Faction Focus: T'au

www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/15/warhammer-40000-faction-focus-tau-empire/

On yeah, TOTALLY balancing the game, fellas.

Wow. What complete bullshit. Lets just buff everything about one of the strongest factions, guys! I swear we are balancing the game! "We're making combat lethal again guys!" My ass. Suits are buffed to shoot 3 weapons instead of 2, have boosted movement, and can still shred anything with massive amounts of rape.

I was fine with units being able to fall back out of combat! It took away from being able to tarpit them (sometimes our only effective strategy), but at least it negated their ability to shoot back.

OH NO!!! we can't let our guys have a weakness! Lets just ignore the one FUCKING thing they had going against them because FUCK EVERYONE ELSE!!

I better get some kind of endless swarm rule for my tyranids and generate/regenerate wounds/models/units while ignoring the reinforce costs, because apparently balancing armies means to ignore what your army is weak against!

I NEED A GOD DAMNED DRINK.

I'm debating selling my Blood Angels army after reading this. Jesus Christ. "Melee combat is viable again!" Bullshit, GW.

yeah but drones are more fun now

it's a hype article
calm your tits anons

If by "fun" you mean making every nearby unit of suits immune to shooting, sure.

How about I bring several maxed units of shield drones and sit behind a gunline of suits all with 3 weapons, so they all gain additional 4++ wounds?

There's no telling how many points these will be. Stop over reacting.

oh hey drones can shoot and fall back too

...

Every flying unit in the game can. I sincerely can't see how is melee going to be viable. Even fucking assault marines are better at shooting right now.

...

>has more firepower than before
>can't stop them from firing by locking them in combat
>sniper drones can take out heroes from across the field
whelp

>Melee is definitely our weakness guys!!!
>nearly every unit mentioned in the article can leave combat without penalty
>stormsurge can leave combat, shoot, then charge into again
Tau are going to dominate with riptide wings everywhere.

>I better get some kind of buff for my Tyranids
HA!

Why are you even still playing 40k? Is it masochism?

Hype my kroot.

Seriously, falling back and shooting is complete bullshit.

If tau are what this article makes them look like. I think I'm just not going to play against them.

Not to mention if you no manage to slog in, the fly key word lets them leave combat and keep shooting.

Once again, GW proves that they're comprised of lying, money-hungry cunts.

hey there

how so?

sadly overreacting has become the board culture

>Close combat is totally going to be viable again, guys!
>But we're buffing shooting even harder

I came here to drink tears, and I'm not disapointed so far. Please go on.

Oh, hey, buddy! I'm kind of concerned Tyranid monstrous creatures might be too strong. Think you might take away a few of their options and increase their point cost?

Also, I'd love it if you could slow the lictor down. A friend of mine used one once and it killed one of my guys. Not cool.

...

Maybe everything will get recosted to about x2 points.

I don't think it's going to happen, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

have you seen the fucking profile?it's 3 models with effectively s5 ap- who hit on 5+. geez, what an overpowered unit, how is my girlyman even viable any more???

Pssst. Nids probably use the new summoning rules. You need to leave points spare if you want to make stuff during the match. No infinite summoning.

The instant I read the article I knew there was gonna be some fag like I just hope they remember to increase the point cost of Crisis suits, since they basically have a Target Lock and Vectored Retros for free now.

Triple weapons isn't actually a big change, since they could already get 3 guns by buying 2 and twinlinking one. The difference now is that twin-linking is gone so rather than 5 extra points for that extra bit of accuracy you're having to buy a full extra gun.

Also, Markerlight nerfs are the biggest deal here. It being limited to rerolling 1s instead if boosting BS to an insane degree means that having small mediocre markerlight teams isn't much worse than having a BS 5 drone controlled markerlight drone team, since you still only need a couple hits to get enough rerolls, and the extra doesn't do much.

More importantly, is this apostrophe in "T'au" new? Why the change?

Those really seem underwhelming against something like guard. Unless markerlights also have the sniper rule you'll be shooting at a 5+, and wounding a T3 guard character on a 3+, then they'll get armor and cover. Sure they're pretty durable if another tau unit is closer and they'll get to double tap at 24" but that's 2 hits with no AP or damage modifiers. If they're cheap they seem workable but they just don't seem that amazing. The wound transfer is probably the most exciting bit and these guys will crumple to any damage you were pointing at a battlesuit, meaning the ablative wounds aren't going to last for long.

Confirmed. Sniper can shot at characters even when said characters are not the closest of the targets.

copyright

It's always been the name of our homeworld. It's just the name of the empire as well now.

I feel bad for Tau players now, nobody will agree to play against them if they have this bullshit behind them.

>You can now always allocate wounds to drones instead of other units so long they are within 3" of friendly units.

Finally, it makes sense to pick Shield Drones.

Not really. It was the name of their home world since forever. Pretty minor as far as name changes go.

Better than becoming the Toa'tall'y A'we'so'me T'au'a'u'da'r'i Em'pi're

how does one contradict the other?
what does it matter if suits can move out of combat and shoot if there is none left after the charge?

That's when they are alone. In reality, they will have BS 1+ so long they have the little Tau Observer.

God ducking damn. Does nobody here actually know how sniper drones worked last edition?

Everyone moaning about BS 2 is a retard.

also they straight out nerfed the stormsurge and the fact that riptides weren't mentioned at all (non of the currently overpowered units ever are), besides that they're a common sight and very strong, indicates a coming nerf.

>Drukhari

I will definitely take those suggestions into account when I finish writing the stupid bugs. Unfortunately it takes some time, but I need to rush through them so I can dedicate myself to the new Guard codex.

Our?
Sound like some insufferable sports fan..."hurr durr we gunna beat you this weekend, our team is best team"

>Astra Militarum

Tau was a mistake.

>who hit on 5+

You're implying Tau characters won't be able to buy a DRONE CONTROLLER.

Which will allow any DRONE units within 3-6" of a drone controller to use the Character's BS instead of their own.

delusional bullshit

Calm down, eldar will still be the most unfun faction to play against with scatbikes as far as the eyes can see

Calm down, it's ultimately points values that make or break armies - and it looks like GW will be prepared to adjust those more quickly than they have in the past.

>Tau Riptides Wings are a common sight.
>Mass producing Riptides.

I don't think they will get an increase in points with such a statement.

As long as they need the big battlesuits, it'll be fine. Crisis suits might be more dangerous now, though I'm also highly expecting them to get a point coat increase to compensate. I mean, multimeter are 27 points now. That doesn't bode well for fusion blasters that are just slightly under them.

Crisis suits might actually become the 100 point dreadnought equivalents they were always called out as in the fluff, except instead of durability it's just mobility and fancy guns

>That filename

*nerf, not need. Fuck big battlesuits

If that's the case then they HAVE to 2x the points of scatterbikes and wraithknights

Missilesides or Railside now that TL has been replaced with firing twice and the shooting rules have been reworked?

he was part of the unit, now there's no mention of him at all in the unit description. so either he's out or you'll have to buy him seperately at a cost. and even if they had that bs+1 they would still hit only on 4+ with 1s rerollable if they spend a markerlight. this discussion is a whole lot of autistic screeching.

>vet tact squads of 30k can all be given sniper special rule.
>they can also be given combi-plasma at a squad level.
i really hope FW keeps that true.

All I want is better flyers and Alien Auxiliaries.

Aw, man, thanks. Also, I have a brilliant idea for a new Tyranid unit. It's a bug that appears only from reserves. It has to enter on the Tyranid player's table edge, it can't hold objectives or contribute to victory in any way regardless of any rules in any edition, and when it misses attacks, it rolls to wound itself instead. This is all, of course, to balance its totally awesome ability: Synapse Burst.

On the turn this model enters the field, all Tyranids within 36" of it are considered to by in synapse range.

A little OP, I know, but I hope the tactical drawbacks I listed balance it out. I figure this unit should be Toughness 4, 4+ save (wouldn't want to be tougher than a marine, after all!), 4 wounds, and can only attack in melee.

It would probably be balanced at a cost of 100 points, but if you think it needs just a little more balancing, maybe make it so krak missiles get a +1 to hit against it? You know, because its psychic power is like a magnet for krak missiles. You could write some fluff about it being killed by krak missiles to rally hype the players up!

Need to see weapon stats. The AP on the rails should be nice, though.

I guess it works in combat now too! So you dont even need to worry about CC. Just bring units of 3 flamer suits in front of shield drones. 3d6 flamer hits per fast moving no deep strike scattering suit, plus overwatch, the ability to ignore a ton of wounds in and out of combat, and can still fall back to shoot again.

Missile sides should be explosive weapons. They have High-explosive, not autocannon-equivalent, in their name com on.

I was hoping to see them say "Yeah, Tau MC spam and broken cheese is getting out of hand. So we're making Pathfinders, Firewarriors, and the like better so you can have a combined arms thing going on! Kinda like lore!" Instead they just said screw it, Stormsurges aren't strong enough and melee is never going to happen because we've suddenly decided Tau are a super mobile army.

DEldar better be fucking fast as sound and able to freely leave and enter combat from entirely different games.

>8 S7 -1rend d3 damage shots
or (probably
2 -4rend d6 damage shots

>implying they'll work exactly like last edition
>ad hominem insult
yeah, into the trash it goes

It does sorta make my Seraphim happy.

Then again, pistols can fire in melee now.

Missile Pods are AP-1 and D3 damage per shot now. D3 is an explosive roll. Therefore, I expect missilesides to be more explosive rather than more dakka.

I've got a terible idea. What if the observer guy became a character and he is the only way to get a drone controller?

Are they still going to be assault 2 though? We shall see.

the thing is we don't know how many shots a missile pod has now and how many points it will cost.

would be fluffy and balanced, i'd say.

On the plus side, Railguns are deadly now.

Oh man I cant wait for the railgun. I'm expecting

60" heavy 1 s8 ap-4 damage d6

I wonder how the plasma rifle will fare in 8th
Also what's the name of the thing on his shoulder ?

Jetpack units (battlesuits and drones) are pretty mobile in 7th with 6 + d6 +2d6 movement. Tau basically had 2 movement phases a turn.

Also, stormsurges getting 2+ to hit when anchored is better then doubling your shooting?

>I was hoping to see them say
bullshit, they never did that in any faction focus. they only slightly hint at some of the broken units in the introduction texts (scatterbikes, wraithknights, riptides) and don't mention them at all when they're talking crunch.

also they nerfed the stormsurge in this one by taking away their double shooting phase. wtf is wrong with you, it's like you don't even pla-
oh, nvm

I eagerly look forward to trolling the local space marine players with this shit, especially since most of them are annoying alt-right kiddies.

Aww yeah. I made these and never played them because I have been discouraged with 7e. I'm looking forward to seeing their full datasheets.

i think it's the target lock, but gw never really elaborated on it except in the very first tau codex iirc. it's more of an aesthetic gimmick now.

Got any (fun) stories from those alt-right kiddy ?

Lol what? For one, Riptide Wing is gone, that's immediately a huge hit. And for two this info is so incomplete you have no idea wether any of this is a "buff".

it's only 3+ to hit, rerollable 1s when combined with markerlight.

So no regrets about removing it and taking a missile pod ?

Also Fourth Sphere of expansion has spread the Tau across the galaxy while the Fifth one is expanding their main empire.

Waoh, that's even worse then I thought. So if they want to retreat and shoot, they can't be anchored so they are firing at bs 4+?

Yeah, for all we know Crisis suits are gonna be 30 or 40 points baseline now before you even start strapping guns to them. Said guns probably being more expensive as well.

Sure, you can slap 3 Fusion blasters on a Crisis suit, but it'll probably cost you 90 points

If Tau are the quintessential mobile shooty army that can't fight melee to save their life, in an edition where melee is more prominent, it stands to reason that they'd need some way to evade and/or escape melee combat or they'd stand a good chance of being dead to the last model after a single turn of combined melee combat.

Have we even seen what a melee-heavy or even melee-capable army is capable of yet in terms of charging and/or combat? I'd expect they'd have ways to get into melee and stay there, and against opponents they outclass I'd expect melee to be extremely deadly.

So..they have nerffed Markerlights?

Yeah, they have to stay still for the bonus. Also means they can't combo it with their ability to walk away from combat.

We haven't seen anything yet. Only thing that worries me is that Over watch feels uneccesary with the mechanics for falling back.

I mean, without it, you'd have assault dudes getting shot, charging in, killing something, then the shooty unit Gallo,t back, shooting, and it would just cycle.

Adding in an extra round of snapshots feels really dumb in this edition

also you have to consider that they will have lost several wounds in combat and probably get a penalty for that as well (maybe lose weapons or things like that)

We only know what's been released so far. While it is reasonable for them to have some defense vs melee, it seems they went too far. Between supporting fire, unlimited overwatch, and now the ability to moonwalk out of melee and then shoot the unit you just left, Tau are now essentially immune to melee. You will die trying to charge them, your survivors won't be able to kill them, then they just step back on their turn and finish you. They'll need to give assaulters some pretty impressive abilities to make them viable.

I'd guess it's to punish a unit that manages to obliterate one of the Tau units in a charge, which means that it's considered a likely possibility. Probably left in place to prevent a rolling collapse of your whole board as a Tau player from a single successful charge from a really strong melee unit.

I'd expect any tough melee unit, or multiple melee units working in concert, to murder most any Tau unit in melee even with this confluence of rules. Melee units will do that even in the present edition, and it's extremely unfavorable to melee in most any form.

basically no, but don't you have another free shoulder to put the missile pod on? I also can't stress enough how important it is to see the new rules in their entirety before you start changing your models.

seems

Unlike +bs, rerollig 1s do not stack. So that is quite a nerf.

My problem isn't much with the Tau rules, but with the fact that every flying unit can retreat and still shoot, or the confirmation that flamers auto-hit in overwatch (so they went from 1d3 to 1d6 automatic hits).

Unless we are missing something melee is going to be fucked in the ass.

>basically no, but don't you have another free shoulder to put the missile pod on?
But it's three module or weapon by suit
If I put the missile on the other shoulder it would be cheating

Also no mention of other modes as of yet.