Email in: tau help/challenge!

"Kirby- I’m really enjoying your website and your perspectives. I’ve been player Tau for over two years now and I like to check out the internet for help but the idea of asking someone else to help me build a list/ list(s) has never appealed to me but after several months of following your site I’ve really come to enjoy reading the help you give people.

I have a challenge for you. I am a very devout follower of the Great Good (they are the reason I got into 40K and sort of stand for everything I believe in...I’m whacky, I know). In addition to enjoying background, I also enjoy the hobby aspect of 40k and as you look at my list below you’ll notice I have some units (vespid, sniper drone teams) that are not very good on the table, this is because I wanted to own them and paint them.


On top of all of this, as much as I enjoy hobby and background, I want to win when possible. Below is a list of every painted Tau Empire mini I own. So my challenge is this: given the list below which , please help me with some (as competitive as is possible given my models) army ideas. The big problem, is that I currently have no painted xv88s and no painted piranas, this will be changing by January but in the mean time I’ve started playing again and I’d love some input.

Considering I only have two viable heavy support I try not to play above 1500, so maybe you could use that as a target number for the time being...but I’m also playing in light, game group “tournaments” that are for either 1750 or sometimes 1850 (probably depending on what wargear the organizer wants for his army for the week!)

So below are my models - I’ve grouped the xv8s according to type/how I normally use them with the first two being my HQ squads - I have a good amount of drones to add into my xv8 squads too (they are listed at the bottom).

I’m not asking that you make use of things like the vespid and SDT, just ask that you use what I have to make as good of a list as possible. I’ll try it no matter what I think of it and let you know how it works out.

xv8 commander - plasma, fusion
xv8 - plasma, fusion
xv8 - plasma, fusion

xv8 commander - plasma, (CIB or ABF...or anything else if I paint it up)
xv8 - plasma, missile pod, multi-tracker
xv8 - plasma, missile pod, multi-tracker

xv8 - plasma, fusion
xv8 - twin linked plasma
xv8 - twin linked plasma

xv8 - twin linked missile pods
xv8 - twin linked missile pods

xv8 - twin linked flamers, burst cannon
xv8 - twin linked flamers

6 xv25s - 1 has fusion

12 fire warriors
12 fire warriors

20 kroot carnivores
4 kroot hounds
1 kroot shaper, with pulse rifle

10 pathfinders - 2 have rail rifles
8 vespid stingwings

3 devilfish - all have drones, not SMS

1 sniper drone team
2 hammerheads - both have railguns, burst cannons

7 shield drones
3 markerlight drones
alot of gun drones

1 ethereal w/ honor blade (don’t worry about him!)


I’ll ask one more thing if you have the time- if you were me, what would you next few purchases be for my army (purchasing a handful of models a month is possible for me depending on the cost obviously (like a manta would be out of the question!). Obviously xv88s and piranhas (i’d like to 3 of each)...I’m also thinking some more hounds and maybe some hammerhead spurs to get the SMSs? If you have the time, let me know what you would get...I know I’ve asked alot.

Thank you for the great blog and thank you in advance for your time. -Yazchar."

First - I demand pictures of your army. :)

Secondly - I would highly recommend Broadsides and Piranhas as your next purchases. Check e-bay if you want to be really frugal as you'll often get good deals there. Otherwise depending upon where you live discount stores like SpikeyBits and Wayland can often help out. In terms of beyond that...Hounds are good but I wouldn't buy the metal hounds from GW - find an alternative such as plastic Chaos Hounds or something. Beyond that, I'd hold off on buying too much more for Tau as they should get an update by March next year.

In regards to a list... two Kroot squads - one of 11 and one of 13. Two hammerheads with the assorted gear and sniper drone team as the 3rd heavy isn't going to go amiss. 8x Pathfinders in a bare devilfish and 2x6x FW with another spare devilfish. The rest of your points goes into Crisis suits starting with the Plasma Rifle/Missile Pod suits then TL-missile pod suits. If there is anyway to turn the twin-linked plasma suits into plasma/missile pods, I'd look to do that, otherwise extra points buy those guys. I wouldn't want to really add Drones to these guys as it makes them more likely to run away but Elite squads of two strong have nice advantages in always being able to rally and you should have enough points for three squads here.

I know this isn't an exact list but it gives you what you need and allows you to tinker with the upgrades to make the points fit and could encourage you to remodel some Crisis Suits with magnets so they can be whatever you need :P.