Merrick's Tau Blog. Beware, sloppy painting within. :D

[raiza(archer)]

Don't want Pulse carbine resembling Dark elder splinter carbine but at least see that it is similiar to it in that it allows the same rate of fire as our pulse rifles.(hurray we can now shoot safely and run back on to our fish if they run at us)

Normally on the battlefield I expect to see more tau infantry then kroot(not that they are bad but because they are a sub race), so I want my fire warriors with a bit more dakka action instead of holed up in a fish

[Deadnight]

Kaldor'o Draigo'la?

And the Grey Knights almost convinced me to stop playing- Chapter Master walking the warp and daemonic demigods AFRAID of him? 

*confused face*

[Farseer Del]

Kaldor'o Draigo'la?

And the Grey Knights almost convinced me to stop playing- Chapter Master walking the warp and daemonic demigods AFRAID of him? 

*confused face*

I think what you meant was "I find this confusing and would like you to explain, but I must also note this appears off-topic and indeed has caused spammy posting already"

Actually, no, you only meant the first part, the second bit is me. Get the message?

Anyway, what he probably means is Draigo is overpowered in the fluff, written by an idiot like an idiot for idiots. Anyone who honestly thinks his backstory makes any sense deserves to be shot out of a cannon into the sun so their death will brighten the world for but a fleeting moment as it consumes them in firey retribution.

I'm guessing you however simply did not want a Tau to have that "lol this can scouts now" rule?

[Khanaris]

What should be the influence? Battlefield 3. Modern Warfare. Halo. Killzone. Iron Man. Starcraft. DARPA. My Little Pony. Think modern tactics, modern weapons. Not the Hollywood Tactics of the IG nor the fifty three episodes to throw one punch of Japan.

I think you could take any one of those and mark it down as something I wouldn't want to see.  Maybe Starcraft or Halo.  40k is not Modern Warfare.  It is barely even Science Fiction.  I think contemporary military elements drawn from console shooters are far and away the least appropriate influence to emphasize.

And I am sorry, but I can't see the term "weeaboo" used without becoming somewhat annoyed.  It was originally a trollish backlash against kids who though anything associated with Japan was cool.  Mostly a response to the popularity of kids anime and a few product lines.  But I see it as just as juvenile and far more mean-spirited.  I don't know what your intention was when using it, but that is how I interpret it.  I don't know what a "weeaboo" influence is, let alone how it applies to the Tau in 40k.

The "eastern" influence in the original Tau book is mostly visual.  You can't really say that it is inspired by Manga or Anime, because that is like saying that something is inspired by comic books or tv shows.  If you know anything at all about Manga or Anime as they actually exist in Japanese popular culture, you find yourself hard-pressed to identify many common elements (although what gets exported is more similar).  Tau are not inspired by anime and never have been.  But there were certainly a lot of visual cues from eastern history in the original Tau models and background, from the use of circular symbols to the shape of the armor panels.  I think that should continue and be played up.  40k models all need a consistent theme, and the Tau models work best with an orderly but rounded scheme.  In terms of background writing, you can find as many influences from Chinese history as you can from Japanese history.  Kids tend to latch on to Japanese history or anime as an inspiration (for good or ill) only because they are more familiar with it.


What I don't want to see is another transition like Tau to Tau:Empire.  I do not believe that the Tau are anything close to fine as they are now.  The army needs to be brought up to 5th Edition.  Adding a few new alien allies isn't going to cut it.  The Tau represent a significant challenge to balance.  No matter how good you make an army in close combat, close combat itself offers opportunities for both players to fight.  An army that is too good at shooting will be frustrating to play against.  That was why the last Imperial Guard book was so poor.  So I don't think the Tau should push very far out that way.  And I think the "empty battlefield" tactics of JSJ and deep-striking suits are probably not as much fun as they could be, either.  I would rather see an army that is good at close-to-mid range shooting and resistant to close combat without much ability to use close combat to actually cause damage.


The original Tau book had a strong constrast between its line troops and its elite troops.  I have seen the comparison made to ashigaru and samurai, or to peasant spearmen and knights.  Not as they were, but as popular culture romanticizes them.  It doesn't really matter.  But it is not a modern sort of army structure.  The Battlesuits are too important, and they have no equivalent in modern warfare.

[Farseer Del]

I also listed DARPA, which should have clued you into it meaning a technological influence as well. I see why you wouldn't want the one force that can evolve in the fluff without doing it literally like the Niddies to actually evolve and start using technology and weapons on the battlefield that are actually comparable to what modern forces use. No other forces have the tabletop see them actually acknowledge the technology the individual soldier carries nor the network centric warfare that drives modern forces and influences the games I listed.

But I still think that adding underbarrel weapons (or at least different ammo), nvgs, network centric warfare, and generally adding more influence from modern combat and the materials it itself has influenced is preferable to the way so many misinformed people seem to think Tau = Anime. It's not a question of being like Call of Duty in that we rush about throwing grenades, but a cultural influence - in that we see the Tau force reliant upon many tiers of support. From infantry technology to close support, to artillery, to UAVs to command networks.

As for what Weeaboo means in this context? It's used as a marker of the sheer disdain for the presumed cultural influences of Eastern media across the board of Tau when in fact most of it is a hybrid or purely aesthetic, or as you put it, backlash against the people who think everything Japanese is cool and try to shoehorn it into everything when evidently they don't quite understand what they're doing.

Arguably though the Battlesuit's modern equivalents are a hybrid of three - Light combat vehicles, helicopters, and infantry. The jump packs grant them such mobility in fluff terms at least, whilst the carrying of heavy weapons is normally done by jeeps, strykers, IFVs, etc. The suits can also enter some buildings and move like infantry. Most Mecha anime has the robot replace tanks and strike fighters, wheras a more realistic and rational weapon in fact simply would merge close support with the infantryman to stand alongside it - Which the battlesuit does. It's the support of a helicopter, an IFV, a jeep, but walking beside the soldiers. It's a surgical weapon that integrates itself as a jack of all trades and master of none.

It's a potent weapon but by no means a replacement for close support weapons like those I listed and certainly not a replacement for Tanks and fixed-wing aircraft.  I don't want people to fail to realise that.

Which a lot of the people I call weeaboos do. They wish to add more mecha as mecha, not battlesuits as battlesuits.

[BadwolF]

Something I don't want to see: SPACE POPE. Either scrap him (not kill him off just...make him take a back seat or something like a character like him should be) or completly overhaul his rules in favour of rediculous board wide buffs and such. I do not want to see Aun'Va in his current state.

[Chicop76]

I wish they don't drop, or limit drones. In fact I would like to see more.

I wish they don't nerf or kill off O'Shova.

I wish they don't add anymore xeno races.

I wish if they do add more xeno's than make them more unique instead of a bland generic unit. Kroot mercenaries as an option would be great.

I wish they don't change Tau saving throws to 5+ from a 4+.

I wish they don't force suits to be all equiped the same.

I wish Tau don't suck.

I wish they don'tmess with our great mobility and the abilty to outshoot guard.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

What ability to outshoot Guard? Tau are the bottom of the shooting armies chain now.

[Chicop76]

What ability to outshoot Guard? Tau are the bottom of the shooting armies chain now.

Armies that can outshoot Tau.

Tyranids
Dark Eldar
Guard
Orcs
Nids
Marines
Grey Knights
Daemons
Chaos Marines
Necrons

Hmm they can outsjoot Eldar and Sisters of Battle.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

I would say that the eldar could do it to. Tau essential have 3 real classes of weapon.

Pulse weapons (anything with a 5/5 stat line)
Missile Pods
Railguns.

Anthing that cant be easily delt with by a lower weapon get ramped up to a higher one. So we have plenty of S5 7 and 10.

AV12? well you need 5s with the S7 to even glance, so what the hell, use a Railgun. Which means you now cant use that Railgun till next turn.

The Tau problem is that we dont have enough weapons to go round and while the Railgun is the king of longrange firepower, we dont have enough. and the Missile Pod just doesnt cut it as a substitue. Fusion Blaster doesnt have the range either.

We need S8, desperately.

Eldar have a weapon for any situation at just about any range. Admittedly, not enough to go around, but thats why Eldar are as mobile as they are. To get that weapon in the right place at the right time. And they can do that better than us to. Yes the Waveserpent is expensive, but to my money its also one of the best transports availiable.