http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/69.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net

1 crisis battle suit
24 fire wariors
12 kroot
2 hammerheads with railguns
1sky ray
3 pirahnas
3 stelath suits
and a weird battlesuitcommander(half tau half space marine terminater)
Oh and a random titan that is not yet finished.

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I like tau of war, and 3++ personally, but I am sure others may have additional suggestions.

Tau have common tactics as just about every other army; target priority, leveraging your strengths, know the rules well, know the enemy army, etc.

However, as a specialized force they are much less forgiving than others.

Here are a few basics;

Tau are terrible at close combat - avoid it unless you are doing so to protect more critical units. Many tau tactics are centered around the concept of sacrificing specific units (firewarriors, kroot, piranhas ) to keep the enemy at bay long enough for your crisis suits and railguns to do their job.

Crisis Suits - these are the backbone of a tau army; lose these, and the rest will fall soon. Use their weapons to fill any gaps or take on specific roles in an army.
* missile pods - for monsterous creatures, knocking out transports and suppression fire on other light armor.
* plasma riles - for negating marines, FNP and against MC
* flamers - yes, flamers. I have roasted many a ork and IG troops with them...never underestimate what a flamer can do on a crisis suit.
* Fusion blasters - very situational, some players recommend them, I cannot. If you find blocking (keeping the enemy at bay) hard, this may be a suit system for you.
* BUrst cannons - forget it, we have plenty of other S5AP5 guns...until we can put missile pods on firewarriors, this is a waste.

Railguns - yes please. Take them, as many as you can. Hammerheads are great, as they also offer the template (for killing troops). Unlike other armies which can get reliable anti-tank in almost every slot, we can only get it in heavy - tragically that means every skyray or ionhead or sniper team is one less raiilgun.

Regarding your specific list;
You are going to want more crisis suits. These are our best weapons, and then learn how to utilize their jump shoot jump (JSJ) capability.
Broadsides - three railguns in one slot, plus shield drones - you will want some of them.
Pathfinders - you are going to need more markerlights, or maybe put a few in your friewarriors or stealth teams.
Sky ray - I LOVE skyrays...never run them. WHy? One less railgun. Markerlights are for removing cover saves. Again, we dont have 18 las cannons, so each railgun shot HAS to pen - thus, we HAVE to remove cover saves.
Devilfish - you are going to need a fish. Mag the turret on the skyray, so you can use it as fish.

If this is all you got, then its a great start;

Thats looks like only about 1000 points...see if you can get some 500 point games with your friends, and just used the units.
You can't really build a tau army with only 1 crisis suit, but until then, learn how to move the crisis suit, try differenet loadouts.
You can practice as well with the stealth guys (the tactic of jumping out of cover, shooting, then jumping back in).

Practice moving your hammerheads around, put distruption pods on them, and get used to trying to be more than 12" away.
Try out the gun drones or smart missiles, see what fits your style more on the fish (converted skyray).

Get used to moving the pirahanas, they are great (expensive) little units, get used to moving them. Just remember, in most games, there job is to die while blocking the advance of enemy transports trukks and tanks.


Here is a great intro to tau tactics;
http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/2009/10/joining-tau-empire-beginners-guide-part.html
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The kroot can just be used as a melee speedbump for both fire warrior squads.

Both hammerheads should have burst cannons, disruption pods and a multi-tracker if you want it.

Your skyray can provide markerlight support once his missiles are exhaused, if you take it give the fire warriors team leaders and a markerlight. Make sure it takes a disruption pod and targeting array, also a multi-tracker if you have the points.

Your piranhas would be great as tank hunters, just give them fusion blasters, flechette launchers and targeting arrays. Some seeker missiles wouldn't hurt if you had the points.

The stealth suits are somewhat too expensive to use as just more str 5 fire, but giving them gun drones and/or marker drones (or ideally a mix) would allow you to provide excellent markerlight support from what would be a stealth marker team.

The extra battlesuit can always be a counts as commander with weapons you would need. I recommend an airburster for excellent anti-horde, while your other commander would do well with plasma and cyclic ion for killing TEQ.

The tau don't have a titan, unless it's a broadside or something, you won't be able to use it.


In the end, your force would have some railguns, a mess of markerlights and seeker missiles to provide light tank control, a good amount of str 5 kroot and piranhas that can screen for you. It would be quite effective, provided you can keep your enemy back long enough. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/349335/2489697.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/349335/2489697.page GMT