The new Tau codex is out. How does it stand up against the other 9E books, and what does it do best? We’ll explore all that and more in the start of my review series for the book, starting today. Click to read on, or check out the Tactics Corner for more reviews and strategies.
Overview
The Tau Empire codex, long-awaited by people who have no interest in power armor, is finally here and I can say with confidence that it was worth the wait. Tau have struggled for quite some time now, and even during 8E they had a number of problems that stemmed mainly from the monobuild nature and poor internal balance of the codex at the end of that edition. But those days are over, because the new Tau book offers a wide range of options and many viable units to choose from, so if you were tired of seeing swarms of drones surrounding a handful of battlesuits, fear no more.
The best thing about the new book, hands down, is the flexibility in playstyle that it encourages. Tau are often derided as an army that only plays in one phase of the game, and while there has been an element of truth to this in many editions, it’s certainly not the case with the new book. The codex strongly emphasizes mobility as an element of the Tau army (something that was always present in the fluff but not always well-supported) and there is even a smattering of good melee available to give you an extra tool in your box. Psychic powers are still wholly absent, but that is honestly a pretty small lack all things considered.
On the flip side, many of the features that non-Tau players complained about have been removed- with universal overwatch and drones absorbing wounds being the two big ones. Now, rest assured, even without these the book functions just fine and you won’t find yourself drowned by a tide of melee units or shot off the table with trivial ease; but I think anyone can admit that these rules were both unfun for their own reasons, even for Tau players, and not having to roll buckets of overwatch or deal with moving dozens of models around in a “death bubble” the whole game long should be a relief to anyone who plays the army.
The new book also does an excellent job of putting the “iconic” units of the Tau codex to the front- if you’ve been sad about Tau not having a reason to field Crisis Suits or Hammerheads ever, your prayers have been answered because both of those units (and many others) are certainly good now. Like many other 9E books, armies composed in the new codex look more like… well, armies in the fluff than perhaps ever before. Gone are the days of spamming sixteen of a single hyperefficient unit; instead, you’ll need to build a careful selection of tools to do different jobs, balancing firepower, mobility, objective-scoring, and action economy to ensure that your force can not only kill the enemy but also win the mission. Simply shooting the hardest doesn’t win you the game anymore, and the new book does a good job of reflecting that- there are more ways than ever to ensure that your army is playing the mission like everyone else.
Universal Rules
Like most codices, the Tau Empire book has a variety of special rules that are shared across a number of units, which we’ll talk about in general here. All of the usual stuff like “Troops have ObSec” and “this is the definition of a Farsight Enclaves detachment” kind of stuff is here, but it’s largely exactly what you would expect so I’m not going to bother to go into any real detail there. Games Workshop has gotten fairly good about closing weird loopholes, so for the most part don’t expect to see too many weird exploits- though as always, a few slip through the cracks.
The first big one, and one that most players probably have seen, is that Battlesuits can shoot while engaged just like Monsters/Vehicles can (including the -1 hit penalty for heavy weapons where appropriate.) This means that getting stuck in with Tau is no longer a surefire way to protect yourself from them, though it does offer a degree of use in forcing their hand with targets. Several other ways exist in the codex to shoot while in combat or withdraw from a fight and still be able to shoot, so this is largely part of a broader change in that direction in order to accommodate Tau in an edition where most firefights are point-blank engagements and obscuring terrain is nearly universal.
The Drone rules have likewise been heavily rejiggered- Drones are once again part of the unit that they are bought for, but do not count towards unit strength, Look Out Sir, morale, actions, and are never ObSec. Drones on vehicles are likewise now more of an afterthought- they still give the vehicle their weapons, but are destroyed when it does. The old uses of drones (sacrificing themselves to take a wound for a nearby unit and detaching, respectively) are still available via stratagems, but the strong flexibility of Drones as a whole has been significantly downgraded in this book. With that said, however, they are still a very useful thing to have around and you can expect most lists to field at least a small complement of them- but the days of swarms of 50+ drones are probably over.
The Manta Strike rule also still remains with essentially no change- it’s a standard reserve ability and allows you to come in anywhere outside of 9″ of the enemy. Notably, however, there are more abilities that interact with Manta Strike in general, including a number of stratagems and unit abilities.
Last but not least, Markerlights have been completely redone. No longer a weapon at all, Markerlights are now an equipment (and keyword) that allows the unit to perform a unique action- something that we are seeing quite a bit of in the Tau codex, so you should probably get used to this sort of thing. The way it works is also a huge upgrade compared to previous versions- you start the Markerlight action at the beginning of the Movement phase and finish it at the start of the shooting phase (meaning you will be able to fire your guns normally if you want.) When it finishes, you pick an enemy unit that would be a legal shooting target and roll a die- on a 3+, they get a Markerlight counter. Drones and Vehicles can move without failing the action, and some other units have special rules that interact with it as well.
Using Markerlight counters has also been simplified a lot- when a non-Auxiliary Tau unit shoots at an enemy, if there are any Markerlights, you get +1 to hit, end of story. After the unit finishes its shooting, you remove one Markerlight counter from every unit that it shot at. This means that Tau units can pretty easily be a universal 3+ to hit, something that Tau players have been begging for for quite a long time now (even if it isn’t exactly as desired.) Unfortunately this does mean the other effects it previously gave are gone, so no more rerolls or ignoring cover, but as a whole it’s a huge improvement and one that Tau players should be very happy with.
Philosophies of War
The last special rule we’ll talk about is one that is a big enough deal I wanted to discuss it in some more detail- Philosophies of War. This is the “monofaction” bonus for Tau, and although Tau obviously can’t ally with any other races in this edition, it also applies only if your whole army is a single subfaction (ignoring auxiliaries, ethereals, and certain named characters.) This isn’t really an issue with the new Matched Play rules, but it does give you a strong incentive to remain “pure” even in narrative or casual armies. Assuming you meet these requirements, at the start of the first battle round you get to pick one of the two following options, either Mont’ka or Kauyon, which will apply to your whole army. Your choice of Philosophies also affects a number of unit abilities, warlord traits, and stratagems, so picking between the two should be done carefully.
Mont’ka is the more obviously-powerful and aggressive of the two- for the first three turns of the game your whole army counts as remaining stationary for the purposes of shooting, even if it advanced, and the AP of any weapons you use is improved by one as long as the enemy is within a certain range and is the closest target. This range starts at 18″ on turn 1, decreasing to 12″ and then 9″ before disappearing entirely. Attacks getting this bonus also can reroll wound rolls of 1, and as a package this gives a powerful offensive tool that also grants the units a lot of mobility. With many of the Tau weapons seeing improved number of shots or other profile updates, this can combine with a lot of the “smaller” weapons like Burst Cannons and Pulse Rifles to make them genuinely quite dangerous even to heavier targets. With the Tau bias for the early game (where their shooting will have most effect), this will perhaps be the default choice for many players- however, keeping a certain amount of flexibility in a list to select either has a lot of value.
Kauyon is the second option, and it is active in the last three turns of the game (i.e. not turns one or two.) It allows all units in your army to fall back and shoot in the same turn (albeit at a -1 penalty) and will also grant exploding hits when shooting at the closest unit within 12″; these scale up as the game progresses, starting at unmodified 6s on turn three, then 5-6s on turn four, and finally 4-6s on turn five. Sadly, this bonus doesn’t apply if you fell back that turn or are engaged, although it does apply during Overwatch attacks. The ability to escape combat at will is certainly very useful and exploding hits in shooting are likewise quite strong, but having to give up two of the most critical turns of the game for a shooting army before getting the bonus is a huge downside. With that said, though, there may be many games where you simply won’t be able to engage the enemy on the first turn or two- because of terrain, because of the mission, because of the enemy’s deployment, or because of your strategy against their army, and in those situations Kauyon can be incredibly valuable as an option. Kauyon also has a lot of value for an army that is trying to play the long game, slowly pushing forward to control the field by keeping itself largely undamaged while threatening overwhelming firepower to anything that comes close. It also can be useful as a way to mitigate late-game dropoff; by turn 5 it is effectively doubling your firepower, which can go a long ways towards ensuring that your army remains effective even as your number of models wanes.
Although most lists will favor one Philosophy or the other as a primary choice, I think being able to make good use of both is going to be a big part of making a Tau list that really clicks- especially because there are so many other abilities that interact with your Philosophy choice. It’s important not to underestimate how strong the ability to choose your Philosophy after deployment is, as this affords you a ton of flexibility in responding to how the enemy has set up and whether or not you won the roll-off to go first, both critical factors for a shooting army like Tau.
Closing Thoughts
Speaking as a player who has always liked the Tau most out of all the factions, I am very happy with this new book- it offers a distinct change from past incarnations of Tau, but one that feels more in line with their lore and that pushes many of the aspects of the army (like speed and flexibility) that I think epitomize what drew me to the army. It still remains to be seen whether Tau will be a “top tier” faction that ranks up with Custodes, Drukhari, GK, etc, but they most certainly are in the running for being in that group and I think there is virtually no chance that they won’t be a competitively-viable army for at least some time to come, which is what you really want out of a codex. Next week we will start diving into the nitty-gritty of the codex with a discussion of the various Sept options and what they bring to the table.
As always, remember that you can get your wargaming supplies at great discounts every day from the Frontline Gaming Store, whether you’re looking to start a new army or expand an existing one.
