New Tau Rumors from Stickmonkey on Warseer

Stickmonkey over at Warseer just posted some juicy Tau rumors.  Here they are:

"There has been some speculation on this, and I'm getting chatter now that seems to reinforce a few things, so I thought I'd post what is floating my way.

Tau Codex early next year.
Kroot and other existing allies are there, however they are limited. There appears to be an "Allies" supplement which will be out about the same time and include many more options. (aside: Dare I start a Spring of Allies moniker...ah well then it will end up being 2 years from now)
Crisis suits completely redone.
Stealth suits completely redone.
Pirahna has new option and I am not sure if it will be reboxed together or be sold as an upgrade kit.
New Pathfinders were seen being worked on a while back.
Ethereals expanded, new unit options around them.
There is a FW Tau model which has a unit entry in the codex. (My take is this might actually be a new plastic kit taking over a FW model, and before anyone yells GW doesnt cannibalize FW...yes, they do, they have, and they will.)
The floating chair ethereal was seen being worked on for a new model.
New fast skimmer sized between hammerhead and pirahna.
Flyer has dual gattling cannons
Flyer has option for rail guns
Flyer has bombs (not missiles!?)

Rule rumors (these are rumors people! I hate posting rule rumors cause I am not involved in that. Please take fwiw)
Railguns have a JOWW effect, they can hit multiple models in a line, but if hitting vehicles has a max number of hull points it can cause. the way this is described is it draws a line from the barrel to table edge, every model under starts taking hits starting with the closest. if it hits a vehicle or structure with HP, its strength drops, once it hits 3 or a table edge or fails to make a penetrating hit its done. rhino line's watch out!
There is some rumor of an Anti Psyker weapon. like night fighting, but no psychic powers for a game turn.
There is no flyer dedicated transport, and the existing flyer is going to be competing against some very good other options
The jetpack troops have some option to "pop up and shoot" from behind cover.


All I have for now
Cheers."

My initial thoughs:  

- Crisis Suits need a serious resculpt so I'm happy to hear this.  Stealth suits however, are pretty cool looking even though they are overpriced points wise.
- I realllllly hope they make Ethereals useful.   They would be a great way to buff troops in general.
- The multi unit penetrating Railguns have been thrown around alot and that would be a very cool option, not to mention very cool cinematic effect on the game.
- Anti-psyker weapon is AWESOME and tau definately need it, I've always wanted them to be sorta like Dwarves in Fantasy:  they dont use psyker abilities but are highly resistant to them.

What do you guys think?

Firewarriors vs. Kroot in 6th Edition

So I've finally been able to play a few games in 6th edition with my Tau and like most shooty armies I think they have gotten a slight boost.   Overwatch can help, especially with twinlinked weapons.    One major boost that has actually played into a few games is Tau's easy access to Nightvision for basically everything but Kroot.   This leads me to the subject of this post:

Are Kroot mostly useless now in 6th edition?

Sure, Kroot are pretty much our only answer for Close Combat.   They have a decent WS and amount of attacks, also the hounds have a good Initiative.  But, as opposed to 5th edition, I NEVER want to charge with my Kroot anymore.   Any overwatch wounds will auto kill because Kroot's optional 6+ armour save just isn't worth the points.    With the new edition, I'd much rather have my Kroot sit tight and rapid fire anyone who charges them.  

But, if this is the case now, wouldn't Firewarriors do a much better job?  They have better armour saves, better guns with a longer range, and because blacksun filters are pretty much mandatory now, the firewarrior team leader gets a boost in Ld saves.   They can also benefit from markerlights and if you want, you can give them bonding knifes so they can always regroup.   Not to mention you can give them EMP grenades that are VERY effective against vehicles (though a bit pricey, in my opinion).

I usually ran 10 Kroot with 5 hounds for 100pts in my lists.   For that amount you can get 10 firewarriors and for 13pts more you can get black sun filters for that unit.   It seems now that firewarriors seem to be the better option with 6th edition.

What do you guys think?   Do you find Kroot less useful now that close combat units have been nerfed a bit with Overwatch?   Do you have other uses for Kroot that I haven't addressed?

Turn 8 Podcast: The Aquila Has Landed

Here's the new podcast from Turn 8.   This week we talk about the new 6th edition;  what we like and what we don't like.  Also, we go over the movement rules.

http://turn-8.com/2012/podcast/episode-23-the-aquila-has-landed/

"It’s 6th Edition baby!  Everything old is new again, including podcast episode titles, hooray!  Anyway, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, this is our first episode officially covering 6th edition of Warhammer 40000.  We’ve got a full crew this go ’round with Andy, Mike and Dave joining us to give first impressions on the new rules.  Plus our signature Battle Report this episode covers a lot of new features, including allies!  Not to mention the triumphant return of the Rules of Engagement.  We’re going back to basics with this one and starting simple, with movement.  P.S.  I apologize if it sounds like some of us are standing in a wind tunnel during this episode.  It’s been well over 90 degrees here (33 for you Celsius folks) and the A/C’s are on overdrive.

Plus don’t forget the usual great content including This Random Time Period in 40k …"

• 00:00:00  Episode 23 Intro and Contents
• 00:02:00  The Round-up: What Have We Done Since Last Episode?
• 00:21:12  This Random Time Period In 40k! – Finecast and Chaos rumors, new Forgeworld and Black Library
• 00:34:29  First Impressions: 6th Edition
• 01:23:05  Battle Report Info
• 01:34:39  Battle Report – Tyranids vs. Space Marines with Blood Angel allies
• 01:53:35  Stratagem and Post Battle Discussion
• 02:11:00  Rules of Engagement: Movement
• 02:17:49  Thanks for Listening!

Tau Buffs and Nerfs with the new 6th Edition Rules (and FAQs)

OK, so 6th edition is finally released (as well as the new codex FAQs).  I've done a preliminary "analysis" of the new rules with how it benefits/hinders Tau in mind and here is a list of interesting changes.  Keep in mind I have NOT based this on any played games yet, so this is purely theory from my reading of the rules.   Actual play experience judgments will come with time and playing many games.    If you find any errors in interpretation or just plain disagree with my opinion, please post in the comments below!

Buffs:

1. Black Sun filters grant Nightvision (ignore night fighting) to entire squad even if only one model has it! All Missions potentially have Night Fighting rule (FAQ) so this will be a boost to Tau shooting, especially against Necrons!
2. Rapid fire is now 15 inches for 2 shots and you can move and shoot… but still can’t assault after shooting. (Rulebook)  Rapid Fire weapons will be great in Overwatch because they'll mostly get two shots off per model.
3. Stealth Teams have Stealth and Shrouded USRs now.  Get +3 to their cover, a 4+ cover save in open ground, 2+ cover in most terrain. (FAQ) Stealth suits are still expensive and have crappy weapon selection, but I'm thinking of making a markerlight focused stealth team in the future... we'll see.
4. Skimmers get Jink USR and a 5+ cover when moving.  4+ when moving Flat Out (Rulebook) Same as Disruption pods now, and better if moving flat out.
5. Bonding Knife can always attempt to regroup using unmodified leadership value. (FAQ)
6. Seeker Missiles can fire on Flyers at Ballistic Skill 5 (not BS1 Snap Shot) when fired via markerlight (FAQ) This one is tricky and you basically have to roll 6s for your markelights to hit Flyers now, but this is the only "bonus" Tau get against flyers now
7. Team Leaders and Independent Characters benefit from Precision Shots and Strikes rule that allows them to allocate wounds on To Hit rolls of 6s (Rulebook) Team Leaders may become standard in most Tau armies
8. Railguns (AP1) get +2 to Vehicle Penetration chart now
9. Overwatch benefits all Shooting units in Tau army especially Rapid Fire weapons which will be firing twice when assaulted (Rulebook)
10. Our Weapons are Useless rule can benefit tarpitted units and open up the ability to break and allow friendly units to fire at powerful enemy.  Good for Kroot stuck in combat before players turn?
11. Slow and Purposeful always can move 6” in movement phase but may not run.  Broadsides can move reliably now (Rulebook)
12. Squadrons – Immobilised squadron models no longer count as Destroyed, they just separate from the Squadron.  Good for Piranhas (Rulebook)
13. Warlord Traits – Command and Strategic traits seem most beneficial to Tau, in general.  Personal Traits seem to close combat focused for tau, 5 and 6 are only useful traits. (Rulebook)  Some Traits I find most useful to Tau are:   Command - Inspiring Presence, Target Priority    Personal - Tenacity, Immovable Object   Strategic -  Night Attacker (used with Black Sun Filters), Divide to Conquer, Princeps of Deceit
14. Allies – Space Marines and Eldar are Battle Brothers.  Space Marines could add resilient objective holders (terminators?) or assaulters. (Rulebook)

Neutral Changes:

1. Jump Shoot Jump in Assault phase is now 2d6” (Rulebook)
2. All Tau vehicles except Piranha have 3 hullpoints.  Piranha only has 2 hull points. (Rulebook)

Nerfs:

1. Target Lock does NOTHING for battlesuits.  Broadsides take BIG hit and can no longer split fire. (FAQ)  I'm pretty pissed about this, especially for my Broadsides.  My Crisis Suits always use to have target locks on their Team Leaders too. 
2. Assault Charge is 2d6” now, apparently the average charge is now 7" and 8" for Fleet/Jump Pack units... playing keep away could potentially be harder to do
3. Assaulting Vehicles is versus WS1 of the vehicle if it moved and WS0 if it didn’t... vehicles in general seem weaker in this edition
4. Disruption Pods only give 5+ cover saves now... as if vehicles weren't weakened enough... There is little point to these now with the Jink rule for Skimmers

So what do you guys think?   Did I miss anything?  Am I completely wrong on any of these points?   In general, I'm pretty excited about 6th but I really hope that rumored Tau flyer comes sooner than later because I don't know how I'm gonna handle flyers right now other than fortifications.

Tau Custom Dice!

I finally got some custom dice for my Tau army.   After having a good experience with my Blood Angels dice, I decided to get some more custom dice through Chessex ( to order your own go to http://chessex.com/Dice/Custom_Dice_Home.htm).   It was about $30 for 20 16mm dice and a small blue velvet bag, shipping included.  Unlike my Blood Angels dice these aren't a straight opaque dice.   They're called "Velvet" Blue with white pips and the dice have a sort of pearlescent sheen to them.    Have a look:

 

Also, Here is the artwork I used to make the dice (plus and alternate "reverse" image):

Painter Spotlight: Big Red

Bell of Lost Souls had a spotlight on their resident Tau player, Big Red (you may have seen his army in some of their battle reports).   The color scheme is VERY similar to mine (Skeleton Bone and Bestial Brown - he has excellent taste hehe), especially with his vehicles, but there's definately enough differences to warrant a look.   His Kroot are not your typical green either.   The Great Gnarlac (sp?) is absolutely gorgeous as well.  Have a look:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/02/40k-showcase-tau-empire-by-bigred.html

More Tau Rumors

Here are some more Tau rumors culled from Warseer's forums.  These are mostly from Warseer member ghost21:

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=321393

On Demiurg:

ghost21:
the preliminary rules make demiurg equal to banshees in combat?... without the scream thing though

ok one more the demiurg ancients , think of them as cranky old wise men who saw the imperium in its infancy they had seen the eldar come n go, n thought it was another decadent empire... though they normally take hundreds of years to make a decision... the tau have something special the demiurg like

(standard demiurg have 2 options)

Originally Posted by MajorWesJanson
The idea of a feudal system actually seems like a good one. The Tau are in it for the Greater Good, but have other species that are essentially mercenaries. As they expand, it does make a lot of sense to essentially make lesser Alien Empires into Fiefs of the Tau Empire. They do their own thing, don't oppose the Tau, and provide a tithe of resources and troops to the Tau as needed. the Central leadership, instead of a monarch, is made up of a council of Etherials, with lower ranked Etherials mostly taking the place of Dukes and Barons.

ghost21 response:
exactly how there relations with the demiurg are pointed out

On Kroot units and possibility of Kroot riders:

Quote:
Here's hoping for Knarloc riders. They need more cav. in the game.

ghost21 response:
no riders in any dex ive seen, though id love them

Tastyfish:
For Kroot, I'd guess a Kroozilla - perhaps with two options following the recent Warhammer examples (though 40K lends itself more to just having different weapon options rather requiring two completely different roles for variety). The diplodocus or triceratops to the Great Knarloc's T-rex.

Though then again there's been plenty of units that never got made which were in the old Kroot mercs army, I just feel that stalker and/or vulture kindred would more likely come from a recut kroot sprue.

ghost21 response:
all ill add to this is gw love big gribblies


On Crisis Suits:

Originally Posted by AlphariusOmegon20
I don't have an issue with the look of the XV-8's, but fixing the ankle issue does seem like a good idea since they have the chance to do so.

Beyond that, I'd like to see the XV-88's go to underslung guns, like the FW ones. It would bring their look more in line with other Xv sytems.

ghost21 response:
ive seen less boxy crisis suits, experimental suits for characters, and a special sniper suit


Originally Posted by xerxeshavelock
But the ankles man! Priorities......

ghost21 response:
well there completely new suits so the ankles are fixed


On Different Races:

Originally Posted by Rogue Star
So the Tau have the Kroot, Vespid and Demiurg now?

ghost21 response:
plus one more.. but yup (im not including the nausicar)

could this be that 4th race in the codex?