KV128 Warhammer Tau Empire Stormsurge

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Tau have broadly three categories of HQs, Commanders, Ethereals and Markerlight Guys, with Longstrike sitting off to one side as a special option for Tau Sept and Kroot Shapers doing their own thing. Each of these categories has at least one Named Character in them, so for each we’ll go through the basic flavours then cover the special ones. From Bork’an Sept’s renowned applied science divisions come the most advanced and ingenious weapon prototypes, and the finest suits of combat armour, field tested by elite contingents of Fire Caste soldiers.

All missile weapons gain a point of AP, essentially baking Hardened Warheads into their basic profiles. Seeker missiles also hit at S9 for 2d3 damage now, and no longer need Markerlights to function – hefty stuff. If you want objective play with a big more crunch, Vespid are surprisingly pushed now, mostly because their guns are nasty at S5 AP-3 D2. Dealing damage isn’t their primary function, but you can throw a unit of six in your list for Retrieve Nachmund Data for a mere 72pts, and having some genuinely pretty relevant guns for a bit of chip damage on top of that is gravy. It’s just about possible that Dal’yth can push these to a point where they’re a credible threat, but just in general they’re an extremely acceptable utility squad.it looks like its role is shooting at knights and other similar large heavy units, then able to deal with hordes headed its way but I suspect the thing needs careful deployment, and a decent screening force, as with all T'au its not amazing in melee so perhaps thats also a weakness if its not screen right. We do feel that the rules here feel a bit overwhelming on a first readthrough, but once you’ve got a handle on what’s up this should make Drones a much more seamless part of Tau lists going forward, and definitely one that’s worth having. Manta Strike From: The sept that a unit belongs to is the sept they are from. A unit is from a certain sept if they have that sept’s name listed on its Faction keyword line.

For the first T’au Empire Detachment, we follow the way of the Patient Hunter – the favoured martial philosophy of Commander Shadowsun . Kauyon rewards cunning commanders who can keep their army safe for as long as possible, baiting the opponent into a compromising position before hammering them with a furious barrage in the latter half of the game.* Sept Signature System: A Signature System associated with a specific sept. These are only available to CHARACTER models that are part of a sept Detachment (and only if they, and your WARLORD are drawn from the associated sept). The original orange Tau – accept no substitutes. Tau Sept start strong as one of this book’s recipients of a “one re-roll” trait, with each of their units getting to re-roll a hit or a wound each time they shoot or fight. This trait almost always ends up as one of the better options available and it’s no different here – there are plenty of strong guns in this book with a small number of hyper-lethal shots, the perfect match for this ability. In addition, Tau Sept units get boosted aura sizes, and a matching boost to the range of Command Phase effects. This is a bit more niche, but does end up with Shadowsun having a truly spectacularly huge re-roll aura, as her Drones also boost the range of these. On that note, one of the unwritten upsides of Tau Sept is that they have access to more Named Characters than anyone else – Shadowsun and Aun’va can go in any list, but get better in Tau, while Longstrike is very good, and Tau only. Essentially this is a list of the models I like, arranged in the best way I can find to have a decent chance at being fun to play with if not win every game. It hits very hard with the +1 Strength within 12” for all my assault weapons, something Tau are not low on by any measure. The list’s resilience is based on a not insignificant number of shield drones for the Crisis and Broadside units, shield generators on Crisis also. In combination with Reinforced Armour this can make Battlesuits pretty difficult to shift. S6 isn’t too common, but reducing S5 to 5+ wound against my Crisis and Broadsides, as well as 4+ to wound vs my Stealth. S3 shooting will have a tough time wounding on 6+ vs most of the list. It also makes S7 anti tank guns struggle vs my Gunships, forcing the commitment of proper anti tank with S8 and above to really dent them efficiently. As well as those for the factions as outlined above, there’s six generic Warlord traits in here. The names will be familiar from 8th edition, but the effects are universally way better. A good example here is Precision of the Hunter– previously, your Warlord got re-rolls of 1s to wound against VEHICLE and MONSTER units, not exactly a huge upgrade all considered. Now, it gives your character full hit and wound re-rolls, in both melee and shooting – a huge upgrade in their effectiveness, especially since Tau characters can take real guns. Combining this with the Onager Gauntlet from the Relics section also gives you a powerful melee punch, something which isn’t always a feature of Tau armies but becomes genuinely attractive here.This system lies firmly in the grip of a tyrannical regime, which must be defeated and the fear of it broken before victory can be achieved.Add 2 to the Military Power of this star system’s Core World. Overall a very strong section – Skyrays kind of stand out for how much they do, but there’s a lot to like in all four datasheets, so big guns are very much on the menu. Dedicated Transport