My first take on the new Tau

[Draezymous]

Hello to all!

I recently got myself a Tau army, as I've always had a soft spot for Transformers/Gundams/mech/etc, and the new releases just ignited my curiosity to painting them. However, I've always stood on the other end of the Tau's Pulse Rifles, and found them really annoying to play against (even though I haven't lost from them yet!). I made the following list using the boxed sets I got, and made me a 2200 pt army, as I will have a match at that value against a friend of mine who just started out Blood Angels.

Now, I'm aware that Blood Angels are CC specialists, something my ''new'' army suck at pretty bad... Even more reason for me to have a mobile force! Or at least, that's what I thought, and without further ado, my list:

HQ:

Commander in XV8 Enforcer Crisis suit (207 pts)
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Drone Controller, Shield Generator, Failsafe Detonator, iridium suit, Missile drone x2

Elites:

Riptide Battlesuit (285 pts)
Heavy Burst cannon, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Riptide Shield Generator, Blacksun Filter, Multi tracker, Stimulant Injector, Velocity Tracker, Shielded Missile Drone x2

Crisis Battlesuit team (316 pts)
Crisis Battlesuit x3, Shas'vre x1, Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Shield Generator, Bonding Knife Ritual, Missile Drone x3, Marker Drone x3

Crisis Battlesuit team (316 pts)
Crisis Battlesuit x3, Shas'vre x1, Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Shield Generator, Bonding Knife Ritual, Missile Drone x3, Marker Drone x3

Troops:

Fire Warrior Team (109 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle, Markerlight & Target Lock (Shas'ui only), Bonding Knife Ritual, Marker Drone x2

Fire Warrior Team (109 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle, Markerlight & Target Lock (Shas'ui only), Bonding Knife Ritual, Marker Drone x2

Fire Warrior Team (109 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle, Markerlight & Target Lock (Shas'ui only), Bonding Knife Ritual, Marker Drone x2

Fire Warrior Team (109 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle, Markerlight & Target Lock (Shas'ui only), Bonding Knife Ritual, Marker Drone x2

Fast Attack:

N/A

Heavy Support:

Broadside Battlesuit Team (214 pts)
Broadside Battlesuit x2, Shas'vre x1, Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Trackers, Seeker Missile x2 (one each), Missile Drone x2, Marker Drone x2

Broadside Battlesuit Team (214 pts)
Broadside Battlesuit x2, Shas'vre x1, Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Trackers, Seeker Missile x2 (one each), Missile Drone x2, Marker Drone x2

Broadside Battlesuit Team (214 pts)
Broadside Battlesuit x2, Shas'vre x1, High-Yield Missile Pods, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Trackers, Seeker Missile x2 (one each), Missile Drone x2, Marker Drone x2

Total: 2202 pts

Strategy:

The Commander and the Crisis suit Teams will ''guard'' the front line, while two units of broadsides with heavy rail rifles will pick each flank, with the possibillity to pick out the centre as well. The last team of Broadsides with High-Yield Missile pods will make a ''shore line'' in front of the other Broadsides, and in a way buying the other Broadside teams more time. The High-Yield Missile Pod Broadsides may advance when facing an defensive enemy, but otherwise are my ''first of the last''. The Fire Warriors are mainly there to Support Fire, and ''bubble wrap'' my Broadside Teams, or provide my Commander with some assistance. The Riptide will go where he is required; either to close a gap in my gunline, or to deny LoS to a prime target.

In general my Commander, Crisis Teams, Riptide, and Fire Warriors (2 out of 4 groups) are meant to ''lure'' the opponent to a certain place on the battlefield, and then blast them apart with heavy firepower from behind my lines. The Broadside Teams and the other Fire Warrior teams will create a ''back wall'', meaning I can either make a ''forward defensive line'' with my more aggressive units, or a ''fall back base'' from the Broadside teams and remaining Fire Warriors. Depending on which one I will be using, the rest of my army will move in place to clean up the rest. My ''theme'' for the strategy boils down to ''All units supporting each other, all units are expendable''. It's all for the Greater Good after all, no?

Please let me know anything that comes to your mind, and thanks for reading!!

[snowdaman]

Well ur taking a lot of up grades. Id probably drop the target locks on the sargents of the fire warrior squads and maybe the marker lights but u do need some. So if u want that that's ok but its a bit of points like pathfinders are cheap for the marker drones u paid for u could get equal pathfinders. Who have better bs and can scout. But that's personal choice.

The drones on a rip tide are really expensive for 2 4+ save wounds. when if ur worried about ap2 u can just nova a 3+ invul.

And they faqed that only board sides can only take missile drones.

Ill have to comment more once i get home way my tau codex

Sent from my GT-I9100M using proboards

[gigasnail]

faq/nerfed already: www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m3130063a_Tau_Empire_v1.0_APRIL13.pdf

you can only take missile drones on broadsides.

edit: beaten ; ;

[snowdaman]

So a couple things. U don't need the bonding knife ritual on such small fire warrior units as they can't get under 25%. Id go for more troops as they will die quickly.

U don't need so such anti air. And why on the riptide its only str 6 on its main gun yes u can take a fusion blaster but its such a short range.

Id personally go with the ion accelorator for the little points. drop off the skyfire and the drones and have it fire 72 inch str 8 ap3 large blasts that will ignore marine armour and fnp.

Drop one if not two broadside units for hammer heads with ion cannons for 1 or 2 more 60 inch str8 ap3 large blasts. Against blood angels it will work wonders

Sent from my GT-I9100M using proboards

[strikeblaze]

A couple of suggestions from a 9yr old Tau player, Bulk out the Fire Warrior units, they are your bread and butter, Marker Drones are good, but it may be worth dropping some and getting some pathfinders, even if its just like 2 units of 6 or something to mark squads out. Add an Ethereal, they are really priceless and if you do not buy Shas'ui upgrades in fire warriors and pathfinders, you can easily include one which not only does he give everyone within 12" near him LD 10 (more then Shas'ui give) also gives you rerolls to LD and buffs. Ill agree with Snowdaman, Since Broadsides can not get both Skyfire and Interceptor, having so much anti air on them seems excessive. Ideal Anti Air units are oddly enough the Riptide, It may be worth considering dropping FNP and going Skyfire/Interceptor. Depending on how you want to theme it though depends entirely on you. Missile drones since the Errata can be changed to gun drones and not effect your army list.

If you want any more advice or go over suggestions, feel free to contact me, always happy to help people in the name of the Greater Good.

[Draezymous]

Thank you all for your replies! They really help me out, and mean a lot to me!

snowdaman: Thanks for the many insights! I mainly took the SMDrones on the riptide to have some extra fire power rather than more wounds, but I agree they are really pricey in comparison for what they do. I dropped them to make some more room for other upgrades on other models. While I see your point with the Hammerheads, I'm not really a vehicle type of player. I sometimes make an exception for Transports, but since Tau are quite lacking there, I might get a Hammerhead later on so I can either field a Devilfish or a Hammerhead/Skyray. For now this really isn't an option Im afraid, so I'll have to rely on my Broadsides to bring in the hurt. While they can't live up to pie-plates, I hope my mix of Missiles and Heavy Rail Rifles will make up for that. SMS isn't something to be sniffed at, and I can bring six times as much SMS systems in comparison to one Hammerhead; what I lack in pie-plates I hope to make up with sheer volley of high powered firepower. I see your reasoning towards the Bonding Knife Ritual, and have dropped it completely. I friend of mine suggested it would be handy for low Ld Tau, but I think I can manage without. Once again, thank you!

gigasnail: Yeah, quite a bummer there, and quite a fail moment for GW in my opinion... Nontheless, I will look for different ways then. Would you maybe care to comment on my new list? I would love to hear your insights!

strikeblaze: Thank you for the help! I must ask though, are you 9 years old, or do you play Tau 9 years? I know it is kind of an odd question, but I'm just curious? =P In no way I mean to offend you though! As for the Fire Warriors, my goal for the ''small'' units was to have more options for when picking out targets (when needed you can still fire two units of six at one unit to get the effect of one unit of twelve?), and I can assure this way that anything that charges these units will usually wipe them out in the first round of combat, meaning I can shoot at the enemy unit in my following shooting phase. If I'm in such a tight spot that my Fire Warriors are already engaged, I think I would want to remove that unit asap to gain more space? I confess this is only my theorie rather than battle experience, but I woul love to hear your insights on that? I personally don't like Ethereals, as I find them too squishy for an HQ choice? The buffs are nice, but there is really only one good effect, and one situationally good, but I would much rather include another battlesuit commander, or an Cadre Fireblade (as you will soon see, I stayed with the battlesuit commander) to provide buffs, and still have a better fighting chance? While I see your reasoning for the Skyfire upgrades, my friend and I have agreed to not use the Deep Strike special rule, as our table isn't too large and easily cramped; Interceptor is therefore useless for me (or at least, the way I understand the Interceptor rule). In my previous match two units of Broadsides fell to a Blood Angel commander with Force Weapon in only two rounds (admidettly late, but still) so I have chosen to add extra protection instead. I will still keep the Riptide and one unit as Broadsides as my anti-air though, so I hope 2 anti-air units are enough?

But, in general; I played the game with my ''first try'' list to experience the faults and errors myself (I find this the best way to learn regardless), and I lost pretty bad to the Blood Angels player I faced... So I guess Tau really play a whole other game when compared to our bugs...! I tend to learn fast from my mistakes though, so with fresh hope and some of your advices, I build myself a new army list. While my first goal is to beat my friend's Blood Angels, I intend to build a ''general'' list. We usually play 2000 pts games, with a marge of 10 pts added for upgrade options (our list are allowed to be 2010 pts at maximum, but we try to keep it at 2000).

Though it saddens me, I cant really afford new models for my Tau army at the moment, so I will have to do with what I got. When you make suggestions, feel free to advice anything, but please also keep in mind my resources are limited. Therefore, I will aim to optimize my lists with the models that I got, without including new models when possible. The models I have are: 1x Commander, 1x Riptide, 6x Crisis Suit, 24 Fire Warriors, and 6x Broadside Battlesuits. Of course this also means I have plenty of Drones to spare as well. So, as stated earlier, feel free to suggest anything, but note I can't really add anything new models-wise Im afraid.

Alas, without further ado, my ''new'' list (please note that one of my Broadsides will proxy for a second commander):

HQ

Commander in XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (202 pts,Warlord)
Cyclic Ion Blaster, Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Drone Controller, Stimulant Injector, Shield Generator, Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite, Repulsor Impact Field, Shield Drone x2

Commander in XV8 Crisis 'Enforcer' Battlesuit (172 pts)
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Drone Controller, Shield Generator, Shield Drone, Marker Drone

Elites

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit (240 pts)
Ion Accelerator, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Riptide Shield Generator, Blacksun Filter, Multi tracker, Stimulant Injector, Velocity Tracker

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Team (284 pts)
Crisis Battlesuit x3, Shas'vre x1, Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle x2, Burst Cannon x1 (Shas'vre), Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Shield Generator, Shield Drone x2, Marker Drone x2

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Team (284 pts)
Crisis Battlesuit x3, Shas'vre x1, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster x2, Burst Cannon x1 (Shas'vre), Failsafe Detonator (Shas'vre), Black Sun Filter, Multi Tracker, Shield Generator, Shield Drone x2, Marker Drone x2

Troops

Fire Warrior Team (64 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle

Fire Warrior Team (64 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle

Fire Warrior Team (64 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle

Fire Warrior Team (64 pts)
Fire Warrior x6, Shas'ui x1, Pulse Rifle

Fast Attack

N/A

Heavy Support

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit Team (352 pts)
Broadside Battlesuit x3, Shas'vre x1, Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Shield Generator, Missile Drone x6

Broadside Battlesuit Team (204 pts)
Broadside Battlesuit x2, Shas'vre x1, Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Velocity Trackers, Shield Drone x2

Total: 2004 pts

Strategy:

Alright, the idea is that the ''warlord'' Commander will join the Unit of Broadsides of 3 to form an overwhelming firebase when combining the Drone Controller with all 6 Missile Drones for 12 BS5 S7 AP4 hits alongside 3 Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle and 12 Twin-Linked S5 AP5 BS3 shots. That's 27 shots to fear! To be quite honest this is my Tau version of the Swarmlord; ''point at something and it dies.'' I have yet to see if it works though. The Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite can be used to flush out cover seeking models, and though the commander lacks long range fire power, his Cyclic Ion Blaster can dish out some damage as well. Though not very herioc for a Warlord, this commander wil mostly babysit and buff the Broadsides. Depending on the terrain and opponent, this will mainly be the centre of my army where all other can ''fall back'' unto when needed.

My other Commander will be joining one of the units of Crisis Battlesuits, but will always work in harmony with the other Crisis Team. This commander in a way still babysits the unit, but will play far more aggressive. The Drone Controller once again helps with the BS, though in this unit it will only matter for some Markerlight hits(which I can either use for the other Crisis team, or another unit). The Commander has the same equipment as the unit he will be in, so he can dish out as much fire power in the least, and the overall performance of the unit will go up. What really bugged me though was that since both of my commanders are in ''big'' units, the Iridium Armour isn't really helpful on them.

My other Crisis unit is equipped for rather ''risky'' battles, or close encounters. With higher AP on this team, they will aggressively seek out worthy armour to burn down. They fire less shots than the other team though, so I will have to make sure they will count. I was in doubt to maybe drop the plasma rifle for Twin-linked Fusion Blasters, but my reasoning is that I rather have a bigger volley than rerolls. Because of their aggressive role they are most likely to lure out an reaction at the least, hopefully distorting my opponent's advancing plans a bit. In the event they are immediately counter attacked in close combat (which all opponent's know is like a free win for them), their Shield Generators should keep them alive long enough to buy a little time, or in the case they are wiped out immediately the Shas'vre comes with a Failsafe Detonator to hopefully still disrupt any counter measures that would have been taken. Both units' Shas'vre come with Burst Cannons especially for Overwatch purposes, and an increased volly of fire.

The Riptide is my main anti-air option with high strength/low ap fire, and can otherwise dish out enough (supporting) fire to anything else. Though some may advice against it, I intend to let the Riptide also be a ''first contact'' counter, as most things that tend to arrive quick are also quite squishy, and otherwise it's nothing a good Smash attack can't help. It's not that I will be using the riptide for meelee, but rather that I still intend to throw it in close combat if the odds aren't too off.

My Troop choices are the basics; just 4 ''standard'' units, all with a Shas'ui. No Carbines, I'll just stick with the longer range Rifles. Without support to their BS, I find 12 pts for a BS2 Marker Drone quite pricey to include with my troops in comparison for what they give to the unit. Low-costing, easy to use units for me. Mostly they will just be used as sacrifices or bubblewrap.

The first team of Broadsides have already been discussed with my ''Warlord'' Commander, as they will together form the bulk of my army. As stated earlier, combined with their full load of Missile Drones which will be boosted by the Drone Controller this unit really gives me big expectations from it. To protect it I will bubblewrap the whole in some fire warriors, while the other units will cover most ground between the main forces. The only disadvantage the unit has is that it requires to remain stationary to be really worth anything. And even if something slips through, the Repulsor Impact Field would first like to have a word with them.

The other unit of Broadsides form (when paired with my riptide) my anti-air firebase. While lacking the heavy firepower support when compared to the other unit, I like to see them as my ''snipers''. Two shield drones will have to take the role of the Shield Generators for as long as possible. Though less powerfull as their comrades, they can still stand on their own and are not to be underestimated. Despite being placed on either flank, their range is more than enough to still cover (almost) the whole field!

Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to your replies!

[strikeblaze]

strikeblaze: Thank you for the help! I must ask though, are you 9 years old, or do you play Tau 9 years? I know it is kind of an odd question, but I'm just curious?

24yrs old this year, Started playing them in 2004