Tau Army List (1700pts)

[gauntinator]

HQ:

Shas'o- plasma rifle, missile pod, targeting array, hard wired multi-tracker, shield drones (152pts)

Shas'vre Bodyguard (X2)-plasma rifle, missile pod, hard wired multi-tracker, targeting array (94pts)

Troops:

Fire Warriors w/ Shas'ui (X12)-EMP grenades, bonding knife (171pts)

Devilfish-Disruption pods, multi-tracker, targeting array (100pts)

Kroot w/ shaper (X12)- (105pts)

Elites:

Crisis Team (X3)-plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker (186pts)

Crisis Team w/ Shas'vre (X2) burst cannon, flamer, multi-tracker(84pts)
(x1) Shas'vre- Air-burst Fragmentation Launcher, burst cannon, hard-wired multi-tracker, targeting array(78pts)

Crisis Team (X3)- missile pod, fusion blaster, hard-wired multi-tracker, targeting array (192pts)

Heavy Support:

Hammer Head(X1)- multi-tracker, disruption pods, rail gun, smart missile system(175pts)

Broadside Battle suits (X3)-smart missile system, twin-linked rail guns(210pts)

Broadside Battle suits (X3)-smart missile system, twin-linked rail guns(210pts)

Total: 1757pts

So what do you guys think? This is the first "real" army list I've made. I'll mostly be playing marines(BA and GK), orks, and Guard. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Please be honest as it is my first and am not expecting it to be anywhere near perfect.

[vonshlacten]

Your shas'o does not need/ cannot use a targeting array. Make him an El!

Consider getting more troops, or you will suffer greatly on 2/3 of the missions

[Xenos and Proud]

Yeah take a lot more troops. Fire Warriors claim objectives and Kroot get in the way of your enemy.

Besides that be prepared to lose badly your first 12 or so games. Tau are a very difficult army to play right but if done right can beat almost anything.

[anaklusmos]

Yeah kroot are annoying at times if they get into CC if they dont..... well thats the kroot pretty much dead. but the broadsides and hammerhead are good infantry and tank killers. I suggest and low powered infantry use the submunition shot at while the high powered enemies headshot them with a railgun... boom headsot.

[robomummy]

is that 12 krooot plus a shaper or 12 models in total for the kroot?

[gauntinator]

robomummy: that is 11 normal kroot and 1 shaper for a total unit size of 12. Sorry if that was unclear.

So other than my lack of troops and the Shas'o problem, what do you guys think about its effectiveness? Have I covered the rest of the bases? Each crisis team I kinda designed for either anti-infantry, tank hunting, and then just a fire knife for long range support/rino killing. Do you think it will work?

[coredump]

Tau is one of the weakest books out right now. Be prepared to lose a lot while you learn, then to lose much of the time anyway. that said, I am starting Tau because I think it will be fun, and fun is the point.

Also, hopefully they will get a new Dex within a year or so...

My opinion, is they are bad because they have little in the way of *Good* units, but almost all of their units are 'pretty good', so it does offer lots of valid options and flexibility. Hence why I think they are fun.

[vonshlacten]

Ditch the shaper. He is a waste of points in my opinion. 21 points for a few more attacks and a 6+ save? Meh.

You really don't need a second fireknife team for rhino hunting. Far too expensive. Go for the deathrain: twin-linked missile pods for all, and give hem a flamer as a secondary weapon for some extra anti-infantry punch.

Your anti-infantry team appears to be the burst cannon/flamer group... i'll make some suggestions. Do you really need multi-trackers? It isn't likely that you will ever be using multi-trackers on your flamer suits, because of the range difference between the weapons. Also, 3 BS3 burst cannons is not really a threat. It is more of a nuisance. Given the lack of marker-lights in your army, I don't see this team doing much of anything. Consider dropping the multi-trackers to make the flamers twin-linked. You will be re-rolling to wound, and you auto-hit, and you ignore cover. Three twin-linked flamers kills almost anything, seriously. Not even marines are safe. If each template covers only 5 marines, then that is 15 hits. Re-rolling wounds gets you 11.25 wounds, and after failed saves you kill 4 marines. With only 18 points of weapons! That is only 5 under each template btw. The real utility is againts mob armies, say, tyranids, where those same 15 hits evaporate 13 models, no problem. (again, only 5 under each template in this example, to be conservative) After filling out with twin flamers, you are left with one hardpoint. Give them missiles or drones, whatever you desire.

If you are just in love with burst cannons, get stealth suits.


For your third crisis team, I noticed some issues.... you may not take hard-wired multi-trackers on regular suits, which hamstrings this team in BS and overall tank hunting ability. Make this a command team. For real. Then they can kill tanks. Also, you will be wanting to deepstrike this team, so see if you can squeeze in a pathfinder team to make use of their devilfish(if only to put the firewarriors inside), and also a Positional Relay on a shas'Vre. Give the positional relay to a battlesuit team that will always be on the table, like a deathrain, and use it to keep your army in reserves using it's special rules. Because you can only bring in one unit at a time, everything else, stays put. Hold your troops back in objective missions to keep them alive, and use it to bomb tanks in the rear with your fireforge suits.

Hope some of this helped

[gauntinator]

It was very helpful von, thanks a ton! It's always the little details like the hard-wired stuff that I forget about. I'm wondering about the flamers though. Because most armies I'm facing kick ass in CC (and that's against armies that are good at it as well). Wont getting in range to use flamers against say a large mob of orks be potentially hazardous? Or do I just try and focus on small groups of enemies that I know I can wipe out?

[vonshlacten]

woah woah woah.... twin flamers vs. a large mob of orks is Hazardous!?! That is EXACTLY the target you want! Think about it: there are 30+ boyz, all jumbled together and packed in clumps, because, who can spread out 30 models effectively? He wants to get all of them into assault, so they will be close enough for you to get at least 8 models under each template. That is 24 hits, 18 wounds, 18 DEAD. No saves. 30 - 18 = 12. Shoot them with that air burster or some burst cannons and force moral checks, pinning, etc etc.

It is potentially dangerous to be in flamer range, but with high risk comes high reward if you do it right. You have enough firepower to wipe out the unit afterwards, so there are no more models in assault range of your battlesuits, especially after your 6in jump backwards. Trust me, flamers vs. orks is awesome. After you burn them once, your suits will be rightfully feared.

What other armies do you face?

[gauntinator]

Oh ok I didn't think about that. I face BA a lot, along with most other popular space marine armies. I did a battle against Grey Knights the other day. Also nids, eldar sometimes, and chaoes. But I'd say it's 80% marine armies. And those are the ones I really have trouble with.

[anaklusmos]

Tau aren't the greatest and i have necron and even my necrons beat them (so what if I run only five destroyers and kill all the fire warriors with 1 wraith)

[carnogaunt]

1) Your Broadsides are required to have a support system. I would give two target locks and one a targeting array. Transports only need one good hit to kill, so using target locks will free you to take out more per turn. I used to prefer multi-trackers, but you don't really need to fire the smart missile system and the railgun at the same time. The ability to divide your fire is more useful on these guys.

2) I have to contradict vonshlacten; Shapers are vital for Kroot because their leadership is low and they will attract anti-horde firepower. Your chances of passing the morale check go from 58% to 72% with a Shaper. The only alternative to a Shaper is to keep a crisis commander with them (which is an option you might want to explore, but probably not what you were going for). You can also allocate a wound to the Shaper to keep a few extra attacks, which is useful because of their low initiative.

3) Crisis bodyguard teams are rather expensive for what they do. You pay ten points just to get full access to the armory, and then you're spending five more points to give them targeting arrays. Static BS upgrades are obviously more reliable than markerlights, but markerlights are more flexible and often more cost effective than upgrading individual models.

4) You don't need EMP grenades on your Fire Warriors. You have enough anti-tank in your list.

[vonshlacten]

A shaper or 3 more kroot? I'll take the kroot.

A squad of 12 with a shaper, after losing 3 kroot, will take a moral check, while a 15 large group(12 kroot + 3 kroot for the price of a shaper) will not even take a moral check after losing 3 bodies. The two units cost the same points, and one of them is better in assault.

It depends on preference. If the kroot are outflanking, then a shaper is really necessary. If they are employed as a shield, like they so often are, then extra points for a shaper are just a waste.

Cosider also that a shaper costs 28 points. Why not get a crisis suit?

[gauntinator]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. Keep it coming.