It's all About the Tau: Part 4 - Elites

XV8 Crisis Suits.

These were the stand out performers in the old dex and they just got better! Stats are the same as before but they now come 3pts cheaper, and have Black Sun Filters and Multitrackers built in. These were almost auto picks in the old dex (depending on loadout), so in affect, XV8’s are 11pts cheaper!

Weapons are a little bit more expensive across the board (with the exception of the plasma rifle). The options are

·         Fusion Blaster (now an 18” melta gun),

·         Plasma Rifle (S6 AP2 Rapid Fire),

·         Missile Pod (S7 AP4 Range 36”, Assault 2)

·         Burst Cannon (S5 AP5 Assault 4,  18” range),

·         Flamer (S4 AP5)

You can upgrade the suit with 3 items taken from either the weapons list, or the Support Systems’ list. So you can take up to 3 weapons, and the multi tracker allows you to fire 2 in the shooting phase.

At the moment the big question vexing Tau Geeks is whether you can take two of the same single weapon, or one twin linked weapon, and another single weapon of the same kind (i.e. a twin lined plasma rifle and a single plasma rifle). I favour the view that you can from the wording in the new ‘dex, but accept it is not entirely clear. Expect this to be FAQed.

The support systems are the same as for the XV8 Commander

·      Advanced Targeting system. Characters with the ATS make precision shots on a 5+.

·      Counterfire defence system. Allows the user to fire Overwatch at BS2

·      Early Warning Override. Gives Interceptor

·      Positional Relay. If it’s within 6 inches of a table edge (including your opponents!), any outflanking unit can choose to come in from that edge

·      Target Lock. Can shoot at a different unit than the rest of your unit.

·      Vectored Retro Thrusters. Gives Hit and Run USR.

·      Drone Controller. Allows the user to fire Gun and Marker Drones at the users own BS. It does not work for missile drones.

·      Stimulant Injector. Gives Feel No Pain USR.

·      Velocity Tracker. Gives Skyfire.

·      Shield Generator. Provides a 4+ invulnerable save.

You can take 3 suits in a unit, and can upgrade one of them to be a Shas’vre for 10pts. Interestingly the Shas’vre gets an extra attack, and importantly is Leadership 9…… this is where the Junior Shas’el commander went! That extra point of leadership, on such a crucial unit is golden, and well worth the 10pt upgrade IMHO. However, more interestingly he also gets access to the Signature Systems. However, unlike a Commander, or a Shas’vre bodyguard, the signature systems counts towards his 3 choices.

As a reminder, the systems are;

·      Neuroweb System Jammer. Any unit within 12 inches has the “Gets Hot” rule when shooting

·      Onager Gauntlet. The user swaps all his attacks for one S10 AP1 attack. The thought of an XV8 punching holes in a landraider makes me smile!

·      Failsafe Detonator. If you die you blow up. Bit silly really.

·      Repulsar Impact Field. D6, S4 AP- hits on any unit assaulting the bearer or his unit at I10. Not really worth it IMHO.

·      Command and Control Node. If the bearer does not fire, all models in his unit re roll “to hit” until the end of the current phase.

·      Puretide Engram Neurochip. Can give the bearer Counter Attack, Furious Charge, Monster Hunter, Stubborn or Tank Hunter until the end of his next movement phase. Remember, Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter confer on a unit.

·      Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite. Gives the unit Ignores Cover, if the bearer does not fire that turn..

·      XV8-02 Crisis “Iridium” Battlesuit. Gives the wearer a 2+ save, and T5, with no movement restriction.

Finally, all suits can take 2 Drones – either Gun, Marker or Shield (but note NOT missile drones)

Phew….lots and lots of options.

As before XV8’s are the swiss army knife of the Tau Codex, they can be pretty much kitted out to do what ever you need them to do.

Need to kill MEQ/TEQ  - 3 suits with 2 plasma rifles each, with a Shas’vre toting a Command and Control Node – 12 S6 AP2 BS3 shots, rerolling to hit. Give the Shas’vre a Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite (or 2 marker light hits) and they also ignore cover. Need to kill tanks? Same team but swap out the plasma for Fusion. Want more flexibility - for the same points you can give them a fusion gun and a plasma gun. Need some horde control? Give a 3 man team 2 burst cannons each, 24 S5 shots for 12pts less than a 12 man Fire Warrior team which puts out exactly the same number of shots. Worried about being charged? As well as the plasma and/or fusion gun, fill the 3^rd hard point with a flamer. On average, 6 Overwatch hits on anything charging them. For 216pts give a team 2 missile pods each and Velocity Trackers – 12 S7 shots that fire at flyers using BS3. Make one of them a Shas’vre  for 10pts, and give him the Puretide Engram Chip for 15pts, and they all have Tank Hunter….! By my calculations that should kill a Vendetta in one turn of shooting (ignoring jink saves).

And of course there are Drones.  All XV8 Drones (marker, shield and gun) are 12pts each (sadly you can’t take Missile Drones on XV8s, only on Broadsides).

Gun Drones are pretty awesome now – add a Drone Controler to any of the Suits for 8pts, and the Drones use the suits BS, boosting their BS from 2 to 3. Given they are Twin Linked that effectively makes them BS4 (slightly better actually). So for 80pts you get 12 Twin Linked BS3 S5 AP5 shots. On average that’s 9 hits, or 8pts per hit. A 12 man Fire Warrior squad at 18” will only get 6 hits. A 12 man squad costs 108pts – so 18 points per hit…..! So attaching Gun Drones to an XV8 team is more than twice as efficient as a squad of fire warriors….! And that’s ignoring the ablative wounds they give the Suits.

Marker Drones are much cheaper now, but they’re trickier to play. I’ll come back to them when I look at the whole issue of marker light support.

Shield Drones – really not worth it IMHO. Go for Gun Drones all the way.

Summary

So, just like before, XV8s are awesome! What I find intriguing is how the improvement in Gun Drones allows you build a very flexible unit.

Take three suits. Upgrade one to a Shas’vre and give him 2 burst cannons and a Drone Controller. Give the other 2 a plasma rifle and a Fusion Blaster, and fill the third hard point with target locks. Add up to 6 Gun Drones. You now have a unit that can fire plasma and fusion blasters at hard targets, and hose down lighter targets with 20 S5 pulse rounds all shooting at BS3, and 12 of them are twin linked!

It’s an expensive unit (around 220pts) but at short range it’s devastating.

They key will be working out exactly which loadout fits in with the rest of your army.

Synergy!

Thoughts?

EYIG

It's all About the Tau. Part 3 - Troops.

Troops are the core of any codex, and in the old ‘dex Tau troops were particularly weak (I once read a forum post claiming that Fire Warriors were the best troops in the game, yes really! Arrant nonsense. Fire Warriors were pretty poor, they got better in 6^th edition, largely because of the changes to rapid fire weapons, but better isn’t good!).

There are 2 troop choices – Fire Warriors and Kroot. They’ve changed a little, but not by much.

Fire Warriors

Four things have happened in the new Codex that make Fire Warriors better (maybe even verging on good!). Ironically only one of them actually happened to Fire Warriors!

Basic stats stayed the same – WS2 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I2 A1 Ld7 Sv4+. They still come with a Pulse Rifle as standard but now also come with Photon (i.e. defensive) Grenades. They can upgrade to a Pulse Carbine for free and can get EMP grenades (which interestingly now count as Haywire Grenades) for 2pts per model. They can get a Shas’ui for 10pts who can take a target lock and a markerlight for 15pts, and a couple of Drones. Finally they can take a Devilfish transport.

The first thing that makes Fire Warriors better is the points drop to 9pts. I’m not persuaded that Photon Grenades are a boost. If my Fire Warriors get charged I want them to die horribly so their buddies can rapid fire the assaulting unit next turn. EMP grenades are intriguing. Some Tau geeks talk about EMP Commando Squads – fire warrior squads who assault vehicles with EMP grenades. Now that EMP grenades are proper haywire grenades these squads would be better, but the problem remains getting them close enough to assault the vehicle in the first place.

The second  thing that make Fire Warriors better are the buffs to their shooting provided by the Fireblade and the Ethereal’s Storm of Fire power. With these buffs they can push out a horrible number of shots.

The third thing is the change to Pulse Carbines. They increased from Assault 1 to Assault 2. While this doesn't necessarily make them better than Pulse Rifles, they are at least an option now. In particular if you're running a mech Cadre with F’warriors in D’fish, being able to jump out and fire 2 shots up to 18” with the Pulse Carbine, rather than rapid firing 2 shots at 15” with the Pulse Rifle, is something to think about.

And finally, the forth thing is that the Devilfish got slightly better.

Devilfish

One of the major disappointments in the codex is that D’fish didn’t get a price drop. They did get better (marginally) but they should IMHO be 10pts cheaper. The ‘Fish is a Tank, Skimmer, Transport BS3 F12 S11 R10 HP3. It comes with a Burst Cannon (R18” S5 AP5 Assault 4) and 2 Gun Drones as standard. It can take up to 2 seeker missiles for 8pts each and swap out the Gun Drones for a Twin Linked Smart Missile System (SMS) (R30” S5 AP5 Heavy 4 Ignores Cover, Guided (i.e. does not need line of sight)) for 10pts. It also has access to the Vehicle Battle Systems list.

·         Blacksun Filter. Give night vision (for 1pt!)

·         Decoy Launchers. A 4++ from interceptor shots.

·         Automated Repair System. Repairs stuff on a 6+ i.e. pretty pointless.

·         Sensor Spines. Move through cover for 5pts…. Yes please!

·         Flechette Dischargers. At initiative step 10 a unit with at least one model in base to base with the fish takes a S4 AP- hit for each model in base to base.

·         Point Defence System. The vehicle fires overwatch with S5 or less weapons, and has the Supporting Fire rule (i.e. can fire overwatch at any unit assaulting a friendly unit in 6”).

·         Advanced Targeting System. Any to hit roll of a 6+ is a precision shot.

·         Disruption Pod. Now just stealth rather than shrouding and 15pts rather than 5. However, it is no longer cancelled out if the shooter is within 12”.

There are 2 things missing that really irritated me. You can no longer buy a Targeting Array to boost the BS to 4, nor can you buy a Multi Tracker to allow the fish to fire like a Fast Vehicle.

Lets be clear from the outset, taking a Devil Fish is probably a "style" choice. By that I mean it depends on the sort of army you want to play. If you're asking me whether taking one builds the most effective Cadre, I suspect the answer would be "no". Putting Fire Warriors behind an Aegis with an Ethereal and a Cadre Fireblade is probably more effective. Leaving the D'fish behind gives you more points for other stuff. You really only need D'fish if you want to play a mechanised Cadre, pushing F'warriors forward. 

So, with that out of the way why is the fish better? Well because the Burst Cannon is Assault 4 now, rather than assault 3, and because the Pulse Carbines on the Gun Drones are Assault 2 rather than Assault 1. That means the standard fish gets 8 S5 shots rather than 5. In addition, even although you can’t get the Multi Tracker, you can still move 6” and fire both the Burst Cannon and the Drones, because the Drones fire as embarked passengers.

As for the Battle Systems, I think the only one that’s a must have are the Sensor Spines. Being able to ignore terrain is great if you’re moving forward aggressively with your Fire Warriors. The D’pod is not the must buy it used to be, but a 4+ cover save is better than a 5+, particularly now that it's not ignored for firers under 12”. That was a big draw back in the last ‘dex, if you were moving forward aggressively with your D'fish.

The only 2 other systems I might be tempted with are Flechette Dischargers and the Advanced Targeting System. If you’re moving forward with your Fire Warriors, and getting them out to shoot, then you’ll be using the D’fish to support them and block assaults. The Flechette Dischargers and beign able to Overwatch with the ‘Fish might help.

Then again, a ‘Fish with Sensor Spines, D’pod, Dischargers and the ATS would cost 120pts……!

In the past I ran D’fish (when I did run them) with a D’pod and sensor spines. In the old ‘dex  that cost 95pts in the new one 100pts. For those extra points, I get almost twice the fire power, but one point less on my cover save, although I get it all the time, and not just outside 12”.

So like I said, slightly better, but still not good!

Kroot

Kroot got cheaper by 1 point, but lost an attack and a point of strength. They gained a 6+ armour save (!). Kroot hounds also got a point cheaper and also lost a point of strength. You can add up to 3 Kroot Oxen for 25pts each. The Kroot Ox is S6 and comes with a Kroot Gun (R48” S7 AP4 Rapid Fire). You can upgrade one Kroot to a Shaper (most important thing is that he gives them Ld8, up from Ld7). And finally, for 1pt per model you can make their Kroot Rifles sniper rifles….! Better still, they can choose which round to use every time they fire, so can still move and shoot their Rapid Fire rounds, rather than teh Sniper Rounds which are "heavy". Even better, their standard rounds are "pulse" rounds which means they are affected by the Ethereal's Storm of Fire power.

All Kroot come with Infiltrate, Move Through Cover and Stealth (forests). The Kroot Hounds come with Acute Senses. Squad sizes are 10 – 20 Kroot to which you can add up to 10 Hounds and 3 Oxen. One of the most bamboozling things in the new 'dex is that Kroot Hounds are Beasts....but you can only buy them in squads of Kroot, which are infantry! What's the point in that!

However, the more I think about Kroot the more I like them. They are still good at what they excelled at previously – bubble wrap, blocking and just getting in the way (and they are 1pt cheaper!). They still infiltrate, outflank and score. That’s pretty much all I used them for in the past. Any idea that they were an assault unit was an illusion – on occasion they did extraordinary things (have I mentioned I once killed a Greater Demon with a squad of Kroot!), but their job was to die for the greater good. So, to the extent that they can do everything they did in the past, and are a point cheaper, I’m happy. However, they can now do so much more!

First of all, with only one Hound attached, they can re-roll the side they come in on when they  outflank. One of their key rolls is to come in off a board edge and grab an objective. Being able to more or less choose which side them come in on is pretty good. Next you can now bring along 3 S7 AP4 rapid firing Kroot Guns when you outflank or infiltrate. While you could always take Kroot Oxen in the past, you couldn’t infiltrate or outflank with them. Now you can, and they are 10pts per model cheaper. 

Lots and lots of possibilities present themselves – infiltrating sniper teams with Kroot Guns picking up marker lights from Sniper Drones, big packs of Kroot (with some hounds) outflanking on pretty much on any side you want. Teaming up with infiltrating stealth suits with a Positional Relay to bring the Kroot in on your opponents board edge. Maybe this is the army to take Shadowsun ….. attach her to a big pack of Kroot to give them a 2+ cover save!

Yet again, Kroot are the ultimate utility players.

Summary

IMHO Tau troops got better, but I'm not persuaded (yet) that they're "good". However, they are cheaper and way more flexible than they were before. 

My initial impression is that there will be broadly 3 ways to play them - Fire Warrior gun line, with Fireblades and Ethereals, a Mechanised Cadre, with Fire Warriors loaded in D'fish moving forward aggressively, or a Shadowsun Ghost Cadre, with loads of Kroot, and maybe a couple of squads of F'warriors in the back field. 

Which is better, remains to be seen - but at least we have choices now.

EYIG

It's All About the Tau Part 2 Special Characters

Part 2 on Special Characters.

O’Shova

Commander Farsight is back, and he’s pretty funky! His stats are the same as the XV8 Commander, with 2 exceptions he’s WS5 and initiative 5. Not terribly exciting I hear you say. Well you would be right if it wasn’t for the Dawn Blade which is an AP 2 weapon that strikes at initiative, and has armour bane (remember he’s S5 base). Now, in a world of combat monsters, he’s no Abbadon, but in a Tau Cadre, he’s not bad.

But combat prowess is not why you bring Farsight. You bring him because he can take a bodyguard of up to 7 suits, and his unit can deep strike with no scatter. The Farsight Bomb is back, but is it wise!

I’ll come back to building a Farsight Bomb in more detail in a later post, but the basic idea is that you take as many bodyguard suits as you can afford, tool them up with Plasma Rifles and Fusion Guns, sprinkle in some target locks so  they don’t need to shoot at only one target, add a Command and Control Node so they re roll to hit, a Multi Spectrum Sensor Suit so they ignore cover, deep strike them in and kill stuff.

Now I’ve never played a Farsight Bomb in the old codex. The main reason was that he gimped your FOC, restricting other units you could bring. However, I was never really convinced that deep striking over 500pts of suits into your opponents lines was a great idea, particularly in 6^th when it put your Warlord in harms way. Farsight is tough, but he’s not that tough.

In the new dex, while the FOC restriction is gone, there is still the issue of whether it’s wise to deep strike over 500pts of battle suits (plus your warlord) into your opponents lines. I think a Farsight Bomb list will need very careful thought.

Shadowsun

Commander Shadowsun is also much improved. Again her stats are pretty much the same as the XV8 Commander but with a point less of toughness and strength, with one less wound (so T3 and S4). She comes  with 2 Fusion Blasters that can target 2 separate units and a Stealth Suit (giving her Stealth and Shrouding). She shoots precision shots on a 5 and 6, Infiltrates and any unit she joins that have jet packs can move 3d6 in the assault move. She can bring up to 3 Drones (at extra cost), one Command and Control Drone that lets any unit within 12 inches re roll 1 to hit, and she can bring 2 Shield Drones that give he a 3++. Most importantly, she's now an independant character. 

I’m still trying to work out exactly what to do with Shadowsun TBH. At first I got excited about using her to infiltrate standard XV8 suits, but then realised that you can’t do that because commanders with infiltrate can’t infiltrate with units that don’t have infiltrate (they deploy at different times). Then I thought about attaching her to  a Stealth Team with marker drones for 2 BS5 infiltrating marker lights, but realised that, although she takes drones, she does not have a drone controller so her BS does not confer on the drones. Finally I thought about adding her to a Farsight Bomb to give them Stealth and Shrouding when the drop in, but that just puts way too many points into one unit.

The best I’ve come up with is attaching her to a squad of Pathfinder to give them stealth and shrouding, and a character to tank wounds. Not that exciting really as they can’t infiltrate and everybody’s taking Thunder Fire Cannons these days!

I would really welcome thoughts on how to use Shadowsun effectively!

Aun’Va

The “Space Pope” got a bit better, although I’m still not convinced he’s worth it really. His stats are truly dreadful, but that’s not the point. He comes with 2 honour guards who are also pretty rubbish, but again, that’s not the point. You bring the Space Pope for his special rules. The problem is, they aren’t that great either!

He comes with the usual Ethereal leadership buffs, but as well as allowing all units within 12” to use his leadership 10, all units board wide can reroll leadership tests. This is good, but not amazing.

He can also summon the elements, but unlike a normal Etheral, he can summon 2 per turn. That would be good if it wasn’t for the fact that only one of the powers is any good! 

He has a weird rule that give him an inverse save – i.e. he gets an extra save based on the AP of the weapon that caused the wound. So if he was shot by a Lazcannon he would get a 2+ save. Odd, but not great – punk him with Heavy Bolters, or Multilazers!

Finally, he has a fixed Warlord Trait that, once per game, allows all units that have gone to ground to jump back up and act as normal. This might be effective for ducking behind an Aegis to avoid a turn one alpha strike, then jumping back up to shoot at an advancing horde, but it’s a bit of a one trick pony IMHO, and again, it’s really for a static gunline army, not a mobile mechanised one.

Not persuaded by Aun’Va. For half the points an Ethereal is better value IMHO.

Aun’Shi

A close combat Tau Ethereal. For 60pts more than a standard Ethereal he gets weapons skill and initiative 5, 4 attacks, an honour blade (not a power weapon, but gives +2 strength), a shield generator (for a 4++) and all the standard Ethereal stuff. His special skill is that in challenges, he can choose to either e-roll his 4++, or have rending.

Frankly I see no point in taking him over a standard Ethereal.

Darkstrider

Darkstrider is the Pathfinder Special Character  WS4  BS5  S3  T3  W3  I3  Ld9  Sv5+. For 100 pts he comes with a blacksun filter, and a markerlight. He scouts and outflanks and is an independent character, but can only attach to Fire Warriors or Pathfinders.

His 2 “big things” are the structural analyser, which allows him to reduce a targets toughness by one, and the ability for him and his unit to consolidate d6 inches after they fire overwatch.

Hmmm….I guess he’s another cheap HQ, but he’s not really that impressive. The Structural Analyser is cute, but not really that big a deal. It only affects the shooting from Darkstriders unit, unlike the rad grenades Ravenwing get. I guess you could give the pathfinders Railrifles or Ion Rifles to double out T4 units reduced to T3. The ability to fall back after Overwatch (called Fighting Retreat) is also interesting, but it only effects his unit. Also it’s based on a premise that is I suspect more and more irrelevant – i.e. that Tau want to avoid assault. While this remains true, it’s less important in a game that is focusing more and more on shooting. Frankly T3 Sv4+ infantry die pretty easily to shooting as well!

Summay on HQs

IMHO, the stand out choice is the XV8 Commander, and then the Ethereal. They are relatively cheap (the Ethereal in particular), and bring a lot to the Cadre as a whole. While cheap the Fireblade is limited. He might be useful as a cheap HQ where you don’t want an XV8 Commander (but when would that be?), and you just want to fill the slot. You could sit him in an objective camping squad of Fire Warriors I guess. He’s got a BS5 markerlight and a target lock.

Of the Special Characters the only one that appeals is Farsight, but really only for one particular build (the Farsight Bomb). I would love to find a good use for Shadowsun, but I’m struggling to work it out. The 2 Ethereals are IMHO pretty pointless, I don’t really see the benefit over a standard Ethereal.

Finally Darkstrider – like Shadowsun I can’t help feeling there is a clever way to use him, but I can’t see it. Maybe to outflank a squad of fire warriors into your opponents backfield? With a positional relay you could even bring them in on your opponent’s board edge. But the question remains – then what? Twelve Fire Warriors aren’t really that scary.

Next Troops. Should be done by tomorrow.

EYIG

It's all about the Tau: Part 1 HQs

There are 3 generic HQ Choices and 5 Special Characters. The generic choices are the XV8 Commander, an Ethereal, and the Fireblade. The Special Characters are Aun’va, Aun’shui, Darkstrider, Shadowsun and Farsight. I’ll talk about the generic characters in this post, and the Special Characters in the next one.

XV8 Commander

The Commander is a Shas’o. He’s 10pts more expensive than he was in the old dex. The old “Junior Commander” Shas’el is gone. His stats are WS4, BS5, S5, T4, W4,  I3, A4, Ld 10, Sv3+. He comes with a Multitracker and a Black Sun Filter as Standard – so he can shoot 2 weapons in the shooting phase, and has the Night Vision USR. However, the key to the Commander is how you upgrade him. He’s the ultimate swiss army knife. So to understand the Commander, and his potential, we need to look at his weapons and upgrades.

The upgrades are split into 3 different groups – weapons, support systems, and signature systems. The Shas’o can take a total of 4 items from either the weapons list or support systems list (in any combination), and as many of the signature systems as you like, although you can only take one of each system per army.

First up weapons. All the usual suspects are there Fusion Blaster (now an 18” melta gun), Plasma Rifle (S6 AP2 Rapid Fire), Burst Cannon (S5 AP5 Assault 4,  18” range), Flamer (S4 AP5) and Missile Pod (S7 AP4, Assault 2, 36” range). There are also 2 unique weapons the Cyclic Ion Blaster (CIB), and the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector (AFP). The CIB is an Ion weapon. Like all Ion Weapons it now has 2 modes of fire – normal and “Overcharged”. Fired normally it’s S7 AP4 Assault 3, with an 18” range. Overcharged it’s S8 AP4 Blast, with an 18” Range and Gets Hot. The AFP is S4 AP5 Large Blast, Barrage, ignores Cover, again with an 18” range.

The interesting thing is that you can now get 2 of the same weapon (this is controversial, but IMHO it’s quite clear, and until a FAQ changes it, that’s how I’ll be playing it). In the past if you bought 2 weapons they became twin linked, and counted as 2 choices. Now you can either buy a twin linked weapon for 5pts more than the basic weapon, and it counts as 2 choices, or you can buy 2 of the same weapons, for twice the price, which also counts as 2 choices.

This makes for a very flexible load out. I’ll look into suit weapon load out in more detail when I come to the XV8’s themselves.

There are a whole bunch of support systems. Here’s the list

·         Advanced Targeting system. Characters with the ATS make precision shots on a 5+.

·         Counterfire defence system. Allows the user to fire Overwatch at BS2

·         Early Warning Override. Gives Interceptor

·         Positional Relay. If it’s within 6 inches of a table edge (including your opponents!), any outflanking unit can choose to come in from that edge

·         Target Lock. Can shoot at a different unit than the rest of your unit.

·         Vectored Retro Thrusters. Gives Hit and Run USR.

·         Drone Controller. Allows the user to fire Drones at the user's own BS.

·         Stimulant Injector. Gives Feel No Pain USR.

·         Velocity Tracker. Gives Skyfire.

·         Shield Generator. Provides a 4+ invulnerable save.

Lots and lots of interesting options, and they are all pretty cheap. Only the Velocity Tracker, the Stim injector and the Shield Generator are more than 5pts (interceptor for 5 points!).

Next come the Signature Systems.

·         Neuroweb System Jammer. Any unit within 12 inches has the “Gets Hot” rule when shooting (lol guard blobs!)

·         Onager Gauntlet. The user swaps all his attacks for one S10 AP1 attack. The thought of an XV8 punching holes in a landraider makes me smile!

·         Failsafe Detonator. If you die you blow up. Bit silly really.

·         Repulsar Impact Field. D6, S4 AP- hits on any unit assaulting the bearer or his unit at I10. Not really worth it IMHO.

·         Command and Control Node. If the bearer does not fire, all models in his unit re roll “to hit” until the end of the current phase (which means it doesn't work on overwatch).

·         Puretide Engram Neurochip. Can give the bearer Counter Attack, Furious Charge, Monster Hunter, Stubborn or Tank Hunter until the end of his next movement phase. Remember, Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter confer on a unit.

·         Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite. Gives the unit Ignores Cover, if the bearer does not fire that turn. This stacks with the C&C Node.

·         XV8-02 Crisis “Iridium” Battlesuit. Gives the wearer a 2+ save, and T5, with no movement restriction.

Again, lots of interesting options (and again, not too expensive points wise).

The beauty of all these options is that it makes the Commander really flexible. You can do pretty much anything with him. Some examples

·         Give him a Drone Controller and put him in a bunch of Marker Drones giving you some BS5 Marker Lights.

·         Give him a Puretide Engram and attach him to a unit of sky firing missile Broadsides, giving you a tank hunting anti flyer unit. T5 also allows him to take lazcannon shots that would insta kill the Broadsides.

·         Give him an XV8-02 suit, and attach him to a Farsight bomb to “tank wounds”.

As I said, a swiss army knife. He’s the ultimate support character.

Which leads me to a preliminary conclusion on the XV8 Commander – unlike some HQ’s, where you build your army around them (e.g. lots of flamers and melta in a Vulcan space marine army), you do not build your Cadre around your Shas’O, you build your Shas’O to support your Cadre.

Ethereal

Ethereals got better in this Codex. Not great IMHO, but better. The reason they are better is 3 fold. First they are cheap, 50pts for an HQ, is pretty good. Second, they have the “Failure is not and Option”, rule. All models in the Tau Codex within 12” of the Ethereal, get to use his leadership (10), for moral, leadership and regrouping tests, and finally the “Invocation of the Elements”, rule. 

If the Ethereal dies, your opponent gets and extra VP. So if he’s your Warlord, your opponents gets 2 VP’s for killing him.

The big one everybody is talking about is Invocation of the Elements. At the start of the movement phase all non vehicle units within 12” of the ethereal get one of 4 buffs

·         Calm of Tides. Stubborn

·         Storm of Fire. All affected units fire one extra shot from pulse weapons at targets within half range.

·         Sense of Stone. All affected models get Real no Pain (6+)

·         Zephyr’s Grace. Affected models can snap shot after running.

To my mind the only one that’s exciting is Storm of Fire. The others are pretty rubbish (Sense of Stone) very situational (Zephyr’s Grace and Calm of Tides).

But Storm of Fire is pretty good. Two squads of 12 fire warriors would kick out 72 S5 shots at 15”. That’s gonna hurt! Especially if they can pick up a couple of marker lights each.

The most obvious use for the Ethereal is in a gun line. Put 3 squads of fire warriors behind an Aegis with the Ethereal in the middle squad, making sure the other squads are within 12”, give them some marker light support (Sniper Drones), and anything that comes within 15” of that gun line is eating 108 S5 shots. That’s a lot of dakka.

But……I’m not convinced. Static gunlines are pretty dull to play IMHO, and I suspect guard still do it better than Tau. Also, there are a lot of things that can charge you from 16 “ out now.

To my mind the more intriguing use for an Ethereal might be in a Mechanised Cadre, riding with a bunch of Firewarriors in D‘fish, supported by Suits. I’m telling you…. Fish of Fury is back baby!

Cadre Fireblade

Basically a beefed up Fire Warrior. WS4  BS5  S3  T3  W3  I3 A3 Ld9 Sv4+. He comes with a marker light, Split Fire and can take 2 Drones. He can also give one squad of Fire Warriors an extra shot BUT (and it’s a big but) only if they have not moved that turn.  For 60pts I suppose he’s not bad.

Again, for me, the problem is that he encourages static gunline armies. Which is fine if that’s the sort of Cadre you want to play, but it’s not for me.

Summary

To my mind, of the generic HQ’s, the stand out is the XV8 Commander for his versatility and the buffs he can bring to the army. The Ethereal is next for his low price, leadership bubble and Storm of Fire, with the Fireblade a distant 3^rd. The trouble is that the Ethereal and the Fireblade tend to push you towards a static gunline sort of army, which I really want to avoid.

Special Characters next.

EYIG

It's all about the Tau - Intro.

The internet and its dog are doing reviews of the new Tau Codex. I wasn’t going to do one to be honest, but I’ve changed my mind. The reason I changed my mind is that I’m struggling to get my head round all the options. Doing a detailed review will force me to think hard about the Codex, and hopefully come up with a Cadre I want to play.

So, sit back, get a cup of coffee and brace yourself. It's going to be long and detailed and full of random thoughts, but hopefully there will be some insights. At this point I've no idea where it will end up, but with a bit of luck, at the end, I'll have my ideal Cadre!

 

As tradition dictates, I’ll start off with the HQs and then move on through Troops, Elites, Fast Attack and Heavy Support, before talking about some army wide issues.

 

Please chip in - nobody's an expert on the new Codex. There will be things I miss and things I get wrong. Please let me know your thoughts. The purpose of the series is to throw out my ideas, get them shot down, and come back with better ones.

 

First post on HQ's later tonight.

 

EYIG

Tau First Thoughts

I’ve been on holiday so haven’t had a chance until last night to read the Tau Codex. Now that I’ve read it, I love it.

I’m not going to write a unit by unit review (or at least not straight away… might come on to that in more detail later). Loads of people have already done this, and frankly you can all read the codex for yourselves! What I’m going to talk about is my first impression of the army as a whole.

And I can sum that up in one word – flexible. There are so many units with so many choices that (providing you don’t want an assault army!), you can pretty much build the style of army you want. There is a tool for everything.  I’m sure some will be more effective than others, but my initial impression is that most will be at least competitive.

I suspect the “easiest” (and possibly most effective) army to build and play will be a foot slogging gunline. Ethereal, Fireblade, Fire Warriors, Aegis defence line, Markerlights, Broadsides, Riptides. Bang your dead!

However, that’s what I ran all the way through 5^th, and it got kinda dull to play. So i want to creat something different

At the moment im leaning towards 2 lists. Farsight bomb backed up by Broadsides and Hammerheads, or a couple of Riptides with mobile fire warrior support, backed up by Hammerheads and Skyrays. 

The Farsight bomb got so much better. Firstly he no longer gimps your force org - there are no restrictions anymore. However, you can make the bomb so much more effective with a coupel of signature systems - the Command and Control Node (to twin linke all their weapons) and the Multispectrum Analysier (or what ever it's called), so they ignore all cover. Add in some target locks, and a Vectored Retro Thruster to get them out of assaults, and they're are pretty horrible! 

I'm a bit undecided about Riptides (just built one - it's a fantastic model). They are a very tough mobile gun platform, and the Ion Accelerator is a great gun, but you could get a 3 suit XV8 team for less, and they would be way more flexible. One funny thing I though of would be to give them an Early Warning Override for Interceptor. Goodbye drop podding marines! 

The problem is.... there is too much choice! I'll need lots of playtesting to work out the best way to put a cadre together. First game tonight!

More thoughts to follow.

EYIG