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IA3 second edition is out, and it's time to compile all the information in one place. I'm going to assume that you're already familiar with the Tau codex and won't be explaining rules found there. So, in the order they appear in the book:

TL,DR:

Got better: Barracuda, Remora, XV84
Got nerfed: Hammerhead turrets, all Kroot, Piranha TX-42
Stayed the same: everything else

General rules:

None.

That's right, no army list, no army-wide special rules, no warlord traits, etc. All of the Tau units are single units that can be taken in Tau codex army lists (or Apocalypse, where appropriate).


Crisis Battlesuit Prototypes:

There are "three" of these, XV81, 84 and 89. They can be taken as signature systems, following the usual rules for taking those.

The XV81 has a back-mounted SMS, and can only take two ranged weapons (but takes other upgrades as normal). Of course since you can only fire two weapons each turn this isn't a very harsh limit. The choice of whether to by one of these or not is simple: is a SMS worth 25 points? Given the ability to take them on vehicles and limited synergy with other crisis suit weapons the answer is probably not. It's an option though, if you want it.

The XV84 adds a networked markerlight and target lock, and has all of its upgrade slots available. Deduct the cost of the TL and on a commander you're paying 15 points for a BS 5 networked markerlight, which probably makes this the best markerlight in the game. Add interceptor/skyfire on the commander and you have something really special, the only effective way to boost BS for interceptor fire. Even on a BS 3 model it's still worth it, a 50/50 shot of +1 BS on your Farsight bomb for that cheap is pretty much mandatory. The only drawback is that shooting the markerlight uses up one of your two weapons for the turn, but giving up a gun to boost everything else in the unit is often worth the sacrifice.

The XV89 no longer exists. There's a fluff bit that the XV89 failed its trial on Taros and was replaced by the codex iridium battlesuit. It's now just a cool alternate model for your standard crisis suits.


Tetra Scout Speeder

This is the big debate: have they been nerfed or not? Short answer: no, they lose hits per model but the price drop keeps the same points per hit. So same rules effectiveness but more cash to spend.

Long answer: yes, they've lost targeting arrays (like everything else in the codex) and shrouded dpods (again, like everything else), and their markerlights are two shots twin-linked instead of four shots, but they also got a major point decrease. At a mere 35 points they're clearly out-performing marker drones without a DC commander, and almost matching pathfinders (and old Tetras) in points per markerlight hit (22 vs. 23). For +1 point per markerlight you get vastly superior mobility and better durability against a lot of guns. They're no longer the automatic choice for markerlights like they were in the old codex, but they're still a very good option.

And that's just considering their markerlight abilities. They also have homing beacons. This is something I haven't seen anyone paying attention to. Forget their markerlights for a second, with scout + fast skimmer movement (don't forget to go flat out for better cover) you can put a no-scatter deep strike pretty much anywhere on the table on turn 2. Yes, the Tetras have to survive, but if you give your opponent enough other things to worry about they've got a decent chance. Will it always work? No, but it's something to keep in mind.


Barracuda Air Superiority Fighter

And here we have the big winner of the book. Remember how the codex flyers are terrible? The Barracuda isn't. On top of the huge price drop it got in IA:Aeronautica it now has BS 4, AV 11/11/10, and access to all of the vehicle upgrades. And yes, the ion cannon is a full ion cannon, not any of that AP 4 nonsense. So for fewer points than a codex flyer you get better firepower and less reliance on markerlights. Sure, having only 2 HP is a bit risky, but if you buy a dpod you've got a 3+ save if you jink and fly back next turn. I would expect to see the Barracuda pretty much replace the codex flyers anywhere that doesn't have a no-FW house rule.


Hammerhead Gunship

Same base Hammerhead as in the codex (which means normal upgrades, including the character), but a few new turrets. Each replaces the main gun, for free/cheap depending on the turret:

Two long-barrelled BCs: LB BCs are heavy 6 with twice the range, so this option is spamming quite a bit of STR 5 shooting. I'm not convinced it's a good option though, since STR 5 shooting is available elsewhere without spending heavy support slots.

Two twin-linked missile pods + velocity tracker: standard missile pods so range is a problem, but an AA Hammerhead could be interesting with Longstrike driving it. On the other hand the Sky Ray gives a lot better one-shot firepower when you need it most, and Broadsides bring a lot more skyfire missiles in each heavy support slot.

Two fusion cannons: it's a 3" blast multimelta. In the old codex this was pretty nice, but now the Riptide pie plate does more against infantry and 24" melta is much less impressive when every crisis suit gets 18". Also, the move and shoot problem hurts this one the most.

Two plasma cannons: two STR 7 AP 2 shots at 48" range. This is pretty disappointing, you get an extra shot over the ion cannon (if you don't move) and AP 3, but lose the blast option. IMO this has the same problem as the fusion option, the Riptide beats it against infantry while a few STR 7 shots aren't really doing anything to vehicles.

So overall kind of disappointing, but then we look at the biggest flaw: all of them are two guns. Remember how we lost vehicle multitrackers and can't fire like fast vehicles anymore? Well, if you move at all you can only snap fire one of your guns and can't fire your second fusion cannon at all (great idea on a melta weapon). This cripples all of the options so badly that I can't imagine it was intentional, hope for an FAQ that makes the two guns count as a single turret weapon for determining how many weapons fire at full BS.


Great Knarloc

The Knarlocs have been consolidated into two units, both now in fast attack for some odd reason. Anyway, they're very different now.

The goaded Knarloc is now a proper MC, if a bit small. T5/W5/A3 isn't bad considering how cheap they are (under 50 points once you deduct the cost of the goads), but there's a huge fatal problem: majority toughness makes them effectively T3, and they only have a 6+ armor save. So it might hurt you if it gets into combat, but expect it to die most of the time before then. Like the Hammerhead turrets I hope this gets FAQed.

The baggage Knarloc is now an upgrade to the goaded one instead of a separate unit. Give up an attack for a 4+ armor save, which is just as pointless as it sounds. 4+ armor is ignored by pretty much everything that bothers to shoot at a MC, and it costs you the one thing the Knarloc is semi-decent at.

The mounted Knarloc is a separate unit. Same stats, and thankfully all MCs so you get to use your T5. Again, dirt cheap at only 100-105 points (after the mandatory upgrade to a Kroot gun or explosive bolts), which is good because 6+ armor isn't protecting them very well. It might be a viable choice in a "fun" list, and TBH the biggest problem is that it's a fast attack choice that isn't a flyer or markerlight unit.


Knarloc Riders

Want mediocre cavalry? Here you go. T4/2W/6+ on defense, WS4/STR5/A3 on offense, and you can take sniper rounds if you want your calvarly standing in one place for some reason. No rending or AP though, so you're depending entirely on volume of wounds to get anything done. I guess it's a fast assault unit, something Tau don't otherwise have, but I'm still not too impressed. Also, like the other Knarlocs, it's fast attack, which is bad for the same reasons.


Heavy Gun Drones

It's a gun drone with TL burst cannons, or BC + markerlight. For about double the cost of normal gun drones. If you're doing the math here, you're noticing a problem: same firepower per point, no pinning, and only one wound instead of two separate one-wound models. And for some reason they're in heavy support, where there are tons of better options (including sniper drones, if you like drones with markerlights). Unless these get an FAQ that drone controllers can boost their BS I can't see any reason to use them.


Drone Sentry Turret

After suffering through page after page of bad units we finally come to something good. Oddly, unlike most similar units, they're immobile AV 11 2 HP vehicles instead of automated artillery, which can be good or bad. At 30-50 points depending on guns (TL BC/FB/MP/PR options) these are reasonably good, though BS 2 makes them really want a markerlight hit. Oh, and the best part? They're troops. You can't take them for the mandatory troops, but it's extra guns in a FOC slot you're probably not going to fill up. If you're taking Riptides or stealth suits and want some traditional crisis suit weapons just take a few sentry drones.


Remote Sensor Tower

Just to be inconsistent these are automated artillery (T6/W2/4+), with a twin-linked (BS 2) markerlight, optional positional relay or homing beacon, and the ability to grant night vision (redundant, yay) and re-rolls of 1s to hit to a single unit within 2". 1-4 of them are a fortification option, which makes them kind of weird. If you aren't already taking an ADL they're great (cheap and efficient markerlights while they last) and you should take them, but I think a lot of people would rather have the ADL for their 0-1 fortification.


Shas'O R'Myr

Standard commander stat line, with a twin-linked assault 2 plasma gun, a drone controller + drones, a shield generator that goes up to 3+ in combat, and a STR 3 flechette discharger. Preferred enemy (IG) is fluffy but not all that useful (his weapons aren't great against IG), and the fixed "through unity, devastation" warlord trait is good if that's the trait you want to get. Cost is comparable to the other characters. Overall not the greatest option, especially compared to the game-changing Farsight and Shadowsun. R'myr will probably be most appealing if you want to remove the randomness in warlord traits.


DX-6 'Remora' Drone Fighter

Another big winner. A 20 point discount over the IA:Aeronautica version, keeps BS 3, and gets the awesome upgrade to long-barrel BCs (like the Hammerhead, heavy 6 at 36"). And of course the new seeker missile roles are another big win, one of the Remora's biggest problems was that you had a hard time getting markerlight hits to fire the seekers, and if you did the drone's own firepower wasn't getting any benefit. Now you can do things like take a squadron of 2-3, use a markerlight hit to make them BS 4, use their networked markerlights to make the squadron BS 5 and then fire the seekers and BCs. That's a pretty big upgrade in firepower compared to the old codex version. And of course you still have shrouded to make them hard to kill on defense. The only real drawbacks are that you can't take vehicle upgrades, and that the fast attack slot has some tough competition from Barracudas and Pathfinders.


Piranha TX-42

Sadly we have to have a loser to balance out the Remora's big win. You get a 5 point discount over the old version (a joke now that regular Piranhas are so cheap) but lose the targeting array. Rail rifles got more expensive to reflect their new stats (no surprise there), so I don't think it's going to be the rail rifle platform we were hoping for. And since competing fast attack units are so much better now it's going to be hard to justify taking the TX-42.


XV9 'Hazard' Close Support Team

Same basic stats as before, including point costs and guns. Only two differences: access to all support systems, and VRTs no longer sacrifice drones to automatically escape combat (sigh). Drones are now available for everyone, but keep the majority toughness rule in mind now that shield drones are fixed T4. Overall no surprises really, XV9s are pretty much exactly what we expected when the new codex was released. If you liked them before you'll still like them, if you didn't you'll happily use the other fast attack and battlesuit options.


Shas'O R'alai

Rules are mostly the same as before, except now his gun's basic shot is a regular pulse submunition rifle instead of the special small blast one. Preferred enemy (ICs) is pretty weak as a warlord trait (only R'alai gets it, not other units), so you'll probably want another HQ for a warlord. Like the XV9s, not much new here, you're going to use him just like you did before.

======================================================
Apocalypse-only units:
======================================================

Tiger Shark Fighter-Bomber

Like IA:Aeronautica (including BS 4), but AV 12 on the side now. And one huge change: the drones no longer deep strike, they just disembark onto a point with no scatter like the codex bomber's special drones. This makes it a pretty interesting unit now. Gun drones won't matter much in a 99999999999999999 point game full of titans, but in a "small" Apocalypse game that's some nice precision firepower delivery. Add in the boost to ion cannons and the basic Tigershark is looking a lot better.


Tigershark AX-1-0

Ah, the railshark. What would Apocalypse be without it? Like the standard Tigershark it gets AV 12 side armor and codex vehicle upgrades. No other changes (THANK GOD IT IS NOT BS 3), but really, did it need any? The railshark is still your default Apocalypse purchase. Eternal glory to the first person to put an advanced targeting system on one and splatter a special character with the railguns.


Orca Dropship

Big nerf from IA:Aeronautica, now with only 2 SP (copy/paste error from the Tigersharks?) instead of 3. All it gets in exchange is the long-barrel BC upgrade to its token gun, so it's still just a transport. It keeps some units alive until they're needed and then delivers them, and that's all. I guess that has some strategic value, but unless you really love the model I'd find it hard to justify spending that much money when you can buy railsharks.


Manta Superheavy Dropship

As in every new edition the Manta gets better. It keeps all of the upgrades from IA:Aeronautica, but now all of its BCs are long-barreled. So yes, that's 16x guns firing six shots each. Feel free to go for the comedy option of declaring skyfire, gunning down anything AV 10-11 with the BCs, and then railgun a couple more flyers off the table. Or just throw all those dice at the ground, with your extra-range ion cannons getting the codex pie plate option. If you've got enough money and can figure out a way to move it across a normal gaming table then yes, you should buy one.

EDIT: Whilst I think of it, what operating size do you recommend for units of tetras, I was thinking of two units of three, but your input would be great as you actually have IA3 on you.

Thanks for the post, I now know exactly what I'm putting in with my forgeworld order (along with the book).

Much appreciated.

Really appreciate the break down and evaluations. Really sad to see some bad or lazy units, but glad to see tetras and turrets seem to be field able.

Eeem... Are you sure there are no typos in the sensor tower? The numbers seem Akward.
2" buff range?
BS 2?


How much do they cost that this is considered "cheap and effective"?

WHOO! REMORAS!

Because what we needed was a BETTER manta, right?

Is shouting "dakkadakkadakka!" Required for the manta's all weapons all out assault?

Turrets and Remoras are my considerations at the moment, tho tetras might be interesting, but i use pathfinders for that, so remoras is going to fill up the last fast attack slots.

Turrets is a interesting thing, if you lack in the MEQ department just have a few PL turrets around, or if you are afraid of transports drop a few fusion turrets in places it block em out of your troop-line... gotta love choices.

The barracuda sounds good. How many seeker missiles does it have? Are the burst cannons long barrelled? And what's the points cost?

kelewan wrote:
The barracuda sounds good. How many seeker missiles does it have? Are the burst cannons long barrelled? And what's the points cost?

It starts with 0 seekers, may buy up to 4.

It has auto-targeting burst cannons (18" Range, s5 ap5, ignores jink)

Points cost is the same as it was in Aeronautica.


I used one last night along with 2 tetras vs an imperial guard player. The barracuda deep struck with no scatter thanks to the tetras nearby, then proceeded to erase 15 guardsman from a unit, followed by immobilizing and stunning a leman russ on the next turn (since the burst cannons are turreted, and seekers draw LOS from the hull, i was able to fire 2 seeker missiles and 8 burst cannon shots into it's rear armor by flying over it). For it's last trick before i tabled the poor fellow, it killed a heavy weapons team that was holding an objective with the burst cannons. The upgrade to BS4 is amazing, let alone the armor value increase it got plus the ability to fire off it's ion cannon in a blast mode.

As to tetras and tactics- most people don't realize how utterly *small* tetras are until they see them in person. The skimmer is literally only as tall as a fire warrior model - which makes them very easy to hide and only expose themselves to what you want to see them. I hid mine from all of my opponents s8 and s9 weapons, leaving them very safe so they remained on the table on turn 2 - then i dropped in the big guns with crisis suits and a barracuda, with no scatter. It's a wonderful combo. Tetras aren't the auto-take anymore that they were before, but they're still very close to it. I enjoy them.

Unfortunately I do not have the aeronautica book either could you compare the cost to the sun shark bomber for me please

Well, the official word from FW is that the Hammerhead turrets are deliberate. And so we continue the GW tradition of making lots of cool new rules and then throwing in something absolutely stupid to make up for it. I suggest asking for a house rule that they count as a single gun.

kelewan wrote:
Unfortunately I do not have the aeronautica book either could you compare the cost to the sun shark bomber for me please

30 points less, which makes the comparison even more one-sided in favor of the Barracuda.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BoomWolf wrote:
Eeem... Are you sure there are no typos in the sensor tower? The numbers seem Akward.

It makes sense. BS 2 because it's a drone, 2" buff range because you effectively have to be in coherency with the tower even though it's not technically part of the unit.

How much do they cost that this is considered "cheap and effective"?

30 points each. With a twin-linked BS 2 markerlight you're paying 60 points per markerlight hit, compared to 42 points per markerlight hit for marker drone squadrons (without a drone controller) and 20-25 points for Tetras and Pathfinders. So the markerlight alone isn't good, but the shooting buff makes up for it and getting markerlights in the fortification slot instead of the crowded fast/heavy slots is potentially very useful. I wouldn't use them as my primary markerlight source, but if I had a few points left and didn't want an ADL I'd consider them.

Could they at least be spread apart then, or do you have to cluster them?

Because if you cluster them, its pretty....pointless.
Even the the large buildings cant possibly hold 3-4 of them, AND the squads required to actually gain from it.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Could they at least be spread apart then, or do you have to cluster them?

They have to be placed within 6" of another tower, but they are independent "units".

Smart thing they made it a fortification then, because combining these with the ADL would have been slightly over the top, but without it they are medicore..


On the other hand, as fortifications, they are not worth killpoints/FB any more, right?
This might give them that last improvement required compared to old version (and being not so easy to one-shot as before) that covers the lost BS and buff range.

Thanks for the breakdown Peregrine!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I especially enjoyed this line haha

 Peregrine wrote:
I If you've got enough money and can figure out a way to move it across a normal gaming table then yes, you should buy one.

Owning a Manta is a goal one day when I have more time, money, and space than sense!

 Peregrine wrote:

So overall kind of disappointing, but then we look at the biggest flaw: all of them are two guns. Remember how we lost vehicle multitrackers and can't fire like fast vehicles anymore? Well, if you move at all you can only snap fire one of your guns and can't fire your second fusion cannon at all (great idea on a melta weapon). This cripples all of the options so badly that I can't imagine it was intentional, hope for an FAQ that makes the two guns count as a single turret weapon for determining how many weapons fire at full BS.

This is really hilarious. Not only the Codex nerfed my tanks to unrecognizable, my beloved FusionHead was made even worse. Great work GW & FW!

Now then backfire, the codex actually did the tanks a favor.

Sure, they no longer sprint across the board while shooting, but they shoot across the board anyway, so who needs to move that much?

And given that Ion got another fire mode, and rail got MUCH cheaper, I'd say its for the best, in the final conclusion.


That being said, the IA3 heads are sure a disappointment now. FB is pointless, LBBC does nothing not done by others and better, LBPR gives nothing of value (how often will you run into Sv2 spam?) and the missile reck is just an alternate skyray that trades alpha strike for constant fire. (though maybe with longstrike....)

Its a shame the XV9's weapons stayed the same. I fully expected the Phased Ions to get an overcharge mode and for the Fusion Cascades to go up to 18". I also expected at least a modest points decrease but the PIG XV9's are still one of my favourite units and ill be using them in big games for sure.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Now then backfire, the codex actually did the tanks a favor.

Sure. Nobody plays them anymore, so they can head out to the beach and have a nice little vacation, waiting for the 7th edition...

Maybe its a local meta thing then, because I and every other local tau how just bought more hammerheads.

So, you're saying it's time to buy a manta?

I dunno, wouldn't 3-4 AX-1-0s be more effective for the $$?

 Redbeard wrote:
So, you're saying it's time to buy a manta?

I dunno, wouldn't 3-4 AX-1-0s be more effective for the $$?

Effective, maybe. Nothing beats the Manta on coolness factor though.

Nothing says I want to win the game so badly I put my wallet on the table like the Manta either.

I dunno, it's big, really big. But, other than it's size, I don't think it's that particularly cool. I think Thunderhawks and titans have it beat for coolness.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Sure, they no longer sprint across the board while shooting, but they shoot across the board anyway, so who needs to move that much?

Yeah the one thing that made Tau tanks the best AV13 in the game is now gone, thanks for alleviating my wallet there GW, thought I was gonna have to spend more money.

 Krellnus wrote:

 BoomWolf wrote:
Sure, they no longer sprint across the board while shooting, but they shoot across the board anyway, so who needs to move that much?

Yeah the one thing that made Tau tanks the best AV13 in the game is now gone, thanks for alleviating my wallet there GW, thought I was gonna have to spend more money.

I dont really see how it made the Tau tanks the best armor 13 in the game. I would often just give my tanks sensors and park them on a high piece of impassable terrain moving 1" or so to get my Jink, Multi Trackers never really affected my game since my range was so hge and with good LoS you dont really need to move.

 Messy0 wrote:
I dont really see how it made the Tau tanks the best armor 13 in the game. I would often just give my tanks sensors and park them on a high piece of impassable terrain moving 1" or so to get my Jink, Multi Trackers never really affected my game since my range was so hge and with good LoS you dont really need to move.

Can you really not see how moving 12" a turn is a huge advantage? You can move away from threats or to maximize your use of terrain, and you can move to get better shots at your targets. My old-codex Hammerheads were almost always moving over 6" a turn, and usually closer to the full 12". Now they've lost 6" of movement, 12" if you want to fire more than one gun. Which hurts the FW turret options even more than the codex ones, since they're two guns. If you move at all, even 0.000001", you have to snap fire one. So now my fusion cannon Hammerhead has gone from moving 12" and firing a twin-linked shot to moving 6" and firing a single shot. I am not impressed.

Yeah, the changes hurt the tanks (and far more importantly, made them very uninteresting to play): but the Fusionhead is really hosed because you *have* to move to get close and then you probably don't hit anything without huge Markerlight support. Which is of course perfect because I specificially bought it just before Codex change...

 Peregrine wrote:

 Messy0 wrote:
I dont really see how it made the Tau tanks the best armor 13 in the game. I would often just give my tanks sensors and park them on a high piece of impassable terrain moving 1" or so to get my Jink, Multi Trackers never really affected my game since my range was so hge and with good LoS you dont really need to move.

Can you really not see how moving 12" a turn is a huge advantage? You can move away from threats or to maximize your use of terrain, and you can move to get better shots at your targets. My old-codex Hammerheads were almost always moving over 6" a turn, and usually closer to the full 12". Now they've lost 6" of movement, 12" if you want to fire more than one gun. Which hurts the FW turret options even more than the codex ones, since they're two guns. If you move at all, even 0.000001", you have to snap fire one. So now my fusion cannon Hammerhead has gone from moving 12" and firing a twin-linked shot to moving 6" and firing a single shot. I am not impressed.

For forgeworld turrets find its a huge hit. But for standard railheads/Ionheads from5th to 6th i really dont see how it has made a huge difference. Any real close up threats to my tanks such as melta a 12 inch movement isnt going to help. My hammerheads are usually burried deep in my back lines with an entire view of the battlefield. Any threat that getts close enough such as melta to be a threat will still be a threat after my 12" movement, and with the vast amount of support my HH's are usually surrounded by i dont really see how its a huge loss. Sure its a mini nurf but not the end of the world nurf some posts are making it out to be. So far it hasnt affected my game plan at all.

Providing you aren't using blast weapons, marker lights do compensate some for the Multi-tracker loss, but only to a point.

If you are the type to park your tanks on a sky shield landing pad and wrap them in fire warriors and kroot you won't do too badly with a Forgeworld turret, but ultimately the stock turrets are currently better for most purposes.