1500 Tau army list for a friend, criticism needed!

[JxKxR]

A squad of six pathfinders is fine I run a squad of 5 and plant them in the center of the table. What ever they point at dies no problem.

You probable won't be too happy with the Plasma/Flamer combo because you want that plasma rifle firing away all game so you should keep him back and out of flamer range.

As for the sniper team I find that they suck. They won't pin, they hardly kill anything, and they are way to expensive for what they do. If you want more markerlights I might suggest a stealth team with team leader plus markerlight and marker drone. That's two highly mobile markerlights with the stealth.

[Tynskel]

I like the sniper drone teams. They are reliable, high powered, long range shots. Plus you can split fire, if I remember correctly.

[Tynskel]

the flamer/plasma suits are interesting. They just take some practice to learn how to use. Basically, you hang back just far enough to be rapid firing the plasma. Then, at the last second, you hop in and roast with flamers and charge.

This list will be a little more useful against armies like Blood Angels. You have to be careful, though, those guys are wicked fast, and cut Tau to ribbons.

[Lemt]

I'm talking tomorrow with the guy that wants to start Tau, so I'll talk all this over with him, and tell you guys how the "meeting" goes.

[Commander Vimes]

Sniper Drones suck. It is not at all hard to get in close enough to see them reliably, and Ork pistols will usually finish off the squad. If you take one casualty you're testing leadership on a 7. Take four wounds at once, and you have a 50-50 chance the spotter dies and the team vanishes. Also, they don't contribute markerlights, they require them. The drones are BS3 with only one shot each. They need two markerlight hits to be anything close to reliable.

[BlindGunn]

Biggest problem with Sniper Drones is they take a Heavy slot.

We already have two excellent choices in Brodsides and Hammerheads - why would you replace one of those with Sniper Drones???

If you want a mobile Markerlight, the Skyray, but I think I would prefer the Stealth Suit squad mentioned previously. Same issue - Skyray uses up one of the valuable Heavy slots and Seeker Missiles don't seem to be as bad as they used to be...

[JxKxR]

Biggest problem with Sniper Drones is they take a Heavy slot.

We already have two excellent choices in Brodsides and Hammerheads - why would you replace one of those with Sniper Drones???

If you want a mobile Markerlight, the Skyray, but I think I would prefer the Stealth Suit squad mentioned previously. Same issue - Skyray uses up one of the valuable Heavy slots and Seeker Missiles don't seem to be as bad as they used to be...

I like seeker missiles but never have used the sky ray. I don't really unerstand what most people have against them. But then I play with a lot more fire warriors and have a markerlight in each squad. I have taken out more than a few dreadnaughts and flanking tanks with them.

[BlindGunn]

I like seeker missiles but never have used the sky ray. I don't really unerstand what most people have against them. But then I play with a lot more fire warriors and have a markerlight in each squad. I have taken out more than a few dreadnaughts and flanking tanks with them.

I tend to have more Firewarrior squads with Markerlights as well. They're great for calling in the Seekers.

I think the issue with Seekers is that they're 1-shot weapons and can make vehicles very expensive, very fast. I have used Seekers, but usually as Points fillers. Usually, add them to a Devilfish or (if I'm feeling extravigant) to a Piranha. In these situations, a Seeker or two isn't bad. Mostly because it is easier to get a flank shot with them this way.

the Problems with the Skyray are:
- the limited number (6 max) of Seekers
- it claims another Heavy Slot people would prefer the HammerHeads (either variant) or Broadsides in
- moving a Skyray up the flank is that much more difficult because your oppoent won't just LET you get that many missiles on a flank. A single Devilfish or Piranha might get away with getting that side or rear shot. A Skyray fully loaded...

The main advantage of the Skyray is you do get 2 moving marker lights in a heavily armoured shell. Some people make it work for them, but they seem to be few and far between.

I keep threatening to take one out for a spin myself...

[JxKxR]

I tend to have more Firewarrior squads with Markerlights as well. They're great for calling in the Seekers.

I think the issue with Seekers is that they're 1-shot weapons and can make vehicles very expensive, very fast. I have used Seekers, but usually as Points fillers. Usually, add them to a Devilfish or (if I'm feeling extravigant) to a Piranha. In these situations, a Seeker or two isn't bad. Mostly because it is easier to get a flank shot with them this way.

the Problems with the Skyray are:
- the limited number (6 max) of Seekers
- it claims another Heavy Slot people would prefer the HammerHeads (either variant) or Broadsides in
- moving a Skyray up the flank is that much more difficult because your oppoent won't just LET you get that many missiles on a flank. A single Devilfish or Piranha might get away with getting that side or rear shot. A Skyray fully loaded...

The main advantage of the Skyray is you do get 2 moving marker lights in a heavily armoured shell. Some people make it work for them, but they seem to be few and far between.

I keep threatening to take one out for a spin myself...

Yeah I use them on my one piranha with fusion blaster that I keep hidden behind terrain to quikly contest objectives at the end of the game.

Honestly I would really to try a skyray out. I would also like to play a tau army without any railguns and see if I could pull out a win. I also want to see if I could win without any battlesuits but I highly doubt any one could pull off a win that way.

[BlindGunn]

I have played without the railguns: Ion Cannon HammerHeads only. (I was mad at Railguns because I would miss, even with a markerlight on target - how bad is THAT!)

Unfortunately, I can't see Tau without Crisis suits in 5th. 4th you could have pulled it off, but not 5th. Firewarriors need the support. Unless Firewarriors get huge boost in capabilities in the next codex (something I can't conceive of), we will always need some support from Crisis suits.