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Hi all. I have a brief question.

(I apologise if this is in the wrong forum, but I didn't see anywhere else that it could go)

My understanding of the rules is that Tau Commanders are Crisis Suits, with four weapons / support slots, instead of three. Furthermore, they have differently marked sensor vanes

Is this correct?

Thanks all.

Yes any crisis suit model can represent a commander. Depending on what equipment you put on the, you may want to distinguish them by paintjob or add extra aerials or something.

Commanders come with an XV8 battlesuit, how you choose to differentiate this suit is up to you.

The Tau need to work on their naming conventions for equipment.

While the Crisis Suits in the Tau Codex are all 'XV-8', there are different models of suit, that should be like 'XV-8A' or 'XV-8C3'. Even the Broadsides that are now 'XV-88' should have a different model number assigned to them. The Broadsides were XV-88s in the last codex, but they are significantly different in the 6th Ed Codex. If you go look at Forgeworld, they have a proper military equipment nomenclature. They have XV-81, XV-84, XV-9, and XV-107 suits.

OK, from a pure playing perspective and not one where the author has been in the military for 23 years- it should be fairly obvious which Crisis Suit is which on the table. GW really likes the players playing Herohammer, with larger then life characters leading the charge into battle. I like that imagery, even though it's 100% inaccurate in a real combat situation, so I spend the extra time painting my hero's better then the troops, and I try to make them distinctive on the battlefield. That means that on the table, you can tell who my Hero/Commander is.

The current Crisis Suit Commander Model is a XV-8, but it's physically larger and subtly different from the other XV-8 Crisis suits.

 Tamwulf wrote:
The Tau need to work on their naming conventions for equipment.

While the Crisis Suits in the Tau Codex are all 'XV-8', there are different models of suit, that should be like 'XV-8A' or 'XV-8C3'. Even the Broadsides that are now 'XV-88' should have a different model number assigned to them.
The current Crisis Suit Commander Model is a XV-8, but it's physically larger and subtly different from the other XV-8 Crisis suits.

The Tau wargear already has a naming convention

The original T-series battlesuits were powered by internal combustion, and therefore would have been XT- battlesuits, the current powered by fission are XV- Battlesuits.
The first number of the battlesuit refers to its mass, so an XV-8 battlesuit is a fission powered suit in the 8th mass range. likelwise, XV-15 and XV25 battlesuits are smaller (represented in their stats and physical size) the XV-88 broadside suit is a development of the XV-8, trading maneuverability for more armament, so the second number refers to the battlesuit version.

The Tau Commander has, as his wargear a crisis Battlesuit (XV-8) and the current Commander model is the XV8-05 Crisis 'enforcer' Battlesuit. since there is no distinction made between the two anywhere but the fluff, you can use a standard XV-8 as your commander. Just make sure you make it clear, either through the wargear on the suit and/or his colour scheme, which is your commander

You have a few options as to what models you would like to represent your XV8 crisis suits (these are just my opinions and how I like to differentiate):

commanders:

- plastic GW crisis suit kit
- forgeworld shas'o r'ymr
- forgeworld variants (XV81, XV84, XV89)

commanders with iridium armour

- GW "enforcer suit"
- forgeworld XV9 hazard suit (with some conversion work)
- forgeworld XV89

Personally I was going to use FW shas'o r'ymr as a commander and an XV9 as my iridium commander. My crisis suit shas'vres were XV89s and my shas'ui were XV81s

I've since switched to using the commander farsight kit as the basis for all my XV8s with iridium still being represented by an XV9 (although I may just go with the GW enforcer commander).

Its all up to you!

Technically there is a commander model now, but its literally just a fancy Crisis suit and comes with the signature weapons that normally only he can use that noone actually brings lol.

I doubt anyone would say anything about you making a normal crisis suit stand out and look important and just cal that your commander. Before the new dex thats what you had to do anyway.

EDIT: Also i like the Shas'O R'Myr's battlesuit best as an alternative, primarily because it still actually LOOKS like a crisis suit but is obviously buffed up.

Okay, thanks all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Are Shas'O R'Myr Battlesuits the correct size?

 Mizzet wrote:
Okay, thanks all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Are Shas'O R'Myr Battlesuits the correct size?

Yes.

I magnetized the shield on my Rmyr for the times when I won't be using an invul save.

As others had mentioned, there is a lot of leeway on the crisis type suits for tau.

enjoy and have fun!

Okay, and his special Plasma gun counts as a TL normal one?

 Mizzet wrote:
Okay, and his special Plasma gun counts as a TL normal one?

In his rules its a special type of gun.

When I run him on the table top, if I tell the other player if he has two plasma guns, or a TL gun.

If I run a more ....buffing than fighting commander, I use my forge world xv84 suit.

Okay, thanks you've been a tremendous help.

I have one final question: Where can I find the rules for all these suits? I've found a free PDF for Shas'O R'Myr, but what about all these Forgeworld Crisis Suit Variants?

Thanks.

Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign Second Edition.