"Don't trust the beekeepers, eh? Fair enough. I don't trust 'em either." Deadpool

I was and still am a Marvel fanboy. I have been thinking of how to bring the Marvel-verse and 40k-verse together in an army. The super teams are out and that leaves the lesser groups: S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra and then it hit me...A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).


BEEKEEPER!

 Why them? Well they are advanced high-tech weapon focused, like to overthrow governments, have a knack for  robotics, bioengineering, bionics, and physics. Well that sounds like they can work in the far distant future.

Hmmmmm now who else is high tech, has robot uses, has advanced weapons and likes to topple governments (if it is for the greater good)?  The Tau. Yes, the Tau could be made into my 40k version of A.I.M.

The Tau have units and stats that can easily fulfil the A.I.M. organization. Neither group is great at hand-to-hand so the awful fighting of the Tau fits fine here.  The Tau strength and toughness is equivalent to 40K humans so that also fits well. The guns and fun stuff the Tau have fit also the high tech role of A.I.M. The Tau expansion and absorbing of cultures/ planets can easily be tied to overthrowing governments like the A.I.M. organization.

Well nothing left to do than to build a 1500 point army list. I'll start with the troops first.

7 Firewarrios (A.I.M. troopers)
Devilfish transport with multi-tracker and smart missile system

The Devilfish has a nice bit of movement, front armor better than a Rhino, and silly firing missiles for that high tech feel.
The Firewarrior and guns fit the basic trooper quite well, bad fighter, descent shooter, and cool gun.
 I think I'll take three squads of these

12 Firewarriors with unit upgrade and marker light
These are a distraction/ last ditch holdout unit. Hopefully they can sit 30" away and plink shots down range or get that 50/50 markerlight hit on something 36" away.

Ok now on to fast attack. I'll keep with the theme and grab some gun drones. These have a twin linked, but shorter ranged gun (pulse carbine) , however the move 12" and shoot or deep strike and shoot makes up for the 18" range. The ballistic skill of 2 is atrocious, but twin linked helps.

5 gun drones
I think I'll take two squads

Now to heavy, sure sure I need a HQ, but i'll get there after I get all the cool high tech stuff.



Skyray with twin burst cannons, multi-tracker,disruption pod, and target lock
The disruption pod is there to help keep this alive, the multi-tracker helps with shooting on the move and the target lock boosts the ballistic skill one point.
The two networked marker lights are the main reason for taking this tank. Well and the six seeker missiles (krak missiles) that can pretty much always fire, if there is a marker light hit on a unit.
I look at this always moving 12", firing maker lights that either rain down two missiles on said unit or help with shooting from the rest of the army (either +1 BS or -1 to cover saves).
I'll take 2 please.

2 Broadside suits with twin linked plasma guns and a multi-tracker
These twin linked railguns scare big things and the plasma guns are there to shoot along with the railguns at 24" or under.

Ok now I need a high tech-ish HQ. A regular Crisis Suit is good, but I'll dump the points into....

Shadowsun
Sure she is a bit pricey but; the two independently firing fusion guns (multi-targeting melta guns), the leadership bonus she gives (Tau leadership is not stellar), and movement to keep up with Devilfish, make her a good choice. Sure she is not independent until the drones are dead, but the suit (skills and look) and drones make this choice scream A.I.M. high tech soldier suit.

Hey a  few points left and I'll add a few extra gun drones to each squad. Here it is.......

Shadowsun

7 Firewarrios (A.I.M. troopers)
Devilfish transport with multi-tracker and smart missile system

7 Firewarrios (A.I.M. troopers)
Devilfish transport with multi-tracker and smart missile system

7 Firewarrios (A.I.M. troopers)
Devilfish transport with multi-tracker and smart missile system

12 Firewarriors with unit upgrade and marker light

2 Broadside suits with twin linked plasma guns and a multi-tracker

Skyray with twin burst cannons, multi-tracker,disruption pod, and target lock

Skyray with twin burst cannons, multi-tracker,disruption pod, and target lock

7 gun drones

6 gun drones

1497 pts.

So why no elite? Well the Crisis Suits get pricey to make them worth it and Stealth Suits look neat-o but aren't cheap or good for the cost.

Modelling is easy. Almost everything is stock Tau, except the Friewarriors. I would swap the legs for Catacan legs, keep the chest and arms, ditch the heads for pig iron productions heavy infantry closed head sprues. That and a ton of yellow paint should give the troopers a quasi-comic book A.I.M. trooper feel.

The rest being stock models, with a few tweaks here and there for effect. The advanced tech look of the units does not need much work from me.

So there you go. An Advanced Idea Mechanics army in the 40K universe. Now if only I had the time, money and desire to buy, build and paint it.