Codex Tau - What Broke the Fans?

[@JackIsMe1993]

But everything changed when the Fire Caste attacked.

[@seanodonnell7169]

They should make a “tau allies” codex. Like how tyranids have gene stealer cult. Then the main tau race could go in a all mech direction, while people who want to play with kroot and human allies can do so

[@thecanadiankiwibirb4512]

Sean O'Donnell But not ‘nuff moneys

[@Bobo56Bear]

Tamarin Jokero Race Army from GalaxyTrader AU "SpaceChimps" fun allies Lore wise etc, powerful detachment too when accepted by GameMaster at non GW run tournaments etc ... More fun to play at ComicBook Store and Club events etc than GW anal GW models only rules! (Breakout the 3d printers etc :)

[@theswampus670]

Dude i've wanted a Kroot army since day one.

[@six2make4]

I know this is a somewhat old model, but I think this would be absolute awesome and give them a chance to experiment, tap into some of their fantasy ideas without it feeling too out of place too.

[@jaghataicarp9664]

honeslty i wouldnt mind that in the slightest to make a human tau thou you just gotta take imperial guard and paint them in tau coulours and give them the tau shoulder pads

[@AbsoluteBumder]

I like how every other video is about how players hate their own faction while this one is about how everyone else hates Tau. Tau in a nutshell.

[@konradcurzethereturnedandv2845]

OMG yes

[@Shippo89]

Can't wait for the WBtF: Necrons. Non-Necron players hate them because impossible to keep down and they hit too hard. *nerfed* Necron players hate their army for how much was lost with almost nothing given in return. Non-Necron players still think RP is a problem.

[@snarkymcsnarkface1863]

Eh I love my daemons and orks... daemons let me be salty AF and orks just make me giggle.

[@CBRN-115]

Everybody haaaaaaates~ Tauuuuu~

[@J_Warral]

You know... I was just thinking this and seeing your comment, I can't stop and not ask... Are you fluffy bloody serious? You do realize, just how actually toxic and disgusting whole meme-cancer of "hate tau" is? For fluff's sake, it's a bloody game - yet when I started collecting Tau, it was a constant stigma of "hur-dur, she collects blueberry space communists!". And lo and behold, I actually started to hate my army. Not in a way that I dislike how it looks or how it plays, but because you dimwits keep repeating same not-funny and stupid joke over and over and over and over and over and over again, thinking its funny. It is not. It is insulting and it is driving Tau players to either hate the fan-base which hates them or to simply leave the hobby. Get your bloody f*cking act together... or why do I even bother to ask, knowing that 40K fandom is infected with meme-for-brain morons, who can't think outside of meme-cancer in their heads?

[@zetho7872]

Tau was my first army. I started playing when 5th edition was around. The local store owner was suprized that i wanted to play tau even tho they warent that strong. I was also the only tau player at the time. After the releases of the 6th and 7th codex they got a lot stronger. I havent played tau in years but thats because i dont play 40k anymore since that 8th edition was released. Nowadays i play 30k

[@fumarc4501]

I enjoy the Tau because they’re advancing, instead of stagnating.

[@jamesedwards8175]

It kind of mirrors actual Japanese military history: samurai get replaced by lined rifle troops who then get replaced by advanced tech.

[@mathewkelly9968]

FUmarc what game have you ever seen Tau advance ?

[@fumarc4501]

Mathew Kelly advanced into the Damocles Gulf and now have warp gates... come at me Gue’la.

[@Michael-bn1oi]

FUmarc I think he means in what game on the table top has a Tau army ever advanced. I think you missed the joke.

[@fumarc4501]

Michael Law Ah, meta. Interesting. No thanks.

[@Jcaeser187]

Despite making up 13% of the miniature market Games Workshop commits 50% of price gouging.

[@crabstack5488]

Gue'la rise up

[@xenoblad]

For those who don't know what the 13%50% meme is referencing, save yourself the drama and keep it that way.

[@nerdherd1819]

SuperSmashyfication, *a society

[@Jcaeser187]

@@xenoblad no, we live in a society with Basketball Americans

[@lucianaurelius2418]

You should do a what broke the fans: Melee armies

[@pablocruz5613]

Ive never needed something so much in mu god damn life, my gametime as blood amgels consisted if either broken death company suicide bombs or watch my entire army die

[@HotheadLad]

Shoot I played with a friend on a small scale 40k game. I got the beginner set with Ultramarines and Death Guard. The Battle boiled into a slap fight.

[@konradcurzethereturnedandv2845]

Vespid remain my favorite aliens with models the game. I would make an army out of them if there were some options to do so

[@kairos468]

I remember the glory days of 3rd edition! 40k still had its heart and soul back then. Good times!

[@richardhicks5031]

True

[@marcwittkowski5146]

*its But I agree, things were different and with more soul back then.

[@kairos468]

@@marcwittkowski5146 Oops! Thank you 👍

[@jw7500]

As someone that plays this faction, I agree with most of what you said. The Riptide however was somewhat of a necessity as it was at that point our only "heavy unit" since Marines, Chaos and such all had things like Landraiders and so fort. The big issue with last few editions is that the Riptide is far and away the best unit in the codex and like 80% is objectively bad. It is pretty much the same issue with Chaos codexes (Primarchs + Plague Bearer's spaming). The alien auxiliary part really needs some updates as that is what makes the T'au unique. More infantry and fast attack options in the form of (heavy) ground troops similar to the Marines range. Another thing that needs changing what you did not touch upon is that all the good character models (and all character models save for 2 outliers in general) are in the T'au sept. Which is why you pretty much see only T'au sept excluding the occasional Bor'kan FW experimental battlesuit cheese, but I digress. It is like every Marines player plays Ultra Marines because the other chapters don't have the options, that is the big issue. I get the feeling that GW doesn't really know what to do with the T'au, which is why you only see the safe battlesuit releases. That is to say when T'au get something at all. What I want to see going foward is bigger differences between the septs, like one focussed on small battlesuits and infantry (T'au sept, for a more "Red Army-vibe"), one is focussed on allien auxiliaries (Sa'cea, the most diplomatic Sept, also pls give us the option to play guard as auxiliaries like how GSC can), one is focussed on Experimental battlesuits (Bor'kan's factories and acadamies) and so on and on. Basically more playstyle differences between the subfactions just like how White Scars play differently from Raven Guard for example. But this is GW we are talking about so I won't really hold my breath. On one hand they make a shitload of gunline units for Primaris, while on the other hand they occasionally do nice things like the recent Abbadon model.

[@Greatkingrat88]

"The big issue with last few editions is that the Riptide is far and away the best unit in the codex and like 80% is objectively bad." Uh... no? Certainly not in the current edition. Commanders are great, fireblades and marksment are great, hammerheads can make for some sick combos...

[@jw7500]

@@Greatkingrat88 Commanders are good yes, but those are more support units. The fusionmander is a powerful model, but a bit of a glass cannon. The Enforcer and Shadowsun are more buffmanders. I completely disagree on the Hammerhead btw, yes it's shooting is good, but a 3 up save combined with T7, no drone support or invul just dies too fast this edition. Those are more supplemental units. Things like the fire warriors are good when you mass them just like guardsmen when they are not particularly great on their own. But the really strong workhorse backbone unit that almost everyone takes 3 off is the Riptide. The broadside is great as well, but they are very hard to move and die a little fast, even with shield drones. You hardly ever see Ghostkeels, Crisis Suits, Piranha's, Skyrays, Breachers. The Riptide and the shield drones make up roughly 75% off the T'au list these days aside from the few people that bring Y'Vhara's or the occasional person that runs a T'au'Nar. Triptide has been a staple for a reason. The biggest issue is that stuff dies too fast in 8th, which makes it an issue for a lot of units in the T'au codex.

[@Greatkingrat88]

@@jw7500 I used to think the same about hammerheads, except that an almost all-hammerhead list led by longstrike won a big tournament recently by just blowing everything off the board. They're more than playable, they're strong when used right. I will grant that the competitive meta is somewhat stale for tau, which I chalk up to GW deprioritizing xenos races as usual, but we do have options beyond just riptide spam.

[@jw7500]

@@Greatkingrat88 I can see Hammers just blowing units away, but with that toughness, won't you get completely Alpha strike'd when you don't go first? Thinking about new Space Marines in particular with bonus points for Imperial Fists just melting the tanks. I know we have a few options, but most of all I wish that the Septs played more different from one another. Especially when you consider that alien auxiliaries are terrible at the moment and that most of the good characters are T'au Sept exclusive. But yeah GW is just all about the space marines and occasionally chaos gets something.

[@Greatkingrat88]

@@jw7500 Pro players seem to make it work, I dunno. True enough. Right now, there's absolutely no reason not to go t'au sept. All the good characters are locked there, 5+ OW is great, we get a tasty stratagem... sa'cea sept is good, mostly as a support detachment with markerlights.

[@WolfT33]

Dawn of War dark crusade literally predicted the over powerness of the Tau, Necrons and Eldar in 6th

[@edgarsantos3034]

I played that game for dozens of hours, never played the tabletop but i've read a lot of stuff over the years. Never heard that one. Why do you say that?

[@WolfT33]

@@edgarsantos3034 he said in the video that Eldar, Necrons and Tau were one of the games most unnalanced factions kinda like in dark crusade with the Necrons being hard to kill, Tau having really good guns and Eldar (don't play 'em much so I personally don't know but heard it on a review).

[@kolczak6964]

@@WolfT33 Tau were not that op unless you were playing imperial guard in first 10 minutes. Rest races could counter them in some way or another, but Necrons and Eldar or complete different story. In right hands they were almost unbeatable.

[@georgeryan8267]

Do what broke the fans grey knights/daemon hunters

[@fast1nakus]

Pretty sure you should redo and update this series

[@Okutox]

The lore killed it for me. I loved that the tau were naive and wish washy in a grim dark world. Moment the ripetide came out I had a bad feeling we were just gonna be imperium light.

[@prdalien0]

I blame forge world for the force shift, I got into tau in 4th and the codex says they consider the big mechs of other factions to be clunky and a bad idea. Then FW began adding in big suits during the Taros campaign and I guess they sold well enough to make geedubs veer in that direction.

[@rjlarose5271]

We have a Tau player at locals thats pretty big tournament player and will bring those types of lists when we have said events. That said on normal game nights he refuses to bring said units to the table cause that wont be fun for everyone else.

[@rjlarose5271]

His go to list just runs stealth suits and firewarriors and the big stealth suits.

[@overlordgaming4839]

Tau army boxes then: kroot, fire warriors, crisis suits Tau army boxes now: ghostkeel, crisis suits, commander in battlesuit

[@MrGrizzly487]

It's such a shame, I love the look of regular Tau infantry and yet they've had nothing new besides the shotgun Fire Warriors. It's all about the mech suits, they even got rid of the XV15 because it's not mech, but the XV25 is, I know it was the Sergeant of the XV15 squad, but I would've preferred if the XV15 had stayed. Hell the Tau don't even get new tanks.

[@theswampus670]

The Kroot have been done dirty and i hate it. I've liked the Tau from the beginning, and the Battle Suits were a large part of that, but i love the Kroot and the Standard Fire warriors and Vespid are really cool in their own right, it's sad to see this happen especially when it gets the Tau even more hate.

[@coldshoulder8550]

Sometimes I really wish you wernt right so often. I'd love to see more kroot or vespid but those are xenos within xenos so if you thought the xenos races didn't get enough love already then boy howdy the sub xeno races I'm sure will never get love.

[@richardhicks5031]

The Tau as a faction had supplements for the FF 40k RPGs

[@karlandersson8652]

I love the Tau. Anime mecha idealists raging against the grimdark western universe. It's hilarious.

[@beanerwiddagun3207]

New player here. Just spent 1000 dollars on tau. All built and mostly painted and I’m excited to start playing.

[@patarryan7855]

Well the first thing I noticed in your video and many many other yout tubers that talk 40k is that nobody takes into consideration the casual gamers who by all estimates make up a significant portion of GW's revenue. Though I find your observations valid and relevant I must point out people like to have a beer and peanuts game filled with lots of story, custom rules and let's not forget narratives. I know plenty of gamers that buy and field trash units simply because they think they are cool. I my self have a substantial wytch army. I loose every damn game I bring them to the table but I have fun. And when I wanna win I play TS.

[@UnknownSquid]

Being shown a White Dwarf magazine with the Tau cover art on when they first released, was indeed what made me start paying any attention to 40k. I was/am the type who generally prefers their sci-fi clean and sleek, the kind who enjoyed more serious simulator games more than cinematic zeal and glory, and who couldn't understand why everything in 40k seems to have been dipped in glue and then rolled in a pool of skulls and/or spikes. So they targeted that niche I existed in pretty well with the Tau design. That said, having of course since experienced far more of both Warhammer settings since then, I have come to appreciate and enjoy the value of the over the top styling and unapologetic spectacle that Warhammer offers compared to other franchises. There's a fun variety of themes on offer all in one setting, that is hard to find elsewhere.

[@krilc]

God i've tried and failed to play Tau and have fun with them twice, i always dream of Kroot allies and an actual ALIEN society of cool mercs and auxilliaries not just mecha/fire warrior spam, as much as i do like the basic battlesuit model. Still got my old FW gnarloc in a junk box rotting away from a time when i truly thought kroot would be supported

[@wookiewithacookie6905]

Absolutely spot on analysis fella. I played tau when they first came out back in 3rd edition because I loved the idea of a mismatched xenos faction working together against the galaxy. Stopped playing sometime in 4th and recently returned to them when my son showed interest in playing 40k earlier this year. It seems that GW are trying to squat the whole confederation of races idea and it will soon be a monosuit army of big tau mechs (gotta earn those dollars somehow right??). Personally I still play my big block of firewarriors backed up with a cadre fireblade, a screen of Kroot and various fast support suits/tanks/piranhas as to me that's what Tau are and always will be. Might explain why my lad kicks my ass so much lol.

[@highmarshalbalian680]

Ghost keel and Stormsurges were 7th edition releases because one could use the stomp rule with Stormsurges

[@Jetcom10]

Tau was my first army. I started late 6th ed and I loved the lore and look of gundam tau. Unfortunately I ended up quitting the army because everyone complained how broken the tau was, and it was hard to find a game even though I just liked fielding crisis suits, and I was a 13 year old kid who had no idea what meta was. I just thought they looked cool.

[@grumbeard]

My sister loved the Kroot and played them exclusively.

[@KJ-ud9uf]

what i dont like about the tau is how theyre these goody two shoes. I would have preferred something like the imperium, theyre morally good but only compared to other factions in warhammer.

[@Hemsleybros]

As a tau player since 7th Edition (Mostly 8th edition as I had no clue what I was doing) I would like the make a counter point here: While the kroot and vespids have been completly and utterly sidelined, and this is a massive dissapointment from Games workshop (I love vespids, they look great and are so close to being good) I would firstly argue vespids arn't made unusable by crisis suits simply because crisis suits are extremly meh, due to needing 4s to hit and being expensive, on the other hand vespids can do well as marine killers even if medocre and so in my opinion right now both are currently as medocre as eachother (which is sad for vespids as on the few times I used them, they can really shine when the scenario allows) Secondly about suit based armies I'd argue that 8th ediition Tau have actually been a great improvement away from that. While before you'd have as few fire warriors as possible with really only pathfinders being 'wanted' now fire warriors and pathfinders are both really strong parts of the army with even so called 'fire warrior spam' armies winning tournaments due to the nature of 8th edition loving massed weak firepower (with the S5 coming in really handy against marines) and command points making double or even triple battalion worthwhile for tau. That's not to say the emphasis isn't on suits (triptide lists are still common and while normal commanders are rare, their coldstar brethren are everywhere with 20" move + 20" advance quad fusion blaster cancer) it is still nice to see the army actually moving *towards* infantry, even if its mostly due to the changes in the game system than the codex (although things like shadowsun's rerolls to hit or 5+ overwatch from the t'au sept affect infantry more than suits). Sorry for the essay but I'd like to raise a counter point, at least for discussion if nothing else

[@timostegemann9738]

Are we gonna ignore the bog crisis unit in many tau tournament lists?

[@Hemsleybros]

@@timostegemann9738 I honestly haven't seen that many of them but even then, the main point of tau moving back towards mixed (albeit heavily skewied) armies still holds

[@timostegemann9738]

@@Hemsleybros Mh at the moment you see the seeker missile spam and triptides. I dont know from which tournaments you talk but never seen what you are talking about.

[@Hemsleybros]

@@timostegemann9738 While triptides are extemly common and so are seeker spams they are by no means the only tau tournament winning lists and my point was not that battlesuit spam is gone, only that it has improved and there is more emphasis on infantry than there was before. also I have definatly seen at least one or two lists with >45 fire warriors (45 itself isn't unheard of since triple battalions exist) come top 4

[@timostegemann9738]

@@Hemsleybros I get the point.

[@kevinmerrifield4767]

I miss the Kroot. There was great potential there for further expansion in the form of the shapers craft. It would have allowed for a wide degree of diversification amongst the Kroot clans and development of differences that, way down the line could have laid the groundwork for their own codex. Sad to see that passed over in favour of 40k robot anime.

[@joebenedict4980]

I miss my kroot. I have 60 kroot, 6 gnarlocs, three shapers, and a krootox sitting on my shelf. Just waiting to get good rules and the gnarlocs waiting for forgeworld to recognize they exist again.

[@Chadegon1693]

I know the feeling aboit forgeworld... i play dark eldar

[@The0Bored0Network]

I came for the original codex artwork

[@noz6331]

That 4th ed codex cover is exquisite, that 3rd-5th ed artstyle is just so perfect and dirty, before the cleaner look started coming in.

[@walt_man]

@@noz6331 yeah, I love that gritty bulky style! And Adrian Smith and Kopinski

[@CocoHutzpah]

I actively avoid using Riptides, Ghostkeels, and Stormsurges. I've been getting better use out of infantry, piranhas, and broadsides with a unit or 2 of crisis suits to deepstrike. That doesn't mean I win very many games, but I have fun most of the time.

[@skorathereckless6449]

Stormsurges and Ghostkeels are not strong units I would say one got no durability and over lack fire powers for its cost.

[@jacobplayer2709]

8:35 in the lore that’s literally how tau fight khorn by depriving them of bloodshed

[@lokalnyork]

I would love to see army like Covenant from Halo with some sort of auxiliary units made from different alien species and not "Codex: Mecha" without "I'm a samurai of 40th millennium, baka!!1! >___> ". You could have Tau as vanilla gunline/mech and aliens as specialists.

[@TheNoobRapter]

I started playing Tau in 6th edition, I knew everyone hated them but I enjoyed the lore and the cast based harmony seemed cool. I did not have the money to buy broadsides and riptides, and even if I had the money some other player would have already bought it. I was both stuck with both the scraps of vespids, piranhas, and stealth teams, but also the bad stigma that since I play Tau I must be a power gaming fifty riptides. I had to work with my limitations and get creative, but the other players would ether shame me for playing Tau or shame me for not playing Tau correctly. What got me to have to take a break from Tau was in 8th edition my 40k group had a campaign where we told the story of our army's custom leader becoming a hero, the main kicker was we would wright a battle report as if it was the leader's story. The admin of my group got angry at me for writing my leader's story as "Not lore friendly" or in other words having positive events happening to the Tau (like how I won a battle with a commander, some fire warriors, and a hammer head). Now getting angry over what is basically fanfiction is dumb, but de-buffing my army in battle and giving other players tactical advice really makes my blood boil. Now I play genestealer cult, because no one cares about genestealer cult.

[@emilj6858]

Well, the Water Caste was always relatively absent from the Battlefield as the merchant and diplomacy class. It makes sense that the Fire caste makes up the majority of the battle force. Engineer units are relatively rare too and generally not really popular or downright bad due to no attention to balancing from GW, making the earth caste basically non-existent. And the main reason that the Air caste is not all that prevalent is because Tau due to their terrible melee abilities are forced to play rather static or slowly advancing formations, rendering flyers inefficient or even a weakness in the army. It also doesn't help that the only really viable flyer units are either very expensive for the points or Forgeworld models.

[@XVI_Legion]

Gave Thorpe came up with the tau?....makes sense rofl

[@Trazynn]

I like the Tau I just wish there was more lore about their normal every day operations. The first codex was pretty broad but the ones that followed were purely military/fire caste focused.

[@richardhicks5031]

There are a few novels I think plus a few supplements for the FF 40k rpgs

[@ThePeacemaker848]

GW has shifting fluff to their novels. ...which there are quite a bit.

[@jarosaww2825]

The 6th ed Tau could be easily abused, but 7th power creep made it business plan. Suddenly there were few guys with 9 riptides, wondering why noone want to play with them. In 8th I'm totally disappointed by stationary vision of army forced by GW. Bubble buffs and 8"movement for jump pack? They suppose to be fast mechs used as specialist tool. Now they're either one-shot suicide squad or crawling across the field, slightly faster than foot slogging pathfinders. Kroots..., right now even firewarriors are more reliable in CC. I've got full case of krotts with doggos and krootoxes, waiting for better times.

[@carlzerris6566]

Ok unpopular opinion here and yes i play tau only. I like the mechs. I like the fact that the tau are going in the direction of building better more advanced ones and while i think riptides are overused (i never use more than 1 in games and never in games below 1750 pts) i like the model, the design and the fact is symbolizes improvement (lore wise i should emphasise). If i wanted to play a tank army i would have chosen imperium and if i wanted to play infantry.....i would have played literally any other race. But i went with tau because (and i doubt im alone in this) i liked them in dawn of war and i like mechs (and i didn't want to use the hunchbacks the imperium uses). I completely agree with the fact that they could do so much more with the auxiliaries. Hell everyone who plays tau wants more for the auxilaries. But i think its wrong to take the anger out on the mechs rather the short sighted morons who can't think of anything else for the tau despite numerous ideas from the community.

[@J.Panxer]

Riptides and death bombs were 7th ed (and they were utterly broken in this edition). 6th Tau were a tissue paper force with s10 railguns. 8th, they finally can hold their own; and that makes imperium players cry. That is good. Kroot have been relegated to screens and cover bait instead of an outflank assault force, and vespid finally have guns that can take out marine equivalents and are hyper mobile. Suits are still suits, but the best ones are the forgeworld XV9's which compact an entire firewarrior squad into 3 models that can deepstrike, 15 wounds, and -1ap. We also have tech drones now which can repair suits and remove cover saves. Crush you enemies. See them driven before you; and hear the lamentations of the fan base. That is good.

[@snarkymcsnarkface1863]

Former tau player here. I dropped them shortly after the 8th codex. They were just one of the armies on my down sizing chopping block. Vespid are actually quite good if slightly over priced. They offer needed mobility if you are castling. They are like piranha severely undervalued. Both units can provide some grotesque mobility descent durability and an objective game while your opponent is trying to crack your castle. With magic boxes vespid actually gain value as they can be annoying little pests. Neither one are auto includes by any stretch of the imagination and their value is seriously dependent on the meta/format. But they do have value in the right lists.

[@cwhip9]

short, sharp, too the point....we are talking about the tau right???? lol good first time on the channel now a sub looking forward what other vids you have coming up

[@jeffers1985]

I did really enjoy early tau as it was sync and harmony amongst the units. Pathfinders picking targets, firewarriors providing cover and crisis suits making the ground. The riptide was what busted it for me. It became an unmovable anchor with that ion cannon overcharging. Then 8th hit and the heavy burst cannon got roided up and does far too much. Riptide should be a lord of war as it's too good especially in elite choice. I loved early farsight supplement as you were handicapped by unit choices and extra points you had to dump. I want that old farsight book back not the crap we have now. I've played tau three times in 8th and hated them

[@walt_man]

An Asian speaker, lol. Oh Macca, you funny. As for me, love the Tau since their 3rd Ed tail end introduction. I dont 'hate' any army outside of universe. I hate greedy practices though! ;p

[@walt_man]

Anyone notice how this 800% Vangelis track sounds like Resident Evil 2? (98)

[@patricthomas]

With the return of "add on" codexes I can see a world with a Tau : Kroot codex. With them being given special KT rules someone at GW is thinking of them.

[@carlzerris6566]

Tbh everyone who plays tau is hoping for a full auxilary codex/supplement. Im personally hoping for one just so i can play gue'vesa and trigger imperial players

[@konewhatsthenamespolicy6308]

I started with tau when they were first released other than one small space marine squad that came with paint. It’s been a roller coaster. I took a break from playing between the beginning of 6th edition and now and the changes have made my old army virtually useless. I’d have to easily spend another few hundred dollars at least to field a useful army

[@lordcypher7922]

I have stayed a Tau played although I rarely play 40k mainly due to the prices and constant changes

[@efffvss]

You get a couple of things wrong with the 3rd ed Tau book. Hammerheads have always had the option for Ion Cannons, Gun Drone Squadrons were always a thing and markerlights were part of the armoury from the get go (4th 'just' increased the amount of things that could carry them, and the amount of stuff they did). Also, some of the 'new' stuff like Skyrays and Piranhas were first introduced as FW kits.

[@iconocast]

holy shit has it realy been 18 years.

[@pker22999]

I would definitely enjoy seeing the sort of infantry you described for the tau

[@LyubenV]

I loved earlier versions of Tau, especially in Dark Crusade. The uber big suits suck imo though I do like the middle sized commanders & ghostkeels.

[@chrisfrost1649]

Good vid macca. You have basically been the main reason I've switched from 40k to 30k and I have been a blood angels player for 25 years. I wanted to politely ask you, could you do a "idiots guide to working with resin video" As an individual who had just bought their first resin models. I refuse to use geedubs glue because I doesn't work. If you can help I will be eternally grateful.

[@stephengarner9953]

We got a Tau codex in 7th, it introduces the ghost keel and the storm surge. The only thing is it was given to us basically right before the gathering storm, so it was a very short time 😅

[@scarfymonster]

Tau were my first army back in 3rd edition. We did in fact have marker lights, ion cannons, and commander farsight in that edition. But it was a tough army for a beginner into the game. In one game I was rhino-rushes by blood angels from outside the max range of my gun line straight into close combat in a single turn. Never got a shot off. I switched to marines but in 6th ed tried to dust off my tau and update with some of the new units. After blowing up my own riptide with gets hot I kind of lost interest. I still kind of miss my infantry based army though. And taus “patient hopeful” feel of their original ethic.

[@vaultatropos116]

And now, GW has decided to fuck the entire line with 9th.

[@CedarHunt]

I don't think people would hate them from a lore perspective at least if they played by the same rules as everyone else. The 40k setting is a harsh and unforgiving galaxy unless you're Tau. The Imperium is a merciless and unrelenting bureaucracy that signs off on extermination of minor xenos empires in bulk to save on paper. Unless you're Tau. The Orks build massive Waaaghs that sweep through entire sectors and result in the slaughter of trillions, unless you're Tau. Tyranids are an extra dimensional horror that strips swaths of the galaxy of all life and are only defeated at ruinous cost of life and material, unless you're Tau. It's clear to anyone who sees the lore and is aware of the setting that Tau are protected by the writers and it undermines the setting as a whole.

[@xxXEAMxx]

That's not a fair statement. You're looking at everything from an Imperium/Eldar-centric perspective if you think that the Tau are the only one that don't 'play by the rules'. The Orks and Chaos actively like how shit everything is in 40k, the Necrons could put at stop to everything if they woke up, the Tyranids have never been internally consistent with the rest of the setting's 'rules' and the Dark Eldar literally exist outside of the galactic paradigms and just use the grim darkness of the 41st millennium as a timeshare.

[@CedarHunt]

@@xxXEAMxx And every single one of them has a legitimate reason for their position. Except the Tau.

[@xxXEAMxx]

Eh. In the case of the Tyranids that's absolutely untrue. Nothing about their psychic abilities/presence or how they traverse space is internally consistent with anything else in 40k. The Tau, at least, could be easily fixed by expanding their sphere of influence so that they're not a literal handful of systems in comparison to the Imperium. Also, their lore is implicitly grimdark as fuck. Look up the Ethereal fluff from prior to 5th edition, the fluff on the Vespid Communion Helms, all of their lore in Battlefleet Gothic, or Farsight's lore prior to the steaming dump that was the Farsight Enclaves Supplement.

[@CedarHunt]

@@xxXEAMxx Nah, the nids are an extra galactic hive mind that is internally consistent. The Tau are just shit and have no place in 40k.

[@xxXEAMxx]

Explain how that justifies them ignoring daemons and Warp pollution/mutation or having non-Warp-based FTL.

[@TheAlterspark]

So...a few things wrong with your lore points 1. Only the one expedition killed their alien auxiliaries- not the whole empire 2. The Dark Eldar raided the kroot homeworld- they didn't wipe out the species. 3. Psychic awakening practically guarantees things other than battlesuits unless the Tau make a psychic armor.

[@Rich0029]

Tau got a new codex in 6th and 7th the 6th introduced the riptide and 7th introduced the Ghostkeel and Stormsurge if I remember correctly and broke the Tau even more

[@acarmichael8117]

I think it makes sense. After seeing the horrors that actually exist in the galaxy (and how useless fire warriors are against anything that isn't a baseline human in the books) it makes sense that they would transition into more elite/mobile suit strike force.

[@ggcpres]

Tbf, the water cast is really only going to show up in the fluff. No one sends the ambassador and the pawn shop owner to battle.

[@100thmonkey]

If Vespid got their own Supplement and a new model range I'd be very interested...

[@marcwittkowski5146]

Besides the whole Cawl and Primaris- shenanigans, the Tau and what happened to them are what I dislike about the hobby in its current state the most. I miss the fleir they had when they first came out and I'd love to build an army one day that includes mainly fire warriors (I do have to say that I love the look of the breachers), devilfish, Kroot and a few Crisis or stealth suits as quick reaction forces. Ah, those were the days.

[@Raygun9000]

Kroot went from a useless combat unit with bolters to useful infiltrating snipers to a useless ranged with bolters. Kroot hound units used to be pretty good.

[@gadzilla6664]

Suggestion: how gw ruined other low by pushing knights.

[@McRajden]

Pritty sure ion canons and markerlights was originally in the first codex, 3rd.

[@Rob749s]

I actually prefer a pure Tau army. My headcannon is that support units like broadsides, riptides, and stormsurges are earth caste, fast units like hammerheads and piranhas air caste, stealth troops like ghostkeels and stealth battlesuits, are water caste, with the rest being fire warriors (apart from ethereals obviously)

[@fabienmorgan5163]

Maybe a Kroot and vespid supplement could be good?

[@Threadie_Bow]

Well Primaris is the "old" tau in power armour and 3+ hit. 30" rapid fire standard unit.. its not S5 but S4 -1AP. so better.. a jump pack unit with 2 burst cannons and -1 AP system.. oh i mean 2 assault bolters.. Executioner a skimmer tank with a 72" S10 -5AP d6 D cannon.. sounds famillier. Tactical Warsuit a S7 platform hmm again sounds famillier.. Primaris is taking the old tau play still.. I can't be the only one seeing this

[@RocketHarry865]

They pratically turned Space Marines into Tau 2.0

[@jonathanwhyborne3031]

First viewer. A totally meaningless accolade! Thanks for sharing your opinions in a well informed and humorous way.

[@viorp5267]

Tau went from Star Treck federation to Gundam

[@TheCrimsonSpork]

“Tau Arrive” Zankoku no tenshi no you ni

[@Silver_Paladin]

I agree up to 7th but 8th was very good for the tau although the kroot and vespid are neglected by gw and are very interesting, they deserve new models and rules that are viable and fun

[@Spacefrisian]

the lack of a Colony drop strategem in the current Codex is breaking me a bit....And not being able to make a decent all battlesuit army, cause the battlesuit commanders are limited in number....

[@erikbrown2486]

Ha ha ha.. I always was a Fantasy player. Later on down the line,ran into a Game Group that had a law, you need one fantasy and one 40k army. So I kept seeing sneak peeks on the Tau in Wd's. So 3erd. edition 40k was my Proud Tau Army. It beefed up to 12 Crisis suits, 2 Hammer Heads, 9 Broadsides, 4 full teams of Fire Warriors, and 40 Kroot, w/4 Kroot hounds. And 2 Pathfinder teams, two Devilfish. And that Tau Etheral Special Character (forgot his name) and plenty of gun drones. Sold them off, and Started my Orks. (Due to I played Orc's and Gobbos in fantasy) and now have Plenty of Blood Axe's. But,.. I was faced against a Tau Army, with that Bloody Riptide. (I think 5th edition?) And got whooped! Ha ha ha. I Laugh, because I'm an Ork player,.. and you never take anything serious... Well I don't. After all, I had to live with Animosity in Fantasy. And my Trolls Stupidity... Ahh,.. good times... I don't play the 8th, but my buddy is trying to break me in,.. I'll try it,. Not a fan, because it's AoS rules, and don't play AoS. But that's just me. But anyways, Tau sure has Changed over the years.

[@saroshi9809]

Great vid as always man. As a player who discovered 40k through picking up the literal issue of White Dwarf that revealed the Tau because it featured the Tau I can say I agree with all of your points here except one, which is that Kroot were far more useful than Fire Warriors in 7th due to the fact that they could take sniper rounds for a measly points cost & also gained extra cover in forests. They could plink away with near impunity at TEQ's & might even kill one or two which more than made their points back. As far as the mech heavy direction it's garbage. Crisis Suits are meant to be used in a CRISIS, when convention Tau forces can't get the job done. They were never meant to be ubiqitous so yeah it sucks.

[@hoyer]

Been toying with the idea of creating an Alien tau army whit out blueberrys

[@vraska8799]

Not only the samurai-like close combat units are nowhere to be seen, even within the mecha range, they missed the oportunity of exploiting for example the ships/tank anthropomorphed warriors girls. They could also start experimentation with the Kroot to make them more bulky trying to counter the space marines (making them even more space-lizardmen), and it could or could not backlash (or make it so the fans speculate about a possile insurrection).

[@karolmikolajczyk6347]

Battlesuits? I'm not complaining.

[@bertholdbach4959]

I thought you would burst into flames when you enter a GW Store?

[@DMKA94]

Minus the drone squad, my current tau army is very similar to the tau then image. As long as you don't play power players you can have a pretty good time with an old school tau list in 8th, I've even won more games with them than lost in 8th! XD

[@rick_the_framer]

Good stuff, thanks for laying it all out coherently Macca. How about an AdMech WBTF? Comparisons with Mechanicum, the never-to-be-seen Cyraxus, the lack of anything new for some time (except the horrible hovercraft nonsense!), wpould be good to see what you make of it!

[@chrisgoblin4857]

Tau player here. Started playing about a year ago after a 14 year hiatus and my knowledge of the game was all from 3rd edition. I thought Tau was supposed to be infantry heavy with suits as support and to an extent I play them that way. In a Battalion I tend to run 3 x 10 Fire Warrior teams and at least 3 Xv25 suits to make up the meat of my army on the tabletop. Then it’s down to which big suits I take to fill up the points. I do have a Riptide but only one of them so not spamming them out. I just don’t like how Crisis suits are so integral to the fluff but are kinda useless in game. Better spending points elsewhere of Broadsides, Ghostkeels and shield drones for the Riptide.

[@kevinjohnson6644]

i think they should focus on xenos in the tau empire for future releases. its far more interesting then yet another gundam thingy. kroot and vespid are both cool and interesting. in my opinion there are not enough non human looking aliens in 40k. i think the most interesting looking eldar are warp spiders and striking scorpions just because they look a bit alien. i would love to see that old kroot list come back with all the adaptations as well as some expansion on vespid.

[@UnknownEntity334]

hoping for some CC battlesuits small like stealth style thatd be the shit and something to buff then with. liler markerlights. or increase movement on stealth or nerf riptide

[@ThroatSore]

And yes, bang on about the knights.

[@rentsy3444]

I started playing Tau in 3rd and 4th edition. Was into Mechanized Tau, thought it was fun. I think at the time I hated Kroot. Hard to say. Hours with my friend's 3rd ed rulebook. I remember buying the 4th ed.

[@Mattiniord]

I loved the original Tau. I loved the mix of kroots and fire warriors. Overall 40000K is more and more big stuff with less and less infantry. It is mostly Kill team for me nowadays. I just hope that Farsight will remain as some little light in the darkness. Taus naive approach was so contrasting to the darkness of the rest of the Galaxy. But for some reason someone felt everything had to be grimdark instead of having more diversity.

[@hhugooooo]

I think there is an opportunity for GW to actually release MORE aux models, using the startide nexus. now the empire has access to a whole new section of the galaxy, which means so many new races. I agree with you though, it seems clear they are shifting away from the kroot and vespid and are looking for just a mecha-only army. It's definitely a shame.

[@TheSixYardBox]

The ghost keel was around in 7th bud and was a lot stronger then than it is in 8th

[@thecanadiankiwibirb4512]

14:36 big sad

[@carelianspitz]

Love the vids but your audio is terrible, any chance to fix it/get a new one? And 'cause english ain't my first language and I can barely can make something out of this so I bet someone else is having the same problem. Thinking about the non english speaking followers. Thank you/sorry.

[@Quole1234]

Tau DID get a new codex in 7th. Also the Stormsurge, Ghostkeel, Breacher teams, etc. were added in said codex, not 8th. Also the whole caste system is redundant in the game. You would never see earth or water caste being represented on the tabletop, and there's a good reason for that - they don't fight. Not really anyway. Water caste for example are literally diplomats, not fighters. There's a reason different castes are biologically different - because they are genetically suited to their task. A water caste diplomat is much physically weaker than a firewarrior. The Fire caste is supposed to be pretty much all we see, model wise, because they are the actual fighting force of the empire. The Tau could have been different like you said, but this was literally never the case.

[@CyrodiilCome]

Tau are great, my 2nd favorite army. (Crimson Fist)

[@thug4lyfe]

I still love the Tau and still think they are the good guys. I almost never use riptide in my lists

[@shadowsicksix]

Yup. I shelved my Tau when it became all about Mecca robots. Then I sold it in 7th. Such a shame.

[@professorbingchingler9503]

Do I smell iron hands?