My Tau

 

My Tau were my tournament army for 2010, and have had some ups and downs over the year.  The year started well with a 3rd and 4th placing at local tournaments, yet ended the year badly with a 44th out of 52 finish at my local club's tournament.

2011 saw a transition / return to Dark Eldar as my main army, with a few games played with the Tau.  The following linked posts shows the army I used at the end of 5th edition.

6th Edition thoughts and a new list will follow soon.

Two Blog Posts on how I'm thinking of changing the army list is here and here.  It's looking the like the list presented in the second post is turning into my normal current list.  I advise you check both that list and the one posted below.


The new Tau codex came crashing onto the scheme in 2013, and I was ready to go back to them.

My Moray Battlesuit was perfect to represent a Riptide, I just added bigger thrusters, removed the burst cannons, and put it on a new base:

[No longer would he be left in the case]

I painted up some new broadsides, and then even some Sniper Drones with converted Firesight Marksmen:

along with some marker drones:

So far the army has been doing well, with my tactics getting better at being more agressive with the infantry horde.

[My Tau for their first tournament with the new codex - Oct '13]

As with most of my armies I stay away from deathstars and minimise on the upgrades to have a sizable army that can sometimes intimidate the opponent in it's size.  Below's a pic of my army in a 1750 point game (May '14):

[My Tau in action at the ASMOH tournament in May '14]

In 2015 I got in few games with my Tau, mainly playing my Dark Eldar, but I did finish some Piranha conversions:

January 2016

40k was becoming a 2 tier system it is now (Jan '16), with the newer books Eldar, Necrons & Marines clearly ahead of the rest, Tau rejoined this group with the "new" codex in late 2015.  Not due to the repointing of units which would have made some units usable again (ie. Vespids, the flyers etc.), but with new formations.

Since the the 2014 army picture above my army changed by replacing one of the Riptides with two Skyrays, so with the new codex I didn't need to do many changes to make use of the new Hunter Contingent detachment.  My unit of crisis suits was reduced to a monat to afford a Commander.  I also had been experimenting with Piranhas and have found the base model for 40 points is great for adding mobility to the army (and after you take off the points of the drones a mobile burst cannon for 22 points is excellent).

For a 1500 point tournament in Jan 2016 my army is pictured below:

Pictures of my new commander (seen undercoated in the picture above) will follow shortly, and discussions on how I expand the army to 1750 points, competing options are the Optimsed Stealth Cadre vs a Broadside unit added to the Hunter Cadre.