1850 Tau - No comp tourney, advice wanted.

[Morg]

I have never competed in a no comp tourney before, but a reasonable number of comp'ed ones. AT is relatively covered, i have sufficient markerlights and troop choices [depending on mission may reserve the FW's until T4 or 5]. The position Relay is to bring in the 2 suit teams on T2 & 3, then dpeending on mission i may reserve troops to bring on late game to cap objectives. 5 Bs 4 Marks, 16 Bs 3; so averaging 11.3 hits a turn.

88 - El: 2x Missile Pod, Pos Relay, Hw: Target Lock (Sits with Broadsides, tank hunting)

201 - 3 XV8: Plas, Fus, Multitracker; Leader: P, F, TA(+1BS), Hw: Mt (Anti Heavy Inf - Comes in T2 after transport contents are divulged)
162 - 3 XV8: Plas, Flamer, Mt (Standard infantry clearing, T2 or 3 depending on horde army or not)

100 - 10 Kroot; 5 Hounds
100 - 10 Kroot; 5 Hounds
60 - 6 FW
60 - 6 FW

150 - 2 Pirahna: Fus, TA (Turbo boost T1 for a 4+ cover, T2 go in for side armour melta love)
96 - 8 Pathfinders
85 - Fish: Dis Pods
96 - 8 Pathfinders
85 - Fish: Dis Pods (4+ cover, used to drive the FW's around & guarantee my suits deepstrike succeeds)

240 - 3 Sniper Teams (All focus the same targets down to guarantee threat removal - target priorities are MC's & Heavy infantry, working with the Crisis teams)
145 - Skyray: Dpod, TA, Burst Cannons
175 - 2 XV88: TL, Leader: Hw: TA, Shield Drone (El joins, all can shoot seperately)

Total: 1843

Criticism on synergy welcomed; fire away :)

[Commander Vimes]

I play Tau in a very competitive environment with a better than 50/50 win:loss ratio. I run a very anti-mech lists, because of the local and regional meta-game, so my comments come from that perspective.



88 - El: 2x Missile Pod, Pos Relay, Hw: Target Lock (Sits with Broadsides, tank hunting)
Solid, give him a gun drone and a shield drone to give the Broadsides more ablative wounds.



201 - 3 XV8: Plas, Fus, Multitracker; Leader: P, F, TA(+1BS), Hw: Mt (Anti Heavy Inf - Comes in T2 after transport contents are divulged)
162 - 3 XV8: Plas, Flamer, Mt (Standard infantry clearing, T2 or 3 depending on horde army or not)
The configurations are fine, but deep striking them is suicide. If you land close enough to use the weapons you will be assaulted and killed by anything you don't kill. Even if you manage to wipe out your target, there will probably be a supporting unit close enough to charge. You are better off deploying them to start shooting turn 1.


100 - 10 Kroot; 5 Hounds
100 - 10 Kroot; 5 Hounds
60 - 6 FW
60 - 6 FW
Fire Warriors are fine. Kroot units that size don't have the numbers to beat very many units. I generally field 13 plus 8 hounds which can reliably take on Tac squads and Chaos Marines or Assault Marines if they've been whittled down a bit. If you only want them to be scoring units then they're fine. But if you want them to actually beat stuff when they charge, flesh them out more.


150 - 2 Pirahna: Fus, TA (Turbo boost T1 for a 4+ cover, T2 go in for side armour melta love)
96 - 8 Pathfinders
85 - Fish: Dis Pods
96 - 8 Pathfinders
85 - Fish: Dis Pods (4+ cover, used to drive the FW's around & guarantee my suits deepstrike succeeds)
Pathfinders are great. I'm not a fan of Piranhas. For another five points you can get an uprgaded broadside that is tougher and can strike from across the board with Str10. But if they work for you then keep them.


240 - 3 Sniper Teams (All focus the same targets down to guarantee threat removal - target priorities are MC's & Heavy infantry, working with the Crisis teams)
145 - Skyray: Dpod, TA, Burst Cannons
175 - 2 XV88: TL, Leader: Hw: TA, Shield Drone (El joins, all can shoot seperately)
I really dislike sniper drones. Night fight is not enough to keep them safe from the strong sneezes that will erase them from the board. For that 15 more points you could have 3 Broadsides with twin-linked plasma rifles and mulit-trackers. They give the same amount of point blank firepower, with better AP. At 24 inches they have fewer shots, but with more accuracy from twin-linked. And of course you've got the Railguns at long range.

The Skyray is a waste. Your pathfinders give you enough markerlights, and you'll consistently have more valuable uses for markerlights than shooting a seeker missile. An Ionhead will give you more firepower for less cost. They're annoyingly resilient and quite cheap; easily the best Hammerhead chassis variant.

Yay Broadsides! Only thing I dislike here is that there aren't enough. Take three all with TAs and make sure to have a pair of shield drones.


General comments: Believe it or not your list is lacking in anti-tank. My 1850 list with 3 Deathrains, 6 Broadsides, and 16 Pathfinders to mark for them is still frequently challenged by mech heavy lists. This list would really struggle against double Land Raiders with armored support, or a dozen Chimeras, or a horde of Razorbacks and Predators.

Broadsides are hands down the best unit in the Tau Codex; embrace them as your dearest friend. I love them with Twin-linked plasma and multi-trackers so they can blow up vehicles and erase any unit that comes within 12" with markerlight support. I'm also a big Kroot fan. They make great screens to shield your Broadsides and Pathfinders. Outflank is great for taking objectives or ambushing units near a table edge. Take 20 or so and they will beat a lot of objective minding units like Tac squads.

Tau have to maximize every advantage they can to meet what the newer codices can do without much effort, so don't ever feel bad about optimizing as much as you can.

[Morg]

One thing i love about Tau is how every general will run things different and can have opposite views of whats useful vs. useless.
"Deepstriking is suicide" - I have often been told that, but with the PF fish allowing to reroll the scatterdice, its a 2/3 chance of a hit. I have deepstruck Helios suit teams right next to targets with high degrees of success; if your going to scatter it should average at 7", which will generally see you flying clean over the unit you aimed to be next to or in a random direction. Rarely have i mishapped, let alone lost a unit with this. I choose my dropsites pretty carefully, a good drop can be really crucial for taking out that key sector and stealing the initiative; but i guess its all just personal preference :P

As to the event itself, i know that my suits will cop it to the face in the next turn if i havent wiped out the enemy threats in that section of the table with their first salvo, but given that i never commit to a full strength target or a dropsite that i know will just get them swept into combat by backup units. I have turned the tide of quite a number of games by having my 2 suit teams dropping in to cut out the enemies key units when their army becomes more strung out in the later turns.

Considering dropping the skyray for a pair of broadsides; six is a bit overkill for me. To bolster up the troops i will drop 6 FWs to buy an extra 5 hounds for each Kroot squad, giving them enough of a combat punch.