Tau Codex: Warlord Traits and Dreams

Hello everyone, my name is Jerry and today we will be talking Traits, my feelings on them and just a general review of them. Jon will be posting this for me but lets move on.

To start off, I would like to point out the “Named Character and Warlord Traits”. Of the six named characters, there are two from different Septs, the rest are T'au. So if we want to run a Battalion or Brigade from another Sept, we HAVE to have either a Fireblade or a Ethreal in it because of the COMMANDER limit. Already not a fan.

Another thing I would like to talk about is that we only really have three “types” of Warlord (excluding Longstrike and Darkstrider). We have the Ethreal, the Cadre Fireblade, and the COMMANDER. When looking at a lot of these traits, a lot of them seem to have been built for suits in mind. Precision of the Hunter, A Ghost Walks Among Us, and Examplar of the Mont'ka come to mind, but we have a limit to one per detachement

There is good too though. For example my favorite Trait thus far has been Through Unity, Devastation. This thing takes your average gunline and makes it a slightly more deadly or turns your Crisis Suits into Assassins. Say you have a Fireblade with this Trait and you've got fourteen Pulse Rifles that have a target within Volley Shot range. On average, with only re-rolls of 1, because that is all I use my Fireblade for is Markerlights, they are needing to save against sixteen shots, and of those about five are at -1. Now my math maybe a little suspect, but those Sixteen shots alone would usually kill any infantry in their way. But those Five -1's, when going up against stats like 2+/3++ *Cough*Custodes*Cough* give that little edge on possibly nicking more health off it. Hell, it helps against most MEQ in general and can even flat out kill some GEQ. The idea is that whether you're spamming pulse fire, or Ion cannons, it makes your dudes that much more lethal.

                                                            The Good

Through Unity, Devastation: Like I talked about above, this Trait gives all your 6+ wound rolls an additional AP when within 6” of the Warlord and against a single unit. Helps that gunline focus fire and annihilate more armored foes. Best part is it works on any toughness.

Academy Luminary: What's not to like? It increases the range of your three HQs abilities and gives you an additional CP. I personally haven't thrown it on anybody but Aun'Shi and a Kroot blob, but the thought of throwing it on a Commander, and advancing a gunline Via Mont'ka to cover a large swath of board without losing aim is great!

Precision of the Hunter: So this is one of those Traits I mentioned earlier that was meant more for a suit. I cannot think of a good reason a Fireblade or Ethreal are re-rolling 1's vs. MONSTERS and VEHICLES when most things that have that keyword they will be wounding on 4+ or worse. If it wasn't for the fact it is really, really good on a Anti-heavy 'Mander, this would be Bad. But when I get to re-roll wound rolls of 1 against things I am wounding on 4+ or better, yeah, really helps when my Fusionmander is burying 3 Blasters into a tank and really wants that gooey Marine or Guardsman inside.

Seeker of Perfection: Again another suit made Trait. For each 6+ hit roll, +1 to wound roll. The Fireblade is not pumping out enough shots to make this reliable and the Ethreal will most likely die before it can really see it's use with it's 5+ save in melee. Kinda in the same ballpark as Precision of the Hunter in the sense that it is great at making sure your shots go through, but feels more like it is built for large volumes of fire with weaker guns. Say for example a Coldstar decked with burst cannons and HBC. He is going to be wounding most things you wanna throw volume fire at on 3+ so adding 1 for every 6+ hit is kinda neat and it seems to stack with Overwatch. So it seems that every time you hit in Overwatch you get to add 1 to your wound as you need a 6 to hit in Overwatch as Bork'an Sept.

Hero of the Enclaves: This thing is awesome! Now T'au should never in their right minds get in melee, but when it comes to the Farsight Enclaves, sword range is where they like to be. And no Trait better emphasises this fact than by letting you Heroic intervention 6” and basically as long as you don't stay in melee you get to re-roll FAILED hit rolls. So even though average 'Mander is hitting in melee on 3+, that “all failed rolls” part makes you that much more of a Kung Fu badass. And with Fly, there is no reason you aren't making sure the conditions for the Trait aren't met. By far this Trait is the most reliable and possibly the most potent...as long as you have some Fusion blades because you still don't have melee weapons and still have AP 0, D1 fists.

                                  The Bad

Exemplar of the Mont'ka: So let's start off with Mont'ka. Back in the Chapter approved, this rule read “Your Warlord can Advance and still shoot as if they hadn't moved this turn”. Frankly kinda busted because then my Darkstrider (who I got a tonne of use in Index) or Shadowsun could just run down the field and in Darkstrider and a Fireblade's case, Markerlight on 2+ still, and on Shadowsun she could bounce up to some tough guys with her min 9” move and blast them in the face with her Blasters. Now with the Codex out, Darkstrider no longer get's this, nor does Shadowsun and Fireblades are more prone to standing around with their gunline. I can see it's use on a non-Vior'la Fireblade keeping up with some Carbine warriors still wanting Markerlight, or maybe a COMMANDER that want's to save points instead of being a Coldstar but otherwise is overshadowed by Vior'la Tenant.

Through Boldness, Victory: Great if you didn't already hit on 2+ and usually is able to re-roll 1s's. Also doesn't work during Overwtach, which admittedly would be busted, and not when outside 12” which is when all other armies -1 to hit ability no longer applies. It's good when you no longer have re-rolls, and  when you have lost you mind and are allowing something to stay within 12” of your Warlord without being an Assassin or Meat Grinder. Risk is too great for a payout that you easily get already.

A Ghost Walks Among Us: Let's bring back Darkstrider because he gets this. Pretty good for him because he gets to be all zippy on the field with his 7” Vanguard, 7” move and now +6” advance. Other than that, not that great. Ethreal can get it, but only good thing I see coming out of it is keeping up with Kroot mob. Fireblade is prone to standing around and if he advances he can't shoot anything that turn anyway (unless Vior'la but even then only the rifle can be used) and when it comes to COMMANDERs, there is the Coldstar who has a better movement (though I am unsure if you can stack it with a Coldstar as the Trait says specifically when rolling a dice).  The point is that it seems the Units that would get the most use out of it are heading into melee, which we don't want our Warlord most of the time (see above, Hero of the Enclaves.) or have a unit that does this better for 18 points more.

                                  The Ugly

Strength of Belief: I hate this thing. It reminds me that T'au have no Psyker defense, have no reliable mortal wound generator (see Seeker missile) anymore, and the thing is useless anyway. First off it is put on our Tank Commander. Other than a handful of guns, there is nothing else but Psyker powers that dish mortal wounds. And most Psyker powers that do mortal wounds hit the closest unit. I don't know about you, but my Longstrike is far away from any Psyker unless it is Grey knights or some Eldar units that like to get close. Even then there is a unit in between Longstrike and that Psyker.When not on Longstrike, the only time I see it's use is from snipers, but sniper rifles and most other weapons are not reliable mortal wound generator to see it's use unless you opponent spams those things.

Overall I think when it comes to Traits, there are some that will see way more use than others, but overall I can't say we did terribly. Next time I will be Talking Tenants and kinda do an overview much like this for it.

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