[1.5k MechTau]Need help with the building.

[fubukii]

hmmm mech tau seem to be very popular on this board after i posted my list .

3 hammerheads pack alot of power both in tank killing and anti light infantry its never a bad choice.

[Jal'knock]

Elite 2 * Deathrain Shas'ui (TLMP and TL/TLMP and flamer)
(113)

I would still seriously doubt the effectiveness of this squad. (except against transports and very light vehicles)

Elite 4 * SS Shas'ui
(120)

You'd be better off getting more crisis suits to lay down heavier fire. Your elites are your lower ap choices, take them.

Heavy Support Railhead - SMS, decoy launchers, target lock and multi-tracker.(180)

I would still advise taking the burst cannons and saving 30 points. If nothing else you could buy yourself another stealth suit.

[A neutral shade of black.]

If that's the case, you might want to load up on stealth suits instead of crisis. I think you'll find them more effective then a few deathrain suits. 56-57 points for an autocannon is pretty steep.

My only problem being that I can no longer take out the transports that well.
Even for the people who staunchly believe in "making back the points" (which, might I add, I don't), a Deathrain team shooting at a Dreadnaught and scoring any kind of hit on it that will render it useless (even if only for a turn) has just tied up ~120 points's worth of enemy armour (compared to their 113). And, as I said before, they're great for keeping the 'nid guns - warriors - occupied.

I'm not sure I'm sold on the helios/helios-6 setup, as the short range makes it difficult to use to full efficiency against many enemy armies. The death rain has the advantage of always being fairly useful and easy to use/hide with its strong, long-ranged weapon.....the problem is it assists in jobs other Tau units can do fairly well, while avoiding the job it can do better than anything else in the Tau army: kill marines. And you'll see plenty of marines, as I'm sure you're aware. But, there are millions of threads on the suit configuration debate, so I won't rehash it here.

Although close-ranged, a Helios-6 suit is, in theory, protected by its IC status (being a command suit - I know it's adaptable to team leader, but in this case the approximation works).
I can understand your aversion to Deathrain suits, but I like them (I am aware that that's not an argument to base a winning list on ). What else would you suggest (for all the suits, not just the HQ slots)? I'm interested in knowing.

I'm considering an Ionhead in my 1500 point list, but that railgun is so useful. The submunition is critical to thinning out Tyranids (which I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of), while the chance of 2 railguns failing to take out enemy armor for a turn or two (misses, bad pen rolls, etc) it fairly high. That third gun can be pretty important...just a thought.

And twenty more points which, since the list is precisely 1500 points, I don't have.
That aside, I'm also a full partisan of the railgun and its subammo template - I've just decided I might try something new, since I've been losing quite a bit and I keep hearing people raving about how useful an Ionhead is...

Also might want to look at only one commander suit, as my recommended list had. Can more points into scoring units, which may be useful if you play missions that count that sort of thing. You'll have 2 devilfish and a commander that can't score points already....adding another commander just hurts you more in that area.

If I remove a commander, I remove roughly 50% of my anti-marine efficiency (33% if we count the Ionhead in, but that's not sure yet). That's a scary number, if you ask me. Arguably, I could just keep a single Deathrain suit and have a TLPR suit as a second Elite slot, but that one wouldn't be protected by its IC status. If you can see a way for this to work out, I'm interested.

I would still seriously doubt the effectiveness of this squad. (except against transports and very light vehicles)

...which is what they're there for?

You'd be better off getting more crisis suits to lay down heavier fire. Your elites are your lower ap choices, take them.

The only problem being that, of course, this deprives me of even more antin-infantry fire.

I would still advise taking the burst cannons and saving 30 points. If nothing else you could buy yourself another stealth suit.

A point, actually - I could even remove the Kroot in favour of a second Stealth unit (or some Crisis suits?)...

[Jal'knock]

...which is what they're there for?

Sorry, I have never really seen people use suits in that config.

The only problem being that, of course, this deprives me of even more antin-infantry fire.?)

True but less shots at higher AP are the best option for suits versus marines, who will be your main concern in most games. Also TMCs and other units like them are vulnerable to plasma weaponry, something you should have as much as possible of.

A point, actually - I could even remove the Kroot in favour of a second Stealth unit (or some Crisis suits?)...

I wouldn't. At most one stealth team is useful but for some players their kroot get overrun or simply get caught in some heavy firepower, wiping them out. Sometimes a Stealth Team would be a good choice instead (I can't believe I'm actually advocating Stealth Suits! )

[Jonathan =I=]

I would still advise taking the burst cannons and saving 30 points. If nothing else you could buy yourself another stealth suit.

I disagree the Smart missile system is almost always a better bet.

Idealy you want the railhead as far away as possable and the 24 inch indirect fire makes it just that much easier to do. You really dont want to be getting into 18 inches of any enemy u it with a Hammerhead.

[Olannon]

@ fubuki Tau mech armies have been popular to people not since your list was posted, but since 4th ed at least. The development of FoF + some new LOS rules makes it a great choice, and there are entire forums and websites dedicated to MechTau

[A neutral shade of black.]

(Hrmph, been a while since I visited this site...)

THREAD NECROMANCY! RAWR!

Yeah, sorry about that. I just picked up my army list and started tweaking it again after taking a month-and-a-bit break from my Tau. Since it seems there are few sites that can understand the concept of Mech Tau ("zomg drop ur vehicels and put in soem more troops on foot! and wut r u doign w/ those devilifhises? ur st00pid!" tends to be the answer I most often get ) and this is one of them, I figured I might as well post the new list here; and since I figured I might as well post it here, I saw no point in making a new thread. Might as well revive this one, no? All this is probably not going to count for very long, given the soon-to-come publication of Codex: Tau Empire, but still.

The list as it stands now:

HQ Fireknife-6 'el (TLPR, MP, HWMT)
(98)

HQ Fireknife-6 'el (TLPR, MP, HWMT)
(98)

Elite 4 * SS Shas'ui
(120)

Elite 4 * SS Shas'ui
(120)

Troops 12 * FW - Shas'ui (130)
Devilfish - decoy launchers, multi-tracker. (95)
(225)

Troops 12 * FW - Shas'ui (130)
Devilfish - decoy launchers, multi-tracker. (95)
(225)

Troops 13 * Kroot carnivores
(91)

Heavy Support Railhead - SMS, decoy launchers, target lock and multi-tracker.
(180)

Heavy Support Railhead - SMS, decoy launchers, target lock and multi-tracker.
(180)

Heavy Support Ionhead - SMS, decoy launchers, target lock and multi-tracker.
(160)

Total 1497

I finally got convinced to take Fireknife suits (though I can't remember why ; anyway, I'm also angling for something a little bit different from the first lists for fluff reasons), so that's why those are in there. I'm not quite sure about the Kroot (not enough of them) and having two squads of four Stealth suits (I would have prefered to have one of four and one of six, but that leaves me with only 34 points left and no Kroot... though I'm not sure why I'd want Kroot in this list, actually).

Any opinions?