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In a Gue'Vesa Auxiliary force, what kinds of troops/vehicles/weapons would you expect to find? would it be a mix of guards and tau tech, or solely guards or tau tech? and would things like vehicles be modified, or just the same as before?

They tend to look much like Imperial Guard units to be honest, but the Tau allow them to use their body armor and personal weapons. If you get a chance to read Forge Worlds imperial Armor 3 'The Taros campaign' there are references to their typical composition.

Given that it's an auxiliary force, and not an integrated unit (unless they are using auxiliary in a very broad sense), I would expect to find (assuming human origins of the auxiliaries) PDF/IG guards and gear, with a new paint job and a xeno radio or some such bit of minor tech, rather than completely retrofitted with plasma weapons or drone-missiles or anything of the sort, or perhaps IG/PDF troops being ferried about on Tau troop-transports. Probably replacing (or fulfilling) the need for body armour with whatever the Tau can give them. Might also have Tau officers/overseers, or at least liaisons between the humans and the Tau military leadership.

Probably not so many IG troops toting Tau plasma weapons (the differences in physiology being one stumbling block on that path, training time another), but rather whatever lasgun, stubber, autogun or boltgun they carried as part of their original unit. Pretty sure the Earth Caste can design ammo for anything a human might bring along with him to the Greater Good.

i belive the T'au arm their Human Auxliiaries to the same standard as Firewarriors. T'au Power Armor and Pulse Rifles/Carbines. devilfish transports.


some of the Gue'Vesa might be equipped for CC/close range. Flamers, CCWs and Pulse Pistols.

all pulse weaponry would probably have grips modified for human hands, but beyond that it would be basically the same. it would be a simple matter of field stripping the Pulse weapon and putting in a different handle(if T'au hands are significantly different which i don't think aside from having one less finger)


they might use Sentinels armed with T'au technology(burst cannons, missile pods etc...)



this is assuming the Gue'Vesa have been intergrated for some time. Worlds only recently conquored would probably still tote mostly Imperial weaponry as they havn't had the time to replace the equipment.

They do not arm Gue'vasa the same as they do Fire Warriors.

Only the very most trusted members of the Human Auxiliaries are given pulse weapons, everyone else uses standard Imperial weaponry that the Tau have scavenged from battlefields and worlds they've stolen.

any fluff to back that up?


it would just be further proof that the T'au are commie scum bags keeping the best gear for themselves and totally loyal troops to prevent an uprising

The only real thing we had on it was the old Index Astartes rules for them, which kept the same basic setup of an IG squad but let them take Burst Cannons as HBs, etc.

Grey Templar wrote:any fluff to back that up?


it would just be further proof that the T'au are commie scum bags keeping the best gear for themselves and totally loyal troops to prevent an uprising

In my copy of Forge Worlds Imperial Armor 3 there are a few hints at composition.

Weapons are lasguns although the leader can purchase a pulse weapon for additional points.

In modelling these warriors it says to use a mix of imperial guard and firewarrior kits. Specifically mentioning the Tau shoulder pad, torso, backpack and other details for your figures.

Vehicles and any heavy weapons were not allowed by the auxillaries on Taros after the conquest, but it does infer that loyal humans might expect to get the Imperial Guard equivalent of such things returned to them once they prove themselves. It doesn't mention the humans getting any advanced Tau equipment.

More veteran humans recieve Pulse Rifles while standard humans use replicated Lasguns.

They also use Firewarrior armor and/or whatever they have access too.

That was how it was explained when they were chapter approved. Pure fluff wise, the Tau can easily remake technology they find so long as it isn't psychic or genetic in nature. They are also able to greatly enhance weaponry as they proved with both the Kroot and Vespid weapons.

But Kan is correct, only trusted members of the greater good recieve PRs. If I remember correctly it was every 3rd or 6th that got a PR. The replicated lasgun is also stock, they don't enhance them.

In some cases, the Humans come to a fight with what they have. A Guard uniform and a Lasgun or a PDF uniform and a lasgun.

hmm... im thinking flak armor with either imperial-issue las-weapons or pulse rifles gleaned or distributed by the Tau overseers of the gue
vesas. Maybe if a human advanced enough, they might be able to get a human-specific battlesuit? Unless they dont have to go through the same Trials by Fire that the FCM go through

in theory they could get their own Battlesuits.

unlikely as it would be, it's possable.

Shado.Raith wrote:In a Gue'Vesa Auxiliary force, what kinds of troops/vehicles/weapons would you expect to find? would it be a mix of guards and tau tech, or solely guards or tau tech? and would things like vehicles be modified, or just the same as before?

I think that troops are Humans and everything else is Tau. Logicly, if you join them, why would they still let you to use weak Lasgun when you have powerful pulse rifle?
They also give them FW armor, as for vehicles - they are then joined to standard Tau force so they have waht usual Tau strike force has.

Grey Templar wrote:any fluff to back that up?
it would just be further proof that the T'au are commie scum bags keeping the best gear for themselves and totally loyal troops to prevent an uprising

Not only commie scum bags have a problem with "Hi, I am a traitor, please give me all your secret military knowledge at once" troops.
Even if Tau industry allowed for providing all Xenos with Hightech weapons.

In the novel "Kill Team" a human tries to steal a Crisis Suit and is fried in the seat. So I would rule that out.
And everything demanding Tau anatomy and Tau language (including intercom helmet) should not be usable for humans.
Never seen more than body armour and guns given to non-Tau.

The crisis suit isn't controlled like a dreadnight, the tau pilot "taps in" via his spinal cord to the suit and controls the suit from the fetal position inside. Hence the strange nature of Tau "shell shock" as described in the codex.

As a result, it's doubtful that Tau nervous systems are similar enough for Gue'vesa to pilot a suit. Also, battlesuits are only granted to members born into the fire caste, and ascended to the rank of Shas'Ui. The caste system is a mean mother, and birth right means everything. Every Tau knows their place. A human could never be a Shas'Ui.

BeefCakeSoup wrote:More veteran humans recieve Pulse Rifles while standard humans use replicated Lasguns.

No, they don't. It has nothing to do with veterancy and everything to do with loyalty.

They also use Firewarrior armor and/or whatever they have access to.

Again: no, they don't. The "Fire Warrior armor" thing only cropped up during the Doctrine Guard Codex when one of GW's pet projects for the book was showing different ways to make different archetypes. He wanted a way to field a 'harder to kill' army and used Carapace for it. But he also effectively fielded his Gue'vasa as part of a Tau army, and not as an army in its own right so there's a natural disconnect in how things worked.

Kanluwen wrote:

BeefCakeSoup wrote:More veteran humans recieve Pulse Rifles while standard humans use replicated Lasguns.

No, they don't. It has nothing to do with veterancy and everything to do with loyalty.

They also use Firewarrior armor and/or whatever they have access to.

Again: no, they don't. The "Fire Warrior armor" thing only cropped up during the Doctrine Guard Codex when one of GW's pet projects for the book was showing different ways to make different archetypes. He wanted a way to field a 'harder to kill' army and used Carapace for it. But he also effectively fielded his Gue'vasa as part of a Tau army, and not as an army in its own right so there's a natural disconnect in how things worked.

1. Well, the Tau distribute weapons in their own culture based on veterancy all the time. So if it is solely given based on loyalty, that would be odd, but I could see it making sense with a race like humans.

2. I also imagine human Aux as wearing whatever they can. Unlike Kroot or Vespid, humans are very resourceful, wouldn't be surprised if a group of troops made their own armor out of a combination of armors. Until humans become a larger force in the Tau Empire, I expect they will be fielded only when needed and supplied only with food, basic munitions, basic transports.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, this'll help with modeling a semi-tauesqe Gue'Vesa army