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Now, this is a very un-scientific observation, but it seems that there a lot of people out there looking to trade for Tau armies and minis. Anyone else noticed this, or have any ideas why it may be happening?

I'm on the Tau bandwagon myself, inadvertantly, but I chose it because it's not a MEQ army.

My money's on the fun of Cris Suit configuration. You don't get the same sense of customisability with many other units in 40k (especially since the Chaos revision). I know that's what sucked me in when they first came out in 3rd ed, but luckily (I would say now) it came to nothing in the end but some abandoned FWs and a lonely trio of stealth suits.

I've had 1000 points of Tau awaiting paint for a couple months now, but I'm in it for the fire warrior and stealth suit models. Particularly the stealths, just love the look and $20 means I can grab a box every couple weeks and go for it (9 currently, probably make another box sooner than later).

Frankly I loathe the crisis suit models, though they're surprisingly possable when you saw through the joints (which is easily done).

- Salvage

It seems fairly steady. Tau are popular because of the amazing Fire Warrior models, the customization, the mobile play style (vs. a gun line) and, I think chiefly, that they're a protagonist that isn't Space Marines.

I played tau before they were cool. :(

Stonefox, as long as you and I play Tau they are always going to be cool.

This is a trend I haven't noticed but I haven't been looking for it, so...

If it is true I would ascribe it to several factors:

1. There was a surge of interest after the Tau Empire codex. I know that was 18 months ago but these things sometimes take time to build.
2. There seems to be a wave of opinion that the Tau have become a fairly tough army. That is bound to appeal to some players.
3. Maybe people are bored of a constant diet of Marines. Wasn't Tau the only non-marine codex in the past 2 years until recent Eldar? (Chaos Marines are just Marines.) Things could change after Eldar and again after Orks.
4. Tau are the only faction that isn't depressing.
5. Cool, futuristic models.

I've always wanted to do an all (or mostly) crisis suit army, and convert and paint them in Gundam forms and colors.

Just never had the guts to plunk the cash down and try it.

4. Tau are the only faction that isn't depressing.

BOO I take offense to this good sir. Nothing in the ork army is depressing. In fact I always get a good chuckle out of playing them. They are like the comedy relief of 40k. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Any army can be fun while your winning, but the orks have that special magic and wackyness that can make them super fun, even if your gettin creamed.

Orock wrote:4. Tau are the only faction that isn't depressing.

BOO I take offense to this good sir. Nothing in the ork army is depressing. In fact I always get a good chuckle out of playing them. They are like the comedy relief of 40k. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Any army can be fun while your winning, but the orks have that special magic and wackyness that can make them super fun, even if your gettin creamed.

You and I both appreciate the role of Orks as the Millwall fans of the 41st Millenium, offering darkly comic relief from the otherwise tedium of shouty bald marines shooting everyone with big guns, by driving around in tanks that go faster because they have go faster stripes on.

However I am afraid that a lot of people regard that attitude as RANK HERESY and INSIST that ORKS ARE NOT FUNNY, they are DARK AND GRIM.
Much like shouty bald marines with big guns and green skin.

I really liked Tau, partly because of their models and the customizability of the battlesuits, both gamewise and modelwise (hanging around ATT was great for conversion inspiration). I also enjoyed their playstyle much more than the stand-and-shoot or run-right-at-the-enemy type armies. I do agree that their background is pretty interesting as well; I always thought the background of 40k would be much more interesting if the races actually interacted with each other politically instead of the whole darkness-and-despair thing they have going now.

Still, I've only played a few games with them in the past few months, mostly because I've become disenchanted with 40k in general; even though I've found Tau to be more interesting and challenging than the other armies I've played, that's relatively speaking. I guess that if there's a surge in demand for Tau stuff, I've picked the right time to get out of the game and sell my army. I was just waiting to find someone I could borrow a camera from so that I could post it.

I bought the Tau Hunter Cadre cause it was an insanely good deal. Also, I really like the Tau, and my mom says I'm cool, so they MUST be cool too.

Tau are definatley the top traded army on most trade boards and it seems a lot are trying to dump Crons. I think Tau are just so flexible right now with the recent nerfs they shouldn't get the redo for a few years. I think people are starting to see them as a tier 1 army which I thought they were all along especially mech style.

One thing that definitely appeals to me about Tau is that they make sense from a science fiction view point, in so far that the bullets from their rifles hurt more than being struck with the butt of the rifle. Not that I don't dig chain swords and power fists, but honestly, it seems to me that volume of fire should be dominant over "punch you in the face."
Don't get me wrong, I won't be giving up the Sisters any time soon, and likely my marines are going to see a lot of play too, but the Tau play like I think things would/should actually work, not how the rules make it work. Of course, I also want to play 40k in <12mm scale on a huge table, but that's another discussion.

Tau offer a very different style of play that personally I find to be exceptionally balanced.

I believe they're probably the most Balanced codex put out by GW in 4th Edition. They're strong, very strong against a lot of lists with the Mech Build, but they're not unbeatable by any means. Personally, now that the new Ork dex actually has ways to deal with their army, I feel that just about everyone can take them on with some reliability, probably the only Codex that still probably will have a tough fight is Demonhunters with pure GK's.

Plus when kitted well enough, they fit a lot of Meta-variables pretty well:

Not a ton of models to paint or buy
Almost all plastic for all the "effective" choices (Broadsides being the exception, commanders can be converted).
Small force that's easy to transport, move, and play.


Personally, I've been tempted by them a lot. Partly because of the models, partly because of the play style, and partly because of the factors outlined above. I haven't taken the leap because other armies caught more of my attention (Necrons, WHFB, Orks coming back).

I've been playing them shortly after they came out. Their play style is the way I used to play my Eldar back in RT/2nd edition days. Some other factors to consider that may explain their popularity:

1. Nearly the entire line is plastic. Only the Auns, Pathfinders, and Shadowsun are metal.
2. Skimmers kick butt in 4th edition. This is a subset of the changes to vehicle rules in 3rd edition.
3. The rapid fire rule is vastly improved over 3rd edition. Now I can kill 1 marine instead of .5 marines within 12" if I have a full FCW squad!
4. Background isn't boring.
5. While the Tau are an all shooting army, it really requires movement to get everything set and avoid a charge. This is a tactical challenge that can't be overcome by army selection alone, unlike so many army lists I see on the 'net.
6. Markerlight and shield drone rules are now worth considering with the latest Codex. Until that Codex these units weren't worth considering due to 4th edition base rule changes.
7. Tau can rightfully be painted in either the Eldar/Marine style of solid colors or can adopt a more campaign/Imperial Guard style.

While I am ambivalent on the execution of the FCW models, their design is very good. I'm not a fan of the Crisis Suit design, preferring the Cirillo and Forgeworld concepts much, much more, but the plastic construction makes conversion relatively easy. The 'federation' type background makes other models such as kroot, human and alien auxiliaries an option to do something different. Personally I think Kroot look like crap in an otherwise high tech army, but to each his own.

Marines are not grim and dark there Honourable, strong willed and and awhh hell they are grim but. playing as a marine gives you a sense of honour, youre the last and best defence. But with Tau it's all for the greater good,
Space marines " Brothers we must extract brother Viniclus For the EMPEROR CHARGE"
Tau "Ok men we are going to charge over the ridge to distract the LRBT any objections"

Ps I couldn't care less what people buy it's there choice but I just thought I'd fight for the giant blue guys

I started bulding a tau army before he new dex came out for 4th edition.

The whole point of it was to have something that was not another marine army.

I wanted to do mechanised infantry, but i didn't like the lack of survivability of IG, i didn't like the infantry models for eldar, so i ended up with the tau.

I'm glad people are playing Tau. I was totally obsessed with them when they first came out. I bought an army right as the original Tau codex came out. My problem with it was that i couldn't win a game. I couldn't figure out how to play them right.

I kept at it for about 2 years then sold them, i sometimes wish i hadn't.

I think my problem was that i had 18 crisis suits. And they weren't as good as i had hoped they would be.

But when they are played fully mechanized they are darn hard to beat. My friend played them mechanized with the first codex and won a couple of local tournaments with them. People really used to underestimate them back in the day.

mughi3 wrote:I started bulding a tau army before he new dex came out for 4th edition.

The whole point of it was to have something that was not another marine army.

I wanted to do mechanised infantry, but i didn't like the lack of survivability of IG, i didn't like the infantry models for eldar, so i ended up with the tau.

Pretty much where I was. I was going to do a ~1000 point Cityfight-themed/light tournament Tau army back in the transition to 4th, and it just has sat on the workbench while other projects distracted me.

They are one of the few Balanced armies out there that are top tier. Look at what Scott Simpson has done with Tau.