Ion Blaster, Target lock, Shield Generator, C & C Node, Irrid Armor
B) Twin linked Burst Cannon, Advanced Targeting System

XV104 Riptide - Shielded Missile Drone, ion accelerator (210)

Fire Warrior Team x 9 - Pulse Carbine, Devilfish transport w/ 2 Gun Drones (161)

Firewarrior Team x 6 - Pulse Rifle (54)

Firewarrior Team x 9 - Pulse Carbine, Devilfish Transport w/ 2 Gun Drones, decoy launcher (164)

Pathfinder Team x 6 + 1 Shas'Ui w/ 2 Marker Drones (100)

DX-6 Remora Steath Drones x 2 (220)

Hammerhead Gunship - 1 Seeker Missle, blacksun filter (134)

XV88 Broadside Team x2 - 1 w/ Target lock (135)

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So thats that . . . . I plan to use the firewarriors as scoring, the remoras will provide mobile ground support, while the pathfinders help with marker lights for those seeker missiles. I can take advantage of shadowsun and her shroud by getting her in and out of combat with jump shoot jump tactics, while the riptide gets in there to support. Then I plan for the Hammerhead and the broadsides to give back field and hard hitting long range support. I dont anticipate any flyers because I dont thinks the sisters of battle really have any flyers - but if some are taken I may switch out the remoras for a barracuda or play with some points to get velocity tracker and HYMP on one of those broadsides.

Ive never actually played a game before so Im not sure if this is a good build. But I was told to take a lot of troops for scoring, and try to make sure that each unit has a role in the warband. I tried to do that but any advice you guys can provide to this newbie would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Hey I don't post much on here but I've been a Tau player for a little while and I can tell you that your list looks solid. I would make a few suggestions though just to consider

Commander Shadowsun - Commandlink Drone (155)
XV8 Crisis Body Guard team x 2 (167)
A) Cyclic Ion Blaster, Target lock, Shield Generator, C & C Node, Irrid Armor
B) Twin linked Burst Cannon, Advanced Targeting System

Shadowsun is a solid character but the problem is in order for her to be effective she has to be on the front lines and she's already a large target with dual split fire fusions. Having a tank character with her is a decent move but he doesn't necessarily need the target lock since he shouldn't be firing much anyways due to his C&C Node. Also because one of the suits has the C&C Node you don't really need to have the Command Link drone (I don't know how you intend to use it though) An idea I use for my support suits is just to give them two flamers and then you could still put on the Iridium, C&C Node, and shield generator (although for the same price you could take two shield drones that benefit the whole squad) You're also mixing several weapon profiles in this unit - personally I like to run my suits all with similar weaponry. You might also consider instead of the Command Link drone taking Shadowsuns special shield drones. A 3+ invuln is nice to have around.

XV104 Riptide - Shielded Missile Drone, ion accelerator (210)
The shielded missile drone is nice I suppose but it forces a morale check on the RIptide whenever it gets tagged. Never a bad idea to make him more survivable though.

Fire Warrior Team x 9 - Pulse Carbine, Devilfish transport w/ 2 Gun Drones (161)
Carbines are fine but Pulse Rifles generally always have range. 30" is nothing to cough at. Maybe it's more of a personal choice but anything that gets close is going to get double-tapped anyways and most things don't get pinned or pinned easily.

Firewarrior Team x 6 - Pulse Rifle (54)
this squad is a little small but I'm assuming you've set them up to hold a home objective? I would perhaps try to add a few more bodies to this squad just in case.

Firewarrior Team x 9 - Pulse Carbine, Devilfish Transport w/ 2 Gun Drones, decoy launcher (164)
Decoy launchers I think only help against weapon with interceptor (generally you'll see it on our flyers) I don't know if you plan on keeping these guys in reserve (which isn't a bad idea) but I don't know how often you'll have to worry about them getting intercepted.

Pathfinder Team x 6 + 1 Shas'Ui w/ 2 Marker Drones (100)
These guys are good. You will need Marker support but Pathfinders end up being quite stationary and fragile - anything that gives you marker light support is already a target (though not everyone focuses on them) Since you have two Devilfish in this list I think they'll be fine because you can quickly reinforce them.

DX-6 Remora Steath Drones x 2 (220)
Stealth... Stealth Drones? FW? Are they like the Sunsharks Interceptor Drones? If so then this seems like a fun unit - though I'll have to learn more about them.

Hammerhead Gunship - 1 Seeker Missle, blacksun filter (134)
Hammerheads are great heavy support choices. You've kept yours cheap which is good because they are big targets and even with AV13 can still go down in turn one. (I've had some bad luck when I've put extra vehicle gear or Longstrike on them..) I would suggest throwing sensor splines on this bad boy so he can easily hop on top of terrain and cover the battlefield with Ion blasts and disruption pods to give him stealth on top of terrain. (+jink you have a decent chance at passing your test)

XV88 Broadside Team x2 - 1 w/ Target lock (135)
I find these guys to be invaluable (probably my favorite unit in the book) Are you using the Heavy Rail Rifle or the High Yield Missile Pods? These guys also make great anti-air so it could be worth it to give one of them a Velocity Tracker or Early Warning Override.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, you raise some good points. I didnt really think of the redundancy with the c&c node, and the command link drone. I threw a couple different configurations on them because I figured they would be a multi use unit, kind of go where they were needed. But I guess if I just make them infantry focused with her tank killing abilities they should be okay. The target lock that I threw on that one unit was just from extra points but I guess there are some better options

The morale check on the RipTide is a good point, I mean it would really suck to have my 200 pt unit run off the table and those points could really be used elsewhere - like that 6 man firewarrior squad (For holding rear objectives - you had it right on the money )

The DX-6 Remora is a Flyer out of Imperial Armour Aeronautica. Cool little unit. Has the abilities Shrouded and Deep Strike and is equipped with two twin linked long barreled burst cannons (36' range STR 5 AP 5 Assault 3) and 2 seeker missiles - as well as networked marker lights. Its armored like a light flyer so nothing to write home about there, but where it really shines is that it can hover. So its essentially a great way to have some ground support. Sucks vs other flyers but for a little support exactly where you need it on the battle field its a good unit in my opinion. A little pricey though at 110 pts. With 2 you can trade out for a barracuda air supremacy fighter which is a really rad looking unit but not as versatile in my opinion. But that doesnt really count for much yet as Im not battle tested :p

Sensor Spine seems like a grand idea for the hammer head - I didnt really think of using them but you raise a great point, sitting them in a good cover posiition to shoot the crap out of stuff sounds like a great way to utilize this unit since its range is huge.

The broadsides were equipped with H. Rail guns - I didnt really think too much about air coverage because my opponent is probably sisters of battle and I dont think they really have any air units. But with the ally rules I may run into one so its better to be safe then sorry.

With the pathfinders, I was wondering - you mentioned a marker light commander - did you mean like darkstirder or something? I wasnt sure. Sorry if its a dumb question just learning things.

Now for more questions:

I was told to put firewarriors I wanted to use for scoring units with a devilfish, but theres really no fire points on a devilfish - so would I just cart them close, unload and challenge the objective?

You raised a point I hadnt thought of, rolling for morale with drones. With bigger units like Riptides and Broadsides or even crisis teams. The drones are going to go first for sure - and having the unit take off because of that would be terrible. Any advice? Am I over worried about this :p

Once again I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some feed back. No one has really replied to my post on reddit other then one dude who told me to take more riptides :p

Cheers.

Some dub the Markerlight Commander "Mark'O" and he always has a drone controller with about six marker drones surrounding him. (More if needed) This is a brilliant way to get effective markerlight support. All of your drones will now be hitting on the commanders ballistic skill and he still has three open slots that you can put other gear on him with.

I normally set mine up like this
HQ: Battlesuit Commander (2x Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller and 2 Marker Drones)
Then pop him in a squadron of marker light drones and you're set; He can split fire his missiles into a different unit and your markerlights are hitting on 2's. You can also add shield drones for further protection and if you're running an Enclave list you can take the Talisman of Arthas Moloch for an invulnerable save on him. (I do.)
This is just how I like to run mine.He's an invaluable support unit for Tau but a huge target but luckily with 36" range on both his missiles and marker lights you can keep keep out of range.

And as far as rolling for morale it's not something you should be too concerned with (Riptides have LD9 I believe) it's just always better to not have the chance to fail but it's still only a slim chance. Also if you're worried about your broadsides getting tagged up you can always upgrade one to be a Shas'Vre and use his LD9. Though in fairness LD8 isn't too bad.

Drones are a useful tool in our army they can help us direct wounds. There are no guarantees but with clever positioning you can lessen the chances of a failed morale test.

That is how you could situate your broadside unit like this where X = The Broadsides and O = The Drones (assuming you take each with a pair of drones)

O O
X O X
O
If North is facing the enemy you have two wound tanks before you start taking wounds on your broadsides. So you will probably lose them but it's going to be difficult to get past broadsides 2+ saves and unlikely they will kill either of them and more than half the force remains so no morale(I think this is how this works). In the next turn you move up the tertiary drone to take the next volley of fire (and you could move up both) Also the missile drones are nice but it's worth it to consider taking one or two shield drones as well just a thought.

digital-animal wrote:
Some dub the Markerlight Commander "Mark'O" and he always has a drone controller with about six marker drones surrounding him. (More if needed) This is a brilliant way to get effective markerlight support. All of your drones will now be hitting on the commanders ballistic skill and he still has three open slots that you can put other gear on him with.

I normally set mine up like this
HQ: Battlesuit Commander (2x Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller and 2 Marker Drones)
Then pop him in a squadron of marker light drones and you're set; He can split fire his missiles into a different unit and your markerlights are hitting on 2's. You can also add shield drones for further protection and if you're running an Enclave list you can take the Talisman of Arthas Moloch for an invulnerable save on him. (I do.)
This is just how I like to run mine.He's an invaluable support unit for Tau but a huge target but luckily with 36" range on both his missiles and marker lights you can keep keep out of range.

And as far as rolling for morale it's not something you should be too concerned with (Riptides have LD9 I believe) it's just always better to not have the chance to fail but it's still only a slim chance. Also if you're worried about your broadsides getting tagged up you can always upgrade one to be a Shas'Vre and use his LD9. Though in fairness LD8 isn't too bad.

Drones are a useful tool in our army they can help us direct wounds. There are no guarantees but with clever positioning you can lessen the chances of a failed morale test.

That is how you could situate your broadside unit like this where X = The Broadsides and O = The Drones (assuming you take each with a pair of drones)

O O
X O X
O
If North is facing the enemy you have two wound tanks before you start taking wounds on your broadsides. So you will probably lose them but it's going to be difficult to get past broadsides 2+ saves and unlikely they will kill either of them and more than half the force remains so no morale(I think this is how this works). In the next turn you move up the tertiary drone to take the next volley of fire (and you could move up both) Also the missile drones are nice but it's worth it to consider taking one or two shield drones as well just a thought.

Not quite how it works on Morale. If you lose 33% of the unit or more, in one phase at the end of the phase, you take a morale check. Also the loser of any assault takes a morale check. In the unit listed above, two broadsides with two drones each, losing two drones out of 6 models total in the model would then force a morale check at the end of the shooting phase. On another note, if the unit is below 25% of it's original strength, it needs a "heroic fortitude" roll of double ones to hold or to regroup after breaking.

I run a mechanized Tau list, and I will say that every ground vehicle should always have gun drones, a disruption pod, and sensor spines. From here always move each vehicle every turn to get yourself a 4+ cover save, and as long as you move 6" or less every weapon will fire normally (since drones count as attached passengers).

I also always advocate running 12 men FW squads with a Shas' ui, because Tau leadership is bad and you want to avoid having it tested, in addition to being able to pop out of a devilfish with an obscene amount of fire.

Your broadsides are almost spot on, especially if you use high-yield missiles, but since you have an open heavy support slot you're better off running them in separate units (and perhaps with interceptor) so they never have to deal with leadership. I would also give your hammerhead submunitions because they're always worth their 5 points.

I traditionally stay away from Shadowsun and bodyguards in favor of more vehicles, but they do have their merit so I'll leave that call up to you.

Also, if you haven't done it yet, one of the most fun things you can do is to unload two full devilfish within rapid fire range of something dangerous, combining the vehicles and infantry you get 64 S5 AP5 shots which is obscene to begin with and utterly absurd if you can throw in markerlight support.

 bocatt wrote:

Not quite how it works on Morale. If you lose 33% of the unit or more, in one phase at the end of the phase, you take a morale check. Also the loser of any assault takes a morale check. In the unit listed above, two broadsides with two drones each, losing two drones out of 6 models total in the model would then force a morale check at the end of the shooting phase. On another note, if the unit is below 25% of it's original strength, it needs a "heroic fortitude" roll of double ones to hold or to regroup after breaking.

That's right - sorry about that. Makes quite a bit of difference! However I would say that in that case just leave one drone out front and let the rest hang in the back and cycle them out for wounds. (This is how I normally play with mine anyways I just forgot)

Also notrabies suggested this but a Devilfish loaded with Fire Warriors is a serious threat. With our tanks being skimmers your group of Fire Warriors could hop out of the back and shoot under the vehicle whilst still benefiting from the cover. (I'm not sure if other units can see under the tank, my friend thinks not - I'm not sure) You have a couple of these move up together and you'll have a nice front line force.

Depending on what your plans are for the smaller Firewarrior team it might be worthwhile to set them up with the Devilfish from one of the larger squads. If the 6 man team is going to be hanging out on an objective in your deployment zone this transport could give them another layer of protection and block line of sight to the squad when the disembark.

You may also want to change the loadout on on the bodyguard with the twin linked burst cannons. If this suit is going to be running around with Shadowsun it might be better to have some Fusion or Plasma on the bodyguard instead of the Burst Cannons. The unit will want to get close to use Shadowsuns Fusion blasters and if you're expecting to see a lot of power armored opponents the extra ap from the Fusion/Plasma will help you out more than the Burst Cannons.