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: Shas'O R'alai

Long time viewers of my blog might notice that the banner has changed for Tau. That's because Im trying to make it so each army from here on out has a unique banner or some form of it. We'll see how well it goes. Today I present a new addition to my growing Sept. Shas'O R'alai!

At the store ( I bought the forge world broadside too!)

This model was purchased for me by Bandogora01 at his local game store. Old armies are traded in for store credit and I happened to be there over Christmas break when I spotted Shas'O R'alai and a Forge world Broadside. Both very hard pieces to come by (without paying Forge world prices here in the states). As such I wanted to pick them up and had my friend who worked there hold them for me until I got paid. Bandogora was nice enough to ship them to me once I paid for them and they arrived in good time. The initial model weren't much to look at. Black primer and a weird brown color base coat. This was removed easily enough with LA's Totally Awesome and then the true fun began.

Cleaned up and ready (Spoilers for future post)

I primed the model and then set about painting it in the color scheme of my Sept. Long time viewers know that the color scheme usually takes about a week from start to finish. Shas'O R'alai took two weeks of off and on painting. This was because as a HQ unit I wanted to make sure extra attention was paid to the model in the process. Once the model was finished I set about making a few fixes on the model before calling it done.

That same weekend, I took Shas'O R'alai out to the game store with my brother. We played a 1500 point game. Tau vs Guard. Crisis Wing (Farsight) vs Armored Company with a mission from the Monk'ta Book. Needless to say, I lost. However Shas'O R'alai proved his worth killing many guardsmen, a chimera, and a sentinel before dying to massive lasgun fire. His warlord trait: The Assassin really did make him a terror for independent characters. 1d4chan claims hes the tau version of Abbadon, Yarrick, and other heros who can "tank" their way through the enemy. I didnt see that as much as I saw a long ranged killing machine who could bring a lot of hurt for very little cost. Shas'O R'alai's markerdrones hitting on a 3+ really did make it easy for markerlights to be used for his squad. In the future I think Shas'O R'alai might become a more permanent addition to my forces. My brother on the other hand reverted back to the normal "Tank-Mander" build stating he felt that Shas'O R'alai wasnt within his play style. To each their own.

Back View

Marker drones

Tell me your thoughts on Shas'O R'alai, is he truly a terror like Dante or Yarrick or is he more akin to our regular Tau commander. Share your thoughts below.

Till next time!

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Tau Sept: A Rising [Rip]Tide

Today we present you with a real treat. A Tau Riptide done up the Jar'Kia Sept scheme. This Riptide was a Christmas present from my father and was a gift I had been wanting for a few years now. Riptides are commonly though as OP (Overpowered for you non gamers) and so they are not given much mercy on the table. In the last three games I've used proxies for it, it has not died and in fact has killed a ton of points back.

So, how did I go about starting this build? Well first I clipped off the pieces and then laid them out to do sub assemblies on them. I highly recommend sub assemblies for this model due to its size and height.

Next, I set about doing painting all the parts in jade with a purple ink. After that I did the metals first with a bronze and then with a tin color. After that, I broke out my air brush and set to work doing all the jade parts you see before you. While the purple ink took two full days of on and off work, the jade only took 5 minutes with a air brush. A airbrush makes the job so much easier and enjoyable.

After the airbrush work, i let the model dry before going onto the detail work. First was the highlighting on all parts of the model. Then came the recessive highlighting with the purple wash. I then washed the blacks with nuln oil before adding a highlight to the black. Next came the metallic parts (again due to over spray with the airbrush) and then the washes on top of the metal parts. Lastly came the orange which I had stupidly left at my girlfriends house over winter break and so was forced to put that part of the project on hold for a long while. I then added a brown tone to the base and added some agrellian earth to the bottom in order to make the model look completed.

I have yet to try it in game yet but from what Ive seen of it played in proxy play, it is a beast of a model. Stupidly, once i finished the model I had burnt myself out on it and left the Burst cannon and secondary systems partly done. This has seen been corrected but it was a pain in the arse to go back and finish them out.

Overall it was a fun model kit to put together. While I am in no rush to get another Riptide, I do intend to buy 2 more someday. I think running a riptide wing would be fun (and cheesy as heck). Maybe I should save it for tournament level play?

In real life news I have found out that my Masters Thesis has been approved. This is a huge milestone for me and one that means life is about to get really busy for me. Not that i'm complaining though.

Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

Till next time!

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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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