Test: Do I understand the Tau well enough to build a Tau army...

[Michael Moser]

...  that won't get tabled by turn 2. Here's my attempt. I didn't even look at existing lists before I worked this out, so its all me. I'm not nervous. Not nervous at all. 

Tau Test Army (1500)

HQ

Commander — 1 jet pack infantry (character), XV8-02 crisis “iridium” battlesuit, command and control node, puretide engram neurochip, multi-spectrum sensor suit, drone controller, neuroweb, cyclic ion blaster (185)

XV8 Crisis Bodyguards —  2 jet pack infantry, fusion blaster x2, bonding knife ritual, gun drones x4 (146)

Etherial (50)

Troops

Fire Warriors — 10 infantry, shas’ui, emp grenades (120)

Fire Warriors — 10 infantry, shas’ui, emp grenades (120)

Kroot — 10 infantry, sniper rifles x10; kroot riders x2 (120)

Elites

Riptide — ion accelerator, early warning override, velocity tracker (210)

Fast Attack

Pathfinder Team — 8 infantry, rail gun, recon drone, pulse accelerator drone, emp grenades, shas'ui (172)

Heavy Support

XV88 Broadside Team — 3 infantry, shas’vre, high-yield missile pods x3, twin-linked plasma rifles x3, missile drones x6 (277) 

Fortification

Aegis Defense line — guadgun (100)

My only concern is that I would have like to have given one fire warriors team a devil fish so they can get to objectives quicker.

[Alex Hagerman]

Moser,

For a first list this is definitely on the right path. To understand the what/why I need to know two things. What are you planning for the Commander, and what are you planning for the Ethereal?

Alex

[Michael Moser]

The etherial is going to stick with the kroot or the fire warriors in the back to buff them. The commander will roam the battlefield rooting out trouble, like av14 units. 

[Michael Moser]

Alex raised some good points:

So knowing about that, I would say you want to keep the broadsides near the ethereal as well, hopefully behind the ADL to prevent lascannon auto pop. That way to the Ethereal could operate the quad gun. I would probably nix some of the emp grenades, maybe a squad with them if they are in a devilfish or something, but otherwise if something is that close to you you have bigger problems. 

Good advice. I'll see about what that cost reduction could do.

Having the quad gun you might drop the riptide velocity tracker and find the points to give it feel no pain.

Another good piece of advice. Stimulant Injectors are only 15 points more expensive. By eliminating one of the emp grenades, I've paid it off.

 

 The commander if I gave him a gun it would be a flamer or two flamers in case he gets assaulted. Otherwise he should never be shooting since he has the C&C and MSS that only work if he doesn't shoot. I would drop the body guards to regular elite tier suits (with your setup your not using any signature systems and your Look Out Sir will still be on a 2+ for the Commander) and save 20 point to use somewhere else. 

Good advice. Switched the cyclic ion blaster for a flamer.

As for the kroot, if they are camping somewhere good setup, however if you don't have a forest they die fast. I prefer to take them with a hound or two and have them outflank (hopefully late game, but there are uses if it is earlier) to an objective, line breaker, or to shoot a camping unit. 

I'll find the extra points for a hound.

 

  Finally, the pulse accelerator may come in handy for the pathfinders, it's really situational most of the time you will want to shoot your marker light so you won't be using your regular gun that this buffs, but again situational. 

I saw that equipment as a "holy shit, too close" sort of thing. We'll see how the rest of the reconstruction goes.

Devilfish are not terrible if you give them a disruption pod, and the SMS system for them is a nice upgrade it can definitely be a harassing transport, pulse get your Fire Warriors in close enough to use their EMP Grenades if needed. Otherwise can protect them for a late game objective score by going flatout every turn and getting a 3+ cover save if it is being focused on(with the disruption pod).

Transports rule. Just ask any space marine. I think.

 

Oh, and I wouldn't take the Plasma Rifles on the Broadsides, if somebody is within rapid fire it's nice, but you are limiting your effective range since the SMS is 30" Heavy 4 and ignores cover/LOS. WIth the pure missile setup your laying down so much fire even 2+ saves will likely roll some ones.

I'd forgotten about not needing LOS. A lack of AP2 weaponry makes me nervous though. Luckily there are no points involved, so this is something that can be decided later.

[Michael Moser]

Revision:

Tau Test Army (1497)

HQ

• Commander — 1 jet pack infantry (character), XV8-02 crisis “iridium” battlesuit, command and control node, puretide engram neurochip, multi-spectrum sensor suit, drone controller, neuroweb, flamer (175)
  
• Etherial (50)

Troops

• Fire Warriors — 10 infantry, shas’ui (100)
  
• Fire Warriors — 10 infantry, shas’ui, emp grenades; Devilfish — twin linked smart missile system (210)
  
• Kroot — 10 infantry, sniper rifles x10; kroot riders x2, kroot hounds x2 (130)

Elites

• Riptide — ion accelerator, early warning override, stimulant injectors (225)
  
• XV8 Crisis —  2 jet pack infantry, fusion blaster x2, bonding knife ritual, gun drones x2, shield drones x2 (126) 

Fast Attack

• Pathfinder Team — 6 infantry, recon drone, shas'ui (104)

Heavy Support

• XV88 Broadside Team — 3 infantry, shas’vre, high-yield missile pods x3, smart missile system x3, missile drones x6 (277)\

Fortification

• Aegis Defense Line — quad-gun (100)

[Alex Hagerman]

I just realized you have 3 points left. I think you could give a broadside or the riptide an advance targeting system so that on the roll of 6 its a precision shot. You could make IC's make more Look out Sir rolls and potentially put wounds on them.