1500pt List

Well, after some math-0-mancy, shuffling around, and a lot of agonizing over just what could be cut from the overpriced initial list, below is my new, improved, experimental 1500pt list. It incorporates a few things that I've been thinking about trying for a long time (the Pathfinders and Ion Cannon), and a few things experience has shown me might be a better bet (the gun drones and burst cannons). So, here it is.

1500pt Tau List
HQ:
- Shas'el Commander w/plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, HW Drone controller & 2 shield drones,
---> 2 Shas'vre Bodyguards, w/ plasma rifle, missile pod, targetting array, HW multi-tracker
Elites:
- Crisis Shas'vre, w/ TL flamer, missile pod, HW drone controller & 2 gun drones
---> 2 Crisis Shas'ui w/ TL flamer, missile pods
Troops:
- 6 Fire Warriors
---> Devilfish transport w/SMS, targetting array, multi-tracker, disruption pod
- 6 Fire Warriors
---> Devilfish transport w/SMS, targetting array, multi-tracker, disruption pod
- 6 Fire Warriors
Fast Attack:
- 5 Pathfinders
---> Devilfish transport w/SMS, targetting array, multi-tracker, disruption pod, [Marker Beacon]
Heavy Support:
- Hammerhead w/ Railgun, burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pod, target lock, [targetting array]
- Hammerhead w/ Ion Cannon, burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pod, [targetting array]
- 2 Broadside Battlesuits w/ advanced stabilization systems


(As I always seem to forget about it, the items in [brackets] are what comes for free/standard on the specific vehicle - hammerheads always come with a targeting array, and pathfinder-devilfish always get a marker beacon)

I switched the smart missile systems for burst cannons on the Hammerheads because:
A). burst cannons are literally half the price of a smart missile system,
B). they get 2 more shots at the exact same S and AP of a SMS
C). counts as 2 weapons instead of just 1 (so the hammerhead 'fire magnet' stays in longer)
D). target lock and a multi-tracker allows them to fire at 2 seperate targets
E). most enemies attack hammerheads from the front as quickly as possible, making the SMS's ability to shoot around corners/out of line of sight rather useless 90% of the time.

They are losing 6" of range with the burst cannons, but the advantages more than make up for it, and I have 5 SMS's already (3 devilfish and 2 broadsides). Honestly, I don't know why I wasn't doing this in the first place. I need to start reading into the finer points of the list section of the codex a LOT more.

The Shas'vre in the Flamersuit squad was a must, based on recent experience - unlike most suits, they WANT to get close to the enemy to be the most effecient, and given how often they end up in combat, the Shas'vre's extra weapon skill and iniciative can't hurt. Likewise, experience has taught me that there are MUCH bigger targets in this list than these guys, so their likely to not take much/any hi-AP/S fire - the Shield drones are normally killed off by a bad armor save from some grunt's s4 ap6 gun. The gun drones are equally well suited to soaking up wounds in this case, and they're cheaper and can fire back to boot. We'll see how this works.

I've wanted to really seriously give my pathfinders a good try for a while now, and this list seems like a great place to do it - there's plenty of tanks, fire warriors and battlesuits to beef up the BS on, and it lets me really concentrate on killing those "must die" targets - land raiders, Carnifex/Hive Tyrants, command squad chimeras/rhinos, etc, and I needed a 3rd Devilfish for the 3rd fire warrior squad anyway, and it's not much of an issue to load up the fire warriors on turn 1 - they never end up doing anything anyway!.

I didn't include any seeker missiles in this list - despite their potential, they've never actually proved worth their points in any games I've played (even the massive apocalypse game where I had 30 of them and the 'markerlight drop' ability-thingy). Likewise, the Skyray really didn't live up to expectations, and I find the idea of a Ion Cannon Hammerhead much more appealing - I've already got 3 railguns, but a 'heavy 3' space marine/terminator killer is a whole new can of worms.

Tactics: fairly straightforward - the devilfish/fire warriors zip around and claim objectives/harrass and rapid-fire targets of opportunity while the hammerheads, broadsides and Shas'el's Crisis Suits start picking off transports, tanks, and threats. The pathfinders and Flamersuits act as floaters, covering up leaks - the pathfinders for more effecient killing, and the flamersuits are ideal for flushing things out of cover and actually jumping into combat once in a while.

So yea, there it is, along with long-winded exposition on how it works. I'm getting better at intuitively getting how each unit works, so I'm looking forward to the 1500pts/player 2v2 game tonight against Space Marines, Tyranids, and iGuard. Hopefully a brief battle report will follow.

thanks for reading!