[Hereticus]

OK, before we get started, a few things to bear in mind:

1)This is a 1750 point, all comers, tournament style list.

2) I have a wife and 3 kids, 2 of which are teenagers, so money is tight. I also have the attention span of a magpie, so I get bored easily. When I build an army for a particular race, I try to build one, effective allcomers list, before moving on to the next race. Once I finalize this list, it will be laminated and set in stone

3) I've been out of the game for a while, and only just started getting back into things. I have had zero 5th ed experience at this point.

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Va'deers 501st Mechanised Hunter Cadre
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HQ 1: Shas 'O Va'deer
Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma rifle, Shield Generator, HW MultiTracker Total: 135
[size=7pt] Will usually run with the Fireknife twins, still tossing up between the CIB and AFP for horde control [/size]

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Elite 1: 3 man Stealth Team
2 Shas'ui with Curst Cannons, Drone Controllers and a Marker Drone, 1 Shas'vre with Burst Cannon, Markerlight, Drone controller with Markerdrone Total: 200
[size=7pt]Dual purpose unit, horde clearing or marking tough targets. Stealths have always struck me as the foward scout unit pathfinders try (and fail) to be.[/size]

Elite 2: Fireknife Crisis Team
2 Shas'ui with Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods and Multitrackers Total: 124
[size=7pt] Usually joined by Shas'O to go MEQ hunting and rapid response[/size]

Elite 3: Deathrain Crisis Team
2 Shas'ui with T/L Missile Pods and Flamers Total:94
[size=7pt] Mainly for transport popping early on, with some good old fashioned fiery death thrown in for crowd control[/size]

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Troops 1: 12 Firewarriors
Includes Shas'ui with Bonding Knife. Riding in a Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker and Decoy LaunchersTotal: 235
[size=7pt] FISH OF FURY! [/size]

Troops 2: 12 Firewarriors
Includes Shas'ui with Bonding Knife. Riding in a Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker and Decoy LaunchersTotal: 235
[size=7pt] More Fishy goodness[/size]


Troops 3: 12 Firewarriors
Includes Shas'ui with Bonding Knife. Riding in a Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker and Decoy LaunchersTotal: 235
[size=7pt] Angry Sushi anyone :P[/size]

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Fast Attack 1: 2 Piranaha
Burst Cannons and Disruption PodsTotal: 130
[size=7pt] Annoying, mobile skimmer wall that will no doubt attact ridiculous amounts of fire that could be killing other stuff. May run them as two separate units. Not 100% sure yet. [/size]

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Heavy Support 1: Hammerhead
Raingun, SMS, Disruption Pod and MultitrackerTotal:175
[size=7pt] Kill big stuff, 'Nuff said. [/size]

Heavy Support 1: Hammerhead
Raingun, SMS, Disruption Pod and MultitrackerTotal:175
[size=7pt] That Land Raider cost HOW much?!?!?! [/size]

[size=14pt]Army Total: 1738[/size]

Theres still a couple of points left for a couple of extra bits of gear, but this is basically the list I am planning on building. Just wondering if there were any massive stuffups I have made anywhere. Any hints or tips from the more experienced tau players out there, especially on the configuration of my 'O.

Thanks in advance.

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[Elitehunter117]

the only thing that i see that you can fix is giving your crisis suits burst cannons instead of flamers. they have the advantage of range and strength which is always good. you really don't need them though as they won't be able to fire both weapons in the same turn. the range difference is also high so you would have to move a lot to get in BC range. even more if you keep the flamer. maybe you can use those points for some thing more valuable.

other than that, this looks a good mech list to me

[Hereticus]

For the minimal points cost, I like the flamers as a backup crowd control option. Especially with the new template rules. The other option would be a TA each, to make the MPs more reliable, but the fact they are TL'd would make it somewhat redundant.

[Unusualsuspect]

Originally Posted by Hereticus

For the minimal points cost, I like the flamers as a backup crowd control option. Especially with the new template rules. The other option would be a TA each, to make the MPs more reliable, but the fact they are TL'd would make it somewhat redundant.

What new template rules? Flamer templates have always hit all models they cover, no matter how much.

That said, there are new Would Allocation rules that really make multiple template weapons (Flamers being the only multiple blast/template we can field) in the same unit really, really nice for popping that annoying nested Powerfist in the assault marine squad.

I personally love Deathrains with Flamers (or, depending on the enemy, Heatwaves with MPs - especially with ML support), as they are generally going to be utilized extremely well the entire game - in the first few turns, Missile Pods are used to great effect to pop transports, maybe even hit side-armor of more defended tanks, and hurt 4+ save models, all with a great deal of accuracy (75% hit rate) and mass of fire... After those few turns, they're a great deterrent to that lurking squad of assault units, or if no deterrence occurs, they're fantastic for burning away the foolish brave.

If no one approaches quickly enough, Deathrains can easily survive the entire game, JSJing and firing at that lovely 36" mobile range, almost always capable of at least forcing a save on a target - sometimes it's just 1 kill you need to send the enemy running like little girls to regroup.





To actually respond to the list - Have you considered dropping a MT or two from the Devilfish and adding a TL to each of the Hammerheads? I can't stress how often I've wanted to Submunition or Solid Shot a different target (Land Raiders were mentioned, were they not?) than my SMS, and the SMS works BEAUTIFULLY for pecking at otherwise untargetable units (utterly out of LoS units, for example) without wasting that oh-so-wonderful Solid Shot or Submunition Blast from the Railgun.

Unless you're moving your Railheads more than 6" every turn (which for at least a few turns seems unlikely, especially since you paid for SMS), the loss of a single MT from a Devilfish removes a single BC from the FoF... and potentially adds another 8 SMS shots to more than make up for it.