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ColonelMarksman — Tau Commander - 5th Ed Rules
Published: 2010-01-19 05:28:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 4322; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 541
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Description
I'm building my own 5th Edition Tau Codex. This is a taste of what I'm doing. Not everything is set in stone, but this is pretty much what's going on. If you notice (probably didn't unless you're a graphics designer like myself), I've tried keeping to the "clean" look of Tau while adhering to the 5th Edition style. In addition, keeping the words in the columns lined up is a PAIN! The number of adjustments and increments I had to do and rewriting of the wording makes me realize why some of the rules writing is so messed up in official Codexes.About the rules themselves. No, the stat line is not a typo. My Codex features the different battlesuits as wargear, because some of the guys can go on foot, and be equipped with different suits, etc. Instead of making a list of stats for every single incident, I'm just having them count as wargear. The particular suit will give the additions to the stat lines. The Tau Commander can pick from 3 different suits, but he's the only unit that can pick the XV24 'Command', hence why it's under his profile page.
You may also notice the special rule "Central Network Link". Only those Tau with it can benefit from Markerlights, the Commander's own special rules, the Pathfinder's Devilfish, and a few other things I might come up with for special characters. It does not work like the IG Orders rule, or an Ork Waaagh!, but gives the Tau that feel of inclusion to be unique. I designed it around the fluff in explaining how Markerlights grant better shooting to Tau. I'll have more on that later.
This new rule will give Tau that special edge in games. It gives the players more reason to take units to work together as an interconnected force instead of separating out the different units to work by Unit X vs Unit Y. The current style of play for all 40k armies done this way. If you want to win with the Tau, you have to think more abstractly. Instead of giving the Tau things that other, newer Codexes have, I am giving them different things that will update the old Codex with a few new options while tying the units together. But other than that, very little will change.
I changed the picture because I realized that what I had before was fairly cheesy. So I got a picture of Farsight to represent the Commander going on the ground too.
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Comments: 20
I wish I knew. Someone from GW.
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pretty good. i like it.
also wut is 'honoured' special rule?
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I'm not quite sure just yet what the 'Honoured' special rule will be. I'm building this Codex from the fluff up, not the other way around. I don't believe in trying to create stat lines and wargear and then excuse or justify it with fluff.
Whatever I decide, it must represent respect, honor, and dedication to a particular individual. Those nearby a Shas'o give their trust, faith, and very lives into his hands and recognize him as an esteemed battlefield leader. That he would be so bold as to accompany them on the battlefield and partake in the fighting is very inspiring.
Those individuals who have taken the oath of the Ta'lissera, will also share similar qualities. It's a show of dedication to each other.
An Ethereal is even stronger in the same area. Anyone who simply knows he's around are encouraged even more. It's actually a word that the human language has hard defining.
For the rules, I'm looking at the "Bonded" special rule, where you regroup even if you're below half strength. When you're within 12" of a Shas'o, that means you can regroup at Leadership 10. Just a little something to keep troops on the board and going.
But I'm seriously looking for alternatives. I considered 'Stubborn', but the problem with that is in combat, you don't count modifiers, which screws you over when you have that 1 FW model holding up 8 Space Marines you really need to shoot up. And Tau as a whole don't do Last Stands.
The reason I gave the Commander Stubborn is because as the leader of the hunt, with that sense of honor between him and his cadre, he and the unit he's with will feel obligated to hold the line for the rest of the Tau. And the current Tau commanders are very good at that.
The one I'm hanging on to and currently play-testing is something like the XV9 rules of being able to abandon their drones while they get away from combat using Hit-and-Run. The running ideal is that the unit's team leader will remain in combat and automatically count as destroyed while the rest of the unit successfully falls back.
While this sounds cheesy, the way I'm writing up the Fandex will make it a difficult sacrifice. Team leaders carry not just the higher Leadership, but also a closer-knit use of the abilities. For example, the Stealth team will consist of XV15s, with an XV22 to lead them. The XV22 is the only suit that can carry a special weapon or come equipped with a wide range of wargear. When you lose your XV22 team leader, you lose the Ld:8, the drones he had, and the special weapon, like a fusion gun or flamer. And you still have to successfully test for Regroup. But with the way armies have become faster, with Outflank and the Run rule, with more deep striking (and the Drop Pod rule), instead of bumping up the firepower like a lot of Fandexes are doing, I'm trying to work around it with a few unique rules of my own.
With that in mind, it gives Tau players a reason to start taking things that are normally disregarded, like an Ethereal. An Ethereal, while he comes with his weaknesses, will off-set that ability with re-rolling failed tests (such as for Regrouping). The Commander won't be 1+, but you'll miss him every time you can't use that Central Command Network.
Players will be rewarded when they start putting 2 and 2 together with units working together to accomplish "cheese" as opposed to 1 and 1 and 1 and 1. It represents the true nature of Tau as a fighting force: a team of networked warriors who are hunting a dangerous animal.
Its like hunting a mammoth. You can either swarm it with pet dogs as your warriors try to bring it down. You can build or use an expensive contraption to try and trap or kill it. Or you can ride another mammoth and hope you don't loose anyone in the fight.
Or you can get your warriors together and use their throwing spears to bring it down with a team effort. This is how Tau view warfare. The enemy is nothing more than a herd of dangerous animals.
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It's also important to know that I am a very successful Tau player. I consistently wipe out my opponents and win with seemingly great odds against me. And I use the Sky Ray, Vespid, and Ethereal to accomplish that.
I laugh at Drop Pod armies. I like it when someone brings Lash of Submission. I enjoy watching units try to Outflank. I love it when opponents take all-bike armies like Nobz or Dark Angels, and while the new Tyranids are a challenge, it's not their closeness that ever concerned me; its the support units they get in firepoewr. I have an 85% win ratio with Tau, and I play against tournament winners, rule Nazis, and tools.
The last of 3 times I played Space Wolves, I used a no-vehicle list of Tau and tried not winning. I failed; I tied the game and almost wiped out his army.
So the current Tau Codex is fine, but it needs some re-writing and updates to help counter-act the new things. It's simply misunderstood and misused because the Tau rules are so unique.
Adding firepower is NOT the answer. The Tau have the best firepower an army could every want or need, and they completely disregard combat. That means you're not bashing heads with an opponent (who gets to hit back). Unless you bring more firepower to the table than the Tau, you aren't out-shooting them. By trying to make the Tau "better" by giving them access to 5-shot Rending Ion Cannons and twin-linked multi-meltas, or Heavy2 Pulse Rifles, you just make them invincible.
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omg! seriously? 85% win !!!
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Well... I've been playing the game for about 8 years.
These are some of my battle reports. Two of them are featured as articles.
[link]
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With pics:
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[link]
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dude i love your battle report! is teh awesum!! so funny and detail!! i wish more ppl would make it like yours.
i use to go to 'advance tau tatica forum' when i was playing tau. guess i should have went to this one.
some of the pics is broken or something. anyway thanks alot! i'm going to study your reports and try to play my tau again.
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You need to include the stat boosts into the statline.
Rather nice 
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The Artist's Comments are really long, so either you read them and don't agree with what I said about the stat line (which is perfectly fine, I'm willing to hear all comments), or you didn't read it (which is also perfectly fine, it is a long read).
I pointed out that several models will be able to go on foot, but will also be able to take different battlesuits. The XV15, XV22, XV8, XV88, XV9, and XV24 battlesuits will appear in the wargear section, and will include the stat line boost in them. I feel that listing all the stat lines and their boosts separately would be impractical.
I feel that it would be better to keep the stat boosts in the
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So you're going to have and Infantry commander as base standard, then have all the XV armour commanders as upgrades?
Ya'know, the TODex v1.4 was like that, but then they suddenly decided it wasn't a good Idea.
I like the CCL SR, as it gels to my picture of Tau
So will different Commander types have different Fluff entries, or will it all be one entry with multiple options? (similar to SM Captains and Chapter Masters)
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I just now noticed your last question. You're looking at the one and only Commander type. However, you can customize the one Commander type. He's probably going to have the widest variety of choices out of any model in 5th Edition.
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Do you have a (decent) CP HQ Choice Yet?
That sounds like a noble and hazardous thing to do. He could end up the most expensive model on the table, and probably the easiest to take out in CC if you're not careful.
Have you read my latest version of my Tau Fan-dex yet? or have you been too busy to check out the forums lately?
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I've been away from 40k for quite some time. Mostly due to financial reasons, so I haven't been around. I'm fixing to make a couple of additions to my Fandexes though. Wiped out some Tyranids to a man last week and only lost a handful of models so I was re-inspired.
I must've forgotten what CP stands for, so I guess I don't understand that question.
In regards to close combat, the commander will be anything but easiest to take care of in CC if played properly or equipped right. The lighter XV-24 can move 2D6" in the assault phase. XV-9s won't be that easy to take out from their heightened toughness level. In addition, Honour Guard Battlesuits will have the option of carrying Honour Blades (these will be +1 Strength power weapons). Not to mention Vectored Retro-Thrusters won't be special issue anymore. And Commanders right now aren't easy to take out in combat. I use mine to eliminate or hold up basic troops.
As always, they will be vulnerable to close combat specialists and extremely speedy units as well as heavy firepower.
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CP = Combat Patrol
Ok, that makes sense. Do you have a draft of your dex up for me to view? or are you keeping it locked close until its finished?
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Ah yes, Combat Patrol. Uh... not a good place for a Tau Commander. Fluff-wise, I think Commanders are far too important to be sticking themselves on high-risk, small-squad missions. That type of thing would be reserved for the Shas'vre Chosen (who are HQ choices). I'm fixing to post these guys. In fact, I'll make a note of it in the fluff that Commanders aren't extremely common to see actually on a battlefield, usually leading from the air or in orbit.
And it's currently locked. But I'll hand you the rough draft once I get at least a page for every standard unit.
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Very nice, well thought out. So were the DoW commander is my drawing will be?
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I think you have 2 questions in there. The DOW Commander is a screenshot found here: [link] ... I paused and took a screenshot, and then re-edited the picture to reflect a black-white drawing.
Your picture will be posted four pages down from this as part of a new "Honor Guard" concept. You know, the idea of elite soldiers with the name "Guard" that you take when you have a certain HQ? Even the Tyranids followed the trend. Well, I took the Honor Guard from the Ethereal's section and made them Shas'vre "Chosen". (Sounds better than "Honor Guard" I think). These are the same guys: they are Fire Warriors who have forsaken the normal path to warrior-hood to become official bodyguards for the Tau. They are given specialized training and can either go on foot as Fire Warrior-type elite troops, man an XV8 Battlesuit, or fly in a Piranha Squadron as escorts.
Unlike those other units, they do not become Troop choices. Consolidating ground and holding battlefield objectives/positions is not their job.
I needed a picture of a heavily-upgraded Battlesuit, which is how I found you.
And thanks for the fav!
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Oh, just wondering. nice idea to use them as Honor Guards, remember to credit me, alright.
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