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StarHunter25 wrote:
2) They're too hard to play with/against because they require more than "put speehs murrenz in razorbacks, drive forward, shoot lots, have th/ss termies w/ vulkan assault out of LRC"

I'd think that "shoot lots, then fail in CC" would be much easier to play...

I personally think tau is awesome. I haven't had a ton of experience with them but I love the look and the shootyness of the tau. Why does everything have to be grim dark in 40k? Mix it up a bit I say.

BossBig'un wrote:I feel that Tau are boring. The don't have alot of fluff, they seem emotionless, no passion.

They have never been fleshed out in fluff, and seem just plain old boring.

This is exactly how I feel. I see Tau, and I don't even think enough of them one way or the other for it to be evocative of emotion in general. I don't even consider their existence a real part of fluff or try to write battles with them into my army's fluff. If anything, it makes me more depressed than it does anything else, just because it feels like a game with zero interesting outcome. I've had games I'd describe with detail killing off the vile traitor guard, or the heretic space marines, or running off the remainder of the mysterious and vile Eldar from the battlefield, but when it's Tau time, it may as well just be a game of chess.

Furthering my previous post: Does anyone know how Tau communicate interstellarly? The don't have psychics and radio waves take a while.

I disagree that they're soft. Our Club's Static Tau Player is seldom beaten, and hasn't been since I joined the Club.

I don't hate Tau. I rather like them. 'Lack of Interesting Stuff', says the guy on Page 1? Really? Kroot and Vespid Allies, and all the Technology they have access to? And they're 'Lacking Interesting Stuff'? Wrong.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Furthering my previous post: Does anyone know how Tau communicate interstellarly? The don't have psychics and radio waves take a while.

Well you see it has to do with HEY LOOK OVER THERE IT'S MORGAN FREEMAN

*blackjack*

SaintHazard wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Furthering my previous post: Does anyone know how Tau communicate interstellarly? The don't have psychics and radio waves take a while.

Well you see it has to do with HEY LOOK OVER THERE IT'S MORGAN FREEMAN

*blackjack*

I don't know what that means but it sounds like "The Chewbacca Defense".

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

I don't know what that means but it sounds like "The Chewbacca Defense".

It would make sense if you looked... we swear.

Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this discussion? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this discussion! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a Tau player defending my favorite army, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're trying to decide if the Tau are grimdark enough, does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this forum, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must agree that the Tau are awesome!

SaintHazard wrote:Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this discussion? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this discussion! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a Tau player defending my favorite army, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're trying to decide if the Tau are grimdark enough, does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this forum, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must agree that the Tau are awesome!

My God! His arguement is unassailable! Infallible! I give up....

Darth Bob wrote:There are no good guys in the grimdarkness of the far future.

But I don't hate Tau...I just hate alot of the people that they draw into the Hobby. I mean I like Anime as much as the next guy...but when I see kids with Yugioh t-shirts buying a pack of Broadsides, I die a little inside.

I have felt such pain as well :(.

Darth Bob wrote:There are no good guys in the grimdarkness of the far future.

But I don't hate Tau...I just hate alot of the people that they draw into the Hobby. I mean I like Anime as much as the next guy...but when I see kids with Yugioh t-shirts buying a pack of Broadsides, I die a little inside.

But isn't that a good thing? 90% of those kids won't get around to assembling those broadsides, or if they do, will quit after a handful of games to pursue the next thing that catches their fleeting attention. Every broadside they buy provides more funds for GW to spend developing the real armies. I like to think the entire Tau empire is actually a Truman Show-esque TV show in the Imperium, where they laugh at the foolish aliens thinking they actually have a say in their survival. The various races involved gives it an MTV Real World feel to draw in younger audiences. The story arc where Farsight was caught in bed with a Kroot, and was lampooned so much by the Tau media that he fled the empire drew the highest ratings, like, ever! Or the episode where Shadowsun got totally wasted and was being so obnoxious that some random Earth caste guy ended up punching her in the face. Hilarious!

I find their lack of grimdarkness disturbing...

...and I wish GW would hire FW to make their battle suits from now on.

Well everyone so far has made "some" good points. But other than the Imperium, the Tau or the only other army that has a "stable" empire.
I mean, the Orks are fighting each other and everyone else, the Eldar are on there Craftworlds/ Giant ships, Necrons are underground, and Tyrainds are going OMNOMNOM, so Tau are the only stable empire.

and they do it all with cell phones!

Technically speaking there are other stable empires, human and xeno, we just don't know that much about them.

My problems with Tau with a bit of explanation:

1. Too anime.
WAIT. I don't hate anime. As St. Hazard said, I actually hate those crazy anime fanbois (or girls). But Tau (sadly enough) seem to attract them with their vague anime appeal.
2. Lack of Fluff
They have very little. Other books have almost nothing on them. I love fluff so this is a problem... What little fluff they have isn't even that interesting to be honest.
3. Not grimdark?
Yes Tau are starting to come into their grimdarkness now and I give them props for that, but until comparatively recently they were (as melissia said) the good guys.
4. anime fan (apparently this word is censored? really?) space communists in space.
Self-explanatory.
5. Codex
People constantly complain that Tau need an update. Did you forget 'crons? DE? BTs? Poor critters are stuck in the way back when times... And Tau are still strong, believe me or not.
6. Looks
Overall they don't look great to me. I'm sure many people like their stuff, but I personally don't. Just sayin'.

Like I said, my opinions.

We are not in need of a codex update, while some of our equipment and options are out of date there are things i may lose in an update that i wish to cling to

namely, enough STR 10 AP 1 shots and Fast-Melta Skimmers to make mecha armies cry

Tau are not just coming into their grimdarkness...

As I said before, they're beginning to become the most grimdark ever.

I feel that Space Pope will quickly reveal himself to be a true Space Stalin, Space Caligula, and Space Idi Amin all rolled into one.

And I like it!

SaintHazard wrote:Tau are not just coming into their grimdarkness...

As I said before, they're beginning to become the most grimdark ever.

I feel that Space Pope will quickly reveal himself to be a true Space Stalin, Space Caligula, and Space Idi Amin all rolled into one.

And I like it!

I think that the skull structure of the Ethereals look disturbingly Necron-like.

I'm hoping that the Deceiver has pulled a huge fast one.

Dey krump real good, so I like em fine

I don't mind them really, and it's interesting to have a race with a much different aesthetic and outlook than any other races. I'm not crazy about them though. More diverse xeno races is generally a good thing though, and I think the whole "alliance" they've got with alien races could make for a much more interesting army than what we have now.

Maelstrom808 wrote:I find their lack of grimdarkness disturbing...

...and I wish GW would hire FW to make their battle suits from now on.

You do see the irony behind this right xD

Monster Rain wrote:I think that the skull structure of the Ethereals look disturbingly Necron-like.

I'm hoping that the Deceiver has pulled a huge fast one.

I wouldn't be surprised. The Deceiver or one of his buddies seem to be the mastermind behind everything that ever happens ever these days.

I don't mind Tau. Thier tanks are pretty cool and battle suits look ok but they do have a bit of anime insperation in thier design.

So long as I'm playing with people who are serious of playing 40k and not just to getting the figures because they look like anime characters I don't mind Tau.

Most people hate tau due to two different things:

They say it attracts anime fans

They think the tau are communists.


Personally, I choose tau since they were are ranged race and NOT imperial guard.


Also, tau are not communist. If you knew anything about it you would recognize the fact that a caste system exists for them completely negates any connection to communism.

If you must know what the tau are, they are: A Despotic Totalitarian Collectivist Imperialistic Utilitarianist Society ruled by Theocratic Hereditary Oligarchies presiding over Meritocratic Councils.

Yea. Full read on the matter here ---->http://forums.tauonline.org/index.php?topic=70577.0

I never understood the anime thing, and this is from someone who absolutely can't stand anime. Anime mech suits are far anthropomorphic and ridiculous, don't gundams and neon-genesis-evangeliwhogivesacare robots use swords and other nonsense? The crisis suits are all blocky and look far more functional. I mean if I had to guess what real world robots would look like down the road I'd pretty much envision tau stuff.

Also how can you have a sci-fi universe that covers almost every archetype except the technologically inclined guys that shoot blue plasma thingies. (Eldar don't count they are far too mystical and psychically inclined to fill this role). It's perhaps the most science fictiony trope of all sci-fi tropes. I mean dreads are not your conventional sci-fi robobt (not that they have to be). Tau are all about functionallity and effectiveness, anime stuff is definitely more about style (though they fail this hard)

I also always got an African vibe rather than Asian from the ethereals and the whole Tau homeworld being a desert, but maybe that's just me.

My friend explained it a good way, take the "I'm twelve years old and what is this" meme kid and strap a railgun on his head.

I always got the impression that tau don't realize how grimdark everyone else is so we have them throwing parties for necrons, thinking they've killed Slaanesh, and trusting that IG will honour their allainces. I can imagine them sending a long polite letter to Kharn asking him if he would like to join the greater good.

I've always seen 40k as a humourous over the top parody of the science fiction genre (and many others) so maybe that's why I think they fit. They make the grimdark more grimdark and thus more comedic.

Also "Why Can't we be Friends" is the best tau theme song fo sho /endrant

The only thing I hate about the Tau is fighting them in the DoW: Soulstorm campaign. AKA Suck My Long Range Bombardment, Peasant.

I like the Tau because to me, they are actually the most 'original' race in Warhammer 40k.

Imperial Guard are basic humans.

Space Marines may have been original 20 years ago, but now the concept of big killers in power armor who 'don't afraid of nobody' is so common in fiction it's not original anymore.

Witch Hunters are just the spanish inquistion in the future.

Chaos Space Marines are evil Marines, so same applies.

Daemons and Orks gain some originality point for putting obviousy fantasy trapping into a Sci-fi setting, but the fact remain that orcs and demons are extremely common in the fantasy world and we've all seen it before.

Elder and Dark Elders are elves (and evil elves, respectively) but in Space. Again, a bit of originality because it's a classic fantasy concept put in a Sci-fi world... but we all know what elves are.

While Necron actually have interesting/unique fluff, at first glance they're really just evil robot who happens to look an awful lot like the T-800 Terminator.

Tyranids are basically H.R. Gigers/James Cameron Aliens converted to the Warhammer world.

Am I missing anybody?

While the Tau are blue fish people space communist. Woah... now that's not exactly something you see in every other settings.

Personally I don't quite get the 'mecha' aspect people are raving about. Most Anime mech suits looks extremely agile and flexible... while the Crisis suit for the most part look like big walking fridge who will tip over at any sudden movement - You're going to tell me this guy look like anything the Tau can field? Please. Not to mention that Anime Mecha tend to be Titan Sized (Gundam), while Crisis suits are quite puny... and again, a Gundam doesn't actually look anything like a Crisis suit. I mean honestly, you really think this looks like this? Seriously?

I just don't see the anime link to be honest... Crisis Suit have a lot more in common with power armor than they do Anime Mecha!

Disclaimer: I'm not saying I dislike the other races, far from it. I don't even play Tau, I have Marines and Orks. I love the twist GW put on their races... but the fact remain, you can explain to a new comer every race in a few words (i.e. 'Imperial Guards are normal dudes', 'Tyranides are like Aliens', 'Orks are orcs in space with guns!' etc), but explaining Tau actually requires to sit down and explains what they are.

Monster Rain wrote:

SaintHazard wrote:Tau are not just coming into their grimdarkness...

As I said before, they're beginning to become the most grimdark ever.

I feel that Space Pope will quickly reveal himself to be a true Space Stalin, Space Caligula, and Space Idi Amin all rolled into one.

And I like it!

I think that the skull structure of the Ethereals look disturbingly Necron-like.

I'm hoping that the Deceiver has pulled a huge fast one.

approximately same weapon tech ( Gauss/Railgun)
no warp signature
necrons look like hunched bulky tau

could it be.....

Retrias wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:

SaintHazard wrote:Tau are not just coming into their grimdarkness...

As I said before, they're beginning to become the most grimdark ever.

I feel that Space Pope will quickly reveal himself to be a true Space Stalin, Space Caligula, and Space Idi Amin all rolled into one.

And I like it!

I think that the skull structure of the Ethereals look disturbingly Necron-like.

I'm hoping that the Deceiver has pulled a huge fast one.

approximately same weapon tech ( Gauss/Railgun)
no warp signature
necrons look like hunched bulky tau

could it be.....

Don't Tau have rather short life spans, too?