Hello all,
Rawdogger here to talk about my predictions for the forthcoming Tau codex set to hit the shelves in early October. Like a lot of people I’m a little bummed out that the Tau are getting a revamp before some of the weaker codices such as Chaos Space Marines or Astra Militarum. Tau are guaranteed to sell well and we are coming up on the end of a Games Workshop quarter so you can’t really fault their marketing department with going with a sure thing to boost the Age of Sigmar sales slump. As most of you who read these articles already know, we were recently blessed with the White Dwarf and Warhammer Visions leak which showed a lot of the new models coming out for the Tau line. If you for some reason have yet to see these pop over to Faeit212’s blog and take a look. I’ll admit it, I like what I see. Tau have always looked pretty rad and with the inclusion of a couple new suits and what appears to be a redone Fire Warrior this release is sure to be a huge success for Games Workshop. With the second week of October barreling ever closer the rumor mill on what the codex will contain has begun in earnest. The following are my list of 5 changes we are definitely going to see when Codex Tau is released.
Formations/Detachments – I thought I would start off with the easiest and most obvious of my predictions. Love them or hate them, formations are now a thing with new codex releases. Also a definite will be a detachment made up of these formations which will unlock some kind of extra bonus for having purchased these models, most likely a ballistic skill boost or something for the Tau units in the detachment. The Games Workshop marketing team has latched onto these things since they definitely promote the sales of models and if someone really wants to predict what will be in the codex they really just need to think of how they can sell models.
Fantastic Fliers – Do you know that the current Tau codex contains fliers? Did you also know that Games Workshop created a kit for those fliers and they exist at this very moment available for sale through Games Workshop’s website? Don’t feel bad if this is the first time you’re hearing it as I’m sure the vast majority if those reading this very sentence at this very second have either completely forgot that those models exist or are hearing about them for the first time. I’m serious, look at the photo above. They really do exist. You can guarantee the Games Workshop marketing has looked forlornly a time or so at the stacks and stacks of these kits in their warehouse and have come up with some cool rules and point reductions to move them. They will DEFINITELY be included in whatever special detachment they are trying to push.
Destroyer Weapons – I wasn’t wrong when I predicted no D Weapons for Codex Space Marines since they didn’t have a platform that was already in existence and I’m not wrong now predicting that the Riptides or the new Riptide variant will have access to ranged D Weapons. Games Workshop is on a kick to make 40k into mini Armageddon and with so many juicy gun platforms available to the Tau the game designers are probably trying NOT to put D Weapons on anything that can hold a gun.
Game Mechanic Devastation – The Tau will be regaining their dominance over the shooting phase from the asshole Eldar with this coming codex. Expect to see devastating firepower that will be ignoring cover saves and not needing line of sight to hit their targets. In an edition that already punishes assault armies the Tau will add to the frustration those players feel when trying to make assault armies viable. Plus, since they gave Dark Angels mastery over re-rollable cover saves why not give the Tau the tools to completely ignore this mechanic. The Games Workshop giveth and the Games Workshop taketh away.
No New Auxiliary – This one sucks to write because the auxiliary forces of the Tau could be a cold mine if Games Workshop cared to expand upon it. We have the Kroot and the less popular and rarely seen Vespid but the games designers literally have carte blanche to create whatever the hell they want and just say the Tau conquered a new alien race during their expansions. Look how well the new Mechanicum models sold! However, I also know the laziness and lack of forward thinking which currently plagues the GW marketing department and feel the smart money is betting on them not only keeping to just the auxiliary units they already have but also keeping them in their tired old sculpts. Look at the Eldar through Dark Angels codex releases. Nothing new and most of their character models are straight out of 1998.
So that’s it. We’ll see if I got all 5 predictions right come October 17th, which is the rumored release date of the codex. What kind of things do you predict to see with the new Tau release. Will we see the wailing and gnashing of teeth that happened with the release of the Eldar codex or will GW go the opposite way and create a fair and balanced codex? What are some of the things you would LIKE to see? Let me know if the comments section.