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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Tau Codex: 8th Edition Review

The Tau are back! March 17th saw Games Workshop release the first 8th edition codex for the Tau Empire and what a codex it was! New Sept Tenants, Stratagems and even a list building restriction found nowhere else in the game. Tau really did get it all. However after getting the codex, I decided that it was worth a look through. These will be first impressions from the codex between myself as a veteran Tau player and Jerry2die4 as a brand new Tau player. Each of us has written a segment of this article. We hope that both the veteran players and the new players see what has come out of the Eastern Fringe.

Jon's thoughts as a Veteran Tau Player

First off, the good. TAU SEPT TENANTS! Finally! This is something that I've wanted since 4th edition for the Tau. Now that we have six sept tenants, we have the ability to actually have some uses for certain units. Since my Jar'Kia sept is a world that was taken by the Bork'an Tau, I felt it was only natural for me to take the Bork'an Sept trait.

Next comes the warlord traits and there are a lot of them. Tau got a few in 6th and 7th when the warlord traits first came out. However this edition has seen the number raise drastically. Each Sept is getting its own trait and this allows for the player to have a lot of say on how their warlord is run. I plan to have my commander running a triple Ion blaster and some shield drones. However, the 1 Tau Commander suit per detachment is kind of a bust. More on that later.

The Stratagems that  Tau got were really nice. We even got the return of the Doomsday bomb from 4th ed. A pleasant surprise for those long time tau fans. I think as a Tau veteran player, the most noticeable thing about the codex was a the number of options that it opens up. I like how each stratagem allows for the flexibility of play. A tau player should be able to pull of between 10 and 15 command points allowing many tactical options for the average player. Stratagems allow for the Tau player to be able to play his or her army with a lot of synergy. Whereas the Imperial Guard is about numbers, Tau is about fire power in the right spot at the right time. Each piece of war gear and stratagems allows a Tau Shas'o to be prepared for anything and everything.

Victory for the Tau over the Forces of Chaos

Now on the bad and the ugly....

First, Crisis suits are still very expensive. The base cost for a crisis suit is seemingly too high for the output of damage that it does. With the loss of Crisis suits being troops, the usefulness of the unit has gone down. This also damages Farsights ability to "Farsight Bomb" the enemy with crisis suits.  Secondly, the uselessness of the Tau Key word for Jetpack. When keywords first became a thing, it was hoped among many Tau players that this keyword would allow for us to Jump-Shoot-Jump. However in the codex, the Jetpack keyword was not given any abilities. In essence, its useless.
Riptides, although better priced are still very expensive and usually die very quickly. Other units like the forge world Barracuda went up in points and are not worth fielding. Another problem is that some of the Special Characters like Shas'O O'Ralia are unable to be fielded due to their specific Sept Keyword which is not in the codex. At the moment, taking O'Ralia is more of a hindrance to you than to the enemy.

Now the ugly. The elephant in the room. The only 1 Commander rule for Tau is a major hindrance to the army at the moment. With no other army facing this restriction, Tau seem to have been (un)fairly treated in the restriction of their main HQ unit. I never used the Commander Spam and I understand why it was removed. However, what we got in return put a hamper on the army as a whole. For those who like to run multiple commanders, the limitation is going to hurt. With the March FAQ coming soon, hopefully this issue will be addressed.

As the codex starts to gain some age, Tau players will have to adapt to the coming meta. Already many list are aiming for as many command points as possible. The Tau Septs with their special rules allow for players to have all types of play be it defensive or offensive. Time will tell where the codex falls in the power levels. As a long time Tau Veteran, I am both excited and hopeful to see the army recover from its index era and move onward into 8th.

Tau'va Shas'la!

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Tau Sept: Shadow sun

To Follow any other path other than the Tau'va is to doom us all. Only together through courage and discipline shall we stand victorious. Fight with fire and courage and nothing can stand against us! - Shadow Sun (Tau Codex 4th Edition) 

So I hope you all will forgive me but I have been busy this last month with school and work. Today I present to you something thats been in my "to write" list for a while. Tau Commander Shadow Sun! 

This model is from Wargame Exclusive and is the Greater Good Dash Commander model. Sharp eyed viewers will notice that this version of Shadow Sun is a lot more "anime" than Games workshops version. The design was fine for what I wanted it for and so I put in a order for it.

 This model took about two weeks to get to the United States and then I washed it as per normal. Afterwords I put down a purple ink layer and then did the jade wash on the model. From start to finish the model only took 1 full night of work. This was unusual for me and I carefully checked to make sure that I did not miss any detail on the model. I tried to also highlight her face as to make it seem more "cute" but I dont think I did as good a job as I could have. You be the judge. 

Lately I've been searching for a better job and so my post have become fewer and far between. This means in the future I might be down to only 1 post per month. Hopefully I can keep the pace up but we will see. How do you all feel about WIP post? I usually try to make sure a post is about a finished project but Ive been thinking more WIP post might help me to get more motivated? Let me know in the comments!

Anyway Today I also broke out my air brush and did two more chimeras for my Inquisition and Tanith Army. After they were dried, I got out my tanks and took a group photo as a tease of what I want to do a future post on for my "Armored Company" list I play at times. So since I've had you all wait for so long I hope this teaser will do. 

Work In Progress Armored Company. Notice that the red chimera is a Inquisition Chimera as is the one on the far left in the same row.

Till next time! Keep rolling those dice! Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps.  

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Tau Sept: Stealth Suit Ready!

Another unit that has been along time coming. Today we present to you: Tau Stealth Suits.

These models were done over the course of two weeks in batches of three. Special attention was given to the unit in order to make sure it looked like the squad was matched to the rest of the army.

These models are some of my favorites having been the original stealth suits of the Tau back in 2006. I much prefer this smaller and sleeker look to the bulkier plastic models that came later. With this squad I wanted to get back to painting bright colors after having painted blacks and reds for so long with my Tanith. It was a joy to be able to paint something that did not have to be grim and dark.

These stealth suits showed up in the battle report a few weeks ago. As a unit of four, they were able to inflict some heavy causalities on the Tanith guardsmen. The burst cannon is a nasty piece of tech for removing GEQ models (Guardsmen EQuivalent). A week later my brother and I replayed the same list as done up in the battle report. This time the Tau and the Guard were forced to withdraw after a lengthy battle that saw both sides reduced to very few in number. While I did not get any images of that battle, it felt good to get back into the fight.

This Tau unit of stealth suits saw action during that engagement. They were able to deep strike deep into the enemy lines and killed the priest that was accompanying the Tanith Veteran Squad. The next turn they were gunned down by the angry Tanith and removed from play. Still, the battlefield is ever changing and my brother might take them again. I'll have to be on guard against them.

As the year draws to a close, these blog post are going to become more spardic. I imagine that I will only get 1 or 2 more post in for the year and then we'll be in 2017.

Till Next time! Say hi, leave a comment or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

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Battle Report: Ambush at Hive Vulcan

"These Gue'la know not the power of the Farsight Enclaves, Let us enlighten them to the Greater Good" -   Attributed to one Shas'O Jark'ia MirrorWater prior to the Ambush at Hive Vulcan M. 41

Turn 1

Its time for another battle report, this time between myself and Silent Phantom 45.  Phantom decided to play Tau against my guard in a 1000 point match up. We each used a tournament list that I had written up and set up the table. Mission was to kill as many of the enemy as possible.


Turn 1 saw Phantom line up his two broadsides and fire off his missile salvos at me. The shots hit my chimera and blew it apart wrecking it. The Tanith jumped out and scattered as the Pardus Chimera burned. Next Crisis suits lined up a shot and fired their missiles and plasma at my Leman Russ tank. All of the shots missed.

My turn 1 saw me fire my chimeras and Leman at the crisis suits and broadsides. All of my shots failed to hit. I had forgotten to scout my snipers so they were left in reserve.

Turn 2 saw Phantom move his suits into position and line up another shot. This time the Leman Russ tank was knocked out by the two broadsides and the Crisis suit team that had missile pods and plasma rifles.  On the other end of the board, the crisis team failed to come in from reserve and the suits moved up along with the commander. The stealth team of three hid out in a ruin.

My turn 2 saw me move up my troopers to cover of the burning Russ. The scout sentinel walked into the lane of fire and the chimeras on the other end of the field moved up firing at the stealth team. 2 members of the stealth suit team were killed in action but their leader would rally on his own. A crisis suit of the three man squad was killed in action as well when the Tanith Veterans jumped out of their chimera and fired into the enemy with their war priest shouting hymns to the emperor. My snipers failed to come on

Turn 3 saw Phantom destroy another chimera as its Tanith crew jumped out from the flaming Pardus wreck.  The crisis team on the right flank blew apart the scout sentinel and the broadsides fire at the command chimera but missed. On the left flank the crisis suits and the commander tore into the Tanith squad and the priest. Two members of the squad were killed but the rest lived as the xeno suits descended upon them

My Turn 3 saw my command chimera move back to avoid the broadside guns. Orders were thrown out to the vets and they roared their defiance at the enemy killing two drones and a suit. The stealth team was shot at by the chimera but lived. On the right flank my Veterans were firing at the crisis team descending upon them. One enemy suit was killed. Again my snipers failed to come on.

Tau in my back field

Turn 4, Phantom deep struck his Tau into my back field. Tearing apart my Pardus chimeras, he ripped into them and the Tanith were forced to jump out. Now things were getting desperate. He fired destroying the command chimera. Ibram Gaunt and Colonel Corbec jumped out angry that their comrades had been killed by the xeno. A few more Tanith on each flank were killed as the xeno pressed their attack.

For the Emperor!

Turn 4 for me saw my guys fire into the Tau and a few assaults went off. Gaunt and his squad charged the Tau, and in return Ana was hit as they overwatched. The squad used their straight silvers to tear into the enemy ripping apart the suits as one enemy and a drone fell to the blade. In front of them, the Tanith veteran squad assaulted the Tau commander and last stealth suit in one of the most heroic acts of the game.This delaying action would later allow for the Tanith to re position themselves and get a better lane of fire on the enemy. Many more Tanith were killed and injured and the war priest himself was knocked out as the xeno commander pushed aside all opposition. The Tau stealth suit was killed inspiring the Tanith to greater feats of heroism.

For Tanith!

Turn 5 saw the Tau kill off the last of the Veteran squad and one lone Tanith sergeant ran for his life. The Tau commander fired killing three Veterans of Tanith and the broadsides moved up. The Command Squad and Gaunt were hit again losing another Tanith and on the left flank the survivors of the Tau commanders rampage got attacked again by the Shas'O. Things were starting to get very desperate.

My Turn 5 saw the snipers come on and the Veteran squad in the chimera join the assault against the Tau suits attacking my command squad. With their straight silvers, the Tanith tore into the Tau killing the suit and its drone. Now free of the melee of combat, the Command squad turned its attention to the squad of crisis suits bearing down upon it on the right. Gaunt and Corbec was all that was left. Doc Dorden had been KO'ed by the suit as it went down. The snipers fired killing the second suit leaving two suits alive. Gaunt and Corbec moved towards their enemy to show them Tanith's wraith.

Desperate Melee combat

Turn 6 saw the enemy Tau commander punch his fist into the Pardus chimera with a str 10 AP1 hit. the tank exploded causing him 3 wounds and killing 2 Tanith in return. The Crisis suit then moved towards his next target: the lone Tanith veteran squad. The two suits fired on Gaunt and Corbec but missed. The broadsides had no targets but moved up anyways killing one sniper. The lone sergeant running for his life was also killed during this turn.

My Turn 6 saw my last Vet squad fire on the Crisis command but fail to kill him. The Snipers fired on the commander suit but failed to kill him. Corbec and Gaunt took on the two suits and killed both in melee combat. They then consolidated towards the enemy commander.

Turn 7 saw the enemy commander jumping away from the three surviving Tanith and firing his last charge of Ion at them.All three were vaporized in a hail of ion fire.

Corbec and Gaunt face the Tau

My Turn 7 saw Gaunt and Corbec fight the Xeno in melee. Both were Knocked out and left for dead on the battle field.

Victory had gone to the Tau!


Post Game report:

Well that wasn't how I expected things to go. This fight was hard and Phantom (being my brother) knew what I would do and countered hard. It was a bloody fight till the end and was a hard fought game. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the list I was using. Someday i'll have to challenge him again to replay this fight. For a while I thought I had him but he was able to play aggressively and turn the tide. Some of you might note that he was using my Tau against me. Thats because he doesnt have a army of his own but Its nice to see my figures being used (even if it is against me). Anyway leave comments and any questions you have i'll be happy to answer.

Till next time!

Table at the end

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