New Tau Codex - April 6'th [Pics, Video and Prices in OP]

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**davou**

Archonate wrote:
Phanixis wrote:

Almost seems like a role reversal. IG should be putting out more firepower do to shear numbers, but the Tau firepower should do more damage when it connects. Somehow GW got it backwards where Tau are putting out potential more firepower in terms of str 7, ap 4, while IG is putting out the higher quality firepower with lots of str 8+ and ap 2 and 3.

Yeah what's with all these new high-strength weapons having gakky AP?
It doesn't bother me that much, it just looks silly. GW truly hates the thought of SMs dying easy, so matter how ridiculously powerful the guns are that shoot them.
Oh well. I'm fine with massed firepower as an alternative.

P.S. I just finished and added new pics of my flamey Hammerhead to my Blog of anyone wants to check it out!

High strenght and high rate of fire means low ap. Otherwise you get something massively broken. Especially since we can almost ALWAYS ignore cover now.... People are getting it yet.... Everyone takes that fething ADL, and tau have just rendered it useless entirely.

The thing about outshooting guard is that, we can shoot way farther than them, and maintain rate of fire for almost that entire reach.

**Grey Therion**

Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
The New Codex...so many options...room spinning from all the options!?!....

Can't wait to try this stuff out, gonna come at my enemies like a spidermonkey!

Agreed! I have spent several hours pouring through the latest rumors and the pics and I simply can't believe all of the options! Even with the most restrictive limitations on which units can take what and potentially some hidden point cost increases that we still haven't seen, there are finally options on how people would like to play their Tau! Would you like to play with all infantry (Firewarriors + Pathfinders) well that seems quite feasible, would you like to play all vehicles? seems quite doable, would you like to play with all suits and limited troop choice through firewarriors, kroot or allies? no problem! I mean for goodness sakes, a suit/suits? can even take a single S10 Ap1 kung fu spinning kick of death attack (ok i know its called gauntlet but a "this is sparta" or a kung-fu kick would be so much more cinematic). The Farsight bomb has a massive point decrease and can finally have a leadership upgrade (can be made stubborn) making it much much harder to be run down in combat! The S10 railguns on the broadsides have been lost, but now we are learning that the fusion blaster's range has been increased by 50%! The good news just keep pouring in!!!

**Wolfnid420**

Why do people hate on stealths so much? I had one squad of 6 in some cover survive almost 4 full turns of an entire army's worth of cron shooting. I feel like they can have a much stronger roll than people are giving them credit for.

Hopefully you can take markerlights as an additional upgrade weapon for them since they come with multitrackers and they are jetpack which means relentless. Imagine them running around firing a gun and a markerlight from some cover to really help the army as a whole. its little things sometimes....

**SabrX**

Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
In a game where you roll 6 sided dice, more will almost always be better, tau have always struggled with fire volume, they have had quality firepower, but not enough volume to deal with the horde armies in the game, tyranids, Orks, IG, SM have generally not been the hardest for me to deal with, a couple hundred IG...now that's a problem.

So the Tau lose some of the str 10 stuff..ohwell, just make the ones you bring count, target priority and everything counts in large amounts, frankly I look forward to rolling fistfuls of dice.

Eh? I didn't have much problems using the old codex against horde armies. It takes a horde to fight a horde and that's what my 100 Kroots + 9 Broadsides excelled at. With the new codex, I hope the compulsory Fire Warrior unit is thrown out the window. If so, I'll purchase 20 more Kroots and have a complete 120 Kroot Merc army!

Now that Kroots and Broadsides dropped down in points (albeit both got slight nerf), I have more points to spend on other things!

**RogueRegault**

Wolfnid420 wrote:
Why do people hate on stealths so much? I had one squad of 6 in some cover survive almost 4 full turns of an entire army's worth of cron shooting. I feel like they can have a much stronger roll than people are giving them credit for.

Hopefully you can take markerlights as an additional upgrade weapon for them since they come with multitrackers and they are jetpack which means relentless. Imagine them running around firing a gun and a markerlight from some cover to really help the army as a whole. its little things sometimes....

The army list entry says the Shas'vre can take markerlight with targetlock for 5 points.

Although the big question is whether the markerlight and the positional relay are and/or. Pretty much anyone who runs stealth suits will do it for the relay.

Here's what I like about the codex spoilers so far:

1. The only 12" weapon left in the codex is the pulse pistol. It was always odd how Tau were supposed to be a shooty army, and then everything outside of the pulse rifle and missile pod were short range. Assault weapons being 18" and rifles being 30" is a nice change of pace.

2. Special characters that actually belong in the Tau codex. After 3e's mediocre melee monsters and 4e's popemobile and solo stealth suit, having SCs that buff and interact with the other units in the Codex is awesome. Thanks to the warlord trait, Farsight is now the "drop 8 suits in your opponent's back line" guy instead of just the guy with the sword. Depending on Aun'shi's specials, even he might be useful as a challenge taker.

At this point, the only things that are left on my wishlist are rail/ion rifles on XV8s, additional kroot choices, plastic vespid/krootox/kroothounds, and drones not to take transport capacity when they're unit improvements.

**davou**

I translated the drone rules for ya'll... Keep in mind, my spanish is weak so I may have borked some Can's for Cants. If I got it mostly right however, it seems that if you lose an IC, his drones remain with whatever unit he was in!

a unit composed entirely of drones is a non scoring unit that does not deny. The drones do not have the special rule burly(?)

Drones improvements count as additional members the squad in all aspects. They are unable to leave their unit and shall remain in choherency with the unit at all times. Drones improvements can not obtain options and therefore do not pay for them if your unit does.

Independent Characters and drones
The independent characters that have chosen drones as improvement may join other units but both the character and his drones will join the unit. If the independent character leaves the unit, all surviving drones so would, and form a new unit with the independant character.

If the independant character dies as part of a unit, its suvivind drones become part of that unit and can not leave. Character unit is considered destroyed independent EFFECTS victory points

If the independent character dies while not part of another unit, do not remove the drones survivors. The unit will not be removed until remaining drones are also destroyed. These drones may not join other units. Yet another independent character may unite the surviving drones, but as they are pruchased improvements, they must not be carried into other units he joins.

Drones in vehicles

Some vehicles include two drones. They begin the game attached to the vehicle

attached drones
While they are attached to vehicles, drones are treated as passengers boarded (but do not count toward the carrying capacity of the vehicle and can be attached to a vehicle that does not have transport capacity). This means that, while they are attached, make shooting attacks as passengers shooting from the trigger points, using his position on the vehicle to determine its line of vision, range, etc .... Unlike other models that shoot from firing points, drones attached must shoot the same target as the vehicle to which they are attached. The skills/rules acquired by vehicles used for tau, or squadron of vehicles also apply to any drone attached to the model.

If a vehicle is destroyed before it has unattached their drones, the latter are automatically destroyed.

Disembarking drones
During any friendly phase of movement , drones can disembar from your vehicle in the same way that the infantry disembarks from an open topped vehicle. All attached drones must disembark, when a vehicle disembarks its drones. They Then form a new unit.

after disembarking, drones may not be re-attached to any vehicle, but may be placed in transport vehicles like other drones.

The drones that began the game attached to a vehicle do not provide victory points if destroyed. Also, your opponent will only need to destroy vehicles and not the drones that disembarked to gain the victory points for that kill.

**davethepak**

Kingsley wrote:
boy wonder wrote:
so.. two missile broadsides each with 2 missile drones.. that's a total of 16 str 7 ap 4 shots and 8 str 5 ap 5 shots that ignore cover. 24 missiles...

now the spare hardpoint.. one with a drone controller to up all 4 drones bs and one with skyfire.. that will do nicely I think

You might want to be careful with that. In practice giving drones to Broadsides can be very dangerous because the Drones can force Morale checks on the Broadsides and potentially send very resilient models off the table.

We don't know if drones count for this in the new rules yet.

Unlearn, you must unlearn.... - yoda

**Materia_Master**

repeating what someone had asked a page ago:

Does anyone know the new price for Piranhas? I really would want to use them, if only their price went down.

Also, any new weapon loadout for them?

**B0B MaRlEy**

@Materia Master The piranhas dropped a fair bit in points (-33%!) but their melta options went up (twice the old code price) All in all they still are cheaper. The seeker missiles might have gone up too, and I don't remember any new loadout

**Hans_Einberg**

The information i'm looking for may have gotten lost in this forum somewhere...

what model is the special rule for that allows consolidation after overwatch....or did i just completely dream that...

cheers

**Coyote81**

Hans_Einberg wrote:
The information i'm looking for may have gotten lost in this forum somewhere...

what model is the special rule for that allows consolidation after overwatch....or did i just completely dream that...

cheers

That is the rumored special ability for Darkstrider. An HQ choice(based on the website entry) that give his unit that ability. (Might only work if he's in pathfinder since he himself wears pathfinder recon armor(once again from the website entry).

**B0B MaRlEy**

Coyote81 wrote:
Hans_Einberg wrote:
The information i'm looking for may have gotten lost in this forum somewhere...

what model is the special rule for that allows consolidation after overwatch....or did i just completely dream that...

cheers

That is the rumored special ability for Darkstrider. An HQ choice(based on the website entry) that give his unit that ability. (Might only work if he's in pathfinder since he himself wears pathfinder recon armor(once again from the website entry).

His ability isn't pathfinder only, but he may only join firewarriors or pathfinders

**Backfire**

YotsubaSnake wrote:
Every time I see someone complaining about how the revealed stats we've seen so far for the codex seem weak, I keep thinking of how little they must have played with or against the old codex.

It's just strange as the new book seems to gone so much to other extreme when it comes to dealing with heavy armour. OK, maybe the old staple of shoveling Broadsides on the board got old real fast, but now the Railgun has all but disappeared from the codex?? Once again, it looks like you need Broadsides and Hammerheads in your heavy support slots, except now you take more Hammerheads at expense of Broadsides, which leaves you with what exactly to put your Sky Rays and Sniper Drones in...? That's right, the trashcan, where they already spent the previous 2 editions. I just don't understand how this is supposed to work.

Sure, it looks like there is more stuff to deal with other threats, but still. I mean, imagine if next Space Marine codex had all it's Lascannons removed except from Predators, and even them only in turret armament. "But you can still take Missile launchers and we gave Meltagun bit more range so no prob!"

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.
-Hammerhead & Sky ray come with Gun drones standard, pay little extra from SMS/BC.
-Smart missiles are 30" now. Secondary weapons for tanks got lot better.
-points costs are strange. They moved away from nice even numbers, throwback to old times.

**KaiserEddie**

Backfire wrote:

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.
-Hammerhead & Sky ray come with Gun drones standard, pay little extra from SMS/BC.
-Smart missiles are 30" now. Secondary weapons for tanks got lot better.
-points costs are strange. They moved away from nice even numbers, throwback to old times.

Neutron Blaster is still AP 3... Unless 3 is the new 4 Check it for yourself, its the Blaster Neutronico entry, right under the fusion, even if blurry its still a 3, and you can check it out with the Cañon ionico (Ion Cannon) entry.

Spoiler:

**Puscifer**

Any news on whether the Hammerhead can take the Burst Cannon and SMS?

As in one chin mounted BC and the SMS?

**Backfire**

KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.

Neutron Blaster is still AP 3... Unless 3 is the new 4 Check it for yourself, its the Blaster Neutronico entry, right under the fusion, even if blurry its still a 3, and you can check it out with the Cañon ionico (Ion Cannon) entry.

Hmm...it's blurry, but looks like you're right. I'm not actually happy with this, because it means that Vespid are still overcosted. Problem with Vespid was always that they had AP3 gun which was not terribly useful but forced their points cost very high.

**B0B MaRlEy**

@Backfire The vespid's blaster are still S.5 AP 3.
Oddly enough they now have hit'n'Run USR, which with their I of 6 makes it weird ... Added not so useful things? Eh!

**KaiserEddie**

Backfire wrote:
KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.

Neutron Blaster is still AP 3... Unless 3 is the new 4 Check it for yourself, its the Blaster Neutronico entry, right under the fusion, even if blurry its still a 3, and you can check it out with the Cañon ionico (Ion Cannon) entry.

Hmm...it's blurry, but looks like you're right. I'm not actually happy with this, because it means that Vespid are still overcosted. Problem with Vespid was always that they had AP3 gun which was not terribly useful but forced their points cost very high.

AFAIK Vespids now have a 4+ armor save, a huge buf from 5+ wich was silly, stats wise they have WS 4 T 4 and I 6, they cost 15 points the normal one, and 22 the Strainleader, theyre jump infantry wich can avoid twisting ankleswith a reroll, and with a new shiny 18" reach theyre more worthy of their points cost for a unit of 6 wich is 97 points(With the actual pint cost, im not sure of 15, they stan on my codex at 16), and can use the ML to increase BS as long as the strainleader is alive. Vespids arent the new marines, but they are more of a solid choice against them now if you lack the flyers or have some spare points and your in need of more dakka

**B0B MaRlEy**

KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:
KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.

Neutron Blaster is still AP 3... Unless 3 is the new 4 Check it for yourself, its the Blaster Neutronico entry, right under the fusion, even if blurry its still a 3, and you can check it out with the Cañon ionico (Ion Cannon) entry.

Hmm...it's blurry, but looks like you're right. I'm not actually happy with this, because it means that Vespid are still overcosted. Problem with Vespid was always that they had AP3 gun which was not terribly useful but forced their points cost very high.

AFAIK Vespids now have a 4+ armor save, a huge buf from 5+ wich was silly 4 WS 4 T and 6 I, they cost 15 points the normal one, and 22 the Strainleader, theyre jump infantry wich can avoid twisting ankleswith a reroll, and with a new shiny 18" reach theyre more worthy of their points cost for a unit of 6 wich is 97 points(With the actual pint cost, im not sure of 15, they stan on my codex at 16), and can use the ML to increase BS as long as the strainleader is alive. Vespids arent the new marines, but they are more of a solid choice against them now if you lack the flyers or have some spare points and your in need of more dakka

Actually they don't have a reroll anymore , they have Move through Cover , allowing them to totally Ignore Dangerous terrain checks! ( IIRC, gotta check on that)

**KaiserEddie**

B0B MaRlEy wrote:
KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:
KaiserEddie wrote:
Backfire wrote:

Other random musings...

-so it looks like there is only one Commander now, no more Shas'el/Shas'O distinction?
-Kroot hounds are Beasts.
-Vespid are I6. Neutron Blaster lost AP but gained range. Better this way IMO.

Neutron Blaster is still AP 3... Unless 3 is the new 4 Check it for yourself, its the Blaster Neutronico entry, right under the fusion, even if blurry its still a 3, and you can check it out with the Cañon ionico (Ion Cannon) entry.

Hmm...it's blurry, but looks like you're right. I'm not actually happy with this, because it means that Vespid are still overcosted. Problem with Vespid was always that they had AP3 gun which was not terribly useful but forced their points cost very high.

AFAIK Vespids now have a 4+ armor save, a huge buf from 5+ wich was silly 4 WS 4 T and 6 I, they cost 15 points the normal one, and 22 the Strainleader, theyre jump infantry wich can avoid twisting ankleswith a reroll, and with a new shiny 18" reach theyre more worthy of their points cost for a unit of 6 wich is 97 points(With the actual pint cost, im not sure of 15, they stan on my codex at 16), and can use the ML to increase BS as long as the strainleader is alive. Vespids arent the new marines, but they are more of a solid choice against them now if you lack the flyers or have some spare points and your in need of more dakka

Actually they don't have a reroll anymore , they have Move through Cover , allowing them to totally Ignore Dangerous terrain checks! ( IIRC, gotta check on that)

They keep getting better and better, my god, im actually looking nicely at those old metal vespid models that are sitting on my FLGS lol

**Backfire**

B0B MaRlEy wrote:
@Backfire The vespid's blaster are still S.5 AP 3.
Oddly enough they now have hit'n'Run USR, which with their I of 6 makes it weird ... Added not so useful things? Eh!

Hit & run is actually very nice. I wonder if they have poisoned attacks - the models have stingers...

**Puscifer**

So far, I think the only bad units we've seen are the Kroot and Devilfish and only because the Devilfish didn't drop in points.

**AlmightyWalrus**

Puscifer wrote:
So far, I think the only bad units we've seen are the Kroot and Devilfish and only because the Devilfish didn't drop in points.

Infiltrating sniper Troops for 7 points a pop isn't exactly bad TBH.

**milo**

B0B MaRlEy wrote:
@Desubot Darkstrider's got that bigger makerlight thingy, allows his unit to consider targetted units -1T than they really are (even for instant deaths!) and allows his squad to consolidate 1d6 after the countercharging shots, before the enemy rolls his charge distance.

Kingsley wrote:

They can take Ion Rifles, and Rail Rifles are now Rapid Fire while Pulse Carbines are Assault 2. They also have some new drone options that we don't seem to have a full picture of yet.

The new drones are the recon drone (the one with the burst cannon) which acts as a beacon and gives some control concerning flank attacks. You also have an "inhibitor dron" which allows you to substract 1D3 to a specific unit charge distance charging you. Then the fabled +6 range on pulse carbines/rifles (pulse drone?). Cheers!

So, a squad of 10 pathfinders with a grav inhibitor drone and Darkstrider takes up a forward position, lighting up targets with markerlights. When they get charged, you get 22 shots of pulse carbine, wounding T4 on a 2+ (thanks to S5 and Darkstrider's ability). Then they get to consolidate D6 inches away (avg 3.5) and the opponent charges D3 inches less (avg 2), meaning they need an additional 5.5 inches in order to get into close combat. On the next turn, assuming they fail the charge, you get to hit them with all the firepower of the carbines again, while moving further away if necessary.

If this can be combined with Supporting Fire, or the trait that lets you Overwatch as BS2, this gets really disgusting.

The pathfinders don't have stealth or infiltrate, do they?

**B0B MaRlEy**

Oh, just a thing I've seen asked but not answered about the DP . Only +1 cover save now (like stealth, but it's not really "Stealth"...dunno why)

**boy wonder**

the devilfish didn't get cheaper... but its burst cannon gained a shot.. its drones gained a shot each and don't give away victory points anymore... plus carbine warriors are much better with a fish. I don't think its so bad.

**AtoMaki**

Anything about the suit weapon costs? Did they remain the same? Are there any new weapon options? Can a suit take 3 weapons (like, take 3 burst cannons, so it will end up with 1 TL and 1 normal)?

**Coyote81**

boy wonder wrote:
the devilfish didn't get cheaper... but its burst cannon gained a shot.. its drones gained a shot each and don't give away victory points anymore... plus carbine warriors are much better with a fish. I don't think its so bad.

Don't forget the option to upgrade to 30" SMS or two Missile drones, and the pathfinder beacon drone.

**boy wonder**

apparently plasma rifles are now 15pts.. 20pts TL which is MUCH better.

**Materia_Master**

B0B MaRlEy wrote:
Oh, just a thing I've seen asked but not answered about the DP . Only +1 cover save now (like stealth, but it's not really "Stealth"...dunno why)

In your opinion, does it stack with the special rule "Jink"?