T'au 8th Ed. Wishlisting

[Marshal van Trapp]

Just because you can doesn't mean you have to. You could technically make an almost all auxiliary army just no hqs, really I just want something battlesuit wise for my fast attack slots. I hate using drones on their own and I'd love to see a fast suit that's not a FW exclusive. The suggestion of stealth as troops was more a hope to be able to make stealth focused cadres since the only stealthy units we have are all stuck in the elite or fast attack sections (unless you count kroot but they are not tau) if breachers got more stealthy (better cover benefits or forward deployment/movement) I would also be satisfied, I just want to be able to make my stealth focused cadre more viable without having to sacrifice a bunch of CP (also really hoping those rumors of gaining cover benefits when not moving tenant is better than it seems so I can justify using it)

[Panzer]

Well my Cadre is all about stealth&recon as well and I'm perfectly satisfied with those units just being in the Elite and Fast Attack sections. If I want Troops for whatever reason I'll just have to accept that it'll be a non-stealthy aspect of the force I'm bringing to the table that day. Usually it's a bunch of Kroot.

A 100% stealth themed army isn't a particularly optimised way to play T'au anyway so I don't really understand your point. That's as if a BA player is saying he wants Jump Pack units in every section or a White Scars player saying he wants Bike units in every section. Themed armies never follow the standard deployment style of armies. That's what it means to play a themed army. So it would be weird to have such options for every section.

 

tl;dr

Building a narrowly themed army means to commit to something and to accept that there are plenty things one can't have. Especially in an army like the T'au Empire which is designed around a more all-comers approach like the Astra Militarum etc.

Let's be thankful for having at least two Stealthy suits, Pathfinder, Remora Drones and,if one isn't a T'au purist, Kroot as well. ;)

[Marshal van Trapp]

True, although in previous editions a BA player could have an entire jump pack army as could a white scar player have an all bike army, and I guess the way they made that work this edition is with detachments, and actually after seeing the new Bork'an rules I might make a mixed stealth/super long range army, So anything stealthy can be stealthy while everything else sits back and snipes which is in and of itself a kind of stealth (cant hit something that outraged you!)

[Panzer]

Good point. I can certainly see Bork'an Sept Strike Teams, potentially with an additional Pulse Accelerator Drone, work thematically in such an army.

If you want to go one step further you could even add a Fireblade so they have 3 shots at 21“ range. :D

[Triszin]

So to add to this, for future stuff

 

 

T'AU iridium Support Drone.

(elite: single model)

model:

( this drone is nearly the size of the Recon Drone for the pathfinders. It comes with several bits to represent different support systems )

 

Rules:

This model may take 1 support system from the support systems list.

- Any T'AU infantry model within 3" gains the benefit of that specific support system, as though they had it equipped.

- you can deploy this model with T'au Infantry teams, this takes up 2 transport slots inside

- If this Support drone is slain then its support system goes with it, however you can still finish the phase as though its ability were active.

 

 

Purpose:

THis is designed to add more strength and support options for T'AU infantry.

A strike team with a Early warning overide support drone, allows them to shoot at deepstriking models!

a Breacher team with ATS, is now shooting its pulse blasters at AP-3,-2,-1.

 

question:

would it be imblanced if you can take multiple support drones and stack support systems, or limit it to. An infantry model under the effect of a support drone may only benefit from 1 support system per turn.

 

 

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Fast attack

Plastic Forgeworld assault drones: dual burst

 

Another Tank for the Tau, fills different role than that of the devilfish

 

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HQ SLOT

plastic

XV25 commander

: weapon options

- heavy pulse rifle

- heavy pulse blaster

- fusion

- burst cannon

- ion rifle

- flamer

-

[Marshlands]

Id like fixes to some FW stuff, move and fire on tetras and most the fliers, strafing run or +1 to hit fliers in some instances.

 

The rvhanna needs a massive points drop and a couple of extra points of strength on his gun

 

Tidewall stuff completely reworked, generally cheaper with a better rule for the shieldlines and gun

 

I wish they'd give hazards a niche again, move them to fast attack, sort out the two crappy weapons, increase their move to 12 and give them a good autoadvance distance, kinda like mini coldstars.

 

Shapers need a way to be useful, a much bigger aura even would make me use them, hey just cant buff enough guys that are barely worth buffing at the moment

 

Sort out the burst cannons on the tiger and hammerhead variant to be something useful

[Triszin]

I think we can look at gsc, biophagus for potential future shaper rules can be. Would be super cool.

 

Shaper rolls a d6, on a 1 he suffers mortal wounds. On 2-3 nothing happens. 4'5'6 all have different postive changes.

 

+1 atk, +1 str, +1 t. For the squad he's within range of. The squads can only be effect Ed by this ability once per game. But it sticks for the rest of the game.

[Marshlands]

I think we can look at gsc, biophagus for potential future shaper rules can be. Would be super cool.

 

Shaper rolls a d6, on a 1 he suffers mortal wounds. On 2-3 nothing happens. 4'5'6 all have different postive changes.

 

+1 atk, +1 str, +1 t. For the squad he's within range of. The squads can only be effect Ed by this ability once per game. But it sticks for the rest of the game.

Even if this was a stratagem, providing a lasting buff would be really interesting

[Panzer]

Yeah Shaper definitely need something better than a weak LD buff since currently the Ethereal is the miles better Shaper.

Also on my personal wishlist would be the Shaper becoming a HQ choice so I can play a full Kroot army without having to take an Ethereal as counts-as Elder Shaper. :P

[Marshlands]

Yeah Shaper definitely need something better than a weak LD buff since currently the Ethereal is the miles better Shaper.

Also on my personal wishlist would be the Shaper becoming a HQ choice so I can play a full Kroot army without having to take an Ethereal as counts-as Elder Shaper. :P

That needs them to bring back the master shaper!

[Triszin]

 

Yeah Shaper definitely need something better than a weak LD buff since currently the Ethereal is the miles better Shaper.

Also on my personal wishlist would be the Shaper becoming a HQ choice so I can play a full Kroot army without having to take an Ethereal as counts-as Elder Shaper.

That needs them to bring back the master shaper!

 

and let him have the gunship diplomat warlord trait for free

[Triszin]

I know I said this before, but

 

I would like Multi slot systems and weapons for suits.

 

I.e.

 

Plasma Rail rifle

- this takes up 2 slots on your battle suit

rapid fire 2

30" S8 ap-4 Dam 1

 

signature system

- Nexus Defense

- this takes up 2 slots on your battlesuit

Any enemy models within 1" of the suit takes D3 mortals wounds

[Panzer]

You know what's funny? The way Pulse rifles got described in one of the Codexes (not sure if it's still the case) fits pretty well the description of a Plasma Rail rifle considering it accelerates a solid projectile and then vaporizes and encloses it in an electrical field shortly before it leaves the barrel (which is honestly quite dumb because it's additional tech with the only purpose to weaken the shot but whatever sci-fi logic).

 

More potent signature systems using more than one slot sounds like a great idea but honestly they don't even manage to make current one slot signature systems worth taking with some few exceptions.

 

 

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Honestly what I'd really like to see would be for Markerlights to be less BS dependent. Hitting such a crucial part of what it means to play only on a 4+ sucks a lot. No wonder everyone ignores Pathfinder and takes Marksmen and Fireblades instead. Even worse when the enemy has negative to-hit penalties. Also doesn't really help that light armored scouts are simply unable to perform their role with the current terrain rules since they don't really gain any advantage by scouting ahead to hide in forests or whatever (cover bonus is less good the worse your armour stat is) so Pathfinders just get obliterated by looking at them while carrying high target priority gear.

[Triszin]

You know what's funny? The way Pulse rifles got described in one of the Codexes (not sure if it's still the case) fits pretty well the description of a Plasma Rail rifle considering it accelerates a solid projectile and then vaporizes and encloses it in an electrical field shortly before it leaves the barrel.

 

More potent signature systems using more than one slot sounds like a great idea but honestly they don't even manage to make current one slot signature systems worth taking with some few exceptions.

 

 

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Honestly what I'd really like to see would be for Markerlights to be less BS dependent. Hitting such a crucial part of what it means to play only on a 4+ sucks a lot. No wonder everyone ignores Pathfinder and takes Marksmen and Fireblades instead. Even worse when the enemy has negative to-hit penalties. Also doesn't really help that light armored scouts are simply unable to perform their role with the current terrain rules since they don't really gain any advantage by scouting ahead to hide in forests or whatever (cover bonus is less good the worse your armour stat is) so Pathfinders just get obliterated by looking at them while carrying high target priority gear.

so hitting on a 4+ ignores to hit penalties?

sounds great to me.

[Panzer]

I'd be fine with that, yeah. Then some impoving of the terrain rules and I'd be happy lol

[Waking Dreamer]

Onager Gauntlet:

- Strength 10 AP-4 Dmg 2d6

- User can only attack once with this weapon

- If damage rolled is 10+ the user suffers a mortal wound

[Panzer]

We already have the Onager Gauntlet. It's a Signature System.

[Waking Dreamer]

I wish for a better Onager Gauntlet. 

[Panzer]

Well that's fair I guess. Your suggestion still suffers from the same problem as the version we have though. It's a single attack that hits on 3+ at best and then has to wound on a 3+ and if we're unlucky has to get through an invul save as well. Basically the same reason why unbuffed Hammerheads aren't good. A single high strength attack is just not reliable enough. Not to mention that we have to get a Commander into melee where he usually doesn't want to be just to take his chances on that one attack.

[Triszin]

I would say, Onager Guantlent shouldn't be made better.

 

instead we should get a new "gauntlet" one more fitting with the tau play style.

 

Based off the "mantis shrimp in real life" this shrimp punches as hard a a .22 caliber bullet, and can create shock waves.

 

(signature system)

Mantis Gauntlet

- a model armed with this may only make 1 attack with it in the melee phase, regardless of how many attacks they have.

- A model armed with this, ALWAYS attacks first in melee, unless the engaged model has a similar rule, in that case alternate

- "-1 to hit"

- str 10, ap-4, 2D6 dam. on a roll of a unmodified " 6" add 1 mortal wound in addition to normal damage. (up to 2 mortal wounds)

- on a double 6 for dam, do 1 mortal wound to models within 3 " (enemies and allies).

 

 

then the new onager gauntlet is is like the iridium and can be taken 1 for every 3

 

This takes up 1 suit slots,  (1 or 2)

Onager Guantlet

- a model armed with this may only make 1 attack with it in the melee phase, regardless of how many attacks they have.

- STR 8 ap-2, D6 dam

- -1 to hit

- Pulse Cascade are inbuilt into the gauntlet

- pistol 4, (pulse pistol stats)

[Panzer]

This Mantis Gauntlet is even worse lol. It's still only 1 attack but it also hits worse makes it even less likely to do its job.

 

Same goes for the new Onager Gauntlet. Plus It seems you intend to put it on Crisis Suits which already hit worse than Commanders anyway with their WS5+ and now you make them hit on 6s lol. The 4 shot pulse pistol is a nice idea though.

 

 

P.S. no need to mention the "unless the engaged model has a similar rule, in that case alternate" part for always strikes first. That's already covered in the core rules.

[Triszin]

This Mantis Gauntlet is even worse lol. It's still only 1 attack but it also hits worse makes it even less likely to do its job.

 

Same goes for the new Onager Gauntlet. Plus It seems you intend to put it on Crisis Suits which already hit worse than Commanders anyway with their WS5+ and now you make them hit on 6s lol. The 4 shot pulse pistol is a nice idea though.

 

 

P.S. no need to mention the "unless the engaged model has a similar rule, in that case alternate" part for always strikes first. That's already covered in the core rules.

one thing I was thinking about was, What if instead of "powerfists" Tau got a pistol style replacement. Purpose was cleaning out Horde/cqc and Point defense.

 

Pulse cascade (new weapon for suits)

Pistol 4 (pulse pistol stats with 1 more -ap)

 

I'd put two on a coldstar  give him shields and a flamer. XD

 

 

wrote ghostkeel instead of coldstar

[Panzer]

I think depending on the cost such a weapon would easily replace any Burst cannons on Crisis Suits. You can still shoot it after arriving from reserves unless the enemy screened well (though those are the weapons that work great against screens so that's that), you basically get an ATS for free and can still comfortable shoot while keeping the enemy locked in melee.

I mean I'd love to have such a weapon on Crisis Suits but I don't think it would be good for their internal balance. It's already a struggle to balance BCs, Flamers and AFP against eachother as is. 

[Triszin]

I think depending on the cost such a weapon would easily replace any Burst cannons on Crisis Suits. You can still shoot it after arriving from reserves unless the enemy screened well (though those are the weapons that work great against screens so that's that), you basically get an ATS for free and can still comfortable shoot while keeping the enemy locked in melee.

I mean I'd love to have such a weapon on Crisis Suits but I don't think it would be good for their internal balance. It's already a struggle to balance BCs, Flamers and AFP against eachother as is. 

true.

 

Maybe the cure is just making the other weapons worth it.

 

we've talked about this before, but adding utlity features to the other weapons that arent being used should be a thing.

 

 

I wouldnt mind a Pistol weapon for our suits.

 

Heavy Pulse pistol (suits) only

Heavy pistol 2

 

heck would making flamers on suits Pistol 1 be OP?

 

and would like a"pulse cascade" for a XV28, and alt load out is a Heavy Pulse rifle or something

[Waking Dreamer]

Well that's fair I guess. Your suggestion still suffers from the same problem as the version we have though. It's a single attack that hits on 3+ at best and then has to wound on a 3+ and if we're unlucky has to get through an invul save as well. Basically the same reason why unbuffed Hammerheads aren't good. A single high strength attack is just not reliable enough. Not to mention that we have to get a Commander into melee where he usually doesn't want to be just to take his chances on that one attack.

I would take the Onager Gauntlet (and the Fusion Blades) along with Commander Farsight. So that means they would be hitting on 3s re-rolling 1s. On elite infantry, the Gauntlet would be wounding on 2s, while on vehicle's it is 3s, but would usually go straight through armour. Invulns are an issue but that's why Farsight is there to give them a good bash. It's a niche relic, but if you already have Farsight in your army, well he can't go into melee all on his own can he? And they definitely benefit from his combat buff. The Onager Gauntlet doesn't actually take up a hard-point either, or cost the points of a base weapon. So potentially, ATS on that free hard-point can give his other 3 attacks S5 AP-1 D1. The melee output of a ThunderWolf mount. It's alright.