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Hello dakka! Posting another list here for my tau as I'm looking to expand my army. I'm thinking I'm going to get some more boots on the ground and use some devil fish. Along with the ghost keel wing to give them a 2 up jink. You experienced tau players will see what I am shooting for ;D just need help fitting this idea into 1850, not supposed to be hyper competitive as I want to learn to play tau with units I like first then maybe build competitive. Thank you for the input and help... Really struggling to cut stuff on my own!


TAU 1850

HQ
Commander-192
Iridium
Shield generator
Stim pack
Double missile
Drone controller
Gauntlet
2 marker drones

TROOPS
10 breachers-210
EMP
devil fish
Sensor spines
Disruption pods

10 breachers-210
EMP
devil fish
Sensor spines
Disruption pods

ELITE
4 crisis suits-208
Double plasma

2 crisis suits-104
Double fusion

FAST ATTACK
4 marker drones-54

HEAVY SUPPORT
3 broadside-210
HYMP
smart missiles
EWO

LORD OF WAR
Storm surge-420
Shield generator
EWO
AFP

GHOST KEEL WING
3 ghost keels-445

3 Cyclic ion raker
3 fusion blasters
3 EWO
2 target locks

The things that stand out immediately to me are the Breachers. They're potentially great troops, no doubt, but 10 emps or 20 s6 ap3 shots is going to be overkill against most targets, especially with marker support. You're also going to run into spacing issues when trying to cram that many guys within 5" of their target. Consider splitting them into multiple units.

You're also short on markers. Despite the dead hard commander, they're likely going to get gunned down quickly. Stormsurges need lots of markers, so go nuts.

drop the guns on the commander, and buff him up and put with the broadsides. Ignores Cover and monsterhunter etc. are amazing for this squad, and lose the gauntlet too, means you can spoil all your markers (which you have WAY too few of) on the Stormsurge.

I'm also similarly concerned about the marker lights, my tau 1850 list has 2 path finder teams and the marker drones with commander (who can Look out sir any D shots that come his way).

the drone wing is a great alternative, with outflank, jink and splitfire they can do a lot of good things. Do you prefer ghost keels to riptides? riptide wing is uber strong right now, can handle your anti air needs and gives a lot of volume of fire where needed. Chop some of the troops in half, drop the keels and you'll squeeze in a riptide wing.

I would drop the missiles, shield gen, and gauntlet from the commander... Add more marker drones.

Would also recommend dropping the sensor spines from the devilfish (and potentially disruption pods)... Add pulse driver cannon to the SS.

Add more marker lights lol

you could not be more right. I agree 10 would be very very difficult to get within range. It pained me to cut the commander, but I like so many of these models xD. So I can try this. Subtle change but it has a lot more marker lights due to the drone net.... On paper sounds really good?

TAU 1850

HQ
Ethereal-50

TROOPS
5 breachers-155
EMP
devil fish
Sensor spines
Disruption pods

5 breachers-155
EMP
devil fish
Sensor spines
Disruption pods

ELITE
3 crisis suits-156
Double plasma

2 crisis suits-104
Double fusion

HEAVY SUPPORT
2 broadside-140
HYMP
smart missiles
EWO

LORD OF WAR
Storm surge-420
Shield generator
EWO
AFP

GHOST KEEL WING
3 ghost keels-445

3 Cyclic ion raker
3 fusion blasters
3 EWO
2 target locks

DRONE NET
4 marker drones-54
4 marker drones-54
4 marker drones-54
4 marker drones-54




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oops just noticed the other comments added in! I take it I need more marker lights ;D. Yes I would prefer to make use of three ghostkeels just because knowing around me uses any and I love the model. Updated list I changed to a drone net and got rid of the commander entirely let me know your thoughts! Thanks guys.

I believe the drone squads should be 56 points.

It looks good (although marker drones sb 56).

Personally I have been toying aroudn with breacher squads in devilfish, but I think if you're going to put that much pts in the squad you should take 10 man units

I like that list much better. As stated previously, I don't think 10-man Breacher units are the way to go. Statistically, 7 guys can pretty well punk out a 5-man marine unit or a Razorback/Rhino without any support, so that's probably the biggest you should go. You want to be able to fit all your guys within 5" of their target with the Devilfish between them and any return fire. Increasing unit sizes will rapidly make both of those tasks quite difficult.

The Crisis suits are a mixed bag for me. Point for point, their firepower can't be beat, but they're definitely pretty fragile. Maybe an IA Riptide would be a better source of AP2? You sacrifice some punch and versatility for durability, so you'll have to decide if that's worth it to you.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet is that your Ghostkeels don't need target locks. They're all individual units, so that's just wasted points.

For what it's worth I floated a list utilizing this same concept in the Tau tactics thread a couple weeks ago. Mine had 4 Breacher units, an Ethereal, the Ghostkeel Wing, the Drone Net, and 2 Y'Vahras. I think I'd meet you halfway and remove an Y'vahra and a Breacher unit for a Stormsurge. Stormy seems like a crucial addition.

P.S.: Keep in mind that your Marker Drones can jink and go to ground for a 2+ save when in the Ghostkeels' Stealth bubble. Awwww yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh.

Excellent point in the target locks. Kept those from when I was toying with running a OSC. Drone points are 2 off thank you! Your list sounds awesome! And you answered my next question.... Can drones jink and go to ground. Haha so that is excellent. Another random question. The storm surge, I just got done converting one so I have yet to use him, is the shield generator upgrade a must on him you think? Anyhow I'll check out the list too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also I wanted to ask about devil fishing and making good use of the breachers. Now I'm an ork player at heart so my cheap trukks make the devil fish seem sooooo expensive. I know how resilient the devil fish is.... Is it worth 100 points total with my set up for 55 points of breachers?

EMPs on the breachers. Remember that d'fish aren't assault or Open Topped, so they have to wait a turn after disembarking before they can use slap those grenades onto an Imp Knight or other armored target.

Since you have so much other anti-tank busting num-nums, all that Fusion, I'd save points and skip EMPs.

And I pretty much agree with all the other advice given so far.

2nd list:
You have the Elite slot open, so split the plasma crew up to 2 and 1. With Crisis Suits, you keep them split up as much as possible (unless you throw in a MSS and C&CN buff). It serves the MSU strategy better, allowing more Ninja Tau, splitting your fire, making the enemy split his, etc.

I like the first list better, by a lot (with changes and tweaks from other posters).