Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

It will be interesting to see how they resolve fitting Codex:Guns into the fight for the center edition.

Would love to see a few new Kroot models as part of the release.

Perhaps a character and a Krootox replacement...

Seems like it'll be a 1-character-plus-codex-style release like Drukhari, Grey Knights, Thousand Sons, etc..

Next big release with multiple miniatures appears to be Eldar.

GW really should just kill off some of these special characters and make new ones, especially tau as they have around 40 yrs of life span regularly.

 Big Mac wrote:
GW really should just kill off some of these special characters and make new ones, especially tau as they have around 40 yrs of life span regularly.

The really important Tau are kept cryogenically frozen until they are needed. Some are also clones of the original to keep the person active.

Aun'Va is now a holomatter avatar after being assassinated. The Ethereals deemed his death too big a blow to T'au society so they made a copy that recites speeches and stuff.

 Gert wrote:
Aun'Va is now a holomatter avatar after being assassinated. The Ethereals deemed his death too big a blow to T'au society so they made a copy that recites speeches and stuff.

Wow, Paul McCartney is a 40k character?

Actually, that gives me Equilibrium vibes. A highly controlled society. Enforced by advanced gunplay abilities. A leader that no longer exists but gives holographic addresses. Random katanas.

Need to do a Christian Bale themed Tau duder now

Dystopian Tau are so much less interesting than Utopian Tau to me.

TBF they aren't quite there yet. It's still better to live under the T'au than any other empire and even with the 4th Sphere massacring its Auxiliaries, as many 4th Sphere soldiers as possible were sent home to be healed rather than executed. The empire isn't perfect but its still a relative utopia.

Tau as Imperium Mk2: A Little Bit Nicer is just not that interesting. I prefer them as a foil to the Imperium than a Mini-Me. YMMV, I know a lot of people don't agree with that.

 Da Boss wrote:
Tau as Imperium Mk2: A Little Bit Nicer is just not that interesting. I prefer them as a foil to the Imperium than a Mini-Me. YMMV, I know a lot of people don't agree with that.

I definitely agree. Having the ethereals be bad dudes admittedly creates a pretty fun dynamic, but it's annoying for the Tau to randomly commit atrocities simply because the writers are afraid people will get mad at them if there's a faction which might not be completely entirely horrible.


Besides Nurgle, of course, who did nothing wrong.

But they still are the "good" faction though. The only things that are "bad" is the lying about Aun'Va being dead and one group of T'au getting absolutely freaked out by a Warp entity and murdering the psychic allied species.
Could you explain why you feel the T'au are a mini-Imperium?

 Gert wrote:
But they still are the "good" faction though. The only things that are "bad" is the lying about Aun'Va being dead and one group of T'au getting absolutely freaked out by a Warp entity and murdering the psychic allied species.
Could you explain why you feel the T'au are a mini-Imperium?

Brainwashing subjects?

 Gert wrote:
But they still are the "good" faction though. The only things that are "bad" is the lying about Aun'Va being dead and one group of T'au getting absolutely freaked out by a Warp entity and murdering the psychic allied species.
Could you explain why you feel the T'au are a mini-Imperium?

Try reading any of the Tau centered novels. Rigid class enforcement(to the point of even restricting social interactions), Ethereals forcing higher ups to commit suicide through their pheromone control for underlings talking back, using secret Kais clones as Imperial style assassins, non-Tau members of the empire are on councils but have lesser votes, etc.

The Tau aren't as squeaky clean as people like to pretend.

Lying isn't "bad", it's just bad. Murdering people is also bad. Treating non-Tau members of the Empire as second class is bad. The Ethereals lying and manipulating people is bad.

I preferred them as genuinely altruistic and genuinely a multispecies coalition, rather than another empire that's just less evil than the main one. I don't think that needs much explanation, does it? We likely just disagree about the degree to which certain actions are objectionable, and it's unlikely we'll find common ground there.

It's not realistic (not that 40k is) to have a Utopia where there are different classes of power and leadership yet paradise for all. Power inevitably corrupts.

Ultimate good guy Tau is so boring. They are currently grey, and a lighter shade of it, but a whiter than whiter squeaky clean faction is so uninteresting and gives zero room for character development and complexity.

Lastly, the natural desperation of the setting would inevitably corrupt them and make them face up to the harsh realities. They are a small fish (pun intended) in a large pond of ruthless predators, and they will need to inevitably make tough, harsh and arguably evil decisions for 'the greater good', and the greater good is survival currently.

I genuinely respect other views on the background, I don't want to derail the thread.

I've got to say it is disappointing that they're not making an effort to replace Finecast units like Vespid, Kroot Hounds and Krootox.

They're really important for giving the flavour of tau as a coalition of species, which is one of the coolest things about them. Instead we're just getting one character. Given the level of production capacity and plastic technology GW has these days, I find it baffling that they wouldn't designate some design time to updating these sculpts.

I guess the design studio just does whatever it wants? And what it wants is a bajillion different space marine characters?

And apparently when it comes to the Tau, they want as many Gundam rip-offs as possible.

 Da Boss wrote:
I genuinely respect other views on the background, I don't want to derail the thread.

I've got to say it is disappointing that they're not making an effort to replace Finecast units like Vespid, Kroot Hounds and Krootox.

They're really important for giving the flavour of tau as a coalition of species, which is one of the coolest things about them. Instead we're just getting one character. Given the level of production capacity and plastic technology GW has these days, I find it baffling that they wouldn't designate some design time to updating these sculpts.

I guess the design studio just does whatever it wants? And what it wants is a bajillion different space marine characters?

I have to second this. Overhauled auxiliaries are long overdue and I fear that they have been replaced by more and bigger mechas, as far as the identity of the Tau goes.

 Dysartes wrote:
And apparently when it comes to the Tau, they want as many Gundam rip-offs as possible.

Is that really so surprising?
Even when the Kroot and Vespid kits were "NEW! NEW! NEW!" they didn't seem to be as big of a draw as the suits were.

At the very least, we know that SOMETHING is being done with the Kroot. The Blackstone Fortress character wasn't done in isolation for design-work.

Kroot have always had their fans. The IDEA of vespids is really exciting and I like their background, but their sculpts look like ass.

 Da Boss wrote:
I genuinely respect other views on the background, I don't want to derail the thread.

I've got to say it is disappointing that they're not making an effort to replace Finecast units like Vespid, Kroot Hounds and Krootox.

They're really important for giving the flavour of tau as a coalition of species, which is one of the coolest things about them. Instead we're just getting one character. Given the level of production capacity and plastic technology GW has these days, I find it baffling that they wouldn't designate some design time to updating these sculpts.

I guess the design studio just does whatever it wants? And what it wants is a bajillion different space marine characters?

Unfortunately, they got the same release slot as Dark Eldar last year, with a budget for a single character, despite all the holes in the line. Blame the bean counters for not allocating more project funds. (DG and GSC were in a similar boat).

I'm just glad that craftworlds look like they might get ork level of support (hoping for necron level). But what I really hope is they commit to finishing tyranids and getting the final few kits in plastic.

---
The big difference with space marines is new SM (especially characters) are just a matter of a few gubbins- most of the various bits already exist in the CAD library (bar faces and little things). Unfortunately for Tau, each coalition species basically has to be done from scratch, because its been so long since they've been touched.

 Da Boss wrote:
Kroot have always had their fans. The IDEA of vespids is really exciting and I like their background, but their sculpts look like ass.

Sure, Kroot have had their fans--but they haven't really been a draw for someone to collect Tau in my experience not like the various Battlesuits have been.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/12/14/master-the-ways-of-montka-and-kauyon-with-codex-tau-empires-new-tactical-philosophies/

Looks like it's Mont'Ka for everyone time.

Sterling191 wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/12/14/master-the-ways-of-montka-and-kauyon-with-codex-tau-empires-new-tactical-philosophies/

Looks like it's Mont'Ka for everyone time.

There are a few match ups where Kauyon would be nice to have in your back pocket, but yeah, Montka is looking like the go to. Will be super interesting to see how Farsight and Shadowsun interact with these now. Assuming they'll let you put units into Mont'ka/Kauyon outside the turn sequence.

Kauyon is DoA without some means to manipulate it sadly. Only activating on Turn 3 is faaaaar too slow.

I fully expect Farsight and Shadowsun to have some means of interacting with these. Whether it's a turn manipulation mechanic, or a more boring Chapter Master-esque pointing at a unit and putting them into Mont'Ka or Kauyon respectively I dont know.

Huh. I actually like those in concept (unlike a lot of the special rules layers for 9th edition armies).

There's no 'gotcha' nonsense, no weird dependencies (command protocols) and they're fairly straightforward in implementation.

Kauyon is definitely a little worse, though. The two parts aren't compatible, aren't guaranteed and are based on things surviving that long. It sounds really cool to get an extra hit on a 4+, but I'd rather have extra mobility in the early game (even advancing) while 'remaining stationary,' let alone with bonus AP and reroll 1s.

Didn't they already have Fallback as a normal move? So Mont'ka allows you to fallback and shoot without penalty in the first 3 turns, but kauyon only allows you to do it in turns 3-5 and there is a -1 to hit associated with it?
That does not bode well.

 bullyboy wrote:
Didn't they already have Fallback as a normal move? So Mont'ka allows you to fallback and shoot without penalty in the first 3 turns, but kauyon only allows you to do it in turns 3-5 and there is a -1 to hit associated with it?
That does not bode well.

Falling Back is distinctly not a Normal Move in 9th. Mont'Ka as written does not allow that functionality.