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It's kind of strange but so many people seem interested in the new Tau codex lately around my area even amongst people that never play tau and often hate playing with or against my tau lol.

I didn't see as much interest in the daemons or chaos marines or even DA that much but it seems like so many people feel more anticipation over the Tau dex that I feel like there must be something I don't know. Has the greater good converted more people than I ever gave it credit to?

How's the feelings over at your local areas?

I think its more that Chaos Daemons, Marines and Dark Angels all have strong, well established backgrounds, while the Tau are pretty new by comparison. The latest Necron book introduced some pretty major changes and updates to the background and I think a lot of people (myself included) are expecting a similar thing for the new Tau update.

It's cos Tau haven't got a new codex in ages. Seriously it's going to make Tau a better race to play. Too many people dis Tau and it's about time Tau got a new codex, from what i've read in all the rumours is that we are getting a new big battlesuit called a 'Riptide' suit and maybe some new pathfinders and a flyer model

Lot's of people have thought tau are cool for ages, but their book was so ancient, they could never enjoy them. With an update, it means they will be the most recent army rules, new unit's, and that army people have been interested in for years, but never bothered playing.

I totally agree. Their book is like old as my mum. HA.......... meh

I think Tau are one of the most enjoyable armies to play because they (ideally) pivot on unit synergy, bringing different elements together in a "modern" or "combined-arms" approach that stands apart from the more medieval "run-up-and-rip-em" approach of other armies.

The whole "marker-light" + "cover-fire" + "specialists" combo-approach just screams "military tactics" in a way very few other 40K armies do.

If all those rumours about different "overwatch abilities" etc.. for the new Tau Codex hold true, one hopes this emphasis on synergy will carry over into 6th Edition.


CSM (with generic Daemons) used to have a strong synergy-element too (e.g. Lash/Blast, Daemons-charging-from-DS, etc..) in 4th Edition, but the new 6th edition books by Phil "Long-Fang-Spam" Kelly seriously dumbed down the CSM/Daemons for 40K, so I see people leaving them in droves (or Spamming Heldrakes like they used to spam Long Fangs/Ravagers).

Dark Angels... dunno. The list has potential but the book is just such a horribly dull read. Not sure how they managed that.

I believe the Eldar currently have a similar amount of hype to the Tau because they do have a very loyal following who have waited for a codex for a very long time.

Also, as others have said, because their current codex is so old it means that a lot of the units, wargear and points values are either out of date or completely non functioning in some cases so they need a massive shake up rather than a smaller update like the CSM, DA and Daemons got.

Although from what I have heard the Daemon codex was a fairly huge change for them wasn't it? More of a horde focus this time around I believe.


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Plus giant robots and hi tech guns are just awesome!

 sudojoe wrote:


I didn't see as much interest in the daemons or chaos marines or even DA that much but it seems like so many people feel more anticipation over the Tau dex /quote]

It isn't.

There aren't significantly more people looking forward to Tau then they have any of the other races. On a local level there might of course just be more Tau fans around you. On a macro level, they aren't excessively popular.

 Flinty wrote:
I think its more that Chaos Daemons, Marines and Dark Angels all have strong, well established backgrounds, while the Tau are pretty new by comparison. The latest Necron book introduced some pretty major changes and updates to the background and I think a lot of people (myself included) are expecting a similar thing for the new Tau update.

This, Tau are now interesting because with the new update also comes new fluff. We will see if GW decided to turn them little grimdark or leave them as only "good guys" in setting whe nit comes to overall overview.

Sadly, I think part of the reason so many are excited about it is because Tau are going to be the ultimate gunline army, and in this edition, gunlines are very hard to break.

 ClassicCarraway wrote:
Tau are going to be the ultimate gunline army,

I doubt that they will still be better than a Guard, even with all the new updates.

Why so much hype? I don't play Tau and have a personal vendetta towards anime fan but, HOLY CRAP RIPTIDE that looks so freakin cool.

And to Brother Captain Alexander, that teaser trailer did not make them seem like good guys

Barrywise wrote:

And to Brother Captain Alexander, that teaser trailer did not make them seem like good guys

I know, I am just saying that in 40k setting they are the nearest thing you have as "good guys".
And only because they first offer you a chance to join them and then they shoot you.

I am only saying that GW may turned even more evil then they were before, we shall see...

They have always had the join us or die mentality. Kind of reminds me of WW2 Germany. They have a loyal following too just as any army. ATT will attest to that. Yeah their book is old but another reason people are going nuts over them is because 6th is all about shooting and they have several rapid fire weapons. Also can mass well over a hundredof troops if you desire with extremely long range and decent armor, plus they are allies to pretty much everyone. Win Win!! I think this will be a huge release for GW, I just wish they would lower their prices a bit. $85 plus tax for riptide seems excessive to me. At that price point you won't see as many as you would think. I think you will see more converted gundams unfortunately.

I'm just hopeful the fliers are not a total waste of points as I quite like the look of the one with the guns on the back.

Now, does forge world tetras still work then? or are old forge world stuff going to be invalidated by the new dex? I really dislike having to depend on pathfinders for all my markerlights as I just can't get them to survive most times especially if I want any fliers around I think

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:

 ClassicCarraway wrote:
Tau are going to be the ultimate gunline army,

I doubt that they will still be better than a Guard, even with all the new updates.

Based on the rumors, I'm not so sure. Stronger basic firearms than any other army. Crisis suits and broadsides are smaller than tanks but can still pack a tank-sized punch and take advantage of cover better than tanks. The rumored Overwatch rule means assaulting Tau is going to be even tougher, especially if the rumored ability to retain full BS on overwatch turns out to be true.

I'm pretty 'meh' about Tau personally.

However, they are the univeral ally army. I can see why people would want to add a few as allies to their army.
After all, they are battle brothers with C:SM yet can still hang with CSM.

I think it's because Tau will be the first 'real' xenos army in 6th and people want to see how it will be done. The fact that the current book is ancient and outdated is a big thing too.

Also, since 6th is so much a shooting game now, people are curious to see how a shooting army will be balanced compared to, say, Necrons or IG.

As I've said on other forums.

So far the releases we've seen have been to armies that have needed rules updates more then new models. Even though they came out with new flashy units they weren't really needed the way the rules updates were.

Even tau don't really need New models as opposed to rules updates and point costs redone.

But as other people have said, its also the first REAL Xeno army thats been brought up to 6th ed standards. And they do have a alot of loyal followers. I think there are just as many if not more Tau players in my local meta then space marines.

 Evileyes wrote:
Lot's of people have thought tau are cool for ages, but their book was so ancient, they could never enjoy them. With an update, it means they will be the most recent army rules, new unit's, and that army people have been interested in for years, but never bothered playing.

This is kind of how I feel about them. I've always kind of like the anime aesthetic but the book was so old I didn't want to collect them and have things change. So now they're getting updated I might look into them. And the riptide will be mine whether I play them or not...

It's part Rule of Shiny (It's something a lot of people don't own and it's shiny, so suddenly you'll see TONS of new Tau players) and that everyone who was ever interested in Tau can justify it now that they'll be able to win more with a new Codex.

I personally really like the idea of Tau but strongly dislike the aesthetic of their Crisis Suits, which are one of the things that really interests me. So I'll be skipping out on joining the ranks. I thought they were gonna do a full redo of the Crisis Suits and .... no dice.

1.) They're not Space Marines
2.) They're Xenos (the most neglected part of 40k)
3.) They're still fairly new on the scene

I'vw collected tau for 2 years, but don't have the outdated codex, so this will be my first tau codex.

Tau are probably the closest thing to a "traditional" sci-fi alien race, being clean, shiny and techy. Apart from them, 40K has creepy mystics (eldar), bugs (tyranids), stoopid animals (orks) and terminators (necrons).

ZF-

I recently started a Tau army so I would be happy to see more current rules. Also having skyfire to shoot those damned heldrakes and vendettas out of the sky.

It's the first xeno book for 6th, first shooting focused book for 6th, also there's a lot of tau players.

 ClassicCarraway wrote:

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:

 ClassicCarraway wrote:
Tau are going to be the ultimate gunline army,

I doubt that they will still be better than a Guard, even with all the new updates.

Based on the rumors, I'm not so sure. Stronger basic firearms than any other army. Crisis suits and broadsides are smaller than tanks but can still pack a tank-sized punch and take advantage of cover better than tanks. The rumored Overwatch rule means assaulting Tau is going to be even tougher, especially if the rumored ability to retain full BS on overwatch turns out to be true.

The problem is really they don't seem like they'll have the durability to be a gunline. With 4+ saves, their infantry is not as tough as you'd think. Suits are more susceptible to large template, high strength weapons than tanks. I also can't imagine them being cheaper than the dirt cheap Imperial Guard units. Basically, they won't have the numbers of Guard or the durability required without those numbers to be a gunline.

They seem like they'll make a fantastic mobile shooting army, which is the point of the army anyway.

 -Loki- wrote:

They seem like they'll make a fantastic mobile shooting army, which is the point of the army anyway.

This.

Guard was built to hold the line, that is why they will always be best in gun line.
Tau on the other hand are excellent for Blitzkrieg.

Actually, I'm dreading the new Tau book. From a competetive standpoint Tau have always been good vs. Nids, even if bad over all. Now, Tau will almost certainly improve, and I'm not looking forward to the best Alpha Strike army in the game getting better!

Actually, if you can just take cover saves against Markerlight hits I'll be happy forever! As a Hobbyist it would be amazing to see Tau get a good update, and I am extremely excited to see a Xeno book!

Because it finally wont be a completely uphill battle, every sing time, when playing as Tau. Plus, apparently there are quite a few Tau fans out there.