40K: Open-topped Stormsurge – Love it or Leave it?
Love it or hate it – the Tau’s new Stormsurge battlesuit has an open cockpit – and it’s FREAKING people out. What’s your opinion?
We’ve all seen the new Tau Empire Stormsurge Ballistic Suit for a few days now. We first got a glimpse of it via a leak several weeks back. But this week we have gotten all kinds of detailed shots.
We initially noted that the suit has two heads and perhaps contained a two-man crew, a first for the Tau.
Then we got the real crips shots of the suit from above and saw this:
Then we took a detailed look at today’s classic paintjob pic and noted – yes indeed that appears to be an open-top design (not to be confused with the in-game open-topped rule.) If you look sharp, you can see the shadow and part of a pilot helmet sticking out.
Then it all made sense. If you go back and look at every pic of the Stormsurge, you will note they are all level, or low shots taken looking up at the model. Considering this is a tabletop game with physically small models, GW took great pains to never shoot any full body shots from even slightly above the model – as that would give away the illusion.
And that has gamers across the community going at it.
Some say the Tau probably have force-fields or something and that in any case it’s all about the Rule of Cool for GW and model design. It makes the model more interesting and you get a detailed cockpit to paint up.
Some say it’s the dumbest looking contraption they’ve ever seen this side of the Space Marine Centurions and they wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole, rules be damned. Heaven forbid the Stormsurge ever bend over and the hapless crew come rolling out – or it rains.
~What’s your take on the design? Open Topped FTW? or Patently Ridiculous?
P.S. There is scattered talk that there might be a cockpit cover piece, but no one has spotted it as of yet.
