500pt Combat Patrol list for small RTT

[Alcyon]

Reposting this from the Tau forum in case there are more reviews here. 

 

I just finished playing the qualifier round for a little tournament my gaming group is running online, and I have the opportunity to tune my list a little before the elimination round and would love to hear your input. The organizer is letting us delete 1 unit from our roster and add up to 2 to replace it between the qualifier and elimination rounds. There are some other constraints too; we have to run a single Patrol detachment, rule of 1 except for Troops and Dedicated Transports and no single units worth more than 229pts. We're also playing just the 3 Combat Patrol missions from the big rule book without the revised Secondaries available in the GT mission pack. 

 

I built this list with a couple things in mind; first, I wanted to seize two objectives as quickly as possible, because our melee is very weak and it can be hard to "turn" them once an opponent has landed on one. I also wanted a robust Overwatch threat to be able to get a second shooting phase in my opponent's turn, and help deter charges. Finally I wanted enough units and flexibility to play to objectives even if my heavier hitters got knocked out.

 

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (T'au Empire) ++

Sept Choice: T'au Sept

 

+ HQ +

 

Commander in XV8 Crisis Battlesuit: 4. Through Boldness, Victory, 4x Fusion blaster, Warlord

MV1 Gun Drone

MV4 Shield Drone

 

+ Troops +

 

Strike Team

Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Pulse pistol, Pulse rifle

4x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Pistol + Pulse Rifle: 4x Photon grenades, 4x Pulse pistol, 4x Pulse rifle

 

+ Elites +

 

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

2x MV4 Shield Drone: 2x Shield generator

Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas'vre: Burst cannon, Drone controller

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Pathfinder Team: Accelerated-photon grenades, MV33 Grav-inhibitor Drone

MB3 Recon Drone

2x MV1 Gun Drone: 4x Pulse carbine

Pathfinder

Pathfinder Shas'ui: Pulse pistol

3x Pathfinder w/ Rail Rifle: 3x Photon grenades, 3x Rail rifle

 

Tactical Drones

4x MV1 Gun Drone: 8x Pulse carbine

 

The plan was to deploy the Stealth Suits on a midboard objective, then move the Pathfinders up to within 6" using their pre-game move. That'd let me overwatch with both units and their drones in case of a charge, and on my turn I can bring up the Commander and extra drones behind that blob to join the castle while the Strike Team holds a backline objective and provides some 30" fire support. If I get locked, my plan was to use Mont'ka on turn 2 to scatter and still shoot.

 

So far the strategy has worked ok as long as I make sure I keep my drones with the Stealth Suits, but I've been charged turn 1 by a Skorpekh Lord and Speed Freek vehicles so I'm less inclined to scout deploy than I was initially. I tested a Broadside and Cadre Fireblade but I think the warping effect Combat Patrol has on secondaries means it's much harder to score on killing things, and mobility and ObSec are more important than output.

 

Accordingly my revised list drops the Pathfinders (and their sweet sweet Rail Rifles) for a Piranha and a 5-man Breacher team with a Guardian Drone and Gun Drone. That gives me 1 additional unit I can camp in my DZ with for Encircle and makes scoring EoAF much simpler with that 16" move. The Breachers don't have the output of the Rail Rifles but I've found myself with extra CP so I may be able to use Pulse Onslaught pretty often, and it gives me more ObSec to move onto objectives with. Having realized this I do kind of regret going with T'au Sept as I think FSE might be stronger, but it's too late now so we'll have to see if the 5+ Overwatch continues to be good.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts!