Ethereal, Vespid, Kroot Rumors! 02/05

Hmm, here are some more Tau rumors, it seems the flood gates have opened.  Thats a very good sign that a new Tau codex is indeed coming!   Here are the latest rumors from Stickmonkey:

Units
Ethereals: These now grant army wide special rules and bubble rules, but there are different options. They function roughly much like those recent Dark Angels banners. So one option might be army wide Ld rerolls while in play, plus units in 12" are fearless. Another option might be one unit in army gets salvo once per turn, and all units in 12" get rerolls to hit.
Kroot: Everyone's favorite birdmen get Scout, Furious Charge, Move thru Cover. Kroot Hounds and Kroot hawks! Shaper can unlock additional unit upgrades.
"Sneaky Kroot": Look for an ELITES Kroot unit that can hide in terrain like Ymgarl Genestealers.
Knarloc: The new big beasty model, very similar to the Forgeworld Great Knarloc (see below). Monstrous Creature, with a trample attack allowing it to run 3d6" and cause 2d6 S6 AP6 wounds to any unit it crosses. It may additionally use this special move to charge a unit, gains +2A and the assault-grenades ability when charging in this manner.
Vespid: The maligned bug men are redeemed! Big improvements, weapon range increase, point reduction, hit and run.
Vespid Flyer: Smallest flyer in game, like a jetbike, single blaster as weapon, vector-dancer
Fortifications: Deep striking turrets as fortification options. Burst cannons or missile pods options.
Tau Flyer Transport: 13 13 12 armor, holds a full Fire Warrior or Crisis Suit squad, or single Uber-suit. Not a lot of weapons, but HP:3, and has a save from wargear that can be taken. Deep strike. Rules-wise is focused on getting units reliably to a location.
The Uber-suit: So many options currently it's hard to keep them straight. It's a mobile weapon platform, with rail guns as it's main weapon system, - which can be upgraded to a plasma weapon system or ion cannons. Classified as monstrous creature. 2+/4++ save. It can forgo shooting and movement to gain 2++ save. The Uber can move as jump infantry if it does not shoot it's main weapons. VERY HIGH toughness, no existing weapon can instant death it. Although it can smash if it has to, it is not designed as a close combat unit at all. Cost is comparable to a Terminator squad. It can take drone support.
Odds and Ends
FOC: Some specific HQs move Crisis Suits to troops. One moves two Kroot units to troops.
Psykers-defense: All Tau have some base immunity to psychic powers, and thus any Tau unit can deny the witch, with the suits gaining an improvement to this roll. 


Love that Vespid are getting love, hopefully they will get plastic kits as well.   Between the Tau fighter rumored for Death from the Skies, the Vespid Miniflyer and the Armour 13 Flying Transport (i'll believe it when i see it), looks like Tau are getting a TON of air support.

As a fantasy Dwarfs player, I LOVE that my Tau will have a resistance to psychic powers and I think it fits via their fluff (and also maybe whey the Emperor seems to be allegedly showing them "tolerance" compared to other xenos).

FINALLY, Ethereals are USEFUL!   If they are anything like death angel banners I would be a happy fish player!  Salvo please!!!!

New Tau Rumors 02/04

There are some new tau rumors, they are getting rather specific and I'm liking what I hear so far!  Here's the rumors from Faeit:

I have been seeing a lot of play testing for the tau empire and have seen some new models as well. They look so new and epic it makes me really excited. Now I did my hands on some rules and names for units, If you are to pass these on then PLEASE send it to only reliable rumour sites.

I will start with the new sky ray orbital blast ability. From what I can remember on top of my head is that the sky ray has to forgo his full turn of shooting for a single unlimited range blast that is:

strength X AP 3 (wound on 2+,plasma corrosion, blast)
plasma corrosion - any enemy model hit under the blast rolls a d6 every turn for the remainder of the game on a roll of 1-3 the unit or model suffers d6 strength 4 AP5 hits. On a roll of 4-5 the unit suffers 2d6 strength 5 AP 4 hits. On a roll of a 6 the unit is hit with 2d6 strength 6 AP 2 hits with the blind special rule. (these are test rules and subject to change)

Tau fire warriors will have the OPTION to upgrade their tau fire warriors to bs 4 (I put option in bold to show it is an option for all those fluffy players)
I believe the upgrade at the moment is being called 'advance training'

battle suits are getting/got new models but have the same profile as now with the inclusion of an option to make them toughness 5 (cost or name is unknown)

The kroot is getting a HUGE monster that looks like something from fantasy. It has kroot riding it but is under going constant rule changes due to either dying to quickly or for lack of usage. From what I remember seeing it has 5 wounds but only a 5+ save and was over priced IMO.

kroot gain furious charge and move through cover and start with a 6+ save that can be upgraded to 5+ with shaper for an additional 2pts per model (making them 8pts per model) - remember this could change!

finally their is options to make all your battle suits have 2+ saves for 20pts per model - all war gear that is in the current codex has been reduced slightly.

the tau dread knight walker rumours you have read are 100% TRUE - I have seen the concept art/profile and from the top of my memory it is something like this.

WS BS S T W I  A LD SV
4     4  6 8  4 2 4  8   2+/4+

I will not share rules because they were on the next page of document of which I did not see. I did see the points which were : 210pts

Units
Crisis Suits: Look for more posable new models. Unit keeps its high level of customization, with several upgrades to stat lines possible. New flakk missile pods. New combi-kit includes Broadside parts.

Stealth Suits: Models unchanged. Have stealth, (obviously), plus optional drone granting shrouding.

Sky Ray: Last edition's trainwreck gets a new lease on life. Flakk missiles, plus has orbital bombardment (much like SM version, but with a lingering effect).

Fire Warriors: Same nasty gun. Still BS:3, but with a Shas'O can upgrade unit to BS:4.

Equipment
Drones: Any drone can be used for Look Out Sir rolls for any model in the unit they are attached to.

Markerlights: A single hit increases BS of all other units targeting the victim by +1. Multiple markerlights have no additional effects. OUCH - look out for possible BS:5, Fire Warrior volleys now! Markerlights improve snapfire against marked flyers to 5+ instead of 6, but must first hit the flyer with a 6 themselves.

Networked Markerlights: A longer range twin linked version. Vehicles only. 

Looks like the Sky Ray is getting ressurected.  That lingering plasma effect sounds pretty fun, especially if you can get a volley off in the first turn.  I really like the options to upgrade firewarriors to BS4 and upgrade the toughness on crisis suits (GK autocannons were instakill terrors!)  Really excited for some new crisis suit models, they really need an update!