Faction Focus: T'au Empire

FOR THE GREATER GOOD

So, wow that's a really convoluted way of saying something very simple.  I do get it though.  Even simple rules like this can get twisted or abused if you aren't specific.  It looks like shooting with Markerlights is going away, so they'll just flat out grant Ignores Cover.  Interestingly, I think this is the first Army Rule that has a downside to it, as if you try to split fire you get a penalty.  It should be noted though, this is a "can" ability.  You don't have to use it; you can save it for when you really need it.  And this is probably going to be easy to set up with small units of drones being Observers while your Battlesuits blast things apart.

KAUYON

Oh wow!  No more picking between the two!  You'll be playing Kauyon or Mont'Ka detachments.  That's a huge nerf.

The bonus still only triggers on Turn 3, but it doesn't get any better now.  How good this bonus is will depend a bit on how easy it is for Tau to get criticals.

PATHFINDER TEAM

What now?  

Excuse me?

This is huge!

Wait a minute.  I have to check this.

So somehow I just believed Tau were 3+ in shooting.  But I think that's because I'm so used to seeing them with Markerlights and the like.  Okay.  This took me completely by surprised but this makes a lot more sense now.

So I assumed that you'd be using drones and the like to observe for you, but now it looks like Pathfinder teams will be your main observers.  Drones are now wargear.  That will greatly simplify things, though it removes a lot of their functionality.

Still, that's a lot of 5+ on those heavy weapons teams.  I hope when everything is said and done, Tau shooting will still be as deadly as it needs to be.

RAILGUN

So I'm a little disappointed this isn't closer to the Thundercoil, but that's still a pretty mean profile.  The 1 shot at 4+ means you're going to definitely need to make sure you're marking your targets.  The single-shot nature of this gun has always made it swingy.

PULSE BLAST CANNON

There we go!  Honestly I still think the Railgun should be closer to the Thundercoil, and this should be even more powerful.  And again, there's that 4+.  I'm also surprised the Dispersed doesn't have Blast.

COMBAT EMBARKATION

Okay, now we're talking.  We saw how good moving out of charge ranges can be in 9th.  This is the kind of of evasive tech befitting a high tech, fast moving, and coordinated army.  This is the kind of unit interplay they should have built Tau off of if they're trying to push the unifying themes of The Greater Good.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So I'm going to admit, because of my experiences with Tau I'm used to thinking of them as a 3+ army.  I got interrupted writing this and spent a decent part of the day freaking out about how much of a nerf this is.  But after going back and looking at rules, I can see that this is just taking how Tau work and greatly simplifying it.  But I still don't see why there needs to be an associated penalty if the Guided unit doesn't fire at its target.  I'm also sure there will be gnashing of teeth with how drones are changing.  Hopefully the various rules interactions will allow Tau to remain the dominant ranged threat in the game.