Topic: Possibly starting tau: Confused and afraid.

[.:Darkness:.]

Iv been thinking of selling my space marines on ebay and joining the greater good.

More specifically im looking towards mechanized tau with lots of battlesuits and railguns
Problem is im not that tau savy and probably wouldnt know what to get.

How does an almost all firewarrior tau army go? Im thinking all those extreme weaponry in that amount of numbers would be... jaw dropping none the less. But i also love the tanks and suits... I cant decide!

As for a paint scheme goes im thinking codex or fortress grey armour plates with catachan green under-clothing. I could go from there and expand colours later on.

What brought on my change of heart was a thread in the painting forum labled 'My machanized cadre' And i loved them and my space marines are getting abit boring aswell. To bland and 'noobish'.

So i was wondering if i could get the pro's / cons / suggestions on starting tau ect ect ect.

[Derikari]

How does an almost all firewarrior tau army go? Im thinking all those extreme weaponry in that amount of numbers would be... jaw dropping none the less. But i also love the tanks and suits... I cant decide!

Depends if you want to keep them mechanised, then it would cost too much to be effective I think if you go real heavy on Fire Warriors. If you go static though, maxing out on Fire Warriors costs less than 750 points, leaving 1250 points for commanders, suits and railguns. My current 2k list draft includes 76 models in my troop selection and I also have 4 rail guns and 14 various suits. Just make sure you have other units to cover the other bases, Fire Warriors are great at cutting down light, med and heavy (when concentrated) infantry but you still need weapons to deal with tanks and add extra "oomph" against those heavies.

Guess I'll start the pro/con thing..

Pro-
Lotsa firepower, default tau weapons are str 5
Railguns
Speed (depends greatly on composition though...)
Auxillary units can cover weaknesses to an extent
Jump Shoot Jump (JSJ)
Fish of Fury
Greater Good

Con-
Close combat plain sucks for us
Lack of mid ranged anti tank (missile pods cant realy hurt AV 13 much and does nothing against AV 14)
Gaps in fire power strength (just a lil observation on my current list, lack of str 8 & 9. Fusion kinda close...)

Try proxying your Marines as Tau units to see what you like before you dump them, if you convert to the Greater Good ofcourse...

[.:Darkness:.]

HAhaha, i like how you put 'Greater good' As a pro.. lol.

As for close combat i dont really care for that anyway. IT doesnt strike me that 40k years in the future they are fighting in hand to hand. Seems more effective to shoot things apart before they reach you.

As for proxying i guess ive never really thought of that. Il give it a shot.
Well seeing as thought pure firewarrior would be cool what i ment by it was firewarrior heavy but still suits with rail guns and such.

Im still liking mechanized. Maybe 3-4 firewarrior squads in transports supported by hammerheads and suits. (If that is possible point wise)

Il try playing with some points and see what i come up with.

Thanks for the replies so far.

[Derikari]

Just as a refference for you, an army with 4 FoF squads, 2 Railheads, 5 fireknife suits and a commander comes around 1500ish points, depends on your set up of units. What point range are you aiming at?

[pepsi]

The Tau remind me of hannibal in carthage, you use what you have and kill the monsters one by one until they fear your name!

his forces did not boast armor, they boasted flexibility, use that and youll win, if not get a hammer and smash your opponents pieces, ask if he gives.

[gambitrah]

FWIW im new to 40k and picked Tau mainly because their models look bad a$$!. After I got into them I like them more and more. Now that I'm getting into it I want to expand to have a few 1k armies to play around with..but my main will be Tau.

If nothing else download armybuilder3 and u can (for free up to 500pts worth) figure out a good army.

[.:Darkness:.]

For reference i am aiming at 2000 points but il be gradually building up from 500 pts.

And army-builder (Which i have already downloaded) only allows you to take 3 choices not 500 pts but i worked up a 500 pt army with what it would allow me.

It looked somthing along the lines

Shas'o with plasma rifle, burst cannon and multi tracker
Shas'vre with plasma rifle, missile pod and multi tracker
Shas'vre with Twin linked missile pod and targeting-array

Fire warrior squad x12 with shas'ui
Fire warrior squad x12 with shas'ui

Both fire warrior squads all have pulse rifles so far as im not sure as to how much, if any pulse carbines i should take.

That is 493 pts. What have i dont wrong? Whats the hq choice look like? To me it seems pretty god for 500 pts but then again i dont have a clue about tau.

Help please!.

[Derikari]

Shas'o with plasma rifle, burst cannon and multi tracker

Downgrade him to a Shas'el, if you want the BS bonus get a target array. Every other stat increase is primarily aimed at melee, which is a bad thing for Tau as you know.

Shas'vre with plasma rifle, missile pod and multi tracker
Shas'vre with Twin linked missile pod and targeting-array

Bodyguards are not that effective. These are expensive Crisis Suits and take away the commander's independent character staus. Down grade these guys to Shas'ui's and give them their own elite slots, there you can have much more flexibility. If you still want them together just have them travel together. Only time you should take Shas'vres are for fluff, access to special issue equipment or when you want more crisis suits but cant fit any more in the elite section. Twinlinked BS4 missile pods might be overkill, but they are effective skimmer hunters.

Both fire warrior squads all have pulse rifles so far as im not sure as to how much, if any pulse carbines i should take.

For me carbines are best in their own unit, that way their range is not so much of a disadvantage and you have a fully mobile Fire Warrior team without a Devilfish. If you downgrade the Shas'vres and the commander, you can create 3 teams of 8 Fire Warriors with team leaders and bonding and have a few points left over I think. Gives you another scoring squad and the ability to devide fire a bit more while retaining the fire power. Also makes you a bit more resistant to assaults, less models will be locked in combat.

[.:Darkness:.]

Well i was working with the trial of army builder so i was limited to three unit selections.

Well isnt overkill somtimes a good thing?
Well im still a complete nub so when i get the codex il have a good read and probably post up an army list.

As for sept - colour schemes ect ect im thinking somthing like Boark-an (Sp?) Colours but maybe more of a dull tone so ortress grey / codex grey. Mechanized is my decision aswell but im not sure how to actually pull this off.

I guess il have to wait for time to reveal the mistery that is the tau. I might buy the tau codex next weekend but i wont be buying anything till late this year maybe so i have alot of time to plan and think about colours... Knowing me though il end up buying one squad and colour testing it first.

[Shas'Oink]

hi there...

the best thing i can suggest is to start with an infantry style force and you can always add in transports at a later date.

there are lots of different styles to work through as well as anything in between!

working up to 2000pts will give you a great force and good selection of units. i just recently played a 2000pt game, using my "standard" 1500pt list (as seen in the writing tau army lists thread) as a basis to add to... though in honesty it was a case of adding whatever i had in my carry case at the time. you will soon find a list and report.

take a look through the big list of tau army lists to see some of the different styles and unit set ups that have been suggested. that may be a good starting point to help you figure out what you like and dont like.

also consider other possibilities too... and mixing different ideas together...

for instance a fire warrior heavy force, twined with g00gle5 double networked marker drones, and coupled with mobile xv88 teams could make a very deadly force... adding in a sprinkling of xv8 teams as desired. cook on 190 degrees for 40 minutes and you have a delicious banquet for two.   

[Lost~Ripper]

I would say start off at 500 pts, pick up the $90 starter box, and play a few games with different configurations to decide which unit play style suits you best.
This box contains all the goodies,
Crisis suit,
Devilfish,
Kroot,
Fire Warriors,
Stealth Team,


And pick up a skyray, its got All the stuff for All the tanks :-)
Best stuff.

[.:Darkness:.]

The starter box seems good but i dont really like kroot or vespid. I dont really want to add any of those units in my army unless i need some counter assault.

Hopfully im going to my local store tomorrow or next weekend, il have a look at what they have in stock.

Thanks for all the help. Any suggestions on exactly what to buy first? Shas'o (Or el) and two boxes of fire warriors or get the starter box?

[Derikari]

Starter box. Simply more cost effective. 2 boxes of Fire Warriors and a commander costs $140, the battleforce is $150 and contains $270 worth of Tau stuff, plus a Marker and 6 Gun Drones which I can't price. But from what I have picked up in what you would like in your 2000 point army, you would only use $135 of the stuff anyways (Fire Warriors [$50], Devilfish [$55] and Crisis Suit [$30]) before what ever the discount is so the battleforce is still cheaper.

And about Kroot, point for point they are more efficient shooters than Fire Warriors, they aren't all about assault. Out in the open they drop like flies but stick em in a forest they are either untouchable or as tough as Fire Warriors due to their fieldcraft special rule.

[.:Darkness:.]

There has too be a downside to them though? They cant be point for point better than firewarriors or else we wouldnt see any fire warriors. Do they have a lower save?

Thanks for the pricing, il be looking for a battleforce soon. Possibly a megaforce if there is one out.

[Derikari]

Here is a PDF Tau refferece sheet for ya so you can see all the stats, doesn't include special issue weapons. It's from the UK GW site, it can't be breaking any forum rules I hope, there ain't any point values... Kroot simply don't have a save and have a weaker gun, it's their lower point cost that makes them more efficient against everything bar AV11, mainly cuz their guns can't hurty it while Fire Warriors can. Pulse rifle outranges the Kroot rifle, but Kroot can infiltrate as long as something isn't taken with them, not sure if I can say which. The save they can must be purchased, but it costs too much. That and people dont like Kroot for some reason, I think they're cute >_>

Here's a topic from the Kroot area, few messages down it compares them to Guardians. Might explain their use, but note that is mainly for the Kroot mercenary army not Tau auxillaries. Tau Kroot don't get the good stuff

As for the mega battleforce...

The Tau Empire Megaforce is the ideal way to begin a new army, or to expand you existing force. This boxed set contains 2 Crisis Suits, 3 Stealth Suits (and Markerlight Drone), 20 Fire Warriors, 6 Gun Drones, 3 Piranha's, a Devilfish APC and a Hammerhead Gunship.

$300..... Contains over $460 of stuff and as before I can't price the Drones.

[.:Darkness:.]

What about the skyray? It costs the same as a hammerhead yet it can possibly make any of the tanks you choose, whats the downside? lol.

On the subject is there a way to change over the parts of the sky ray kit and use different tanks depending on what situation you need? Say take of the missile bits and put on the hammerhead bit or vise versa? I hope you understand.

[Derikari]

Skyray came out in the new codex, I guess they felt like it.

As for interchanging it, you can have it as a Hammerhead, Skyray or Devilfish, they are all based on the Devilfish chasis. Just don't glue down the arments, either use the neodinium magnets (rare earth) or... I forgot the other technique. Something to do with sticks or something. That way you can interchange the accessories and thus change the vehicle around anyway you like whenever you like. You can turn a mechanised army with 3 FoF squads into a static/hybrid army with 3 Hammerheads/Skyrays as support at whim

Here's the Hammerhead on the UK online store, it has all the components listed underneath, inlcuding the Devilfish chasis.

[.:Darkness:.]

Thanks for all the help guys! i think im pretty sorted now. Somone pm'ed me a very informative site: http://advancedtautactica.com/. Sorry but i forgot your name lol.

I guess il post up a list once i get my codex and il also post up some of my WIP paint scheme.

Im still going with the fortress grey as the main colour and a codex grey - chaos black mix for the clothing underneath. I havnt worked out little details yet but im thinking of a sept called 'Shael'Eth". Im not sure what it means but it sounds good .
  Another interesting thing that i have thought of is paint the tau symbol on the shoulder pads in a red or green jewel colour. The sept markings i think will be done in ultramarines blue.

Problem that i am seeing is itll look alittle... Dull. It'll be primaraly grey so im hoping the sept markings and other tid-bits will break it up enough.

[Kishvier]

More specifically im looking towards mechanized tau with lots of battlesuits and railguns
Problem is im not that tau savy and probably wouldnt know what to get.

I love you brother! That is the reason I started playing Tau.  I have been playing Tau for 3 years now.  You should be looking for Hammerheads, XV8's, and Broadsides for your army then.

[.:Darkness:.]

Haha, yeah i love the tau's ability to deliver enormous firepower and to me, not using hammerheads and broadsides, is waisting the army's potential as a whole.