The Unveiling: My Standard 1850 list

Its about time I got my standard 1850 list up. Here we go, and all comments and crit are welcome, though I'm rather set on my choices:

HQ

Shas’el w/ PR, MP, Flamer, HWTL, HWMT -96

Very simple, a cheap, functioning Commander. He will often join the Pathfinders for the leadership buff, and late game he will either join a Crisis Team, the 'Sides, or sacrifice himself.

ELITE

Shas’ui Team Leader w/ PR, MP, MT, HWDC [2x Gun Drones]; 2x Shas’ui w/ PR, MP, MT -211

Shas’ui Team Leader w/ PR, MP, MT, HWDC [2x Gun Drones]; 2x Shas’ui w/ PR, MP, MT -211

These form the bulk of my firing output; they give me a very healthy amount of anti-infantry firepower that can double as anti-transport. I have chosen Gun Drones over Shield Drones, as they are incredibly likely to get a cover save the way I am using them.

TROOPS

6x Shas’la w/ Rifles; Devilfish w/ FD, DP -155

6x Shas’la w/ Rifles; Devilfish w/ FD, DP -155

6x Shas’la -60

Simple, scoring. The third squad is reserved and gets the spare devilfish, or hides. The Devilfish themselves form my skimmer wall; a mobile defense of skimmers moving at 12" a turn. They will almost always have cover, and they are difficult to kill in CC (6s to hit). Melta is a weakness to this, but it brings them incredibly close to Crisis Suits, and with everything in the army out to wreck mobility, it may be hard.

The drones help in movement blocking, stopping infantry, tickling rear armor, etc. In KP, they hide.

FAST ATTACK

Piranha w/ FB, TA, FD, DP; Piranha w/ FB, TA, FD -165

Piranhas are among (are?) the best movement blockers in the game. These are used to both block off the enemy's forward moving units, and to hit enemy vehicles with melta sting. The major purpose of this unit is deathstar removal, either by popping their ride or by simply harrying them to the point of keeping them off me.

6x Shas’la w/ Carbines, Markerlights; Devilfish w/ FD, DP -167

I'm not sure I have to explain marker support. They form a small firebase with the Broadsides and any accompanying drone walls, as the rest of my army moves out. I have no qualms with using them as a lure to seal off a dangerous unit.

HEAVY SUPPORT

Broadside Team Leader w/ TA, HWTL, HWDC [2x Shield Drones]; 2x Broadside Shas’ui w/ TA -280

Massive amounts of demeching power.I don't understand the allure of Adv.S.S.; my Broadsides arely need to move, save for in Kroot Wall builds in which the whole force inches along. The TA maximizes my firepower, allowing spare lights to be utilized for cover removal, not BS increase. Forms the small drone castle with Pathfinders.

Hammerhead w/ Railgun, SMS, MT, DP -175

Hammerhead w/ Railgun, SMS, MT, DP -175

Simple backup; these are more expendable than Devilfish, and form the flanks of the wall, due to their stronger side armor. Submunitions and Rails make great support fire.

Army Update

Alright, I'm not showing the Pathfinders or Fire Warriors here ( I have 18 of the latter, 6 of the former), but I will be tossing in the suits and vehicles.

So we go.

First off is the Broadside teams; Their little gimmicks are two-fold. The first is that their railguns are of all different sizes (Ranging from a scratch built little shoulder cannon to the Hammerhead variety. The second is that the hands that are on the rail side are painted Bleached Bone, which is my current squad marking color for battlesuits.

Piranhas. I did far less with gold with these because I liked the idea that their small frames and calmer colors made them easy to pass over when looking at the rest of my army. This is of course exactly what I want, as they will be causing havoc from turn 1, and they need every single piece of protection I can afford them.
Hammerhead Gunships. The Tau symbols came out nicely, and the gold really makes them stand out proudly on the field.
Far less threatening looking than the Hammerheads, yet far less expendable. I need these for my troops, as you all know.They are modelled with SMS systems, but the weaponry isn't picked out and is flush to the underside, making it easy to simply count the systems as drones, as I am doing in this army.
My first Fireknife Team for my list; their squad markings are on their weapon systems, as well as the fact that the leg markings are the mirror opposite of the other squad.

The secondary team. The heads and shoulders of the models bear the squad markings.

Alright, that's all I have for now. I don't plan on doing more painting and modelling anytime soon, so I'll be moving back towards tactica for a while. I may get a batrep for you all, but that is still up in the air.

1850 Assembled, painted.

RAARGHHHHHHH!

Its 1:37 AM, and I have finished assembling and painting my whole 1850 force. It is an amazing feat; I have been using proxies for drones, suits without weapons, etc..

I'll post the list eventually; I've been working on my ideas for a more mobile castle, lessening my reliance on kroot for the role and switching to vehicular blockers.

Good night (morning) all.

My personal view on the GW Spray Gun

Don't buy it.

Mine was off an on, temperamental and ate through its air can way too quickly for my tastes. I've switched to a high-end airbrush after a lot of thought, and with the old air compressor I had laying around I managed to get a nice even flow of paint going; I would definitely suggest shelling out the money instead of going with the GW brand.

@GW:

I'm sorry for ranking on your product, but it honestly wasn't your best work. Stick with what you know; models and paint.

Drones? An important question

Gun Drones on vehicles. Are they a blessing or a curse?

On one hand, they make great roadblocks, contesters, and general annoyances, built-in to the cost of the Devilfish.

On the dreaded downside, however, they are ruled to give up KP in most events. This can absolutely screw a Tau players chances in any mission that involves, KP, essentially giving up an additional killpoint for the deaths of our transports.

So the question is becomes: is it worth the points to get rid of them? 2/3rds of the time, they can slow enemies attacking a small firebase, block assault lanes, give cover... but on the third, they can lose you the game easily.

To buy SMS for a Devilfish, you have to pay 20 points. While it gives you a bit of firepower, the amount isn't really equal to what you can be getting from an actual fighting element, such as a Crisis Suit. You lose your road-blocking techniques, but gain safety in Annihilation.

As for me, I've been on the fence for this for a while. After some deliberation, I've found that my army needs the extra points in real firepower. Drones are back on my Devilfish to both save points and to run interference for my Broadsides and Pathfinders, buying them some extra shooting turns, hopefully.

Other Tau players; do you have Drones on your 'Fish? No Drones? No 'Fish?

Simple Green

Just an unpaid plug for a cleaning item:

Simple Green cleaner can be used to strip paint off of models; drop them in a vat of the stuff, leave them there for a day, and scrub the paint with an old toothbrush. It won't get it all off, but it will remove enough that you will gain all your detail back; which is very helpful for painting on a new coat.

The reason for this? I'm putting a new paintjob on my vehicles. Trying out the GW Spray gun. Wish me luck.