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micahaphone wrote:Is there a way to delete comments on dakka dakka? Because I swear I saw a post by someone named Tabitha.

Aside from this one?

Tabitha wrote:While I won’t comment on these rumors validity, or lack there of, I will say a few things about the Tau in regards to this: If their rules stay even close to what they are now in testing, and since that’s nearly over I think they will, then they will be an incredibly versatile army. Their new allies, along with the expansion of the roles and units of current allies really give the tau a lot. The suits are also currently strong against pretty much everything except quick melee juggs like thunder wolf / noob biker squads and pretty freaking deadly almost to the point of being OP.

Though no, Fire warriors are not going BS 4.

Why are people jumping to the conclusion that Tau are being written out of their own book?

You can still take a pure Tau army. It's done by doing the exact thing you're complaining about - don't take Demiurg or Kroot. Take an Ethereal and Crisis Commander. Bam, pure Tau army, Crisis Suits and Firewarriors as troops.

It's unlikely the Demiurg and Kroot will only be useable after being unlocked as troops, like putting them in elite (Demiurg) and fast attack (Kroot). If this happens, you can take your pure Tau army with lots of suits and Firewarriors, and still have small amounts of auxillery.

Why complain that there's an option you don't want when you don't have to use it at all? just don't take those HQs. If someone else wants to field a mainly Demiurg list by taking a Demiurg HQ, how does that hurt your enjoyment of the game?

I think the fear isn't that they won't be possible in the new book but that they won't be the competitive build. It would be a shame for Codex: Tau Empire to come out and have it represented on the competitive scene by nothing but Kroot and Demiurg. It won't affect me as I'll play what I want but everyone wants their codex to show well in the competitive scene and if Tau ended up being inferior to their allies it would be a shame.

As a Kroot player, I only hope the ethereals let us start eating our kills again.

I'm so sick of earth caste engineered protein bird seed.

I just got the impression that people didn't want it because it didn't represent a Tau force, which can absolutely still be done even if those rumours are true.

Holy win if it's true.

Tau with Farsight Bombs will cry in joy.

I'd be able to take 5 suits per team stack Shield Drones and have them all count as troops.

One Skyray, One maxed team of Broadsides BAM!

Hope these are even slightly true! Would be a much needed boost to Tau... Not many of us left lol... only 5 competed at Adepticon

:C

-Loki- wrote:I just got the impression that people didn't want it because it didn't represent a Tau force, which can absolutely still be done even if those rumours are true.

I'm sure there are some people thinking that way which honestly would be a little odd. However I think most are afraid of seeing iconic Tau units being less viable than non-Tau units. Think along the lines of the new IG codex making them a Veteran army and seeing that from the perspective of a person who played and loved original IG that was all about heavy tanks and droves of cannon fodder. While the Tau example would be more extreme, it is the same sort of thing.

Has anyone heard If human auxiliary will be in the book. Also what is to be come of the special characters?

TheCadianParatrooper wrote:Has anyone heard If human auxiliary will be in the book.

Only thing all the rumours have agreed on is that Human auxiliares will NOT be in the book. Which I think makes great deal of sense, what role are bunch of guardsmen going to play in a Tau army?

Though, I guess they would be fun in annoying Imperial players...

I heard there's going to be:
A 'Kraken' Gunship that is kitted out with lots of Railguns etc.
Elite fire warriors (attached to Ethereal)
New rules for other things there already
Lower points on a few things
It is virtually impossible to name them all without taking all night

I think it's great that taking a specific HQ unlocks the troop choices: it's different and goes against the grain, making Tau its own army. I'm not a Tau fan (hate the crisis suits, hate the helmets and shoulderpads of Fire Warriors), but if you could make an army that is so wildly different from everything else, it's golden. Sure, there will be the "tournament" build for them, but you Tau players will have so many new army build options. If these rumors are true (and I have no problem believing them until/unless they are disproven) I think you guys will have a great new codex. Looking forward to seeing what else comes out.

BeefCakeSoup wrote:Holy win if it's true.

Tau with Farsight Bombs will cry in joy.

I'd be able to take 5 suits per team stack Shield Drones and have them all count as troops. :C

not really. the farsight bomb depends on a large unit of CHEAP crisis suits; if you take a look, the suits that are fielded in the typical bomb are the CHEAPEST or 2nd cheapest configuration (blacksun filter, twin-linked flamers). the rumors above would almost double the price of each suit. while they'd obviously be more effective with more wounds and better weapons while scoring, the traditional bomb would almost double in price and no longer fit in plenty of armies.

SonicPara wrote:I think the fear isn't that they won't be possible in the new book but that they won't be the competitive build. It would be a shame for Codex: Tau Empire to come out and have it represented on the competitive scene by nothing but Kroot and Demiurg. It won't affect me as I'll play what I want but everyone wants their codex to show well in the competitive scene and if Tau ended up being inferior to their allies it would be a shame.

But to be fair, all fluff has pointed towards the Tau being inferior without their allies.

The only exception to this rule is the Farsight Enclave, but they're really only that way from decades of constant warfare against Orks.

That toughens up anyone

guyperson5 wrote:I heard there's going to be:
A 'Kraken' Gunship that is kitted out with lots of Railguns etc.

I want this just so I can grow out a beard and yell 'Release the Kraken!' during deployment.

the Tau use auxiliaries in their armies, from many different races that have joined the Empire. that is awesome, and the representation of it in the game is great.

something that I'm afraid of is, for each new unit in the codex that is an alien auxiliary, that's one less new pure Tau toy. I guess I just hope that they maintain Firewarriors and Commanders at 1+ to represent the fact that this is a Tau army. I mean, Kroot are already a troops choice and always have been, so changing that around and making the purchase of a shaper HQ necessary to field them that way would be backwards wouldn't it?

Regarding Human Auxiliaries, even if they don't make the book, could easily do counts as Fire Warriors.

guyperson5 wrote:I heard there's going to be:
A 'Kraken' Gunship that is kitted out with lots of Railguns etc.
Elite fire warriors (attached to Ethereal)
New rules for other things there already
Lower points on a few things
It is virtually impossible to name them all without taking all night

So why don't you take more than 5 minutes to name anything substantial? The only thing here that wasn't common sense or already in the existing codex is the Kraken you're mentioning.

micahaphone wrote:Soo, the mysterious Tabitha sez that they're already done playtesting? Anybody have any idea how long it takes to go from playtesting to publishing?

No BS 4 is sad, but expected. The tidbit about the crisis suits makes me think of these possibilities (I'm counting Tabitha's post as a rumor, not a wishlist):
- Higher toughness for suits
- "hit & run" style rule that allows suits to back out of combat and give their assaulter a face full of laser.
-very high strength, as they're large mechs, but no power weapons, to stick with Tau fluff.
-A failsafe detonator-ish deterrent/self-defense-only assault mechanism?

EDIT: odd, I swear there was just a post here from a "fresh-faced new user" named Tabitha that said that they were done playtesting, fire warriors were still BS 3, and that aside from specialty combat squads, like thunderwolves, or nob bikers, suits would be able to hold their own in combat.

Sorry, I will add a bit of clarity.

I did not mean that suits can kill things in melee. While they are tougher, most melee units can still tarpit and eventually kill them if the Tau player lets them. What I meant was that the suits are mobile enough and tough enough that they can usually out maneuver most melee units / blow up their transport and kite them to death, while easily shrugging off any light fire from the unit. Things like Nob bikers or thunderwolf calv are fast enough to catch them and tough enough that they likely will not be worn down from the fire coming from the suits.

They still are rubbish in melee against good melee troops, but in the hands of a capable tau player will rarely actually engage in melee, and are really difficult to kill at a range.

warboss wrote:

BeefCakeSoup wrote:Holy win if it's true.

Tau with Farsight Bombs will cry in joy.

I'd be able to take 5 suits per team stack Shield Drones and have them all count as troops. :C

not really. the farsight bomb depends on a large unit of CHEAP crisis suits; if you take a look, the suits that are fielded in the typical bomb are the CHEAPEST or 2nd cheapest configuration (blacksun filter, twin-linked flamers). the rumors above would almost double the price of each suit. while they'd obviously be more effective with more wounds and better weapons while scoring, the traditional bomb would almost double in price and no longer fit in plenty of armies.

No way dude.

Best part of the bomb is the shas'vre having better gear options and shield drones.

If they are "upgrading" suits to Shas'Vre levels +1 wound than their isn't a Farsight bomber who isn't going to be rocking faces.

Weakest part of my bomb was always the standard teams of crisis suits and not having a viable vehicle like the proposed Skyray. If I had to drop 6 suits, add a decked out team of Broadsides and a Skyray I'd do it in a heartbeat. My tactical oiptions would expand big time!

I understand a generic bomber is losing his main suit spam, but a good bomber realizes that the best part of the bomb is using the 7 Shas'Vre and Farsight with tons of shield drones. Adding one wound to each model than bring a second HQ (Shas'O) I think you will have a more viable bomb easily.

The rumour about FWs still being BS3 means that they're getting a points decrease and/or a Pulse Rifle which you can move or fire more than 12" with, that's the only way they can make FWs better without increasing their BS, and compared to other units their current cost is far from justified.

Crisis Suit rumours are fine by me as long as they're T5, i'm not paying 60pts per model to have 1 Long Fang unit wipe them out in 1 shooting phase; they are not vehicles.

Skyray sounds okay, 1 missile per phase is a bit crap, but you can't have everything (unless your codex is written by Ward).

HQs affecting Troops is a bit wierd, in order to take FWs i'd need an Ethereal? If that doesn't warrant a points reduction on FWs purely for forcing you to have an Ethereal-shaped deadweight in your army then I don't know what will, but this guy better have some psychic defence/powers and general survivability (unlike the wet paper bag he is now), otherwise Fire Warriors are gunna be off the menu for most lists.

I would love to know more about Broadsides, Pathfinders, Devilfish and Hammerheads though, namely whether broadsides are going to get plastic railguns that don't require you to basically build your broadside a wall to lean against and a stool to sit on when he's built in order to stop him toppling over.

Pathfinders are pretty fine already, Devilfish need to become cheaper, hammerheads are fine, but this is GW, and they can't resist taking a good unit and whacking it to nerfsville because they can.

Ethereal’s are still wet paper bags in combat BUT they are now a lot more useful. Think of the Ethereal like a Really Good Buff from a video game. It’s easily dispelled (by killing it) but until it dies it can (depending on a few things) make any number of various units better. It’s sort of like a guard CCS guy with orders, but with more flexibility. So while Ethereal’s wont be killing things, they will be making people who do kill things do it a lot better.

Fire warriors are still BS 3 yes, but there are ways to make that less sucky then it sounds. And considering your shooting a S5 rifle it really isn’t that bad anyway.

Also this: Some special characters let you take units from other FOC slots as troops. This applies mostly to elites/fast attack options which are basically infantry anyway. But you still have fire warriors and other troop options as normal.

So think of it like this: You take special alien guy Biff. Special alien guy Biffs normal alien guys are an elite option that wears heavy armor and doesn’t suck in melee. But you want to spend your elite slots on flowers. So with special alien guy biff, you can take his guys as troops. BUT if you don’t take special alien guy Biff then you can always take his guys as elites.


I wish I had more to share with all of you guys, but most of the stuff I heard about the Tau (a race I that I dislike almost everything about; Kroot however are awesome) came up in conversation whilst I was chatting with one of my friends across the pond about Sisters, an army I am actually interested in. When I speak with him again I will ask more about them, though to be honest I don’t really know anyone who really collects tau, nor do I collect tau myself, so I am not really sure what to ask.

Well---what don't you share what you know about Sisters then ?

Like;

Is Phil Kelly writing the book?
Are acts of Faith still in?


Thanks any info (including the Tau info you have shared).

There are only two things I'm interested in tabitha.

Exactly what is going to make the new ethereals worth taking

and

Is the tau heavy support still clogged with those sniper drone teams.

To be fair Tabitha, saying Ethereal's are now (much) more useful it like making a broken leg less painful; it can't exactly get worse!

Thanks for the information though, what you're saying sounds about right and pretty much exactly spot on with what I was expecting and how I feel it should be (particularly BS3 - negated by Markerlights too). I understand you're in a tight spot in regards to your limited knowledge of Tau, but all information is useful in one form or another and you definitely appear a reliable source so thanks for whatever disclosure you provide.

I would imagine that the most pressing question for everyone is... 'when'?

Cheers Tabitha!

This "Kraken" gunship, does it mean that Tau will get an overpowered flyer?

An overpowered flyer? The only overpowered Flyer I know is the Vendetta and that's mainly just it's points cost.
I can't imagine a Kraken being that good (providing it does exist), as there are plenty of other, tougher and likely cheaper, sources of railguns...

Well---what don't you share what you know about Sisters then ?

Like;

Is Phil Kelly writing the book?
Are acts of Faith still in?

Uh, I don’t really want to steal the thread and stuff it full of sisters info! But I don’t know (or care) who is writing the book. To me most GW authors are really hit or miss. For instances I love the IG codex, but hate/love ‘nids (I think the rules pidgin hole people into a couple of lists, but since I don’t play them, I like that I generally know what to expect and can plan for it). But the same guy wrote those!

Acts of Faith are still in, but different from their current form pretty drastically.

There are only two things I'm interested in tabitha.

Exactly what is going to make the new ethereals worth taking

and

Is the tau heavy support still clogged with those sniper drone teams.

I was just told they buff units in a fashion similar to IG commanders, but I didn’t ask more in-depth stuff because I just don’t care. Stop asking me in depth questions! It makes me look less mysterious and knowing when, uh, I don’t know. I hope I am not being too ambugious.

About the Heavy support stuff, I don’t know. But I will try and remember that question and ask it in the future.




As for when, uh, I believe by this time next year they will be out or fixing to come out. From what I understand they are 3rd in line, with Necrons next, sisters after that, and then Tau. But I don’t have exact dates and could be wrong, so please don’t take that as an exact time. I know A LOT of tau stuff has been done with for basically ever. Like more then a year. At least on the model front. I don’t know if that stuff was just not released and wont be for some crazy reason, or is getting redone, but a lot of Tau stuff for the tau has been good to go, from what I understand.

Dammit GW, stop the power armor, non-power armor- power armor release schedule and give us the greater good!

micahaphone wrote:Dammit GW, stop the power armor, non-power armor- power armor release schedule and give us the greater good!

Considering Daemonhunters and Witchhunters had their last books (before the current GK book anyway) in 2003, I think it's a reasonable wait

That and SoB and Necrons are pretty much power armour and arguably need a Codex more...

Thanks for the info and answering questions though Tabitha!