Forge World Newsletter #233: Wrath of the Tau! Update: #234 hit. Not much news though.

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**Kanluwen**

Fresh from my inbox to your eyes:

Forge World wrote:
Hi There,

There’s just enough time before our Open Day this weekend to fill you in with some further previews and news of what’s going on at the event. Remember, entry to the Open Day is free and it takes place this coming Sunday, the 28th of March at Warhammer World in Nottingham. Doors will open at 10am, and the event will finish at 4pm. We hope to see as many of you there for what is always one of the best shows we do in the year.

Thanks
Alan Bligh

We hope to have limited stocks of the following brand new models to purchase at the show. This is a great opportunity to get hold of these great new models, well before their standard release date.

New Tau Battlesuits!

Our first exciting preview for the weekend are three new variant XV9 Battlesuits, which you can see below, and include a new Tau Commander. These fantastic and characterful new Tau battlesuits have been designed by Daren Parrwood. Rules for the XV9 can be found in Imperial Armour Apocalypse II.

First of a new set of resin upgrades for the plastic Stompa kit, we have a titan-killing Claw Arm, a new Ork Stompa Head complete with the baleful gaze of Mork (or possibly Gork) and fighting-platform jaw, and the devastating if dangerously erratic Lifta-Droppa! These wonderfully ramshackle looking sets have been designed by Stuart Williamson, with crew by Mark Bedford.

We also hope to have the first examples of our new Space Wolves Transfer Sheet available for sale at the Open Day. These large (A4) full colour sheets contain the symbols for each of the Space Wolves Great Companies, allowing you to customise the Sons of Fenris in any manner you choose. The sheet has over 400 symbols, including symbols sized for Terminator shoulder pads, and extensive wolf head and claw vehicle icons. The Space Wolves Transfer Sheet has been produced by Paul Rudge.

As a special offer at Open Day 2010, attendees will be the first to be able to pre-order the soon-to-be-released Imperial Armour 8 -Raid on Kastorel-Novem. Copies paid for at the show will be signed by the author, and sent without any postage charge when the book is released.

Other New Models also Available at the Show

As featured in our last preview newsletter, we also expect to have Raven Guard Rhino Doors, Raven Guard Land Raider Doors, Raven Guard Terminator Land Raider Doors, Elysian Troops for the Valkyrie, the four wheeled Tauros Assault Vehicle, and our new show-only model for 2010, the Ork Runtbot with Grot available to buy in limited quantities.

Things to do at the Show

At the Forge World Open day, we'll have all our studio staff on hand to answer your questions and show off lots of previously unseen models and other cool things we have in store for you. We'll also have a well-stocked sales stand, participation games, a pre-production copy of our next Imperial armour book on display, and of course the facilities of Warhammer World and Bugman's Bar will also be open.

Oh man, I like those new XV-9s.

**Death By Monkeys**

The battlesuits almost make me wish I played Tau. Almost. They're pretty hot. Any idea what the weapons on the first two are supposed to be? The first one looks like it's got a V-8 engine strapped to it. I'd expect that out of Orks, but Tau? I figured they'd at least managed to develop hybrid technology. Don't they look like they ought to drive Priuses?

**Ketara**

GW won't be releasing a new plastic kit then. Not if Forgeworld just made new ones.

**DEATH89**

Sweet, now I need a payrise

**Kanluwen**

Ketara wrote:GW won't be releasing a new plastic kit then. Not if Forgeworld just made new ones.

These are the XV-9 "Hazard" suits and the new weapon variants we were told about awhile ago. Not the XV-8s. It's still possible we'll see XV-8s redone in the style of the FW ones.

**LEEQAEX**

Tau have some of the nicest Elite walker type vechicals . Shame I dont like the troops not enough spikey scary bits on them

**Kanluwen**

Death By Monkeys wrote:The battlesuits almost make me wish I played Tau. Almost. They're pretty hot. Any idea what the weapons on the first two are supposed to be? The first one looks like it's got a V-8 engine strapped to it. I'd expect that out of Orks, but Tau? I figured they'd at least managed to develop hybrid technology. Don't they look like they ought to drive Priuses?

I have no clue what the weapons are. But if I had to guess?

Left one seems to have some type of either a railgun or ion weapon. I'd guess ion, since the weapon body itself has the same general shape as the Hammerhead's ion cannon.
Middle one seems to be a commander, which means...I have no clue what the primary weapon is. It has a shield though!

Guessing some form of souped up plasma rifle or 'heavy' rail cannon?
Right one has what looks like some form of fusion gatling weapon. Again, may be completely wrong...but the weapon body looks about right.

**Kirasu**

Id actually consider playing Tau if GW redid the X-8s so they didnt look like anime inspired chicken legged warriors

**Myrthe**

Damn !!! I've dodged placing a Forge World order for months but now I will have to place one ... for the Space Wolf Transfers of all things !!!!!

**Bloodthirster**

And this is why ladies and gentlemen, that if your going to buy an army from GW and not stores like, "The Warstore", you should buy it from FW. The extra invesment needed isn't as much as used to be

. I hoping to start a Army for IA8 thanks to this!

Cheers, BT

**AesSedai**

They look great, thanks for posting!

Burst cannon: Str 5 AP5 6 shot with re-rolls
Polarised ion gun: 18" range Str 6 AP6, assault 6, rending
Fusion cascade: 12" range Str 6 AP1, D6 shots melta
Pulse sub munition rifle: 24" range, STR 5, AP 6 assault 1, 5" blast, no cover saves.

I read this on Tau Tactica a while ago. I wonder which is which.

**Kanluwen**

With actual names to work from?

Left is Polarised Ion Gun, Fusion Cascade is right, and Pulse Submunition Rifle is middle.

**Death By Monkeys**

AesSedai wrote:They look great, thanks for posting!

Burst cannon: Str 5 AP5 6 shot with re-rolls
Polarised ion gun: 18" range Str 6 AP6, assault 6, rending
Fusion cascade: 12" range Str 6 AP1, D6 shots melta
Pulse sub munition rifle: 24" range, STR 5, AP 6 assault 1, 5" blast, no cover saves.

I read this on Tau Tactica a while ago. I wonder which is which.

I'm gonna guess that the one on the left is the Pulse Sub Munition Rifle or the Polarised Ion Gun (but that thing looks like it's got a range of at least 24") and the one in the middle is the Fusion Cascade (due to the flattened, rectangular shape being similar to the Tau's other fusion guns).

Edit: LOL. Ninja'd by Kanluwen who makes completely different guesses than mine.

**Steelmage99**

I HATE those new suits!

What was biggest gripe with the existing models (besides looking a bit boxy)?

The had flimsy ankles that looked like they would never carry the weight of the suit.

What does FW do?

They fix the ankles, but they make the waist look absolutely idiotic.
It's like they have a directive telling them to make something flimsy-looking no matter what.

*Sigh*

**Kanluwen**

Of course I do. I make the RIGHT ones, Death!

Look at the actual weapons though. The one in the middle has the general look of the rail weapons we've seen--which make perfect sense for it to be just a railgun by another name.

As for the Fusion Cascade being the one on the right--it's the barrel that makes me think that one would be the Fusion Cascade weapon. The 'vents' that are sleeved around the round drum barrel just scream "FUSION WEAPON!" to me.

Either way, I wish I could get to the Open Day and grab some stuff. Maybe take a few FW sculptors home with me and get them working on a multi-part Kasrkin kit with options for snipers, heavy weapons, and a heavy stubber setup.

**Fateweaver**

Damn, I'll need more money soon. And to get off my ass and get my Tau done.

**Commander Endova**

Decals for all the Great Companies?

THE RAZORBACKS OF EGIL IRONWOLF'S GREAT COMPANY RIDE TO GLORIOUS BATTLE!!!!

**Uriels_Flame**

Burst Cannon not shown (or is on the first one they had out)

Ion - Fusion - Plasma Sub in the pic shown.

ALL FREAKING COOL!

**Scottywan82**

I want... pretty much all of this.

**Little lord Fauntleroy**

Damn. I almost want to play a Tau army now.

Almost.

**Breotan**

Steelmage99 wrote:They fix the ankles, but they make the waist look absolutely idiotic.

The waist is typical of anime.

**Death By Monkeys**

Kanluwen wrote:Look at the actual weapons though. The one in the middle has the general look of the rail weapons we've seen--which make perfect sense for it to be just a railgun by another name.

As for the Fusion Cascade being the one on the right--it's the barrel that makes me think that one would be the Fusion Cascade weapon. The 'vents' that are sleeved around the round drum barrel just scream "FUSION WEAPON!" to me.

Mm. Good call on the ion gun. I forgot that the big ion cannons were also powered by V-8 engines. And I'll also give you that the lack of venting on the middle one could indicate that it's the sub munition rifle, but frankly, I don't see that it has any more resemblance to a rail gun than it does to fusion gun - they're both rectangular and flat. <shrug> And as far as the one on the right goes, I think those ones look more like plasma guns than either fusion or burst cannons. It has the two barrel muzzles like the fusion gun does, but the cylindrical shape makes it look more like a burst cannon, imho. I don't spend much time with Tau models, so this is all speculation based on pics, though.

Kanluwen wrote:Either way, I wish I could get to the Open Day and grab some stuff. Maybe take a few FW sculptors home with me and get them working on a multi-part Kasrkin kit with options for snipers, heavy weapons, and a heavy stubber setup.

Chain them up in the basement with the rest of your sculpting staff?

**Kanluwen**

Who told you about the rest of my sculpting staff?!

**The Dreadnote**

Oh man, those are awesome. I think the ion gun's my favourite.

**Kanluwen**

Oh, and just as a reminder:

The Burst Cannon XV-9 Hazard has been available for quite awhile at 25 GBP. So consider the prices of the new ones accordingly.(Photo for reference)

**Fafnir**

The guns on the one to the left look like the Kojima Cannons from AC4/fa... so, by that logic, they should be absurdly powerful, but with an incredibly slow projectile and with the requirment of charging for 15 seconds between each shot.

But that's only the Raven in me (RAVEN! NOT LINX! RAVEN!) talking.

**ShumaGorath**

AesSedai wrote:They look great, thanks for posting!

Burst cannon: Str 5 AP5 6 shot with re-rolls
Polarised ion gun: 18" range Str 6 AP6, assault 6, rending
Fusion cascade: 12" range Str 6 AP1, D6 shots melta
Pulse sub munition rifle: 24" range, STR 5, AP 6 assault 1, 5" blast, no cover saves.

I read this on Tau Tactica a while ago. I wonder which is which.

Those are not the correct gun stats. Burst canons only have three shots, the PHASED ion gun is strength 4 ap4 with 4 shots, and the melta weapon is d3 shots. The submunition round is right though.

**carmachu**

Looks good from the waist up. Not liking the legs.

**H.B.M.C.**

I knew they'd do Stompa conversion kits eventually.

And those suits are ace.

**Breotan**

If I ever resurrect my Tau army, I'm definately grabbing FW suits.