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Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




When GW created the Tau Empire they gave themselves oppurtunity to create unique xenos without having to give them thier faction. They created the Kroot and the Vespid then..... nothing. No Nicassar battle psychers, no Tarellian firewarriors, No Demiurg, nothing. They had the perfect oppurtunity and wasted it. Instead of cool new interesting xenos we get Primaris marines, the custodes getting there own freaking faction (Who the hell even asked for that) and the sisters of silence also getting there own army (once again WHO ASKED FOR THAT?!) If by some slim chance anyone from GW is reading this please stop jacking off the imperium and give the Xenos the spotlight like for at least 5 minutes? Is that too much to ask for?
   
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Yes it is space marines sell like hot cakes. Kroot and vespids not so much.

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Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




 mew28 wrote:
Yes it is space marines sell like hot cakes. Kroot and vespids not so much.

Then why not just get rid of all the xenos species and just make it imperium vs choas because whats the point if even having tau, tyranids, and necrons if your not even gonna pay even the slightest bit of attention to them?
   
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Confessor Of Sins





Tacoma, WA, USA

They've spent plenty of attention on Tau, Tyranids and Neurons over the years. Just not the attention you apparently want.
   
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Norn Queen






Mainly because other than Kroot or Vespid the other enslaved client races either are useless in a 40k style battlefield or are so minute a presence it's not worth the effort making models for them.
   
Made in fr
Trazyn's Museum Curator





on the forum. Obviously

Nicassar are intentionally kept off of the battlefield because the Tau don't want the IoM to find out about them and because they are not suited for the field. Yes, Nicassar have powerful telekinetic abilities, but they are also really slow and are easy targets. They pretty much spend most of the time sleeping.

Seeing more auxiliary options would be nice, but Nicassar aren't one of them.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/12/16 01:35:51


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Made in gb
Dakka Veteran





Whilst I do agree that the Kroot and especially Vespids are very underdeveloped as is the lack of the expansion of the Tau Auxillary... They've been shown a lot of love by GW and FW over the years in general. The Riptide, Stormsurge, Ghostkeel, new Broadsides, Razorshark etc. They've seen a lot of additions in a relatively short period. Tyranids as well get nice big new toys fairly reguarly. Both of them get far more love than either Orks or Necrons - the only two truly neglected factions in modern 40k.
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

As a Guard player, I would love to see Gue'vesa in the Tau army. GW could do similar thing to what they did with GSC. I would relish the opportunity to kill some of those vile traitorous scum. I guess the risk you run is just giving another army access to Loyal 32 though.

I wish Kroot were better too. A really cool faction that is hardly seen.

The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






 mew28 wrote:
Yes it is space marines sell like hot cakes. Kroot and vespids not so much.


Not fully sold on the fact that Space Marines are the greatest concept that GW ever came up with but that its the most heavily marketed faction in GW's lineup. Granted space marines make for an easy power fantasy and the models are easy to build/paint so its beginner friendly but I would argue that the fluff for Orks, Guard, Sisters, Dark Eldar, Nids, and Tau are more interesting than Space Marines. Outside of Guard when it comes to books, none of these factions get a quarter of the attention that Space Marines get when it comes to art, stories, models, or rules.

As for the Tau auxiliaries, Kroot saw some use way back in the day but their rules never seemed to mesh with the synergy heavy playstyle of the Tau while Vespids suffered the dreaded combo of having bad rules and being failcast so very few people bothered to buy any. The fluff mentions other races as well (including humans) but none of them get more than a blurb in the codex text and have zero presence on the table top. The whole auxiliary side of their empire is a potential gold mine for adding interesting models with equally interesting gameplay possibilities for the faction but instead GW went more with the whole "mecha army" route with increasingly bigger suit which somewhat flew in the face of their older fluff of finding giant robots to be idiotic. Its sorta the same issue with Dark Eldar with their assortment of beasts/mercs that didn't really add much to the gameplay side of the faction, generally had poor rules, and metal/resin models. At least GW didn't outright ignore the Haemonculus Covens part of the faction.

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 Trickstick wrote:
As a Guard player, I would love to see Gue'vesa in the Tau army. GW could do similar thing to what they did with GSC. I would relish the opportunity to kill some of those vile traitorous scum. I guess the risk you run is just giving another army access to Loyal 32 though.

I wish Kroot were better too. A really cool faction that is hardly seen.
You already can in Narrative play.
   
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Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

 BaconCatBug wrote:
 Trickstick wrote:
As a Guard player, I would love to see Gue'vesa in the Tau army. GW could do similar thing to what they did with GSC. I would relish the opportunity to kill some of those vile traitorous scum. I guess the risk you run is just giving another army access to Loyal 32 though.

I wish Kroot were better too. A really cool faction that is hardly seen.
You already can in Narrative play.


Well sure, but I think it would be nice to see them in random pickup games sometimes. Narrative play is usually a prearranged affair.

The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Cynista wrote:
Whilst I do agree that the Kroot and especially Vespids are very underdeveloped as is the lack of the expansion of the Tau Auxillary... They've been shown a lot of love by GW and FW over the years in general. The Riptide, Stormsurge, Ghostkeel, new Broadsides, Razorshark etc. They've seen a lot of additions in a relatively short period. Tyranids as well get nice big new toys fairly reguarly. Both of them get far more love than either Orks or Necrons - the only two truly neglected factions in modern 40k.


but the idea of Tau auxillerys are a fething goldmine for cool unique models. also compared to the imperium and the choas and there 50+ armys is any faction truly devolped? also no one fething wanted the stormsurge and it flys in the ace of alot of tau lore. id much rather have Guevesa demiurg and some kind of psycher race then stormsurge.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Vankraken wrote:
 mew28 wrote:
Yes it is space marines sell like hot cakes. Kroot and vespids not so much.


Not fully sold on the fact that Space Marines are the greatest concept that GW ever came up with but that its the most heavily marketed faction in GW's lineup. Granted space marines make for an easy power fantasy and the models are easy to build/paint so its beginner friendly but I would argue that the fluff for Orks, Guard, Sisters, Dark Eldar, Nids, and Tau are more interesting than Space Marines. Outside of Guard when it comes to books, none of these factions get a quarter of the attention that Space Marines get when it comes to art, stories, models, or rules.

As for the Tau auxiliaries, Kroot saw some use way back in the day but their rules never seemed to mesh with the synergy heavy playstyle of the Tau while Vespids suffered the dreaded combo of having bad rules and being failcast so very few people bothered to buy any. The fluff mentions other races as well (including humans) but none of them get more than a blurb in the codex text and have zero presence on the table top. The whole auxiliary side of their empire is a potential gold mine for adding interesting models with equally interesting gameplay possibilities for the faction but instead GW went more with the whole "mecha army" route with increasingly bigger suit which somewhat flew in the face of their older fluff of finding giant robots to be idiotic. Its sorta the same issue with Dark Eldar with their assortment of beasts/mercs that didn't really add much to the gameplay side of the faction, generally had poor rules, and metal/resin models. At least GW didn't outright ignore the Haemonculus Covens part of the faction.


I think GW shoulda put more effort into making the Tau aux actually work instead of abbonding them. in a universe where everyones so racist that there reaction to seeing someone who looks diffrent is to blow up the planet, enslave thier whole species, or eat there whole species seeing a massive mutiracial army woulda been a nice change of pace but instead we got space weaboos mecha edition (and i say that as a MASSIVE anime fan)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Nicassar are intentionally kept off of the battlefield because the Tau don't want the IoM to find out about them and because they are not suited for the field. Yes, Nicassar have powerful telekinetic abilities, but they are also really slow and are easy targets. They pretty much spend most of the time sleeping.

Seeing more auxiliary options would be nice, but Nicassar aren't one of them.


ok then give them another psychic race. shouldnt be too hard to have them just stumble upon a planet of psychers.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 alextroy wrote:
They've spent plenty of attention on Tau, Tyranids and Neurons over the years. Just not the attention you apparently want.


compared to the Imperium and Choas? the imperium has like 8 or 9 diffrent armies now. thats insane.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/12/16 01:57:25


 
   
Made in tw
Longtime Dakkanaut





I agree that there is SO MUCh potential for all the client races of the Tau.

In particular Id lovento see something done with the Tarellians (or some other reptillian species) and the Human auxiliaries.

   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Carlovonsexron wrote:
I agree that there is SO MUCh potential for all the client races of the Tau.

In particular Id lovento see something done with the Tarellians (or some other reptillian species) and the Human auxiliaries.


I thought the tarellians were more dog like than lizardlike?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Carlovonsexron wrote:
I agree that there is SO MUCh potential for all the client races of the Tau.

In particular Id lovento see something done with the Tarellians (or some other reptillian species) and the Human auxiliaries.


I thought the tarellians were more dog like than lizardlike?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/16 02:13:21


 
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

chimera0205 wrote:
...enslave thier whole species...


Well that is exactly what the Tau are doing, they are just using far more subtle means that the rest of the galaxy. They have an entire caste dedicated to manipulation and diplomacy, after all. The Tau are very much the iron hand inside the velvet glove.

The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
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Regular Dakkanaut




 Trickstick wrote:
chimera0205 wrote:
...enslave thier whole species...


Well that is exactly what the Tau are doing, they are just using far more subtle means that the rest of the galaxy. They have an entire caste dedicated to manipulation and diplomacy, after all. The Tau are very much the iron hand inside the velvet glove.


but they havnt actually enslaved any races though (ok MAAYYBBE the Vespids but we cant prove that or a fact. who knows maybe those helmets really do just help the vespids communicate)

and even if you do want to consider what the tau are doinng as slavery it is probably the most mild form of slavery in the galaxy especially compared to the likes of the orks, choas, and god forbid the Drukhari. and the less we talk about Servitors the better.
   
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 mew28 wrote:
Yes it is space marines sell like hot cakes. Kroot and vespids not so much.


Chicken and egg. Shiny new plastic models sell like hotcakes, so the ones that have shiny new plastic models get more shiny new plastic models. Expensive chunks of pewter don't sell like hotcakes, so they don't get shiny new plastic models.

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Yes. They did. Tau are the coolest faction idea wise, but they dropped the ball with them. The execution of the Tau is terrible. Their lack of FTL travel means they cant respond to any conflicts, their small size makes them useless, and they ruined them rules wise by focusing on huge suits, and not the union of races they were made to be. This is as a Tau player, GW has only provided disappointment for them.

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Vigo. Spain.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Mainly because other than Kroot or Vespid the other enslaved client races either are useless in a 40k style battlefield or are so minute a presence it's not worth the effort making models for them.


Like Imperial Assasins?

You can absolutely have things like Demiurgs or Tarellian mercenary forces, or even make new cool auxiliary races.

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Regular Dakkanaut




 Sir Heckington wrote:
Yes. They did. Tau are the coolest faction idea wise, but they dropped the ball with them. The execution of the Tau is terrible. Their lack of FTL travel means they cant respond to any conflicts, their small size makes them useless, and they ruined them rules wise by focusing on huge suits, and not the union of races they were made to be. This is as a Tau player, GW has only provided disappointment for them.


Agreed. so fething Agreed. even if they didnt want to have the tau themselves devolped FTL for lore reasons would it really be too much of stretch to have them enounter and absorb some minor xeno empire and use thier FTL. also I agree a union of many races would be much more cool than just giving them a bunch of mechs. (especially when the Imperium already has the mech angle well covered)
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut




In my opinion, 40K needs more Xenos. The setting is becoming a bit stale with its constant focus on the Imperium civil war. The Imperium itself might have branched out in a few too many armies (Custodians, Sister of Silence, Assassins, a lot of Space Marine Chapters that could be folded back in the main book, Imperial Knights). We could use new villains and protagonists in the fluff.

I would have liked more Kroots in the Tau army and maybe some extra Vespid units (we don't need so much new xenos as it would cool to have little more of hte current ones). Some human allies of the Tau would be cool too.
   
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Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

chimera0205 wrote:
but they havnt actually enslaved any races though (ok MAAYYBBE the Vespids but we cant prove that or a fact. who knows maybe those helmets really do just help the vespids communicate)

and even if you do want to consider what the tau are doinng as slavery it is probably the most mild form of slavery in the galaxy especially compared to the likes of the orks, choas, and god forbid the Drukhari. and the less we talk about Servitors the better.


Oh, they are probably better than most. That isn't really saying much though. They are hardly "good guys". They subsume everything in their path to service the Tau Empire. The trick they pull is that they make you want to join them. It is more a form of psychological warfare, slowly gaining more and more power through things like trade.

Some Tau turn up, open up trade with your planet. Slowly, they become a larger and larger presence. Why not take a job in that new Tau factory? They pay well and the hours are pretty good. Oh, we can move into a new house provided by the Tau, much nicer than our place. They even provide free schools! Over time, they have more and more control and you are just another part of the Tau Empire. Things are great, do as you are told.

Not a bad life but it is still conquest by other means.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Sir Heckington wrote:
Their lack of FTL travel means they cant respond to any conflicts...


Well they don't lack FTL, they just lack good FTL. They can still make short hops, just not enough to have a massive empire like The Imperium.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/16 02:42:33


The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
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USA

 Trickstick wrote:
chimera0205 wrote:
but they havnt actually enslaved any races though (ok MAAYYBBE the Vespids but we cant prove that or a fact. who knows maybe those helmets really do just help the vespids communicate)

and even if you do want to consider what the tau are doinng as slavery it is probably the most mild form of slavery in the galaxy especially compared to the likes of the orks, choas, and god forbid the Drukhari. and the less we talk about Servitors the better.


Oh, they are probably better than most. That isn't really saying much though. They are hardly "good guys". They subsume everything in their path to service the Tau Empire. The trick they pull is that they make you want to join them. It is more a form of psychological warfare, slowly gaining more and more power through things like trade.

Some Tau turn up, open up trade with your planet. Slowly, they become a larger and larger presence. Why not take a job in that new Tau factory? They pay well and the hours are pretty good. Oh, we can move into a new house provided by the Tau, much nicer than our place. They even provide free schools! Over time, they have more and more control and you are just another part of the Tau Empire. Things are great, do as you are told.

Not a bad life but it is still conquest by other means.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Sir Heckington wrote:
Their lack of FTL travel means they cant respond to any conflicts...


Well they don't lack FTL, they just lack good FTL. They can still make short hops, just not enough to have a massive empire like The Imperium.


Not anymore. They dont skim the warp anymore afaik. There is no way they could have responded to the Imperial's crusade if they can't. As of new lore they have no FTL at all.

"For the dark gods!" - A traitor guardsmen, probably before being killed. 
   
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Manchester, UK

 Sir Heckington wrote:
Not anymore. They dont skim the warp anymore afaik. There is no way they could have responded to the Imperial's crusade if they can't. As of new lore they have no FTL at all.


You know, just file that under "ignore this nonsense". Like that time they removed the Necrons's FTL for some reason. Tau have short range FTL systems, which lets their race actually function. They just don't have the navigators to do anything decent with it.

I don't know who keeps writing out FTL, but it is probably the one thing you shouldn't mess up with the fluff. It actually lets the setting function on a timescale smaller than thousands of years to go to the next planet...

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 Trickstick wrote:
 Sir Heckington wrote:
Not anymore. They dont skim the warp anymore afaik. There is no way they could have responded to the Imperial's crusade if they can't. As of new lore they have no FTL at all.


You know, just file that under "ignore this nonsense". Like that time they removed the Necrons's FTL for some reason. Tau have short range FTL systems, which lets their race actually function. They just don't have the navigators to do anything decent with it.

I don't know who keeps writing out FTL, but it is probably the one thing you shouldn't mess up with the fluff. It actually lets the setting function on a timescale smaller than thousands of years to go to the next planet...


Well agree there, just like Tau having Anti Titan Mechs...

That's what Mantas are for!

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Fireknife Shas'el






The design of the Vespid miniatures is their biggest ball drop. Do they look like they can fly, even a little?

Some Tarellian lizard-dog-men-things would make cool auxiliaries for some CC or heavy weapon action. The Tau don't need psykers, but some anti-psyker technology would be nice. Maybe they could reverse engineer something from a Necron Pylon or something, like some kind of waste product from their Startide Nexus wormhole.

   
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 John Prins wrote:
The design of the Vespid miniatures is their biggest ball drop. Do they look like they can fly, even a little?

Some Tarellian lizard-dog-men-things would make cool auxiliaries for some CC or heavy weapon action. The Tau don't need psykers, but some anti-psyker technology would be nice. Maybe they could reverse engineer something from a Necron Pylon or something, like some kind of waste product from their Startide Nexus wormhole.


well the Tau themselves dont need to devolpe psychers obviously but would using a psycher race be such a bad thing. they do need some way to counter imperium, eldar, and ork psychers

also do the drones from halo look like they can fly?m name one scifi insect race that actually looks like it should be capable of flight

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/16 02:58:40


 
   
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Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

 Sir Heckington wrote:
That's what Mantas are for!


I thought Mantas were for annoying my Battleship whilst my Fury Interceptors were busy dealing with all those Emperor-damned guided torpedoes...

I hated Tau fleets,
and Chaos fleets,
and Ork fleets,
and Eldar fleets,
and definitely Necron Fleets.

The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




 Trickstick wrote:
 Sir Heckington wrote:
That's what Mantas are for!


I thought Mantas were for annoying my Battleship whilst my Fury Interceptors were busy dealing with all those Emperor-damned guided torpedoes...

I hated Tau fleets,
and Chaos fleets,
and Ork fleets,
and Eldar fleets,
and definitely Necron Fleets.


so the only fleets you did like were Tyranid ones and other imperium ones?
   
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Junior Officer with Laspistol




Manchester, UK

chimera0205 wrote:
 Trickstick wrote:
 Sir Heckington wrote:
That's what Mantas are for!


I thought Mantas were for annoying my Battleship whilst my Fury Interceptors were busy dealing with all those Emperor-damned guided torpedoes...

I hated Tau fleets,
and Chaos fleets,
and Ork fleets,
and Eldar fleets,
and definitely Necron Fleets.


so the only fleets you did like were Tyranid ones and other imperium ones?


Our group didn't have those. It just had slaughter class cruisers, brute ramships, custodians, bs Eldar nonsense and horrible Necron death. I eventually learned to just throw scores of torpedoes in just the right places to make the enemy move the right way to kill them. Unless I was playing the planet killer, then everything exploded.

I did eventually get revenge with a Ramillies though.

The Tvashtan 422nd "Fire Leopards" - Updated 19/03/11

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor 
   
 
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