Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So a friend of mine gifted me an older Tau army. I've only ever played Necrons and Chaos, so I am a bit lost with this army. I know the basics: Shoot people, dont go into melee. But from there I am clueless.

The army is:
20 Kroot, 5 Kroot Hounds, Krootox, Kroot Shaper
18 Stealth Suits
6 "Crisis" Suits. I say this because two are set up to be old school Broadsides with the Railguns on top.
Aun'Va
8 Pathfinders
30 Fire Warriors, Devilfish
Riptide, Piranha, Hammerhead
And a crap ton of misc drones. Between 25-35 various drones.

So I know this is a dated army as when I go up against Tau I have never even seen Kroot. I thought maybe they were some mythical beasts from Dawn of War. I have also never seen more than 6 Stealthsuits, much less 18.

What should I add to this army to make it decently competitive? Obviously, a Stormsurge or five. But beyond those, what other models am I missing that are staples of this Army?

Also, what is the modeling difference between a new Broadside and the older ones? Would I be able to field the older ones I have or would it be considered "Modeling to advantage?"

Kroot!

Much respect for taking kroot in your list. I've literally only seen 1 squad of them fielded on the tabletop in about a decade. If you can get your hands on some of the Oop forgeworld kroot models they look incredible.

Kroot arent that competitive but you always add some riptides to swing things in your favor.

Yeah as said before you could totally aim towards a riptide wing, but you could also look to modernize your force with a OSC. The Ghostkeel is a super cool unit with super cool rules.

Use the old Broadsides, they are legit models although I would recommend looking to find some bits to use as High Yield Missile Pods as they are far more effective than the HRR that is only a single shot at S8.

What exactly do you mean by "decently competitive"? If your looking for something that can hang in a tournament then grab 2 Stormsurges, some Riptides or more Crisis Suits, and make lots of Markerdrones plus a Commander Suit. If you want something that can do fine in pick up games at your FLGS then honestly bring what units you like from the codex and you will probably do well (Tau codex is definitely well above average in strength). Spamming Stormsurges and Riptide wings won't make very many friends at a FLGS unless its a store with a highly competitive player base.

I would suggest you get a Start Collecting Tau box for the Ethereal (helps make all those Kroot and Fire Warriors more reliable), make some extra Fire Warriors, and make one of the Crisis Suits into a Commander Suit with Iridium Armor along with the other 2 suits being standard XV8s. The "real" Commander box doesn't really show proper Iridium armor and its way cheaper to make one out of an XV8 kit. This also gets you a bunch of drones that can be made into any of the 3 main types so make those into marker drones. Hard to go wrong with more Fire Warriors (always use pulse rifles IMO) and Crisis Suits (2x of the same weapon. Plasmas, Fusion, and Cyclic Ion Blasters are pure gold).