basic 1500 Tau

[Orni]

[HQ]
100p - Centurion XV8 CIB/Plasma/TA/HW-MT
97p - Helios XV8 FB/Plasma/TA/HW-MT

[Elite]
106p - 2 Deathrain XV8 TL-MP/TA
164p - 2 Fireknife XV8 MP/Plasma/MT , TL:Bonding Knife/Drone Controller + Marker Drone
150p - 3 Stealth XV25 Drone Controller + Marker Drone

[Troops]
100p - 10 Firewarrior
100p - 10 Firewarrior
100p - 10 Firewarrior
70p - 10 Kroot
70p - 10 Kroot

[Fast Attack]
157p - 6 Pathfinder
inc. - Devilfish Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod

[Heavy Support]
155p - Hammerhead Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod
145p - Skyray Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod

Total: 1514

So, as you can see I still have to cut some points but don't know what to drop.

The army is a typical tau force.
A good amount of firewarriors and suits should give enough firepower. Stealth/Pathfinders/Hammerhead and Skyray for good support.

Since my Hammerhead and Skyray are stationary most of the time there's no need for secondary weapons or multi trackers.

I just fell in love with a stealth team with a marker drone. It's awesome to hit a markerlight in places you'd never reach without stealth and it's great to place an infiltrating unit with a markerlight at the beginning of the game.

The Centurion and Helios HQ's are actually fun choices.
I'm playing very strategic most of the time, so having two IC models to play around with is great. Also they both are great if used correctly.

I also tend to deep strike a lot.



My questions are:

-What should I cut to get the right amount of points ?
-Since I have to equip all XV25 with options. Is it legal to give them all a drone controller but just 1 drone total ? Or have I to spend 6 additional points for black sunfilters ?
-Do you have other suggestions ?

[Orni]

After major tweaking the new list looks like this:

[HQ]
100p - Centurion Shas'el XV8 CIB/Plasma/TA/HW-MT
97p - Helios Shas'el XV8 FB/Plasma/TA/HW-MT

[Elite]
106p - 2 Deathrain XV8 TL-MP/TA
164p - 2 Fireknife XV8 MP/Plasma/MT , Teamleader:Bonding Knife/Drone Controller + Marker Drone
125p - 3 Stealth XV25 Teamleader: hw.Drone Controller + Marker Drone

[Troops]
115p - 10 Firewarrior Teamleader:Bonding Knive
115p - 10 Firewarrior Teamleader:Bonding Knive
70p - 10 Kroot
70p - 10 Kroot

[Fast Attack]
192p - 6 Pathfinder
inc. - Devilfish SMS, Disruption Pod, Multi Tracker, TA

[Heavy Support]
180p - Hammerhead Railgun, SMS, Multi Tracker, Disruption Pod, Target Lock
165p - Skyray SMS, Multi Tracker, Disruption Pod, TA

Total: 1499


Opinions ? Suggestions ?

[moonis]

first off drop the marker drone on the crisis team. since its a heavy weapon you would not be able to fire it and move so thats 30 points freed. second drop the marker drone from the stealth team and just give the leader the 10 point one since they gave stealthsuits the relentless rule in 5th. id then drop the sms from the devilfish because you want him to be able to go flatout most of the time. the sms is fine on the skyray. after you drop the MT and Ta from the skyray and the devilfish that should give you a grand total of 80 points to play with. you could buy a sniper team or bulk out the kroot and firewarrior teams if u wanted or even taken a devilfish for one of the firewarrior teams

[Rikimaru]

first off drop the marker drone on the crisis team. since its a heavy weapon you would not be able to fire it and move so thats 30 points freed.

Moonis please check the new rule book, any model with a jetpack gets the relentless rule (meaning they can move and shoot with heavy weaponry) and controlled Drones become the same unit type as the model controlling them. In this case the Marker Drone would become the same unit type as the crisis and thus gain the relentless rule and so be able to move and fire their heavy Markerlights.

second drop the marker drone from the stealth team and just give the leader the 10 point one since they gave stealthsuits the relentless rule in 5th.

Stealth's and Crisis both get the relentless rule, where do you get the idea that crisis don't?

id then drop the sms from the devilfish because you want him to be able to go flatout most of the time. the sms is fine on the skyray. after you drop the MT and Ta from the skyray and the devilfish that should give you a grand total of 80 points to play with. you could buy a sniper team or bulk out the kroot and firewarrior teams if u wanted or even taken a devilfish for one of the firewarrior teams

Drop the SMS from all the vehicles, if you take a multi then Gun drones are the better choice because as long as one weapon can fire the Drones can fire. If you take SMS you are limited to one weapon firing. Taking Gun Drones means you have double the fire power if you move 12".

Also Moonis you need to be careful with terminology. You mentioned the Devilfish moving flat out. In the new rules 'flat out' is the term for certain vehicles moving upto 24" and thus using said term could result in confusion because someone reading this could read it to mean a Devilfish can move 24". The Devilfish has a maximum movement of 12".

I will comment on the list tomorrow, its nearly 1pm and I have to be up for work at 6.30am, I am knackered!!

[moonis]

Mppnis please check the new rule book, any model with a jetpack gets the relentless rule (meaning they can move and shoot with heavy weaponry) and controlled Drones become the same unit type as the model controlling them. In this case the Marker Drone would become the same unit type as the crisis and thus gain the relentless rule and so be able to move and fire their heavy Markerlights.


Stealth's and Crisis both get the relentless rule, where do you get the idea that crisis don't?



Drop the SMS from all the vehicles, if you take a multi then Gun drones are the better choice because as long as one weapon can fire the Drones can fire. If you take SMS you are limited to one weapon firing. Taking Gun Drones means you have double the fire power if you move 12".

Also Moonis you need to be careful with terminology. You mentioned the Devilfish moving flat out. In the new rules 'flat out' is the term for certain vehicles moving upto 24" and thus using said term could result in confusion because someone reading this could read it to mean a Devilfish can move 24". The Devilfish has a maximum movement of 12".

I will comment on the list tomorrow, its nearly 1pm and I have to be up for work at 6.30am, I am knackered!!

well i dont mention crisis suits with relentless because they dont have any heavy weapons for this to apply to so thats why i only mention the stealth suits. i do apologize though for the devilfish statement though because you are right. im just use to using 'flat out' as meaning to move full 12" so sorry about that. lastly i figured if he took just the markerlight the stealthsuit leader can get then that would save him 20pts.

[Rikimaru]

well i dont mention crisis suits with relentless because they dont have any heavy weapons for this to apply to so thats why i only mention the stealth suits. i do apologize though for the devilfish statement though because you are right. im just use to using 'flat out' as meaning to move full 12" so sorry about that. lastly i figured if he took just the markerlight the stealthsuit leader can get then that would save him 20pts.

Having no heavy weapons is irrelevant, it is the fact that the XV8 has a jetpack that gives them the relentless rule. The Drone becomes the same unit type as the model that controls it (in this case jump infantry/jetpack) and they do have heavy weapons.
The problem with giving the Stealth team leader a markeright as opposed to an ML Drone is the Stealth unit cannot benefit from the ML token and 18 BS4 shots is a hell of a lot better than 18 at BS3. This is worth the extra points.
You do not have to say sorry about anything dude, I simply wanted to address the fact that "flat out" is an actual game term and it could have got confusing.

Now to the list:

Centurion, well I really do not have much time for this weapon, way to reliant on luck and way to close ranged to use in an expensive and useful model like the Shas'El. Just give it a Missile pod and Plasma and let it do the job.

The Fire warriors: I firmly believe that non transported FW units have no place in a Tau list in 5th edition. It is simply to easy to close down FW units, they are much safer in a Devilfish. With this in mind I would advise losing the Stealth squad and taking another Devilfish, upping the FW squads count to 12. These changes will give your FW squads a much better chance of surviving, mobility and you will not miss the 3 Stealth's.
I would advise losing the SMS on the Skyray (take BC's) and using the points to give the FK Shas'El a Marker Drone and target lock(see my thread on this unit to see how useful this unit is).
With the remaining points up the Pathfinder count to 8 and your list will look like this:

[HQ]
132p - FK Shas'el XV8 MP/Plasma/TA/HW-MT, HW TL, HW DC + MDrone
97p - Helios Shas'el XV8 FB/Plasma/TA/HW-MT

[Elite]
106p - 2 Deathrain XV8 TL-MP/TA
164p - 2 Fireknife XV8 MP/Plasma/MT , Teamleader:Bonding Knife/Drone Controller + Marker Drone

[Troops]
135p - 12 Firewarrior Teamleader:Bonding Knife
135p - 12 Firewarrior Teamleader:Bonding Knife
85pts-Devilfish DP
70p - 10 Kroot
70p - 10 Kroot

[Fast Attack]
96p - 8 Pathfinder
85pt - Devilfish SMS, Disruption Pod, Multi Tracker, TA

[Heavy Support]
165p - Hammerhead Railgun, BC, Multi Tracker, Disruption Pod
155p - Skyray BC, Multi Tracker, Disruption Pod, TA

This variation gives much needed protection and mobility to the FW squads. The Pathfinder squad is at full strength. The Marker Drone has been shifted to the Shas'El where it will be more useful. All you have lost are three Stealth's who would most likely spend a high proportion of the game not doing anything with their weapon but you have gained a Devilfishs. The FK Shas'El has been given a weapon that is much more versatile and allows it to stay at range and still be effective, it can also kill vehicles.
Hope that gives you some help and ideas.