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Argh, the question about new Crisis Suits is tearing me apart. It's what will decide if I start a Tau army or not.

I really love the concept of suits, but the current Crisis Suits are just ugly.. and these new models are gorgeous, so I really hope they make new models for the poor Crisis Suits as well.

 alleus wrote:
Argh, the question about new Crisis Suits is tearing me apart. It's what will decide if I start a Tau army or not.

I really love the concept of suits, but the current Crisis Suits are just ugly.. and these new models are gorgeous, so I really hope they make new models for the poor Crisis Suits as well.

Me too. New Crisis suits is the make and break for me. I don't even hate the current ones, but I don't want to use the one pose for a whole army, and I can't be bothered/don't have the skill to convert every one.

Looking at the Stormsurge, it does look like it is built on top of a Riptide, though the physical design seems to be fluff-wise instead of an actual model conversion sprew, similar to how old Broadsides were retrofitted Crisis Suits.

Don't have access to highlight the relevant pictures, but the key to me on those suits in the background is that the panels/vents on the chest seem to be a slightly different size and place and the central ridge seems larger and more sculpted (reminiscent of the Riptide and XV8-09).

Whilst I could see someone converting the hips and shoulder pads, I can't imagine someone going to the effort of subtly resculpting the entire chest.

^This. Thats what I've been saying.

 Nilok wrote:
Looking at the Stormsurge, it does look like it is built on top of a Riptide, though the physical design seems to be fluff-wise instead of an actual model conversion sprew, similar to how old Broadsides were retrofitted Crisis Suits.

I think it is just using the standard riptide body as a base. To me it looks like the chest for the stormsurge will be a few pieces that are built over the original riptide body. Notice how there are holes in this new chest piece to fit the vents for the reactors, which are exactly where the riptides ones normally are. Just above the waist you can also see pieces of the original riptide body before they are covered up by the new larger chest piece.

But I really hope the stormsurge has its own box, as I already have three standard riptides and would feel bad getting a new box just for an additional sprue. (Curse you, Imperial Knights!)

Here is a closer look at new troops packs.... It looks like the are jump troops with a shotty style weapon!

 alleus wrote:
Argh, the question about new Crisis Suits is tearing me apart. It's what will decide if I start a Tau army or not.

I really love the concept of suits, but the current Crisis Suits are just ugly.. and these new models are gorgeous, so I really hope they make new models for the poor Crisis Suits as well.

Looks like new crisis suits as well. Pretty similar to the old design (yay!) but with a waist joint and armor plate over the left shoulder.

 krazynadechukr wrote:
Here is a closer look at new troops packs.... It looks like the are jump troops with a shotty style weapon!

Thanks for that super clear picture, clearly there can be no other explanation

Edit: on a serious note though, I have been curious as to why everyone assumes they are normal firewarriors replacements. They could be a new troop, and if those are a booster of some sort I think it would be cooler if they a grav shoot so they can be Orca drops ie deepstrike. I am highly doubtful they will be jetpack infantry though, no more riding in devil fish if that were the case.

Yeah I have been saying they could be a new infantry unit.

Some sort of carbine equipped drop troop would be awesome. I tend to use carbines anyway, so I wouldn't have to change my tactics much, just fewer of them would die on the way.

 Red Corsair wrote:

 krazynadechukr wrote:
Here is a closer look at new troops packs.... It looks like the are jump troops with a shotty style weapon!

Thanks for that super clear picture, clearly there can be no other explanation

Edit: on a serious note though, I have been curious as to why everyone assumes they are normal firewarriors replacements. They could be a new troop, and if those are a booster of some sort I think it would be cooler if they a grav shoot so they can be Orca drops ie deepstrike. I am highly doubtful they will be jetpack infantry though, no more riding in devil fish if that were the case.

It'd be aswsome to have a Tau Drop Troop Army (like Elysian style)! I'd be so back into 40k so fast!

 krazynadechukr wrote:

 Red Corsair wrote:

 krazynadechukr wrote:
Here is a closer look at new troops packs.... It looks like the are jump troops with a shotty style weapon!

Thanks for that super clear picture, clearly there can be no other explanation

Edit: on a serious note though, I have been curious as to why everyone assumes they are normal firewarriors replacements. They could be a new troop, and if those are a booster of some sort I think it would be cooler if they a grav shoot so they can be Orca drops ie deepstrike. I am highly doubtful they will be jetpack infantry though, no more riding in devil fish if that were the case.

It'd be aswsome to have a Tau Drop Troop Army (like Elysian style)! I'd be so back into 40k so fast!

Very much so. If this is true I might just loose my mind with awesomeness! No proof though. We can only hope :-)

 alleus wrote:

 krazynadechukr wrote:

 Red Corsair wrote:

 krazynadechukr wrote:
Here is a closer look at new troops packs.... It looks like the are jump troops with a shotty style weapon!

Thanks for that super clear picture, clearly there can be no other explanation

Edit: on a serious note though, I have been curious as to why everyone assumes they are normal firewarriors replacements. They could be a new troop, and if those are a booster of some sort I think it would be cooler if they a grav shoot so they can be Orca drops ie deepstrike. I am highly doubtful they will be jetpack infantry though, no more riding in devil fish if that were the case.

It'd be aswsome to have a Tau Drop Troop Army (like Elysian style)! I'd be so back into 40k so fast!

Very much so. If this is true I might just loose my mind with awesomeness! No proof though. We can only hope :-)

Yeah, here is hoping! I just noticed the "exhaust" (if that is what it is) in the backpack is similar to the devilfish engine exhaust....

Some new kind of jump troops for Tau would definitely help their mobility problem, as well as opening up the opportunity for null-deployment lists with formations and detachment bonuses.

One thing to keep in mind is that we are seeing a white dwarf that is like 3 weeks out from release. The week before it may focus on the potentially new suits - which is why they are in the background of these shots.

I agree that it would be very odd to be using heavily converted suits in the same picture as new products.

I thought Tau had Vespid for their jump troops? Are they not any good?

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I thought Tau had Vespid for their jump troops? Are they not any good?

They were never good.


also finecast.

Please say the new Crisis suits have poseable limbs, static limbs on the old ones are a pain in the butt.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I thought Tau had Vespid for their jump troops? Are they not any good?

I'm sorry, I lol'd so hard at this. I can't even remember when the last time I saw a Tau player using vespid was... I think I encountered one squad in like, 2008 or something...lol. Of course, they didn't really do much of anything, except die.

 Desubot wrote:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I thought Tau had Vespid for their jump troops? Are they not any good?

They were never good.


also finecast.

Never played as Tau. The only thing I use Tau (heads mainly) for are base decorations, when I murder my buddy's army with Necrons and he doesn't use them either.

I'd honestly be surprised if vespids are still in the codex this time. If kroot are on the chopping block, there's no way vespids are sticking around. At the very least they'd have to make a new kit, as they're finecast.

I don't think that the backpack is a jump pack. If you look at the current pack that the fire warriors wear, you'll see two magazines for the pulse rifle/carbine mounted on it, which is what it looks like is on the new packs as well.

What IS new about the packs are the antennae sticking up off of them, though. Still, I'm hesitant to say that they are a jump infantry, as that pretty much seems to be a battlesuit role, and not an infantry role.

I could see them going the "Pariah" route with the Vespids, wherein they discontinue the Vespids as a unit with rules/models, but introduce a new Tau unit with new models that fill the same exact role, and then say "Vespids are gone, but you can use your old Vespid models as this new model instead".

I wouldn't be a fan of them removing the Kroot/Vespids from the codex. The Taus use of alien auxiliaries was, at the time of their inception, central to the fluff. The reasoning for renaming the Codex to "Tau Empire" was to emphasize the fact that they were an empire, that is a collection of species led by the Tau. They also had a lot of concepts for both Kroot and Vespid units that never came to be that would make for some cool new kits.

Then again, both the Kroot and Vespids originally started out as concepts for new standalone armies alongside the Tau, the studio picked the Tau but decided to incorporate the Kroot as an auxiliary force within the fluff, reasoning that if the Tau range did well, they could add more races to the faction and use them as a repository for all the concepts the studio kicked around for cool xenos species that never really got off the ground or didnt have enough background to flesh out a full codex for, etc. Vespids were added later to test the waters (5th ed. codex I believe) as they were one of the other faction concepts that were initially cut, and similarly to the kroot the studio had concepts for a few units.

It might be that now, with the rise of the subcodecies, the studio is opting to make Tau a purist faction, and will release subcodecies for Kroot, Vespids, etc. at a later point.

Would be interesting to see if Kroot & Vespid are out (maybe relegated to some sort of Auxiliaries mini-dex) and we did get NEW F-Warriors to fill those roles. I know it's wishful thinking as Crisis/Stealth are kinda the jump infantry, but a true jump infantry option would be cool ...

or they could just give FW the ability to JSJ ... LOL

 spectreoneone wrote:
I don't think that the backpack is a jump pack. If you look at the current pack that the fire warriors wear, you'll see two magazines for the pulse rifle/carbine mounted on it, which is what it looks like is on the new packs as well.

What IS new about the packs are the antennae sticking up off of them, though. Still, I'm hesitant to say that they are a jump infantry, as that pretty much seems to be a battlesuit role, and not an infantry role.

There is a difference in the helmet, weapons, and backpack. Only time will tell what these troops are. The packs might be reskulpted backpacks, or they might be jump packs. Who knows right now. My hope is jetpacks & paint these up in a Boba Fett color scheme!

I doubt that it's anything more than gubbins. Things to make the new warriors have more detail, because frankly, the old fire warriors utterly lacked it.

A MUCH better pic of the Tau'Nar just cropped up. A lot of my fears of it "not fitting in" just were resolved.

Im unfamiliar with the way FW rolls things out, is there a general timeline from when they put things on show and when they have them for sale?

I'd like to order one of the new big guys but I'd also like to plan finances accordingly, rather than be unprepared for the actual release.

Zelnik wrote:
A MUCH better pic of the Tau'Nar just cropped up. A lot of my fears of it "not fitting in" just were resolved.

I don't know German but there are enough familiar words in that article to lead me to believe that it has some sort of deflector field.

3 gigantor cannons on top
2 triple ion cannons on arms
2 TL SMS
2 TL pulse cannons

Goodness, that thing's going to put out some dakka.