The Next 40K Project: Tau Gue"Vesa Army

Now that I have ( more or less) finished assembling  (but not painting) a 1500pt Traitor Guard Force it's becoming time to think about my next themed-army. Like many gamers, I like to have multiple armies on hand for the prospect of pick-up games when friends come to visit. Additionally, because I sold my Space Marine to acquire my Guard, I can't help but feel that I'm having to rush the army with regards to painting and modelling. This is leaving something of an unpleasant taste in my mouth, so, for my next project, I plan on taking things much more slowly. Something I'll have the luxury of doing given that I'll already have a painted and assembled Guard Force to play while I slowly buy, assemble and paint a new Army.

So what am I going for?

Why, Tau.

Okay, now that you've had time to pick your jaw up off the floor, you're probably wondering why I'm picking a army that uses a 4th ed Codex and, like the 4th ed Elder Codex, suffers from point's efficiency in 5th ed. It also includes a lot of units that just aren't viable in 5th ed games and, frankly, being such a shooty list, often completely fails to dominate mid-table.

Here's why:

I think they're kinda cool. I'm hoping that by the time I've finished slowly assembling my force (I plan on buying and painting a Kill Point a month) there might hopefully be a new Codex on the way that addresses some of the army's many issues.

Even more so, the tau present a really cool modelling opportunity:

Tau Humans.

Basically, I want to expand on the idea of auxiliary soldiers in Tau armies first suggested in Imperial Armour 3 by creating an entire army themed around the idea of a  Gue'Vesa ("human helper") cadre, equipped with Tau weapons and equipment, but using Tau stats. Unfortunately, due to how crap Tau Fire Warrior's are, chances are good that the majority of the actual infantry will be Kroot. But I can still convert my six man Fire warrior teams and Pathfinder teams to have human legs and boots, and perhaps even have a Crisis pilot or two who has removed their helmet. Hopefully, by the time the 6th ed tau codex comes out, Fire Warriors won't be so crap anymore and I'll be able to add some more human fire-warriors to the list.

For now, here's my proposed (and very expensive) Army List:

2000 Pts - Tau Empire Roster

1 Commander Shas'el @ 92 pts (Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Target Lock)

 3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 206 pts (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

 3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 206 pts (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

 3 Crisis Battlesuit @ 206 pts (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

10 Kroot Carnivores and 7 Kroot Hounds  @  132pts

10 Kroot Carnivores and 7 Kroot Hounds @ 132pts

 6 Fire Warrior and 1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod, Targetting Array) @ 150 pts

2 Piranha Light Skimmer @ 150 pts (Disruption Pod x2; Targeting Array x2; Fusion Blaster x2)
4 Gun Drones

2 Piranha Light Skimmer @ 150 pts (Disruption Pod x1; Target Lock x1,  Targeting Array x2; Fusion Blaster x2)
4 Gun Drones

6 Pathfinder @ 157 pts
1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod)

1 Hammerhead Gunship @ 175 pts (Railgun; Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)
2 Gun Drones

1 Broadside Battlesuit @ 175 pts (Broadside Battlesuit; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Drone Controller)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Target Lock)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

1 Broadside Battlesuit @ 175 pts (Broadside Battlesuit; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Drone Controller)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Target Lock)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

Total Roster Cost: 2000 pts