40K: The Tau Codex – Hopes And Fears
The upcoming Tau Codex feels like it’s got a lot of work to do.
If you’ve been following the announcements you’ll know that Dark Eldar are getting their codex next, which means that before too long we’ll know what the one or two good units are that will get taken as part of the Ynnari umbrella, while the rest of the models gather yet more dust as they moulder on the shelves.
But after that, the Tau Codex gets a release. And that Codex is going to have a lot of work to do. The Greater Good is more like the Slightly More Alright these days. So here’s a little of what we hope the upcoming Codex will address.
Markerlights
Markerlights are cool, in theory. But in 8th Edition they end up being too much of an investment for not enough payoff. You need multiple hits for it to worth it, and that up inked markerlight stratagem helps, but if you’re using markerlights, that’s all that unit is doing.
Other armies have characters that give similar buffs, except they don’t have to hit first, and their buffing model is still a character that can do other things–like charging in with an exalted champion or being a Tyranid Warrior Prime. So, less vulnerable, more deadly, and more reliable. Markerlights… let you fire seeker missiles with a better chance to hit?
Seeker Missiles – But Why?
Seeker Missiles are having a hard time in 8th Edition. They originally were there to hit vehicles–which they could either auto hit or, at least have a hope of doing something to. But in 8th Edition, dealing a single mortal wound to a vehicle is hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Consider the Sky Ray, a kit that comes standard with six of these. At best that’s six mortal wounds and then you’re spent. Six mortal wounds doesn’t even knock a rhino down a tier. You can accomplish the same thing with a psyker or three. But then you’ll still have psykers afterwards. Which is great because:
Absolutely No Psychic Defense
The Tau are the only army in the game that has no way of getting psychic defense. Even mono-Khorne has more ways of interfering with psychic stuff than the Tau. Like, sure there are armies out there that don’t have psychic defenses in their codex, but all it takes is an allied detachment to bring in something you need to at least try to stop the enemy from warptiming a unit into your flank.
Allies? What’s that?
This one is going to be interesting. The Tau are going to be the first Codex that will have only what’s in their Codex available to them–as it stands now. Tau, Orks, and Necrons all don’t really have any allied detachments they can call on to shore up their weaknesses. It’ll be interesting to see how they deal with it.
Commander Spam
Commanders are everywhere in a Tau army. Every detachment is an elite command unit, but that’s because Commanders outstrip crisis suits by a lot–normal suits are too expensive for 4 BS and fewer options. It’s Commanders or FW models at the moment, and outside of that, not much else.
Bonus – Drones
There is one thing to look forward to–drones drones and more drones.
For the greater good!
