M T TM e c h a n i z e d T a u T a c t i c a







Spooky's Sample Army Lists

Content by Spooky, Written by Spooky, Edited by T0nkaTruckDriver

I've been playing Tau since 2004, I moved gradually to Mech as I realised the firepower often just isn't enough to stop the opponent with a static army. I've always kept a small static element in the army, it's varied a lot but I like the focus it gives me, having a small firebase can be useful to wheel around and operate around. Plus the good shooting efficiency is always welcome.

This Hybrid Mech approach has worked well for me, but my list is always evolving. Here's the current 1500 list as of March 2005:

  • Shas'el [TL Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, HW Multitracker] (98)
  • Shas'el [TL Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, HW Multitracker] (97)
  • 6 Stealth Suits (180)
  • 12 Firewarriors in Devilfish [Multitracker, Decoy] (215)
  • 12 Firewarriors in Devilfish [Multitracker, Decoy] (215)
  • 10 Kroot (70)
  • 10 Kroot (70)
  • 6 Firewarriors (60)
  • 6 Firewarriors (60)
  • Railhead [SMS, Target Lock, Multitracker, Decoy] (180)
  • Railhead [SMS, Target Lock, Multitracker, Decoy] (180)
  • Broadside Battlesuit [Multitracker] (75)

Total: 1500
Seekers: 0
Tanks: 4
Scoring Units: 10

From the top then, the Shas'els. I like to call this pair Shock and Awe, they are 2 of the best crisis configurations around. They have more points pushed into them than a standard fireknife, 20 points for the 'el upgrade and 12-13 points for the twinlinking. However, this does not dent their shooting efficiency, against the right targets. Taking one of each instead of 2 of just 1 kind gives me flexibility and they complement each other well.

The reason I've pushed more points into the HQ suits is because I believe the Crisis still has a place in the Tau army, but it's no longer in the Elite slots. The HQ suits are just as efficient, but have IC status which is simply too good to not take as much advantage of as I can.

6 Stealths. Yea. Always useful. They tend to operate around a flank, with one Shas'el. No Crisis Suits in Elite slots in my list, I've got 2 expensive HQ ones already and thats enough I think. If I was to put more points into Elites, it'd be more Stealths.

Troops. I have a lot of troops, but 4 of the squads are minimum sized. The 6 man Firewarrior squads tend not to do much actually, but they are a deployment step and a scoring unit. I'm always tempted to swap them out for more Stealths, but the 30" range is often useful

The 10 man squads of Kroot I use to infiltrate into area terrain. With a 4+ cover save from ruins or woods, they're some of the best shooting units in the game. The only time I try and get them into combat is against Guard.

The 2 Devilfish of Firewarriors should be the mainstay of my force, but more often than not they just seem to die. I probably should get a Shas'ui for them, they get either assaulted, or spend most of the game driving around the board loaded up, 'protecting their VPs' = not doing anything, or they get hit by a bit of shooting and 3 die and they run away. The biggest reason for keeping them seems to be having extra skimmer hulls on the table means the Hammerheads are more durable via a dilution effect...

No fast attack, straight to the Railguns then. The Hammerheads are well documented on their use, they tend to scuttle along table edges, always trying to get a good Railgun target in line of sight, and the SMS into range of a secondary infantry target, to justify the extra 15 pts it costs, while at the same time also trying to use the terrain to block LOS to as much of the enemy's anti tank. heh.

The Broadside is more of a oddity. He always deploys after the Hammerheads, once I've seen where the enemy has committed most of his Heavy Support. He needs long firing lanes and a cover save, which generally sees him in a corner.
The main task he has is to hopefully kill a tank or something before dying to a Las Cannon. He also lets me play mind games with deployment, bait and herding. The Firewarriors help with that bait effect, the 6 man squads being the first troops I deploy, to give the illusion I'm commiting to a location as a firebase.

The sole Broadside is not as effective at the mind games as I'd like, but at the same time I'm loathe to spend more points on beefing the unit up with more guns and shield drones.

 

The advantages this army has is the large number of models, units, deployment steps, and scoring units. It's quite varied, meaning I've got flexibility against a range of armies, but its main focus is always Marine-types. I find it can be quite slippery to play with, if I manage to stay out of combat its worth being cautious and running away for, it fires well on the move and can frustrate the enemys plan.

Downsides this list brings is the small unit size and poor leadership. I've not faced Fear of the Darkness yet but I know it wouldn't be pretty. If I start taking casualities on my important units then it can collapse badly, but I enjoy playing with a finesse list like this and doing that waltz as you try and get to the optimal range with all your units, while staying out of charge range at the same time.

Things this list fears are armies that are faster, like 13th Company, or lots of Assault Marines.