Goatboy’s 40K Hot Mess: T’au Empire’s Resin Mini Leftovers Need To Go
This week is all about the T’au Empire. This 40K hot mess is two leftover resin minis in the codex GW needs to update. But how should they?
I think if we do a little out-of-the-box thinking, we can figure out that these two are obviously the next new models to hit the T’au range for some future release – But what exactly? The two old-school minis left are the Firesight Team and the Vespid Stingwings. Both of these are interesting models and while not always needed in a T’au Empire army – they are not completely terrible. In fact, it is a weird thing that GW left these two in the codex, when a lot of the other resin options got the axe in 10th Edition. Things like special characters, upgrades to vehicles, and whatnot didn’t make it.
Why Did These Two Resin Units Survive?
I’m just wondering why. The Firesight Team is a weird model whose role is normally handled by an FW Tetra, with the ability to guide things better and be on a fatter model. The Vespids seem to be carrying a ton of nostalgia as they continue floating around, trying to showcase that the T’au don’t always kill all the aliens they meet. Both models sort of feel out of place.
Vespids – Hmmm?
Let’s start with the Vespids, as I feel we will see an update soon for them. I would expect a new kit to show up in some kind of Kill Team release with the Stingwings fighting with another “flying” type model that needs a plastic update. I could imagine the Aeldari Swooping Hawks (or maybe even Warp Spiders) would be an easy one to fit into here, even though the Stingwings are not nearly on par with the Swooping Hawks. It is just one of the few leftover “flying” models that don’t have plastic kits right now.
This most likely would come with a neat little Stingwing update to match Kill Team with a slew of upgraded options. Most likely we would see an assault option in there, a bigger gun, and maybe just some kind of leader. Right now, they just feel like a weird old anime alien chilling with wings that don’t make much sense to fly with. They don’t have a bad gun right now, as 2 shots at Strength 5 AP -2 and Damage 2 are actually solid. It kills normal infantry pretty well so they might just push more towards that to make this good. Or just release them in plastic to finish out the line.
What To Do With the Firesight Team?
The Firesight Team is another thing entirely. It is designed to be a spotting unit with a long-range Pulse sniper-like gun that doesn’t shoot enough or do enough damage to justify its Precision option. I would almost just amplify this into something more deadly and really push it into a sniper thing.
The weird drone it has doesn’t do anything either, which feels like a shame model-wise. It could be some kind of add-on sniper option to basically – murder an HQ with a hail of T’au bullets. Really, what keeps it working is the whole Lone Operative rule it gets for a cheaper price and the ability to “hide” in the back if the rest of your army is jumping around like some kind of crazy suit nonsense.
GW Clearly Sees a Future For These Two
Both of these units could use work. The fact they stayed in means GW is going to put some work into them. What do you think? Are we going to get Kill Team stuff to fill out armies more? Is it worth a release combo with something else to be worthwhile?
Are you wanting more dynamic Vespids – finally?
