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The title says it all. How did this happen???

its the brand new shiny toy in the window of the toy store?

I like to call it magpie syndrome.... ooo shiney

Long time between updates + first xenos update of 6th + best new models since Necron = a lot of interest.

But maybe it's just my local meta but we had a crap load of Tau prior to that, and until I bought drop pods, it was rough! Just wondering if they have kewl story or something...

Tau were a new release army from waaaaaay back when in 3rd edition. They were one of the first "new" armies and they were at first, and to some degree, still are the only "good" army in the game. Their grim is just slightly less dark than the rest, and unlike the Imperium's dreadful status quo, they really want to make life better for everyone who is willing to join them. Their technology is also incredibly advanced, so they have some pretty cool looking stuff like battle suits and hover tanks, lending a real nice anime/futurist feel to the whole army. They were also the first arguably completely shooty army. A lot of people, like myself, picked up tau when they first came out and had a lot of fun with them. As time rolled on and other newer codexs outclassed them and editions changed playing Tau became a less fun. And by less fun i mean being tabled by any rhino spam, paladin, or necron flyer list out there. I will readily admit that i shelved my tau because while they were a blast to play, it was hard to get any meaningful results out of them, and losing a whole bunch is never fun. Now that theres a new codex all those people who picked up Tau back in the day are now dusting them off, filling themselves with that ever lustful nostalgia, and getting geared up for some real competitive play from an army that has a real fantastic amount of fluff and a unique way of playing. I for one am glad, since i am a Xenos loving heretic at heart

GTKA666 wrote:
its the brand new shiny toy in the window of the toy store?

Not at all. In my local meta, of about 20 some players, 4 are tau players, 4 have tau armies as other armies, 2 are buying them now as the new stuff comes out (the other 8 are buying to update their stuff too). I think that's pretty typical of the meta in most clubs near here. About every other player I know in RL has about 1k or more tau.

Meta varies by location. But I imagine he new models and new book swayed people to invest in a new army of their own.

It may also be you are seeing people bringing old armies back.

 generalchaos34 wrote:
Tau were a new release army from waaaaaay back when in 3rd edition. They were one of the first "new" armies and they were at first, and to some degree, still are the only "good" army in the game. Their grim is just slightly less dark than the rest, and unlike the Imperium's dreadful status quo, they really want to make life better for everyone who is willing to join them. Their technology is also incredibly advanced, so they have some pretty cool looking stuff like battle suits and hover tanks, lending a real nice anime/futurist feel to the whole army. They were also the first arguably completely shooty army. A lot of people, like myself, picked up tau when they first came out and had a lot of fun with them. As time rolled on and other newer codexs outclassed them and editions changed playing Tau became a less fun. And by less fun i mean being tabled by any rhino spam, paladin, or necron flyer list out there. I will readily admit that i shelved my tau because while they were a blast to play, it was hard to get any meaningful results out of them, and losing a whole bunch is never fun. Now that theres a new codex all those people who picked up Tau back in the day are now dusting them off, filling themselves with that ever lustful nostalgia, and getting geared up for some real competitive play from an army that has a real fantastic amount of fluff and a unique way of playing. I for one am glad, since i am a Xenos loving heretic at heart

Thats a pretty good reason for it. I'll leave it alone for now and jus continue to cleve them to death with chainswords and axes.

They are not space marines.

Believe it or not, this is actually a pretty big deal. There is so much SM out there that when Xenos do show up it really generates a big stir.

Jayden that is a great point. I guess I am also sick of killing things in power armour too.

.... and, no skulls?

Jack_Death wrote:
.... and, no skulls?

You do realise I am now going to go through the whole codex to find a skull, because I simply do not believe you.

Edit: Found some

I remember the first time I brought my Tau into my local shop (back when they were first released). I guy I've never met before stood up and pointed at me and said. "You, I'm playing you next." Puzzled, I replied "Ok, but why?" He answered, "finally someone not playing space marines."

His was the only other non SM army there that night. It was Eldar.

And believe it or not, introducing Tau was probably the smartest thing GW had done for the game, since the massive reinvention from 2nd to 3rd edition. Even if you didn't buy into the Tau look/feel/fluff or felt it was too anime and not Grim Dark, there are hordes of gamers who think differently. It brought in a ton of new players simply because the models looked cool and above all, it was a new Xenos army and had nothing to do with space marines.

 reece_mess16 wrote:
Jayden that is a great point. I guess I am also sick of killing things in power armour too.

Or hell, even just plain non-Space MArines in power armor. Seeing more Sisters, IE Humans in power armor, wouldn't be bad, although I'd wonder how people can afford new Sisters armies in this economy.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It may also be you are seeing people bringing old armies back.

Basically this. Most people don't sell their armies when they stop playing an army. It simple goes into storage. Now that Tau have a shiny new codex, people are digging out their Tau and playing them in an effort to see what new stuff they want to buy (which is usually ALL THE THINGS).

Jack_Death wrote:
.... and, no skulls?

The new Farsight has some quasi-purity seals on him, all we need is a skull or twelve and I might be interested in playing Tau.

Probably because they have a very unique feel compared to other 40k armies.

And who doesn't like cool mecha suits?

 Grey Templar wrote:
And who doesn't like cool mecha suits?

Me? Give me western mechs any day.

 Melissia wrote:

 reece_mess16 wrote:
Jayden that is a great point. I guess I am also sick of killing things in power armour too.

Or hell, even just plain non-Space MArines in power armor. Seeing more Sisters, IE Humans in power armor, wouldn't be bad, although I'd wonder how people can afford new Sisters armies in this economy.

About one person per gaming group.

Well, i already have Tyranids, and i bought into Tau as my 2nd army....

So regardless of army it will always be Xeno

 Jayden63 wrote:

And believe it or not, introducing Tau was probably the smartest thing GW had done for the game, since the massive reinvention from 2nd to 3rd edition. Even if you didn't buy into the Tau look/feel/fluff or felt it was too anime and not Grim Dark, there are hordes of gamers who think differently. It brought in a ton of new players simply because the models looked cool...

It brought ME in. All the more reason for 40k community to rejoice!

I actually thought at first: "Oh, they're new army, and aren't based on existing fantasy archetype...I bet they're unpopular".

They were one of the more interesting races to me but because of the age on the codex it was hard to interpret rules for 6th ed. Hell, i learned the codex by reading the FAQ not the Codex itself because it was so heavily FAQ/Erratted. Bout all i needed the old dex for was numbers.

Now they finally got looked at when they probably needed it eons ago. I havent been in 40k nearly as long as most people, but from what i can tell from just digging around in old forums/tutorials they were mainly played because people just like the army....they had too huge of a weakness to be competitive. That weakness is still there, obviously, but from what i can tell its nowhere near as bad thanks to supporting fire.

Also pretty much any race that gets a new toy will be FOTM for 90% of the community. Good or not. I still think the Riptide is as popular as it is solely because its a new, cheap-ish MC and looks awesome/has a nice gun. Whether or not it ends up as competitive as it is cool looking is another question. Its lack of fearless/crappy melee might be what removes it from most people's list.

I think Tau are prevelent simply because they are a "cool" looking army. Let's be honest, most people pick their first armies when they get into the hobby because they like the way they look, and at that point have little knowledge of the rules. SME are so prevelent because there are numerous variations of them, but also because they are asthetically pleasing. Back when 3rd edition first dropped and I was given a choice between Dark Eldar and Space Marines as my first armies, I chose Space Marines because they looked cool and sounded elite/powerful.

When Tau first came out, I had taken a hiatus from all things Warhammer, and they instantly pulled me back into the game. They were the first clean looking xenos army, have a good-guy vibe, and introduced a unique move and shoot play-style. Having a Japanese Anime/Mecha theme also helps pull in the numerous people interested those genres as well.

I, like many here have had a Tau army shelved for a long time, and periodically take them out for a game or two, but for the most part have been waiting for the upgrade in these flyer heavy times. Tau have always been a popular range for GW, and what we are seeing is several years of older TAU players (which is a large contingent) coming out of the woodwork to update their forces, along with the usual flavor of the month crowd that see's fancy new toys and goes on a spending spree. Two of my local independent stores are sold out of their Tau stock save for a box or two of Kroot, and this is the first time of any release I have seen this happen.

The Tau, like the Necrons and Dark Eldar before them, have proven that Xenos armies can be hugely popular, and I hope it gives GW insentive to spend more time on their more neglected armies like SoB in 40k and Chaos Dwarfs in fantasy.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
They were one of the more interesting races to me but because of the age on the codex it was hard to interpret rules for 6th ed. Hell, i learned the codex by reading the FAQ not the Codex itself because it was so heavily FAQ/Erratted. Bout all i needed the old dex for was numbers.

Now they finally got looked at when they probably needed it eons ago. I havent been in 40k nearly as long as most people, but from what i can tell from just digging around in old forums/tutorials they were mainly played because people just like the army....they had too huge of a weakness to be competitive.

No, Mech Tau were actually pretty powerful tournament army in 4th edition, when skimmers were awesome. This is why some veterans don't like the new Codex, they have bunch of skimmers stashed away, and they suck in the new book.

Backfire wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:
They were one of the more interesting races to me but because of the age on the codex it was hard to interpret rules for 6th ed. Hell, i learned the codex by reading the FAQ not the Codex itself because it was so heavily FAQ/Erratted. Bout all i needed the old dex for was numbers.

Now they finally got looked at when they probably needed it eons ago. I havent been in 40k nearly as long as most people, but from what i can tell from just digging around in old forums/tutorials they were mainly played because people just like the army....they had too huge of a weakness to be competitive.

No, Mech Tau were actually pretty powerful tournament army in 4th edition, when skimmers were awesome. This is why some veterans don't like the new Codex, they have bunch of skimmers stashed away, and they suck in the new book.

Kind of how it is with every single vehicle right now except AV14, which theyre hurting as well because of the point cost and liability of something that can still destroy them in 1 hit sneaking up on them.
But i can concurr that feeling of half your army being useless because of a rule change/codex change. I have so many trukks/battlewagons that almost never see the table because in 6th they die the instant theyre looked at.

I agree with all the statements about Tau being prevalent because they are new and not SM, between this and the new and not SM Necron codex we have seen a decline of SM players in my meta in favor of the newer xenos armies which I am perfectly happy with, gives me a greater variety of opponents to face.

For ALL the reasons listed.

Of coruse, not every reason applies to each person (some love the look, some don't, some love the fluff, some don't, some are just happy to not be marines, some love the feel of their play, others are just wanting something new, etc.

Me? I never put mine on the shelf, and have been playing them all through fifth and sixth - while I am not happy with all of the codex, overall I am happy to have a good solid dex, filled with a lot of options.

I almost chose Tau as my army back in 5th edition. I like how they have a more futuristic aesthetic than the baroque Imperium with their lasers and skimmers. A lot of people hate the Crisis Suit designs, but I like how they went with the very unique, ungainly shape instead of just a generic humanoid; the Crisis Suit to me looks like something built for function over form.