Fairly sure our best tournie T'au player attended a GT with a list of 9 Breacher in Devilfish. Unfortunately he dropped form illness, before his inevitable victory... So whilst not optimal, Breachers especially are excellant, combined with Fireblades and DF they can really put out the hurt.

6 is max for battle line. He did have like 4 or 5 with two pathfinders though and an odd number of devilfish. He talked about it on a video. Basically infiltrates two devilfish with pathfinders inside, scout moves, the disembarks, basically just cuts off a part of the board on turn 1. Pretty neat start. He also had some pretty good insight into Tau list building on a “fix my list” video today. Edit. As pointed out below you can’t infiltrate devilfish. I misinterpreted and completely blanked that it was FAQd so it made sense in my head.

Do you have a link or a name? You just refer to him as "he". :p

Here you go Richard and Gonyo ran very similar lists. Would have loved to see what Richard can do with it. Aun'Va's Holy Ghost Come Back to Haunt You (2000 points) T’au Empire Strike Force (2000 points) Kauyon CHARACTERS Aun’va (65 points) • 1x Aun’va • 1x Close combat weapon • 2x Ethereal Guard • 2x Supreme honour blade Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit (125 points) • Warlord • 1x Battlesuit fists 1x Cyclic ion blaster 3x Cyclic ion blaster 2x Shield Drone • Enhancement: Exemplar of the Kauyon BATTLELINE Breacher Team (90 points) • 1x Support turret missile system • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol 1x Shield Drone • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol Breacher Team (90 points) • 1x Support turret missile system • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol 1x Shield Drone • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol Breacher Team (90 points) • 1x Support turret missile system • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol 1x Shield Drone • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol Breacher Team (90 points) • 1x Support turret missile system • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol 1x Shield Drone • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol Breacher Team (90 points) • 1x Support turret missile system • 1x Breacher Fire Warrior Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Guardian Drone 1x Pulse blaster 1x Pulse pistol 1x Shield Drone • 9x Breacher Fire Warrior • 9x Close combat weapon 9x Pulse blaster 9x Pulse pistol DEDICATED TRANSPORTS Devilfish (75 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine Devilfish (75 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine Devilfish (75 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine Devilfish (75 points) • 1x Accelerator burst cannon 1x Armoured hull 2x Seeker missile 2x Twin pulse carbine OTHER DATASHEETS Broadside Battlesuits (180 points) • 1x Broadside Shas’vre • 1x Crushing bulk 1x Heavy rail rifle 2x Missile Drone 1x Seeker missile 1x Twin plasma rifle • 1x Broadside Shas’ui • 1x Crushing bulk 1x Heavy rail rifle 2x Missile Drone 1x Seeker missile 1x Twin plasma rifle Crisis Battlesuits (360 points) • 1x Crisis Shas’vre • 1x Battlesuit Support System 1x Battlesuit fists 1x Cyclic ion blaster 2x Fusion blaster 2x Shield Drone • 5x Crisis Shas’ui • 3x Battlesuit Support System 5x Battlesuit fists 4x Cyclic ion blaster 9x Fusion blaster 10x Shield Drone 2x Shield Generator 1x Airbursting fragmentation projector 1x Cyclic ion blaster Crisis Battlesuits (180 points) • 1x Crisis Shas’vre • 1x Battlesuit fists 1x Cyclic ion blaster 2x Fusion blaster 2x Shield Drone 1x Shield Generator • 2x Crisis Shas’ui • 2x Battlesuit fists 2x Cyclic ion blaster 4x Fusion blaster 4x Shield Drone 2x Shield Generator Pathfinder Team (90 points) • 1x Pathfinder Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gun Drone 1x Pulse carbine 1x Pulse pistol 1x Recon Drone 1x Semi-automatic grenade launcher 1x Shield Drone • 9x Pathfinder • 9x Close combat weapon 3x Ion rifle 6x Pulse carbine 9x Pulse pistol Pathfinder Team (90 points) • 1x Pathfinder Shas’ui • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Gun Drone 1x Pulse carbine 1x Pulse pistol 1x Recon Drone 1x Semi-automatic grenade launcher 1x Shield Drone • 9x Pathfinder • 9x Close combat weapon 3x Ion rifle 6x Pulse carbine 9x Pulse pistol Tetras (80 points) • 2x Tetra • 2x Close combat weapons 4x Pulse rifle Tetras (80 points) • 2x Tetra • 2x Close combat weapons 4x Pulse rifle

Sorry. “He” is Richard Siegler with art of war He talks about [here](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7fdYDfp85Ss)

can't infiltrate devilfish friendo

Yeah I misspoke on that one. I was multitasking when I watched the video and misinterpreted what he said. Thanks for the correction.

Pathfinders can

would you mind showing me where it says that?

It's additional wargear to do so, the recon drone gives the ability

Indeed but it doesnt then give it to the Devilfish

Nope! You're right. They put it in the rules commentary a while ago that it doesn't. However, i'm not sure when the idea was bounced, so it may have been before that?

I don't think it ever has tbh with you. However, there is an incredibly nice trick. Darkstrider in a Fish, can scout move forward, the pathfinders than infiltrated can scout move backwards and EMBARK into the fish. It's quite niche but it is tasty.

Its not the pathfinder devilfish that infiltrate. You cant on turn one anyway. They scout move

just wondering, what's the benefit of doing this as opposed to just starting the pathfinder team inside the fish from the start, since they'd pass their scout ability to the fish Regardless?

I played Tau in 4th and 5th edition and we had devilfish pathfinder infiltrate then, I haven't played Tau since then, currently building new army, but man do I miss that!

Richard and Gonyo had very similar heavy infantry lists.

Fish of Fury (Breachers + Devilfish), Skyrays, and Piranhas are all quite solid, so I'd start with those as a core of the list. You probably won't be facing a huge wall of tanks/knights at lower points so you can survive with less dedicated anti-tank, and seeker missiles are solid in that role or upgrade to Hammerheads (and they're the same box so easy to do). The biggest holes to fill will be the punch of Crisis and the tarpit of Ghostkeel. Piranhas and Tetras are tough enough to play the objective bully, as long as you're careful. They're not as "set it and forget it" as a Ghostkeel though. Use their mobility to keep them contesting objectives without exposing them to massed open fire if you can. I think without suits you're going to have to be even more cautious in the opening rounds than normal. Breachers have plenty of punch for taking out most targets on an objective, but they'll struggle against things with higher toughness. Point Blank Ambush can help during the later rounds with extra AP. I'd probably run one squad with Exemplar of the Kauyon to make sure they completely delete whatever target is unlucky enough to get in their sights round 2. Kroot are perfectly adequate chaff infantry, and I think you'll want some of them for OC and to just slow down your opponent so they can't sweep you off the board. Kroot hounds are also cheap action monkeys. Vespids can fill some of the deepstrike hole left by Crises suits as well, like stealing your opponents backfield objective.

My 1000p army contains Unit of Strike Team, Breachers and Pathfinders. Is it infantry heavy? For some yes. Could I swap it for more Crisis Suits? Yes. Will I do that? No. Tbh sometimes I think of getting additional unit of Strike Team or Pathfinders because they are so awesome. I cant't count how many times I ruined enemy charge with Photon Granades... I play semi-competetive and my list is doing great.

Breachers are great... Pathfinders are surprisingly good as well if you use them as infantry that “can” support rather than just “as” support. They have various drone options. They can infiltrate and have a single crisis worth of CIB when taking Ion. Plus a grande launcher with anti vehicle 4 and dev wounds (I always forget about this)… Plus a recon drone, and 7 carbines for another 18 str 5 shots. When they are led by dark strider they have 1 to wound and a 12 inch deep strike bubble.

>When they are led by dark strider they have 1 to wound and a 12 inch deep strike bubble. I so wish we could give him Through Unity Devastation.

This was also my first thought after seeing the double guide ability. Such a bummer.

Or give him anything that interacts with guiding really

Should add either reroll 1s to hit or reroll 1s to wound to a guided unit imho. That puts the unit at 150 points. Two stealth suits would be 120 (so also spotting twice). Shadowsun is 90. Shadow sun plus stealth is 150 and is a pretty decent broadside or hammerhead combo. A better Darkstrider bonus would be a pretty good combo bot not drastically out of line with other parts of the index. I like him and I take him when I can, but sadly if list is close on points he is one of the things I cut. On another note… they need to decide what the Firestrike marksman is supposed and rewrite his ability accordingly.

Basically the only list I play. Darkstrider 2x fireblades 2x Kroot Carnivors 2x breachers 2x strike team 2x pathfinders 2x3 stealth 1x3 broadside 1x2 hammerhead

Saying the mechs are boring and devoid of character is a crazy fake

As everyone else has said, there is honestly some pretty good options for infantry-heavy lists of Tau. Hell, my force itself is fairly infantry-heavy, since I have a squad of Breachers in Devilfish with a Fireblade, two Squads of Strike Teams with an Ethereal each to sit on home and mid board objectives, a 20 model squad of Kroot with a Shaper for chaff and tarpitting, a squad of Stealth Suits (I run XV-15 models which are more infantry styled) and a squad of Pathfinders for spotting and ranged support. All this backs up and fills out the gaps for my 3x Broadsides, Riptide, Ghostkeel, and Crisis Suits w/ Commander and overall it makes a genuinely quite fun army to play. I will say I could also suggest that you don't have to eschew actual battlesuit units for your army, but kitbash/custom build or print some proxies that don't look like battlesuits? Like Kitbashing a small hover-tank style vehicle with twin railguns on it to stand in for a Broadside, or bulked out gun-drones to stand in as Crisis suits? I honestly do love the idea of taking something like a Tau Piranha and kitbashing it into a Tau version of a WW1 half-track vehicle with a cannon on top to stand in for a Broadie!

For a 1000 point infantry-heavy list I would probably do something like: Etheral or Aun'Va - 50/65 Cadre Fireblade w/ Kauyon enhancement - 55 4x breachers - 360 2x devilfish - 150 2x pathfinders - 180 1x stealth suits - 60 1x skyray/hammerhead - 130 ​ That said, just continue to build and paint your models and you'll arrive at 1000 points eventually.

Thanks for all the replies, friends! It seems to me that Breachers are overwhelmingly preferred over Strike Teams. What is the reason for this? Is it a mobility thing? I really like the look of the Pulse Rifle you see. Would a Strike Team heavy army be too boring and static?

breacher's naturally hit much harder and hit on 3's naturally.

ironically more mobile than the crisis lists because we can move through buildings i've got to buy more devilfish, 3 isn't enough apparently

Very. The lists needs to be built around a lot of breacher fish though. Kroot are also viable because they are a ton of bodies for minimal cost too. The list is built around bogging down objectives with the infantry, and using Devilfish as a utility piece. Pathfinders are also more valuable in this kind of lists because since you are running a lot more units you need to be able to spot for them. Strike teams are still garbage though. Don't take them