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http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1760102a_Tau_Empire_Version_1_1.pdf

Credit goes to AArdvark085 on ATT for discovering the FAQ. Addresses many issues with Tau but by no means brings them up from being underpowered. Still a welcome update though.

Ah, at least they now have sorted out gun drones on a Vehicle.

This is my understanding:

They are not treated as passengers at all so unless you choose to detach them from a vehicle they don’t yield a kill point and if you don’t detach them before the vehicle is destroyed they are removed as part of the vehicle.

obsidianaura wrote:Ah, at least they now have sorted out gun drones on a Vehicle.

This is my understanding:

They are not treated as passengers at all so unless you detach them from a vehicle they don’t yield a kill point and if you don’t detach them before the vehicle is destroyed they are removed as part of the vehicle.

You have it 100% correct. It will be a massive help for Killpoint games. There was nothing more frustrating than drawing with high-powered IG 9 - 9 solely because he gunned down the Drones that popped out of my 2 destroyed Devilfish and my Destroyed Piranha Squadron. Under this FAQ, I would have had a fantastic win 9 - 6 against one of (if not the best) codices.

Oh well, at least it is fixed for now.

is the answer to the first question in the FAQ wrong?

Q. If a unit with advanced stabilization systems also has
Marker Drones, can the drones remain stationary to fire
their markerlights while the Battlesuits move using their
advanced stabilization systems? (p25)
A. No, since models in the unit moved, the drones, which
do not have a stabilization system, may not fire a heavy
weapon.

Drones are Jet Pack units, which means they are relentless, so it means they should always be able to fire heavy weapons. I am missing something? I do not play Tau.

Drones are the type of unit that their controller is, not always Jet Packs. If they're with Crisis/Stealth Suits, they're Jet Pack. If they're with Fire Warriors/Broadsides, they're Infantry.

svendrex wrote:Drones are Jet Pack units, which means they are relentless, so it means they should always be able to fire heavy weapons. I am missing something? I do not play Tau.

Marker Drones, as well as Shield and Sniper Drones, adopt the Unit Type of their owner. Therefore, a Marker Drone attached to a Broadside Team is Unit Type: Infantry and not relentless. On top of this, Codex:Tau Empire states on page 27 explains the special form of "relentless" (though the referenced text does not use that specific word) as applying to things like rapid fire weapons but not heavy weapons. The same page also says that the same applies to the XV-88 Broadside Armor as well.

The ruling on Marker Drones not being allowed to move and fire their Heavy 1 Markerlight may seem strange if they are attached to Jump Infantry but given the explained abilities of a XV8/XV88, the ruling is in line with the Codex.

Marker Drones can fire their Marker Lights just fine on the move if they're attached to Jet Packers. The Codex is from the previous edition of the game where Jet Packs did not have Relentless, and the Tau has their own special rule. The current edition gives all Jet Packs relentless though, it's not a Codex rule, so the drones get the benefit if they're joined to the correct type of unit.

Aduro wrote:Marker Drones can fire their Marker Lights just fine on the move if they're attached to Jet Packers. The Codex is from the previous edition of the game where Jet Packs did not have Relentless, and the Tau has their own special rule. The current edition gives all Jet Packs relentless though, it's not a Codex rule, so the drones get the benefit if they're joined to the correct type of unit.

But the XV8s aren't true relentless due to the blurb on page 27? Though now that I think about it, none of the standard XV8 weapons are heavy anyways...

IIRC only stealth suits have relentless. XV8s dont since they have no heavy weapons

Cool. I always upgraded my fish to SMS anyways but its nice to see GW at least trying to help older armies.

XV8 and XV25 are Jump Infantry (Jet Pack). This makes them relentless, as per the 5th edition rulebook.
They also have the special rules from page 27, which (whilst basically meaning they are relentless) means XV8 cannot move and fire heavy weapons. This was necessary as Jet Pack infantry didn't have relentless in 4th edition. However, it is totally superfluous as XV8 cannot take any heavy weapons anyway. XV25 can still move and fire heavy weapons.
However, marker drones only take the unit type, not the pg27 rules, making them true Relentless.


I'm most happy about this, though I'm sure some TFG will still try to pull out the old 'but if you ignore that sentence then nothing happens....'

Various – Target Priority
Ignore all references to Target Priority and Target
Priority tests

It was done before the Eleventh? Man does that feel further away.

Well at least I don't have to deploy drones after the D-Fish explodes/wrecks.

But unfortunately that's what at most this FAQ can give.

While its good to see FAQ's from GW, (and how long were we waiting for this one?) I would have rather seen GW taske the opportunity to fix rthings rather than simply clarify within the rules mechanic.

Kill points for drones shouldn't happen at all, drones are expendible and should be viewed as such, besides a drone pair is a very small unit indeed. Tau dont cry when drones die. Yes drones have morale but that is based on evade routines cutting in as priority rather than mind numbing fear per se.

Marker drones should also be able to move and fire, you pay enough for them after all, and this isnt a ladcannon on a marine, this is a very portable minim laser on a smooth moving hover flitter. Our drones can move smoothly, I have no reason to think Tau ones cant.

Decoy launchers should offer a 4+ save vs immobilising hits. They are after all decoys, decoys cause a shot to miss not reroll damage.

I like what they did to Sensor spines though.

So it's probably not as likely that Tau are coming out later this year if they updated the FAQ.

Trasvi wrote:XV8 and XV25 are Jump Infantry (Jet Pack). This makes them relentless, as per the 5th edition rulebook.
They also have the special rules from page 27, which (whilst basically meaning they are relentless) means XV8 cannot move and fire heavy weapons. This was necessary as Jet Pack infantry didn't have relentless in 4th edition. However, it is totally superfluous as XV8 cannot take any heavy weapons anyway. XV25 can still move and fire heavy weapons.
However, marker drones only take the unit type, not the pg27 rules, making them true Relentless.

This is absolutely correct. I'm really hoping that the eventual new codex will allow relentless drones with Infantry squads.

I'm most happy about this, though I'm sure some TFG will still try to pull out the old 'but if you ignore that sentence then nothing happens....'

Various – Target Priority
Ignore all references to Target Priority and Target
Priority tests

so does this mean that Command and Controll Node alows me to use my commanders Ld within 12" ?

Hokiecow wrote:So it's probably not as likely that Tau are coming out later this year if they updated the FAQ.

Yep.

It seems odd that Drones flying next to a broadside/fire warriors are not relentless, but ones flying next to Crisis or Stealth Suits are...Whatever, that is what the rules say I guess.

There are rules for having a unit with different unit types in it, such as having a jump infantry character joined to an infantry unit, so having the drones take the unit type of their controller seems awkward. Were mixed unit type units not allowed in the 4th edition rules or something?



It made sense for the Black Templar and Dark Angels to get the 5th edition version of their wargear. That way you do not have 2 types of Storm Shields or whatever. There is no real equivalent for the Tau I guess. It is good enough that they at least got the codex up to 5th edition core rule standards. There was no reason to think that they would change any of the points or anything like that.

It's odd that all I can see this update did was fix an issue with drones on vehicles, fix the seeker missile cover question (bout time), fix multitrackers and impose a restriction on piranha teams.

Course it doesn't fix the command and control node.

grak wrote:

Hokiecow wrote:So it's probably not as likely that Tau are coming out later this year if they updated the FAQ.

Yep.

While I have zero secret rumor knowledge personally (above what I read on these boards), I wouldn't say that it totally rules them out. The daemonhunters got an "update" in that their now old codex went online and was reorganized (nothing new, but they went through the trouble of taking out stuff). While the comparison isn't apples to apples, I don't think the updating of an FAQ excludes them from the rest of the year. I'm more curious to see if GW follows their Imperial/Xenos alternating pattern. We've got GK (obviously the imperials) and the two repeatedly rumored xenos ones in the works are necrons and tau...

Would someone be so kind to post the FAQ here for those of us working folks who are not allowed access to GWs site?

Thanks,
Usdi

Q: How are cover saves worked out for smart missile
systems and seeker missiles as they do not need line of
sight? (p27, 30)
A: The target will only receive cover saves that are not
based on line of sight. This would include when at least
half the unit is in area terrain; or a vehicle with wargear or
a special rule that means they are obscurred.

This is pretty darn concise

Now, why couldn't they have been this clear (or benevolent) with the tyranid codex in regards to the Hive Guard entry. There it mentions that models in cover or adjacent to cover get thier cover save.

OnDebit wrote:so does this mean that Command and Controll Node alows me to use my commanders Ld within 12" ?

Only for... some reason that nobody can remember.

I think they removed my flechette discarger dream-cheese (its only a dream because I find it unlikely that anyone would actually have 5 piranhas anyway). The entire squad takes certain options now, so I assume they don't stack. I guess that is fair.

The gun drone no longer being kill points unless you choose to disembark them is a boon. I hate spending lots of points getting SMS to the point that I usually chose not to despite the disadvantage.

ssREV wrote:I think they removed my flechette discarger dream-cheese (its only a dream because I find it unlikely that anyone would actually have 5 piranhas anyway). The entire squad takes certain options now, so I assume they don't stack. I guess that is fair.

Why? all it clarifies is that if one model takes flechette all must and not every model must have seekers if one does.

wyomingfox wrote:

Q: How are cover saves worked out for smart missile
systems and seeker missiles as they do not need line of
sight? (p27, 30)
A: The target will only receive cover saves that are not
based on line of sight. This would include when at least
half the unit is in area terrain; or a vehicle with wargear or
a special rule that means they are obscurred.

This is pretty darn concise

Now, why couldn't they have been this clear (or benevolent) with the tyranid codex in regards to the Hive Guard entry. There it mentions that models in cover or adjacent to cover get thier cover save.

It's either

A) A little bit of cheese to help out the Tau until the new codex. You can put a lot of SMS and Seekers in a Tau army and now they ignore most cover.

B) Standard GW inconsistency of logic.

I just wish markerlights weren't heavy, it makes no sence.

This doesn't change tau substantially. It just clarifies things we all knew should be happening in the first place. I don't think that necessarily means tau get pushed back, especially since the FAQ was released so quietly.

I do not advise everyone go out and buy a bajillion devilfish and skyrays. They're both still underpowered, and mech tau is still not good.

This doesn't really help Tau but it does allow gw to have an excuse to delay the new codex longer :( which is not a good idea considereing tau is one of the most popular xenos army.

I guess that settles it. Necrons are next!

I was happy about the gun drones on vehicles.

But it wouldn't be a proper FAQ without a nerf.

Page 39 – Piranha Light Skimmer Team, Options
Change the second sentence to ʻAny model may take any
of the following vehicle upgrades: blacksun filter; seeker
missiles, targeting array, target lock. The entire squadron
may take any of the following vehicle upgrades:
decoy launchers, disruption pod, flechette discharger,
sensor spines.ʼ

No more upgrading one pirahna in a squadron with a disruption pod or flechette launcher. Now you have to equip them the same.

Edit: They still didn't clarify how flechette launchers work in a squadron.