New Tau codex and models

April will be an interesting month for xenos-lovers, with Forge World dropping IA12-Necrons and GW dropping Tau.

That’s right, unless thou liveth under a rock, you are probably already aware that Tau will be pointing their shiny, new rail cannons at our flyers starting April 6th. I have included below a brief summary of what people elsewhere think they know so far, most of this is taken from Faeit 212 and Dakka’s Tau rumour summary thread.

But, I want to start off with an observation of my own – look at the first three pics below of the new Riptide über suit. Look at the size of it in the first pic compared to the other regular suits, and then look at it in the second pic, where it is taking a knee! To me, this sucker looks even bigger than a GK knight.

NOW, think about the forthcoming Eldar codex which really cannot be too much further down the road. By year-end, probably? If GW is going to start introducing titanic suits of these dimensions, what do you suppose Eldar might get, hmmm?

OK, getting on with it. Kroot are rumoured to be getting a HQ slot of some kind, and Vespids have long been rumoured to have been re-modeled (yay!) and significantly improved. But, so far these have both been notably absent from the various pics and rules leaked. Faeit 212 has some very interesting messages concerning them and other potential 40K allies being included in the codexes and also in a forthcoming Allies supplement http://natfka.blogspot.ca/2013/03/allies-supplement.html#more . These might include Genestealer Cults, which recently got the official pdf treatment, Gretchin, about whom rumours have been flying thick and fast recently, Renegade Guardsmen/Chaos Cultists, and …………. *drumroll* ………….. Eldar Pirates. No doubt some heavy wishlisting in there, but who knows?

- Codex is by Jeremy Vetock.
- Battleforce now contains 12 FW, 3 Crisis Suits, 3 Stealth Suits, 1 Piranha and drones.
- new Commander Farsight model.
- other new HQ’s may include a tank commander and a FW leader, who may permit neighbouring units to overwatch one target unit.
- tank(s) may be able to overwatch.
- Stealth Suits can overwatch at BS2, and can have Stealth droene.
- Crisis Suits are re-packaged into a set of 3. No aesthetic change, certainly no FW suits.
- Broadsides are changed a little bit. Also, 85 pts gets you S8 AP1 Skyfire.
- railguns are now S8 Ap1 base - rail cannons are S10 AP1.
- Seeker missiles can have Skyfire.
- Interceptor drones are in.
- plastic Pathfinder squads, with Nightstrider character(?)
- dual flyer kit gets you Sun Shark bomber or Razorshark fighter.

EDIT - pics, etc., now available on GW's site. Gob.

Its going to be interesting to see their rules. Many people complained when Crons came out that Tau no longer had a place, because Guard was the mass shooting, while Crons were the "Elite Shooting" Guess we will see soon enough where our fish people fall in...

Some nice models there, other than that bomber. In my opinion it's uuuugggggggggggggglllllyyy!!!
That battlesuit, however, looks pretty darn mean. It will be interesting to see how they've progressed.

Looks like my silly fish people will be draining my wallet next month I'm actually glad that the suits didn't change as rumored(I have a ton of the originals) and that the pathfinders look, well, just like my old ones. I'm interested to see how the drones pictured in the Pathfinder pics work. Farsight and MEGASUIT look pretty amazing. Railguns at S8, AP1? I will have an aneurism if this applies to Pathfinder railgus, not so pleased if Broadsides have been seriously downgraded. Overall I am very pleased with this news!

I'm with Cavash-the bomber looks....more like a WW2 plane with the wings and all.

i cannot wait!! this was the army I wanted to play as first but the codex was so old and all the shiny new Dark Eldar models were comin out

I've always liked the Tau, both from a fluff perspective and also because most of the models are beautiful and very distinct from every other 40k race. I'll pick up the codex when it's released and look into the possibility of some as an allied force.

Hmmm, not too sure about the flyers, they look a bit ungainly... But then that's probably because of the insane armament they'll no doubt be packing The Riptide looks good, apart from the head. Maybe it's the angle of the camera or something, but it seems a bit small, like it's just one little chap poking his head out of a robot to see if it's safe to come out yet.

Evil Space Elves wrote:

:Railguns at S8, AP1? I will have an aneurism if this applies to Pathfinder railgus, not so pleased if Broadsides have been seriously downgraded. Overall I am very pleased with this news!

Rumor is railguns on the broadsides are S8 AP1 but have skyfire... and the rail cannon (hammerhead) is S10 AP1. Still if they get cheaper, and can carry some more stuff, S8 AP1 still isnt too bad...

Also I thought the plane looks out of place as well in a tau army... I mean you have all those weird flying wing style aircraft from forgeworld... only to see a regular old plane next to them. I know GW likes to be different than FW, but atleast they could of had some sort of the same design...

My wife is going to kill me if I pick some of these guys up. I, too have always liked the Tau for their fluff and the looks of their models. Although I dumped my collection many years ago to move onto other armies I did enjoy modeling and playing with them. From the one photo we've got I actually like the flyer. But one photo isn't much to go on. I was talking about the Riptide with a friend who has a pretty extensive Tau collection. We speculated that it might have some Wraithlord-esque stats with monstrous creature etc. I'm looking forward to learning more. I'm thinking it might be fun to recreate some War of Dark Revelations battles. I guess I'll need to get Urien and more Coven stuff too. Yes, I do believe my wife will kill me.

Recently in yet another game against the hated Ancient Enemy, the Necrons, I decided to go and take a small detachment of Tau in my DE army, my good ol' Battlesuit commander and three crisis suits on top of mandatory 6 fire warriors. They performed Deep Strike deep into the heart of the enemy, annihilated a squad of Immortals that had the Necron Warlord who failed the leadership and promptly ran off the table. They wreaked absolute havoc. It really harkened back to when I started out 40k with Tau... and I really want to field them some more.

This new release, well... it will really drain my wallet. While I'd love new battlesuits, it seems the new box is slightly cheaper than buying them separately (shocking!) and the ubersuit looks simply amazing! I doubt it will be assembled as on the box, though - it practically begs to be turned into a Metal Gear analogue.

In any case, it seems my evil space elf pirates are going to be picking up a band of bitter ex-Empire mercenaries...

I just sold a largish Tau army that I had started to put together for my son 2 years ago, right before his budding teen interests diverted him elsewhere. I did, however, keep a token force of two dozen FW's, a HQ suit, 5 XV25 Stealths, three Devilfish chassis (with Rail Gun, Ion Cannon and Skyray turrets), and 32 Kroot.

I am quite interested in building a large Kroot/Vespid allied force, and having a token Tau force available, even though I don't use allies yet. So of this release, I will be waiting for the Kroot and Vespids, and I might pick up a Commander suit, but that's about it. Maybe Pathfinders. I will definitely get the codex though, I think this one will be a good read.

But those flyers, .... definitely the Handley Page flying suitcases of the 41st millenium.

EDIT - very good new summary (March 19) on Faeit 212 at
http://natfka.blogspot.ca/2013/03/tau-as-we-now-know-it-compilation.html

Gobsmakked wrote:

But those flyers, .... definitely the Handley Page flying suitcases of the 41st millenium.

WELL PLAYED SIR! (Yes, I had to Google it to be sure that I was catching the reference correctly )

New info and pics popping up everywhere today, these are from http://latabernadelaurana.blogspot.com.es/2013/03/rumores-fotos-tau-en-alta-calidad.html and zhongzzw over at ATT, both via Dakka:





Cadre Fireblade (Upgrade for Fire Warrior units, Plastic)


Commander Long Knife (tank commander, Finecast)


Dark Strider (Pathfinder character,, Finecast)


Larger pic of Pathfinders:










And from Dakka's Kroothawk:
Also, there will be a limited edition Codex Tau.
And Hammerhead/Skyray get an official combined box, 6€ more expensive of course: 45 €
The new Battleforce will be released 4th May.

Hammerhead and Skyray get a combined box? But... that's the current Skyray box! Lame!

I really like the models, though. The Broadside has to be my favourite, though!

hate the new broadside... the old ones look way better...

That fireknife though, looks really good. I would use several

Not a good picture of the Broadside but still think it looks nice, and if it's a single kit now rather than a Failcast addition to the Crisis kit then I'd be much happier.

4,000 views on this thread, and in just 8 days? Wow, some people are hungry for Tau! I knew that Tau were well overdue, but I didn't realize their current 'dex dated from 2005(!) until I glanced at it a few days ago.

Judging by the interest here and elsewhere, I think this will be one of the more popular releases in recent times. Of course, Spess-muhreenz and Eldar (especially Eldar) later this year will be bigger.

2013 is looking pretty good so far.

PS - meh, I will never get one of these flyers.

Second oldest book in existence (behind BT, and just ahead of Eldar) - they're my second army, but I don't know how much of a revisiting I'll do with them. Probably get the new book and see how it plays with my existing armies. I also really want to field the firewall at one point; 6 full squads plus an ethereal with honour guard. 84 fire warriors... they may not be fantastic, but people will think twice before coming anywhere near it!

Gobsmakked wrote:

4,000 views on this thread, and in just 8 days? Wow, some people are hungry for Tau!

What you have there is 8 starving Tau fans who viewed the thread 500 times a piece or we're all straight up game geeks who can't help but to look at pictures of new toy soldiers. For myself I've viewed each new post on this thread just to make sure I didn't miss any good stuff, like new pics.

Siticus the Ancient wrote:

Hammerhead and Skyray get a combined box? But... that's the current Skyray box! Lame!

Wouldn't surprise me, but if you look at the Devilfish in the fifth pic in the first post, you'll see it seems to have a new drone-like disc where the turret would be, and there appears to be something on the side of the hull immediately above the side hatch. That may just be a marking, but it does look like there might be some new bitz in the box.

I see. Fil Dunn's XV202 (http://www.coolminiornot.com/260794) has finally gained an incarnation... I suppose then, that I will have to start once more, with my first 40k army...

More pics for the deprived, via Natfka and ATT

There are many pics here [link below] from the April WD and new codex. The bottom one shows Kroot and Vespids, and sadly the Vespids look unchanged still - although it is a small pic. Will have to wait for a second wave of releases, I suppose.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-olatFJu42Wc/UVROxIZmFcI/AAAAAAAAVb8/qJNr3HmImyI/s1600/IMG_0097_zpsd05a6746.jpg

Comparison chart with Riptide über suit:

Thanks. Intersting reading on the page in the link. A codex that is not dark and gothic. No skulls. I'm not sure it can be done. I'll have to get the dex just for the experience.