Originally Posted by
LordGrise
Fire Warriors... I generally use no more than twelve of these in my games, but I can only field a bit over 2K points. I typically field six of them with their Devilfish, and honestly, I generally want the Devilfish a lot more than the occupants. Kroot, If you are playing standard Tau you want twenty of them, as they are the only melee you have unless you count your HQ guys. I generally play Farsight, so I don't use mine much. Crisis Suits and Broadsides, you will eventually want nine or more of each of these, but you want one of each to start, and then three, Crisis Suits first.) Stealth Suits and Sniper Drones eventually. IMHO (folks will flame me for this) DO NOT get Pathfinders at this time - they are way too expensive for what you get. Piranhas... maybe. I don't use them much. I don't use Vespid at all.
Regarding Devilfishes/Hammerheads/Sky Rays... Currently, the best and least expensive way to go with Tau heavy vehicles is to buy Sky Rays, and then get the Hammerhead weapon sprues for them from GW direct. In this fashion you will have the best versatility with your models for the least money. If you leave off the turret altogether you then have a Devilfish, of course. The best substitute Devilfish cap for the turret socket that I have found is, no joke, no lie, the aerater cap off of a 1.75 liter bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon. (Coincidentally the 'go-to' whiskey in my house.) I find a three oz. dose of this, self-administered over a period of approximately two to three hours (neat), also makes the assembly and priming task of any model go more easily and more enjoyably. Folks may think I have been so self-medicating when they read this, but I haven't; I'm enjoying tequila tonight. (I live in San Antonio, Texas, BTW ::grin:: ) If you are not of age, then use buttons: measure the turret socket, then hit the local craft store and find a button that will fit in the socket with 1mm or so to spare. Find another button about four-five mm too big. Glue the one to the other, greenstuff the thread holes, prime it, and it will serve until you can raid someone's bit box.
One last note: Magnetize your crisis suit weapons. Trust me on this. I use 1.5 mm rare earth magnets on my stuff, and thereby can swap out weapon loadouts from game to game. Saves a bunch of money.