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Arrr me matey's,

I've come here seeking ye advice on my Tau list, as It's been so long I thought It was best to seek the knowledge of wiser minds. Fairly simple 1100 point list (give or take 10 +/- points...) It's a friend only list so no going to my local GW or any tournaments, as far as I'm aware I'll only be facing Tyranids and Blood Angels, so yay for CC armies against my Tau...

Theme is static gunline with no aliens, I know the Tau love everyone but this particular cadre I'm playing is slightly xenophobic so I wont be running Kroot, Vespid or any others despite any benefits they might bring. Without further ado *insert drum roll*

HQ
Commander
Cyclic ion blaster
Missile pod
Shield generator

XV-8 crisis battlesuits x3
Plasma blasters x3
Fusion blasters x3

Total - 296pts

Infantry
Strike team x10
Shas’ui
Pulse accelerator drone

Strike team x10
Shas’ui
Pulse accelerator drone

Strike team x10
Shas’ui
Pulse accelerator drone

Total – 390pts

Fast attack
Pathfinder team x5
Rail rifle x3
Marker drone x2

Elite support
XV-8 crisis battlesuits x3
Twin-linked missile pods x3
Plasma rifle x3

Total – 171pts

Heavy support
Hammerhead gunship
Twin-linked smart missile system

Total –

Total army list 1095pts

So straight off the bat I can see I'm low on boots on the ground, and most likely heavy on the battlesuit front, where I can I've tried to not mix the weapons too much and tried to keep them the same (i.e. twin linked missile pods..) I'm also lacking alot of hard hitting ant-armour weapons, should I loose my tank I'm up sh*t creek without a paddle. I'm also not sure if I can stack twin-linked missile pods and a plasma rifle on my second battlesuit squad. Anyway thoughts, criticisms, cake?!

You can have TL missile pods and a plasma rifle on the second Crisis squad, yes - a TL weapon counts as two hardpoints, and you have three, so that's fine. However, missile/plasma, while popular in previous editions, isn't terribly synergistic. I'd be tempted to take dual plasma on that squad and dual fusion on the other, or maybe fusion/ion.

Your Fire Warrior Strike Teams: you can't take a pulse accelerator drone there. That's for Pathfinders only, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense on them. Losing those drones - since you can't take them anyway - will free points to take Submunitions and Disruption Pods on the Hammerhead. Alternatively, you could find a way to free up enough points to take Longstrike - Tank Hunter is very valuable on that single shot gun.

Where's the Commander going? Missile/ion is an odd combination. They have the same S and AP, but missiles have better range and one less shot. I'd favor either dual missile or dual ion. If you're in ion range, the missile pod is just acting as a worse ion blaster, and if you're not in ion range, then the ion blaster is a waste, and you'd be better off with another missile pod. (Two, not twin-linked. TL is a waste on a BS5 Commander.)

Thanks Jade, I've made a few changes based on your suggestions above. So my crisis bodyguards now have twin-linked fusion and my commander has two missile pods, not twin linked like you said. My regular battlesuits have twin-linked plasma, my fire warriors have been increased to 12 man squads because well....more boots on the ground. I've increased my pathfinders to an 8 man squad (more markerlights are always good), and finally my tank took a major upgrade, pretty much everything you've said it now has. This has taken my list to over 1100 pts (by 26) but I can either agree this with the other players or just drop the Shau'ui upgrades on my strike squads.

Yeah, that's reasonable, I think. Though, when/if you scale up to 1250, the first thing I'd do is change those twin-linked weapons on the suits to dual instead. The only disadvantage to dual weapons as opposed to twin-linked is that they cost more - but they should, since they're strictly better mathematically.

(As a trivial example, comparing one shot twin-linked at BS3, versus two shots not twin-linked - the one TL shot has a 75% chance of one hit and a 25% chance of zero hits. The two shots have a 50% chance of one hit, 25% chance of two hits and 25% chance of zero hits. This math applies as you scale up, too. TL is better when you can only fire one weapon, but not otherwise.)

Another thought: I didn't catch that those suits were bodyguards. If they're going to be hanging with the commander - as they should, for bodyguards - they should probably have weapons that synergize with the Commander's range bands, or they should have target locks so they can fire at other targets. As a general rule, don't mix weapons with very different ranges and/or very different intended target sets within a unit, since most of the time, most of your shots will be wasted.

For Crisis suits, it kinda breaks down like this:

Burst cannons: anti-infantry. They can potentially take on very light armor in a pinch. Pairs well with the cyclic ion blaster or another burst cannon, but not much else.

Plasma rifle: Anti-MEQ, anti-TEQ, anti-MC. Can also take on light armor. Not extremely synergistic with anything else, though you could use it with fusion since AP1 is also good for killing Marines and Terminators (or the like).

Fusion blaster: Anti-vehicle, anti-MC. You want this to kill big things, with its high strength and AP. Could pair OK with plasma (for AP) or ion (for strength), but is probably best paired with another fusion blaster. BS3 means you need a lot of shots to make them count without support.

Missile pod: General-purpose, but long range. Its best use is specifically for long range, especially cracking light to medium armor, but in a static gunline, Broadsides do it better. Still useful. Doesn't pair very well with any other weapon because of its range.

Cyclic ion blaster: Short-range general purpose. Can take on almost anything. Best in pairs, but can work alongside a fusion blaster (for opening cans) or burst cannon (for scratching infantry). I love these, actually - my only beef is how hard it is to get the bitz. You can't twin-link them, but who'd want to?

Flamer: I really don't use these much on suits, but they can be handy for torching hordes. I mostly prefer to use burst cannons for that, but flamers sure are cheap.

Airbursting fragmentation projector: For ferreting infantry out of cover. It's the kind of thing I'd toss on a singleton whose job it is to root out covered infantry. Maybe I'd even take two in that case, or one and an ion blaster in case they're hiding in metal boxes (the cowards, the fools!). But it's sufficiently situational that I don't really remember the last time I brought one.