Hey Veeky Forums I've never played 40k before and I went out and bought some Tau units...

Hey Veeky Forums I've never played 40k before and I went out and bought some Tau units, I'm in the process of putting together this transport right now and I have a few questions.

This thing comes with a co-pilot with binoculars, does including him popping out the top hatch change this units abilities or stats?
And if I were to include him but customized him so that he's not carrying binoculars and is wielding something else, would that matter?

I glued the random doo-dads the fire warriors come with to their hip like the book suggested but I have no fucking clue what I'm actually doing.

No. The fine details of any model are just for show. Models have very, very little affect on actual gameplay.

Oh ok, awesome. So I forgot to mention a few other questions I have.

Are the drones on this transport meant to detatch?
If not should I just glue them to the fore fins?

Also, I have a unit of crisis suits and I noticed there's not a lot of visual difference between them and bodyguards. I only noticed this after I actually assembled the units and it looks like I may have used a few pieces from the bodyguard to make my "main" crisis suit. I intended to just make 3 normal crisis suits. What, if anything should I do?

Nothing is "meant to detach" ever unless you magnetize the piece. Otherwise you just glue it.

Again, what the models actually look like is more of a personal statement. Just say they're all normal crysis suits.

>Models have very, very little affect on actual gameplay.
You've never played with WYSIWYG faggots literally the worst of the worst. Regardless of that though, the parts on the model do have a place - a leman russ has a tank commander going out the hatch, can carry a dozer blade, can have a search light, can take a hunter-killer missile, etc. and there are bits to represent all of this that go directly on the model.

The "fine detail" part I agree with, but don't the tau have their own version of a tank commander that you use the top hatch guy for?

The only embellishments on the vehicle that matters is the vehicle are whether you do the gun drones or smart missile system. Everything else is just for looks. So even if your little guy sitting out of the cupola is holding a pulse rifle, that does not mean your transport gets a pulse rifle shots.

The only options available to things are listed in the dataslates. Anything outside of that are just embelishments.

However WYSIWYG is important in this game (what you see is what you get), meaning if you build your fire warriors with the long pulse rifles, then when you play them, they have pulse rifles, not pulse carbines. If you wanted them to have pulse carbine, you would have modeled them with pulse carbines (the shorter gun).

Basically as long as you stick with the right guns and bases, then you can do whatever you want with your models.

Awesome thanks for the help guys!

Also, not quite sure about the tank commander but I'll check the codex and manual or something idk what I'm really looking for though.

I wish I had pictures , but I have a friend who went out and bought a Tau battleforce with 0 prior knowledge of the game besides "They're the anime ones".

He ended up butchering the fire warriors. One had his head on upside down. One is on his side (Breakdancing), many have their shoulder pads in odd spots, and the devilfish commander looks like he's holding a cellphone on his shoulder while he's shouting at his troops.

He never actually played with them, but he did give them to me, I have them in a box somewhere, gotta go dig those guys out. I used to use them as proxy IC's in home games, fun stuff.


Drones can detatch, ignore other user. Just don't glue them to their bases.

If you want some to be special (Crisis suits), give them more bits. Or not, it doesn't really matter.

The drones can detach and you don't need to magentize them. Stop feeding him lies.

The only tank commander available in the codex is Longstrike, but he acts as a wargear upgrade to a hammerhead gunship, not a devilfish transport. Putting the guy on the devilfish has no effect, but it can look cool.

Ah ok that makes more sense. I mean, I like the idea that a unit can only use the weapons they are modeled with, but what I was really confused about was the effect the small magazines and grenades/pouches and stuff had.

That's pretty great, I've been wanting to get into 40k for quite a while now and I know the basics, but mostly a fan of the lore which is why I chose Tau.

Ok, that makes sense it seems like they're intended to just rest there. However is there a mechanic for that in game? For example if I land a devilfish can I separate the drones if the transport is destroyed? Also would I just make a special base for them that they don't need to be glued to?

Noted, going for looks then. Thanks!

As far as the drones go, they can detatch from the vehicle, but only before it is destroyed.

So long as you leave the little hole on the bottom of the drone open, you can freely take them on and off of their bases. They rest on a little stick when on base. None of my drones are glued on to their bases.

The only thing that really matter on crisis suits are the weapons they have.

Bodyguards look the same as regular elite crisis suits. Just when you play, point out to your opponent whether or not the unit is a bodyguard unit or just a crisis team.

Puches and stuff are just embelishments. You could skip them if you want and it wouldnt effect the gameplay. Again the only real things that matter for WYSIWYG are the weapons.

As for the drones, yes they remain on the vehicle and act as a weapon system on the vehicle. Then in game they can detach and become a separate unit by themselves. The vehicle looses their shooting, but they can go around and block charge lanes, cause annoyance to other units, etc.

I actually glued mine on really short flying bases, so while they are attached, the bases dangle with the 'fish, and when they detach them suitably hover.

Oh well I guess I made a bit of a mistake using glue on the bases of my other drones. That does make sense though

Ok cool, so regarding the suits I posted above, is that proper?

Honestly I really should have learned more about the mechanics before I slapped this shit together, but I learn by fucking up anyhow.


Thanks for all the help guys, I really wish other boards were as helpful as Veeky Forums. Since the thread is here and my questions have pretty much been answered, anyone have advice for a new player starting out as Tau?

Currently I have 1 Ethereal on a hover drone, 1 Firewarrior squad with rifles, 1 Crisis team, 1 devilfish, and 1 pathfinder team.

Am I doing it right? What should I invest in next? Also, assume I know nothing.

The best way to play 40k is to get stuff you think looks fun, not to try to build the best army. The game itself is unbalanced as hell.

What do you like the look of? Get that.

Forgot to mention what you said about the gun drones vs smart missiles.

Can I slap any drone on my devilfish?

I also have some rocket pieces from my Fire Warrior set that could go on the ground turret. Can I slap that on a drone then call it a missile drone, then put the missile drone on the devilfish?

>Ok cool, so regarding the suits I posted above, is that proper?
Looking at your pic, i see the following, from left to right:
Crisis suit with missile pod and fusion blaster
Crisis suit with burst cannon and plasma rifle
and Crisis suit with missile pod and fusion blaster

If that was your intention, then good for you. If not you can break them off and glue on which weapons you wanted. But with crisis suits I always recommend magnetization. Putting magnets on the suits and bits provides you a lot of versatility, which is what makes the crisis suits so great.

Anyway I would recomend you get another fire warrior squad so you have the obligatory 2 troops, then get another box of crisis suits. Then look into a riptide, which is a powerful unit.

The recommended HQ unit for the tau is the battlesuit commander. You can get the $50 kit or you could just use one of the crisis suits and embellish him with some bits to make him stand out.

Are you planning on playing in any kind of competitive event?

If so, probably best to stick with the actual miniatures unless it's really obvious that it's a missile drone.

If you're not, then go ahead and do what you want, so long as it's clear enough to your opponents what the intention is. Slapping a rocket on a drone and calling it a Missile Drone is probably fine, especially if it has no other weapons on it.

The only drones your fish can carry is the gun drones. But for 10 more points you swap the drones for a twin-linked smart missile system. Meaning they lose their drones and gain instead a better weapon. I really like the latter option myself.

For the rocket pieces for the fire warrior kit, that's for the DS8 tactical support turret, which you want to model as it provides som good firepower for your fire warrior team

Sort of?

The shop I checked out has literal tonnes of 40k merch and players, so I'll be going there to play but I have no idea what the shops meta is.

(inb4 not playing at a shop I frequent) I actually just moved here.

Awesome thank you. I actually took the rocket launcher that has 2 racks of 3 instead of the single rack. Did I fuck it up?

The rocket with 2 racks is the smart missile system, which is good because the shots ignore cover and are very annoying for your opponent to deal with.

The single rack is the missile pod, which has a higher strength and slightly better AP and a longer range, but fewer shots. So it's really a lateral move.

I think youll like the SMS though.

Likely you will play one or 2 games with your models and learn quickly what you liked and what you didnt like. Then you can go about ripping off the weapons from your crisis suits and rearranging them in configurations that make more sense to you.

Every Tau player learns it's better to double up on the same weapon with each suit because having 2 different weapons is not a versatile as we think.

>I actually glued mine on really short flying bases, so while they are attached, the bases dangle with the 'fish, and when they detach them suitably hover.

I never thought to do that, good idea.

Alrigh/t g/uys, am I doing it right?

Also do I really need primer spray before I paint this thing? I forgot to pick it up from the store.

You can use a brush primer but you definitely should prime your models before painting. Priming helps bring the colors out and helps your paint stick to the model.

spray primer is needed for a good paint job
Also clean your moldlines and spure connection points

Paint something on the body guards to mark them out

Remove all mould lines and sprue connection areas, and YES, FOR GOD'S SAKE PRIME IT BEFORE PAINTING. If you don't the paint will not only have a hard time sticking to the plastic, but the grey will show through and look godawful. Also, remember to thin your paints, and definitely don't use enamel paint.

Get a flat black spray primer. Rustoleum, krylon, whatever. You don't need GW primers.

For paints, miniature paints are definitely recommended. Stay the hell away from enamel paints that you see in the model kits isles. GW paints are a little more expensive, but good.

Before you lay a brush down, check out the Warhammer TV youtube channel and watch a selection of Duncan's painting videos. He's the patron saint of /wip/ for a reason. His techniques are simple and wise, especially for beginning painters.

And as others have said, clean the mold lines.

>another user that is trying to get into hobby but hasn't gotten to painting yet, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
>I've searched and asked around before I', painting myself so here is what I came up with.

Use spray primer, as priming with a brush will fuck a lot of details and make model look very flat, since primer will fill in all the gaps(a normal thing for liquid). Spray primer does more finese job. And priming is mandatory.

Think of paint primer like this : if you paint a thick paper list, then remove top layer of paints(lets say you scratch with a knife) you still will have painting because paper soaked in a bit of paint itself. Primer acts as a paper list here, its a chemical nasty shit that gets onto plastic and diffuses with it's top layer. Not only paints stick to it easier, primer will soak them, so they'll last way, way longer on your miniature. Use black primer, as it is the most forgiving for mistakes - if you fuck up coloring some spots, they might pass as a shadow. If you are feeling very confident(or will pay someone to paint intead of you) - go with white primer as it helps to make model look more bright. And Tau are kinda known for looking bright. But if you do any mistake on a white primer, it will show.

...

Do people care about the little details?, like if I give one of my crisis suits missiles + the drone controller module on each shoulder would he care if I say Weapon + missile pod + weapon, and ignore the drone system.