First ever attempt at Tau, 1000 points

[Bmn3000]

hey all,

Here goes, my first attempt at Tau!

HQ

Shas'o (14
Fusion blaster, Plasma Rifle, Multi-tracker, hard-wired drone control with 2 shield drones

Troops

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (8
8 w/ pulse rifle

Elites

Crisis Team (181)
3 suits, each w/ target lock
1 w/ twinlinked plasma rifle
1 w/ burstcannon and plasma rifle
1 w/ fusion blaster and Missle Pod

Heavy Support

Hammerhead (18
Multi-tracker, Railgun, 2 burst cannons, seeker missle, Target Lock, Disruption Pod.

My figurings were that the fire warriors would be my strong fire base, with the hammerhead in support. THe crisis Team/ commander would flank and kill tanks/expensive units.

Few questions.

Since i am going for that many troops, should I take an ethereal over the shas'o? As I am writing this, I was thinking that maybe the commander and crisis team would become to over-extended, leaving them vulnerable and easy-pickings.

Also, do I have enough anti-tank stuff for a 1000 point game? I mean, I know that the hammerhead will be targeted, but i am hoping that by keeping it moving it will be hard to kill.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

[MiketehFox]

Now, IMO, there are a few things that may not work out for you....

1] The Shas'O: Drones are nerfed in 4th, plus they take away his IC status, which is bad, also, you could get the weapons to work, so I'll let to playtest with the weapons.

2] The Crisis Suits: You have 3 Elite Slots, and 3 suits. Move each one into a slot and deck them out as you wish.

3] Thje Hammerhead: ALWAYS give Tau Tanks/Transports Decoy Launchers, the'll help it survive some shots. Also Lose the Seekers (See Below)

4] Marker Lights and Seekers: MArker lights are too expensive to use in FW Squads, as to be really effective the Shas'ui needs the Marker light AND a Target Lock, quite frankly, lose all Markerlights and Seeker, and use the pts to fill up the FW squad.

Now, about your questions:
yes, I'd say with all the Pulse Rifles to concentrate on lightly armored tanks and the Rail gun to take out the rarer Heavy Tanks, plus the suit's Missile Pods and such, you should do fine.

The Ethereal is a risk, but it's a risk that could win or lose the game, I'll leave that to you.

You may want to it in a few devilfishes as you expand thought, as many of the missions involve getting places and/or spercific locations, you may want that unit or 2 of FWs that can be almost anywhere.

Hope I helped

Mike

[Rikimaru]

hey all,

Here goes, my first attempt at Tau!

HQ

Shas'o (14
Fusion blaster, Plasma Rifle, Multi-tracker, hard-wired drone control with 2 shield drones

Excellent but get rid of the drones and take a Shield Generator, you can use it in CC and Mixed armour just makes drones suck (if you get hit by more than 3 shots your taking wounds on the XV8 with no inv) 133pts
I would take the Shas'El equipped the same for 108 pts and free up a few points, he is very good in 1000 pt games.

Troops

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (14
11 w/ pulse rifle
1 shas'ui w/ pulse rifle and marker light

Firewarriors (8
8 w/ pulse rifle

You only need two units of FW, if you have any Kroot take a good sized unit (16 min) they have shooting and can help your FW if they are assaulted, they will balance your list out a lot more.
Get rid of the Markerlights and seeker on the HH and use the points for other stuff thats more use.
2 units of FW with Shas'Ui 130pts x 2
16 Kroot 112 pts

Elites

Crisis Team (181)
3 suits, each w/ target lock
1 w/ twinlinked plasma rifle
1 w/ burstcannon and plasma rifle
1 w/ fusion blaster and Missle Pod

Split them up into one man teams per elite slot, give them all either plasma / fusion and multi or plasma / missile pod, multi, the set ups you have now are very mismatched Fusion and MP dont go well together (range is to unequel) Burst cannons are crap and twin linked Plasma is ok but Fusion or MP offers more options.
Plasma / Fusion / Multi 63pts x 3, 186pts for a hard hitting suit
Plasma / Missile Pod / Multi 65pts x 3, 195 pts for not quite so hard hitting but more shots.

Heavy Support

Hammerhead (18
Multi-tracker, Railgun, 2 burst cannons, seeker missle, Target Lock, Disruption Pod.

Lose the seeker missile and target lock take Multi Tracker and decoy launchers with BC and railgun for 165pts, If you use the mods I advised for the list you can take 2 HH (If you have the model) if not take the other unit of FW and boost the Kroot to 20 strong.
If you have the spare HH use it 2 HH are awesome in 1000pt games and will support the XV8 and FW nicely.

So take the Shas,El 108pts
2 FW teams at 130pts
1 Kroot unit 16 strong 112pts
3 XV8 suits 186pts
2 HH 165pts X 2
996 pts

Replacing the HH with 20 strong Kroot SQ 140pts and 130pt FW team = 989 pts, so 11pts to play with.

Or failing that and you have no Kroot or another HH take
Shas'O 133pts
3 FW teams 130pts
1 FW team -1 FW 120pts
3 XV8 suits 186 pts
1 HH 165pts
994 pts.

My figurings were that the fire warriors would be my strong fire base, with the hammerhead in support. THe crisis Team/ commander would flank and kill tanks/expensive units.

Sound enough tactics but using 3 seperate elite XV8's is so much better, it really splits the enemy fire and makes it hard for the opponent to keep his movement plans together as the 4 seperate XV8 suits are really disruptive. He has to use 4 seperate units to shoot them all rather than targeting a team.

Few questions.

Since i am going for that many troops, should I take an ethereal over the shas'o? As I am writing this, I was thinking that maybe the commander and crisis team would become to over-extended, leaving them vulnerable and easy-pickings.

Also, do I have enough anti-tank stuff for a 1000 point game? I mean, I know that the hammerhead will be targeted, but i am hoping that by keeping it moving it will be hard to kill.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

No I would not bother with an Ethereal the Shas,O or El will be so much more usefull. Use the XV8 teams and the HH to keep the enemy as occupied as possible and try to slow his movement towards your FW lines, and remember FW can move and shoot + they have a 30" range when stationary so use it.
If you take the 3 XV8's as I advised (with Plasma and Fusion) you will have lots of Anti armour and you should use the HH to kill infantry with its Submunition round, I would advise taking two HH simply for the 2 subs and the solid shot option.

Use the Decoys and try to move it 12" a turn and the HH will be very very hard to kill.
Hope this has been some help, it is a very good attempt for a 1st list, just needs some tweaks, but that comes with experience.
enjoy Tau dude they are a rewarding army when used right.