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Ok ok i no this has been done before but i feel we all have something to say on the matter.

so id like to see:

+1 BS across the board-tau firewarriors train for decades in fire drills so why only BS3?

drones LD10 and fearless-their non-seintinent AIs for feths sake!!! they dont worry about casualties only what their programing says.

drones +1 BS-their computer targeting...surely their going to be atleast semi decent shots

pulse carbines assault 2-there essentialy full auto pulse weaponry desighned for assault. flamers spew a roaring sheet of flame and meltas fire microwave blasts so it makes sense for them to be ROF1
but pulse carbines are auto so why only 1 shot?

burst cannons assault 4-there GATLING guns for feths sake.

Stealth teams and suits gain +1 WS-their trained infiltraters and will pick up hand to hand skills when they take out enemy sentries.

stealth teames and suits can take rail rifles and gain relentless

My wishes would be:

Special weapons (flamers, plasma, maybe melta) on drones, that can be taken by Fire warriors.

Drone Ld improved slightly (# of drones +2, or at least 6)

Fire warrior team leaders gain some shooting bonus or a networked markerlight instead of an extra attack.

Pulse carbines gain small blast template, maybe losing Ap for this.

Widespread use of Targeting Array for Crisis suits, for reduced points or without using a support system.

Assault 4 Burst cannon.

Fire warriors do NOT train for decades. Tau lifespan, iirc is little more than 40 years. Tau fire warriors are promoted to Shas'Ui after four years of combat, and again to Shas'Vre after four years. Most senior battlesuits that are not commanders might be getting close to the decades ( as in, more than one). Hence, most Imperial Guard units are more experienced than Tau Fire warriors, although with worse training and equipment.

Kallimakus wrote:Fire warriors do NOT train for decades. Tau lifespan, iirc is little more than 40 years. Tau fire warriors are promoted to Shas'Ui after four years of combat, and again to Shas'Vre after four years. Most senior battlesuits that are not commanders might be getting close to the decades ( as in, more than one). Hence, most Imperial Guard units are more experienced than Tau Fire warriors, although with worse training and equipment.

But they specalise in fire drills and they do train for more time than the guard.
and as they are a primarily shooty army it does make sense....

BS4 may make sense, but the fire warrior commanders are like, 30ish years old, the oldest Tau by a LONG shot being farsight, at 200ish iirc..

yeah but still...
cmon now lets not go OT

I'd like to see BS4 on Battlesuits at base. Their veteran warriors, in suits that allow them to increase their accuracy, and their the elite, expensive choice of a shooty army..

Sniper teams up to 5 drones? 3 isn't to much..

Kroot having Stealth instead of Fieldcraft.

Firewarriors, bs4. Makethem mobile besides having to take transport. Rapidfire = 18'' ?

New bonuses for makerlights. (Expend two marker light hits instead of one and a squad can re-roll all to-hits?)

Stealth suits - more weapon choices

Ethereals being useful.

Vespid having assault 2 guns.

Although they should really nerf Aun'Va, the space pope. OP if you ask me

+1 BS across the board-tau firewarriors train for decades in fire drills so why only BS3?

I'm sick of tau players asking for this! They don't deserve bs4 the don't train for that long at all.They would have the same bs as a regular guardsman,there already is bs4 fire warriors-they are called veteran firewarriors.Bs4 is for warriors with extreme training,such as marines or aspect warriors.Bs3 is fine for a run of the mill warrior.

Stealth teams and suits gain +1 WS-their trained infiltraters and will pick up hand to hand skills when they take out enemy sentries.
stealth teames and suits can take rail rifles and gain relentless

Their whole training is for shooting,they are not cc ambushers,they are short ranged fire support.You can't beat them in a fire fight so cc needs to be the place they lack.

Imperial Guard vets are troops, they have bs4, tau have no big blog of foot soldiers, they are more elite. They could reasonably have bs4

Kallimakus wrote:
Fire warriors do NOT train for decades. Tau lifespan, iirc is little more than 40 years. Tau fire warriors are promoted to Shas'Ui after four years of combat, and again to Shas'Vre after four years. Most senior battlesuits that are not commanders might be getting close to the decades ( as in, more than one). Hence, most Imperial Guard units are more experienced than Tau Fire warriors, although with worse training and equipment.

Um, joe guardsmen joins the fire caste aged 16 and once he reaches 40 isn't a peak condition soldier. So in about 30 years a guardsmen can learn the skills to become a veteran and since most aren't portrayed as old guys its not age but actual battlefield experience that counts. Also the Tau life cycle means they reach maturity much earlier than humans and also remain at peak condition until late in life at which stage death comes extremely quickly; the codex actually describes this as removing those who would burden the society. So, at a guess, if a fire warrior is an adult at 10 years old or earlier and dies at the age of 40 (without any physical degeneration up to that point remember) then Tau also have about 30 years to become a veteran.

Since I doubt (given the numbers in each army) that every veteran is given a crisis suit (even then they still just got BS3) it stands to reason that some FW units would be more experienced than the grunts.


BS4 vet FW as an alternate troop choice is certainly justifiable.

Imperial Guard vets are troops, they have bs4, tau have no big blog of foot soldiers, they are more elite. They could reasonably have bs4

But they don't have a 30 inch tr5 basic weapon and can't upgrade their bs to 5.

Dont know why were defending the imperial guard here. One of the more OP codex choices out there.

As far as games are concerned, I wouldn't mind if you kept the firewarrior BS the same as long as you upped the BS of the standard suits and commanders.

Rocky1 wrote:

Imperial Guard vets are troops, they have bs4, tau have no big blog of foot soldiers, they are more elite. They could reasonably have bs4

But they don't have a 30 inch tr5 basic weapon and can't upgrade their bs to 5.

Tau cost double the points of joe guardsmen, pathfinders too expensive (unit has to forgo shooting), guard get orders and advisors etc. Also a str5 gun isn't as powerful as made out because nobody plays massed infantry and marines/vet troops can shrug off even BS5 volleys without complaint.

Dont know why were defending the imperial guard here. One of the more OP codex choices out there.
As far as games are concerned, I wouldn't mind if you kept the firewarrior BS the same as long as you upped the BS of the standard suits and commanders.

I'm not really defending the guard I just don't think the fire warriors deserve the increase in bs all the tau players want.I do however agree with an upped bs for suits and commanders.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Tau cost double the points of joe guardsmen, pathfinders too expensive (unit has to forgo shooting), guard get orders and advisors etc. Also a str5 gun isn't as powerful as made out because nobody plays massed infantry and marines/vet troops can shrug off even BS5 volleys without complaint.

Str 5 means you can glance the front of rhinos and razorbacks which is what most mass vehicle lists bring.Also marine don't shrug off str5 bs5 volleys at all.
Tau have a better armour save.I feel tau have one of the better troop choices out there because the str of their gun really makes up for their lack in bs as do the markerlights.

12 shots
10 hit
7 wound
5 killed

rapid fire
24 shots
20 hit
14 wound
8-9 killed

Sounds impressive and I have blown whole marine squads off the board in a single turn. But if you look at the cost, 12 FW=120pts, 8 pathfinders=128 devilfish=80pts (okay the fish can add its own limited fire but you get my point). Even bare bones its nearly 320pts. For that, you could put 9 plasma gun wielding vets onto the field, or a lemman russ, or 1.5 trygons, or 2 carnifexs, or three ravagers, a decent sized termie squad etc etc.

You'd need luck to blow up tanks with the rifles and Tau already have excellent (if slightly exp) AT with missile pods, ion cannons and railguns. But yes I wouldn't want to fight them with my dark eldar!

And they die to return fire, or if ANYTHING touches them in combat...

Suits should have bs 4 natural. Firewarrior shouldn't. Markerlights should be cheap and be able to saturate the Tau force. This solves the issue of bs, and plays up the Tau's unique mechanic.

Point prices need to be readjusted to compete with the current climate.

DakkaDakka wrote:

My wishlist

BS 3 Firewarriors, sorry, but we can already bump to 4 or 5, just take the markerlights.

Speaking of Markerlights, i want to change it up a bit. A standard Markerlight will now work for the unit carrying it so there is a reason to upgrade that team leader to carry a markerlight. However standard Markerlights won't provide bonuses to other units. Instead that will be the job of Networked Markerlights (since that is a bit closer to my understanding of what a Network really is). Network Markerlights will be restricted to dedicated marking units like Pathfinders and Tetras

Speaking of Tetras, yes please. TX-42s and Hazard suits while you're at it too.

Crisis suit weapons that are more than just Imperium weapons with a few of the seriel numbers changed. Really, we have Flamers, Melta Guns and Plasma Guns almost as is from the Imperium. Let’s get something new and different. Also make the new weapons 18 inch plus across the board.

Pulse Rifles – Heavy 2. Pulse Carbines - Assault 2 (no Pinning)

Turn the Photon Grenade Luancher on the Pulse Carbine into a true grenade launcher capable of using photon grenades, EMP grenades and some sort of light submunition round.

Failsafe Detonator, instead of making it available to only 1 very expensive model, make it something every unit can take and put it into a cheap, expendable drone.

Airbursting Fragmentation Project – Standard Issue. Cyclic Ion Blaster – Standard Issue and make it Rending instead of the near useless sometimes AP 1 stuff. Iridium Armour and Stim Injectors increased availability too.

Auxilliaries – enough different ones to be able to run a competitive all Auxilliary Army, but enough good Tau units to run a competitive all Tau army. Of course there should also then be opportunities for a really rocking hybrid army.

Ethereals – make them something like a cross between Commisars and the new Necron Crypteks/Lords. Essentially a squad upgrade that improves Morale and Ld rolls plus provides some neat other abilities (maybe like imperial guard orders)

Commanders – give us commanders who are students of Puretide, give them each their own special area of expertise and let that are of expertise have army wide effects, things like changing the FOC or adding USRs or manipulating Nightfighting (Tau are good at it, so why not?)

Keep the Tau bad at close combat, but make it easier for us to escape (i.e. failsafe drone, more units with hit and run, etc)

Keep the Toolkit approach. Instead of taking lots of different Units to meet different roles, the Tau take a few different units, and equip them radically differently for different roles (i.e. the Crisis suit). I don’t want to lose that. But at the same time I don’t want to be screwed over just because I brought the wrong gun either, so the system should be flexible and forgiving. Rumours of multiple Ammo Types for battlesuit weapons make me smile.

Range Dominance. The Necrons have claimed the 24 inch bubble. I want the Tau to dominate in the 24+ range. I don’t mind if we can be destroyed in close as long as nobody can survive us far away.

as a note
crisis suits...
these should be toughness 7 atleast or even veihcles-i mean there fething MECHS!!! so why only toughness 4???
also all suits should have relentless if their non veihcle.
BS increase by +1 across the board definetly. i mean they should be a long range shooty army. they do train in fire drills specificaly.

now i am not a Tau player primarily(i play guard) so people can stop complaining that its just the Tau players who want +1 BS for the Tau.

Ummm, one shot to the middle of the Crisis Suit chest could shut it down, think of it as a very weak dreadnaught, t5 I could see, and MAYBE t6, but there is NO way they will make t7 crisis suits, they are not Ctan Material, Maybe a larger suit with the MC rules would do that, which would be really cool actually, but every average joe suit is NOT that hard

My wish list:
BS 3 is fine for FWs but they need more options. Standard grenades and 'ui for the squad maybe a free bonding knife. Point reduction per model, cheaper devilfish.

Burst cannons need to be range 24" at least or the ability to upgrade to long-barrel BCs ala forge world.

I like rumors of an open-top transport, finally those embarked FWs will be able to contribute.

More weapon options for vehicles, maybe forge world turrets for Hammerheads.

Switch strength and toughness for suits, makes no sense to be S5 T4 when you fold in close combat to a stiff breeze. Basically rethink the statline for suits, they're supposed to be veteran warriors and should be BS4 if anything in the army is.

Increased suit unit size and decreased base/weapon cost. I'd say a unit size cap of 5 would be good.

Another variety of walker suit besides the broadside or have weapon options for broadsides.

More weapons that use blast templates. Some might say that it wouldn't fit the fluff but GW's very good with the retcon pen and I care more about a viable army on the tabletop than the precious fluff.

Armywide feel no pain, everybody else has it. [/weak joke]

I would agree with the switching the toughness, the square battle suits wouldn't we able to hit to hard in its limited mobility, in all likelihood, but they are tougher than a Space Marine..

Another one, combine Stealth Teams and Pathfinders into one unit that specializes in covert operations and designating targets.

Weapons Options of Burst Cannon, Fusion Carbine and Rail Rifle

No necessary Devilfish and make Marker Beacons and Positional Relays wargear for the Team Lead.


Also, a drone walker squadron option for the Heavy Support Slots. AV 10 or 11 across the board, equip it with the Hammerhead turret variations from Imperial Armour 3 (Heavy Burst Cannon, Plasma Cannon, Fusion Cannon, Heavy Missile Pod).

Switch strength and toughness for suits, makes no sense to be S5 T4 when you fold in close combat to a stiff breeze. Basically rethink the statline for suits, they're supposed to be veteran warriors and should be BS4 if anything in the army is.

Do you know how difficult T5 suits are to kill?Hazard suits are crazy hard to kill.A lot of armies would then wound them in 6's-both in cc and in basic shooting.

Rocky1 wrote:Do you know how difficult T5 suits are to kill?Hazard suits are crazy hard to kill.A lot of armies would then wound them in 6's-both in cc and in basic shooting.

You don't play against Plague Marines do you? Suits wouldn't have the added annoyance of squad-wide FNP.

Rocky1 wrote:

Switch strength and toughness for suits, makes no sense to be S5 T4 when you fold in close combat to a stiff breeze. Basically rethink the statline for suits, they're supposed to be veteran warriors and should be BS4 if anything in the army is.

Do you know how difficult T5 suits are to kill?Hazard suits are crazy hard to kill.A lot of armies would then wound them in 6's-both in cc and in basic shooting.

Yeah Plagues are alot tougher, and why aren't you unhappy about Daemon Princes, Dreadknights, Greater Daemons and Especially Wraithlords?

You don't play against Plague Marines do you? Suits wouldn't have the added annoyance of squad-wide FNP.

They also don't have two wounds each so it's basically the same amount to kill them an cane be id by str 8 weapons.

The suits can't hop in a rhino and shoot Melta out of it..

BS4 on fire warriors and anything else with BS3 that isnt kroot

-Ethereal specializing in Kauyon or Mont'ka and the rest of the Tau army benefiting from special rules. Also, huge moral boost and reduce liability if Etheral is killed in action.
-All Tau units (except Kroots) have BS4. Special upgrades increase BS.
-Crisis Suits gets additional special weapons, 2 wounds each, T5, 3+, and special upgrades allowing them to either have 2+ or move like jump infantry while retaining 6" movement in assault phase.
-Dawn of War Harbinger that generates scoring Gun Drones.
-Hammerhead Railgun w/3 fire modes. A: hit all targets within a straight line at Str10 AP1 and reduce strength for each target behind the first. B: shoot a single target with Str10 AP1 ordanance. C: sub-munition that's Str6 AP3 large blast.
-Burst Cannons becomes 24" rather than current 18".
-Heavy Burst Cannons (36") upgrade for Hammerhead.
-Ion Cannon becomes rending.
-Kroots receives scout and stealth special rule. Sergeant upgrade grants stubborn USR.
-New flyers AV12
-Flyer transport
-Stealth Drone upgrades similar to current Tau Stealth Generators.
-Devilfish becomes a fast skimmer tank with base cost 60 - 70 points before upgrades.
-All Tau vehicles have networked markerlight and able to fire there own seeker missiles.
-Kroot Greater Knarloc w/ monstrous creature rule, T6, W5 or 6, 3+, furious charge, 4 attacks, WS3, Str6, LD9 with optional bolt thrower upgrade and rider.
-Special Characters
-Farsight, which makes Crisis Suits troops
-Extra Armor like upgrade for Tau vehicles.
-Sky Ray fires D6 Seeker Missiles
-All drones are fearless
-Demolition drones which self destruct and does Str10 AP2 large blast does not scatter.
-New Suit with monstrous creature special rule and new weapons
-Piranha cost between 50 - 55 points and special fusion blaster w/ 24" range
-Shadowsun makes Stealth Suits troops.
-Stealth Suits become T4 (including shadowsun), retain stealth suit generator, get's stealth and scout USR, new special weapons such as Rail Rifle.