When Codex Tau Empire was released earlier this year I was really excited to dive in and start the good fight for The Greater Good. However, as I read over the rumours and then the physical Codex itself it came to light that you could not take Crisis Suits as troops. This was something I had hoped for as the idea really interested me.

After realising I would not be using the list I had envisioned for this Codex I started playing around with a few ideas using Massed Fire Warriors with Battle Suit support. Eventually my steam ran out as I was no longer hooked on the idea. Fast forward a few months and I read some rumours regarding a Tau Codex Supplement called Farsight Enclaves :O I knew right there and then that this would be my autumn project for this year and with any luck (ie they do not totally suck on the tabletop) will be my tournament army for next year.



As already mentioned I had already considered the idea of a super elite Tau army. With the Farsight Enclave rules in hand (digitally speaking) I could start turning the ideas into something a little more tangible. After smashing ideas around with some good friends from the FLGS I came up with a bare bones list idea. This ended up in list building hell when nothing woudl add up to round numbers for a fully pointed list etc. A few things didn't "feel" quite right etc. So I took the list over to Advanced Tau Tactica for some advice; as the home of Tau Tactics it seemed a good place to start. After a day or two working on a list with a particularly helpful member called Vash we settled on this:

1750pts Farsight Enclave List
by Martok

HQ - Commander: 152
Drone Controller; 2 Marker Drones; Target Lock, 2 Missile Pods

HQ - Commander: 152
Drone Controller; 2 Marker Drones; Target Lock, 2 Missile Pods
Note: Both of the commanders attach to a Marker Drone Squadron for BS5 Markerlight goodness with Jump Shoot Jump action.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 96
2 Crisis Battle Suits; 2 Fusion Blasters; 1 Twin Linked Fusion Blaster; 2 Bonding Rituals
Notes: Meltacide no more and no less.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 138
3 Crisis Battle Suits; 6 Burst Cannons; 3 Advanced Targeting Systems; 3 Bonding Rituals
Note: Giving me a unit rolling a good weight of fire. Advanced Targeting allows me to pick out the specialists and then trim the unit where I need to. For example I could remove models holding the objective late game etc.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 168
3 Crisis Battle Suits; 6 Plasma rifles; 3 Advanced Targeting Systems; 3 Bonding Rituals
Notes: Advanced Targeting allows me to pick out the specialists and then trim the unit where I need to. For example I could remove models holding the objective late game etc.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 168
3 Crisis Battle Suits; 6 Plasma rifles; 3 Advanced Targeting Systems; 3 Bonding Rituals
Notes: Advanced Targeting allows me to pick out the specialists and then trim the unit where I need to. For example I could remove models holding the objective late game etc.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 144
3 Crisis Battle Suits; 3 Twin Linked Missile Pods; 3 Early Warning Overrides; 3 Bonding Rituals
Notes: This unit will hold the rear of the pack and likely try to stay safe and get back to home objectives late game. Also provides some backup AA if the Riptide fails.

Troops - XV8 Crisis Team: 144
3 Crisis Battle Suits; 3 Twin Linked Missile Pods; 3 Early Warning Overrides; 3 Bonding Rituals
Notes: This unit will hold the rear of the pack and likely try to stay safe and get back to home objectives late game. Also provides some backup AA if the Riptide fails.

Elite - Riptide Battle Suit: 185
Ion Accelerator 
Notes: Blowing chunks out of scoring units.

Elite - Riptide Battle Suit: 235
Early Warning Override; Velocity Tracker; Earth Caste Array
Notes: Dedicated AA

Fast Attack: Drone Squadron: 84
6 Marker Drones

Fast Attack: Drone Squadron: 84
6 Marker Drones
Notes: The drones are crucial for removing cover and boosting the suits BSs. My quality of fire is good but without removing cover I simply cannot remove enough enemy models to triumph.

Total: 1750

Now any list that is essentially relying on 20 models to do all the killing in game is going to struggle to be competitive. However, I think the list has the tools needed to deal with any situation as long as I stay sensible and mobile. My plan is to pick up some extra commanders so I can arm them with Fusion Blades when I feel like a laugh and I will likely get Farsight as well at some point.

With a list ready to be bought and built next up is working out how to convert and paint the actual models.

For this army I really want to push the boat out with converting. As the model count is so low I shall be up armouring and up teching the suits to try and make each squad quite individual from each other. The suits will reflect the battle field task of the unit vs other units in the army.

Now for paint I have settled on Urban Camo. To demonstrate both of these ideas I have been hunting for some ideas on the web.

First up I found a guy called Jeff Barry from the Brighton Warlords group on Facebook and after seeing is lovely army asked if I could share some of his models: