New Tau

[Auxryn]

So, I got the new Tau Codex for a recent birthday. I'm sure some of you have also read the new codex. What are your thoughts?

I'm excited by the mass infantry firepower but disappointed by the kroot. I'm sure they are very good snipers now, but I was hoping to outflank them with my Crisis Commander and use them as an assault unit. I was coming up with back story for my highly unstable Shas'O and everything. I'm also dissapointed with the changes to the failsafe detonator. It was never a popular option, but I could see using it to keep my big group of kroot from getting swept. Now I don't see anyone using it.
I guess instead I'll be running my commander with a load of drones. Need some more drones....

Everything else seems fine, though other than the hammerhead railgun they are a bit lacking in high-strength anti-tank firepower.

Fluff was a bit disappointing. I was hoping they would tell us more about exactly how the Tau deal with speed-of-light limitations in space travel, and how they interpret their interactions with the Warp and Imperial warp engine technology. In the past the fluff said that Tau had very little presence in the warp and were thus not fit for consumption by daemons etc, and had no psykers. People keep saying that the Tau could be the ultimate weapon against Chaos, but the current codex is entirely silent on the subject.

Also it goes entirely against the fluff, but you could put Shadowsun into Farsight's 7-man bodyguard team and give them all Shrouded and Stealth. That would be funny.

In general I am looking forward to painting up some more Tau as soon as I finish getting my Orks ready for Nagoyahammer. Of course, that has been my plan since I first read the allies matrix.

Anyone else eyeing the Greater Good?

[Admiral-Badruck]

Kroot never were a good assault unit I do not thing they ever will be a good assault unit the are hunters snipers yes but not at all hardened combat troops. It would have been nice if they had kept the st 4 but for a pout of armour Ap 6 shot and rending sniper rifles I think they got a really good deal. Before they had no way of dealing with space marine armour or ant armour at all for that matter. Now they can lay down a mass of potentially lethal sniper fire. They will still make great bubble wrap for fire warriors they should work well with the patient hunter stratagem.

[me_in_japan]

2 rather simple thoughts:

1) huzzah! Tau vocab is back in. Yay for the old-school spyrer references
2) riptide...burooooooohken. Yuck.

[Admiral-Badruck]

The rip tied sucks...very situational... At the very best it will live thought the battle if it takes the drone shoot one and there is good chance it will run off the board. ... I80 points for a unit that can shoot at bs3. Nova charge will kill you more than will help you. Nova chagrined things makes them get hot?

Two plus armour is nice but will not save you from all the plasma guns out there.

Absolutely not broken.

It also takes an elite slot I would rather take the battle suits. You can take them for 150p

...as far as I can tell you can take two plasma rifles or twin linked. There is no wording that says it can't take two of the same weapon system

[The Underdweller]

I would say the Riptide is not broken but doesn't suck either - the Nova charge does have a 1 in 3 chance of not working and causing a wound - but even if it doesn't work you can still fire your weapons regularily - depending what you take, that could be 5 AP2 shots, or 12 AP4/5 shots - although the ballistic still is stil standard Tau, and there is no Targetting array to boost it anymore...

Even if it doesn't do lots of damage, having such a big and potentially dangerous unit on the board will draw lots of fire away from wimpier units.

But as Badruck says it could run away, or fail it's Nova charge roll on a turn when succeeding if critical, and having to rely on a random roll doesn't seem very Tau-like. I would rather have had the same powers toned down a bit than to have to roll for it.

Anyway they look fun so I would like to field one regardless!

[The Underdweller]

Regarding the new codex overall, I like that Fire Warriors got a boost, and that there is lost of synergy going on between units. And that I have choices to make now - in the last codex my only viable choice was plasma rifles or missile pods, now I have lots of different HQs and Battlesuit options that are worth looking at.

Some things I don't like so much is the nerfed railguns, having Stealth Suits in the Elite slot (How are Pathfinders faster than they are?), and Pathfinders that can still be shot down easily in the first round (yes, they are cheaper, especially as they don't have to take a Devilfish, but unless they can find decent cover with a good field of view they are still going to die fast).

I would have liked more alien options; isn't allying with alien nations what the Tau are all about? Also I haven't read much of the fluff but the stuff I have looks about the same as the old fluff.

[Konrad]

So, I got the new Tau Codex for a recent birthday. I'm sure some of you have also read the new codex. What are your thoughts?


Anyone else eyeing the Greater Good?

I'm eying 'em alright. Right through the crosshairs of my rokkit launchaz.
I'm sure that the changes just make them competitive with the other new Codexes, but auuugh! Firewarriors are now going to be really tough to charge with the "unit you charge and all their friends Overwatch you" rule.
The HQs are interesting. The Fire(knife/blade?) guy looks really really handy. Ethereals might not even be a bad idea if you were running huge blocks of Firewarriors behind an Aegis. That Darkwalker? sneaky guy who lets you run away after he fires Overwatch looks most frustrating.
Too bad Kroot are just, mehhh. 7 pts for a sniper is a bargain though. Might pay off. 10 shots is good odds of a precision shot or two out of them.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Root got hurt a bit but vespids got heaps better. I am looking for a few more. If anyone has any..