For the record, I love the Kroot. I think the Fire Warriors’ design – inspired in part by ancient Japanese footsoldiers – is pretty great. The combat suits are a pretty nifty idea for everyone who has ever loved Mecha-Animé (I have. Lord knows I have…). But for some elusive reason, once you throw all of this together, it somehow becomes less than the sum of its parts for me. Strange…

I think it has something to do with the lack of eyecatchers: While the overall visual design of the army seems well thought-out and pleasantly realised, I like my armies with a couple of strong centrepieces on the table, be it interesting squad leaders, spectacular army commanders or just  huge warmachines. The Tau are nice enough, but in my opinion, they tend to look a bit samey. Now I do of course realise that the reason for this is a conscious focus on unity in their background: The Tau as a race frown upon any attempts at individuality – a taboo that actually prevents them from individualising their wargear and warmachines. Yet while this seems like a fairly compelling concept from a narrative standpoint, it just tends to fall flat when applied to the medium of wargaming, where every army is visually defined by standout pieces on the table.

The other challenge with the Tau is the fact that their very distinct look makes it a fair bit harder to insert bits from other lines into their army: Human armies (such as all kinds of Space Marines – Chaos included – and the Imperial Guard) can be mixed and matched without a hitch, every bit feels right at home in an Ork army, and even Eldar and Dark Eldar share enough common design cues to allow for some kind of bits exchange. Yet armies like Tyranids, Necrons or Tau are so distinct that the options of the converter are slightly limited.

So with a new Codex and several new kits now upon us, will any of that change? And will the new release manage to deal with some of the problems outlined above? Let’s find out:

While this post, like the ones dealing with the last new releases, will completely forgo any rules discussion in favour of focusing on the new models, let me just point out that the new Tau Codex features yet another gorgeous piece of cover artwork:

Anyway, one thing that immediately becomes obvious when looking at the new models is that GW have really dropped all pretense as to the inspiration for the army: They never tried to deny that healthy amounts of animé and manga designs had gone into the creation of the original Tau, to be sure. But with the new models, I would go so far as to state that the Japanese look has really be turned up to eleven in some respects. Case in point, the limited edition codex:

Just look at the picture: You could even mistake that for a Gundam artbook at first glance.

Make no mistake, though: I really think this is a pretty good idea. After all, the Tau were always intended to be cleaner, more futuristic looking than the rest of the 40k catalogue. The animé look has always been there, and I guess if you don’t like japanese animation and manga art, then Tau are probably not the army for you in the first place.

But what does that mean for the actual release. Let’s take a closer look:

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit

With their army heavily leaning on armoured suits for much of the heavy lifting, the Tau were a very likely candidate for a superheavy Mecha — and here it is, the Riptide. And right enough, this is a centrepiece model if there ever was one: The size alone obviously makes this big guy stand out enough, yet I also like how the model features most of the visual design cues typical of the Tau while also adding a sleeker and more interesting look to the battlesuit. If anything, the Riptide looks even more reminiscent of Japanese mecha like Gundam than the Tau battlesuits released so far.

I also love the fact that GW gives us the option of assembling the Riptide in a kneeling position. It looks really cool, in my opinion:

Oh, yes, you also get some new drones with the kit:

These are without a doubt pretty useful to Tau players, but apart from a general appreciation of the concept, I find it rather hard to get excited over them. Moving on…

All in all, the Riptide is certainly a pretty great model. For all of the non-Tau players out there, however, I can see few options of turning this into something totally different. Yet my buddy Biohazard commented over on Throne of Skulls that he thought this might be a great base model to convert yet another huge chaos walker. I remain sceptical, but then I also didn’t think it was possible to more or less completely kitbash a Warhound Titan out of plastic bitz, so what do I know?

Let’s just say that I am looking forward to seeing what the crazy people on the interwebz come up with…

Sun Shark / Razor Shark

Flyers are the other great rage at the moment, and the Tau don’t disappoint in this respect either: The Sun / Razor Shark kit, again, picks up some visual cues from already existing larger Tau tanks as well as the Piranha, which firmly ties it to the overall look already established for the army.  It’s also a look quite unlike anything seen in other 40k armies, which is a plus in my book.

What I especially like is how this model manages to look futuristic and still have a subtle WW2 vibe at the same time. Take a look at the topshot, it clearly looks a bit like an Axis superweapon straight out of Indiana Jones, doesn’t it?

And come to think of it, it also slightly looks like the type of airship that might appear in a Studi Ghibli film, but that may just be my imagination running wild…

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

Now this is a brilliant redesign! In my opinion, the older Broadsides – basically a primitive kitbash using the regular Crisis suits – always looked pretty goofy (as well as physically improbable). The new version manages to communicate the oomph behind the weapon, and the slightly crouched pose nicely communicates the idea that the suit has to be able to absorb some recoil. The added mass and heavier armour finally make this look like a true heavy weapons platform. Great job!

Oh, and I simply adore the paintjob on this alternate build of the suit:

They even managed to make the boxy head look far more interesting. Definitely a keeper, this one!

XV8 Battlesuit Commander

Someone at GW seems to have realised that it was quite a challenge getting a cool army commander out of those Crisis kits, yet instead of redesigning the suits, they now release a different one to represent a commander. Oh well…
The suit itself looks pretty good, even though it slightly resembles a stick insect in the above photo. However, that problem is alleviated once you see it from a different angle:

I like the dynamic posing and the fact that they picked up some of the design cues from the Fire Warriors: The suit has the iconic enlarged shoulder pad and even sports a bonding knife:

Seriously, what does he do with that thing: poke Hive Tyrants and Greater Daemons in the ribs?

Still, those additions go a long way towards making the model look more like an actual commander instead of just some robot dude with weird additional antennae and clunky weapons sticking out at odd angles. Unfortunately, the standard boxy head is still there. But at least we get what seems to be several different hands:

Pointy hand FTW!

If there’s one dealbreaker for me here, it’s that the model is apparently Finecast. Considering the perfectly straight lines making up most of the model’s design, I wish all the Tau players luck with their purchase…

Anway, while we are on the subject of commanders in battlesuits…

Commander Farsight

Now we’re talking! If you ask me, Farsight used to be just about the lamest 40k model available. It was plain to see what they were trying to do with him, but it just fell flat. Not so with the new version, which is all that a Tau battlesuit commander should be: Dynamically posed, aggressive looking and very three-dimensional. As an added bonus, they even added some streaming ribbons, further adding to the sense of movement. Oh, and I really like the new sword:

Of course, being a rebel, Farsight has the advantage of being able to customise his suit as he sees fit. It does make for a much more striking model, however! All in all, a gorgeous piece, and definitely one of the high points of the release! They should really do an unarmoured version of Farsight one of these days, though. Just so we know what the guy actually looks like

Cadre Fireblade

Okay, this guy’s definitely my favourite among the new models! Even better than Farsight, if you ask me, and to top things off, he’s all plastic. What I really love about the Cadre Fireblade is how the model has the signs of individuality and status so sadly lacking in previous Tau models. And it also exudes a healthy dose of warrior’s pride and dignity. This is the one model I can actually see myself purchasing, since it should be useable for INQ28: I can easily imagine this guy as a Tau officer gone rogue, some kind of mercenary or even *shudder* member of a radical Xenos warband. If I have one gripe with this model, it’s that I am not perfectly sure what’s going on with that hand holding the sheathed bonding knife, but since that problem would be quite easy to solve, I don’t mind. Best model of the whole release, in my opinion!

Longstrike

Ah, a specialised tank commander – I think they could do this more often! I like the pose and suit, although I find myself questioning why this had to be a Finecast model in the first place — probably because creating a plastic mold would have been too expensive? Anyway, GW were even good enough to sculpt the whole model, legs and all:

Of course the pose of the legs looks a little silly: He seems like a fish out of water when not in his tank, but I guess that’s the whole point

While this is a nice model, I guess it would be possible to come up with something similar using leftover plastic bitz from other kits — but that’s only if you’re into converting and/or money saving. The model is certainly nice enough. On a related note, I really love the alignment of the commander in this picture:

“No, over there! Shoot over there, I said! For the sake of the greater good, is somebody listening to me at all?”

Darkstrider

Once again, having the model be a Finecast release in the first place seems slightly dubious. The model itself is nice enough and all, but I really think it would be better to just build your own from any leftover Pathfinder parts you might have. Oh, and while I dislike Finecast bashing, I think it’s a little silly that they couldn’t even get that weapon straightened out for a promo picture on their website:

Seriously, that stuff needs to get better or get lost (*cough* in favour of all plastic *cough*)!

In other news, this guy’s true name is actually El’ Myamoto. I hope his friends H’Anzo, T’oku G’awa and T’Oyot’Omi will make an appearance as well. Along with all the other citizens of the N’Ippon Sept…
Seriously, though, I am fairly bad at coming up with original names for my models myself, but jeez…

Pathfinder Team

Another high point of the release for me, since these guys are giving us some more much needed plastic parts for the Tau! It seems like GW decided to really play the Japanese styling to the hilt with the Pathfinders. Just look at those sharp lines on their trousers:

These couldn’t really look any more japanese short of wearing actual samurai helmets and Katanas, could they? The models look great, though. I especially like the angry facial expression on the squad leader:

The bare Tau heads were one of the parts most in need of some work, and I think GW performed admirably here!

Farside Enclave shoulder pads

While I certainly wouldn’t say that these are the bee’s knees or anything, I think producing optional packs of shoulder pads, shields, standards etc. is definitely an avenue GW should be exploring more thoroughly. After all, it’s a nice option of adding more individuality to your models while the purchase is entirely non-essential. A good use for Finecast, if there ever was one!

Missing in action…

If you ask me, what’s missing in the release is almost as interesting as what is actually there:

More species! More culture!

I think the different species allied to the Tau empire are a fascinating concept! Not only can they serve to add something to the Tau force on the table, but the idea of having different races and species allied to the Tau makes for all kinds of great modelling and narrative approaches: How easy would it be for a member of an allied species to make their way up the career ladder in the Tau empire (my guess would be: virtually impossible)? Are all the Kroot perfectly happy with having been “absorbed” by the Tau? I imagine the Tau empire to function a bit like the Roman Empire in that different peoples and species are integrated into it, offered protection, piece and certain elements of technological advancement. But at what price? And what frictions and fractures might exist within Tau society? Those would be fascinating narrative avenues to explore, if you ask me! And the new Codex and model release would have been a fantastic opportunity to add some traces of an actual culture to the Kroot and Vespid, transforming them into more than just “Funny Birdmen” and “Funny Bugmen”. And that’s not even considering possible new species (Demiurg, anyone?). While traces of this may appear in the codex, and while we may yet hope for a second wave release and/or that rumoured “Allies Codex”, I think this was a bit of a missed opportuniyt on GW’s part.

For the record, I would love to see some kind of Kroot commander with something that looks like a “Krootified” set of Fire Warrior armour. Or a conversion set for (human) auxiliaries (granted, this last one can be achieved via kitbashing, but still…). Oh well, maybe next time…

Crisis? What Crisis?

My biggest gripe is that GW didn’t do anything about the regular Crisis suits. While these may have been great when they were first released, I think they really haven’t aged all that well. Just take a look at the battlesuits offered by Forgeworld, or indeed at the new Broadside and XV8 commander, and you’ll probably see what I mean. And while your mileage may vary regarding the actual design of the suits, the fact that their standard poses are so wooden and unexciting is perhaps the largest problem. In my opinion, GW should really have addressed this, at least adding some new poses. Leaving the Crisis suits as they are may be the biggest disappointment about this release (of course you may disagree if you are a Tau player and have about 30 of these lying around ).

All is not lost, however, because it’s at least possible to get them to look far more dynamic with a bit of work. Here’s one of Cousin Andy’s old Crisis suits that I converted and reposed:

partial paintjob was not done by me. The model will definitely have to be repainted at some point!

partial paintjob was not done by me. The model will definitely have to be repainted at some point!

So at least there is some kind of stopgap solution. That’s the great thing about plastic, after all!

All in all, despite my disappointment in the lack of new Crisis and allied races, I’ll call this a strong release: The new models play to the Tau’s visual strengths while working out some of the kinks in the design: For me, that means that the army has gained some much needed individuality as well as some stunning new centre pieces. So while this release won’t make me buy a Tau army any time soon (or, indeed, at all), I can recognise good work when I see it. And the new models are very good work!

What are your thoughts on the new models? Any favourites? Any gripes? I would love to hear from you in the comments section!

In any case, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

So yes, I read Fire Caste, by Peter Fehervari. Before I go on, I feel I should say that, no, Ack-Ack Macaque was not the last book I read, but I’ve been reading a lot of your typical classic novels in preparation for my Uni course in English Literature next year and I figured you people probably didn’t need me to tell you that, yes, Kafka is a very good writer. Though seriously, he is. Metamorphosis be peng.

Anyway, I figured I’d probably read something light and figured I might as well enjoy myself with a new release from the Black Library’s extensive collection of tie-in fiction with Peter Fehevari’s Fire Caste. Having never read Fehervari’s work (and, indeed, having never heard of him before) I was unsure of what to expect, but telling you as someone who has now read the novel, I can tell you that you can expect Fire Caste to be pretty damn good.

Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (‘Really? I had no idea!’ I hear you all exclaim), Fire Caste follows the stories of Commissar Holt Iverson, and of the guardsmen of the 19th Arkan Confederate as they fight the Tau empire on the jungle planet of Phaedra. Thrown into a meatgrinder, the Commissar and the Arkans find that there’s a lot more going on in Phaedra than just a simple war, and soon enough it becomes clear that there are far more sinister things afoot.

Surprisingly, for a book named ‘Fire Caste’ the Tau don’t get a huge amount of a look-in, and instead the narrative alternates between a focus on the tormented Commissar Iverson and the Arkans. Iverson makes for an interesting, if somewhat unhinged, lead for a good half of the novel, and thanks to a strong focus on him as well as the usage of extracts from his journal Fehervari manages to create an interesting and complex main character, and manages the difficult feat of making him dark without being overly-brooding. The Arkans, a regiment modeled on American Civil War Confederacy soldiers (Arkan Confederates, geddit?) are a much larger and more diverse cast, and perhaps a little over-sized at points; Fehervari is able to paint the individual members of the regiment in broad brush strokes, but simply due to their numbers never succeeds in going into detail on them, leaving them feeling overall a little shallow. They’re interesting, don’t get me wrong, as are the rest of the characters who aren’t part of the Arkans, and it’s worth mentioning just how well Fehervari does in writing a large cast of characters who are tormented, traumatised, fanatical, haunted or just downright insane, but ultimately a lot of the cast seem to struggle to go any deeper than a sketched outline.

As well as this, I found it somewhat difficult to get a lot of information about the Arkans’ homeworld and their customs aside from their beliefs in their Thunderground (a sort of spiritual testing ground) and I got three quarters through the book before I realised that their homeworld was named Providence. Possibly. That said, I did enjoy the enjoy the inclusion of the Zouave Knights in the Arkan regiment, officers from noble houses who fight in heavily armoured ‘Thundersuits’ that seem like a poor man’s version of the power armour of 40k’s iconic Space Marines, and the suits were one of the more memorable and original things from the book; should the stars align, my wallet somehow swell, and I find myself collecting 40K miniatures once more, I might just have to make myself a Zouave of my own.

The size of the cast, and the way the narrative is structured, does mean that a lot of the more interesting characters end up pushed to the sideline. Admiral Karjalis, for example, is one of the most memorable and unnerving villain characters I’ve read for a while, and he’s an excellently grotesque, but I found myself disappointed by how little page time he received. The same goes for the story’s main Tau protagonist, Jhi’Kaara, who gets barely any page time whatsoever; this feels even stranger when her introduction in the prologue is considered, as it’s suggested she’s going to be a major character but then doesn’t appear all that much afterwards.

As one would expect from a Black Library novel, there’s combat, and a lot of it. Instead of going for the usual set-piece battles that typify Warhammer 40,000, combat is instead focused on much smaller-scale skirmishes and ambushes in Phaedra’s jungles, and the book benefits from that a lot; the tight focus of the fight scene makes them all the more intense, and when combined with the viciousness of the planet’s environs they become intense affairs, helped along by the fact that Fehervari is quite happy to off characters at the drop of a hat, and they become all the more interesting when it’s abundantly clear that characters you might like are going to be in the firing line just as much as the redshirts. They’re vicious, thrilling and a little frightening at times, and no doubt that was exactly what was being gone for.

The real star of Fire Caste, however, has to be Phaedra, the jungle planet the book is set on. Fehervari excels at bringing a horrific planet to life, and of creating a world that is rotten right to its core; his prose can be a little purple at points, and it probably doesn’t help that it’s peppered by an over-abundance of ellipses and exclamation marks, but overall it does an excellent job of creating a world that makes me think of Degobah’s must nastier big brother. It fits perfectly into the hyper-gothic science fantasy of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and alongside Fire Caste’s cast of lunatic and zealots, it’s obvious that he’s one of BL’s authors who ‘gets’ 40k.

I appreciate that I’ve spent a lot of time in this review knocking various things about this book, but while they are problems I found that my core question of ‘am I enjoying this book’ was answered with a pretty unambiguous ‘yes!’. Peter Fehervari is one of the Black Library’s most promising new authors, and while Fire Caste may be the first of his books that I’ve read, I’m sincerely hoping that it won’t be the last.

Agan semua sudah tau ini dong kan ya? Tapi, kenapa kenyataannya masih banyak banget Agan-Agan yang ngga respect sama orang lain. Hanya melihat orang dari suku, ras, Agama, sosial status, jabatan? “Ah, dia kan cuman seorang OB, ngapain gua ngobrol sama dia? Gengsi!” Ada ngga yang kayak begini? Saya harap ngga ada ya..

Didikan keluarga saya, kebetulan adalah untuk selalu respect dengan siapapun. Sehingga sekarang, hal ini sudah menjadi darah daging saya. Saya ngga pernah lupa sekalipun untuk bilang terima kasih, kepada siapapun yang telah menolong saya sekecil apapun. Contoh: ketika setelah menggunakan toilet umum di mall, saya selalu bilang terima kasih kepada si mas penjaganya; ketika es teh tawar saya disajikan oleh mbok-mbok di warteg, saya selalu bilang terima kasih. Saya juga selalu bilang minta maaf ketika saya berbuat salah, sekecil apapun, kepada siapapun.

Semua orang ingin berteman dengan orang-orang yang sudah sukses, atau lebih sukses dari dirinya. Kalau saya, saya selalu ingin berteman (hobi saya berteman) dengan semua orang. Memang, bukan berarti setiap hari saya harus bertemu dengan mereka semua. Kita pun harus bisa membuat skala prioritas dalam kehidupan sehari-hari di pulau tidung.

Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga toilet di Planet Hollywood Jakarta akhirnya menjadi General Manager Planet Hollywood Jakarta? Real story! Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga gudang Dexa Medica, sekarang adalah Direktur International Business Dexa Medica, dan juga Presiden Direktur AAM (anak perusahaan Dexa Medica)?

Saya kebetulan kenal baik dengan kedua orang ini. Saya menceritakan ini, hanya untuk mengingatkan, bahwa kita semua janganlah menjadi orang yang sombong/arogan. Jangan hanya mau berteman dengan orang-orang sukses, karena kita tidak akan pernah tahu, teman kita, ’sekecil’ apapun dia, mungkin suatu hari akan bisa menjadi orang yang membantu kita disaat kita kesulitan.

Bertemanlah dengan tulus. Semakin kita membantu banyak orang, semakin banyak orang yang akan membantu kita menuju kesuksesan.

Agan semua sudah tau ini dong kan ya? Tapi, kenapa kenyataannya masih banyak banget Agan-Agan yang ngga respect sama orang lain. Hanya melihat orang dari suku, ras, Agama, sosial status, jabatan? “Ah, dia kan cuman seorang OB, ngapain gua ngobrol sama dia? Gengsi!” Ada ngga yang kayak begini? Saya harap ngga ada ya..

Didikan keluarga saya, kebetulan adalah untuk selalu respect dengan siapapun. Sehingga sekarang, hal ini sudah menjadi darah daging saya. Saya ngga pernah lupa sekalipun untuk bilang terima kasih, kepada siapapun yang telah menolong saya sekecil apapun. Contoh: ketika setelah menggunakan toilet umum di mall, saya selalu bilang terima kasih kepada si mas penjaganya; ketika es teh tawar saya disajikan oleh mbok-mbok di warteg, saya selalu bilang terima kasih. Saya juga selalu bilang minta maaf ketika saya berbuat salah, sekecil apapun, kepada siapapun.

Semua orang ingin berteman dengan orang-orang yang sudah sukses, atau lebih sukses dari dirinya. Kalau saya, saya selalu ingin berteman (hobi saya berteman) dengan semua orang. Memang, bukan berarti setiap hari saya harus bertemu dengan mereka semua. Kita pun harus bisa membuat skala prioritas dalam kehidupan sehari-hari di pulau tidung.

Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga toilet di Planet Hollywood Jakarta akhirnya menjadi General Manager Planet Hollywood Jakarta? Real story! Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga gudang Dexa Medica, sekarang adalah Direktur International Business Dexa Medica, dan juga Presiden Direktur AAM (anak perusahaan Dexa Medica)?

Saya kebetulan kenal baik dengan kedua orang ini. Saya menceritakan ini, hanya untuk mengingatkan, bahwa kita semua janganlah menjadi orang yang sombong/arogan. Jangan hanya mau berteman dengan orang-orang sukses, karena kita tidak akan pernah tahu, teman kita, ’sekecil’ apapun dia, mungkin suatu hari akan bisa menjadi orang yang membantu kita disaat kita kesulitan.

Bertemanlah dengan tulus. Semakin kita membantu banyak orang, semakin banyak orang yang akan membantu kita menuju kesuksesan.

Agan semua sudah tau ini dong kan ya? Tapi, kenapa kenyataannya masih banyak banget Agan-Agan yang ngga respect sama orang lain. Hanya melihat orang dari suku, ras, Agama, sosial status, jabatan? “Ah, dia kan cuman seorang OB, ngapain gua ngobrol sama dia? Gengsi!” Ada ngga yang kayak begini? Saya harap ngga ada ya..

Didikan keluarga saya, kebetulan adalah untuk selalu respect dengan siapapun. Sehingga sekarang, hal ini sudah menjadi darah daging saya. Saya ngga pernah lupa sekalipun untuk bilang terima kasih, kepada siapapun yang telah menolong saya sekecil apapun. Contoh: ketika setelah menggunakan toilet umum di mall, saya selalu bilang terima kasih kepada si mas penjaganya; ketika es teh tawar saya disajikan oleh mbok-mbok di warteg, saya selalu bilang terima kasih. Saya juga selalu bilang minta maaf ketika saya berbuat salah, sekecil apapun, kepada siapapun.

Semua orang ingin berteman dengan orang-orang yang sudah sukses, atau lebih sukses dari dirinya. Kalau saya, saya selalu ingin berteman (hobi saya berteman) dengan semua orang. Memang, bukan berarti setiap hari saya harus bertemu dengan mereka semua. Kita pun harus bisa membuat skala prioritas dalam kehidupan sehari-hari di pulau tidung.

Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga toilet di Planet Hollywood Jakarta akhirnya menjadi General Manager Planet Hollywood Jakarta? Real story! Tahukah Agan bahwa seorang penjaga gudang Dexa Medica, sekarang adalah Direktur International Business Dexa Medica, dan juga Presiden Direktur AAM (anak perusahaan Dexa Medica)?

Saya kebetulan kenal baik dengan kedua orang ini. Saya menceritakan ini, hanya untuk mengingatkan, bahwa kita semua janganlah menjadi orang yang sombong/arogan. Jangan hanya mau berteman dengan orang-orang sukses, karena kita tidak akan pernah tahu, teman kita, ’sekecil’ apapun dia, mungkin suatu hari akan bisa menjadi orang yang membantu kita disaat kita kesulitan.

Bertemanlah dengan tulus. Semakin kita membantu banyak orang, semakin banyak orang yang akan membantu kita menuju kesuksesan.

From the GW website:

April’s White Dwarf is something special; not only does it showcase all the amazing new releases for Tau Empire, it’s a bumper-sized birthday celebration, as Grombrindal’s mighty magazine is a massive 400 years young! Inside its hobby stuffed 172 pages you’ll find the following fantastic features…

- Richard Sherlock’s mighty Beastmen army in Army of the Month.

- The White Dwarf team build their very own battlefield in Battleground – the Agrellan Refinery – in just two days with the help of an elite team of hobby experts…

- … And then Dan and Jes get to fight over it in the Battle Report, where the Tau Empire bring their mighty guns to bear on the ravening horror of Hive Fleet Eumenides.

- Adam Troke takes a look at the evolution of the Tau battlesuit and talks to Tau architects Jes Goodwin and Matt Holland.

- John Blanche shows off his latest creations in Blanchitsu – a gang of hive workers and pit slaves.

- Some of Games Workshop’s finest hobbyists create us an extra-special Kit Bash, including the strangest Warshrine you ever did see.

- Guides and tips for painting both Tau and our battlefield in Paint Splatter.

- White Dwarf editors from ages past share some of their favourite memories from the past 400 issues

- Jeremy Vetock and the Tau miniatures designers take us behind the scenes on the new book and miniatures.

I’ve been flicking through my iPad version and I am liking the look of the new Tau very much. Little changes here and there (plus a couple of awesome new units – have you seen the size of that Riptide suit?!) add up to a scary new proposition – an army that rules the shooting phase like no other. The battle report contains supporting overwatches, overcharged ion guns and (scariest of all) skyfiring broadsides! Check it out and prepare to face the galaxy’s youngest race as they prepare to launch their assault on the unprepared.

Two of them were bought used off eBay. I knew they could be counted as primed at best when I bought them, but had I known how poor some people seem to be at removing flesh or at using less than half a bucket of glue per mini, I would rather have bought them new for more. Anyway, after a lot dismantling and cleaning they were fit for a paint job. As some might remember from my musing last year. I did not want these to get the average orange tan colour that most Tau seem to be painted, but rather want to give them a woodlands look. Now these are my basic grunts so I chose a very simple uniform for them to signal just that. So it was black overalls (highlighted dark grey) and olive-green body armour for them. Quiet simple and still effective camo. The optics, both on their helmets and weapons as well as the markerlights were painted in red with reflections, the lenses on their lasers as well as the energy cells on the same and the grenades in blue.The weapons were painted in a very dark gun-metal grey (housemix).

Tau Firewarrior Team 1
(armed with carbines)

The first team, the one armed with Carbines, is the largest at twelve men, while the two armed with rifles are smaller at ten. I would have prefered to arm them all with rifles, but there are not enough in a box to arm them all that way (and my eBay purchases contained a mix as well) so I had to do with some carbines. Since these will be closest to the enemy and shall therefore most likely take the most punishment (= losses) I felt they should also be the strongest.

Tau Firewarrior Team 1

The biggest gripes I had with these minis is that there were not enough heads with helmets. I felt that bare heads did not make too much sense. The helmets clearly contain some good optics, so why deprive yourself of that? Also they are most likely to provide protection against fire and toxins, so again why go without? In the end I bought some separate helmets from eBay in the US and equipped them all with helmets. Same will go for the tankers when I get around to those!

Tau Firewarrior Team 3

Now I decided to have a squad leader and a deputy. In modern military terms a Sergeant and a Corporal. The Warhammer Universe does not seem to know such a redundancy in the chain of command, But I wanted it anyway. My initial idea had been for the Sergeants to have the complete shoulder armour and helmet in a tan colour and the Corporals only partially in tan, to set them apart. For the Corporals I stuck with this, although I broke with my idea to do them all the same. Now one of them has just edged his helmet, the other has partially edged his helmet in more fluid form while the third just has lines running over the helmet.

Tau Firewarrior Shas’ui (Corporals)

Now when I started with the Sergeants, I did not like the looks. And I wanted something even more special. Since these troops are called Firewarriors I went for a fire pattern to their helmets and shoulder armour. I left the rest of the armour in green to show that they had adorned their standard issue armour with flames after rising through the ranks. Their national colours were painted in the same firy colours as well, while the rest of the unit had them in subdued in tan.

Tau Firewarrior Shas’ui (Sergeants)

I retrospect I liked them a lot and am a bit sorry that I did not go for flaming armour instead of green on all minis. But I was in no mood to repaint them all. After all this was only going to be a quick and basic paint job after all.

Coincidently I have seen that GW announced an overhaul to the Tau just today and that this also includes a veteran Firewarrior wearing different armour. I guess I will get myself one of those minis and paint him completely in a flame pattern.

This have given me an excuse to purchase my first copy of White Dwarf in a very long time, because I wanted to look at all the pretty pictures of new toys and I have been meaning to look at the ‘new look’ White Dwarf for a while.

Oh, and they pull a huge picture of the new Riptide battlesuit on the cover. Did I mention the new shiny toys?

The new Dwarf

Before I start talking about the new Tau stuff, the new format of White Dwarf deserves a mention. Firstly, it is pretty damn slick looking. I mean REALLY slick. This is just as well because someone bumped the price up to £5.50 whilst I wasn’t looking, which seems crazy for a monthly magazine (I must be getting old).

As always, the magazine is stuffed full of really pretty models. I will talk specially about the new Tau stuff later, but suffice to say there’s plenty of eye candy including a foldout spread on the new flyers. The stuff on the new Tau Codex is nice, especially the evolution of the battlesuits, but there is no new background or rules teasers.

The battle report looks interesting as it is a narrative based scenario, and the army showcase looks great, even if beastmen aren’t my thing.
However, in terms of actual content, White Dwarf 400 is rather lacking. I know people have accused GW of turning White Dwarf into a glossy brochure, but guys, I really think you should take some hints from Privateer Press’ No Quarter magazine.

Shiny Toys

However the most important reason for this blog post was to talk about all the new Tau stuff.

Before I start, there are two things I need to say first. One, I haven’t seen the new Codex yet, or even played 6th edition 40K so I don’t particularly care how effective anything is in the actual game. And two, all the new Tau stuff is in the same style as before, so no new Crisis suits!

I’ll start with the bad first. The new flyers, the Sun Shark and Razorshark are horrible models, being a weird cross between a WW2 fighter, and the things from Slipstream. Why GW didn’t just use the Barracuda design is beyond me because these are rubbish. Worse still, the Razorshark is described as a “joint strike fighter”. Argh!

With that out of the way, I can talk about the good stuff.

I was prepared to hate the Riptide XV104 battlesuit, but I don’t. It is basically a very big Crisis suit will a stupid amount of very very big guns and it fits the Tau aesthetic perfectly. The new missile drones also look pretty damn cool. I will probably get one of these because I’m a bit of a sucker for big robots.

Speaking of which, the new Broadsides also really look the part, although at £30 each, a full unit of three will hurt the pocket more than the enemy. Still, I’ll probably get one of these as well to the two I already have. One other interesting thing to note, is that the new Broadsides seem to be mounted on 60mm bases. I get to be smug about this because my original two are already on this size base.

As well as these plastic battlesuit kits, GW will have a new Tau Commander and Commander Farsight in the Finecast resin stuff. The standard Commander is a bit ‘meh’ but the Farsight model is very pretty. As an aside, Farsight enclave shoulder pads will also be available via GW’s online store which I think is a great idea.

We also have a new plastic Pathfinder team kit plus three hero type characters (one for Fire Warriors, Pathfinders and a tank commander). All of these look great, and if I didn’t already have two units of Pathfinders, I would probably be getting these as well because the new kit has lots of new options, including quite a few new drones. Those crafty Earthcaste Tau have been busy.

Finally, the new Codex itself is looking very nice from the looks of the preview. And the cover is now my new favourite piece of Tau artwork. Period. End of story. Simply awesome stuff.

Yes, I like it that much.

The only annoying thing is, I have to wait a week to pick up the book itself, and by then, I will be in the wrong country. Ho hum.

In the meantime I suppose I’ll have to read White Dwarf and look at all the pretty pictures again…

Also Read : Best Panasonic CT 27HL14 27″ TAU Series HDTV Ready TV, Panasonic CT 27HL14 27″ TAU Series HDTV Ready TV Shop, New Panasonic CT 27HL14 27″ TAU Series HDTV Ready TV, where to buy Panasonic CT 27HL14 27″ TAU Series HDTV Ready TV, Panasonic CT 27HL14 27″ TAU Series HDTV Ready TV Discount

And just to make you cry, the price lists…

Riptide Suit £50.00

Sun Shark Bomber / Razorshark Strike Fighter £40.00

Hammerhead / Skyray £35.00

Pathfinders (plastic) £20.00

Broadside £30.00

Crisis Suits (boxed set) £45.00

Cadre Fireblade £12.00

Tau Battlesuit Commander £25.00

Commander Farsight £30.00

Darkstrider £11.00

Longstrike £9.50 

Battleforce £80.00

The OPERA international experiment at the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory (Italy) has observed a third neutrino tau candidate from “flavour” oscillation. The “muon-type” neutrino produced at CERN in Geneva arrived at the Gran Sasso laboratory as a “tau” neutrino. An extremely rare event observed only twice before, in 2010 and in 2012.

The data analysis will be pursued for two more years searching for other tau neutrinos that could definitely prove this very rare phenomenon.

My great love in 40K is Tau, after the more background typical Chaos faction, partially because they were such a breath of fresh air and represented progress and development of the larger 40K universe.

Not all the models are to my taste, but then I wouldn’t expect them to be. I’m rather glad they have kept the chunky feel to the battle suits.

Though I’m not a large fan of GW business practices, they have managed their imaginary universes well and the current edition of books have been well balanced so far from what I have picked up and read.

Even if the new codices are a little unimaginative and the background included in the codices has either become thuddeningly repetitive or, even more scarily, has started treating the background rather seriously or as if it isn’t over the top enough already I’m still a fan of the IP they have created.

Anyway, if you are a fan of Tau check it out. Expect a review of the new book when I have it in my hands.

Source:Tykens Rift

My great love in 40K is Tau, after the more background typical Chaos faction, partially because they were such a breath of fresh air and represented progress and development of the larger 40K universe.

Not all the models are to my taste, but then I wouldn’t expect them to be. I’m rather glad they have kept the chunky feel to the battle suits.

Though I’m not a large fan of GW business practices, they have managed their imaginary universes well and the current edition of books have been well balanced so far from what I have picked up and read.

Even if the new codices are a little unimaginative and the background included in the codices has either become thuddeningly repetitive or, even more scarily, has started treating the background rather seriously or as if it isn’t over the top enough already I’m still a fan of the IP they have created.

Anyway, if you are a fan of Tau

Tau Unleashed: New Pics Leaked.