1850 Tau list that probably needs a lot of help.

Not that far off having enough models to play full size games with so I want a list that I can use for a while..

HQ
Shas'o commander: Plasma, Missile pod, Shield Gen & HW Multitracker. Marker Drone, 2x Shield drone - 192
2 Bodyguards: Plasma, Missile pod, Targeting Array & HW Multitracker - 164

Elite
3 Crisis Suits: Twin linked Flamer, Shield generator, Leader with shield drone- 178

5 Stealth suits with Targetting arrays, Leader with Markerlight, fusion blaster, bonding knife & shield drone - 217

Heavy
2 Broadsides with Targeting array - 160

Hammerhead with Railgun & Gun drones - 160

Sniper team - 80

Fast
6 Pathfinders: Leader with Bonding knife and Target Lock, Devilfish with Disruption pod & Marker beacon - 177

8 Gun drones - 96


3x6 Fire warriors with Leaders (Markerlight, Bonding knife) - 255
2 Devilfish with Disruption pod - 170

=1849

Not really much of a plan behind this. I like the idea of deepstriking flamers and pinning drones but I don't know if that's a practical tactic.

I guess I'd start off with the HQ deployed behind the pathfinders fish, FW's on foot would get in the fish, pathfinders scouting ahead
Heavy support would be deployed with good visibility
2 FW squads in fish held in reserve
Stealth, Dones and Flamers deepstriking.

Good army or Speedbump?

I'm going to comment on your list on the assumption that you have the models to put in whatever you want. If these are the only models you have, take my comments how ever you like.

HQ
- I like the set up, I would just get rid of the Marker Drone. You're already hitting on 2's and 3's.

Elites
- I really don't like the set up of TL Flamers. I understand what you're going for, but at best you'll get off one round of shooting before you die. My personal preferrence for Crisis suits is Plasma/Missile Pod and Multi Tracker. Flamers just won't kill enough and lack versatility. Jump out, shoot, jump back(JSJ). That's what we Tau do best . If used properly, JSJ, should give you cover saves. Drop the Shield drone and the Shield gen.

- for the Stealth suits, I would drop the Markerlight and Shield drone. Same reason as above. JSJ is our friend and when we're jumping, we can't use markerlights.

Heavy
- Broadsides - I would say ditch the Targeting array and get Advanced Stabilization instead. This allows you to have atleast a little mobility each turn. The targeting array isn't really necessary because you are Twin Linked. I always give broadsides a shield drone. You don't want that one random lascannon shot insta-killing 90 points.

- Hammerhead - I prefer Smart Missile System(SMS). I may be wrong, but I think it's included free (double check). Definitely equip with a Disruption Pod and Multitracker so you can move and shoot. If you do go with SMS, add Target lock so you can shoot at troops while your rail gun is munching on tanks.

- Sniper Team - just remember that you are stealth, so distance is your friend. (I've use 3 of these teams before)

Fast
- pathfinders - nothing wrong with it, just know how to use them

- gun drones - they are cannon fodder at best. They won't hit much and they won't wound much. Even then, while I love pinning, most people will make there pinning checks. Gun drones are basically a free kill point to the opponent.

Troops
- Fire warriors - If you get rid of the gund drones and some of the shields i mentioned earlier, you can add another unit or have 2 full 12 man units and a 6 man. 18 troops aren't going to control many/any objectives.


Strategy wise, I strongly discourage deepstriking in 99% of cases. Tau's strength is there firepower and their range. Infiltrate the stealth suits rather then deep strike.

good points.

Gramps wrote:

Elites
- I really don't like the set up of TL Flamers. I understand what you're going for, but at best you'll get off one round of shooting before you die. My personal preferrence for Crisis suits is Plasma/Missile Pod and Multi Tracker. Flamers just won't kill enough and lack versatility. Jump out, shoot, jump back(JSJ). That's what we Tau do best . If used properly, JSJ, should give you cover saves. Drop the Shield drone and the Shield gen.

Yeah, I still think it's a cool idea but I was just trying to be a bit different.

Gramps wrote:

- for the Stealth suits, I would drop the Markerlight and Shield drone. Same reason as above. JSJ is our friend and when we're jumping, we can't use markerlights.

Markerlights being heavy1 negates the ability to move and therefore anything that needs to JSJ can only have assault or rapid fire weapons?

Gramps wrote:

Heavy
- Sniper Team - just remember that you are stealth, so distance is your friend. (I've use 3 of these teams before)

I had been misreading the book all this time I thought you could only have one team period. Ty.

Quote :

Markerlights being heavy1 negates the ability to move and therefore anything that needs to JSJ can only have assault or rapid fire weapons?

You can still have and use the markerlight even though it is heavy1. You just can't use it if you move in the movement phase. My point is that you'll rarely get to use it as you should (and most likely will) be jumping around a lot.

Quote :

I had been misreading the book all this time I thought you could only have one team period. Ty

You can have 3 teams that only take up 1 force org spot. Each team is set sets up independently. I advise against using 3 teams though. I had great success with it in 4th edition, but since 5th edition has Kill Points, each team gives up a kill point if they die.

If you still really like twin-lnked flamers. give them twin-linked flamers and missile pods. Then you have some versatility. I've tooled around with this config and its pretty rocking.

Fireknives are overpriced for what you get IMHO, i like going for other configs but thats just me.

Stealths are good. With relentless, there is no reason not to purchase the markerlight, just be sure you drop the shield drone for a multitracker so he can fire both the markerlight and his main weapon. You should be using the stealth field for their protection, not shield drones really.

Give the broadsides shield drones, for 15 points you get a 2+ save with a 4+ invuln. Much better than taking wounds on your XV88s. I would keep the targeting array. XV88s don't need to move, they need to hit stuff. plus it helps when you have to shoot the SMS instead or the railguns. (it happens)


I'd also drop all the bonding knives and give all your vehicles multitrackers so you can move 12 inches and still fire. Note DF can fire burst cannons and the drones if you move 12.

Gun Drones can be a pain in the ass when you get a lot of markers on the target unit. Use one marker to boost to-hit then drop his leadership for pinning tests with the rest of the markers. Sucks when that happens to you. Especially when you are Nob Biker. hehehe

Note the Shas'O commander can only have two drones attached. The third drone will have to be attached to one of his bodyguard. Which is good because it makes them all unique for wound allocation.

On the subject of markerdrones and JSJ. When a markerdrones (or any drone) joins a unit, it become a unit of the same type. So when it joins jump infantry with jet packs, it gains the JSJ abilty and relentless. so it can move, fire a marker, then move again.

@TimW, thanks for correcting me on the markerlight/marker drones. I completely forgot about relentless. This past week was the first time I played my Tau since 5th edition came out. Clearly I have to double check some rules.

As for Fireknives, I agree they are pricey, but I find Crisis suit load outs to be kinda a play style preference type of thing. There are pros and cons to all the variants, and I think it would be interesting to see TL Flamer/Missile pod in action.

As for the drones, I was always under the impression that they were individual models when it came to wound allocation?

yeah what I meant about wound allocation is that his HQ unit would look like this

Shas'o commander: Plasma, Missile pod, Shield Gen & HW Multitracker.
2x Shield drone - 192

1 Bodyguard: Plasma, Missile pod, Targeting Array & HW Multitracker, HW Drone Controller and Markerdrone

1 bodyguard: Plasma, Missile pod, Targeting Array & HW Multitracker

all three suits are different so you can spread wounds around. Let's say you take 3 plasma shots and three plasma wound (AP2) instead of losing three drones, you can take one wound on each suit, without losing a whole one because they are all different. Its hard to describe how wound allocation works in writing, but trust me, with unique models in a unit you can spread wounds around and take more wounds before losing whole models.

gotcha. I thought you were talking about some funky wound allocation with the drones themselves.

Are the grenades worthwhile? primarily for pathfinders, but also in general?

Neither grenade option is really worthwhile. Photon grenades just delay the inevitable massacre or fail to delay it and emp grenade are expensive gimics. Bestto save those point for more guns.

i agree with TimW on the grenades.

Though, if you play in any mega battles or what not, load up on those EMPs they are not worth the points, but there are a heck of a lot of fun.

I redid the list incorporating most of the suggestions.
The crisis team is now TL Flamer/Plasma on the leader and TL Flamer/Missile pod on the 2 dudes.

Also this seemed like a good enough reason to start a new blog. http://martianempire.blogspot.com/

I don't know about the miniatures game but I know in dawn of war fully loaded crisis suits and hammerheads own everything