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The T’au* are known currently for their deadly firepower and mobility. They utilise advanced Battlesuits to level blistering volleys of smart missiles and energy weapons into the enemies of the Greater Good. Riptides particularly–often seen in the Riptide Wing formation–are a common site. The combination of resilience and firepower is a potent cocktail that has left many a pair of smoking boots where once a foe stood. Those that do survive the fusillade to cross the battlefield must withstand the T’au’s other shooting phase, otherwise known as Supporting Fire with overwatch. However, those intrepid warriors that make it through all of that often strike the physically weaker T’au down, as melee is certainly not their forte….apart from the stomps dished out by the Stormsurge. That guy certainly never skipped leg day in the gym!
How do T’au play in new Warhammer 40,000? Will they still be the kings of ranged warfare?
Well, let’s start with the biggest and baddest suit in their arsenal, the Stormsurge. This beast of a suit currently terrorises the tables and will continue to do so in the new Warhammer 40,000, albeit in different ways. The Stormsurge has amazing firepower with its 10 weapons…and yes, I said 10 weapons, each of which can fire on a different target. The Anchors currently allow the Stormsurge to shoot twice, but in the new edition, this has been changed to a more reasonable (but still powerful!) +1 to hit in the Shooting phase, which works great when paired with one Markerlight hit on a target, allowing any T’au unit to reroll 1’s when firing on that unit. BS 3+ and re-rolling 1’s with 10 ranged weapons is enough to render most units to smoking ash. The Stormsurge also has the Walking Battleship special rule which allows him to Fall Back from combat and still shoot, while also ignoring the penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons. Stormsurges will remain a solid choice in the new edition.
The XV8 Crisis Battlesuits are next up on the docket. I consider these suits to be the iconic T’au unit, and the firepower from these guys will be very impressive. Very impressive indeed. They each can take 3 weapons (which again, you can fire all of them!). May I recommend a flamer plus two other weapons of your choice? My preference is dual missile pods for that lovely AP-1 and D3 damage per shot! The flamers give you nasty Overwatch defence, as they auto-hit incoming units that charge within their range. They can also be used offensively to clear objectives.
A unit of three Crisis Suits paired up with Markerlights will bring down even large vehicles relatively quickly. Multiple Crisis Suit units also work well together since supporting fire is still around, now called “For the Greater Good.” All those flamer hits from multiple XV8s into a charging unit is extremely powerful and will stop some of the strongest assault units dead in their tracks. Oh, and did I forget to mention they have the Fly keyword? This allows them to Fall Back from combat and still shoot at full effect. Brutal! I am loving how these guys play, and they will be scattered all across the tables in T’au armies.
Lastly, I want to talk about Sniper Drones. When paired with the T’au HQ’s such as the Cadre Fireblade they will bring down those pesky support characters with deadly efficiency even if they are hiding behind their infantry. The 48″ range on their Sniper weapons, plus their fast movement, means they will be filling those characters with lead (or plasma?) a lot faster than snipers from other factions. They will be a truly deadly force in your army that will strike fear in opposing characters. Have a look at their datasheet, here:
Overall, the T’au will play relatively similarly to how they do now. They will have a lot more tricks up their sleeves and you’ll see a wider variety of units on the board than you currently do. They’ll catch a lot of people off guard with some of their cool special rules and tactical flexibility. Stop resisting and join the Greater Good, today.
Come back on Wednesday for some insights on the insidious Drukhari.
Sniper drones are their own things. wonder what happened to the drone controller spotter guy.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/05/15 17:20:30
-Tau still have supporting fire, gross
-No double shooting Stormsurges, yay
-At least two units can Fall Back and Shoot, solid bet that this will be standard on all Suits
-Drones can Look Out
And the biggest one in my book: the <Sept> Keyword makes me think we'll see "Chapter Tactics" for Tau. Keep an eye on that one.
I mean, I would also be headcanoning them into being regular Astartes because my fluff campaign setting is set earlier in the timeline, but still.
Yeah there's a lot of that 'headcanon' stuff going around the thread! Methinks maybe the lore of the Primaris marines isn't fitting quite as seamlessly into their setting as GW wishes it would...
I mean, no setting developments from 999.M41 would have really impacted my campaign 'headcanon' anyway, so....
I think a lot depends on how people feel about the new state of the Guilliman-lead Imperium and the Indomitus crusade. I think the concept has some appeal but since it isn't flushed out yet it's hard to get fully invested in the new stuff. And since most people suspect that these models started their lives as Truescale Marines they're pretty easy to become backwards compatible.
ClockworkZion wrote: [
If Marines got what people are calling "real bolters" with -1AP, then the new guys would have gotten buffed Bolters at -2. Claiming the 0AP is solely to buff new Marines is silly.
They're all coming though!
You're still missing the point. If regular bolters were rend 1 and these were rend 2, then heavy bolters would need to be rend 2, and missile launchers rend 3, and so on. And then everyone's armor would need to be better, because all the guns got better.
Lots of info in that article compared to the other faction focuses
Markerlight changes, Rerolling 1s instead of increasing BS. Stormsurges getting +1 to hit instead of anchored. Steath from the sniper drones is -1 to hit them instead of a + to their save
New things are coming.
Maybe more fluffy detail on the nee crusade next?
Sgt. Vanden - OOC Hey, that was your doing. I didn't choose to fly in the "Dongerprise'.
"May the odds be ever in your favour"
Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
I have no clue how Dakka's moderation work. I expect it involves throwing a lot of d100 and looking at many random tables.
FudgeDumper - It could be that you are just so uncomfortable with the idea of your chapters primarch having his way with a docile tyranid spore cyst, that you must deny they have any feelings at all.
Man feth the Tau Auxiliaries rumors. We need the next generation crisis suit and Riptide asap. Capable of taking two twin-linked weapons, 2+ save standard on all suits because of a standardized iridium armor, and a host of other upgrades.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/05/15 17:27:38
...Well, GW finally had a reasonable opportunity to update a Marine profile so they fit, well, all the flavor stuff, but instead of making it so Marines were just universally rebooted with appropriate stats, they're making a new subsection that, I'm assuming, CSMs, GKs, and other specialists don't have access to? And Terminators just got bumped to 2 wounds, but then these guys come around? Seems like the same issue as centurions creating a new midpoint that will step on a lot of toes, except these aren't ugly.
-Tau still have supporting fire, gross
-No double shooting Stormsurges, yay
-At least two units can Fall Back and Shoot, solid bet that this will be standard on all Suits
-Drones can Look Out
And the biggest one in my book: the <Sept> Keyword makes me think we'll see "Chapter Tactics" for Tau. Keep an eye on that one.
This gives me a great hope that rules for different regiments, klans and craftworlds will exist. Heck maybe even cabals and wych cult rules? One can truly hope in this times.
Gamgee wrote: Sniper Drones with a 5+ to hit? What the gak is this. They were our only BS 5 unit int he entire codex.
*sigh*
This is bs. I was finally looking forward to actually using them and then they just gak on them. No point in even taking them.
I bet the rest of the army is 5+ an 6+ only to hit with ranged weapons too.
No longer boosting to hit on ML. I think the Tau are probably fethed this edition. They will never survive combat to fall back from and shoot back at.
I knew this was going to happen.
Yup. Another concern (at least for me) is whether or not suits finally get BS4 as standard. It always felt off that an experienced tau warrior in a big robot suit with nightvision and advanced sensors and targeting shot the same as a guardsmen with one month of basic training and an ironsight on his lasgun. In previous editions, I always took the BS +1 upgrade equipment but they got rid of that in the last two back to back practically codex releases. I'm not holding my breath but there is still a chance they didn't screw it up.
ClockworkZion wrote: [
If Marines got what people are calling "real bolters" with -1AP, then the new guys would have gotten buffed Bolters at -2. Claiming the 0AP is solely to buff new Marines is silly.
They're all coming though!
You're still missing the point. If regular bolters were rend 1 and these were rend 2, then heavy bolters would need to be rend 2, and missile launchers rend 3, and so on. And then everyone's armor would need to be better, because all the guns got better.
Or they'd just point regular Marines a little more than before to compensate.
That said, I still refuse to accept this arguement as "proof" that the change was done to buff the Primaris marines. It's more likely done to balance the standard Marine against horde armies.
Desubot wrote: Sniper drones are their own things. wonder what happened to the drone controller spotter guy.
Becomes a Character that buffs units of Sniper Drones?
I'm wondering if my drone controllers will *poof* magically become fireblades given the statement in the article. It is odd to not see them in the unit entry and a bit concerning.
Why are we getting new Marines? Answer is simple, it's the 30th anniversary of 40K. Nuff said.
Think the Primaris Marine introduction is lazy? Aspect Warriors were introduced like Buffy's little sister...BAM, there they are, like they've always been.</retcon>
I'll probably buy the box if the loyalist marines are Primaris. I think it might be a good time to start a Deathguard army as there will probably be lots of cheap ones for sale.
Orthon wrote: Very little mention of what they are doing with Riptides in that Tau article. Riptide nerf, inc?
Hell naw son. We're goign to need those more than ever. If the Tau army is not made native BS4 then this armies viability is dead.
Oh. My. God.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Tell you what. Tau is 4+ to hit. How do I know? Drones are 5+ to hit and were BS2 previously. There is your confirmation to go sell your models.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/05/15 17:34:07
Not great, but at least a few things have been toned down. 1 Marker light is re-roll 1's, that is nice. The Stormsurge can no longer fire twice when it anchors, but rather gets a +1 to hit.
However, it seems that suits can flee from combat and get to shoot. Which frankly is sounding horrendous, especially as when assaulted again that means having to endure overwatch again, and also overwatch from nearby units as they didn't lose that broken ability.
Tyranids better get something good to be able to counter this other wise we are dead in the water against Tau again... I doubt our units will be able to wipe out a unit in one round of combat.
The objective of the game is to win. The point of the game is to have fun. The two should never be confused.
Orthon wrote: Very little mention of what they are doing with Riptides in that Tau article. Riptide nerf, inc?
Hell naw son. We're goign to need those more than ever. If the Tau army is not made native BS4 then this armies viability is dead.
methinks this is more than a wee bit melodramatic there, particularly as the Tau, much like Eldar and Necrons, have never not been treated very kindly (at least as a whole) with every single update they have ever had.
IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT.
New Heavy Gear Log! Also...Grey Knights! The correct pronunciation is Imperial Guard and Stormtroopers, "Astra Militarum" and "Tempestus Scions" are something you'll find at Hogwarts.
Well the only thing I've seen is Tau nerfs in this update. Even things that didn't need them like the sniper drones. Why? They are already so useless to be never used so they had to make them worse?
I'm so sick of this BS.
Yeap I'm definitely going to AoS for awhile. I think 40k is going to gak. Too much marines focus. I guess Eldar can come too as usual. Everything else will just die off and stay in the background I guess. 30k 2.0 incoming.
Desubot wrote: Sniper drones are their own things. wonder what happened to the drone controller spotter guy.
Becomes a Character that buffs units of Sniper Drones?
I'm wondering if my drone controllers will *poof* magically become fireblades given the statement in the article. It is odd to not see them in the unit entry and a bit concerning.
If I'm going to be honest, I really hope that this is a sign there's a plastic kit on the horizon.
I could see the Firesight Marksman becoming a unit box like the Raptors for Stormcast Eternals, where it's the unit proper(Raptors) and a second unit(Aetherwing birdies) that are rolled into the same box.
Methinks maybe the lore of the Primaris marines isn't fitting quite as seamlessly into their setting as 
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