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I love the tau but I am wondering how GW thought he was a good SC as he is the worst in the game, So I am wondering how people think he will be improved in the next tau codex or will he be cut.

I am also wondering if people have more fluff on him such as what is the undying spirit so if this is a noob question don't have codex atm so can't look.

 Puretide1 wrote:
I love the tau but I am wondering how GW thought he was a good SC as he is the worst in the game

The same reason they thought the Pyrovore was a unit good enough to put in the Tyranid codex. Sometimes, they just feth up.

A Pyrovore is 45pts and aun'va is 205pts.

Me and a friend messing around did aun'va and 2 see how many hormagaunts he could kill before dying, the answer is 2 when a 3rd 1 was added he kept dying that is 18pts of models killing a 205pt model.

Casual games.

Alternatively, you can always push him over a tall ledge and stick your troops around shadowsun to get army wise preferred enemy. I think he works like a standard ethereal anyways.

Anyways, yeah, if you want to run a fluffy list, it makes it to where bringing the grand communist cardinal to the battlefield is a BAD idea, and rightfully so as he has no place there.

I would use a normal ethereal to push over the ledge (do I say push I mean to try and save from falling over the ledge ) as they are 155pts cheaper to get the effect you want lol.

I would totally pay 155pts more for furious charge on my tau because its want tau should do charge lmao.

I have never..ever..ever placed a Ethereal in any army group I have ever used.

But I built a Female Ethereal for completness sake...planned on using her for story based/ objective missions, and as a fun side project..pics are in my gallery.

But yes a ancient Ethereal has no place on the mean warfields of 40k and his rules do bite.

 Puretide1 wrote:
A Pyrovore is 45pts and aun'va is 205pts.

Comparison of points is irrelevant. I was just giving another example of an overpriced useless unit. Sometimes, GW just puts them in.

Hard to argue he's worth even 10 points or the force org slot that he fills up...

Someone probably just made the model and handed it over to the codex writers, who were like "wtf does this guy do? we already wrote fluff saying there's no psykers..."

 Micky wrote:
Someone probably just made the model and handed it over to the codex writers, who were like "wtf does this guy do? we already wrote fluff saying there's no psykers..."

Yeah, that's not how it works. He would have been planned from the start, its just his rules just didn't work in practice. Not playtesting something properly is kind of a hallmark of GW.

 -Loki- wrote:

 Micky wrote:
Someone probably just made the model and handed it over to the codex writers, who were like "wtf does this guy do? we already wrote fluff saying there's no psykers..."

Yeah, that's not how it works. He would have been planned from the start, its just his rules just didn't work in practice. Not playtesting something properly is kind of a hallmark of GW.

But, what did they think he would do?

He's got no offensive capabilities, he's was at the time massively vulnerable to Auto-Cannons and any st6+ weapons which would instant gib him, and has no real abilities other than when he dies.

Where was the apparent role in the army, even the Pyrovore had a part to play, though it's never done it well.

Objectives? Looking shiny in his fancy hat? Being a fire magnet?

...I got nothing.

To die horribly in combat because of no save, To lose to 1 guard model and so on.

My friend who plays Tau was telling me about this "run at them with the Ethereal by himself" tactic already mentioned...

I giggle a little as I imagine an Ethereal running at some Chaos Marines waving his little stick ...(get your mind out of the gutter) and his robes flapping in the wind shouting..FOR THE GREATER GOOD....before getting smacked on the head with a bolt pistol

considering how badly designed the entire codex was (useless vespids, useless skyray, useless "sniper" drone teams, ugly pirahnas, pointless wargear, clunky and awkward markerlight changes) and considering it was designed by a guy who didnt like or get tau, is anyone even surprised that the SC would be terrible as well?

Feels like a waste since I think he's one of the coolest looking models in 40k.

Those mock up fights that you presented seemed wrong. Did you include his honor guard? They are actually decent in CC and they are included in his cost. I play Tau and I do not use him because he does not do any more than my normal Ethereal, but I will say that just about any Tau unit in a straight fight against just about any other army unit will end up like this. The Tau need more finesse and synergy to be effective.

I use my ethereal in nearly every list, helps to keep my broadside team and the rest of my army where I want them.

But the space pope is down right worthless. Only in an apoc game would he be worth a damn, even then you would need other ethereals and would still have units fall back.

No we only used Aun'va to see how bad he was but I agree his body 2 bodyguards are awesome WS 4 BS 4 S5 T5 W2 I3 A3 and have counter attack only if you could buy more of these guards .

Everyone would fall under these guys so how many ponits to you think these guys are then in aun'va total cost?

 Puretide1 wrote:
No we only used Aun'va to see how bad he was but I agree his body 2 bodyguards are awesome WS 4 BS 4 S5 T5 W2 I3 A3 and have counter attack only if you could buy more of these guards .

Everyone would fall under these guys so how many ponits to you think these guys are then in aun'va total cost?

100pts each

 Puretide1 wrote:
No we only used Aun'va to see how bad he was but I agree his body 2 bodyguards are awesome WS 4 BS 4 S5 T5 W2 I3 A3 and have counter attack only if you could buy more of these guards .

no they're not. theyre t3(5) and its no saves in cc as well. so all you gotta do is strike first. always funny hitting them with a heavy flamer as well.

yes but under 6th edition

Two Toughness Values
Where a model has two Toughness values presented on its
profile, one of which is presented in brackets, always use the
bracketed value. Ignore the other value entirely.

He's going to get the Aun'shi treatment.

Completely removed without a word.