After a long hiatus having to do with many life aspects such as my 15 month old son and Career paths, I am back! I will be posting at least once a week, hopefully maybe 2-3 times. Soon I will update everyone on my current wargaming projects but as for now what to talk about in my resurrection post?? why not what everybody else is talking about? And something that I have waited a long time for...CODEX:TAU EMPIRE
Over my next few posts I will be giving my own personal breakdown on the new codex, as a whole my initial impressions are that its very...updated while at the same time doesn't stray to far(looking at you necrons) from the tau everybody has come to know, so in general I really enjoyed what I have read and I have also made a few lists to check out what kind of unit combos cost what points and their potency and what not, and let me just say the lists I made at 1850 kick out so many S7 shots its borderline evil.... Anyways before I even get to unit breakdowns I will start with the most important parts of the Tau codex(IMO at least), the army special rules, and battlesuit wargear.
Army special rules:
The bonding knife ritual- gives heroic morale to unit, never a bad thing, just remember if you have a unit of 3 or less battlesuits with NO drones you can never get below 25% squad size so there's no need for this upgrade.
Supporting fire- Ahh now here's where the new codex fun starts, yea its not game breaking but it certainly could be charge breaking... and for tau that means more dakka next turn!! basically every unit except the kroot,vespid,and vehicles has this rule and it allows these units that are within 6" of a friendly tau unit that is being charged to also make an overwatch shooting against the charging unit. But of course each unit can still only make a single overwatch per phase so choose wisely if multiple enemy units are in range.
Now I'm just going to briefly go over the upgrades in the battlesuit wargear list as there are alot of weapons/systems that are pretty much unit specific and will just be mentioned when I reach the units they are relevant for.
Ranged weapons:
Flamer- cheap, and valuable to overwatch, most people will just be tempted to bigger and better guns with their battlesuits but a tactical player will realise the cost efficiency and the possibility of preventing charges that are stretched a bit due to overwatch/supporting fire.
Burst Cannon- as cool as ever but more effective, I always wanted to take these previously but at only 1 more shot and 2 less strength than missile pods it just never seemed worth it even in a anti-horde role, even just the addition of the 4th shot makes them much more viable now.
Fusion Blaster- Basically became a 18" range melta, which is GREAT! ap1 is now more important than ever for rolling on the vehicle damage chart, must have a few in each army to deal with av14 and other big nasties that run around the universe. Leave the light vehicles to all the S7 the army spits out and use these to fry the scariest things the opponent brings but beware that only a single shot at bs3(usually) makes it unreliable without support from markers or a command node, or you could just pay the twin linked price and forgo a system slot.
Missile Pod- Some would say the work horse of any battlesuit heavy tau army, good value for the cost and 2 shots each adds.
Plasma rifle- good old tau plasma no change here, no danger to your own units while still being effective at its main function!
Cyclic ion blaster- the first of the two "prototype weapons" has undergone quite a change with the revamp done to ion weapons in general in the tau codex, all being strength 7 AND with a overcharge possibility for +1 strength and making it a blast/large blast. all ion weapons are ap4 except for the cannon that is an option on the hammerhead gunship which is ap3. this weapon is basically a no brainer at the same cost as a missile pod IMO despite that it only has an 18" range
Airbursting frag. projector- also despite having an 18" range this weapon is very useful at taking out those 2+ cover save gone-to-ground guardsmen behind an aegis line since it ignores cover, its a large blast with barrage so you don't have to expose yourself to the blob/horde to lob a shell at them. I would say a decent choice for a competitive list since it adds some nice crowd control.
Support Systems:
Advanced targeting system- makes all shots precision shots on 6's to hit, and on 5's for characters, this has its specific uses but not worth a system slot IMO.
Counterfire defence system- overwatch at bs2 is pretty deadly since tau suits wield alot of nasty dakka. decent choice overall in preventing charges.
Early warning override- gives the models weapons the Interceptor rule, definitely would make deepstriking armies(blood angels/dark angels come to mind) think twice about deepstriking near this unit, as far as fliers this is nothing special unless you also give them velocity trackers(skyfire)
Positional relay- if within 6" of a board edge at the start of your turn (turn 2+) any outflankers arriving from reserves may opt to enter from that board edge, I would say it can be really useful but you have to commit to a play style largely based on this tactic, except once an opponent becomes familiar with our wargear a good general will be aware of this model near a table edge and plan accordingly.
Target lock- Split fire, very usefull for cheap, I plan on running a huge farsight unit(I know how cliche') and these will be my best friend in that unit.
Vectored retro-thrusters - gives model fleet and hit & run, which is the diamond in the rough here, only 1 model needs hit & run for the whole unit to be able to leave combat in the opponents phase so your free to shoot, then get overwatch if they wish to re-engage you, that can be a whole lot of pain for a unit who probably endured some fire on the way in in the first place.
Drone controller- any gun,marker, and sniper drones in the unit may use this models BS. pretty self explanatory.
Stimulant injector- No longer a "rare" item all it takes now is a support system slot for 5+ feel no pain. decent option if your not up for taking some drones for fodder.
Velocity tracker- grants skyfire, definitely opens up options instead of the mandatory aegis/AA gun combo being mandatory, its an expensive upgrade though and crisis suits may not be the most cost efficient way to handle fliers, this codex has plenty of options
Shield generator- same old same old 4++, survivability at a premium though, personally I would rather just start adding another crisis squad than double each models cost not including weapons. good for commanders though.
That's it for now as I want to break up the codex review so It's not so tedious on the eyes.I will also throw in some articles on my current projects, but for now I will leave you with some pictures of the things that have kept me from blogging the past months.
~Sinister
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| My son Christopher Alexander on Easter |
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| Demolition derby which between prep and the event took alot of my summer, I won my event though and qualified for the championships! ITS TRUE RED ONEZ DO GO FASTA! |
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