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Would anyone be willing to give us some details of the events that have happened in the book?

The Tau are engaged in a brutal struggle against the Death Guard, and it seems inevitable that the Death Guard will break through their defenses and have full access to the Tau core worlds. At the last minute, GW decides not to include Death Guard in the book, so they just sort of wander off, leaving the Tau expecting an invasion that never comes.

I’m not kidding, this happens.

That is a disingenuous description of what happens.

Here's a reddit thread on the lore developments in PA 5. Warning, it's very spoiler heavy.

That said, it's a pretty cheap supplement (relatively speaking) and well worth the purchase.

That sounds like it's actually worth the paper it's on which is an improvement from the start of PA.

Most of it's good soundingbut I doubt that GW will make anything decent of the Warp Spider bit and I find the part about Magnus pinching geneseed odd.

Crackedgear wrote:
The Tau are engaged in a brutal struggle against the Death Guard, and it seems inevitable that the Death Guard will break through their defenses and have full access to the Tau core worlds. At the last minute, GW decides not to include Death Guard in the book, so they just sort of wander off, leaving the Tau expecting an invasion that never comes.

I’m not kidding, this happens.

Yeah, no. There was no 'at the last minute' change to the book taking the DG out.
Its setting plot threads for later use, something they need to do more of, rather than just recycling 20 year old snippets over and over again.

Voss wrote:

Crackedgear wrote:
The Tau are engaged in a brutal struggle against the Death Guard, and it seems inevitable that the Death Guard will break through their defenses and have full access to the Tau core worlds. At the last minute, GW decides not to include Death Guard in the book, so they just sort of wander off, leaving the Tau expecting an invasion that never comes.

I’m not kidding, this happens.

Yeah, no. There was no 'at the last minute' change to the book taking the DG out.
Its setting plot threads for later use, something they need to do more of, rather than just recycling 20 year old snippets over and over again.

Y’all are amazing at taking things literally. That was just me coming up with a reason for the Death Guard suddenly vanishing.

pm713 wrote:
That sounds like it's actually worth the paper it's on which is an improvement from the start of PA.

Most of it's good soundingbut I doubt that GW will make anything decent of the Warp Spider bit and I find the part about Magnus pinching geneseed odd.

It's because the "usual" suspects aren't in the story. Compare the short stories on the website with the ones now? The quality difference is clear, the recent one on the warhammer community website is about a space marine fanboying over the space wolves as the orks are decimating them. At the moment I am working through the book, just got it today.

Seeing as I play all the factions involved in the book at least somewhat, I picked this one up. The fluff was actually pretty solid IMO. I wish that 40k's fluff in general touched more on the absolute insanity that the warp wreaks on a battlefield. 40k is a universe where a battle wizard's head can explode and open a portal to hell where half a dozen daemons come bursting out and butcher the psyker's whole unit. that's crazy, amazing, and something we have absolutely 0% chance of ever seeing occur in a story about space marines.

Loved that one faction wasn't presented as just "the best one", all three had their crowning moments of awesome in the three different battles presented and none were generally invincible. I also liked the presentation of the Tau as a faction becoming more progressively grimdark - one of the battles literally has any Tau that weren't planning on going in absolutely guns blazing killing every human on sight get butchered by GSC. That was the macro-version of the short story that got previewed with the Gue'vesa - those crazy Tau talking about purging and cleansing were the guys that ended up making it.

the_scotsman wrote:
Seeing as I play all the factions involved in the book at least somewhat, I picked this one up. The fluff was actually pretty solid IMO. I wish that 40k's fluff in general touched more on the absolute insanity that the warp wreaks on a battlefield. 40k is a universe where a battle wizard's head can explode and open a portal to hell where half a dozen daemons come bursting out and butcher the psyker's whole unit. that's crazy, amazing, and something we have absolutely 0% chance of ever seeing occur in a story about space marines.

Loved that one faction wasn't presented as just "the best one", all three had their crowning moments of awesome in the three different battles presented and none were generally invincible. I also liked the presentation of the Tau as a faction becoming more progressively grimdark - one of the battles literally has any Tau that weren't planning on going in absolutely guns blazing killing every human on sight get butchered by GSC. That was the macro-version of the short story that got previewed with the Gue'vesa - those crazy Tau talking about purging and cleansing were the guys that ended up making it.

Agreed, just read the book and I had to say all the factions had a decent showing. I wonder who were the writers for this PA?

Crackedgear wrote:

Voss wrote:

Crackedgear wrote:
The Tau are engaged in a brutal struggle against the Death Guard, and it seems inevitable that the Death Guard will break through their defenses and have full access to the Tau core worlds. At the last minute, GW decides not to include Death Guard in the book, so they just sort of wander off, leaving the Tau expecting an invasion that never comes.

I’m not kidding, this happens.

Yeah, no. There was no 'at the last minute' change to the book taking the DG out.
Its setting plot threads for later use, something they need to do more of, rather than just recycling 20 year old snippets over and over again.

Y’all are amazing at taking things literally. That was just me coming up with a reason for the Death Guard suddenly vanishing.

And it is wrong, so that's that.

Yes. You got me. My joke was not true.

shinros wrote:

pm713 wrote:
That sounds like it's actually worth the paper it's on which is an improvement from the start of PA.

Most of it's good soundingbut I doubt that GW will make anything decent of the Warp Spider bit and I find the part about Magnus pinching geneseed odd.

It's because the "usual" suspects aren't in the story. Compare the short stories on the website with the ones now? The quality difference is clear, the recent one on the warhammer community website is about a space marine fanboying over the space wolves as the orks are decimating them. At the moment I am working through the book, just got it today.

It's hardly fanboying. People really need to chill with Space Wolves.

pm713 wrote:

shinros wrote:

pm713 wrote:
That sounds like it's actually worth the paper it's on which is an improvement from the start of PA.

Most of it's good soundingbut I doubt that GW will make anything decent of the Warp Spider bit and I find the part about Magnus pinching geneseed odd.

It's because the "usual" suspects aren't in the story. Compare the short stories on the website with the ones now? The quality difference is clear, the recent one on the warhammer community website is about a space marine fanboying over the space wolves as the orks are decimating them. At the moment I am working through the book, just got it today.

It's hardly fanboying. People really need to chill with Space Wolves.

Come on, A space marine of a different chapter constantly wishes he was like the Space wolves while they are getting wrecked. Its so on the nose my eyes rolled back. The quality of the stories in comparison to greater good is sub-par. Narrative wise I think greater good is the best PA so far. Also what I mean by "suspects" is refering to space marines in general. Loyalist ones normally fall into the poor narrative trap.

Anyway this is just my opinion.

shinros wrote:

pm713 wrote:

shinros wrote:

pm713 wrote:
That sounds like it's actually worth the paper it's on which is an improvement from the start of PA.

Most of it's good soundingbut I doubt that GW will make anything decent of the Warp Spider bit and I find the part about Magnus pinching geneseed odd.

It's because the "usual" suspects aren't in the story. Compare the short stories on the website with the ones now? The quality difference is clear, the recent one on the warhammer community website is about a space marine fanboying over the space wolves as the orks are decimating them. At the moment I am working through the book, just got it today.

It's hardly fanboying. People really need to chill with Space Wolves.

Come on, A space marine of a different chapter constantly wishes he was like the Space wolves while they are getting wrecked. Its so on the nose my eyes rolled back. The quality of the stories in comparison to greater good is sub-par. Narrative wise I think greater good is the best PA so far. Also what I mean by "suspects" is refering to space marines in general. Loyalist ones normally fall into the poor narrative trap.

Anyway this is just my opinion.

The Wolves are mentioned 4 times none of which are the Marine wishing he was like them.

I'm not sure I'd pin bad writing on loyalist marines. Phoenix Rising was all Eldar and had some things so stupid I had to check I read it properly. I don't know who wrote that but I'd be thinking of a career change.

Haven't gotten the book yet, will probably get it for the Guard bit (though I really wish this whole "reroll everything to kill everything" special rules escalation wasn't happening).

Is the part about Tau gunning down their own Gue'Vesa auxiliaries mainstream Tau policy now, or is it just those 4th Expansion preppers acting crazy again?

 Esmer wrote:
Haven't gotten the book yet, will probably get it for the Guard bit (though I really wish this whole "reroll everything to kill everything" special rules escalation wasn't happening).

Is the part about Tau gunning down their own Gue'Vesa auxiliaries mainstream Tau policy now, or is it just those 4th Expansion preppers acting crazy again?

According to the fluff, the more aggressive of the fifth sphere Tau that went in on the drop did the same thing. The Tau that got slaughtered were those who went in with a policy of "don't shoot the gue'vesa" because they expected Gue'vesa and got GSC.

Crackedgear wrote:
Yes. You got me. My joke was not true.

Or funny.

the_scotsman wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
Haven't gotten the book yet, will probably get it for the Guard bit (though I really wish this whole "reroll everything to kill everything" special rules escalation wasn't happening).

Is the part about Tau gunning down their own Gue'Vesa auxiliaries mainstream Tau policy now, or is it just those 4th Expansion preppers acting crazy again?

According to the fluff, the more aggressive of the fifth sphere Tau that went in on the drop did the same thing. The Tau that got slaughtered were those who went in with a policy of "don't shoot the gue'vesa" because they expected Gue'vesa and got GSC.

Those were 4th sphere who took the landing pad. The 5th aren't like that. They did fail taking it though. The 4th sphere members who go overboard are normally punished by shadowsun or the ethereals. Sometimes they hand themselves over like that obe commander.

The acts of the 4th sphere are part of the T'au but its not the main thing about them as some people are fearing.

Is there anything about Tau being infected by GSC?

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there anything about Tau being infected by GSC?

No. There’s an interesting bit about the genestealers using Tau recruitment propaganda though.

shinros wrote:

the_scotsman wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
Haven't gotten the book yet, will probably get it for the Guard bit (though I really wish this whole "reroll everything to kill everything" special rules escalation wasn't happening).

Is the part about Tau gunning down their own Gue'Vesa auxiliaries mainstream Tau policy now, or is it just those 4th Expansion preppers acting crazy again?

According to the fluff, the more aggressive of the fifth sphere Tau that went in on the drop did the same thing. The Tau that got slaughtered were those who went in with a policy of "don't shoot the gue'vesa" because they expected Gue'vesa and got GSC.

Those were 4th sphere who took the landing pad. The 5th aren't like that. They did fail taking it though. The 4th sphere members who go overboard are normally punished by shadowsun or the ethereals. Sometimes they hand themselves over like that obe commander.

The acts of the 4th sphere are part of the T'au but its not the main thing about them as some people are fearing.

No, actually, he's right. I have not read it but according to reviews it was a combination of 4th sphere members and the more paranoid, trigger happy elements of the 5th.

Anyways, based on what Ive read I can also agree that this may be the best one yet in terms of fluff. Im positive that Phil Kelly had nothing to do with the book because he gets off on that Tau and you can usually tell when youre reading something by him, so Im thankful for that.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there anything about Tau being infected by GSC?

It is mentioned in the GSC Codex (and I brought it up again in Voice of Experience) that the kroot are able to detect genestealer cultists. That coupled with the fact that high-ranking t'au are subject to routine genetic testing that would reveal a genestealer infection, makes it difficult for the GSC to get a foothold in t'au populations. It DOES happen on occasion, but they tend not to be very large or very widespread. Humans really are the 'perfect storm' of what the Genestealers are looking for.

 Jimsolo wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there anything about Tau being infected by GSC?

It is mentioned in the GSC Codex (and I brought it up again in Voice of Experience) that the kroot are able to detect genestealer cultists. That coupled with the fact that high-ranking t'au are subject to routine genetic testing that would reveal a genestealer infection, makes it difficult for the GSC to get a foothold in t'au populations. It DOES happen on occasion, but they tend not to be very large or very widespread. Humans really are the 'perfect storm' of what the Genestealers are looking for.

Humans seem to be the only storm considering nobody else struggles with them.

pm713 wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there anything about Tau being infected by GSC?

It is mentioned in the GSC Codex (and I brought it up again in Voice of Experience) that the kroot are able to detect genestealer cultists. That coupled with the fact that high-ranking t'au are subject to routine genetic testing that would reveal a genestealer infection, makes it difficult for the GSC to get a foothold in t'au populations. It DOES happen on occasion, but they tend not to be very large or very widespread. Humans really are the 'perfect storm' of what the Genestealers are looking for.

Humans seem to be the only storm considering nobody else struggles with them.

The Deathwatch novel Shadowbreaker revolves around an inquisitor working with Tau doung expiriments on their own kind to try and find a cure for those Tau infected by the Genestealer's kiss

Ghost Warrior shows an entire Craftworld that's fallen to the Genestealers, as well.

Other races can experience GSC infestations, they just aren't nearly as common.

123ply wrote:

No, actually, he's right. I have not read it but according to reviews it was a combination of 4th sphere members and the more paranoid, trigger happy elements of the 5th.

He's not. The Fourth Sphere are the only ones who were gunning down their own Gue'vesa and auxiliary units.

When they dropped on the planet and were opened fire upon by the Guard planetside that were either taken over/commanded by Genestealer Cultists or were "loyalists" to the overall planet? That's where it was both Fourth Sphere units(which went in preparing for combat) and the Fifth Sphere members that came from Vior'la or the other more warlike Septs.

It's important to note that distinction. The human forces planetside? They were not Gue'vesa units.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Ghost Warrior shows an entire Craftworld that's fallen to the Genestealers, as well.

Other races can experience GSC infestations, they just aren't nearly as common.

We don't talk about Ghost Warrior, it's awful.

Orks kill unOrky things so they don't have the issue.
Craftworlders are essentially constantly monitored, Exodites don't leave home and Dark Eldar have a combination of killing everyone, hunting anything psychic and generally having a lack of natural children so Eldar are safe.
Tau are raised in monitored groups (I think) so they aren't likely to be infected outside intentional experiments.
Necrons flat out don't breed.

It's just humans and the unmentioned minor races that get bothered by Genestealers.

If I made add extra colour to pm713’s post, which is pretty much accurate.

Orks don’t reproduce in the required way, and react poorly to non-Orky things. The also don’t have the sort of societal structure necessary for cults as we know them.

Eldar? Their gestational cycle is less than ideal. And, as a consciously psychic race, arguably more likely to sense something isn’t right.

Tau? Thanks to the caste system, and no interbreeding, a Cult is essentially stymied. Arguably the best they can hope for is to infect a Water Caste, who can then spread the taint elsewhere, to other planets and races better suited.

Essentially, Human’s are their ideal host organism. Numerous enough, fast breeding, with the right societal structure for infiltration.

 Kanluwen wrote:

123ply wrote:

No, actually, he's right. I have not read it but according to reviews it was a combination of 4th sphere members and the more paranoid, trigger happy elements of the 5th.

He's not. The Fourth Sphere are the only ones who were gunning down their own Gue'vesa and auxiliary units.

When they dropped on the planet and were opened fire upon by the Guard planetside that were either taken over/commanded by Genestealer Cultists or were "loyalists" to the overall planet? That's where it was both Fourth Sphere units(which went in preparing for combat) and the Fifth Sphere members that came from Vior'la or the other more warlike Septs.

It's important to note that distinction. The human forces planetside? They were not Gue'vesa units.

Ah my mistake then, I thought he was referring to the part where they landed down thinking they were bring greeted by friendly humans who turned out to be GSC members, because as you said, that is the part where both the original 4th sphere and the more reserved parts of 5th that stayed back had a hand in fighting off the ambush.

As to the killing of the Gue'vesa, I dont doubt that the 5th sphere had nothing to do with it, but does it explain why they did it? If it was after the GSC ambush I could understand but Im under the impression it happened before. If it did happen before, does it talk about what other Tau thought of it or if the murderers were punished?

From what it sounds like, the fighting between the Gue'vesa and the human defenders started triggering psychic phenomena and the Gue'vesa were getting dangerously unbalanced from it.