Tau Empire Fan Codex, 6th Edition Update, now with Skyfire Drones!

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**Buttons**

AtoMaki wrote:The other end is when the unit is simply ridiculous (Vendetta, i'm looking at you).

Don't see what is bad about the vendetta, it is a fast skimmer that can carry 12 models, let them jump out the back, has 3 twin-linked lascannons, and has better armour than the Chimera for 130 points. A HWS with lascannons costs 105 and needs orders to be twin-linked, is immobile, is very soft, and can't transport other models, I consider all those bonuses worth the added 25 points.

**chrisrawr**

I'd intended to add options for multiple non-defensive weapons on them, but it ended up making them more powerful than intended; yes, completely unnecessary xD

Another note on that, the fusion rays for vehicles should all be fusion guns.

@Ato - ODSTs have so far not failed to make up their points in any scenario they've been deployed in - they have a 75% chance to pen a vehicle within 6", can deal a heavy blow to a variety of units, and are fairly hardy against normal weaponry in cc. Also remember that they're pinning and twinlinked during the deepstrike round.

One change I miiiight make is Assault 3, S3 AP2, Rending - it doesn't significantly increase their damage output, but it captures the 'plasma eats away at heavier armour and monsterous creatures in order to damage them' feel. It would also bump them to 135.

As well, Ato, your definition of 'reliable' is "kills an entire unit each turn by itself for equal or less points than that unit."

Automatically Appended Next Post:
@buttons: Can't tell if satire.

**Quintinus**

chrisrawr wrote:
As well, Ato, your definition of 'reliable' is "kills an entire unit each turn by itself for equal or less points than that unit."

This, and his codex in his signature is one of the most overpowered pieces of garbage I've ever read.

Personally, I think you need to focus on making ODST's cheaper than on making them more expensive and with more special rules. 135 points for 5 T3 models, no matter how powerful, is a significant investment and one that most players will probably not take, considering that you could get a suicide squad of Chaos Terminators for the same price.

Kind Regards,
Vladsimpaler

**AtoMaki**

Buttons wrote:
AtoMaki wrote:The other end is when the unit is simply ridiculous (Vendetta, i'm looking at you).

Don't see what is bad about the vendetta, it is a fast skimmer that can carry 12 models, let them jump out the back, has 3 twin-linked lascannons, and has better armour than the Chimera for 130 points. A HWS with lascannons costs 105 and needs orders to be twin-linked, is immobile, is very soft, and can't transport other models, I consider all those bonuses worth the added 25 points.

As selection, i love the Vendetta. It is deadly as hell and can transport tri-melta/dc vets. But it is RI-DI-CU-LO-US as a unit! It just makes absolutely zero sense (to the point where it makes negative sense!).

As well, Ato, your definition of 'reliable' is "kills an entire unit each turn by itself for equal or less points than that unit."

My definition to reliable is "it does its job". If its job is to kill an entire unit each turn by itself for equal/less points then so be it.

The ODST could be asily fixed: just make the Insertion Pod deploy like Drop Pods.

This, and his codex in his signature is one of the most overpowered pieces of garbage I've ever read.

LOL, then you don't read too much fandexes don't you

?

**chrisrawr**

The problem with running them cheaper is that they still need to compete with crisis suits - having too many of them on the field, at a reduced power, is just going to be a saturate of insertion pods. Having them too expensive is, as you said, getting a bit silly for 5 models.

Can't make em drop pods, would go completely against the fluff and point of the unit.

I will be looking at them more closely as they seem to be under lots of contention. I want to keep the 'drop in wherever, squish whatever's under you, and truck on" feel of Storm Troopers + Brick + Tau gear - I might have to make them mandatory 2unit per foc - i'd be able to drop the points, then, to around 200 (100 per).

**AtoMaki**

chrisrawr wrote:Can't make em drop pods, would go completely against the fluff and point of the unit.

At least get rid of that Unguided special rule. Or at least the "scatter from the center" part.

chrisrawr wrote:I will be looking at them more closely as they seem to be under lots of contention. I want to keep the 'drop in wherever, squish whatever's under you, and truck on" feel of Storm Troopers + Brick + Tau gear - I might have to make them mandatory 2unit per foc - i'd be able to drop the points, then, to around 200 (100 per).

I'm not a big fan of the impact hits either. Even the Monolith lost this. And as far as i can see it, they already cost 100 points each...

**chrisrawr**

that's something I can get behind, I guess - the point of it was to have them unabusable in regards to deployment. They move on randomly, period, and if you're in their way you get a scoot. Might change it to a pinning tank shock, then, with a detonation sequence; Counts as a KP if you destroy it, but if it lasts the turn and destroys itself it doesn't.

In this regard, it would be a combination weapon/deployment, which I kind of like in terms of uniqueness.

Insertion Pod

F/S/R: 10 10 10

Vehicle (Open Topped, Tank)

Transport Capacity: 5 ODSTs

Special Rules: Projectile, Immobile

Wargear: Detonator

Projectile: The Insertion Pod must always enter play via Deepstrike, and may do so even in scenarios where this is not normally allowed. When deploying the Insertion Pod, place it within 1" of an opponent's Unit (You are allowed to place it on the unit directly) and do not roll for scatter - As it enters play, it performs a tank shock instead of rolling for deepstrike mishap. An opponent's units who are displaced by this tank shock are also subject to a Pinning Test after the Tank Shock has been resolved. If the Insertion Pod suffers a Destroyed result, each passenger suffers an S10 hit in addition to the normal results for that Destroyed result.

Immobile: as usual.

Detonator: At the beginning of your next turn after the Insertion Pod has deployed, apply the Destroyed: Explodes! result to it. It does not count as a Kill Point if it is destroyed in this manner. When the Insertion Pod suffers a Destroyed: Explodes! result, its blast radius is always 6", and hits at S5 AP5, Pinning.

**Fralethepalewhale**

What does 2 flechette chargers mean? I roll 2d6 instead of 1?

**chrisrawr**

Yup - I basically wanted to scale Flechette Discharge by size, so bigger vehicles like gunfish get more discharges, whereas piranhas and drones get less. Whereas before you could have 30 boys get shredded or 10 marines be unscathed by a couple piranhas with flechette dischargers under certain interpretations of the rule, now damage is normalized against all enemies - If you want to assault that 5-piranha flechette bomb, you're going to take 10d6 S3 hits, and you're going to like it.

**Fralethepalewhale**

Wow! That's awesome! Almost done with the list just trying finalize then I'll post it

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here is the 500pt list! I think its pretty BA looking through all the great gak the Tau have now! I'm loving it and FW's are now pretty BA not gonna lie. Chrisrawr let me know if I did any points wrong but I think I got it down.

Shas’El- BC, Plasma Gun, TA: 82

2 XV8’s-Plasma Gun, BC, TA: 62

12 FW’s- 2 ‘Ui, 2 ML, Command Helm, 2 gun drones: 173
10 Kroot: 35
1 Devilfish- Heavy Burst Cannon, MT, TA, DP: 90

1 Piranha- TL Fusion Ray, TA: 55

997

**chrisrawr**

10 Kroot is 70

But other than that, you're at about 525 points.

Remember: The Fusion Rays are supposed to be Fusion Guns, I typo'd it when I was adding them. Tau are not Sisters of Battle, and don't get to have dozens of multimeltas unless they slap them on their crisis suits

**Fralethepalewhale**

Crap. I don't have enough time to change it now, I will change it later!

Alright well try this one now, I don't care that it is 6 points over. My friend usually plays 10 over so he shouldn't care:

Shas’El- BC, Plasma Gun, TA: 82

2 XV8’s-Plasma Gun, BC, TA: 62

8 FW’s-Shas’Ui, 2 Gun drones, 2 ML: 117
10 Kroot: 70
1 Devilfish- Heavy Burst Cannon, MT, TA, DP: 90

1 Piranha- Rail Repeater, 2FL, DP, TA: 85
506

I think its pretty BA

**chrisrawr**

Slapping an upgrade option into stealth suits for fluff reasons - playing off of the social connectedness of the Tau, and the high stress that monats are placed under.

A more recent addition to the Tau battle forces, these lonesome warriors have been trained and tasked with high-priority target removal in skirmishes against the newer enemies of the Empire – Humans, Dark Eldar, and to a lesser extent even the forces of Chaos. The Tau's long history of skirmishes against both Orkish and Tyranid threats has left their battlefield tactics duly lacking against foes with more rigid command structures. Sniper pilots require many days of meditation before they are psychologically ready to lie in wait for perfect ambush opportunities, the strain of being away from their social cliques ensuring minimal extended field use. Many integrate back into Fire Warrior positions after a single tour, while a few join the Stealth-Ops Teams. Those rare individuals that remain Snipers are lauded heavily for their sacrifice – the short lifespan of the Tau is a reminder of the importance of community which many Gue'Vesa rebels have taken to heart.

For 25 points, a Stealth Suit (40 points, +~30 for mandatory drones) may be upgraded to
Kauyon Monat (WS2 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I3 A 2 Ld8 Sv4+), replacing its rail sniper with:

Shi'mont'ka: A precision rail rifle, built to the demanding specifications of the Monats after years of fieldwork. Fires with the following profile:

Range:60" S:10* AP:2 Special: Heavy 1, Rail 1
*Hits from this weapon are resolved against the target's Leadership, rather than its Toughness. This weapon is Strength 6 against Vehicles.

The owner of the target unit may choose to use the lowest leadership in the unit against hits from this weapon – if they don't, at least 1 wound, if any, must be allocated to the model with the highest leadership. If there is more than 1 model tied for highest leadership, the owning player chooses one.

**Fralethepalewhale**

What are the chances of creating some fire points from the devilfish? I mean it may sound unlikely but it could be like, pulse rifles mounted on the outside of the devilfish have a camera on them so the FW's on the inside can shoot. Just like the new Necron transport with all the guns on the side.
I just think its a good way of making the devilfish a little more useful. I understand that you have the drone assisted small arms fire, I like them both, its just something to think about.

**Ovion**

That 'special rail rifle' is worse than the existing rail rifle.
Straight Str6 would be the same, or better.

**chrisrawr**

Eh, the devilfish, unaltered, puts out 8 S5 AP5 shots at 18" already, and 10 within 9". This is definitely on the decent side of a 60 point vehicle (see: Venoms - more shots and better bs, but av10 and open topped) With a multitracker, it can move 12" and do this - not to mention that it doesnt need to expose side armour to do so.

What I might do is give them deepstrike. All their fluff points towards it. It would merit Dynamic Entry as well, or maybe a change to dynamic entry.... hmm.

Anyways, If you want a super-real gun platform, there's an option for it in the gunfish - a full 24-tau unit of firewarriors can sit inside and pewpewpew from one - though it'll cost you 440 points at the least.

@Ovion: Against MEQ, it's roughly 1-2 marine kills - starting at the sergeant with the power fist. Against Eldar, starting with the farseer. The changes I'd make to this would be more along the lines of allowing the firing player to allocate, or making it twin-linked. S6 is mechanically no different against a large host of opponents than this is.

**chrisrawr**

Suppressive Fire change, as it was being abused - Hoping to make it more synergetic with markerlights, without relying on them.

Suppressive Fire: Roll a D6 Each time the Firing Unit shoots. On a 5+, Units with the Stubborn and Fearless special rules test against Pinning as if they did not have those rules until the current player's next Shooting Phase. The Firing Unit may spend 1 Markerlight Token before rolling to add +1 to a Suppressive Fire roll's result.

**Ovion**

I feel the need to have a shooting response / auto fallback type option in my tau extended...

Something like when charged, each Tau unit with the Combat Response Rule (maybe another name), rolls a D6 when charged.
On a 1, they get charged as normal, on a 2-5 they move that many inches directly away from the charging unit (may or may not put them out of charge range), on a 6, they move 6" and get to fire 1 shot each at the charging unit (assuming weapons are in range).

I'm thinking to have on Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, etc, base men on foot, to give these fragile units something a little unique, and to add a little fluffy survivability to units that get touched in CC and fall over.

I.E -
The opponents 6 Assault Marines charge my 12 Fire Warriors from 4 inches away, I roll a 5, so move 5" backwards so I am now 9" from the enemy - YAY, Safe for now!

The opponents 6 Assault Marines charge my 12 Fire Warriors from 3 inches away, I roll a 2, so move 2" backwards, but I'm still 5" away! - OHNOES I still get charged.

The opponents 6 Assault Marines charge my 12 Fire Warriors from 1 inches away, I roll a 6, so move 6" backwards, I am now 7" away and get to fire 12 shots from my Pulse Rifles.

**chrisrawr**

It's been tried, and it's something I believe atomaki uses in his. It's horrendously overpowered - especially in difficult terrain. Stealth Suits already lower assault range by a small amount, and are nigh-impossible to catch.

Alone, an ability such as yours would increase firewarrior cost to 14-15 ppm, (as it magnifies their CC avoidance by an order of magnitude, and lets them move an additional 2-6" per turn) which is unacceptable.

With the additional shooting 1/6 of the time, we're looking at 17+ ppm, utterly ridiculous.

One mitigative factor was "Can't move in the next phase" - the problem isn't the extra movement, though. The problem is the avoidance of CC. It simply destroys an assault completely, without any real tactical thought or mitigation. It's like having a tank's ablative armour that regrows.

**Ovion**

Hmm. Mayhaps 1 nothing, 2-5, move 3", 6, move 3" + D6 shots (max = number of models in squad) OR, 1 shot each + can't attack in assault.

This way, it's a set amount, meaning the enemy simply manauvers 3" closer (often not difficult, I know I'm generally sitting roughly 1" away with my assault troops.), it gives less shots, but still gives the most pathetic units a chance.

**chrisrawr**

I still think you're not really looking at this from a perspective of abuse. What happens if I sit at 6" and move 6" away each turn? Even if you run after me, it's going to take you an average of 2 extra turns during which time you don't get the benefits of any assault weapons you might have, and during which time you get shot continually.

If a player can abuse a single special rule on unit A to effectively remove the close combat ability of unit B, while still putting out better firepower than unit B, then the price of the Unit A has to represent this. When Unit A is also a T3 4+ save model with WS2, you're skewing its cost-survivability ratio against other tactics - creating a unit that is either complete garbage, or overwhelmingly powerful, depending on meta.

Basically what it comes down to is "Do you want to spend an additional 4-10 points per model for this ability, depending on the toughness, save, wounds, and firepower available to that model?" Because if I remember correctly, your 'dex has a lot of modularity to it, allowing many units the ability to take better weapons, better armour, etc.

You also have to consider drones - a unit that has weapons drones with special weapons that can continue to move away presents much more threat than one with just pulse rifles or carbines.

In general, the balancing and fun-killing problems associated with out-of-turn movement have really killed the idea for me, and playing against these abilities is almost always not fun.

One thing I might propose for this sort of ability - Perhaps an Initiative test (sacrificing drones to pass as normal) to disenagage a combat after assault moves have been made, move 1-2" away, and let your opponent consolidate - at the expense of moving during your next turn. This, to me, feels like much more of a 'clutch' save, and is much less abusive. Your opponent essentially gets an assault+D6" movement, removes drones, and has you immobilized. You, on the other hand, still get to shoot with that unit, can still save it, or you can focus your efforts elsewhere. It feels better to both players - you each potentially gain an advantage, and in order to use it, you have to make a sacrifice.

**Celtic Strike**

Okay, just from a quick glance at this, here's what I have to say. These are all personal thoughts.

If I don't mention anything, its because I think it's good.

I think the battlesuit commander's toughness is too high. I hate to say it as I play tau but I can't think of anything that gives a character a +2 Toughness outside of mark of Nurgle and a bike.

Why twin-linked AND pinning on dynamic entry? Other than being awesome and cool. Which is fine. But they used to just have pinning, which they need again and should have back.

Do Kroot attack at normal initiative when they charge through natural terrain? It just says normal initiative, base or normal for when you charge through terrain without grenades?

Also, Kroot psykers tend to have witchblades, at least in the other fandexes I've seen. Just nitpicking on this one.

I think assaulting a stealthsuit should be -1D3 inches, not just a flat 2. Adds some spice and risk to it which is fun and stressful.

Does spotting stand hit automatically?

Why not just give ODST the 'hotshot' lasgun? It's pretty close to the same thing isn't it?

So, if I spend 3 marker lights on a unit and shoot it with firewarriors and inflict 3 wounds, that squad has to take 9 leadership tests?

What's the minimum leadership on a drone squad?

Are there scenarios that don't allow deepstriking anymore? Also, the ODST are so far removed from anything the Imperials or Tau do that I'm not 100% comfortable with them being in the list.

Why not just give drone harbinger the ability to generate more drones and leave it at that? (Well, also it's Relay station ability) it would make it a lot easier and MUCH less confusing for people to play against/learn how to play it.

I think the 'sub-munitions' forcing a re-roll of successful cover saves would make that rule a lot easier to remember and be easier to play.

Pg 31, yay blank page with some stuff on it!?

Pg 32 Armour fit for a prince doesn't link to anything that tells you what it is

I think Shield drones staying toughness X is fine.

I think increasing the BS of a markerlight shot on its own is a bit much.

I'm confused about inferno, does it have its own template - plus another or just that other one?

Decoy launchers are practically useless in the current codex and remain unchanged in this one.

I'm all kinds of confused about how missile fhu works

I think bodyguards should come with plasma grenades as standard.

A vehicle as a HQ choice seems weird

I don't think anyone would ever take a 24 man strong squad of fire warriors. I just seems pointless, especially when they can get swept by a 6 man assault squad. It also doesn't seem very tau like to just have a hoard of guys walking around.

No codex makes you have entries from other codexes anymore, I think the Leman Russ is out of place unfortunately.

How much does the strain leader cost?

**AtoMaki**

chrisrawr wrote:It's been tried, and it's something I believe atomaki uses in his. It's horrendously overpowered - especially in difficult terrain. Stealth Suits already lower assault range by a small amount, and are nigh-impossible to catch.

Yep, its mine, as per the following:

Dynamic Disengagement: With its natural disability to fight effectively in hand-to-hand combat, the Tau
developed a way to avoid close-combat, or at least quickly escape from it. A unit with this special rule may
perform a special move once in its Assault phase to avoid an assault. When an enemy unit assaults the unit with
this special rule, then it can move D6” straight away from the assaulting unit before any assault moves are made.
This move may abort the assault, but if it does, then the assaulting unit may consolidate 3” immediately, subject
to the normal rules of consolidation.
Units with this special rule also gains the Hit and Run universal special rule. In addition, when they use the Hit
and Run special rule, the controlling player may remove D3 models from the unit (rolled separately each time
this option is used) to automatically pass the Initiative test needed for a successful Hit and Run action.
A unit that used this special rule in any Assault phases may not move in its next Movement phase but counts as
moved in its following Shooting phase.

Lets say it has its own limits in the terms of avoiding close-combat

.

**chrisrawr**

Celtic Strike wrote:Okay, just from a quick glance at this, here's what I have to say. These are all personal thoughts.

If I don't mention anything, its because I think it's good.

I think the battlesuit commander's toughness is too high. I hate to say it as I play tau but I can't think of anything that gives a character a +2 Toughness outside of mark of Nurgle and a bike.

The biggest problem I was seeing with T4 and the biggest change I personally wanted to make was crafting Crisis Suits as the backbone of the army. This means their resilience had to increase, as their firepower was already beastly. I didn't want to go the path of the Tyranid Warrior, as we can all see how THAT turned out, so I pseudo-toughnessed them. They still get crunched by lascannons, missiles, and fists - but small arms bounce off more often. Gameplay-wise, I'd say, when you really notice it the most is being shot at by bolt pistols and lasguns. It doesn't alter the feel of your crisis suits play outside of that very much

I also feel the need to point out that all crisis suits are T4(5) - not just the commander. Your fluff concern is noted however - there isn't much +2T precedence over a figurative 'base model'

Why twin-linked AND pinning on dynamic entry? Other than being awesome and cool. Which is fine. But they used to just have pinning, which they need again and should have back.

This one is mostly taking liberties with fluff for a meta concern - I feel that Tau Armies need to move away from the feeling that they HAD to alpha-strike, that you HAD to survive the first turn and then horrendously cripple your opponent in order to play a 'fair' game. Bringing units in from reserve is now something that can provide almost as much benefit - at the cost of losing turns of firepower, of course. There are a few synergistic abilities throughout the codex that aid in this, and the 'dex I have yet to upload has a few more - intentionally over-costed for now - that should let you see some fairly interesting 'ghost tau' plays. Dynamic Entry has plans on being altered to include all tau upon entry from deepstrike (as devilfish are getting the deepstrike treatment, being an atmospheric shuttle and all), and I can definitely see it being reduced to simply pinning then, or a points increase on units that I don't feel need to be any more expensive.

Do Kroot attack at normal initiative when they charge through natural terrain? It just says normal initiative, base or normal for when you charge through terrain without grenades?

They ignore the movement penalties from natural terrains - which means they don't make a difficult terrain test (the wording was lifted and updated from harlequins). You'll see that only units who make difficult or dangerous terrain tests are reduced to initiative 1 without grenades - so kroot make a normal attack at i6, and the rest at regular initiative.

Also, Kroot psykers tend to have witchblades, at least in the other fandexes I've seen. Just nitpicking on this one.

I love this idea, thank you!

I think assaulting a stealthsuit should be -1D3 inches, not just a flat 2. Adds some spice and risk to it which is fun and stressful.

It was originally, but it was found that canny players never really needed more than 1" against infantry, and the 1/3 chance to gimp beasts and cavalry with 3" was getting tedious in games of keep-away. Basically, a small nerf from 1D3"

Does spotting stand hit automatically?

Yes - the markerlight token is simply applied to a unit.

Why not just give ODST the 'hotshot' lasgun? It's pretty close to the same thing isn't it?

It used to simply be the hot-shot lasgun, but the change came mainly as their role required them to be assault-tactic units.

So, if I spend 3 marker lights on a unit and shoot it with firewarriors and inflict 3 wounds, that squad has to take 9 leadership tests?

For which effect? Courage requires 4 markerlight tokens in total to purchase the full effect, and triggers once for each unsaved wound - 3 pinning tests. If you had 12 markerlight tokens and bought courage 3 times, then yes, you could stack 9 pinning tests out of 3 unsaved wounds... but there's much more efficient combinations for 12 markerlight tokens!

What's the minimum leadership on a drone squad?

1!

Are there scenarios that don't allow deepstriking anymore? Also, the ODST are so far removed from anything the Imperials or Tau do that I'm not 100% comfortable with them being in the list.

There's plenty of custom scenarios, IA scenarios, and WD scenarios that don't normally allow deepstriking - in this case, the come crashing through the roof/window/hull all, "whatever bros". As for your fluff concern, all I can give you is gameplay recompense: they're really fun to play with - They're also an elites slot, so you lose nothing by not taking them over crisis suits

Fluffwise, cynically, they're simply counter-indoctrinated / brainwashed storm troopers given familiar weapons. Their deployment method is simply to keep gameplay interesting, and has no real basis in anything we've seen of 40k lately (I didn't want to give them drop pods, but I also wanted them to have a reason for deepstriking... being fired from orbit in a railgun barrel, held in a comfy bullet that smashes down upon impact seemed pretty awesome to me. There's the chance that the pod gets wrecked upon impact - in the current version, the ODSTs scramble out and take pinning - but I might change that to simply splooting them, or them taking the Explodes! result.

Why not just give drone harbinger the ability to generate more drones and leave it at that? (Well, also it's Relay station ability) it would make it a lot easier and MUCH less confusing for people to play against/learn how to play it.

It's definitely a WIP from the simplicity side. A few main reasons from a workability perspective of why it is the way it is now, and what direction it's going in: 1) It needs to work with drones - there needs to be a benefit and also a REASON to having drones around it, instead of just sending them off the moment they're created. The relay station is one way this is accomplished. For the other, I made it a transport - drones inside of it aid it more than drones outside.

2) If it starts spewing drones on the first turn, it's too powerful. Drones are fairly hardy little buggers, and in numbers, can lay a pretty heavy smackdown with those pulse rifles.

3) As only a dedicated transport, people who want drone armies gain only 3 of them. As only an HS slot, it doesn't have enough firepower to justify, points-wise, competing with the other slots. As a combination of both, it needs more firepower than your average transport, but also cheaper than your average HS slot - a compromise in playability has to be reached in order to justify a low points cost and guns.

So yes, while I've made a huge, beastly, complicated monstrosity, it's also a jenga tower that needs to be poked at and rebuilt carefully.

I think the 'sub-munitions' forcing a re-roll of successful cover saves would make that rule a lot easier to remember and be easier to play.

Possibly. 3+ cover is mostly battlements, heavy fortifications, etc - I'd intended it to be unable to simply overpower its way through those - whereas foliage, sandbags, and simply los issues wouldn't be a problem against such a powerful weapon. I'll play a few with your suggestion to see how it feels, as mechanically, it buffs a few scenarios, and nerfs a whole many others - as well as adding a large additional diceroll into the resolution. My playgroups are heavily into terrain modifications, so we play with a lot of varied terrain pieces, from gothic cathedrals to lush forests - another bias on my part, perhaps

Pg 31, yay blank page with some stuff on it!?

template page for my unit profiles. It'll be gone in the final version, but I've still got special characters to add :V

Pg 32 Armour fit for a prince doesn't link to anything that tells you what it is

Whoops! Thank you!

I think Shield drones staying toughness X is fine.

The big thing is that I've removed drone-controller drones from applying their toughness to the unit's whole. They're pretty much all just 'extra wounds'. For now, it's been alright - there's little abuse to be done, as they're all fairly expensive to be being used as ablatives. At 15-20 points a pop, they're definitely not baby's first tactical cushion. I might consider grafting 5 points onto shield drones and making them W2, which would really benefit their T5, but it would require some heavy testing on the stealth suits, who would abuse it the most - overall, I wanted drones to feel more like tokens allowing the unit to do more, rather than actual parts of the unit that could be bogging it down in many cases.

I think increasing the BS of a markerlight shot on its own is a bit much.

Noted, but it's worked into their price and availability rather heavily. Average saturation with the +1BS (BS4) is 2/3 markerlights right now, meaning for every 3 you fire you're not getting 10 points worth of goodies - which is where the markerlight effects are about stable in cost. Swapping numbers around to support the average saturation of 1/2 hits (BS3) means that markerlights have to come down to about 6 points, and their availability has to increase by a third. I'd rather have a laser pointer hit more often than clutter army lists with "And this unit has 12 markerlights and this one has 8 and this one has 6". I see your point, it's just a lot of work to receive the same mechanical saturation that such a simple fix brings.

I'm confused about inferno, does it have its own template - plus another or just that other one?

Will be clarified that it simply uses the Flamer Template and doesnt roll to-hit.

Decoy launchers are practically useless in the current codex and remain unchanged in this one.

Until you take a few of them on your piranha and gunfish squadrons, and realize that you effectively ignore half of the scenarios that normally result in a wreck - going from Wreck to Stunned (to shaken) on your 200 point vehicle is HUGE.

I'm all kinds of confused about how missile fhu works

It works similar to regeneration, with missiles instead of wounds. It might be overworded because of abuse prevention (They had to errata Regeneration, as it was worded in a way that let you regenerate on 10+ dice by turn 4, creating nigh-immortal trygons). A crack team of scientists have been released to work on it.

I think bodyguards should come with plasma grenades as standard.

Yeah, well, I think you're right. So there.

A vehicle as a HQ choice seems weird

Yup, but can you imagine a race of beings living in space for dozens of millennia really being all that great with the whole planetary gravity thing?

I don't think anyone would ever take a 24 man strong squad of fire warriors. I just seems pointless, especially when they can get swept by a 6 man assault squad. It also doesn't seem very tau like to just have a hoard of guys walking around.

You should see all the tables this would flip in kelowna/vancouver. We've got some hardcore Fire Warrior gunline players. Fanservice is important

No codex makes you have entries from other codexes anymore, I think the Leman Russ is out of place unfortunately.

LR is being ported - frail also mentioned this. It's just so ugly to port :C

How much does the strain leader cost?

Same cots - no distinction is made between models. As he's mandatory and his leadership affects the unit no matter how large it gets, his cost has been worked into the overall cost per model

This is excellent, I can already see many necessary changes, fixes, and alterations. I've addressed top to bottom in bold.

**Ovion**

Also - Space Wolves have a Dreadnought HQ choice (Bjorn).

Goes to design a razorwing HQ

**chrisrawr**

Lawdy, what would that even be D:

"Giant flock of crows oh god why?" - 275 points

WS3 BS0 S3 T4(10) W10 I6 A2(12) Ld10 Sv6+

Rending, Regeneration

For every wound it has, it gets +1T and +1A, up to +10.

Wait I think I'm thinking of the wrong razorwing.

**Ovion**

Just a little - I realise it's a Tau Thread, and not really related but here you go - draft 1 of Taranis:

Taranis, Master of the Razorwing

Spoiler:

Partially because.. why not.. partially because, the ability to have 10 jets (Taranis, 6 Razorwings, 3 Voidravens) on the field would be, and look, amazing.

**blood lance**

Kroot have psykers? From what Ive seen in their written fluff their brains havent developed a creative knack to, in theory, delve into the pyscic arts.

**Ovion**

When Kroot eat psychicly charged races (such as Eldar) they develop psychic powers.

**blood lance**

Ah forgot they have the anatomy that would make Charles Darwin eat his beard. xD