Tau, 5 Editions Later

[Trokair]

So all the way back in 3 Edition when the Tau came out I collected a small force of them. In the intervening years I occasionally bought the new codexes (4th and 5th or 6th I cannot tell) but no new models and did not really play them in those years either.

So, after having found some of my old XV15 I decided to try Tau again. My old Commander, Crisis Suits and Broadside are beyond repair, as are some of the drones and fire warriors. So while I can salvage a little bit of 3rd edition stuff I am mostly starting afresh.

I was aware that there were a few new units, changes and updates along the way but boy have things changed. Aside from a few metal to failcast conversions are there any original kits still around?

 

Anyway, my plan is to build a small force consisting of the units I like for friendly games, so this is not going to be competitive, 1000 points or so.

I did buy the kit for Shas'o R'Myr's years and years ago as I liked the look of the double Plasma and shield and wanted to use it for my commander. So I have the resin parts and one plastic 3rd edition crisis sprue.

Does anybody know how compatible Shas'o R'Myr's part are with the new plastic Commander kit.

 

My vague plan is to use Shas'o R'Myr's parts for the primary commander with the new commander kit and then to make a secondary commander for larger games using leftover parts, the metal parts from my old broken broadside (once striped), specifically the missile hands, and the 3rd edition crisis sprue to build a mini ‘broadside’ commander with lots of missiles that can stay backfield.

 

So for a 1000p, vanguard detachment something like:

 

Plasma Comander using what I have, any suggestions for the fourth hard point?

 

I have 12 XV15 suits so I was thinking of buying a squad of the new ones and mixing them Dawn of War style to make three units.

 

Ghostkeel
One Broadside

Any reaming points into drones.

I’ll aim for a battalion with lots of firewarriors and such later but for now I want to build a ‘stealth’ flavored army.

 

The broadside does not really fit the flavor but initially he would be the missile pseudo commander outlined above. A second ghostkeel would be more on theme but small steps at a time.

[The Yncarne]

Original kits still around

- Devilfish

- Hammerhead/ Sky Ray now in a single box

- XV-8 Crisis suits

- Kroot

- Fire warriors now strike teams

 

I might be forgetting something.

 

XV-15s are no longer in the codex. My group still lets me use mine as XV-25s.

 

I have little experience this edition, but most people prefer the cyclic ion blaster on commanders.

 

I suspect the new crisis commander suits will not fit your old commander due to the construction design. The FW suit weapons fit into the end of the hands, but they attach differently on the crisis commander. You might be able to convert something though.

 

Hope this helps.

[Panzer]

Original kits still around

- Devilfish

- Hammerhead/ Sky Ray now in a single box

- XV-8 Crisis suits

- Kroot

- Fire warriors now strike teams

 

I might be forgetting something.

 

XV-15s are no longer in the codex. My group still lets me use mine as XV-25s.

 

I have little experience this edition, but most people prefer the cyclic ion blaster on commanders.

 

I suspect the new crisis commander suits will not fit your old commander due to the construction design. The FW suit weapons fit into the end of the hands, but they attach differently on the crisis commander. You might be able to convert something though.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Crisis Suits and Firewarriors aren't the original kits. Those got updated quite a while ago.

[The Yncarne]

Aren’t the crisis suits the same size, just with a few new gubbins in the support systems? I thought the fire warriors were the same with the new drone and turret bits, but the actual models the same. I certainly can’t see any difference on the table.

[Panzer]

The Crisis Suits are slightly taller, more defined bitz and more poseable.

The Firewarriors got sharper details and some additional bitz (and also the Breacher bitz).

[Trokair]

I saw that the Hammerhead was a duel unit kit now and therefore assumed that it was updated, interesting to see that they just combined parts into one kit.

 

While newer kits with greater details are a plus most of the time, having had a good look at the pictures on the GW website, I think that in the new crisis team they made a veird choic wit the missile pods. It looks like you can only mount it vertically compared to the old kit where the missile pod was horizontal. I better see what I can salvage so that I can have shoulder mounted missile pods that don’t look like they will fall off in a strong wind.

 

I am sad to see that the xv15 are nolonger available at all. Are the new stealth suits on the same size base (25mm)? Rebasing models with slots onto larger bases is not fun.  

[Panzer]

I saw that the Hammerhead was a duel unit kit now and therefore assumed that it was updated, interesting to see that they just combined parts into one kit.

 

While newer kits with greater details are a plus most of the time, having had a good look at the pictures on the GW website, I think that in the new crisis team they made a veird choic wit the missile pods. It looks like you can only mount it vertically compared to the old kit where the missile pod was horizontal. I better see what I can salvage so that I can have shoulder mounted missile pods that don’t look like they will fall off in a strong wind.

 

I am sad to see that the xv15 are nolonger available at all. Are the new stealth suits on the same size base (25mm)? Rebasing models with slots onto larger bases is not fun.  

 

I'd have to check but I'm sure you can mount the Missile Pods any way you want. If not by design then at least simply by the fact that you use glue (or better, magnets) anyway.

 

The current Stealth Suits used to be on 25mm bases but that got changed to 32mm which was a much needed change imo since now they are less prone to falling over. However there's no problem with using 25mm bases for several reasons.

1. There are simply no official rules for base sizes in 40k these days (however while it's technically allowed to put a Riptide on a 25mm base and a Drone on a 60mm base, it's usually accepted to use the base size the model came delivered with or the size it currently comes delivered with)
2. XV15 Suits came with 25mm bases originally
3. Nobody could tell if you bought your XV25 Suits when they came with 25mm bases or 32mm bases if you want to add those to your army

[Bryan Blaire]

If you are going to rebase to 32mm, I would actually recommend just cutting off the rim of the 25mm base with a razor saw and gluing the top of the base to a 32mm base, then adding in some disguising basing detail around it - that way you don’t have to rip all the basing apart and redo it.

[Trokair]

The problem I expect to encounter with rebasing the XV15 is that they have the metal tab and need a slot base, so I would have to cut into the 32mm base. I think I will leave them on 25mm bases for now. It depends on how well I can strip my bad painting from 16 years ago. If the gentle strip does not work and I need to resort to Acetone I’ll probably will need new bases anyhow. From my experience of redoing my 2nd ed Necrons a few years ago most of the 25mm slot bases broke when I tried to remove them.

 

 

Anyway, I have thrown together a list based on what I guesstimate above. Just need to buy 6 Stealths, the Comander and the ghostkeel for this. 

 

Vanguard Detachment

 

Commander Enforcer 141p

2 Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Shield Generator

2 Shield Drone

 

Stealth Squad 178p

6 Suits, 6 Burst Cannon

1 Marker Drone

 

Stealth Squad 178p

6 Suits, 6 Burst Cannon

1 Marker Drone

 

Stealth Squad 208p

6 Suits, 4 Burst Cannon, 2 Fusion Blaster

2  Gun Drone

 

Ghostkeel 170p

1 Suit, Fusion Collider, 2 Fusion Blaster, Shield Generator, Target Lock

2  Stealth Drones

 

Broadside 126p

1 Suits, High-yield Missile Pods, 2 Smart Missile System, Advanced Targeting System

2 Shield Drone

 

Total 1001p

CP: 4

[Bryan Blaire]

Cut the tab with a hacksaw/Dremel.

[The Yncarne]

I think this is the one scenario where I’d go with one of those base expanders.

 

My experience with slotta base models is a lot of filing to get a smooth surface then hope your drilling is accurate and sufficient. I’ve never been a great pin artist.