Tau Empire XV104 RIPTIDE BATTLESUIT

Product Information

Only the greatest heroes of the Fire Caste stride to war in these mighty armoured machines, and they are the pride of the caste as well as one of the most important symbols of the T'au Empire. Battlesuits can easily lay down a withering hail of fire to destroy both infantry and armoured vehicles, and possess the resilience and speed to shrug off heavy fire. Though the armies of the T'au rely on their skimmer-tanks and the airborne gunships of the Air Caste for long range support, the battlesuits of the Fire Caste are considered to be the most efficient of all their many killing machines. This time around, a lot of thoughts are going to be in the list section, because it’s fair to say that Vre’kais and Gunum are excited about this book and want to tell you all about their diabolical plans. Markerlights get a big overhaul in this edition of the Codex, making use of the Action rules for delivery in a way that brings some upsides, and some downsides. Essentially this is a list of the models I like, arranged in the best way I can find to have a decent chance at being fun to play with if not win every game. It hits very hard with the +1 Strength within 12” for all my assault weapons, something Tau are not low on by any measure. The list’s resilience is based on a not insignificant number of shield drones for the Crisis and Broadside units, shield generators on Crisis also. In combination with Reinforced Armour this can make Battlesuits pretty difficult to shift. S6 isn’t too common, but reducing S5 to 5+ wound against my Crisis and Broadsides, as well as 4+ to wound vs my Stealth. S3 shooting will have a tough time wounding on 6+ vs most of the list. It also makes S7 anti tank guns struggle vs my Gunships, forcing the commitment of proper anti tank with S8 and above to really dent them efficiently.

Not massively if we’re honest. There are some cool abilities on this list, some named after returning favourites from the Greater Good, but the best main Septs are very strong and a lot of the upgrades you used to pull from Custom Septs have been baked into weaponry now. Most notably on that front, all missile weapons in this book are just flat 1AP better than they used to be, and Hardened Warheads is now just Ignore Cover, which is much less exciting and you get part of one smart missile systems for free. The greatest development, however, was the nanocrystalline alloy fio'tak that was dense, durable and incredibly light. Comparable in protection to Space Marine power armour, it enabled the Earth Caste to build more resilient battlesuits without hampering manoeuvrability, an important consideration when taking into account the Fire Caste's desire for fast, mobile warfare. As previewed on Warhammer Community, one of the biggest changes in this book is the addition of new rules for the Tau’s two key strategic philosophies – the hyper aggressive killing blow of Mont’ka and the patient counterpunch of Kauyon. Upgraded from once-per game abilities for your Commanders, these are now your army-wide bonus (except for Auxiliaries – sorry Kroot), offering you two different sets of army-wide buffs for part of the game, which you get to choose between after the first turn roll-off. XV8 Crisis Battlesuit - The XV8 Crisis Battlesuit is the mainstay T'au Battlesuit utilised by the warriors of the Fire Caste, mounting fearsome ranged weaponry and a complement of technologically advanced support systems, all on a comparatively small and agile frame. XV8 Crisis Battlesuits are versatile and formidable weapons that the enemies of the T'au Empire have learned to respect. There are several variants of the XV8 Crisis Battlesuit, including: Shield Generators give you a 4+ invulnerable save. You do pay 5pts for this, but you should still assume you’re stapling these to the support slot on most of your on-table Crisis models – that is an aggressive price.

Datasheets

If you want objective play with a big more crunch, Vespid are surprisingly pushed now, mostly because their guns are nasty at S5 AP-3 D2. Dealing damage isn’t their primary function, but you can throw a unit of six in your list for Retrieve Nachmund Data for a mere 72pts, and having some genuinely pretty relevant guns for a bit of chip damage on top of that is gravy. It’s just about possible that Dal’yth can push these to a point where they’re a credible threat, but just in general they’re an extremely acceptable utility squad. Known battlesuits range from the XV88 Broadside Battlesuit intended for heavy fire support and armed with weapons more similar to those found on the main battle tanks of other intelligent species, to the lightweight XV25 Stealthsuit which is designed for infiltration and sabotage operations. The mainstay of all T'au Battlesuits, however, is the versatile XV8 Crisis Battlesuit and its multiple derivatives, which are capable of carrying a wide variety of weapons and support equipment to optimise them for fighting in any tactical situation or role.

Ethereals are now priests (though without the keyword for some reason), getting a Chaplain-style list of Invocations they can use, which we’ll cover further down. In addition, they all get the Inspired to Greatness ability, which lets them designate a nearby CORE or AUXILIARY unit to be able to Shoot while Actioning, a very good fit for the new GT missions, can share around their impressive Leadership stat, and for the two Named ones can be brought in an army from any non-Farsight Sept. All good stuff, and there’s definitely some use cases for them. Subfactions The first number indicates the battlesuit's mass class, with "1" being the lightest and smallest battlesuit in the T'au arsenal, to "9" indicating a large, heavily-armoured and potently armed battlesuit. Those battlesuits which have a specific and confirmed specialised function are then given a second numerical designator, while those considered general combat utility battlesuits retain only the first numeral due to being considered the standard battlesuit of that mass class without any real specialisation.

Tau Empire 9th Edition 40k Wargear Rules

The other two probably won’t do much. Storm of Fire lets a unit Action while shooting, a good effect but one that every Ethereal just gets one free use of at baseline, so not something you need more of, while Unifying Mantra is a morale aura that’s similarly not going to be needed much when an Ethereal is already there, as anything in range to benefit is also in range to get Ld10. Those aren’t your only choices here, of course, with Shadowsun and Farsight both being available as named alternatives (and both have to be your warlord if you take them, or one of them does if you take both). Farsight is the easier one to cover – he rules. He’s a souped up Crisis Commander with their (very helpful) buff, an actual melee profile from the Dawn Blade (now with a sweep option), a super plasma rifle and a minor melee buff for a nearby CORE unit. Being real – he’s 5pts more than a Crisis Commander with two plasma rifles and a shield generator, so if you’re running Enclaves, just take him. XV17 Battlesuit - Little is known about this battlesuit other than that it exists, is piloted by a single T'au, and is a form of infiltration suit.