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Gooooood morning Dakka =)

I almost finsihed my tau army. But I want an real awesome Tau leader. And by that I mean a real tau, so none in a battlesuit.
So, since the Space Marines have Marneus, and the IG have Yarrick. Do the tau have any awesome (Game-Wise or panorama, don't care ) awesome leaders?
And would it be easy to convert your own tau leader?

Thanks in advance =)

Awesome and T'au are not permitted to be used in the same sentance unless also being used with Not.

It's Heresy

But in all seriousness, Since I assume you are doing a Fire Caste army, you will not find a Commander outside of a Battlesuit unless it is a Space Pope, simply because of the fact that anyone Shas'vre and higher (and the majority of SHas'ui) are in Battlesuits.

Well, if that's so..
Are there any models which are easily converted fluff-wise?

Kais out of Fire Warrior.

He's not in the Codex. Copy the values for Shadowsun and substitute Fire Warrior armour stats.

What Gwar said.. and... why would you want someone without a battlesuit...?

Don't you have the codex btw? That should tell you that any tau without a suit is incompetent to say the least.

Fire Warriors are physically weaker than humans, with the added benefit of being utterly near-sighted.

and the tau are already lame as hell

Soladrin wrote:What Gwar said.. and... why would you want someone without a battlesuit...?

Don't you have the codex btw? That should tell you that any tau without a suit is incompetent to say the least.

I know, but I just think an leader without a battlesuit looks more awesome, whenever it is on the gaming table or in an diorama ;o
And ofcourse I have the codex, can't start an army without in my opinion.

What rules will you use then?

vleermie wrote:

Soladrin wrote:What Gwar said.. and... why would you want someone without a battlesuit...?

Don't you have the codex btw? That should tell you that any tau without a suit is incompetent to say the least.

I know, but I just think an leader without a battlesuit looks more awesome, whenever it is on the gaming table or in an diorama ;o
And ofcourse I have the codex, can't start an army without in my opinion.

If you want a Commander out of a Battle Suit you are limited to the Ethereals and their Honor Guard, unless you want to do what Alpharius suggested and change Shadowsun to being Sha'O Kais from Dark Crusade, though even he is in a Battle Suit per say.

You could try an "Improvised" hero, say a small Firewarrior who, after seeing his commander brought down, quickly patched up the battle suit and controls it himself, however he is exposed but he can take it because he is the pwnsauce.



Just change the Kroot with a Firewarrior and add lots of unplugged cables and stuff.

Tau are rational fighters and think with their brains not their balls, so you won't find something like that in a Tau army:



Tau officers and commanders all wear suits for protection, mobility, damage output and general higher effectivity.
Ethereals are not exactly army generals, but don't wear suits (see old Codex for a cc oriented ethereal).

Of course you can chose individual suits, either FW ones or e.g. this one by Urban Mammoth:

Don’t troll the thread please, Darkhound and Devastator. Your replies are unhelpful to the original question.

you could use the tau tank commander from FW or somthing like that, but you would have to add a bunch of bitz to make it more commanderish

Well, fluff-wise Ethereal bodyguard are firewarriors that choose not to progress to crisis suit pilots so it wouldn't be out of the question to have one that forewent it altogether and it might be fun to write some fluff for such a character.

Model-wise, I haven't looked at the ethereal models (because they're not worth wasting money on) maybe one of them would be modable, just add a battlesuit weapon with a backpack and power cable. Or if your greenstuff abilities are good, you could sculpt an exoskeleton or something instead of a full-blown suit.

One idea is to have an allied general like the Kroot Anghkor Prok. Should be reflected in the army composition.
Having a battle suit army with only the general unprotected makes no sense

Kilkrazy wrote:Don’t troll the thread please, Darkhound and Devastator. Your replies are unhelpful to the original question.

I'll argue against that. I am correct that they are generally weaker and near-sighted compared to a human. Given how well humans (ie Guard) do in this universe, I assumed it would be construed that this is a bad idea. Excuess me for not articulating myself better.

Further on topic: it is easy enough to convert Tau, if you really want to. This Ethereal was done with the Empire Battle Wizards kit. The hardest part is getting the legs correct, which that particular conversion avoided all together.

The in game stats are what's important for creating a character.

Saying that fluff says that humans are stronger than Tau is no help at all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Ethereal is a nice conversion.

Fluff nazis must die!
(From the old movie, "Surf Nazis Must Die!")

I've thought about making a special character and play testing it but the temptation to make something OP is too strong.

Well, there are infact rules for O'Kais from the Fire Warrior book/game - they were in an issue of White Dwarf.

And, for the record, he was 'ardcore.

Personally, I think Farsight is a pretty bad-ass character. Were it not for the force restrictions he adds, I'd use him every game.

Oh, and I did convert up a Farsight-as-a-shas'ui figure for a bit of a laugh...

Kilkrazy wrote:The in game stats are what's important for creating a character.

Saying that fluff says that humans are stronger than Tau is no help at all.

At the risk of incurring your wrath: what are the stats if not a representation of fluff? He wants a Tau HQ out of armor, which doesn't have stats. I say Tau are pound for pound weaker than humans, and because humans have stats that gives him a frame of reference. You couldn't have a Tau Yarrick: he'd lack the experience (Yarrick's ~150 years to the Shas'O's 35), the stamina, strength and augmentation (the Tau have armor instead of bionics and genetic treatment). That's why you don't hear about Tau commanders without armor.

If I had to, I'd start with an Ethereal and swap his stuff out for the Fire Warrior's equipment. Give him a Rifle, Targetting Array, and Multi-tracker with a Networked Markerlight (Shas'uis can take most of that, so it isn't cheesy). Leave the Ethereal's morale boost, but get rid of the Ultimate Price of Failure (or whatever its called). Leave his ability to take an Honor Guard. Also count him as your Crisis Commander requirement. He should come out to about 80-90 points. He isn't a power-house, but he is a force multiplier. His squad will benefit from the Multi-tracker should he hit (at BS4), and the squad's ensueing shooting will be boosted to BS5 which makes a mess of enemy infantry.

Oh, and the conversion isn't mine. It is a beauty though, isn't it?

The stats are a representation of how the unit works in the game. The fluff is written to support or justify the stats.

This is going to turn into 'what came first: the chicken or the egg?' I think the fluff came first. You build the world, then adapt the statistics around that. I should just drop it now.

That sounds doable, and I have to agree with Darkhound, making up rules without fluff makes no sense in a game like Warhammer 40k, where those two are going hand in hand as much as possible.

Unsuited HQ Concept:
Shas'O Tau'n Doran Y'He (O'Doran)

Background:
Doran started his career much like any Tau of the Fire Caste; he was taken at the age of 3 from his mother and entered life as a pupil in the Emperial War College. His early years were unremarkable but at the age of 12, on his first campaign, that was all to change.

Doran started out as a line trooper on some wilderness world where his cadre was sent to support their Kroot allies against the onslaught of an Ork invasion force. It was during this campaign that Doran earned his name (Doran Y'He: Calm Death), during a pitched battle, after his squad's 'ui was killed by an Ork Choppa, Doran led the fall-back movement that salvaged a good portion of the squad. He immediately called upon support from a local Kroot settlement which sent a force of Carnivores to support the squad and even led his diminished squad in fire support of the arrived carnivors personally killing more than 15 Ork Boyz and wounding a Boss. After the battle, he was given a bone amulet from the Kroot force's shaper to honor his quick thinking and calm head in battle. The Tau high command noted Doran's unorthodox behavior for future reference and he and his squad completed the bonding ritual that would forever keep them tied together.

After two more campaigns, it was time for the rising star of Doran to be awarded as a Shas'ui and be moved to a crisis suit unit but, unsurprisingly, he was loathe to leave his brother squad members behind. During his time as the squad's Shas'ui, Doran further proved himself to be a brilliant strategist and unorthodox planner. He was often seen conversing with Gue'vesa soldiers, Kroot Carnivors and even members of a Demiurg brotherhood. His quick mind and down to earth attitude won him many friends in all of these circles.

Finally, Doran earned the title of Shas'vre and was offered a position on a commander's bodyguard team. Instead of accepting this honor, Doran shocked the command hiearchy and stated his intention to stay "unsuited" and remain with his, now battle hardened, unit. After much discussion and his appearance before the full military council, it was decided that Doran would be an experiment in having an infantry commander without a suit; it was felt that his appearance on the battlefield, bareheaded, would inspire those around him to greater fervor as he placed himself in the line of fire with the Shas'la and allied soldiers.

And thus it remained, from battlefield to battlefield Doran proved time and again that his cool head in battle combined with his ability to adapt to changes in the nature of the battle won many a victory for the Tau Empire and the Greater Good. He worked his way up the command structure until he earned his own cadre. he was sure to include representatives from all the allied forces in his cadre and holds planning sessions that allow allied leaders input. Doran demands that all his soldiers cross-train with each other segment as much as possible and relies on Demiurg technological advancements to help overcome obstacles.

O'Doran is seen where the fighting is the hardest fought, always thinking ahead of his opponent and making calm, calculated tactical appraisals, never afraid to try something new.

Stats:
WS BS S T W I A LD
4 5 3 3 3 4 3 10
Equipment:

Armor: O'Doran is equipped with Tau carapace armor that provides a 4+ save, in addition to this, the bone amulet that he received from the Kroot Shaper orovides him with a 4+ invulnerable save.

Weapons: O'Doran was gifted with a Demiurg plasma carbine that has the following profile:
Range: 30" Strength: 6 AP: 3 Rapid Fire

Tactics:
Inspiring Presence: While O'Doran is alive on the battle field, all Tau and allied units (even another player) within 12" may use O'Doran's leadership when called upon to make leadership or morale tests.

Unorthodox: If O'Doran is included in an army, tau Firewarriors are always able to fall back from close combat with an unmodified initiative of 4. If they are caught by the enemy, they are not destroyed but are also not able to attempt to leave combat again.

Kroot training: Kroot carnivore units under the command of O'Doran gain the "Stealth" universal special rule but lose their "fieldcraft". As they have followed O'Doran on many campaigns and have experienced a variety of terrain types. Kroot are also able to take EMP grenades at an additional 2 points per model and may opt to lose stealth in exchange for 1/2 carapace armor that provides 5+ protection for free.

As much as I love Tau I agree with Darkhound. Apart from being a symbol a tau general without a crisis suit isn't going to be much better than a FW. If you want a cool looking Tau general that makes sense fluffwise you will need to make a more detailed crisis suit.

As for a general to choose from the fluff, Commander Puretide is considered by the Tau to be the best fire caste tau in known history. He is dead at the current time but so are some other characters, so that isn't a problem ( he didn't die that long ago). He is mentioned in the Tau codex on page 13. He is the Tau who trained both Shadow Sun and Farsight.

The short-sightedness of Tau was dropped from the background in the current Codex.
O'Kais is a standard Fire Warrior (not a general), manipulated by a daemon, so untypical for a Tau ("one in a million").

As Tau is a modern style army:
Would you also dream of a current US-4star-general ripping his shirt off, taking a sable and running alone against a hostile tank company? Would you be disappointed if modern generals wouldn't react that way (and are not better at cc than a sergeant)?

O'Kais is the Shas'O thats why he's O'Kais he pilots an XV-22 Stealth Suit in Dawn of War Dark Crusade.

Kais from Firewarrior is Shas'La Kais a standard military man.

Wow guys.. I guess I should start by thanking all of you guys! Thanks a lot, since there is some very usefull information in this thread =)

I'll think I'll start by getting an ethereal, convert him using gs and some tau bits to make him look more awe'sum (inside joke, yes, it's awful >< and, since there's absolutely no way around it. I'll get another battlesuit, and put the commander in the battlesuit, like the picture dakkadood posted =)

since my army will be more cc orientated, I will also add some kroots in it. Any advice on awesome kroot leaders? ="

You've only got one choice for Kroot leaders and that's shapers....