Tau 500

[Burn_Tide]

Hey y'all!

I've been working on starting up a Tau army, and so I've made this 500 point army to get started!

Suggestions, ideas, comments, help of any kind is appreciated! :D

1@97 Shas'el Commander
-Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, HW Multi-Tracker, Stimulant Injector

2@122 Crisis Suit Team
-Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, HW Muti-Tracker

6@60 Fire Warriors
-6x Pulse Rifles

6@130 Fire Warriors
-Shas'ui w/ Marker Light, HW Drone Controller w/x2 Marker Drones, 6 Pulse Carbines

3@92 Stealth Suits
-Fusion Blaster

=501 Points

The Carbine Fire Warriors with the marker lights are designed to provide markers where necessary, provide some suppression shots, take an anti-infantry role, and force penning checks as often as possible (i know thats a weak strategy, but hey, if the opponent fails the check it doesn't hurt). The Stealth Suits are more of an assassination team (focusing on a single unit at a time; with no alternate goals than to destroy it), meant to be able to deal with any unit they need to. The Crisis and Commander are my all around specialists, (somewhat similar to my Stealth Suits), able to deal with mEQ infantry, armor, and ELITES/HQ's. The Pulse Rifle Warriors are there as suppression/anti-infantry supporting role, and to hold the enemy at arm's length somewhat.

Any Help would be Great! Thanks and Happy Wargaming!! :eek:
Burn_Tide

[Rahakanji]

I would change the weapons of the Carbine and Rifle FW squad, because the drohnes can't move and fire. For your Krissis Suits (inkl Commander) i would recomend a more stream line aproach (Missile Pods and Plasma Rifle or Sync Missle Pods) and try to maximise the wound groups. For later games and larger point lists i would exchange the Ghost suits into Kolossals. they do a better job in hunting big tanks (and more reliable).

[Burn_Tide]

I would change the weapons of the Carbine and Rifle FW squad, because the drohnes can't move and fire. For your Krissis Suits (inkl Commander) i would recomend a more stream line aproach (Missile Pods and Plasma Rifle or Sync Missle Pods) and try to maximise the wound groups. For later games and larger point lists i would exchange the Ghost suits into Kolossals. they do a better job in hunting big tanks (and more reliable).

@Rahakanji

Could you extrapolate on "wound Groups?" Thank you :o

[BaileyBankai]

i think what he means is wound alocation so you want to give your crisis suits diferent wargear to maximise thier two wounds. i would also go for pulse rifles, just better overall if your running them on foot. stimulant injector on you crisis commander can really be ditched its not necessary, mabe get a marker drone or shield drones for the extra wounds.

[Burn_Tide]

i think what he means is wound alocation so you want to give your crisis suits diferent wargear to maximise thier two wounds. i would also go for pulse rifles, just better overall if your running them on foot. stimulant injector on you crisis commander can really be ditched its not necessary, mabe get a marker drone or shield drones for the extra wounds.

So, what SHOULD i do to my crisis suits (i understand the changes to the commander) but what about the suits?

[Rahakanji]

If you want to play them as fireknifes you have multiple options, the easyiest way for allocation is to make one Team leader and give him a drone (or two). i play my teams a bit diffrently:
-Teamleader; Sync Missile Pod, Plasmarifle, Hardwired Multitracker
-Krisis; Missile Pod, Plasmarifle, Multitracker
-Krisis; Sync Missil Pod, Dronecontroller
-Shildrone
-Attackdrone

In this setup i have 5 possibilitys for allocation shenigans, (Inklusive 1; 4+ Wardsave and 2; Autokill protections!). So my teams continue to funktion longer (even when under heavy fire)! A combination of Deathrain and Fireknife variaty (against MEQ or light tanks).

For you it would be the easyiest way to make one of them Teamleader and add two drones (or one, when you attach the commander permanently). then you can decide if you want to add the commander in the team (again with his drone). you always try to get 5 Modell Krisis Teams to minimise the risk of them running away early in the game, without investing to many points!

[Burn_Tide]

ok, ill see what i can do for 500 points

[Burn_Tide]

So heres what I got. I REALLY want to play-test the fusion blaster/plasma, and missile pod/plasma teams, and when I go for larger point games I will incorporate more of the upgrades that have been discussed. Right now this is what my 500 point army is

1x102 Shas'el
-Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, HW Multi Tracker, HW Drone Controller w/ Gun Drone, Targeting Lock

2x142 Shas'ui Crisis Team
-Plasma Rifle, Missile pod, HW Multi-Tracker, Shield Drone
-Twin Linked Missile Pod, Burst Cannon, HW Multi-Tracker

3x92 Shas'ui Stealth Team
-Fusion Blaster

5x72 FW Fire Team
-Pulse Carbines/Pulse Rifles, shas'ui, Gun Drone (ill play-test and find what i like better for different applications with the carbines vs. rifles)

6x102
-Pulse Rifles, Shas'ui, marker light, marker drone

[marsdonut]

Guaging from the lists presented, I would first try out...

HQ= 1x 'el Cmdr @ 87
[Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multitracker]
E= 1x 'ui Crisis @ 62
[Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multitracker]
E= 1x 'ui Crisis @ 53
[TL Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array]
E= 3 Stealth Suits w/ targetting array @ 120
T= 6 Firewarriors @ 60
T= 6 Firewarriors @ 60
FA= 4x Gun Drones for a FA Gun Drone Squadron
[490 pts]

Gives you access to a lot of units with varying degrees of ballistic skill, a deep striker or two, and a lot of str 5 firepower. All but the firewarriors could assault move jetpack too! If not first, try it later when you start to devalue the HQ's presence.

I know a few people that love to deep strike TL Flamers, Burstcannon, HWMT suits, and yea, it hurts. Been on the receiving end a few times. In my larger games though, I like more melta available to cut the broadsides some slack. I just have a terrible tendency to lose stealth teams to multi-assaults, which is why I did not give them a melta weapon.

[Joshuawesome]

i agree with marsdonut to have the fusion/plasma as a shas'ui rather than your hq shas'el. odds are you would want the plasma/fusion to be close range, thus it would probably be the first of your crisis to die. much better for your only bs4 unit (tau are a shooting army? lol) to survive as long as possible.

personally I would scrap the stealth suits and take more gun drones instead. I think they perform the same function but are a lot more surviveable.

also ever thought about deathrain crisis suits? TL missile pods with a flamer. they are cheap at 47 points and the general rule of thumb for tau is the more crisis suits and more missile pods, the better. definitely worth considering if you have a 50 or so point gap to fill.

[Burn_Tide]

Guaging from the lists presented, I would first try out...

HQ= 1x 'el Cmdr @ 87
[Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multitracker]
E= 1x 'ui Crisis @ 62
[Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multitracker]
E= 1x 'ui Crisis @ 53
[TL Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array]
E= 3 Stealth Suits w/ targetting array @ 120
T= 6 Firewarriors @ 60
T= 6 Firewarriors @ 60
FA= 4x Gun Drones for a FA Gun Drone Squadron
[490 pts]

Gives you access to a lot of units with varying degrees of ballistic skill, a deep striker or two, and a lot of str 5 firepower. All but the firewarriors could assault move jetpack too! If not first, try it later when you start to devalue the HQ's presence.

I know a few people that love to deep strike TL Flamers, Burstcannon, HWMT suits, and yea, it hurts. Been on the receiving end a few times. In my larger games though, I like more melta available to cut the broadsides some slack. I just have a terrible tendency to lose stealth teams to multi-assaults, which is why I did not give them a melta weapon.

Yea, i was planning on removing the fusion blaster from the stealth team. I don't plan using deep striking methods until im more adept at the army, but thanks for the help!

I was wondering though, i didn't think that stealth suits could have Battlesuit systems, i thought they could only have wargear (the third column on the upgrade page)

[marsdonut]

On the tau codex page 35, under equipment, it mentions the battlesuit support system availability. Adding support systems (middle column on pg 25) make them a rather bloated point choice, but for small games, they could be really devastating if the stealthyness pays off.

Also, I think you should allow yourself to experiment deep striking certain units (which by codex are only HQ, gun drone squads and elite choices). Sure, they could come in really late, but you're also challenging yourself to utilize the option to reserve, which might provide a worthwhile experience. (Do I deepstrike too close or do I go somewhere safe.. they can't move or fan out afterwards.. is this what I want the squad to really do? And so forth)

[Captain Ismer]

I've never run stealth suits with a support system before - a large volume of high BS shots could be devastating, but I can't vouch for their effectiveness, and spending 30 pts on something like that at 500 doesn't sound appealing to me.

I would scrap TA's, and use the points for either more gun drones or more stealth suits. Usually, I would lose the stealths entirely and get a kroot squad - 120 pts will almost buy a full sized squad, with enough left over for a drone or firewarrior. I've done some pretty nasty things with an outflanking kroot squad.

But my best advice would be just play a game and see what works. It all boils down to personal preference, and there are so many different lists you can run, we could talk about this for a while.

[Rahakanji]

I experimented with marker Stealth Suits, 3guys with 6Marker drones (or 4Marker drones and 2other drones). They provide mobil markers and thanks to the pseudo night fight they are pretty solid. For 500Points defenetly to expensiv but maybe later you want to have an alternativ for Pathfinders!

[Joshuawesome]

I experimented with marker Stealth Suits, 3guys with 6Marker drones (or 4Marker drones and 2other drones). They provide mobil markers and thanks to the pseudo night fight they are pretty solid. For 500Points defenetly to expensiv but maybe later you want to have an alternativ for Pathfinders!

I agree at 500 points, markerlights are expensive. That's cos u seldom have full gunlines/crisis teams to take advantage of the markerlights.

[Anggul]

I'd trade the stimm injector for a targeting array. Also it seems counter-intuitive to have the markerlights in the squad with assault weapons, switch them to the pulse rifle squad as they're going to be sitting still more often anyway.

[Chexmix282]

This is what I have taken to 500 point tournaments, with great success:

Shas'el 99
-Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Multi-Tracker, HW Done Controller & 2 Gun Drones

3 x Crisis Suits 211
-Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Mult-Tracker; Team leader w/ HW Done Controller & 2 Gun Drones

2 x 6 Fire Warriors 120

10 Kroot 100
-5 Kroot Hounds

500

It has a surprising amount of firepower and durability for this points level. The Kroot act as a bubble wrap for the shooty units. The Commander has a Fusion Blaster just in case somebody brings heavy armor, he usually never uses it.

Looking back on my tournaments, MP/BC suits might be better. Here's another list that you may enjoy, with fun amounts of shooting:

Shas'el 79
-Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Multi-Tracker

3 x 2 Crisis Suits 300
-Missile Pod, Burst Cannon, Multi-Tracker

2 x 6 Fire Warriors 120

499

[Render Noir]

I like adding kroot as bubble wrap. Maybe lose some wargear to add a Gun Drone squad for another layer of bubble wrap.

[Urza8188]

You dont need to change the crisis suits for wound allocation. If you just take them and make them montats you keep the same points and effect and you can split them up across the map to attempt to split the enemy or at least ensure that one will be shooting non stop all game. This also means you can shoot at different targets w/o spending 5 on a target lock and 5 on team leader if you went that route. The only advantage of keeping them together is that it increases the effect of a markerlight but personally this low in pts i think markerlights are mostly a waste.

Two markerdrones on one FW squad is probably a bad idea because the arent mobile markers. You can take that 12 man squad and leave it bare put the marker and drones on the stealthsuit team and you have made the markers safer and very mobile, It also costs 5 points less for the leader upgrade on the stealthsuits.

Personally i would drop the fusion blaster on the HQ and give em another missile pod. If you want fusion blasters your best bet is piranhas or stealthsiuts. The crisis suits perform best IMO by providing consistent long range shots. JSJ up on top of elevated terrain or behind a wall all game to ensure you never get shot.

[Drakkan Vael]

Small Points ist an interesting challenge.
In general I'd try:
cheap
1x 2 Deathrain Crisis (TL MP, Flamer, Teamleader, HW DC 1 gun, one shield) (124 pts)
1x single Deathrain (47 pts)
and a
Fireknife Commander (Shas'el, MP, Plasma, MT, HW DC 1 gun, one shield) (112 pts)
10 Kroot with 4 hounds (94 pts)
12 FW (120 pts)

497 pts in all. (You can never have too many Crisis)

You can team up the commander with the single suit to increase survivability or split the FW in two units.


@Chexmix282: The points in your first list are off by thirty in the total.

[Panxer]

Magnetize your xv suits so you can mod them out to whom you are playing