PM in: Tau 1500 points

"Hi Mr. Kirby,

I've been getting back into W40k after roughly a five year hiatus and Tau look the army for me. I was basically surfing cyberspace looking for some wizened heads giving advice on 5e armies, and i came across your name more than once (warseer, HO, your 3++ blog, etc). To the point, I was hoping to get some feedback from a veteran on this 1500 point list. I understand if you're too busy to help, but I figured this was worth a shot. I tried to base the list on your 2000 point 'template'. Without further ado..

Shas'el w/ pl, mp, mt - 87

2 shas'ui w/ pl, mp, mt - 124
2 shas'ui w/ pl, mp, mt - 124
3 shas'ui w/ pl, mp, mt - 186

6 firewarriors - 60
10 kroot w/ 3 hounds - 88

8 pathfinders - 96
devilfish w/ sms, mt, dp, ta - 120
piranha w/ fb, dp, ta - 75

2 broadside w/ ASS, team leader, HW mt, HW dc, 1 gun drone - 180
hammerhead w/ railgun, sms, mt, tl, dp - 180
hammerhead w/ railgun, sms, mt, tl, dp - 180

Totals to 1500 on the dot. Was wondering if i overdid the crises in 1.5k.. contemplated dropping one and getting 4 more hounds and upgrading the 1 gun drone on the broadside to 2 shields.. Also not sure if i have enough piranhas..

One last question, im still familiarizing with 5e rules, was hoping you could clarify one question on vehicle assaults:

If a piranha/vehicle gets assaulted but doesn't get destroyed, then can it still move away and fire as per normal next turn? or by remaining stationary does it run the risk of being auto-hit in the following asault phase.

Like i said, a lot to digest and i don't know how keen you are on helping a stranger but i figured that if i needed help, i should go to someone with a lot of experience.

would appreciate any any any help at all "

It's Dr. Kirby! sheesh lol. I'm happy to help anyone, hence the blog and having a degree in psychology. Maybe I do have empathy afterall...nah, I clearly do this for the ego trip =D lol. At 1500 that's a good Tau list but you're a bit light on defenses as you pointed out. Dropping one Crisis (so 3x2 suits) and the Hounds will give you enough points for another Piranah or Kroot squad (I'd go for the Kroot). Compared to the 2k list you still have roughly the same firepower just a little less defense. In regards to your broadsides, the single GD atm is fine, if you have the points spare you can up it to a SD but make sure the Team Leader has a Target Lock and not a multi-tracker so he can shoot a different unit.

With only the single Piranha it's hard for you to delay units in midfield, specifically tanks/super units but the Kroot are more important to absorb assaults and defend against deep strikes/outflanks/etc. Since you still have a lot of firepower the Kroot should be enough to delay your opponent so you can blast him away. I'd also recommend reading my How To on Tau & the Armies in 5th articles on them if you haven't already.

Rules questions: any tank without a WS can always move away from combat if it can move (i.e. not stunned or immobilised). If it remains in btb with the opposing unit, they get auto-hits on it each ensuing combat phase (both player's turns) which generally isn't good for Tau vehicles. Hope these answer your questions, if you have more, just fire away.