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 Capamaru wrote:
People that are overexcited about Tau are people that are fond of the mecha style army.

Wrong.

If there's one thing that I hope the XV8 Box has, is plenty of extra weapons on the sprue now. There should be enough to put a twin linked weapon on each battlesuit (6 of each gun)

I'm fine with the old battlesuits even if some people find them fiddly, but lack of weapons always bothered me.

Given that the XV8 Body is on the same sprue as the weapons, it seems unlikely, however.

Perhaps, if we're very lucky, we have new sprues with the same models? That would be super nice.

Rustgob wrote:
If there's one thing that I hope the XV8 Box has, is plenty of extra weapons on the sprue now. There should be enough to put a twin linked weapon on each battlesuit (6 of each gun)

I'm fine with the old battlesuits even if some people find them fiddly, but lack of weapons always bothered me.

Given that the XV8 Body is on the same sprue as the weapons, it seems unlikely, however.

Perhaps, if we're very lucky, we have new sprues with the same models? That would be super nice.

Now that it comes in a 3 box, they could cut a single sprue with 3 copies of each of any new weapons. 1 new sprue shared by 3 models is a lot cheaper than adding another sprue to single battlesuit boxes. I could see that decision being the optimal one.

The oddest thing i thought about the Fireblade was this. HE was holding a knife. The only thing i can think he would be doing was rallying firewarriors.

A new sprue with three extra copies of each weapon, right; that you can have enough weapons to fit three battlesuits with twin weaponry?

Because there's nothing I could want more; it would be perfect lol.

Rustgob wrote:
A new sprue with three extra copies of each weapon, right; that you can have enough weapons to fit three battlesuits with twin weaponry?

Because there's nothing I could want more; it would be perfect lol.

Haha haha oh my sides.

No, GW will never actually give us enough weapons for everything. That is not happening lol.

No, if they make another sprue, it will be an insufficient number of weapons, just enough to cover the bases for anything new they add.

Kind of liking what I have seen and makes me wish I stilled played Tau.

The broadside looks less cumbersome then the original, which kept me from buying it.

Overall, I am impressed. I wish they had been this good when I was collecting them.

Is Shadowsun still in it?

Do people actually expect recut sprues for the XV-8? It sounds like they are just making them into a three pack with the old sprues, no more.

MajorWesJanson wrote:
Do people actually expect recut sprues for the XV-8? It sounds like they are just making them into a three pack with the old sprues, no more.

We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
The oddest thing i thought about the Fireblade was this. HE was holding a knife. The only thing i can think he would be doing was rallying firewarriors.

I like the model, but it looks like he's giving a speech rather than doing anything during a battle. As I'm going to try to make my whole Tau army look like they're advancing stealthily through a swamp, I therefore think I'll end up converting my own version. Otherwise that particular model is going to look like someone who's never heard of snipers.

OK, the same could be said for many 40K models, but I want my Tau to have more of a "present day" and less fantastical feel.

 Rented Tritium wrote:

Rustgob wrote:
A new sprue with three extra copies of each weapon, right; that you can have enough weapons to fit three battlesuits with twin weaponry?

Because there's nothing I could want more; it would be perfect lol.

Haha haha oh my sides.

No, GW will never actually give us enough weapons for everything. That is not happening lol.

No, if they make another sprue, it will be an insufficient number of weapons, just enough to cover the bases for anything new they add.

Boo, booo!

I want to dream! xD

I know it's atypical of GW to screw people over in the manner of 'not enough weapons for battlesuits', but it would be nice for a box like the three battlesuits to be an exception. Their flexibility is a defining feature after all.

As far as Fireblade or say Darkstrider goes will these guys be HQ's or will they be just special characters? I like the look of the sword on Fireblade, but cutting the arm off and repositioning it downward will be a must or using a FW arm bit might do. And with regards to xv8 weapons, any ideas if the cib or afp may become a normal weapon and not special issue. There was some talk a week ago about having XV8's having an option to have 2+ armor which I'm assuming iridium armor can be taken by all. Thoughts? Also there was a rumor floating around that the multi-tracker was being taken away which means we can only fire 1 weapon from a XV8 per turn. Any idea if this is true? Hope not that would be a huge nerf.

 -Loki- wrote:

 JOHIRA wrote:
With all this talk of why GW can't remake the XV-8s, keep in mind this is the same GW that produced a metal (or was it Finecast?) Bloodcrusher of Khorne model what, a year before producing a plastic kit?

What GW assigns its resources to is a calculated risk based on what the penny-pinchers in corporate think will sell. They have clearly decided that we players will continue to buy GW products if they give us a bunch of silly new shineys rather than fixing a plastic kit that was frankly on the edge of acceptable design way back when they first made it, and has only gone down-hill since. The only way to change their mind is to not buy the new shineys.

Which is what I'll be not doing.

This is actually one of the smarter things GW does.

While they feel they might have a good idea, internally, what people will buy, they've obviously completely missed the mark a few times. So anything that is at a risk of not selling what is expected, they don't move it to plastic until they see resin/metal sales to justify it.

In regards to the XV-8, bear in mind that the same slot has the Riptide in it, a brand new large kit which probably took two whole molds. That's risk enough. By not redesigning them, they've given themselves one less plastic mold to recoup costs on. Let the risk on the Riptide ride out. Not to mention new XV-8's wouldn't have as wide of an appeal as something like the Riptide.

Another way to say this is: If GW didn't insist on shoehorning in a giant kit where none was needed (and a good deal of people like myself didn't want one because it contradicts the background as written), GW would have had the resources to give us two more plastic kits, one of which could have been XV8s that were done properly this time around.

After all, existing Tau players would have plenty of XV-8's, and there's plenty more going around second hand.

And they would happily replace those kits with new purchases in a second if those new kits looked dynamic and exciting, as opposed to the current refrigerators on chicken legs.

I think this is why GW is losing market share year after year to other companies. We're constantly seeing these huge, expensive plastic mold resources being invested in middling kits. Chibihawks, manticores, storm talons, dark shrouds, High Elf spearmen/archers... GW has this long history of investing tons of resources into kits without following through and making sure the final product is worth the investment. Then when an army sells badly (perhaps because a core unit from it's visual design looks like ass) it goes years without a redesign because the bean-counters don't want to invest in it. Sales go down further.

GW don't seem to have figured out that in this game, it's the company that has the best looking figures that wins- not the company that has the largest catalogue of middling-quality figures. Especially when they charge prices like their figures are of the highest quality.

The Battle suit in the pic on page 62 looks awesome! very excited

 Rented Tritium wrote:
We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

Nonsense. If they were going to make a new sprue for Crisis teams, they would have just made a whole new Crisis sprue with the complete suit and all new options on it. There is absolutely no point in adding a second sprue, it just makes the box harder to pack.

 JOHIRA wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:

 JOHIRA wrote:
With all this talk of why GW can't remake the XV-8s, keep in mind this is the same GW that produced a metal (or was it Finecast?) Bloodcrusher of Khorne model what, a year before producing a plastic kit?

What GW assigns its resources to is a calculated risk based on what the penny-pinchers in corporate think will sell. They have clearly decided that we players will continue to buy GW products if they give us a bunch of silly new shineys rather than fixing a plastic kit that was frankly on the edge of acceptable design way back when they first made it, and has only gone down-hill since. The only way to change their mind is to not buy the new shineys.

Which is what I'll be not doing.

This is actually one of the smarter things GW does.

While they feel they might have a good idea, internally, what people will buy, they've obviously completely missed the mark a few times. So anything that is at a risk of not selling what is expected, they don't move it to plastic until they see resin/metal sales to justify it.

In regards to the XV-8, bear in mind that the same slot has the Riptide in it, a brand new large kit which probably took two whole molds. That's risk enough. By not redesigning them, they've given themselves one less plastic mold to recoup costs on. Let the risk on the Riptide ride out. Not to mention new XV-8's wouldn't have as wide of an appeal as something like the Riptide.

Another way to say this is: If GW didn't insist on shoehorning in a giant kit where none was needed (and a good deal of people like myself didn't want one because it contradicts the background as written), GW would have had the resources to give us two more plastic kits, one of which could have been XV8s that were done properly this time around.

The Riptide does not contradict the background as much as you think. The primary argument that the background negates has always been the argument that "Tau need a Titan!"--but that thing is not quite Titan sized. It seems to be in a class more equivalent to a Knight.

Given that it is (supposedly) still in the experimental stages and still has the ability to be highly mobile, I'm not too fussed about the Riptide's addition.
If it were the size of a Warhound or Reaver or Warlord?
Yeah, then I'd have a problem.

I'll wait to see why the Riptide has made an appearance before condemning it. Might be a reaction to the Tyranids, where the standard smaller suits seemingly could not deliver the firepower necessary to deal with large monsters like Trygons but Broadsides could at the expense of mobility.

After all, existing Tau players would have plenty of XV-8's, and there's plenty more going around second hand.

And they would happily replace those kits with new purchases in a second if those new kits looked dynamic and exciting, as opposed to the current refrigerators on chicken legs.

You underestimate penny pinching.

I think this is why GW is losing market share year after year to other companies. We're constantly seeing these huge, expensive plastic mold resources being invested in middling kits. Chibihawks, manticores, storm talons, dark shrouds, High Elf spearmen/archers... GW has this long history of investing tons of resources into kits without following through and making sure the final product is worth the investment. Then when an army sells badly (perhaps because a core unit from it's visual design looks like ass) it goes years without a redesign because the bean-counters don't want to invest in it. Sales go down further.

I would just like to point out that in Fantasy's case, the "redesigns" of older kits seems to be on the backburner because of a push to move towards units being in all plastic rather than Finecast/pewter like they were previously.

If you look at the Fantasy rumor thread right now, High Elf Spearmen/Lothern Sea Guard and new Silver Helm plastics are listed as being pretty reliably confirmed. They're not coming out in May but rather a "later release wave"--but they are coming out. I did not see a mention of Archers, but they might be part of the initial release wave.
It's also mentioned in there that all the Elves are being done by a kind of "council" of designers rather than individual designers, and that all the Elves will have a single shared rule of some kind.

GW don't seem to have figured out that in this game, it's the company that has the best looking figures that wins- not the company that has the largest catalogue of middling-quality figures. Especially when they charge prices like their figures are of the highest quality.

Explain how Mantic's elves have sold well then?

Comparing Fantasy sales to 40k sales just does not work.

I think the Riptide will probably be a good kit but rather expensive so I've found something else to use instead...



http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYKP-208

 Archonate wrote:

 AlmightyWalrus wrote:

 Archonate wrote:

They've been pounded by Tyranids, and managed to do what the Ultramarines could not.

I'll just not comment on the other stuff, but what? Did you miss the part where Hive Fleet Leviathan isn't around as a Hive Fleet anymore?

Leviathan is on the other side of the galaxy.
Hive fleet Gorgon started as the remnants of Behemoth. The Ultramarines and Imperial Navy were too busy desperately trying not to get wiped out to bother eliminating the entire hive fleet.
So the remnants, with all they had learned from fighting humans, went off to consume world after world until it was back to the size of a Hive Fleet, (renamed Gorgon) which is when it entered Tau space... And was annihilated.

On Topic:
Something about the Fireblade's face looks off... He looks old, but not in a tough, Clint Eastwood way. More like a grumpy, Walter Matthau way... Looks like he's saying "You damn kids left your knife in my rose bushes again!"

Sorry, meant Behemoth, not Leviathan. I keep getting them mixed up.

That said, firstly, Gorgon was smaller than other Hive Fleets and, crucially, the Tau didn't defeat them alone. The Imperial Guard and Navy helped. You conveniently left that out though...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who saw the rock potential of the Broadside pose.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

Nonsense. If they were going to make a new sprue for Crisis teams, they would have just made a whole new Crisis sprue with the complete suit and all new options on it. There is absolutely no point in adding a second sprue, it just makes the box harder to pack.

Just one Word: Drones

I just came to a realization.

Does anyone else picture that flyer with the tail raiguns combing the desert going "We ain't found $#!+!"?

That and the red windscreen and the orange paint job reminds me of the robots from "Beserk!" for some reason.

 Kroothawk wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

Nonsense. If they were going to make a new sprue for Crisis teams, they would have just made a whole new Crisis sprue with the complete suit and all new options on it. There is absolutely no point in adding a second sprue, it just makes the box harder to pack.

Just one Word: Drones

Exactly. If they can afford to stick a dumb little drone sprue in with everything, they can probably find a way to put 3 new guns or whatever on a little nub and toss them in the older boxes for a 10 dollar price hike.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
The oddest thing i thought about the Fireblade was this. HE was holding a knife. The only thing i can think he would be doing was rallying firewarriors.

Which is what they do with knifes.

From the current, ancient Tau Codex

Bonding knife
This is a ceremonial knife, not intended for combat, carried by the leader of Fire caste Warrior teams who have performed the Ta'lissera ritual and bonded as a group. So long as the bearer is alive, the bonded team may regroup even if below half strength.

I would presume he's either carrying a regular bonding knife sculpted larger than those so far, or the ancient-relic-uber-fire-blade-bonding-knife-of-super-leadership they've added to one-up the current bonding knife in the codex.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I think the Riptide will probably be a good kit but rather expensive so I've found something else to use instead...



http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYKP-208

Ah! Robots!

The riptide looks amazing. I've never been into the Tau before, but now...

It was either this or finish the assignment due today.

 montrano wrote:
It was either this or finish the assignment due today.

/thread. Well played sir.

 Rented Tritium wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

Nonsense. If they were going to make a new sprue for Crisis teams, they would have just made a whole new Crisis sprue with the complete suit and all new options on it. There is absolutely no point in adding a second sprue, it just makes the box harder to pack.

Just one Word: Drones

Exactly. If they can afford to stick a dumb little drone sprue in with everything, they can probably find a way to put 3 new guns or whatever on a little nub and toss them in the older boxes for a 10 dollar price hike.

There's no reason for GW to keep repeating that mistake. Yes, they have to pack drones with the older kits. You'll notice, however, that the slightly newer Piranha already comes with drones on the sprue, so clearly GW has decided quite a while ago that accessory sprues are bad, mmmkay? When was the last time GW made an accessory sprue? Let's see... not with Daemons, not with DA, not with CSM, not with SW, BA, GK, Necrons or Nids. The newest one I can think of are the vanilla Marines in 2008, and that only works because so many units share the same bodies.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
We're talking about the possibility of a single 7th sprue to be shared by all 3 suits.

Nonsense. If they were going to make a new sprue for Crisis teams, they would have just made a whole new Crisis sprue with the complete suit and all new options on it. There is absolutely no point in adding a second sprue, it just makes the box harder to pack.

Just one Word: Drones

Exactly. If they can afford to stick a dumb little drone sprue in with everything, they can probably find a way to put 3 new guns or whatever on a little nub and toss them in the older boxes for a 10 dollar price hike.

There's no reason for GW to keep repeating that mistake. Yes, they have to pack drones with the older kits. You'll notice, however, that the slightly newer Piranha already comes with drones on the sprue, so clearly GW has decided quite a while ago that accessory sprues are bad, mmmkay? When was the last time GW made an accessory sprue? Let's see... not with Daemons, not with DA, not with CSM, not with SW, BA, GK, Necrons or Nids. The newest one I can think of are the vanilla Marines in 2008, and that only works because so many units share the same bodies.

It depends if you consider it an accessory or an "upgrade"; they've got plenty of upgrade sprues.

 montrano wrote:
It was either this or finish the assignment due today.

You did right!

 Breotan wrote:
The more I look at this, the less I am convinced that it is a good model. I understand what they were going for regarding the aesthetics but I don't think they pulled it off. The front end still looks like the FW Ork Bomba before it was orkified and that ruins the overall look. Also, Tau seem to have been swept wing or delta wing design where this is obvious modern earth tech design.



I'd love to see what FW can do to "fix" this like they did the chibihawk but then I remember that the Storm Eagle is one of the most aggravating kits to assemble in a long time.

Cool! All the parts for a gears of war raven conversion!

Please don't attach non wargaming pictures to Dakka. Thanks.