I have a confession... I LIED. I really couldn't remember ever playing against T'au, and then I remembered... I have. Once. A month after their 3rd Ed Codex came out I pitted my horde of unpainted Orks against a guy at our gaming clubs freshly painted Tau army, and he absolutely murdered the shit out of me. Systematically annihilated every squad of my grey footsloggers. I didn't even make it into combat. Since then, I've not had a single game against them. But still! I have fought them. One time. In 19 years.
Orks vs Tau was (and probably still is) the most uneven match up. However should orks get into melee with enough dudes left, the Tau are functionally dead and going to end up with their heads up their ass. The problem is that the bastards had such an absurd range and firepower back in the day they would just nuke you across the table.
btw about the ghost keel you dont build it with the head sticking out or not. it atriculates. the entire chest unfolds to reveal the cockpit. and the arms and everything articuale are are really easy to magnitise
@@MikeTheGamer77 Yet, somehow, that was one of those reasons why failcast failed so hard as it did. Not even flat pieces and straight edges were safe from horrible casting failures.
As an owner of armies of both Sororitas and Space Wolves I'm loyal as all Heck but the scifi nerd in me simply can not dislike the smooth design and pew pew-y Robotsuits if the world does start back up i am getting a Ghostkeel to sit next to my Shadowsun
So as a Tau player, I can confirm that the farsight model is smaller than the new commander kit. I can also tell you the white sept is Vior'la as opposed to T'au sept who are the yellow/orange. Although lore wise the tau armies paint their armour to match the environment keeping only the sept markings the same between deployments (the little red stripes on the white kits) so you can quote comfortably paint your kits however with the blue commies
seeing as you're a Tau player have you ever encounter Armiger Helverin and Armiger Warglaive in one of you're games? i was planing to build a Knight Crusader but i don't have the money to buy it at the moment and i want to even up my army's firepower and relaying on a single unit seem unwise. if a player manage to take down my Knight then i worry that my army will fall apart. was thinking of building of Tau battlesuits for my AdMech army. the setting is that the Admech have manage to salvage and repair or capture those battlesuits and use them battlesuits against the Tau or any other army. lastly i want to build some experience before i commit to building knights.
Tau came out when I was 3 years out and I was obsessed with them flicking through my Dad's White Dwarf Issues 262 and 263. Whilst my tastes have changed over the years and I would no longer consider them a favourite army, I will always have a soft spot for them and their models are still great
My first kit was a T'au, actually. It was the Commander and I, not knowing much about 40k, painted it in the colors of Shockwave fron Transformers. It was quite fun
@@iceytoa1 As new player who wants to get in with playing Farsight Enclaves the fact he's physically smaller annoys me enough to not get into it until he gets a better model.
@@venge1894 I guess it would depend somewhat on how you're playing/who with, but I'm pretty sure most people would be accepting of some kind of kitbash? Depends what you're comfortable with really. And just to clarify, I'm saying he doesn't need a new model, he's certainly due for one, but I can accept why his current model is the way it is. I suppose you could also pick other members of the Eight in the meantime, modified so as not to be them rule wise, but thematically them?
@@iceytoa1 I forgot about the kit mods and all that so I could try that yeah, he's only got a few specific tidbits that would need slapped on another crisis commander I think which should be doable
@@venge1894 Head, sword and his plasma rifle/shield set up are the only things I think you'd have to add to a commander for it to look fairly on point. Call me a bit of conspiracy theorist buuuut, the paperback release of the second Farsight novel is out in September, maybe they've prepared a replacement model to better match the artistic representations of him? Probably not but hey, hope!
Since I was getting into 40k just as Tau were being introduced, I genuinely find it baffling when people either don't like them, or never paid much attention to them, lol I vividly remember being in primary 7, a few friends had Space Marines, two were into Eldar, one was into Tyranids, one was into Orks (which he painted with Scottish flags on their faces; Freedumb Clan?) and they were trying to get me into it but I couldn't decide what to play; then I noticed Tau in one of their magazines just at they were being introduced, and I fell in love instantly. Almost 20 years later and still love the aesthetic and general gameplay - their lore is a bit dodgy at times though...
Their lore has been a bit grey at times. I also think bits of it have been rewritten. Personally I want to see the dynamic between the farsight enclaves and the main empire explored deeper. Also if you think about it, if Farsight kills a Custodes or a Primarch he basically becomes functionally eternal in terms of lifespan because of the Dawnblade. As it is he will outlive his rival, Shadowsun, because of it if he doesn't get killed before she dies old age.
Aye a lot of it has been rewritten or, 'tweaked' in places to fit into 40k better - they weren't 'gimdark' enough when they launched, they had this good but naive feel to them, the were young, had a lot to learn but had impressive technology and a few allies. Farsight was framed as just a rebel, his ethereal is killed and he goes on his own crusade of sorts. This changed when it was hinted that the ethereals have a mystical control over the other castes, framing the Tau Empire as essentially fascist for lack of a better term, lol This then prompted more questions of why did Farsight go against the empire when he did? was some dark truth revealed when his ethereal died, or was it just finding the Dawnblade that changed him..? I would love to see that dynamic explored in more depth. The only concern I have is that Farsight being immortal is written for gameplay purposes, allowing for enclaves to make enough sense to be properly playable, and maybe giving him the Puretide treatment would cheapen him in some way.
@@MGShadow1989 I think in the Codex its mentioned if he ever confirmed the blade was allowing the continuation of his lifespan (he supposedly only suspects it), he would likely take his own life or something like that. Perhaps some foreshadowing for his character later down the line, but as for the Enclaves there's a few in his "Eight" who would likely take his place in his passing, I think.
You're confusion with the stealth battlesuits can probably be attributed to seeing the older versions of the stealth battlesuit at some point. The older versions were a lot smaller and basically just looked like slightly bulkier fire warriors.
Really like the dawn of war system where the old ones were basic troops while the larger guy was the unit leader, worked very well and made the leader really stick out
Love the video. A few notes: - XV8s: Yeah, they're too squished and undersized for my taste. It's a shame that the mainline Battlesuits have the weakest sculpts in my opinion - XV88s: You absolutely can stick the missiles on the end of the cannon. I magnetized mine to do both. - The Commander, Riptide, and Ghostkeel are some of the best kits to build in GW's entire catalogue. They have an ABSURD amount of poseability and are just a joy to put together. Don't mind the weak ankles. - The Stormsurge is hideous. Luckily, there are options out there to get a cockpit cover and arms. - You should check out the FW Tau kits. They have some damn cool designs. - Wargames Exclusive has some great (as well as extremely cheesy) alternative Tau character sculpts that blow GW and FW's offerings out of the water. - We desperately need more xenos auxiliaries. It's a massive part of the Tau lore that has been functionally neglected since the initial army release. Fucking Dark Eldar have more Xenos race options than Tau.
I actually convert some of my XV8s to be spiritual successors to a number of my favourite battlemechs. I've got a quad fusion blaster commander which I modified to make him a bit more squat and have all the fusion blasters stacked to be a single large gun over the right shoulder. Because I love the Hunchback 4G :)
I own a Stormsurge, and I always make myself think of it as more of a Metal Gear than a battlesuit. Although if it did have the battlesuit keyword it would see alot more play than it currently does, because then drones could protect them.
Just gonna throw this out there, the Riptide is one of the best models that GW ever made, and easily the best Tau model. It’s just badass and so iconic
@@friendlyneighbourhoodnerd if the other tau units were actually good or able to perform their designated role people wouldn’t run riptides nearly as much
You've completely missed the Start collecting! exclusive Ethereal on hover drone which in my opinion is the best looking ethereal, and which implements the hovering quite well. Otherwise I love the video and agree with most points made.
I’m so glad we can get arms resin 3d printed on shapeways. You can get the missiles on the arms or the shoulders, and be able to hold the giant rail gun like the broadside. When I get the storm surge for my tau army, I’m getting those arms and missile shoulder mounts
Yeah farsight is smaller than the standard commander model he looks tiny when compared to The Eight. Also yeah the tanks are kind of becoming obsolete as the Ghostkeel can carry the ion raker, the XV88 can carry the heavy rail Rifle the only one the isn't is the devilfish and the Sky Ray. There were once smaller Stealth suits that were just effectively fire worriors with a chunky back pack and heavy wepons but are made of metal, as for the firesight marksman I've seen him used as a stand alone model but I'm pretty sure Sniper Drones are the worse "Sniper unit" in the game at the moment. As for auxiliary xenos don't even bother they are overpriced in game and do bugger all and don't even get sept tennets which is a shame because I got into tau back in 4th because I liked there whole unity between races thing
The missile rifle’s a common conversion in tau players, I did it myself magnetizing both ends incase heavy rail rifles ever became viable again, which they have with the prototype magma rail rifle.
When I finish my orks, I want to get an aerograph, three of those gundam-like battlesuits (the ones smaller than Stormsurges, but still considerably large), and a few boxes of Fire Warriors (plus some commander, I'll see what benefits the force most). That is all. I'll make it a custom Sept, with a mercenary force background, and just have fun with it I honestly prefer to have multiple small forces from different factions than one 5000 points army. It's more fun this way.
I love the stormsurge. Eventhough I'm no tau collector I'm almost tempted to get one. The arms ,for me, aren't missing , they have been replaced with gigantic guns. Just amazing. And the zylindrical cockpit looks awesome , though I must say I haven't seen one outside the GW side.
@KiriothTV If you look at the Stormsurge really closely, you'll see why it's a ballistic suit... It's open topped, and crewed by two very lightly armored dudes without helmets. Most people put arms and a hatch on the thing
the first 40k i got was the tau start collecting and everything was fine until i got to the crisis battlesuit. saying they were a nightmare to build is an understatement. i have not bought any tau since (i do really like the fire warriors and they are a lot of fun to paint imo)
It sucks since Crisis suits should be one of the coolest units and a mainstay in Tau armies, but for the life of me I've never enjoyed their weirdly proportioned and undersized sculpts. It's especially egregious considering how generally excellent most other Tau sculpts are.
I know what you mean! I have 6 crisis suits and really would like to add more to my army but they're so horrible to build with ALL their joints being ball and socket joints.
Oh man the first crisis suits were the worst. I swear the bits connecting the feet to the rest of the model would break as soon as you even looked at them. I only had three and all three broke in the same way.
@@stryke-jn3kv Yup! And maybe a slight breeze would break them too! And what's worse about mine is when packing them in boxes to take to a battle before Nurgle woke up I got their and ALL of my suits had broken at the ankles in foam and I had to play them as super feet!
Ever since I first saw them in the store, when I was young and I first stepped into a GW store, I was a fan of them. Oddly enough, it's not the battlesuits or mechs that got me (although back then it was just Crisis suits), it was the aesthetic of the Fire Warriors. It's something about how their armor is structured, their helmet and their guns, they just look so sleek, sci-fi and sturdy, very tactical. I remember loving playing the Fire Warriors game and getting to see these guns in person, even if the standards were disappointing gameplay wise but still love their design. Either way, I never quite got into 40k or got much from it, I remember I bought an old starter set and some more fire warriors, but never painted or anything. One day I feel I'd wanna get back to it and do an army that isn't all about mechs. I do love the mechs (although the Riptide feels bit much for me), but I like seeing them among other things such as their infantry, drones and vehicles, such as a commander and his special unit that turns the tide of the battle but you still got everything else there filling it out and making the mechs more special.
Tau need new/updated models. However, Ork boyz and Necron Warriors and destroyers need updates even more. My Tau are led by a human convert... a Commander suit with a human head (no helmet grants +1 save). P.S. Farsight is one of the best characters in W40K lore. He's one of the few that finally sees past all the dogma and just want to help his people... that's why every faction wants to kill him, including the Tau. No free-thinkers allowed in W40K universe.
I've been a T'au player for 14 years and it is REALLY fun to listen to a veteran 40k player who knows a lot about every other army but nothing about T'au talk about T'au. I should do a response video to this filling in some of the knowledge gaps. All in good fun though. I liked this video an it was genuinely interesting hearing a non-T'au player talk about the range. :)
From what I understand (only got into 40k a few weeks ago) the difference between the stormsurge and the proper battlesuits is similar to the difference between self-propelled artillery and main battle tanks on the current battlefield. The stormsurge is intended for long range/indirect fire support (hence the ability to deploy support struts) whereas a proper battle suit needs more mobility for close engagement.
The Stormsurge not being a battlesuit is the reason why it doesn't really get used. Somehow the giant Forgeworld one does get to be a battlesuit. Thankfully there are some great arm kits on Shapeways and whatnot. Also, you can't tell from the pics but the legs are quite poseable. With an arm kit and standing it upright you get a great, intimidating giant battlesuit that makes the FW one more or less unnecessary. Throw "stormsurge standing upright" or something into Google to see the potential.
On the subject of the devilfish/hammerhead, they are pretty easy to put together, but they do require some mold line scraping and filling in panel edges with green stuff. Also, the original stealth suits were smaller and in metal.
to answer your question about the stealth suits your right about the original size. The original stealth suits were (metal?) models and were known as XV15s they basically looked like fire warriors with a little bit more armour, a bigger back back and a arm engulfing burst cannon.
11:22 Ok a couple of points: 1) That’s one of the most 40K things I’ve ever seen and 2) To me the derpyness is immediately counteracted by the sheer firepower. Whatever it’s aimed at wouldn’t have time to question its design.
I like how you went from: “I don’t know why you would put (the missile pods) on the arms when you can just put them on the shoulders” to “why doesn’t it have any arms? If I got one, I’d make some arms to put the rocket pods on.”
For the issue with the XV8's; I always had the impression that, in-universe, they were built with the intention of being more 'modular' than the other types, more built with the purpose of switching out weapon and support systems as the situation demands, rather than the high-density Broadsides and Stormsurge, hence why they look a bit blocky and stubby in comparison - they're SUPPOSED to be mass produced given that they're the mainstay of the fire caste. IDK, just the train of thought I had going through that. Also interesting that you've had very sparse encounters with T'au players; always thought that we were the bane of the player base!
The fliers are never seen because their rules are underwhelming. Also, the Forgeworld ones are generally preferred bother rules wise and ascetically. The meta is Riptides but Hammerheads can do quite well in 1000-1500pts. The Devilfish chassis has never been updated and is kinda rough, needs filling and doesn't always go together very well. There was another version of stealth suit. The XV15, shame they were discontinued as I preferred their aesthetic. Bunch of stuff hasn't had an update since it was released in 3rd and it really shows. Same sort of deal as some of the old Phoenix lords. The Fireblade is actually new, most people just convert their own. Wish GW would do something with the Tau Auxiliary. Never got updates, expensive, low model count kits mean you never see them and the regular Kroot lost all their special rules in the recent editions. The Kroot Hounds could actually be good melee chaff for us if we could field them. They are dirt cheap points wise and comparable to gaunts. Also, there are some really nice 3rd party Kroot Hounds that show their potential.
I think the Stormsurge looks great. The lack of arms really gives it the glass cannon look. It drives home the point that it is a bipedal artillery platform and not something that is going to punch an imperial knight in the face if it comes too close.
The naming of the suit is quite easy: XV = production model Number from 1 to 10 = its size number from 1 to 10 = its battlefield role example xv 2 5 is a smaller just bigger than a normal tau stealth suit xv 10 4 giant fire support suit that is mobile
The numbers after the XV on the battlesuits represent their weight class or height I think and then their model, for example the XV8 crisis suits are an 8 the same as the XV88 broadside as the broadside originally just was a crisis suit with shoulder mounted railguns but the extra 8 on the broadside signifies a more developed or altered design. I have no clue why GW decided to make it like that and I believe there are even a few circumstances where it isn't/ wasn't followed, just makes them seem more futuristic or alien ig
I'm a Tau player and the riptide is one of my all time favourite kits. so flexible and a very cool model. also farsight desperately needs a new model and better rules for the enclaves!
New krootox, new shaper, new hounds, and new vespids would all be cool things to get, but I really want new vespids especially, and to see another auxiliary race from the background lore.
Love your perspective on them. XV8 Crisis is such a versatile kit, got 18 so far and still all of them look unique, super kitbashable. also cool stuff in the t'au range, the massive pathfinder drone model can dock with the hammer head when they're traveling in it, and the hammer head can have a (£10) longstrike sitting in their like he's ordering a beer and a strike. biggest shame is that there is onlt 1 Cyclic ion canon in the whole range (commander box)and its such a good weapon.
Tau player here. The railgun on a Hammerhead gunship is a higher strength and range than that of a broadside. Also a Broadside does 1 mortal wound in addition on a wound roll of a 6 whilst the Hammerhead is D3 mortal wounds.
Storms urge is a mobile weapons platform, it's the Tau answer to enemy knights and titans (and other big stuff), the reason for the "jet pack" and stabilizers on the legs are there to counter act the recoil from the massive gun and if it was mounted on arms it would just rip the arms off. Also the suit is used to be deployed all the way back, far away from the enemy as they are very immobile after they deploy for firing.
Part of what drew me to tau was that you can compleatly pose anything bigger then a crisis suit and even crisis suits can have snot of wiggle room. The storm surge is a ballistic suit and the thrusters on the back are to help composite for recoil. The stealthsuits were intact smaller called the xv-15 Wich was Thr size of normal tau fire warriors
The Stormsurge has huge firepower and is a Walking Battleship; It can Fall Back and shoot/charge in the same turn with no penalty's.. And it's not a Battlesuit like everything else is.
For clarity a battlesuit is you get inside and pilot the suit interfacing with is so the sensors become your eyes, the arms are your arms etc. The stormsurge is basically a vehicle there is no interface you move it via control consoles hence why you have the pilots in the front. From what i gather they made it in a similar design to a battlesuit to be like the imperial titans putting ship based weapons on a humanoid platform as it can brace better.
The old commander used to be just an XV8 battlesuit (back in 2004) which is the basis for the Farsight model who got his 'new' sculpt in 2012 I think. That's when the Riptide came out. As people have said the XV15 was the old small stealth suit. Both of which featured in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
@KiriothTV Commander Farsight is the same size as the regular XV8 crisis suit. Games Workshop used to do a metal model for the stealth suits, which were smaller and held the unit designation XV15, so good ISH memory.
I think the Tau have one of the most solid ranges in the whole thing. The only thing which im not a fan of or don't especially care about is the kroot & vespoid because I like the uniformity of the range. Tau are Consistent in their whole aesthetic and as such they have a solid range. I really like the stormsurge. It's Mad, I don't think arms is necessarily a problem seeming as it's effectively like a mobile Artillery platform, think Pyrovore, so it's not really gonna be going mano a mano with something intentionally.
Crouching Riptides was a thing that non-Tau hated back in 6e. Standard practice was too model the thing as low as possible, then park it behind a suitably-large building. It could then walk out, nova charge, reduce a unit to a black scorchmark, and then jetpack back into cover. Also Farsight is monopose and it hurts my soul. The Hammerhead's Railgun isn't the same as the Stormsurge's one. It's also S10, whereas the Broadside's Heavy Rail Rifle is S8. This is actually a nerf that coincided with the arrival of the new model for the Broadside: When it was just a Crisis frame with massive shoulder cannons, the Broadside had twin-linked S10 Railguns, but they were weakened in 6e. Combined with how flyer-heavy 6e is, the "loads and loads of missiles" version of the Broadside became a lot more popular, since it was one of the better anti-air options around, while the HRR version was less viable than the Hammerhead. Space Pope is dead, BTW. He died in one of the books and Farsight and Shadowsun created a hologram of him for... reasons. This makes no sense in Tau lore, for the record, Aun'va isn't like the Emperor, he's just the latest in a long line of top Ethereals. His predecessors have died over and over in the past, so why he specifically would need to be kept around is... weird. The Fireblade is a case of being old but also new. It's a plastic kit, but it's identical to the Finecast one that it replaced. Probably the same mold. The 'gash' is a nasal passage. Dudes have a regular line, while ladies have a Y-shaped one. This is the only case of sexual dimorphism that we're aware of among Tau. Kroot are cool but they're also... not very good. They're dramatically underpowered, for something that's supposed to be the primary source of melee fighting in the Tau army, normally they just get wiped off the board before they even get there. Their best use is a shitpost of a strategy that involves spreading them out across the table in a giant conga-line, and exploiting that to gain overwatch with your entire army against whatever tries to charge them.
The Battlesuit classes are XV/KV (Single Pilot/'Titanic' Size) The first numbers are size, the last number is type. For example XV88 A Singlepilot Battlesuit size 8 heavy weapons loadout. XV104 A Singlepilot Battlesuit size 10 experimental model. The Stealthsuits are the best example XV15s XV25s XV22-5 commander suits XV95 are all stealth suits
Ranty McRant-Pants ah yes, I have heard the legend of the lieutenant with his arm articulated 5 degrees lower than the base model thwarting Kiroiths attempts. A tragic tale indeed.
stormsurge is a battlesuit but its supporting legs are for it to set up into a siege mode for long range bombardment. Some swedish tanks had hydraulic mode to do something similar. the arms would also be pointless as this unit is made to stay at range and would also improve not having arms lowering the amount of movement when firing
There were indeed smaller stealth suits back in the day as I distinctly remember them being featured in the Tau and Necron collectors guide from 2004 (or 2003 I can't remember) , they were a call order exclusive at that point along with the retro Necron warriors, lord and skimmer destroyer. I've still got it buried somewhere in my codex collection
Looking at what is on display here, yes the auxilliary troops are the very same minis that were released all those years ago. The Fire Warriors are mostly the same, but the Breacher team kit has been combined with it, so it is *technically* new. When it comes to stealth suits, there were older minis that did look different, yes, and are the ones that appear in the Dawn of War expansions. Overall, the only real stuff in there that has been updated since the original release are the battlesuits - commander never had one to start with, crisis have got more joints now, and the broadside is the most changed from the original. On the matter of the Stormsurge - it is not a battlesuit, as it has a crew, rather than a signle operator. While it is bipedal, it is supposed to be a mobile weapons platform that moves into a location, sets stabilisers, and just guns everything down from long long long range.
It is so interesting - I am the dead opposite on the colour schemes. I used to absolutely love the Tau sept colours and drooled over them when they were released, but I just can't fall in love with the white in the same way.
Theres a 3D printed kit on shapeways to turn those massive missile pods on the Stormsurge into arms like the XV88, much improved. You can also get a kit to put the pods on the shoulders and have it carry the big gun
The stormsurge is classified as a ballistic suit rather than a battlesuit (kv instead of xv). On the tabletop it's a vehicle rather than a battlesuit, which changes the buffs and stuff it has access to
For the stormsurge with the missile pods, I'd holllow out the outer side of the pods, and kitbash some actual arms to fit into them. That way the missiles look like they are housed within shoulder armor vs actually being the arms.
I usually describe the stormsurge as a titan scale version of the german marder iii tank destroyer, a big titan killing gun hastily built onto a modified but readily available chassis to make it self propelled to get something that can stop the enemies unstoppabje armour in the field
I think the tau stealth suit you were talking about was the older metal ones which were alittle bit smaller but I think the 'sarge' in the squad had the updated model as their leader or whatever. It's the suits from DoW I believe I may be wrong though... So you're not crazy Kirioth haha
The "four-armed" style for Shadowsun feels reminiscient of an angel descending with their wings out. But each wing is a giant gun. When the Tau battlesuits get scaled until they're taller than the commanders, there's a serious problem: the 'ankle' joint that connects those three-toed feet to the legs. It is SO tiny, it looks like it would break off immediately under the weight.
7:05 Yes, you can kitbash the missile pots onto the front of the railgun, and people do that. 12:05 Funny you say that. People actually sell 3rd party hands for the stormsurge. I guess you are onto something. You mentioned the older versions of broadsides and small stealth suits, which are actually literal old models. In real life those were old models that GW sold, and what's cool about this is that they also accepted them in lore. Those old models also existed in the 40k verse, and the creation of those new models is the Tau working and refining their old tech, like the old broadsides with the railguns on their shoulders. I remember that in an older edition the Tau had an experimental weapon, and after the next edition, that weapon became a standard weapon, the same as in the lore. This means GW actually allowed the Tau to have a tech progression both in the lore and in real life models, both following each other.
I've figured out why I don't like Aun'Va's guards and why they don't fit in. They don't look like Tau. They do however look like what Necrontyr probably looked like before they became Necrons.
I'm only part-way through the video at present, and the Stormsurge not having arms is very polarising with a lot of Tau fans. Some think it looks fine, and some get arms for it and put the over the shoulder cannon as a held weapon. Personally, Stormsurge with arms look *much* better than without, with those rocket pods turned sideways and put on the shoulders. One of the reasons that it's not a battlesuit is because of how other units synergise with that keyword - and it's something I do agree with. They aren't often seen on the tabletop because they're expensive in points, and are bullet sponges. As an effect, a lot of people don't get to actually *use* them, which leads to lists utilising units that have more synergies. Concerning Farsight: His battlesuit's a custom XV8 Crisis suit - and yes, he's smaller than the commander kits. I think what makes his suit look distinctly better and non-squashed is that he's posed better than the standard Crisis suits - the shield/plasma arm covering his body is twofold in that it's a cool pose, and that it covers the blockiness of the suit. He's also *definitely* due for an upgrade. For most of the battlesuit models, the pilots are centered in the chest. Shadowsun is in a special stealth suit, however - stealth suits are more akin to power armour/exoskeletons compared to Crisis+ being more like Terminator armour or piloted robots by comparison. Her armour's definitely much bigger than she is, but she's still *mostly* in the limbs and torso. For the tanks...mostly they fall by the wayside this edition. Devilfish still get taken on occasion, but the Sky Ray suffers from a single round alpha strike and then...less than stellar output if it survives on top of no drone support other than what's docked in it. Hammerheads rarely get taken due to the drone support issue, and the fact that 8th edition is very much a 'drown the opponent in numbers of shots' style, and the railgun is...less than reliable. If they get taken, they usually do with the ion cannon for just the volume of fire difference. Most lists are very battlesuit heavy. Crying shame if you ask me, since railgun hammerheads look mint. Tau weaponry generally falls into missile, railgun, ion of some sort, pulse, or plasma variants. Fusion blasters are meltas, and they're *very* common, but they're the only weapon that the Tau get that falls under that banner, if I remember correctly. Flamers are also utilised on certain units, but not particularly often except for the Y'varha. The old Devilfish is...not the most fun to put together. If memory serves, the sculpt was updated and it's fine to do now. Speaking on the stealth suits: You aren't losing your marbles. That's the second generation of them - similar to how the old Broadsides went through the revision. The first generation stealth suits (XV15s) had a very different helmet closer to the breacher helmets than the ones the current ones have. Firesight marksmen (dude with the sniper drones) are still used quite commonly, and the drone controller I *believe* is carried by the marksman. I'm not certain on that, but would not in the slightest be surprised if it folded down into something easier to manage when not deployed. Aun'Va looks...well, looks like the Prophet of Regret from Halo took a wrong left turn and decided to just roll with it. For your closing statements, some people would *skin you* for suggesting more battlesuits due to drone synergies - but as a Tau collector/player, I'd enjoy more suits! ...This...this wasn't meant to go on this long. Sorry for the novella, but I hope it was at least a little bit informative. Good video!
If you want a larger robot model kit then you choose gunpla or tau. Kotobukiya is close to the gunpla style. I want some of the tau built like gunpla with all their movements. Also it is so easy to 3d prints the top of the drones and they give you many extra bits for the drone.
The reason why Commander Farsight is smaller compared to a Commander battlesuit is because Farsight pilots a customized XV8 Crisis Battlesuit which is supposedly an older model than a regular XV8, hence the different feet, whereas the Commander line of Battlesuits are XV85 Enforcer Battlesuits or XV86 Coldstar Battlesuits
I love my Farsight model but it being resin means the detail isn't as crisp and for some reason the scale of his model is ever so slightly smaller than an XV8 which isn't ideal. He was the first model I painted in my army so I'm making a custom one out of left over parts and the old farsight kit. In the lore he has a custom XV8 so making a custom suit fits nicely too.
I began playing in 3rd Edition when they were new but only could play the starter set until I finished university and started a career a couple years ago. Now I’m 3000 points deep in a T’au army. Of course I would like Tau. My profile pic has an anime character from Gundam. 😂 Don’t worry, lads, I don’t want to infringe on your grimdark!
The snaller stealth suits were xv15s and only came in metals, they were phased out when the xv25 plastic kit came out. I still have 3 of them and they are basically the same size as fire warriors.
Tau are actually kind of interesting with their models, in that they go out of their way to make reasons why newer models look so different from older models. For example, Farsight defected from the Tau Empire quite a long time ago, and purposefully made the decision to stay with his original, old-school Crisis Suit rather than switching to the more modern model that the Tau have developed (and the Farsight Enclaves reverse engineered/stole/traded for). This is why he's shorter and more blocky-looking than the much newer Commander model. The XV25 Stealth Suits are the same deal. Originally, they were the XV15 Stealth Suit, which looked a lot like a bulkier infantry unit, and the XV25s were a bigger, more expensive variant for them. However, since they decided to phase out the XV15 models in favor of the XV25, a short little story blurb was put out that the Imperium had developed the means to nullify the stealth capabilities of the XV15, forcing the Tau to push the XV25 into mass production earlier than they had desired.
Its funny, When Kiri was talking about the suit with missile fists and what he'd do i thought "could always just remove the arms and just have the missiles like a catapult or archer from battletech/mechwarrior" only for him to tear into that idea on the stormsurge, i like the design and think it's a really nice way of showing that this is a different class of giant robot walker, my problem with tau is looking at their armies and not actually being able to tell what's what, at least with that you can guess it's slow and gonna mess me up at range more than the other mech silhouettes
Farsight is the only true "good guy" in 40k. The rules finally gave his subfaction some teeth. The best way to do Farsight is to kitbash a commander kit and sword kit from red dog minis. Check em out
I love farsight, I wish the dynamic between the Enclaves and the main Empire is explored more in the future. Plus there's the rivalry between Shadowsun and Farsight, although Farsight will technically outlive her if something else doesn't kill him, due to the nature of the Dawn Blade.
@@venge1894 Have you read any of the farsight books? You should if you haven't. Also look up the lore behind the startide nexus if you want to have some nightmares. The only issue I see is that they never get distinct about why exactly he parted with the ethereals. They lied. Ok what about? They killed Puretide making the neurochip and lied about its effects after removal. They threatened to exile him after he called them on their BS. They lied about the warp and what was in it; but this doesn't describe why exactly Farsight said screw it and throw away the empire... They're just bad lying dudes, they killed my dad and sent us all to die on a half truth? Aun'Va was a bastard, but that doesn't state it outright.
I’d like to see someone try a lighter blue or blue grey as the main color for the Tau and then maybe Navy or white as the secondary/trim color (like for the helmets). White looks pretty good as the main color but I think another lighter color like a light blue would give them a little more of an elegant look. I really like this range/faction and am considering them in my top two factions to get if I do finally take the plunge into buying into 40K.
I have a confession... I LIED. I really couldn't remember ever playing against T'au, and then I remembered... I have. Once. A month after their 3rd Ed Codex came out I pitted my horde of unpainted Orks against a guy at our gaming clubs freshly painted Tau army, and he absolutely murdered the shit out of me. Systematically annihilated every squad of my grey footsloggers. I didn't even make it into combat. Since then, I've not had a single game against them. But still! I have fought them. One time. In 19 years.
The Stormsurge is to combat things like knights and anything bigger pretty much and I LOVE IT can’t wait to get another
Orks vs Tau was (and probably still is) the most uneven match up. However should orks get into melee with enough dudes left, the Tau are functionally dead and going to end up with their heads up their ass. The problem is that the bastards had such an absurd range and firepower back in the day they would just nuke you across the table.
4:14 Tau Sept colour. Farsight enclaves are red and grey. Tau Sept wave white markings. The new colour scheme is viorla with red markings.
btw about the ghost keel you dont build it with the head sticking out or not. it atriculates. the entire chest unfolds to reveal the cockpit. and the arms and everything articuale are are really easy to magnitise
I play tau for my sin, I'll give you a game at warhammer world when it opens kirioth 😉
The good thing with the tau is they surprisingly have few models that are actually crapcast.
For a xenos faction, that's a huge upside.
Poor eldar. All but two of their Aspect Warriors are sculpted from shit.
nothingt but flat pieces and straight edges. How do you fuck up casting that?
@@MikeTheGamer77 You underestimate thier power to screw things up, then double, triple and quadruple down and still have people defend them.
Tau also have had exactly zero models sent up to Warhammer legends.
@@MikeTheGamer77 Yet, somehow, that was one of those reasons why failcast failed so hard as it did. Not even flat pieces and straight edges were safe from horrible casting failures.
As an owner of armies of both Sororitas and Space Wolves I'm loyal as all Heck
but the scifi nerd in me simply can not dislike the smooth design and pew pew-y Robotsuits
if the world does start back up i am getting a Ghostkeel to sit next to my Shadowsun
Wait, did i just read a comment from an imperial not shitting over the Tau?
Wow, so there is hope for the impirium
@@michelecastellotti9172 "Muh naivety"
There is a recast company that makes clear plastic ghostkeel sprues that when mixed with a gw sprue gives a very cool mid cloak look
@@panicbutton6135 any other suggestions?
@@michelecastellotti9172 remember that 9th is very close
“Aun’Va hasn’t aged well at all” - hard for a hologram of a dead dude to age at all really...
So as a Tau player, I can confirm that the farsight model is smaller than the new commander kit. I can also tell you the white sept is Vior'la as opposed to T'au sept who are the yellow/orange. Although lore wise the tau armies paint their armour to match the environment keeping only the sept markings the same between deployments (the little red stripes on the white kits) so you can quote comfortably paint your kits however with the blue commies
Also the great thing about Tau at the moment is you can fit in just about any unit into your list and it will have a place.
And the gash actually denotes gender amongst t'au. With male Tau having a vertical line and female having the y shaper slit
seeing as you're a Tau player have you ever encounter Armiger Helverin and Armiger Warglaive in one of you're games? i was planing to build a Knight Crusader but i don't have the money to buy it at the moment and i want to even up my army's firepower and relaying on a single unit seem unwise. if a player manage to take down my Knight then i worry that my army will fall apart. was thinking of building of Tau battlesuits for my AdMech army. the setting is that the Admech have manage to salvage and repair or capture those battlesuits and use them battlesuits against the Tau or any other army. lastly i want to build some experience before i commit to building knights.
What manner of coward needs camouflage AND armour?
Giles Chenery Tau
The "cool" head for the XV8 belongs to the one per box of three Iridium suit (2+ armor in game).
Kroot need more love, they were always my favourite part of the faction and I would love to see more of them.
Blackstone Fortress made me fall in love with kroot and then I went on the website to see the other options - and ehh ... not great.
Still waiting on Kroot Mercs making their way back...
FML
Tau came out when I was 3 years out and I was obsessed with them flicking through my Dad's White Dwarf Issues 262 and 263. Whilst my tastes have changed over the years and I would no longer consider them a favourite army, I will always have a soft spot for them and their models are still great
My first kit was a T'au, actually. It was the Commander and I, not knowing much about 40k, painted it in the colors of Shockwave fron Transformers. It was quite fun
You painted it the best way then XD.
How very *logical*
I know how I'm painting my tau when I end up getting them
Woo!! I *love* the tau range, I wish the auxillaries got more love (and maybe also a plastic Farsight)
For sure, I'm tempted to grab him, but being resin really puts me off... Only had 3 finecast and it's just nasty...
@@iceytoa1 As new player who wants to get in with playing Farsight Enclaves the fact he's physically smaller annoys me enough to not get into it until he gets a better model.
@@venge1894 I guess it would depend somewhat on how you're playing/who with, but I'm pretty sure most people would be accepting of some kind of kitbash?
Depends what you're comfortable with really.
And just to clarify, I'm saying he doesn't need a new model, he's certainly due for one, but I can accept why his current model is the way it is.
I suppose you could also pick other members of the Eight in the meantime, modified so as not to be them rule wise, but thematically them?
@@iceytoa1 I forgot about the kit mods and all that so I could try that yeah, he's only got a few specific tidbits that would need slapped on another crisis commander I think which should be doable
@@venge1894 Head, sword and his plasma rifle/shield set up are the only things I think you'd have to add to a commander for it to look fairly on point.
Call me a bit of conspiracy theorist buuuut, the paperback release of the second Farsight novel is out in September, maybe they've prepared a replacement model to better match the artistic representations of him? Probably not but hey, hope!
Since I was getting into 40k just as Tau were being introduced, I genuinely find it baffling when people either don't like them, or never paid much attention to them, lol
I vividly remember being in primary 7, a few friends had Space Marines, two were into Eldar, one was into Tyranids, one was into Orks (which he painted with Scottish flags on their faces; Freedumb Clan?) and they were trying to get me into it but I couldn't decide what to play; then I noticed Tau in one of their magazines just at they were being introduced, and I fell in love instantly.
Almost 20 years later and still love the aesthetic and general gameplay - their lore is a bit dodgy at times though...
Their lore has been a bit grey at times. I also think bits of it have been rewritten.
Personally I want to see the dynamic between the farsight enclaves and the main empire explored deeper. Also if you think about it, if Farsight kills a Custodes or a Primarch he basically becomes functionally eternal in terms of lifespan because of the Dawnblade. As it is he will outlive his rival, Shadowsun, because of it if he doesn't get killed before she dies old age.
Aye a lot of it has been rewritten or, 'tweaked' in places to fit into 40k better - they weren't 'gimdark' enough when they launched, they had this good but naive feel to them, the were young, had a lot to learn but had impressive technology and a few allies.
Farsight was framed as just a rebel, his ethereal is killed and he goes on his own crusade of sorts.
This changed when it was hinted that the ethereals have a mystical control over the other castes, framing the Tau Empire as essentially fascist for lack of a better term, lol
This then prompted more questions of why did Farsight go against the empire when he did? was some dark truth revealed when his ethereal died, or was it just finding the Dawnblade that changed him..?
I would love to see that dynamic explored in more depth.
The only concern I have is that Farsight being immortal is written for gameplay purposes, allowing for enclaves to make enough sense to be properly playable, and maybe giving him the Puretide treatment would cheapen him in some way.
@@MGShadow1989 I think in the Codex its mentioned if he ever confirmed the blade was allowing the continuation of his lifespan (he supposedly only suspects it), he would likely take his own life or something like that.
Perhaps some foreshadowing for his character later down the line, but as for the Enclaves there's a few in his "Eight" who would likely take his place in his passing, I think.
You're confusion with the stealth battlesuits can probably be attributed to seeing the older versions of the stealth battlesuit at some point. The older versions were a lot smaller and basically just looked like slightly bulkier fire warriors.
And they looked a whole lot better :/
Miss the old XV15s.
Really like the dawn of war system where the old ones were basic troops while the larger guy was the unit leader, worked very well and made the leader really stick out
How long until GW gives Kiri the job of approving all new model releases??
Andy C GW’s been on a roll lately. Haven’t really disliked a new release ( in terms of appearance) in a while.
The Cooler Rats invader atv is the wartrakk but worse
Always great listening to Kiri’s kit-bash ideas.. ‘Chop that off & stick this on.’ Could be a tee shirt slogan 😂👍
Love the video. A few notes:
- XV8s: Yeah, they're too squished and undersized for my taste. It's a shame that the mainline Battlesuits have the weakest sculpts in my opinion
- XV88s: You absolutely can stick the missiles on the end of the cannon. I magnetized mine to do both.
- The Commander, Riptide, and Ghostkeel are some of the best kits to build in GW's entire catalogue. They have an ABSURD amount of poseability and are just a joy to put together. Don't mind the weak ankles.
- The Stormsurge is hideous. Luckily, there are options out there to get a cockpit cover and arms.
- You should check out the FW Tau kits. They have some damn cool designs.
- Wargames Exclusive has some great (as well as extremely cheesy) alternative Tau character sculpts that blow GW and FW's offerings out of the water.
- We desperately need more xenos auxiliaries. It's a massive part of the Tau lore that has been functionally neglected since the initial army release. Fucking Dark Eldar have more Xenos race options than Tau.
I'd love a Gue'Vesa (Or is it Gue'La? The Human traitors) kit, or at least a Gue'Vesa upgrade kit for Guardsmen.
I've got a sudden urge to play Battletech now.
I hope you got in on the kickstarter then
I actually convert some of my XV8s to be spiritual successors to a number of my favourite battlemechs. I've got a quad fusion blaster commander which I modified to make him a bit more squat and have all the fusion blasters stacked to be a single large gun over the right shoulder. Because I love the Hunchback 4G :)
I own a Stormsurge, and I always make myself think of it as more of a Metal Gear than a battlesuit. Although if it did have the battlesuit keyword it would see alot more play than it currently does, because then drones could protect them.
Just gonna throw this out there, the Riptide is one of the best models that GW ever made, and easily the best Tau model. It’s just badass and so iconic
And the most infuriating for people playing against it.
What's there not to love?
@@friendlyneighbourhoodnerd if the other tau units were actually good or able to perform their designated role people wouldn’t run riptides nearly as much
Nah, The Ghostkeel is a much nicer model.
You've completely missed the Start collecting! exclusive Ethereal on hover drone which in my opinion is the best looking ethereal, and which implements the hovering quite well. Otherwise I love the video and agree with most points made.
The thing is, the missile pods on the back and the missile pods on the hands are different weapons
Kirioth my man! I am loving every episode of 'range review'! I can't get enough good UA-cam content in these times hehe.
I’m so glad we can get arms resin 3d printed on shapeways. You can get the missiles on the arms or the shoulders, and be able to hold the giant rail gun like the broadside. When I get the storm surge for my tau army, I’m getting those arms and missile shoulder mounts
Yeah farsight is smaller than the standard commander model he looks tiny when compared to The Eight.
Also yeah the tanks are kind of becoming obsolete as the Ghostkeel can carry the ion raker, the XV88 can carry the heavy rail Rifle the only one the isn't is the devilfish and the Sky Ray.
There were once smaller Stealth suits that were just effectively fire worriors with a chunky back pack and heavy wepons but are made of metal, as for the firesight marksman I've seen him used as a stand alone model but I'm pretty sure Sniper Drones are the worse "Sniper unit" in the game at the moment.
As for auxiliary xenos don't even bother they are overpriced in game and do bugger all and don't even get sept tennets which is a shame because I got into tau back in 4th because I liked there whole unity between races thing
Sniper Drones were solid when they had Rail Rifles, but since the switch to Pulse Rifles they've been less than worthless.
The missile rifle’s a common conversion in tau players, I did it myself magnetizing both ends incase heavy rail rifles ever became viable again, which they have with the prototype magma rail rifle.
When I finish my orks, I want to get an aerograph, three of those gundam-like battlesuits (the ones smaller than Stormsurges, but still considerably large), and a few boxes of Fire Warriors (plus some commander, I'll see what benefits the force most). That is all. I'll make it a custom Sept, with a mercenary force background, and just have fun with it
I honestly prefer to have multiple small forces from different factions than one 5000 points army. It's more fun this way.
Absolutely Agreed
Variety is the Spice Of Life & all that
Totally. In definitely the "multiple 1000 - 1500 point armies guy. Tbh I much prefer smaller games of that point size, rather than larger games anyway
@@martinthewarrior5016 I usually go up to 2000 after a few games, juste because some units in the army needs to be swap around.
These range reviews have been excellent! So good to listen to while painting. Looking forward to admech getting reviewed!
I love the stormsurge. Eventhough I'm no tau collector I'm almost tempted to get one. The arms ,for me, aren't missing , they have been replaced with gigantic guns. Just amazing. And the zylindrical cockpit looks awesome , though I must say I haven't seen one outside the GW side.
@KiriothTV If you look at the Stormsurge really closely, you'll see why it's a ballistic suit... It's open topped, and crewed by two very lightly armored dudes without helmets.
Most people put arms and a hatch on the thing
the first 40k i got was the tau start collecting and everything was fine until i got to the crisis battlesuit. saying they were a nightmare to build is an understatement. i have not bought any tau since (i do really like the fire warriors and they are a lot of fun to paint imo)
It sucks since Crisis suits should be one of the coolest units and a mainstay in Tau armies, but for the life of me I've never enjoyed their weirdly proportioned and undersized sculpts. It's especially egregious considering how generally excellent most other Tau sculpts are.
I know what you mean! I have 6 crisis suits and really would like to add more to my army but they're so horrible to build with ALL their joints being ball and socket joints.
Oh man the first crisis suits were the worst. I swear the bits connecting the feet to the rest of the model would break as soon as you even looked at them. I only had three and all three broke in the same way.
@@stryke-jn3kv Yup! And maybe a slight breeze would break them too! And what's worse about mine is when packing them in boxes to take to a battle before Nurgle woke up I got their and ALL of my suits had broken at the ankles in foam and I had to play them as super feet!
Ever since I first saw them in the store, when I was young and I first stepped into a GW store, I was a fan of them. Oddly enough, it's not the battlesuits or mechs that got me (although back then it was just Crisis suits), it was the aesthetic of the Fire Warriors. It's something about how their armor is structured, their helmet and their guns, they just look so sleek, sci-fi and sturdy, very tactical. I remember loving playing the Fire Warriors game and getting to see these guns in person, even if the standards were disappointing gameplay wise but still love their design.
Either way, I never quite got into 40k or got much from it, I remember I bought an old starter set and some more fire warriors, but never painted or anything. One day I feel I'd wanna get back to it and do an army that isn't all about mechs. I do love the mechs (although the Riptide feels bit much for me), but I like seeing them among other things such as their infantry, drones and vehicles, such as a commander and his special unit that turns the tide of the battle but you still got everything else there filling it out and making the mechs more special.
Kroot, Vespid and Gue'la really need some love. As much as I love the suits they are killing the flavor of the faction.
I got into 40K last year and I love everything about the Tau. Looked forward to this video!
I love the tau and have loads of them,. I just the battlesuits and I have the same paint scheme, its the vi'orla sept
Tau need new/updated models. However, Ork boyz and Necron Warriors and destroyers need updates even more.
My Tau are led by a human convert... a Commander suit with a human head (no helmet grants +1 save).
P.S. Farsight is one of the best characters in W40K lore. He's one of the few that finally sees past all the dogma and just want to help his people... that's why every faction wants to kill him, including the Tau. No free-thinkers allowed in W40K universe.
I've been a T'au player for 14 years and it is REALLY fun to listen to a veteran 40k player who knows a lot about every other army but nothing about T'au talk about T'au. I should do a response video to this filling in some of the knowledge gaps. All in good fun though. I liked this video an it was genuinely interesting hearing a non-T'au player talk about the range. :)
From what I understand (only got into 40k a few weeks ago) the difference between the stormsurge and the proper battlesuits is similar to the difference between self-propelled artillery and main battle tanks on the current battlefield. The stormsurge is intended for long range/indirect fire support (hence the ability to deploy support struts) whereas a proper battle suit needs more mobility for close engagement.
The Stormsurge not being a battlesuit is the reason why it doesn't really get used.
Somehow the giant Forgeworld one does get to be a battlesuit.
Thankfully there are some great arm kits on Shapeways and whatnot.
Also, you can't tell from the pics but the legs are quite poseable.
With an arm kit and standing it upright you get a great, intimidating giant battlesuit that makes the FW one more or less unnecessary.
Throw "stormsurge standing upright" or something into Google to see the potential.
On the subject of the devilfish/hammerhead, they are pretty easy to put together, but they do require some mold line scraping and filling in panel edges with green stuff.
Also, the original stealth suits were smaller and in metal.
to answer your question about the stealth suits your right about the original size. The original stealth suits were (metal?) models and were known as XV15s they basically looked like fire warriors with a little bit more armour, a bigger back back and a arm engulfing burst cannon.
11:22 Ok a couple of points: 1) That’s one of the most 40K things I’ve ever seen and 2) To me the derpyness is immediately counteracted by the sheer firepower. Whatever it’s aimed at wouldn’t have time to question its design.
Tau always felt like they wanted more Mobile Arms, and less Mobile Suits.
I like how you went from:
“I don’t know why you would put (the missile pods) on the arms when you can just put them on the shoulders”
to
“why doesn’t it have any arms? If I got one, I’d make some arms to put the rocket pods on.”
For the issue with the XV8's; I always had the impression that, in-universe, they were built with the intention of being more 'modular' than the other types, more built with the purpose of switching out weapon and support systems as the situation demands, rather than the high-density Broadsides and Stormsurge, hence why they look a bit blocky and stubby in comparison - they're SUPPOSED to be mass produced given that they're the mainstay of the fire caste. IDK, just the train of thought I had going through that. Also interesting that you've had very sparse encounters with T'au players; always thought that we were the bane of the player base!
Thanks for the video Kiri!
The fliers are never seen because their rules are underwhelming.
Also, the Forgeworld ones are generally preferred bother rules wise and ascetically.
The meta is Riptides but Hammerheads can do quite well in 1000-1500pts.
The Devilfish chassis has never been updated and is kinda rough, needs filling and doesn't always go together very well.
There was another version of stealth suit. The XV15, shame they were discontinued as I preferred their aesthetic.
Bunch of stuff hasn't had an update since it was released in 3rd and it really shows. Same sort of deal as some of the old Phoenix lords.
The Fireblade is actually new, most people just convert their own.
Wish GW would do something with the Tau Auxiliary.
Never got updates, expensive, low model count kits mean you never see them and the regular Kroot lost all their special rules in the recent editions.
The Kroot Hounds could actually be good melee chaff for us if we could field them.
They are dirt cheap points wise and comparable to gaunts.
Also, there are some really nice 3rd party Kroot Hounds that show their potential.
I think the Stormsurge looks great. The lack of arms really gives it the glass cannon look. It drives home the point that it is a bipedal artillery platform and not something that is going to punch an imperial knight in the face if it comes too close.
The naming of the suit is quite easy:
XV = production model
Number from 1 to 10 = its size
number from 1 to 10 = its battlefield role
example xv 2 5 is a smaller just bigger than a normal tau stealth suit
xv 10 4 giant fire support suit that is mobile
Farsight wears an older battlesuit then the commander you saw. That's why it's in different fashion
The numbers after the XV on the battlesuits represent their weight class or height I think and then their model, for example the XV8 crisis suits are an 8 the same as the XV88 broadside as the broadside originally just was a crisis suit with shoulder mounted railguns but the extra 8 on the broadside signifies a more developed or altered design. I have no clue why GW decided to make it like that and I believe there are even a few circumstances where it isn't/ wasn't followed, just makes them seem more futuristic or alien ig
It's basically the Mark number, or the patent number, the newer ones are typically bigger, and have bigger numbers accordingly.
I'm a Tau player and the riptide is one of my all time favourite kits. so flexible and a very cool model. also farsight desperately needs a new model and better rules for the enclaves!
New krootox, new shaper, new hounds, and new vespids would all be cool things to get, but I really want new vespids especially, and to see another auxiliary race from the background lore.
Love your perspective on them. XV8 Crisis is such a versatile kit, got 18 so far and still all of them look unique, super kitbashable.
also cool stuff in the t'au range, the massive pathfinder drone model can dock with the hammer head when they're traveling in it, and the hammer head can have a (£10) longstrike sitting in their like he's ordering a beer and a strike.
biggest shame is that there is onlt 1 Cyclic ion canon in the whole range (commander box)and its such a good weapon.
Tau player here. The railgun on a Hammerhead gunship is a higher strength and range than that of a broadside. Also a Broadside does 1 mortal wound in addition on a wound roll of a 6 whilst the Hammerhead is D3 mortal wounds.
The stormsurge is a weapons platform because it requires 2 pilots. One moving and one shooting.
Storms urge is a mobile weapons platform, it's the Tau answer to enemy knights and titans (and other big stuff), the reason for the "jet pack" and stabilizers on the legs are there to counter act the recoil from the massive gun and if it was mounted on arms it would just rip the arms off. Also the suit is used to be deployed all the way back, far away from the enemy as they are very immobile after they deploy for firing.
Part of what drew me to tau was that you can compleatly pose anything bigger then a crisis suit and even crisis suits can have snot of wiggle room. The storm surge is a ballistic suit and the thrusters on the back are to help composite for recoil. The stealthsuits were intact smaller called the xv-15 Wich was Thr size of normal tau fire warriors
I think the Stormsurge would look a hell of a lot cooler as a quadruped. Double the legs and turn it into a war walker.
War Walkers have two legs, Mon-keigh!
The Stormsurge has huge firepower and is a Walking Battleship; It can Fall Back and shoot/charge in the same turn with no penalty's.. And it's not a Battlesuit like everything else is.
For clarity a battlesuit is you get inside and pilot the suit interfacing with is so the sensors become your eyes, the arms are your arms etc. The stormsurge is basically a vehicle there is no interface you move it via control consoles hence why you have the pilots in the front. From what i gather they made it in a similar design to a battlesuit to be like the imperial titans putting ship based weapons on a humanoid platform as it can brace better.
Upon seeing the armless weapons platform: "METAL GEAR?!"
Finally... A weapon to surpass Metal Gear.
The old commander used to be just an XV8 battlesuit (back in 2004) which is the basis for the Farsight model who got his 'new' sculpt in 2012 I think. That's when the Riptide came out. As people have said the XV15 was the old small stealth suit. Both of which featured in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
@KiriothTV Commander Farsight is the same size as the regular XV8 crisis suit. Games Workshop used to do a metal model for the stealth suits, which were smaller and held the unit designation XV15, so good ISH memory.
I think the Tau have one of the most solid ranges in the whole thing. The only thing which im not a fan of or don't especially care about is the kroot & vespoid because I like the uniformity of the range. Tau are Consistent in their whole aesthetic and as such they have a solid range.
I really like the stormsurge. It's Mad, I don't think arms is necessarily a problem seeming as it's effectively like a mobile Artillery platform, think Pyrovore, so it's not really gonna be going mano a mano with something intentionally.
Crouching Riptides was a thing that non-Tau hated back in 6e. Standard practice was too model the thing as low as possible, then park it behind a suitably-large building. It could then walk out, nova charge, reduce a unit to a black scorchmark, and then jetpack back into cover.
Also Farsight is monopose and it hurts my soul.
The Hammerhead's Railgun isn't the same as the Stormsurge's one. It's also S10, whereas the Broadside's Heavy Rail Rifle is S8. This is actually a nerf that coincided with the arrival of the new model for the Broadside: When it was just a Crisis frame with massive shoulder cannons, the Broadside had twin-linked S10 Railguns, but they were weakened in 6e. Combined with how flyer-heavy 6e is, the "loads and loads of missiles" version of the Broadside became a lot more popular, since it was one of the better anti-air options around, while the HRR version was less viable than the Hammerhead.
Space Pope is dead, BTW. He died in one of the books and Farsight and Shadowsun created a hologram of him for... reasons. This makes no sense in Tau lore, for the record, Aun'va isn't like the Emperor, he's just the latest in a long line of top Ethereals. His predecessors have died over and over in the past, so why he specifically would need to be kept around is... weird.
The Fireblade is a case of being old but also new. It's a plastic kit, but it's identical to the Finecast one that it replaced. Probably the same mold.
The 'gash' is a nasal passage. Dudes have a regular line, while ladies have a Y-shaped one. This is the only case of sexual dimorphism that we're aware of among Tau.
Kroot are cool but they're also... not very good. They're dramatically underpowered, for something that's supposed to be the primary source of melee fighting in the Tau army, normally they just get wiped off the board before they even get there. Their best use is a shitpost of a strategy that involves spreading them out across the table in a giant conga-line, and exploiting that to gain overwatch with your entire army against whatever tries to charge them.
The Battlesuit classes are
XV/KV (Single Pilot/'Titanic' Size)
The first numbers are size, the last number is type.
For example
XV88
A Singlepilot Battlesuit size 8 heavy weapons loadout.
XV104
A Singlepilot Battlesuit size 10 experimental model.
The Stealthsuits are the best example
XV15s
XV25s
XV22-5 commander suits
XV95 are all stealth suits
Who’s ready for the hour and a half space marine review?
You mean the four-parter reviewathon?
Rumour has it SM was the first video, alas, every-time he gets to finish it another Lieutenant pops up.
Ranty McRant-Pants ah yes, I have heard the legend of the lieutenant with his arm articulated 5 degrees lower than the base model thwarting Kiroiths attempts. A tragic tale indeed.
@@emile1365 I don’t see who’s simping? It’s a joke regarding the obscene bloat of the range compared to everything else.
stormsurge is a battlesuit but its supporting legs are for it to set up into a siege mode for long range bombardment. Some swedish tanks had hydraulic mode to do something similar. the arms would also be pointless as this unit is made to stay at range and would also improve not having arms lowering the amount of movement when firing
There were indeed smaller stealth suits back in the day as I distinctly remember them being featured in the Tau and Necron collectors guide from 2004 (or 2003 I can't remember) , they were a call order exclusive at that point along with the retro Necron warriors, lord and skimmer destroyer.
I've still got it buried somewhere in my codex collection
Looking at what is on display here, yes the auxilliary troops are the very same minis that were released all those years ago. The Fire Warriors are mostly the same, but the Breacher team kit has been combined with it, so it is *technically* new. When it comes to stealth suits, there were older minis that did look different, yes, and are the ones that appear in the Dawn of War expansions.
Overall, the only real stuff in there that has been updated since the original release are the battlesuits - commander never had one to start with, crisis have got more joints now, and the broadside is the most changed from the original.
On the matter of the Stormsurge - it is not a battlesuit, as it has a crew, rather than a signle operator. While it is bipedal, it is supposed to be a mobile weapons platform that moves into a location, sets stabilisers, and just guns everything down from long long long range.
It is so interesting - I am the dead opposite on the colour schemes. I used to absolutely love the Tau sept colours and drooled over them when they were released, but I just can't fall in love with the white in the same way.
Theres a 3D printed kit on shapeways to turn those massive missile pods on the Stormsurge into arms like the XV88, much improved. You can also get a kit to put the pods on the shoulders and have it carry the big gun
The stormsurge is classified as a ballistic suit rather than a battlesuit (kv instead of xv). On the tabletop it's a vehicle rather than a battlesuit, which changes the buffs and stuff it has access to
The pose of that suit at 14:02 evoques me: An armored chicken with scify samurai armor
For the stormsurge with the missile pods, I'd holllow out the outer side of the pods, and kitbash some actual arms to fit into them. That way the missiles look like they are housed within shoulder armor vs actually being the arms.
Aaaaaah the missileside. Halfay mittens, halfway chained "magic wands".
I usually describe the stormsurge as a titan scale version of the german marder iii tank destroyer, a big titan killing gun hastily built onto a modified but readily available chassis to make it self propelled to get something that can stop the enemies unstoppabje armour in the field
No mention of the forge works tau units? How can you not do the manta? It's an outage! Outrage I say!
I think the tau stealth suit you were talking about was the older metal ones which were alittle bit smaller but I think the 'sarge' in the squad had the updated model as their leader or whatever. It's the suits from DoW I believe I may be wrong though... So you're not crazy Kirioth haha
The "four-armed" style for Shadowsun feels reminiscient of an angel descending with their wings out. But each wing is a giant gun.
When the Tau battlesuits get scaled until they're taller than the commanders, there's a serious problem: the 'ankle' joint that connects those three-toed feet to the legs. It is SO tiny, it looks like it would break off immediately under the weight.
Have you been paying attention? Kroot have recently had rules for Kill Team and a character in Blackstone Fortress.
Yes finally you've uploaded. Been looking forward to this all week.
these videos are good but it would be better if you talked about the models rules. especially the really unique rules that when that model stand out.
7:05 Yes, you can kitbash the missile pots onto the front of the railgun, and people do that.
12:05 Funny you say that. People actually sell 3rd party hands for the stormsurge. I guess you are onto something.
You mentioned the older versions of broadsides and small stealth suits, which are actually literal old models. In real life those were old models that GW sold, and what's cool about this is that they also accepted them in lore. Those old models also existed in the 40k verse, and the creation of those new models is the Tau working and refining their old tech, like the old broadsides with the railguns on their shoulders. I remember that in an older edition the Tau had an experimental weapon, and after the next edition, that weapon became a standard weapon, the same as in the lore. This means GW actually allowed the Tau to have a tech progression both in the lore and in real life models, both following each other.
I've figured out why I don't like Aun'Va's guards and why they don't fit in. They don't look like Tau. They do however look like what Necrontyr probably looked like before they became Necrons.
I love the no arms thing "You want guns? I got guns. I got ALLLL the guns"
I'm only part-way through the video at present, and the Stormsurge not having arms is very polarising with a lot of Tau fans. Some think it looks fine, and some get arms for it and put the over the shoulder cannon as a held weapon. Personally, Stormsurge with arms look *much* better than without, with those rocket pods turned sideways and put on the shoulders.
One of the reasons that it's not a battlesuit is because of how other units synergise with that keyword - and it's something I do agree with. They aren't often seen on the tabletop because they're expensive in points, and are bullet sponges. As an effect, a lot of people don't get to actually *use* them, which leads to lists utilising units that have more synergies.
Concerning Farsight: His battlesuit's a custom XV8 Crisis suit - and yes, he's smaller than the commander kits. I think what makes his suit look distinctly better and non-squashed is that he's posed better than the standard Crisis suits - the shield/plasma arm covering his body is twofold in that it's a cool pose, and that it covers the blockiness of the suit. He's also *definitely* due for an upgrade.
For most of the battlesuit models, the pilots are centered in the chest. Shadowsun is in a special stealth suit, however - stealth suits are more akin to power armour/exoskeletons compared to Crisis+ being more like Terminator armour or piloted robots by comparison. Her armour's definitely much bigger than she is, but she's still *mostly* in the limbs and torso.
For the tanks...mostly they fall by the wayside this edition. Devilfish still get taken on occasion, but the Sky Ray suffers from a single round alpha strike and then...less than stellar output if it survives on top of no drone support other than what's docked in it. Hammerheads rarely get taken due to the drone support issue, and the fact that 8th edition is very much a 'drown the opponent in numbers of shots' style, and the railgun is...less than reliable. If they get taken, they usually do with the ion cannon for just the volume of fire difference. Most lists are very battlesuit heavy. Crying shame if you ask me, since railgun hammerheads look mint.
Tau weaponry generally falls into missile, railgun, ion of some sort, pulse, or plasma variants. Fusion blasters are meltas, and they're *very* common, but they're the only weapon that the Tau get that falls under that banner, if I remember correctly. Flamers are also utilised on certain units, but not particularly often except for the Y'varha.
The old Devilfish is...not the most fun to put together. If memory serves, the sculpt was updated and it's fine to do now.
Speaking on the stealth suits: You aren't losing your marbles. That's the second generation of them - similar to how the old Broadsides went through the revision. The first generation stealth suits (XV15s) had a very different helmet closer to the breacher helmets than the ones the current ones have.
Firesight marksmen (dude with the sniper drones) are still used quite commonly, and the drone controller I *believe* is carried by the marksman. I'm not certain on that, but would not in the slightest be surprised if it folded down into something easier to manage when not deployed.
Aun'Va looks...well, looks like the Prophet of Regret from Halo took a wrong left turn and decided to just roll with it.
For your closing statements, some people would *skin you* for suggesting more battlesuits due to drone synergies - but as a Tau collector/player, I'd enjoy more suits!
...This...this wasn't meant to go on this long. Sorry for the novella, but I hope it was at least a little bit informative. Good video!
If you want a larger robot model kit then you choose gunpla or tau. Kotobukiya is close to the gunpla style. I want some of the tau built like gunpla with all their movements.
Also it is so easy to 3d prints the top of the drones and they give you many extra bits for the drone.
The reason why Commander Farsight is smaller compared to a Commander battlesuit is because Farsight pilots a customized XV8 Crisis Battlesuit which is supposedly an older model than a regular XV8, hence the different feet, whereas the Commander line of Battlesuits are XV85 Enforcer Battlesuits or XV86 Coldstar Battlesuits
My Stormsurge has arms sourced from Puppetswar, they look great
The big weapon platform looking t'au suit (Stormsurge) remindes me of some mechs from Mechwarrior. Like a modified Catapult or a really big Cicida.
I prefer the old Broadside with the two massive shoulder cannons, but other than that, I quite like the range.
I love my Farsight model but it being resin means the detail isn't as crisp and for some reason the scale of his model is ever so slightly smaller than an XV8 which isn't ideal. He was the first model I painted in my army so I'm making a custom one out of left over parts and the old farsight kit. In the lore he has a custom XV8 so making a custom suit fits nicely too.
I began playing in 3rd Edition when they were new but only could play the starter set until I finished university and started a career a couple years ago. Now I’m 3000 points deep in a T’au army. Of course I would like Tau. My profile pic has an anime character from Gundam. 😂 Don’t worry, lads, I don’t want to infringe on your grimdark!
The snaller stealth suits were xv15s and only came in metals, they were phased out when the xv25 plastic kit came out. I still have 3 of them and they are basically the same size as fire warriors.
Tau are actually kind of interesting with their models, in that they go out of their way to make reasons why newer models look so different from older models. For example, Farsight defected from the Tau Empire quite a long time ago, and purposefully made the decision to stay with his original, old-school Crisis Suit rather than switching to the more modern model that the Tau have developed (and the Farsight Enclaves reverse engineered/stole/traded for). This is why he's shorter and more blocky-looking than the much newer Commander model.
The XV25 Stealth Suits are the same deal. Originally, they were the XV15 Stealth Suit, which looked a lot like a bulkier infantry unit, and the XV25s were a bigger, more expensive variant for them. However, since they decided to phase out the XV15 models in favor of the XV25, a short little story blurb was put out that the Imperium had developed the means to nullify the stealth capabilities of the XV15, forcing the Tau to push the XV25 into mass production earlier than they had desired.
Its funny, When Kiri was talking about the suit with missile fists and what he'd do i thought "could always just remove the arms and just have the missiles like a catapult or archer from battletech/mechwarrior" only for him to tear into that idea on the stormsurge, i like the design and think it's a really nice way of showing that this is a different class of giant robot walker, my problem with tau is looking at their armies and not actually being able to tell what's what, at least with that you can guess it's slow and gonna mess me up at range more than the other mech silhouettes
Farsight is the only true "good guy" in 40k. The rules finally gave his subfaction some teeth.
The best way to do Farsight is to kitbash a commander kit and sword kit from red dog minis. Check em out
I love farsight, I wish the dynamic between the Enclaves and the main Empire is explored more in the future. Plus there's the rivalry between Shadowsun and Farsight, although Farsight will technically outlive her if something else doesn't kill him, due to the nature of the Dawn Blade.
@@venge1894 Have you read any of the farsight books? You should if you haven't.
Also look up the lore behind the startide nexus if you want to have some nightmares.
The only issue I see is that they never get distinct about why exactly he parted with the ethereals. They lied. Ok what about? They killed Puretide making the neurochip and lied about its effects after removal. They threatened to exile him after he called them on their BS. They lied about the warp and what was in it; but this doesn't describe why exactly Farsight said screw it and throw away the empire... They're just bad lying dudes, they killed my dad and sent us all to die on a half truth?
Aun'Va was a bastard, but that doesn't state it outright.
The firewarriors and one extra ethereal model can be found in the T'au Empire start collecting pack
There are some pretty good aftermarket arms and other parts for the stormsurge.
I’d like to see someone try a lighter blue or blue grey as the main color for the Tau and then maybe Navy or white as the secondary/trim color (like for the helmets). White looks pretty good as the main color but I think another lighter color like a light blue would give them a little more of an elegant look. I really like this range/faction and am considering them in my top two factions to get if I do finally take the plunge into buying into 40K.