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 Dysartes wrote:

GoatboyBeta wrote:
The PA fluff so far has been fairly disappointing so I wont get my hopes up. But Tau vs GSC would a great matchup to emphasize the horror influences of the cult background.

If we take the Ciaphas Cain BL novels as canon, then it wouldn't be a surprise to find GSC on Tau worlds.

Spoiler:

I give you the ending of For the Emperor as a source

I would love if that incident was referred to or directly mentioned.

Or the kroot freaking the hell out due to translation error/ semi-religious beliefs about the purity of DNA.

She's here. And no longer sept locked to T'au sept! https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/01/04/reveals-from-the-new-year-open-day-2020gw-homepage-post-1/

I'm a bit surprised by the sloppy paint job on the crest on her chest though... Eavy Metal pls thin yo paints

Hopefully Cawl gets a similar treatment.

"We realised that having her leading only a specific Sept meant that people weren't buying the miniature. So... now she can lead anyone!"

Looking forward to when Guilliman can lead any Marine force/Abaddon can lead any Chaos force.

Still, glad she kept her helmet.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
"We realised that having her leading only a specific Sept meant that people weren't buying the miniature. So... now she can lead anyone!"

Looking forward to when Guilliman can lead any Marine force/Abaddon can lead any Chaos force.

Still, glad she kept her helmet.

Never made sense for her to be sept locked to begin with. She is the foremost Shas'O in the empire, and have led multiple Kau'Vaals (coalitions)

LoftyS wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
"We realised that having her leading only a specific Sept meant that people weren't buying the miniature. So... now she can lead anyone!"

Looking forward to when Guilliman can lead any Marine force/Abaddon can lead any Chaos force.

Still, glad she kept her helmet.

Never made sense for her to be sept locked to begin with. She is the foremost Shas'O in the empire, and have led multiple Kau'Vaals (coalitions)

That does apply to most characters - esepcially as noted Guiliman and Adaddon?

Shame she lost the bubble helmet.

Also if she’s finished testing XV22 shouldn’t it be going into full production as XV25-02 for regular stealth units?

Voss wrote:
Or the kroot freaking the hell out due to translation error/ semi-religious beliefs about the purity of DNA.

Kroot hybrids would be fun too....

Not to be that guy, but barring significant changes there are very few reasons not to be mainly Tau Sept in a Tau army anyway.
Given it's probably the best tactic, almost all the special characters and an essential stratagem and okay relic in a sea of rubbish. Warlord trait not great but none are meta defining.

Arguably "Ultramarines" are now a thing in themselves separate from other Marine factions so Guilliman being locked makes a bit of sense. Locking things out by chapter on smaller Xenos factions is less sensible.

... I like this model, but... ARGH!

okay, annoyances out of the way first. so it says in the article she has weapon choices. forgive me if im wrong, but this isn't normal to named characters anymore is it? does this mean with weapon options she'll have to tally her points without the options built in? if so, if you were taking her for her commanding abilities instead of equipment, this is probably a jump in points in exchange for weaponry. I wonder how useful the new Shadowsun will be.

now for what im sure will sound like a massive nothing, but im really getting tired of this. why is GW getting more and more into putting masonry for models to stand on? I know it's not necessarily the case, but i dislike it as it comes off to me as unnecessary, the model seeming unstable, and i prefer my models not designed in such a fashion, and either flying if they must or flat on the base. i get it makes them more dynamic to others eyes sometimes, but it directly takes away for me, and they just keep hitting this button more often to me.

upsides. definitely a solid model aside from my gripes with the masonry. my favorite of the reveals thusfar in 40k. second is im very much glad this also opens up where you can take the model. no longer being Tau sept locked is a big deal if it means they will unhook restrictions like this in the future, though i question the cost. i wish they had done this earlier, although i wonder exactly how this will impact her further insider her own army based on the wording of the rule change...

Tyel wrote:
Not to be that guy, but barring significant changes there are very few reasons not to be mainly Tau Sept in a Tau army anyway.

Ghostkeel detachments want to be Bork'An, and Shadowsun is the only thematic leader currently. (Unless you count the Sa'Cea Crisis commander with the sept specific wargear, but meh)

changemod wrote:
Shame she lost the bubble helmet.

Also if she’s finished testing XV22 shouldn’t it be going into full production as XV25-02 for regular stealth units?

You mean going into full production as a generic XV22 Commander which has been wanted for all these years. People want to make pure stealth armies (Kroot kinda count in the troops slot, but Stealth Suits should be able to become troops somehow)

Bdrone wrote:
why is GW getting more and more into putting masonry for models to stand on? I know it's not necessarily the case, but i dislike it as it comes off to me as unnecessary

I definitely agree with you, but this one isn't as terrible as Drazhar's, and is easier to remove too, without needing to be replaced with something else to justify the pose of the model. Although I plan to have a dead Space Marine under the right raised leg.

LoftyS wrote:

Bdrone wrote:
why is GW getting more and more into putting masonry for models to stand on? I know it's not necessarily the case, but i dislike it as it comes off to me as unnecessary

I definitely agree with you, but this one isn't as terrible as Drazhar's, and is easier to remove too, without needing to be replaced with something else to justify the pose of the model. Although I plan to have a dead Space Marine under the right raised leg.

I best go figure out how to do that then. seems like there's always something with a new release that throws it off for me. if she was on a flying base then this model would be fine, perfect even but who keeps making this call to add these. "Resting" models to me just are better (i just like both feet on the ground), and this is gonna have to be a side thing to do to not find myself "modeling for advantage".

..i just looked at Drazhar's model. friggin why did they do that? the same kinda masonry most of the harlequin models have, but they decided to... criss-cross the bits?! im really starting to wonder about this stuff.

A bit too bulky (and kinda ugly) with the 2 extra arms, completely unnecessary.

 Dysartes wrote:

GoatboyBeta wrote:
The PA fluff so far has been fairly disappointing so I wont get my hopes up. But Tau vs GSC would a great matchup to emphasize the horror influences of the cult background.

If we take the Ciaphas Cain BL novels as canon, then it wouldn't be a surprise to find GSC on Tau worlds.

Spoiler:

I give you the ending of For the Emperor as a source

That was a terribly written ending that made no sense and couldn't possibly have happened. Tau themselves cannot fall to GSC infestation due to the way the empire is designed and Tau children are raised. Perhaps in the human population but not in the Tau population.

LoftyS wrote:


She's here. And no longer sept locked to T'au sept! https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/01/04/reveals-from-the-new-year-open-day-2020gw-homepage-post-1/

I'm a bit surprised by the sloppy paint job on the crest on her chest though... Eavy Metal pls thin yo paints

I wonder whether she'll be able to lead Farsight Enclaves... That would both be hilarious and a good excuse for me to dust off my blue space fish again.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
"We realised that having her leading only a specific Sept meant that people weren't buying the miniature. So... now she can lead anyone!"

Looking forward to when Guilliman can lead any Marine force/Abaddon can lead any Chaos force.

Still, glad she kept her helmet.

They should do this with basically all special characters. Faction locked characters are annoying and most of the time the unit can represent a similar character belonging to another faction. The Primarchs are an exception, as they're actually truly unique. (Well, there are very limited and known number of them.)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Voss wrote:

That wasn't an update. That was a callback to the original space hulk genestealers all the way back at the beginning. They all head that wrinkled fleshy area in middle of the back. They did the two overkill models as a tribute.

Sure, it was a callback, but also an update. Sometimes older visual cues return. And it looked much better, the backs of the current stealers are flat and horrible looking.

Pottsey wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

GoatboyBeta wrote:
The PA fluff so far has been fairly disappointing so I wont get my hopes up. But Tau vs GSC would a great matchup to emphasize the horror influences of the cult background.

If we take the Ciaphas Cain BL novels as canon, then it wouldn't be a surprise to find GSC on Tau worlds.

Spoiler:

I give you the ending of For the Emperor as a source

That was a terribly written ending that made no sense and couldn't possibly have happened. Tau themselves cannot fall to GSC infestation due to the way the empire is designed and Tau children are raised. Perhaps in the human population but not in the Tau population.

It also in the GSC Codex that an infestation took hold on a Tau planet and it is heavily implied that at least one Etheral is infected.

You overestimate the Tau and underestimate the GSC.

What exaclty made no sense about that ending anyway - it was a pragmatic descision by the Inquisitor on planet - let my enemies fight each other, we don't know if it worked but it made perfect sense for her to try it.

Its less risky than leting Orks and Tryanids fight as they both grow stronger by the mere act of fighting each other.

Oh wow that Tau model lokks awful, It looks like she's got the mumps or something Hopefully the Tau players like the look of it and it's cool to see some more Xenos releases.
Maybe they will have heard the critisims about the lack of story in the last PA book and put a bit more in this one?

 Kroem wrote:
Oh wow that Tau model lokks awful, It looks like she's got the mumps or something Hopefully the Tau players like the look of it and it's cool to see some more Xenos releases.
Maybe they will have heard the critisims about the lack of story in the last PA book and put a bit more in this one?

Not likely, production lead times of 6+ months are a thing.

 Mr Morden wrote:

Pottsey wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

GoatboyBeta wrote:
The PA fluff so far has been fairly disappointing so I wont get my hopes up. But Tau vs GSC would a great matchup to emphasize the horror influences of the cult background.

If we take the Ciaphas Cain BL novels as canon, then it wouldn't be a surprise to find GSC on Tau worlds.

Spoiler:

I give you the ending of For the Emperor as a source

That was a terribly written ending that made no sense and couldn't possibly have happened. Tau themselves cannot fall to GSC infestation due to the way the empire is designed and Tau children are raised. Perhaps in the human population but not in the Tau population.

It also in the GSC Codex that an infestation took hold on a Tau planet and it is heavily implied that at least one Etheral is infected.

You overestimate the Tau and underestimate the GSC.

What exaclty made no sense about that ending anyway - it was a pragmatic descision by the Inquisitor on planet - let my enemies fight each other, we don't know if it worked but it made perfect sense for her to try it.

Its less risky than leting Orks and Tryanids fight as they both grow stronger by the mere act of fighting each other.

The GSC Codex is one story I missed so I need to read it. I might also have been thinking of Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker which has the same GSC cult at the end on a Tau world and it was a terrible ending that shouldn't have happened like that.

My understanding of GSC is that Genestealer infections can only thrive in large, and relatively open societies. The Tau societies are the very opposite being completely closed and completely pre planed. The entire cast system the Tau use is designed to control genetic differences. Given the structure I don’t understand how a Cult could grown over multiple generations. The cult would have no control over its offspring, offspring which should be caught and destroyed at any number of stages.

The Tau practice selective breeding without family units and the family units are key for Genestealer infections to take hold. Genetic matches are made for what is best for the Greater Good with Genetic screening and matching. Everyone has genetic screening which should in its self stop any Genestealer infections getting past the first stage.

Then the embryos are taken away from the twoTau that got matched and are brought up in test tubes with more genetic screening. Then the children are moved into a group unit caches to be raised as a group without any contact from the parents again with extensive monitoring. There is also no interbreeding between the castes as all matches are pre-selected. The Tau system of breeding doesn't seem compatible to me with how are the Genesteale cults breed over multiple generations. How are they meant to hide the extra children or deformities and breed purestrains when they have no contact with the children and the children are genetic screened? Tau societies are to regimented and planed out to allow random Tau to have random unknown children. Now the humans in the Tau empire that's a different story.

The other problem is the Tau know all about the GSC. One would think they would add security measures and tests into there standard genetic screening tests. Its goes against there nature to be stupid enough to ignore that threat time and time again when its so easy to solve given there empire structure.

Psychic awakening has been a big yawn so far imo. Pretty much all new releases were characters. Was expecting more than this.

As for shadowsun herself, shes pretty cool

Shouldn't be surprising at this point. That's exactly what we were told would be coming with these two books and the next one (Saga of the beast)

A GSC cult is probably harder to establish given the nature of Tau society, but if the get luck initially will be far easier to get a deep hold

Genetic screening is certainly a risk but once a child is screened and the data recored there isn't any real reason to repeat the test (unless they've got suspicions something might be wrong like heavy radiation exposure or alien infestation)

Genestealer genetic material may not be recognised by normal screening (if its not based on the same chemisty), so rountine tests might show only a 'normal' tau profile

if the folk running the creche are infected little billy 3 arms will be fine, and if the cult are in the breeding center it could well be all kids will be infected (as well as any tau who attend the centre)

The Genestealer's Kiss also rewires the host's brain to have an overwhelming drive to protect the hybrid baby. A Tau host likely does everything it can to hide the pregnancy, then hides the child until it's ready to infect a new host and create a new generation that's easier to hide among the population. It's not like an Imperial population is going to allow a three-armed hybrid baby to live. "Suffer not the mutant to live" is literally in the Imperial Creed. Infiltrating societies that are difficult to infiltrate is literally what the Genestealers do.

Pandabeer wrote:
I wonder whether she'll be able to lead Farsight Enclaves... That would both be hilarious and a good excuse for me to dust off my blue space fish again.

That would be hilarious, though it says at the bottom of the page

***She's not a fan of Farsight though

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
"We realised that having her leading only a specific Sept meant that people weren't buying the miniature. So... now she can lead anyone!"

Looking forward to when Guilliman can lead any Marine force/Abaddon can lead any Chaos force.

Still, glad she kept her helmet.

Guilliman, Lord commander of the Imperium

He also just has rules that affect anything with the Imperium keyword

LoftyS wrote:

changemod wrote:
Shame she lost the bubble helmet.

Also if she’s finished testing XV22 shouldn’t it be going into full production as XV25-02 for regular stealth units?

You mean going into full production as a generic XV22 Commander which has been wanted for all these years. People want to make pure stealth armies (Kroot kinda count in the troops slot, but Stealth Suits should be able to become troops somehow).

No, I mean following the fluff that she’s prototype testing a next gen stealth suit, or at least was before the several century time skip

Also a dedicated commander variant in full production wouldn’t be XV22 either, it would be either XV24, or more likely XV25 with a dash and a subtype number.

An XV22 suit is specifically a size class 2 suit in the field testing phase, though admittedly even GW have been making mistakes with this recently such as the repeated typo classing the XV8-05 commander suit as XV85 (it has no stealth capabilities, it is in no way an 85).

Bdrone wrote:
... I like this model, but... ARGH!

okay, annoyances out of the way first. so it says in the article she has weapon choices. forgive me if im wrong, but this isn't normal to named characters anymore is it? does this mean with weapon options she'll have to tally her points without the options built in? if so, if you were taking her for her commanding abilities instead of equipment, this is probably a jump in points in exchange for weaponry. I wonder how useful the new Shadowsun will be.

Just means base cost will drop assuming GW doesn't decide the alternative weapons are worth same. Special characters didn't get weapons for free before anyway.

tneva82 wrote:

Bdrone wrote:
... I like this model, but... ARGH!

okay, annoyances out of the way first. so it says in the article she has weapon choices. forgive me if im wrong, but this isn't normal to named characters anymore is it? does this mean with weapon options she'll have to tally her points without the options built in? if so, if you were taking her for her commanding abilities instead of equipment, this is probably a jump in points in exchange for weaponry. I wonder how useful the new Shadowsun will be.

Just means base cost will drop assuming GW doesn't decide the alternative weapons are worth same. Special characters didn't get weapons for free before anyway.

I don't think it's actually "weapon choices". It reads like it's a poorly worded way of saying there's fire modes for the Fusion Blasters.

Her newly up-gunned battlesuit now comes equipped as standard with an arsenal of weapons, from a flechette launcher to light missile pod, and the choice of tank-busting high-energy fusion blasters or Space Marine-melting dispersed fusion blasters.