I have to admit that I've played against a variant of this list, and well it takes some getting used to when it comes to battling against it.
The framework for the list he lays down below is a pretty good starting point for anyone starting to play Tau, or switching their lists over from 5th Edition.
We also talk about this list en depth on Episode 9 of our podcast, Forge The Narrative, so be sure to listen to our discussion if your're interested in getting more insight on the list itself!
Here is an updated version of my previous Tau lists. I am very comfortable with this one.
Commander
Fusion
Missile
Iridium Armor
Drone Controller
Target Lock
Puretide Chip
2x Marker Drones
3x Crisis Battlesuits
3x Fusion
3x Missile
3x Target Locks
4x Marker Drones
Rip Tide
Stimulant Injector
Ion Accelerator
Rip Tide
Stimulant Injector
Ion Accelerator
10kroot
1 hound
10kroot
1 hound
10kroot
1 hound
10kroot
1 hound
10kroot
3x Broadsides
High Yield
3x Velocity Trackers
Bonded
6 Missile Drones
Hammer Head
Submunitions
Longstrike
Sky Ray
I enjoy this list a lot. It has 73 infantry models @ 82 wounds, plus the two Rip Tides and the 2 AV13 vehicles.
The army can dish out:
32 S7 AP4 shots
6 S7 AP2 or 2 S8 AP2 Large Blast
6-8 Fusion shots
32 S5 AP5 ignore cover no LoS
6 S8 AP3
50-100 Sniper shots
1 S10 AP1 BS5 Tank hunter
8 Markers
Some interesting things about the list: The hounds give acute sense to the outflanking Kroot. The Unit of Crisis suits is joined by the Commander, He gives all the marker drones BS5 and since he and the suits have Target Locks, this means the Markers can light up a target(averaging 5 hits) while the unit lights up 1-4 other targets(using pure tide chip if needed) This + the BS4 markers on the Sky Ray makes for much more efficient markers than Pathfinders. IMO better than Tetras too.
Dave along with "TheHod" have their own blog where they muse about modeling and the competitive scene. You can check it out here No Turtles Allowed
