CDRAlbrecht wrote:
I'll mostly be playing against Space Marine Bikes (with a Vindicator and two Whirlwinds), and a Nidzilla army, although I try to build lists for general play.

The List:

Farsight Enclaves:

Commander 152
2x Missile Pod
Target Lock
Drone Controller
2x Marker Drones

Ok, but if you're going to use a Mark'o, you need to maximize his utility. That means either paying the 2-point per drone premium of an FA slot drone team, or at least having the full 8 marker drones, 6 purchased from a full unit of crisis, 2 from him.

Crisis Team (2) 144
2x Twin-linked Missile Pod
2x Target Lock
4x Marker Drone

This is what I'm talking about; get another Crisis and 2 more marker drones. Also, point for point, double weapons are more efficient than twin-linking.

Crisis Team (3) 153
6x Burst Cannon
2x Gun Drone

BS2 gun drones are an example of easy fat to cut in order to get things like more marker droness elsewhere or double weapons over twin-linked.

Crisis Team (3) 153
6x Burst Cannon
2x Gun Drone

Crisis Team (3) 139
3x Twin-linked Fusion Blaster
3x Target Lock

You only need 2 to have target lock, the last one just fires as 'the unit.'

Riptide 190
Ion Accelerator
EWO

Riptide 190
Ion Accelerator
EWO

These are good, and should kill stuff with marker light support. But, if you're going Farsight Enclaves, that HBC+SMS riptide with ECPA is legit. So you don't have fliers in your meta? Fine, leave the velocity tracker off and just use that Heavy 12 Rending to eviscerate little gribblies or even big grubs. Although, skyfire against Flying Hive Tyrants would be pretty sick. Also, consider giving this guy the Talisman of Moloch. If you play Nidzilla a lot, it could save you against the leadership shenanigan maledictions such as psychic schriek, terrify etc.

Hammerhead
Railgun w/ Submunitions
Disruption Pod

Meh. Especially without Longstrike. Meh. Especially with access to plenty of fusion. Meh.

Broadside Team
3x Heavy Rail Rifle
3x TLSMS
3x Missile Drone
(I've playtested this unit to death. Please, let's not get into Missilesides vs. Railsides. I play on a full-sized table and the range and AP have worked best for me.)

Well, if you insist. The Heavy Rail Rifles do look cool. See rule #1 below for my position on this.

Allied Tau Empire:

Darkstrider 100

Hmmm, intriguing if you face a lot of Nidzilla. If your rail sides were still S10; I'd be sold. As it stands, this doesn't make any sense to me without any way of insta-gibbing TMCs.

Fire Warriors (11) 179
Devilfish

Another opportunity to shave points. Drop down to the min 6 and invest more in crisis suits. OR if you are determined to include an allied detachment of "traitor tau" Take a full squad of 12, but with a Cadre Fireblade in lieu of Darkstrider. That's still a cost savings of 111 points.

Pathfinder Team (6) 66

Meh. Marker drones are better and synergize more with your list.

=1850


I've been buying models and trying out various lists since the latest Codex came out, with mixed results. What I'm really trying to do is be competitive without straining the allies system too far. Here, all I really wanted was my fire warriors and pathfinders for cheaper, although fluff-wise I like the idea of some newly-arrived defectors from the Tau Empire. I don't want to use any of the gimmicks commonly seen on here (I don't mean that in a derogatory way; a gimmick is a gimmick) such as pairing tiny commanders with huge riptides and whatnot. The armies I'm playing are themed yet competitive, so that's what I'm aiming for.

I respect this approach. Good way to keep your regular opponents from disappearing. Playing Tau as an older codex can be rough these days.

Can this win vs. bikes and nidzilla? Any feedback is appreciated.

Yes, whether you listen to me or not you have a lot of firepower. You should do fine in most games.

EDIT: There's no AA in the list because there are no flyers in the "friend meta" yet. But with Tau, it's just a matter of moving some points around, so I'm not worried about it for now.