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I have a 700 point escalation game this Thursday, and am trying to fine tune my final list. I have narrowed it down to two lists, one FSE and one not, but otherwise very similar.

The scenario is unknown, a "Custom Mission" written by the store manager at my local warhammer store. Judging by the last event, I will probably be facing marines, but eldar are a possibility, or any other if someone new shows up.

We are restricted to a CAD, with no flyers or super heavies.

Here is the first list:

Tau Empire: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment)

Farsight Enclaves

HQ

Commander
MV7 Marker Drone
Markerlight
XV8 Commander Crisis Suit
Blacksun Filter, Drone Controller, 2x Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Neuroweb System Jammer, Target Lock


Troops

Breacher Team
Bonding Knife Ritual, MV36 Guardian Drone
Fire Warrior Shas'ui with Pulse Blaster
Field Amplifier Relay, Photon Grenades
7x Fire Warrior with Pulse Blaster
7x Field Amplifier Relay, 7x Photon Grenades
TY7 Devilfish
2x MV1 Gun Drone, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
Bonding Knife Ritual
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Plasma Rifle
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Plasma Rifle, Target Lock
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Plasma Rifle, Target Lock
2x MV1 Gun Drone
2x Twin-linked Pulse Carbine


Fast Attack

Drones
4x MV7 Marker Drone
4x Markerlight

TX4 Piranha
2x MV1 Gun Drone, Blacksun Filter, Burst Cannon


Heavy Support

XV88 Broadside Battlesuits
Bonding Knife Ritual
Early Warning Override, Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System




Second list:

Tau Empire: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment)


HQ

Commander
MV7 Marker Drone
Markerlight
XV8 Commander Crisis Suit
Blacksun Filter, Drone Controller, 2x Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Neuroweb System Jammer, Target Lock


Elites

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Burst Cannon

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Plasma Rifle

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
Crisis Shas'ui
2x Fusion Blaster


Troops

Breacher Team
MV36 Guardian Drone
Fire Warrior Shas'ui with Pulse Blaster
Field Amplifier Relay, Photon Grenades
7x Fire Warrior with Pulse Blaster
7x Field Amplifier Relay, 7x Photon Grenades
TY7 Devilfish
2x MV1 Gun Drone, Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

Strike Team
5x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle, Photon Grenades
DS8 Tactical Support Turret
Smart Missile System


Fast Attack

4x MV7 Marker Drone

TX4 Piranha
2x MV1 Gun Drone, Burst Cannon


Heavy Support

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit
Early Warning Override, Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System



So here is the jist - they both have the same idea with the commander, who joins a unit of 4 marker lights plus his own for a total of 5, and uses the drone controller to do the markering thing while he uses target lock to take missile pod pot shots.

They both have a breacher team of 7 breachers, a shasui, and a guardian drone, making for the optimal 9 body squad inside a devilfish with disruption pods.

They both have a piranha for high speed str 5 dakka

They both have a missile-side with EWO for hurting incoming drops or deep strikers and throwing high str masses of missiles across the field.


Where they differ is in the crisis suits and strike team (or lack thereof)

In the Farsight list, I take a squad of 3 crisis suits, each with dual plasma rifles with target locks, and a pair of drones. The plan is to deep strike in behind any armor that might show up to (hopefully) take out their rear end, and then cause havok with the rifles, while the drones offer a pair of ablative wounds. Target lock allows them to spread the shots around if need be. That gives you the breachers and a 3 crisis team as the objective secured models.

On the other list, I use a normal Tau build with a 5 man strike team with SMS turret as the second troops choice, while the 3 crisis suits are each in their own unit, one with a burst cannon for extra dakka (and saved points) one with a plasma rifle for TEQ, and one with fusion blasters for deep striking behind armor.

So basically, I gain a 5 man strike team by going regular, but that is my ObSec unit, or with the farsight list I lose the strike team but gain a pair of drones in a more durable ObSec crisis team.



So what do you guys think? Which list would you go with? Would you change anything? Or would you do something completely different? Models I have available right now are 3 additional crisis suits, 5 additional fire warriors with a turret, and a pair of ethereals, plus wargear and weapons of course.

Thanks guys, I'll take any advice you want to give no holds barred!

A quick note on list posting, we all know the basics that come with each unit like Blacksun Filters and Multi-Trackers on suits and Photon Grenades on Fire Warriors, so just tell us the upgrades you're paying for. Makes it's less arduous to read On to the lists:

Tyrien wrote:
Farsight Enclaves

Commander: 2x Missile Pod, Drone Controller, Neuroweb System Jammer, Target Lock, Marker Drone

Breacher Team: 1x Shas'ui, 7x Fire Warrior, 1x Guardian Drone, Bonding Knife Ritual
TY7 Devilfish: Gun Drones, Disruption Pod

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
3x Shas'ui: 6x Plasma Rifle, 2x Target Lock, 2x Gun Drone, Bonding Knife

4x Marker Drone

TX4 Piranha: Burst Cannon, Blacksun Filter

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit: High-Yield Missiles, Smart MIssiles, Early Warning Override, Bonding Knife

The Markermander is spot on. 5 Drones might be one too many, 4 tokens usually does the trick, but it's a solid take albeit a tad expensive at 750 points.

Breachers: The Shas'ui upgrade isn't very useful. The difference between LD7 and LD8 is negligible. Just run more Breachers. I also don't see the Guardian Drone being any good. A 5+ invulnerable save may as well be no save. You still fail 66% of the time. I'm on the fence about Disruption Pods on Fish. GW's FAQ nerfed jinking transports. Now if the tank jinks the guys inside snap shoot The Pod used to be an auto-include, but it's lost some lustre. You can still use the Pod to take advantage of table cover, but then you probably also want the Sensor Spines and now you're 100 points for a transport.

XV8 Crisis Suits: Plasma Rifles are always good. You probably don't need the Target Locks unless you're mixing weapons in the squad. If you want to split fire, you're better off with multiple small units that give you more flexibility and board control.

All in all, it's not a terrible list. I do think you're wasting points on unnecessary upgrades and the Piranha feels like a throw in. Burst Cannon Piranhas need the volume of a max squad to be threatening. 8 fast moving S5 shots don't scare me. 24 on the other hand, now we're talking business.

Tyrien wrote:


Tau Empire

Commander: 2x Missile Pod, Drone Controller, Neuroweb System Jammer, Target Lock, Marker Drone

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit: 2x Burst Cannon

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit: 2x Plasma Rifle

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit: 2x Fusion Blaster

Breacher Team: 1x Shas'ui, 7x Fire Warrior, 1x Guardian Drone, Bonding Knife Ritual
TY7 Devilfish: Burst Cannon, 2x Gun Drone, Disruption Pod

Strike Team: 5x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle, DS8 Smart Missile System

4x MV7 Marker Drone

TX4 Piranha: Burst Cannon, 2x Gun Drone

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit: High-Yield Missiles, Smart MIssiles, Early Warning Override, Bonding Knife

I like this list a little better. Again, the Commander might be a touch too expensive for 750 points, the Breacher Team is full of unnecessary upgrades and the Piranha feels like a throw-in. Your Crisis blend is strange, too. Crisis suits fill holes. If you're lacking AP2/3, Plasma is your friend, if you need anti-armour double down on Fusions, if you need to crack open high toughness or light vehicles, get Missile Pods, etc. As it stands, you probably won't encounter much heavy armour at 750, so the Fusion Blaster won't shine. You've got infantry covered with Gun Drones, Devilfish, Piranha, Fire Warriors and Broadside, so won't need the Burst Cannon. Plasma is your best option especially with your meta being mostly smurfs.

So, to wrap it up, take those plasma suits from the first list and put them in the second list. Trim some points fat from the Breachers and drop the Piranha and you have a more workable cocktail. I'm pushing you toward Tau Empire because at 750 points you can't really take advantage of Farsight Enclaves (fancy wargear and XV8 Troops) so why waste points on the Bonding Knives. I hope this helps!

This was great advice, and I took nearly all of it. Your advice came just in time too, I saw it, spent the next 10 minutes changing my list, printed it out and headed off to the game. Only made me 5 minutes late :-) This is what I ended up with.

+++ Tau Escalation 700 (700pts) +++

++ Tau Empire: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment) ++

+ HQ +

Commander [MV7 Marker Drone]
XV8 Commander Crisis Suit [Drone Controller, 2x Missile Pod, Neuroweb System Jammer, Target Lock]

+ Elites +

XV8 Crisis Battlesuits [2x MV1 Gun Drone]
Crisis Shas'ui [2x Plasma Rifle]
Crisis Shas'ui [2x Plasma Rifle]
Crisis Shas'ui [2x Plasma Rifle]

+ Troops +

Breacher Team [9x Fire Warrior with Pulse Blaster]
TY7 Devilfish [2x MV1 Gun Drone]

Strike Team [5x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle]
DS8 Tactical Support Turret [Smart Missile System]

+ Fast Attack +

Drones [4x MV7 Marker Drone]

TX4 Piranhas
TX4 Piranha [Blacksun Filter, Burst Cannon]

+ Heavy Support +

XV88 Broadside Battlesuits
Broadside [Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System]

Your advice on the breachers was spot on - I was so focused on getting the guard drone I didn't realize what it cost. Saved some points there. Also dropped the D pod due to the FAQ which I hadn't realized, that let me get the points I needed to get the crisis team I wanted from the FSE list in the regular one, with the 3x PR and drones.

I did keep the piranha, knowing it wouldn't be super effective but I think they look cool and wanted to try it out for future reference. This was to be my third game ever, so I wanted to try new things as I bought them.


So on to the game - my heart sank when I saw I would be going up against a new guy with a Tyranid army. I was set up for anti marine, not horde. Luckily (maybe?) he brought a good amount of big stuff, had a Trygon Prime, a Hive Tyrant, 6 Raveners, a venomthrope providing shroud, and a huge blob of termagants. This definitely made me nervous, as I didn't have much in the way of anti horde, and if he screened with those termagants I might be in trouble.

He deployed second, and decided to keep his army concentrated on one side to share the shrouded ability. He then seized the initiative, and moved everyone up. This wasn't going to go well, or so I thought.

Luckily his termagants were in the back, so I was able to markerlight (ignore cover was huge here) and light up his raveners, eliminating one squad right away, with my crisis suits pouring plasma in to the Trygon. As he continued to charge, I held my ground and poured on the firepower, taking out his Hive Tyrant and wounding the other ravener squad as it reached my lines. He first took out the Piranha I used as a speed bump, and then because of my positioning he was forced to charge my 5 man fire warrior squad. Some lucky supporting fire overwatch followed by some lucky attack roles meant my fire warriors managed to kill his remaining raveners while suffering only 2 losses. While they were fighting, my crisis suits managed to take out the trygon, while the devilfish dropped off the breacher squad right in front of his venomthrope, blowing it apart with massed 5 inch range fire.

At this point all he had left was the termagants who had been in the back (which combined with some lucky rolls is the only reason I won I think) who then fell apart to the now freed up firepower of the whole army.

Match ended on turn 5 with him down to 3 broken and falling back termagants, and me having lost 2 fire warriors, 1 breacher, and a piranha.

Great success! Now to build my 900 point army...