Warhammer 40K: T’au Tactical Philosophies Get A Major Update
The ways of the Mont’ka and Kauyon have both been updated in the new T’au Codex. This is going to get interesting.
The T’au Empire have had a pretty huge change to their Mont’ka and Kauyou Tactical Philosophies. Forget about shooting after falling back or not just counting as stationary even if you moved. These two philosophies got a game changing update to last for more than “once per game.”
“Called Tactical Philosophies, you’ll choose one of these at the start of the battle after the turn order has been decided. This means you’ll know exactly what you’re facing, so you can take advantage of the first turn with a powerful Mont’ka strike, or weather the enemy assault before springing a crafty Kauyon ambush.”
Mont’ka is all about being aggressive. Strike hard and fast in the first 3 rounds of the game with the ability to do normal moves or advances and still count as Remained Stationary for the purposes of shooting. AND you get a bonus to shooting for your AP as well as a re-roll to wound rolls of 1. That’s going to be pretty handy for the T’au.
On the other side of the game during turns 3-5 you can use Kauyon to help you fall back and shoot. Furthermore, you’ll also generate additional hits with your ranged attacks, too. This get all the way down to a 4+ on turn 5. That’s going to ensure that even late game you’re units can generate a withering amount of firepower.
“Durable units get a lot of mileage out of the Kauyon Tactical Philosophy, as the army must be able to withstand several turns of enemy attacks before springing their trap. Stealth and Ghostkeel Battlesuits are well suited for the task, as their camouflage systems offer extra protection and their high rate of fire generates extra hits on the counter-attack.”
This is a pretty interesting shift in how these two abilities will be enabled. Since you’ve got to choose which to use at the start of the game you’ll at least know what you’re up against. However, if we’re being honest here, in the current state of the meta you’ll probably want to take Mont’ka and hope you get an early jump on things. Having to wait for Kauyon to become active from turns 3-5 seems like a LONG slog.
If you’re going to use Kauyon, you’re probably going to build an army around it in the first place. And if that’s the case, wouldn’t you just declare that at the start of the game anyhow? I’m not sure that’s how it’s going to work…but we’ll have to see how it actually plays out on the tabletop.
The new T’au Codex is slated for early 2022! We’re hoping it’s VERY early 2022…
