With the tournament on the 18th coming up soon, I've been working on revising my 1000-point Tau list, and I've decided on a couple of tweaks and revisions:
NOTE: Thanks to Rathstar's catching one illegal model which threw off the entire list, I've reworked this. Consider this draft 2.1. Thanks, Rathstar!
HQ (55 pts)
- Ethereal [Honour Blade] (55 pts)
Elites (401 pts)
- XV8 Crisis Team [2x Shas'Ui w/2x Missile Pod, Flamer; Shas'vre w/2x Missile Pod, Puretide Engram Chip] (191 pts)
- XV104 Riptide [Ion Accelerator, Twin-linked Fusion Blaster, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker] (210 pts)
Troops (255 pts)
- 10x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles (90 pts)
- 10x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles (90 pts)
- Kroot Carnivore Squad [10x Kroot, 1 Kroot Hound, Sniper Rounds] (75 pts)
Fast Attack (132 pts)
- 6x Pathfinders (66pts)
- 6x Pathfinders (66pts)
Heavy Support (156 pts)
- Hammerhead Gunship [Railgun, Submunition Rounds, Twin-linked Smart Missile System, Disruption pod, Point Defense System, Blacksun Filter] (146 pts)
Total: 999 pts
The changes:
- Dropped the two Stealth Suit teams in exchange for one Crisis Suit squad. Instead of Burst Cannons and a pair of Fusion Blasters, I've decided to pack a set of Deathrains instead.
The Early Warning Override and Twin-Linked Missile Pods will allow the team to act as an almost-Skyfire anti-flier team, and the shas'vre with his Puretide chip allows them to be flexible and deadly to just about anything on the table. Bonding knife ritual? Technically useless (I'll never be below 25% with 3 suits), but I had 3 points left over. The list could just as easily sit at 997 points. I know I could drop the EWO and un-twin-link the pods (and I still might), but for right now we'll see how this does.I've got double missile pods on the suits to try to maximize their firepower, and a Puretide chip on the shas'vre to make the unit a threat to both MCs and vehicles. A pair of flamers gives the unit tools for overwatch as well.
- Swapped the Riptide's SMS for Fusion Blasters. Trading shots for armor-cracking capabilities.
- Gave the Riptide a Velocity Tracker. Having a true Skyfire unit on the table can't hurt.
- Added a Blacksun Filter to the Hammerhead. No Hammerhead should be without it, and for only 1 point, why skip it?
- Dropping the Fireblade. 2 HQs for 1000 points is a bit much, and I can use those points to improve the Crisis Team and the Pathfinders. I lose firepower from one unit, but gain the freedom to move that unit as needed.
- Using up the extra points. A Point Defense System for the Hammerhead, and an Honour Blade for the Ethereal. I'm running out of things to spend the points on. I suppose I could add one Fire Warrior instead, but I think I'm good with what I've got.
I'm hoping that I can get a test game in this week. If not, this variation will go in cold, but I'm familiar enough with Tau toys that I think it'll have a good run.
In other news, I'm planning on going to the Gateway Grand Tournament in June, and I need to put together a 2,000 single-FOC point list. I'm thinking about expanding upon the list we built on Preferred Enemies. After all, I should put my money where my mouth is, shouldn't I? And it will be money, because the extra Broadside and Riptide, along with some Fire Warrior bodies to slap Pulse Carbines onto, will cost me a bit of cash.