More new Tau rules

[raceygaming]

Given everything I have seen leaked now, I think you are going to see Tau end up with 2x devilfish with troops, 9-18 suits crisis/stealth, 1-2 commanders and then a sprinkling of toys of your choice.

The big one in the area for me is drones, if they see play as a cheap wound pool for some of the bigger models, but unless they get a special "allocation choice" rule I don't see them being that useful. With the current rules they aren't great since once you start saving on the drones you have to keep going so you can't pick or choice to block the big hits you just have to roll with it and tank EVERYTHING on them, or hope the enemy only puts 3-5 big shots on them a turn (like bright lances) and doesn't bother with small arms vs T5 3+ (2+ in cover)

The other big thing for me is Kroot...i havent seen anything about them. I was hoping for a 9 pts ork boy style combat unit that has decent attacks but was a bit of a glass cannon. sadly I think they are only 6 pts so I have to assume they might be good for 6pt but they wont be the cannibal chicken monsters I had hoped for.

Overall I think tau are going to need to tech into the objective playing game like double obsec or give obsec to a unit. They have enough lethal fire power from the looks of things without going to deep into an all in.

[Jack Shrapnel]

yeah it's my nids/daemons that I'm most concerned about, but my mechanized sisters are also thrown into the mix on this as well, and all those ork dreads/kans I have too.

I remain hopeful that essentially the return to D weapons (no saves+ massive damage) was sorted out by other balancing factors in the codex so that Tau can be competitive and fun to play & play against.

[lightcavalier]

Kroot Rumours are floating on reddit

Shaper is HQ

Carnivors are 6ppm with their typical stealthy hunter rules, additional +1 to their save in cover, +1A (so 2 attacks now). S4 and AP-1

So not great but gets interesting with the sept that gives light cover for existing....as 4+ save kroot might actually be able to get somewhere before dying in the open

They also apparenlty ahve a stratagem to gain 5+ FNP after killing a unit

[Hi I'm Derek]

Can't say I'm a fan of ignore invulnerable saves as a mechanic. It's the kind of degenerate design space that doesn't address the underlying problem, just gives specific armies specialized tools to deal with it.

[dave]

Looks like GW has definitely recognized the conundrum of shooting armies having to choose between clearing an objective OR getting your unit onto it.

I was using vectored thrusters in 8th to shoot with my commander, then get a free 6" move to hopefully put me within range to grab the point. Now tau can do that with a unit of crisis.

Lots of tau players were asking for devilfish to become assault craft, but I'm still satisfied to be able to disembark one unit after movement for a cp.

Then there's all those sept rules messing with obsec. Looks like tau are going to start participating in the fight phase. They wont wipe a unit, but if they can survive getting punched back, maybe they will have the shenanigans to steal the objective. If they can actually survive getting punched twice, they will have the option to shoot without falling back.

[lightcavalier]

Jan 18, 2022 11:47:47 GMT -5 Hi I'm Derek said:

Can't say I'm a fan of ignore invulnerable saves as a mechanic. It's the kind of degenerate design space that doesn't address the underlying problem, just gives specific armies specialized tools to deal with it.

It didny feel as out of place when it was on a D1 sword in a niche sub faction.

Its been a thing in the past too....but I agree the hammerhead just seems weird and making it a stratagem is a bit much.

IMHO I would have fewer issues w yhe hammerhead if it didny do MW + ignore imvul.

[trantos01]

The only way I can see all this invul-ignore etc being 'balanced' would be if the units using it can be killed relatively quickly.

Because the only other option is to go with factions that can prevent strats from being used or degrade an opponent's BS.

[Typhus]

The Railgun smacks of being redesigned halfway through. Why ignore invulnerable saves AND inflict some mortal wounds? It lets it kill some additional Infantry - but then it also has Submunitions.

Just bizarre.

[Jack Shrapnel]

GW has had a terrible track record of balancing Tau. The pendulum really swings from "not good" to "oppressive" back and forth for years. I really do hope that it will all make sense in the context of the whole thing, especially when we can actually see games on the table.

I don't play tau, so I really don't have a horse in this race. It's more from a balanced for the sake of the community point of view. I want them to have a fun and effective codex. It's better for everyone that way.

[raceygaming]

Jan 18, 2022 11:29:46 GMT -5 lightcavalier said:

Kroot Rumours are floating on reddit

Shaper is HQ

Carnivors are 6ppm with their typical stealthy hunter rules, additional +1 to their save in cover, +1A (so 2 attacks now). S4 and AP-1

So not great but gets interesting with the sept that gives light cover for existing....as 4+ save kroot might actually be able to get somewhere before dying in the open

They also apparenlty ahve a stratagem to gain 5+ FNP after killing a unit

Gonna have to go track this down, cause if their base stats are S4 and -1 and the rifle still gives +1S then kroot might actually be the shock troops that tau have been looking for. Also VERY happy to see a HQ kroot just for all those crazy kids out there that have the kroot Mercs armies. Its kind of cool to have a legal subfaction list within a codex, even if it isn't that amazing.

[VaUkos]

spikeybits.com/2022/01/new-tau-codex-markerlight-9th-edition-40k-rules-spotted.html

Marker light rules

I'm not sure if this is all of the markerlight rules or a piece of it, but it sounds like markerlights hit on a 3+ it's an action before the movement phase and drones and vehicles can still move after taking a markerlight action.

they only give +1 to hit and each time a unit (tau) attacks a marked unit (enemy) it looses one marker light token till it looses all of them or end of shooting phase

[dave]

Sounds right from what I've read. The fact that it's an action that only requires los like a shooting attack, but isn't a shooting attack, seems to mean there's no way to reduce or improve that 3. So they have become far more reliable.

Pathfinders also get a special rule, where they can move first and then do the action, so they are still better at laying down the ML than drones. Upgrading a FW shas'ui isn't as attractive, unless you know you plan to park his squad on an objective and never move it.

I wonder if the fireblade will get an upgrade to his rifle, now that he's actually going to be firing it.

My tau list is going to play very differently, and I am excited for the changes. I can finally break out of my castle style. It just remains to be seen how the damage/durability changes compare to what's already out in the wild.

[VaUkos]

www.reddit.com/r/Tau40K/comments/s7id7n/the_cat_came_back/
yeah and also more rules got leaked by the fellow with the codex few that caught my eye are

Saviour Protocols – 1 CP, Epic Deed Stratagem

Use this Stratagem in any Phase, when a saving throw is failed for a model in a <Sept> unit from you army. Select one friendly <Sept> DRONE model within 3” of that unit or within 6” of that unit if it contains a model equipped with a drone controller. That DRONE model is destroyed and the Damage characteristic of that attack is changed to 0.

so now you least get to see if you succeed in your armor save and if not you spend 1 cp to put it on a drone but this makes me curious as to why shield drones get 2W's if they will just get killed regardless, unless I missed something with them

there is no more Automated Repair System anymore or anything similar but " Backup AI – 1 CP, Epic Deed: This is the “acts as though it has full wounds” strat for the book. It works on any model with a degrading profile."  I liked automated repair and it was one of my heavily go to for suit survival 

Devilfish's got pretty good:

Here are two abilities on the Devilfish (95 pts base):

Armoured Aggression: At the start of the first battle round, before the first turn begins, if you selected the Mont’ka Tactical Philosophy at the start of the battle, this unit can make a Normal Move of up to 9”. It cannot end this move within 9” of any enemy models.

Tactical Disengagement: At the end of your Movement Phase, if you selected the Kauyon Tactical Philosophy at the start of the battle and the mission you are playing is using the Strategic Reserves rule, you can remove this unit from the battlefield if it is within 9” of any battlefield edges and place it in Strategic Reserves.

Devilfish cannot transport Battlesuit units. What did you think this was? AdMech?

Pathfinders, Strikes, and Breachers have the FIRE WARRIOR TEAM keyword, which makes them eligible to benefit from the Devilfish’s RR1s to Hit aura stratagem AND the Cadre Fireblade’s RR1s to Hit Command phase buff.

and 

Combat Debarkation – 1 CP, Epic Deed



Use this Stratagem at the start of your Movement phase.



- If you selected the Mont’ka Tactical Philosophy at the start of the battle and it is the first, second, or third battle round, select up to three DEVILFISH models from your army.



- If you selected the Kauyon Tactical Philosophy at the start of the battle and it is the third, fourth, or fifth battle round, select up to three DEVILFISH models from your army.



- Otherwise, select one DEVILFISH model from your army.



Until the end of the phase, each time one of those models makes a Normal Model, after it has moved, any units embarked within that transport can disembark. Any units that do so cannot charge this turn.


I'm curious as to what a epic deed means 

[dave]

I think most of this was mentioned in the original thread, but it's nice to see it expanded on, and what the language was exactly.

Shield drones are just for adding ablative wounds to a unit, as far as I can tell. No longer the champ of saviour protocols, but they're still better than the rest when it comes to tanking wounds before your suits have to.

Epic deed strategem sounds like a way to restrict how often they can be used. Maybe you can only do 1 epic deed per phase? Sounds terrible, but wouldn't surprise me if they used this book to test a new concept. Tau did have the honour of beinf limited to 1 commander per detachment way before any other armies saw this limitation.

Or maybe it's already a thing in other books. I dunno, I've really fallen out of the loop when it comes to codex design.

[Frosty the Pirate]

Epic deed is a keyword for stratgems. All 9th edition books have strategems with these keywords on them.

So far all they do is give a hint as to when that strat can be used or what is needed to use them.