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I'm considering converted some long barrel burst canons for my hammerhead with some of the left over riptide bits I've sitting around, but I'm not certain if it'd be a good use of my time. I know the long barrel burst cannons for the hammerhead aren't exactly being produced anymore, or at least aren't up for sale on forgeworld anymore, and I'd like to know if long barrel burst cannons for hammerheads are still a thing you can use, and if so where can I get the rules? The broader issue here is also, what if buy something from forgeworld and in a year it's discontinued? Am I essentially left with something about as useful as an army of squats?

There is no official answer because GW never explicitly says "these rules are no longer legal". There's nothing stopping you from using the old 5th edition Tau codex, other than player consensus that you should use the new one instead. The closest you'll get to an official answer is that eventually rules become obviously obsolete and no longer functional, but that's not the case here. The LB BC rules are in IA3 (second edition) and are still compatible with the current game.

As for whether or not you should use LB BCs, the answer is no. They are NOT the same as the Riptide's gun, and the weapon is two separate guns, not a single twin-linked weapon. So you're only firing one of them at full BS if your tank moves at all. Yes, this is stupid, blame the TFG who wrote the Tau codex and removed vehicle multitrackers to force you to buy more giant anime robots instead of tanks.

There may be certain rules that become invalid in the sense that they are not in the latest issue of the game, or else clash with some other new rules.

For example, the way that Tau drones and markerlights work has changed pretty much with every new codex and every new edition of the game intervening between codexes.

Obviously this is only an example and does not necessarily mean that any particular FW rules have become invalid, but they might have.

IMO the models are always still playable, but the rules need to be checked for modern compatibility.

Looking at Tau again, the Piranha was originally a Forge World model, with FW rules, and got a plastic kit and 'official' rules in the 4th edition Tau codex in 2006. Since then there have been three new core rulebooks and three new Tau codexes, all of which might affect the original FW rules from about 2004.

If you reread your licence agreement from Forge World you will find it clearly says you are required to stop using OOP models, smash them with a hammer, and return the shards to GW.

Violation can result in your being banned from GW tournaments for 6 months.

Also you have to realize that the stats for those weapons are still viable as Imperial Armour vol 3 second edition is still a vaiable book

Casually, it's fine.

Competitively, probably as long as it's in the latest version of the book/rules.

Thankfully I play casually so my Repressor isn't about to be perma-shelved.

 Peregrine wrote:
There is no official answer because GW never explicitly says "these rules are no longer legal". There's nothing stopping you from using the old 5th edition Tau codex, other than player consensus that you should use the new one instead. The closest you'll get to an official answer is that eventually rules become obviously obsolete and no longer functional, but that's not the case here. The LB BC rules are in IA3 (second edition) and are still compatible with the current game.

As for whether or not you should use LB BCs, the answer is no. They are NOT the same as the Riptide's gun, and the weapon is two separate guns, not a single twin-linked weapon. So you're only firing one of them at full BS if your tank moves at all. Yes, this is stupid, blame the TFG who wrote the Tau codex and removed vehicle multitrackers to force you to buy more giant anime robots instead of tanks.

I've two of the big burst cannons, and no use for them. Figured this would be about as good a use as any.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
If you reread your licence agreement from Forge World you will find it clearly says you are required to stop using OOP models, smash them with a hammer, and return the shards to GW.

Violation can result in your being banned from GW tournaments for 6 months.

You just made my day

If there are still valid rules then the models are still valid.

That said, you can pretty much guarantee that those units or options will be dropped from future rules.

 Scott-S6 wrote:
If there are still valid rules then the models are still valid.

Ha then the question arises what are valid rules ?

 oldzoggy wrote:

 Scott-S6 wrote:
If there are still valid rules then the models are still valid.

Ha then the question arises what are valid rules ?

Rules that haven't been superseded and are still available for purchase or download is all we've got to go on. Those are both assumptions but they are reasonable indicators of intent.

If a book contains a an army with a tank with a particular weapon option and then a newer book has the same army with the same tank without that weapon then we know that option is gone. (probably)

If a unit only exists in one book and it gets discontinued then we know that unit is gone. (probably)