the next league is 40k escalation league I forget the points but I was thinking of doing tau. more specifically getting the battleforce box, can I make something decent out of that to start with? and what point values are good for using a ethereal? I have no clue what I'll do with tau lol so looking for any good all comers strategies (although possible grey knight and space marine as the main enemies) I'll try and gets points values later. and any other advice you can give a new tau player
Yes. The Tau Battleforce is one of the better ones, although you might not have much of a need for the Stealth Suits. Maybe get a couple Battleforces, some extra Crisis Suits, and a few Skyray kits (they have all the parts for the Hammerhead as well). No. It'll be an uphill struggle all the way, as Tau is a relatively weaker Codex, but you can still experience some victory with it if you know what you're doing. The main thing to remember is to keep your opponent less maneuverable than you. Use your big guns to stop their transports, and then shoot the guys that come out.
I tend to go theme based when I make an army and I think I'll go with jungle and swamp tau lol if it helps in army planning
The best advice I can give is be mobile and try to deny your opponents opportunity to deep strike, that usually means close combat heavies, which usually means you lost! Make full use of your impressive 30" +6 move pulse rifles to keep the enemy away, and remember that if your fire warriors are near to each other they can support each other with charge reaction shooting, if your centre line is anchored by a fire blade or the crazy hammerhead character it will dissuade the casual charge, but the committed melee specialist. There is a temptation to use "all round" battle suit builds, but I find a specialised unit will do you proud, eg fusion plus plasma will pop tanks, skimmers and make elite units like termites and mega armoured nobs nervous, flamers plus burst cannon will make hordes wary, if your looking for something to take down skimmers at range missiles plus plasma is your guy....