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I don’t think that the Tau have a “broken” codex, or that they really even need an entirely new codex. But they could use some Chapter Approved like updates to give Tau armies a little more variety in what kinds of completive builds are available. Here is a list of problems I see in with the Tau codex and my ideas on how to fix them.

Ethereal: I have never seen a person field an Ethereal, I would like to see them be a little more competitive:

Solutions:

1. Change the inspiring presents rule so that it is not limited by line of sight and that all units that are within 12 inches are “Stubborn”

2. Change the Honor Guard rules to this:

An elite Honor Guard accompanies an Ethereal on the field of battle. These are some of the best Firewarriors in the entire Empire and have been trained far beyond the standard Firewarrior.

Stats: WS 3 BS 5 S 3 T 3 I 2 A 2 Ld 8 AS 4+

General Rules:

Cost: 20 each
Team Size 4 to 8
One Honor Guard member can be made a Team Leader
Equipped with Pulse Rifle and Photon grenades.

Special Rules

Mobile Warfare (see Firewarriors down the page for details)
Impeccable accuracy: Upon rolling a 6 to wound count as AP 1.

Stealth Suits: I think that Stealth Suits are great but I would like to see them a little more flexible so there are not overshadowed by Crisis Suits:

Solutions: For every 3 Stealth Suits in a team you may equip one with a fusion blaster, a burst cannon with mounted marker light, or a rail rifle.

Devilfish: Too expensive and cause problems with kill points and drones.

Solutions:

1. Reduces point cost by 10.

2. Drones from Devilfish do not count towards kill points but are subject to the following rule.

Vehicle mounted drone controller:

All Tau vehicles that have detachable drones have an onboard drone controller. If the vehicle is destroyed then the drones are removed from play.

Firewarriors: Firewarriors have suffered in popularity in the assault originated and cover save heavy world of 5th edition. I think they need a little tweaking to bring them into the limelight, as they are something of the signature unit of the Tau (Imagine a Space Marine Codex were it was more tactically sound to take Scouts than a Tactical Squad).

Solutions:

1. Remove Sniper Drones teams from the Heavy category and allow them to be purchased allowing with the Firewarrors under the following rules:

One to three Sniper Drone teams can be purchased per Firewarrior Team. These teams are purchased together with the Firewarrior Team but are separate units and thus are deployed separately and function independently from the Firewarrior Team. Sniper Drone Teams do not count as scoring units.

Note: This move is necessary because even though Sniper Drones teams are great unit, all of the Tau’s long range anti tank weapons are limited to his category and in the vehicle heavy 5th edition few Tau players can afforded to sacrifice a heavy selection on a unit that cannot deal with a tank.

2. New rule for Firewarriors “Mobile Warfare”

Explanation: Tau Firewarriors train almost exclusively with at ranged combat and mobile warfare. Because of this Firewarriors are able to fire on the move very effectively.

Effect: Firewarriors can choose to move as “Slow and Purposeful.” To do this the player must declare that the unit elects to move as slow and purposeful before the dice are rolled to determined distance. Once the dice are rolled the player must move as slow and purposeful and cannot elect to move as normal infantry until the players next movement phase.

Vespids: At this point there is no real reason to take a Vespid unit

Solution: Change the Neutron Blaster to the following rules:

Vespids can fire their weapon using a high frequency or low frequency crystals (the vespids are able two switch out these crystals with ease, it can be done even in the heat of combat.)

high frequency blast: Normal Neutron Blaster states
low frequency blast: S 4 AP 3 Assault, range: Template

Pathfinders: With the loss of Pathfinders advantage of being last to deploy in 3rd edition their placement in Fast Attack is a little odd.

Solution: Pathfinders have the “Move Though Cover rule” and when running Pathfinders can roll 3 dice and choose the highest when determining distance.

Rational: Give Pathfinders combat role, it seem likely that they would be trained on how to negotiate terrain quickly and be impressive sprinters.

Skyray: I think they need to be a tad bit better to make them a slightly more attractive when compared to a Hammerhead

Solution: New “Reloading Rule”

Explanation: Skyrays keep a supply of unarmed seeker missiles in their hulls. These missiles can be loaded and armed during battle but it is a time consuming and risky process. But it does enable a Skyray to remain in active in prolonged battles.

New Rule “Reload”: A Skyray crew can attempt to reload the Seeker Missile rack during battle. To do this the player must declare in the movement phase that a reload is being attempted. The Skyray may not move (including pivoting movements) in the movement phase or fire any weapons (including markerlights) in the shooting phase as all the members of the crew and the onboard AI are in the process of reloading and arming the new Seeker Missiles. In the shooting phase roll a D3, the number rolled indicates how many Seeker Missiles the crew was able to arm and load that turn. During your opponents turn following the reloading, the Skyray counts as an open top vehicle as crewmembers were moving in and out of the vehicle as it was being reloaded.

I personally miss Anghkor Prok and Aun'Shi. They were in the orginal book but are not in the current one. Perhaps write rules for them as well.

Me too, I think they were more interesting than the current special characters.

What I don't get is that the previous book had 3-4 characters I think and the current one has 2. What is with the inconsistency?

gotta say I like the slow an purposeful idea or something like it. I was also thinking for something like al rahiem's ability aka they can consolidate D6" after the unit has fired.

Honestly, I think Hit and Run would be more useful than Slow and Purposeful. The Tau need to get away from combat so they can shoot.

I don't think hit and run persay is that useful as its an I check and tau I sucks. Maybe a rule like fighting withdrawl which is auto leave combat on a 4+ for FW

More like an ordered withdrawal which could be based upon a leadership check.


Edit: I just thought of this.

How about weapon options for Broadsides? Instead of the railgun, a TL heavy plasma cannon or TL long barrel burst cannon or something else....

I like the SkyRay rule as only six shots per game always annoys me, so I never wanted to field the only major Seeker platform (and FW need those indirect Krak missiles).

Seeker missiles need to play a more prominent role methinks, just to stick to background, as I always liked the idea of pinned down FWs painting a tank with a laser and a missile swooping in to knock it out. And Witchhunters get that vehicle that fires d6 kraks a turn, iirc, would be good if the hyper-tech Tau used something similar (SkyRay gets two Seekers to be used every turn, not cumulative)

For the FW mobile warfare, you either have
-Hit and Run
-Slow and Purposeful (I like this idea very much )
-The 'pull out of combat' rule, on a 4+ or an Ld test
-Their stats upped to more like an IG man (for 5 more points you get a MUCH better gun and a better save but the same BS, worse I and worse WS, (fair?)) Improved I, maybe even WS?

I also agree with the Devilfish thing, transports were too expensive imo in 4th Ed

Fianlly, although it could (would) be OP, could Stealthsuits get fusion blasters (as a 5pt upgrade) each, not a max. of 1 in 3, so a full squad equipped with them? Maybe limit the squad size to 3 so as not to go too OP

My two cents, or something like that...

Come on? A rule in which you can disengage from combat on a 4+ without a penalty? I have an idea: you use that rule but if you fail the enemy sweeps you as you try and run.

Forgive me if this is OP but I am a Tau player & as such am prone to the "what I want not what they deserve" effect:

For firewarriors:

Rapid Redeployment:
Tau train vigilantly in the art of mobile combat to represent this whenever a firewarrior squad disembarks from a devilfish you may take a leadership test.
If this test is passed the unit counts as stationary for the purposes of firing any weapons.

With ld 8 this is far from a guaranteed ability and I feel it fits the Tau well. Also with this rule the price per FW would remain the same.

Edit: I realize this will make them rather hard to catch and pin in assault but just blow up the transport first or use faster moving units.

doesn't have to be a 4+ I just suggested it because a normal hit and run is terrible for them since their base I is 2 and it would only effect FW not any of the suits. An Ld check might be a good compromise.

agnosto wrote:
How about weapon options for Broadsides? Instead of the railgun, a TL heavy plasma cannon or TL long barrel burst cannon or something else....

I agree totally by Broadsides needing a different option.TL Large Missile Pack mounted on their Shoulders. Also give it 2 profiles so they can have a barrage attack profile and also a Heavy Blast high AP profile.

Example:

Poseidon Missile:
Rng: 48" Str: 6 AP: 3 Type: Assault 2, Rending

Urchin Pattern:
Rng: 60" Str: 6 AP: - Type: Heavy 2, Barrage



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Tau 5th ed. Codex Wish List:

Tau Units: I think Bonding Knifes should be given free with all Tau units. Possibly just a Tau Race Specific special rule. Also Troop units should be given Photon Grenades Standard.
The Tau Shas'ui Team Leader(Sergeant) Pathfinder and Firewarrior should be BS 4 Instead of Attacks 2. Also Shas'vre (Sergeants or Body Guards) Battlesuit Pilots should be BS4 also instead of Attacks 2. They are proven veterans who have proven themselves through trial by fire. The Shas'la Firewarriors\Pathfinders and Shas'ui Battlesuits should remain at BS 3 since they are beginners into their ranks.

H.Q.
Ethereal : Separate wargear for the Ethereal. The Honour Blade should be made a power weapon with +1 strength like the DE Incubi.

Honour Blade

Symbols of Office +1 Attack

Shield Generator

Drone Controller: Gun, Shield, Marker, Command Control

Honour Guard FW: Agreed they should allow a Team Leader and allow him allow normal upgrades with Upgraded BS.Give team leader upgrade option for a Naval Orbital Strike.

Veteran Guard: Use Aun'va Guard's Stats. 2-4 Veterans who have same options similar to Ethereal wargear; such as Honour Blade and Shield Generator.

Troop

Pathfinders: I believe PF should be in the Troop Slot. Squad size should be increased to 4-10 with restriction on number of Markerlights ex. 6-8 Markerlights in unit and also allow 1-4 Rail rifles. They should not require transport but can take a Devilfish or new model variant of Sawfish or possible the SkyRay if given a Transport Capacity.

Firewarrior: The team leader should be made BS 4 instead of the extra worthless attack. They are veterans who should have advanced in the skill of infantry weapons.

Kroot: They are an assault army and in that case should either get assault weapons or fleet or perhaps both.

Kroot Hounds: should be a beast type unit that is taken in the Kroot troop slot, and has a special rule "Unleash the Hounds" allows them to move independent from the Kroot unit, but suffer synapse negatives such as no hound in the movement phase with in 12" of the original kindred must fall back to that unit if they are not locked in assault.

Kroot Shaman: The shaman would be a upgraded Shaper with minor psych abilities much like an Eldar Warlock. Also the Kroot shaman can be equipped with a Witch Blade.

Fast Attack

Stealth Suit: Stealth Suits should be moved to the fast attack slot. The Shas'vre should gain +1 to BS instead of +1 attack. Also include the missile pods as an option to the fusion blaster upgrade.

Remora Drone Fighter: The migration from Forgeworld would give Tau a great support drone.

Gun Drone Squadron: Independent Drones should be fearless. They are programed floating satellite dishes. Also squad size should expand to 4-10.

Vespid: Make the squad size larger possibly to 12 Stingwings. Possibly make them unable to be sweep advanced and lock back up in combat.

Piranha Light Skimmer Team: Only possible change would be missile pods as a option for either hull mount or both drone mounts upgrade into one TL Missile Pods.

Elite

XV8/XV9 Crisis Suit Team: Shas'vre Team Leader gains +1 BS .

Leatherbacks Lightweight Non-Stealth variant of XV15.

Stats as followed: Squad 3-6 WS: 3 BS: 4 S: 4 T: 3 W: 1 I: 3 A: 2 Ld: 9 Sv: 3+

Options: Standard Issue: Beam Accelerator: Profile Rng: 18" S: 3 AP: 3 Type: Assault 2

Upgrade: Missile Pods, Fusion Blaster, Special Issue Long Barrel Burst Cannon.

Sniper Drone Team Move them into elite and give the spotter either a dual action markerlight or possible a marker drone. Then give him an option for a 1-2 Seeker Missile Rack Drone.

Heavy Support

Hammerhead Tank: No changes

Skyray Missile Tank: Transport Capacity: 8. Allow 1-2 seeker missile upgrade to the hull. Give Turret Missiles Lance ability.

Broadside XV88: TL Large Missile Pack mounted on their Shoulders. Also give it 2 profiles so they can have a barrage attack profile and also a Heavy Blast high AP profile.
Poseidon Missile:
Rng: 48" Str: 6 AP: 3 Type: Assault 2, Rending
Urchin Pattern:
Rng: 60" Str: 6 AP: - Type: Heavy 2, Barrage

Greater Knarloc Monstrous Creature WS: 4 BS: 0 S: 5 T: 5 W: 4 I: 3 A: 4 Ld: 10 Sv: 4+

Unique

Commander Cold Shadow Featured on page 137 of the RB. Uses sword and cyclic ion blaster.

Commander Shas'O Kais In the Firewarrior Novel and also Dawn of War and also is my avatar.

Also here is my proposed rules for Markerlights.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/322537.page

Also I hope they do not give us another auxiliary units. Except maybe humans for fluff reasons.

wow.....those are some VERY interesting ideas....

The skyray change idea sounds great, but i would suggest that when the vehicle chooses to "reloaded" its not allowed to shoot that turn but next turn i has its full complement of missiles back and can start using it.
this i believe will make it a viable option agaisnt the HH. and would reinforce its role as support mobile missile platform.

The Ethereal i would sugget changing it by giving it that old Ld rule that marine commanders use to have. The one that gave all marine/ tau in this case on the field its Ld. Now this sounds OP but think about it this not only reinforces his role and purpose exponentially but makes him extremely appealing over a second battlesuit commander. Ofcourse he would have the whole price of failure draw back as well.
Honor guard seems good enough as is...give them counter attack maybe??
The big character etereal could give all counter attack which will make him very wanted.

ohh and give the battle suits the new goodies like the fusion cascade and polarised ion gun, sub munition riffle

I want to know if they will make railguns pinning. At the end of the day rail rifles are pinning and they are just smaller versions using the same technology. Plus seeing your buddy getting hit by a strength 10 ap 1 weapon and dissolving into mush would be a pretty harrowing experience imo.

I don't see the point of letting fire warriors fire as stationary even when they move.... they have rapid fire weapons so when you hav to move and fire (the enemy is near) you can already do it... The idea is interesting but i think that an ability like that won't help the poor greyskins....
I think that ethereal should boost MUCH more their troops while alive, and worsen MUCH MUCH more when they die...
come on... Taus get angry when the ethereal is slain??? They fall in desperation...

I dont play Tau but it would be cool if you could field an entire kroot army. Also kroot beast riders. And vespids that dont look so silly. And kroot giving tau piggyback rides.

crimsonmicc wrote:I dont play Tau but it would be cool if you could field an entire kroot army. Also kroot beast riders. And vespids that dont look so silly. And kroot giving tau piggyback rides.

Kroot Mercenaries, look it up.

Lots of good ideas in this thread, my 2 cents as well:

A unit/model I thought up a long time ago to help keep the tau from getting decimated in melee, failsafe drone.

Basically, when a charge is declared the drone moves 12 to the nearest assaulting enemy model before any assault movement and explodes with a small blast template of some str value. Drones are expendable, tau are not. Considering there is an upgrade for allowing a suit to be sacrificed and explode, why not a drone?

Similarly the drone could allow the tau to escape from melee freely, as per the rules for the forgeworld xv9's

My thoughts, change the skyray to have a barrage weapon. Tau need some more templates and a pinning one would be nice. or make an earth caste missile battery that does this. Maybe 2 different shots a S3 barrage that ignored cover or a S5 one that does not.

New troop variants, maybe add some cavalry "gnarloc riders" that centaur race etc.

Make vespid troop choices, make them more useful somehow, perhaps make the guns ap 2 instead of 3. Give them the option to take a queen (act like a broodlord for genestealers)

Give us some sort of power weapon, greater gnarlocs, rending gnarloc riders, upgrade for hounds/carnivores.

Fix the vehicle drones counting as kill points and make drones fearless when not in a squad (as mentioned already).
Reduce the point cost of marker drones.

Make stealth armor squads larger and cheaper and fast attack choice. Let the whole squad take markerlights.

Give us some friggin aircraft! We have no titans but a butt ton of air support.

New heroes that arent so friggin useless, kroot heroes.

Remove the 1+ requirements for commanders and firewarriors.

Make pathfinders a troop choice, dont make them have to take a devilfish, give them infiltrate.

Give stealth suits the missile pod option and possibly make them fast attack or troop choices.

Allow kroot with krootox to still infiltrate, make the max squad size 30 or... if a shaper is taken make them fearless/regroup under half strength. Give the shaper a power weapon.

Make disruption pods standard on vehicles.

Allow the commander unit to take an ethereal with jump pack as an escort for his squad and give a squad that does this a cover save (like the ethereal hero does), or alternatively the ethereal might be the HQ choice that take battlesuits as a bodyguard with him.

Give firewarriors a heavy weapon choice.

that's all for now ,sorry for the grammar will fix it soon but its 2 am.

Puposed ideas for tau 5th ed codex.

Superscope's Recommended changes, as of 29/10/10

-General-

- Removed point limit on wargear for units and IC's.
Since most new codex's don't have them
- May take more than one of the same special issuse item, but restricted to HQ's only.
Gives commander units more proper purpose than simply being a "extra suit"
- Removed +1 requirements on fire warriors.
Had it Coming
- Clearly state that units equiped with jetpacks have the relentless USR (Thanks to 5th editon).
Some people are not clear on it, best to alert the masses

Wargear changes

- Shield generator - Keep point cost, 3++
To keep up with storm shields.
- Iridium Armor - No jump penalty, increase point cost to compensate, HQ suits only.
Slowing down a suit/unit of suits was kinda self-commiting suicide.
- Target lock - Ability to single out IC/sargents in shooting. Cost now 10pts
Since Target locks no longer have a purpose in 4th...
- Multi-tracker - Keep it as it is, no problems.
It's fine, no change needed
- Bonding knife - Keep it as it is, no problems... Plus it keeps it differnt from ATSHNF.
Same as above
- Targeting array - +1 BS (not limited to 5)
Gives a actual use for Shas'O
- Emp grenades - Always glances on a 4+. Pens on a 6, re-roll allowed on AV14 armor (Remember melee attacks are on rear armor.)
Gives it a different flavor from haywire grenades
- Photon grenades - Defence nades, also lower enemy intitive by 1 if charged.
Helps keep units alive by slowing down the enemy
- Failsafe Detonator - Ability to use at start or end of close combat. Units without this item fall back 2d6 and automaticly regroups (to avenge their comrades brave sacifice). Increase AP vaule of blast to 3. Raise point cost to 30pts.
Was silly you could only use this when you've lost combat. 90% of the time your dead before you can fire it off. Also was sad the str 8 blast was ap -. It's basicly now a demo charge
- Disruption pods - 15pts
We all agreed this was way too cheap for what it does
- Decoy Launchers - May Re-roll enemy glancing hits.
Simplify it, so it's easier to understand with 5th rules
- Sensor spines - May ignore Dangerous Terrain Tests caused by skimmer issuses.
Same as above
- Markerlights - Range increased to 48". Friendly units firing at the same target gain the following depending on how many markerlights have hit:
----------------------------------------
1 markerlight hit
+1 BS
2 markerlight hits
+1 BS, -1 to unit cover saves
3 markerlight hits
+2 BS, -1 to unit cover saves
4 markerlight hits
+2 BS, -2 to unit cover saves
5+ markerlight hits
+2 BS, -2 to unit cover saves, All ranged attacks count as twin-linked.
----------------------------------------
Markerlights were heavy, slow and gave only little effects other than stripping cover/boosting ballistic skills. A more simple approch is more effective here.
- Drone Controller - Can take 2 gun, shield, marker and heavy gun drones. Don't count towards transport capacity (drones click into holding bays inside), drone stats and cost unchanged.
Makes drones a tad more useable with mech builds.


-Weapons-

Twin-linked systems only count as a single system. Cost to twin link weapons same as standard weapons (So a Twin-Linked Flamer would cost 8pts instead of the current 6pts).

- Pluse carbine - raise range to 24"
Gives the carbine useability and interest over the pluse rifle, so both become valid choices
- Pluse Rifle - Allows rapid fire at 15"
Will help fix survivability and usefulness of fire warriors
- Rail-rifle - Allow Fire warriors to take one rail-rifle per 6 models.
While not exactly fluffy, it does add a nice addition for gunline tactics
- Fusion blaster - Cost now 15pts. Melta effect at 9" instead of standard 6".
Costs more than a standard melta gun and with slightly futher melta range
- Plasma Rifle - Cost now 15pts.
Keeps it in check with other codexs for plasma weapons
- Burst Cannon - Now 5pts.
Gives a cheap option for crisis suits
- Flamer - Now Free (5pts to twin-link)
Same as above
- Seeker Missiles - Changed to Str 8 ap 1 small blast. Requires a markerlight hit on the unit and reduces scatter by 2 for each markerlight hit after the first one. (Does not consume the markerlight counter)
Seeker Missiles are huge on our hovertanks. Why the hell don't they explode with a radius or something? Do they just impale the target they fire at or something?
- Smart Missile system - Unchanged.
No real problem with them
- *New* Linear Howitzer - XV-88 only, replaces railgun. Heavy 4 Str 6, AP 5 12-60" range, barrage
Something for the tau to cope with horde armies other than flamer/burst cannon/hammerhead spam.

-Units-

Tau Commander - Base Shas'el - 50pts.
Upgrade to a Shas'O - 25pts
Must take one of the following:
XV-8c - 25pts (Lets you take crisis suits as troops)
XV-9c - 50pts (+1 S,T,I. Removes 0-1 limit on XV-9 suits)
XV-22c - 75pts (Intergraded 3++ and stealth generator, can't join sqauds.)
This gives the Tau commander in the codex the most flexability out of all the units. Access to a XV-9 and a XV-22 suit also greatly spice things up a bit.

Etheral (0-3 as a single HQ choice)
Etheral - 50pts
Wears armored ceromony robes (4+, intergrated 5++).
Re'roll moral effect and Penalty for etheral's death restricted to only within 12" (Other Etherals in range keep others in check)
Gives Etherals a much need durability boost. Also it doesn't screw your entire army up when one of them dies.

Fire Warriors - 10pts
Comes with photon grenades free. Remove 1+ restiction.
Generaly better now thanks to multiable tweaks.

Kroot - 8pts
+1 I
Ajust fieldcraft to Scout, Infiltrate, Move though cover USRs.
Extra I for them to actualy do what they were orginaly ment to do, which is counter-charge. fluff wise they are faster than a human. Also updated fieldcraft for 5th ed

Kroot hounds - 10pts
Gains Scout, Infiltrate and Move though cover.
Changes so they can keep up with their kroot masters

Krootox - 35pts
Now taken as a seperate sqaud (no longer attachment to a kroot sqaud)
Now classed as a monsterous creature
Now in a useable state

Vespids - 20pts (25pts for strain leader)
Raise armor save to 4+.
Close combat attacks are rending.
Makes them actualy useful!

Pathfinders - Unchanged
Come with photon/emp nades.
Have scout and stealth USR.
No longer forced to take Devilfish (Option still exists with Marker Beacon)
Now able to take them without the costly devilfish, meaning you can bring them to smaller games. Also more useful with several updates to their wargear.

Gun Drone Sqaud - 10pts
Able to take a sqaud for each Tau unit(not vespids or kroot, don't count towards FoC). 4 to 20 drones. Maxed out gun drone sqauds can claim objectives and are fearless if their is 10 or more models. (as soon as they have less than 10 they lose all bonuses).
Puts your 20+ drone collection to work

XV-8 - Photon Dischargers (Grenades) standard.
Tweeks here and there give increased bang for buck

XV-25 - 25pts.
Photon grenades and burst cannon standard.
Each suit may exhange burst cannon with fusion blaster.
Cheaper and the ability to turn them into a strong tank hunting sqaud should give a better choice in the elite section

XV-88 - Stablizers now standard (Can move as Slow and purposeful)
More weapon options.
Gives them a bit more flavor other than railgun spam.

Devilfish - Lower cost to 70pts.
The Devilfish was overpriced for what it did in the first place.

Hammerhead - 100pts
Ion cannon and gun drones as standard armament.
May replace ion cannon with one of the following:
Twin-Linked Long Barrled Burst Cannon
Twin-Linked Heavy Missile Pod
Twin-Linked Fusion Blasters
Twin-Linked Plasma Cannon
Railgun - 40pts.
Same with XV-88's. More choice equals less spam of the same weapons.

Sky Ray - 120pts
Twin-linked markerlights.
Better ability for firing it's own missiles

Farsight - Unchanged
Higher WS.
Raises WS of units in his army by 1. (Replaces ork figher)
Bodyguard can take power blades (Think of "copies" of farsight's dawn blade).
XV8's can be taken as fast attack in addition to troop choices.
Breakaway faction, Globle Bonding knifes and large bodyguard rules still in place.
Makes Farsight followers more renagade from their fellow tau

Shadowsun - Unchanged
+1 T (seriously, a battle-hardened woman who's wearing a battlesuit that would make master chief cry and she's only T 3??).
Boost command link drone's range to 24".

Aun'va - 505pts (205pts for Aun'va, Includes honor guard costs of 300pts)
Replace current honor guard with a 24 man fire warrior Honor Guard sqaud (+1 WS,BS,I, Ld, same choices as standard FWs).
Increase Ld vaule of units in army by 1 so long Aun'va remains on the table.
Standard etheral re-roll ability (Table wide version).
Paradox of duality gives +1 T and +4 cover save to all within 18". Gives +2 T to Aun'va.
Ultimate price of failure rule still applies
No longer such a hidious HQ choice. Something for gunline tau tactics to bite their teeth into. Also would look pretty fearsome on a battlefield the huge bodyguard sqaud.

-New units-

Vetrean Fire Warrior Team - 12pts
1+ BS and Ld over standard Fire warrior. Comes with photon grenades.
More options than standard FW's.
Higher quality fire warriors for a higher cost.

Flathead Gunship - Heavy support -
A tau gunship thats based off a AC-130, the gunship itself is equiped with very powerful anti-ground weapons.
Cost - 200pts
AV 11 13 11 - Skimmer
Wargear - Disruption pods
4 twin linked burst cannons
4 twin linked missile pods
(2 weapons are on each side)
Special Rules - Encircled Fire, dedicated weapons crew, High altitue.

Encircled Fire - The flathead gunship may move after firing it's weapons however it must be within 18" of the unit the gunship was attacking. It also must keep it's side facing that unit (The side that used it's weapons).

Dedicated weapons crew - A team of 6 tau air caste pilots and personal, along with complex weapon systems and AI targetting man the gunship in addition to the 2 flight pilots. The flathead gunship may fire all of it's weapons, regardless of how far it moved(Even when flat out).

High altitue - The Flathead gunship may not be assaulted, as it flies much higher than standard aircraft.
A idea of mine to give the Tau a flier of sorts, since they love flying ALOT. I always fought the tau would have some sort of powerful anti-ground support craft to help the ground troops move forward. Thus was born the flathead (excuse the crummy name, but i like to stick with naming tau stuff as fish). I love the concept of the USA's AC-130, so why not bring one into 40K?... and give it to the tau to see if they could make some upgrades. The flathead also has some very special things compared to other fliers like the IG's valkyre or the storm raven gunship. For starters it's front armor is actualy weaker than it's sides, mainly because alot of the time it's going to be facing it's side (where all it's guns are) to enemies. Secondly, it can't be assaulted. A AC-130 has a bucketload of counter-mesures to keep enemies from shooting it out of the sky. One of them is that it flies higher than other aircraft in the field (compared to say, a helicopter) so primitive launchers from ground have little hope of doing anything.

XV-9s as a codex entry - Fast attack -
(Limit 0-1, XV-9 commander removes limit)
Yea... if you havn't seen what a XV-9 is.. go to forge world and check it.. just....damn sexy....

Farsight in a stolen XV-9 suit - Boosted S,T,I,A,W over normal Farsight.
Farsights plasma rifle becomes assault 1 Str 8 Ap 2 Gets Hot.
Melee attacks ignore armor, reduces invul saves by 1 and causes 3d6+S armor peneration.
--Due to Farsight's special modifications, the XV-9 power supply was hotwired to feed the dawn blade. Such a act has awaken the dawn blade's true power.--
MUCH higher cost. Loses IC status.
A powerhouse. Kinda like mephiston in the blood angel codex. Godly, but a loner.

*Added* R'myr - 160pts
3++ standard,
Must take 2 drones
Must take 2 bodyguards (each wearing upgraded XV-8b battlesuits).
Flak dischargers as normal
Again, forge world, check him, his shield is awesome

Tau tetra's - same as apoc version' cept hopefuly better model.
once again, forge world. Something shiny for people to play around with

Heavy Weapon Drones - 18pts
Come with Twin-Linked Burst Cannon.
Even more shiny from forge world

Tau Drone golem - A large bulky robotic body with a drone intergraded on it's back. Toughness 6 with 3+ armor and 3 wounds, very poor WS and I (1). No range attack. Basicly a big "Tar pit" unit.
Another idea of mine. Ever watched the judge dread movie and fell in love with the war golem in it? You also wondered who the hell does all the heavy lifting and labor in places? Since drones are used commonplace in tau socity, why not have a bigger body for drones to use. They simply hover into a slot made for them on the back of the golem, slot in, and then uses the much more durable body to do the work. This is pretty much a milltary application of it, with more armor plating and enhanced strength. Fluff wise it's sound. Game wise it's a pretty awesome unit to throw at.. say a big 30 man sqaud of ork boyz. It's always going to go last and it's rarely going to hit anything.. but by the time the enemy managed to defeat the drone golems... the game is pretty much over.

Well.. that's my idea of 5th ed tau. What you guys think? overpowered? good? underpowered? please reply (no please)

I actually prefer the +1 on the Firewarriors. Also I agree giving Vespid rending and give the strain leader an extra attack.

Personally I think that the Tau just need some more unit variety, it dosen't have to be all auxiliaries (although that would be nice) they should have more battlesuit types and drones. If they updated the ruleas to work better for 5th and added everything from Forge World I'd be happy.

I actually have played Ethereals now and then but I only use them in friendly games and even then I actually try to get them killed so I can get the bonus from it (I'm famous for having great Ld based checks).

And I agree about Prok and Aun'shi, Aun'shi was my favorite character and it was fun when he actually would kill a cc HQ in combat.

I think what tau need is close combat units NOT KROOT because they suck but what about these
Ripsaw Battlesuits
Ws Bs S T W I A Ld Sv
4 ..3 .5 4..2.3.2..9..3+

equipment: Ripblade, Shield generator, Burst cannon.

Standard special rules

Can replace jet pack with jump pack...free

Ripblade
Does rending on 5+.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Because farsight needs some support in combat.

Zookie wrote:
Skyray: I think they need to be a tad bit better to make them a slightly more attractive when compared to a Hammerhead

Solution: New “Reloading Rule”

Explanation: Skyrays keep a supply of unarmed seeker missiles in their hulls. These missiles can be loaded and armed during battle but it is a time consuming and risky process. But it does enable a Skyray to remain in active in prolonged battles.

New Rule “Reload”: A Skyray crew can attempt to reload the Seeker Missile rack during battle. To do this the player must declare in the movement phase that a reload is being attempted. The Skyray may not move (including pivoting movements) in the movement phase or fire any weapons (including markerlights) in the shooting phase as all the members of the crew and the onboard AI are in the process of reloading and arming the new Seeker Missiles. In the shooting phase roll a D3, the number rolled indicates how many Seeker Missiles the crew was able to arm and load that turn. During your opponents turn following the reloading, the Skyray counts as an open top vehicle as crewmembers were moving in and out of the vehicle as it was being reloaded.

Don't take this the wrong way but this is total bs. The Sky ray should just have unlimited number of missiles. If an SOB exorsist can potentially fire 42 48" S8 AP1 missiles a game, the skyray shouldn't have limit either, nor require one whole turn of total gimping just so it can be somewhat effective next turn.

Don't you think a squad of vespid throwing out 5 ap3 s4 templates a little over powered but other wise the rule changes sound really sensible and not someone who wants an over powered codex.

royal house wrote:Don't you think a squad of vespid throwing out 5 ap3 s4 templates a little over powered but other wise the rule changes sound really sensible and not someone who wants an over powered codex.

Not really considering they dont have the Ork burna boy advantage of doing from an open topped transport, so your not likely to get 7-9 models per template. I personally think the power should be reduced to S3, but the AP should also be lowered to AP2. This way they can't hurt vehicles, only wound on 4s for T3 guys. But they can also now threaten termies as well.

A very deadly radiation gun indeed.

My opinion is that most of the issues in the Tau codex boil down to three things:

1. Too few useful choices, typical of codices of its vintage, but now painfully bad in comparison.

2. Remarkable bad baseline infantry. Firewarriors, while not terrible in abstract, particularly if theoretically combined with markerlight support, need a better ability to function independently.

3. Simplified and improved markerlight/unit buffing effects.

I think one is relatively easy since playing with point costs and minor unit alterations is fairly simple (i.e. cheaper Devilfish, unlimited Skyray missiles, longer range burst cannons, Stealth Suits as troops).

As to the second issue I recomend dropping the carbine as a Firewarrior option and making the Pulse Rifle a versatile weapon rather like Sternguard's ammunition choices:

I still suggest dropping the carbine (except as paired with markerlight) and make the Pulserifle have multiple fire modes, so it can do the three jobs firewarriors need to be able to do via shooting: break light transports, prune hordes, threaten elite infantry.

My suggestion is three possible profiles:

R36" S6 AP3 H1
R30" S5 AP5 H2
R18" S4 AP6 A3

Which gives them the ability to stop light transports, threaten elite infantry enough that that slow down to benefit from cover, and prune hordes.

In regards to markerlights I would prefer if every/most tau unit(s) could provide special benefits/bonuses/buffs to each other, rather like the IG order system in reverse.

I.e. Any unit which fires at a unit after a unit of Firewarriors has already shot at them in that shooting phase counts its weapons as twin-linked.

Pathfinders negate cover saves/grant move through cover, Stealth Suits grant Tank Hunter, Skyrays double scatter distances/negate homing beacons, etc...

Jack