Anybody else want to see the Tau and Eldar go at it?

[Chronigan]

Just cause the Tau are so arrogant and think their technology is the greatest. I want to see them be beat and beat good.

[Carach]

i collect tau and space marines...

lol i think tau should go against eldar..as tau think they r the rising power to rule etc and r new and the old should make way for them =>eldar r very very old.

[No Surrender]

The Tau don't really fit into the over all "mood" of the 40K universe. They're too bright and clean in a universe that's supposed to be dirty, harsh and cruel. Plus, they look like they came straight out of some anime.

[Carach]

lol

poor little things r being rejected *covers tau ears* dnt say it too loud surrender, u will hurt their feelings

[deggy]

I think they fill a niche in the Warhammer 40000 universe that was left vacant for long enough. They're a shootie army like the Guard, but they're a new kind of shootie army. Unless you're playing an Armor Division, most Guardsmen I know set up their fire lines and become relatively stationary for the rest of the match. They only move when someone breaches their lines or they run out of people to shoot.
With the Tau, you have a mobile shootie army. One that is meant to fire on the move, to constantly shift and float at the edge of the enemy's range. All the while being able to out shoot and overpower most other opponents.

Fluff-wise they also fill a niche. They are a race rising in power. This is a new facet of the universe and needed to be explored sooner or later. You have the ancient races, Necron and Eldar, you have the races on the decline, Space Marines and IG, and you have the parasitic races that feed of the misfortunes of others, Ork, Tyranid, Dark Eldar and Chaos... It's nice to see someone trying to make a fresh start in the galaxy.

Life goes on, you know? And the Chaos, Orks and Tyranids will need new things to eat and kill once the rest are dead! hehe

I think one of the biggest complaints is the visual style of the Tau. Well, what are you going to do? They look awesome if you take them on their own, not comparing them to any other medium. They're good models, easy to put together and you don't need too many of them. What more could you ask for?

Personally, I really dig the fluff written about them so far. Gav Thorpe's Last Chancers and some of the short fictions in the Codex are really awesome. It's a shame the gut reaction to them can be so negative... Just give the Tau a chance! :)

After all, just about everything’s a copy of something to some degree...

[DarthFelth]

i just think they are different, i dont like or hate them

[Carach]

mmm would be good to c a TW styl with a load of space marines laying into the tau in close combat..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...blood...gore... :D

[DarthFelth]

i perfer to see Khorne Berzkers doing that myself ;)

[Carach]

lol. forgot about those little fellows, or in our case massive evil fellows.

[DarthFelth]

no thats blood letters, that would be even more fun to see ;)

[Tribunal]

The overall styles of armor etc is changing quite a bit -- just look at the new Eldar miniatures (VERY nice, by the way, I love the new designs).

As far as the Tau themselves, I like the way they have the sleek, futuristic yet not ornate/cumbersome armor of the Imperium, nor the smooth semi-organic qualities of the Eldar, nor any of the other races that has its own special place in 40k. A friend of mine said a year or so ago that I would love the Tau, and the more I see of them, the more I agree.

So now I'm going to have to pick up a Tau, an Eldar, and a Tyranid army... That is I'll have to pick them up in small increments over time.

[Civik]

the t'au are also very different from the other races in that they are more of an inclusive race than say... any of the others who are mostly out to annihilate each other.

They are the one bright spot in a dark universe.

[Tribunal]

Well, I think the Tyranids are as well...
(they want to include EVERYTHING in their biomass!!! :) )

[deggy]

Originally posted by Civik
They are the one bright spot in a dark universe.

Yeah, right.. and what do they do to races or planets that don't decide to go along with their plan of "For the Greater Good"?

That's right, they beat them into submission and then take the planet anyway. NOBODY is a completely good force in this grim, dark future. Everyone is fighting for survival.

[Noir]

You want the Anime Characters to kill the Elves?

...wtf?

[Civik]

Pfft, sure, but you know it's for the greater good. They should just be glad the imperium has more important things to take care of or likely the UltraMarines would just go on the offensive (since macragge is the closest planet in relation ;) )

I think that even the eldar would have trouble with the t'au. While the Eldar's special teams (I rarely see anyone playing fluffy armies with eldar, just biel-tan or ulthwe) are certainly a rough thing to handle, the t'au don't hold ground and could easily grind down the eldar into submission. just keep backing up those Hammerheads and they'll pop all the transports long before they are in range.

In the reality of the universe, it is likely that the t'au would get a few good shots off long before a battle you would see like on a standard 4x6.

With the t'aus massive range advantage, they would likely as their codex states, hit hard against specific targets at long range or in the dark and then fade away.

[Carach]

i want to c the tau get brutally massacred by the imperium soon :D

[Maximus Decimus]

u know what, wed all like that especially when the tau empire is not controlled from a central location but from HQs all around so the easter empire being invaded wouldnt be heard of until much later. on the website, WD, or codex is says that since they have no "reasonable" means of long distance comms like psychic comm(imperium) etc that the diff segments of the empire r controlled by local HQ. now a race that cant comm rlly fast for rienforcements deserves to get crushed muahahahaha!, fluffwise have they even suffered any real defeat? or r they just saving up for the fall of the empire hehe lol.

[Dimension]

as if the eldar aren't as arrogant as the tau are. and as if the eldar are as dark, gritty and deranged as necrons or blood angels, not even to mention chaos.

imo, eldar are even bigger fairies than the tau ;)

[Maximus Decimus]

hey hey at least the eldar HAVE a darker theme to them right? unlike the perky theme of the tau where they will follow theyr master to the end and "for the greater good"... psh there is no greater good because the harsh truth is that everyone is good and evil...yes even chaos. there is only a grey line. i think tha tau try to be like the democracy of 40k who dont try to bullshit u all the time but this system will eventually lead to their fall.

death to the true smurf empire and glory to the holy imperium of man! muhahahahahahaha...ha...heh.....hm....

[Carach]

poor tau, reading thru all the threads they take a bit of flaming dnt they.

[nicholas9898989]

You people make me sick! Talking about death and destruction like that! It should be ultramarines against the tau, with the blue-garbed gimps being shredded by the tau guns...

[Civik]

Ah, yes, but maximus, the T'au don't dress like fairies like the Eldar do. ;)

[Tribunal]

You think the Tau think themselves as elitists, and haven't said anything about Space Marines, or anyone with any seed or part of the Emperor involved? They make the people tremble when they walk along, the best of the best of the best, supermen amongst the common man. The empire thinks of itself as being the saviours of humanity, while in reality are just a knee-jerk xenophobic society being led by a bitter dictator. Almost nobody there admits it, and those that do are locked up in prison, if they are lucky (heck, at least the chaos hordes are honest about who they really are :bandit: ).

And the Eldar DO seem to be big time elitists, but even the empire admits that the human mind etc is nothing compared to the complexities of the Eldar mind, way of thinking and the like. So, maybe the Eldar are NOT being elitists, maybe they are just being honest... :)

[Noir]

Originally posted by Tribunal
You think the Tau think themselves as elitists

Really?I just think of them as anime characters without BESM,however oxymoronic that may seem :p

[DarthFelth]

i just see the tau as anouther army to slice and dice in the name of Khorne ;

[Tribunal]

BESM? As in the RPG BESM? (Big Eyes Small Mouths).

Anyhow, the general attitude I was talking about was how people were saying the Tau had the 'save the trees' -- err, 'for the greater good attitude,' and thinking that they had the superior technology etc.

I would rather see Eldar And Chaos go at it, since the Eldar consider them to be their fault, and will go to all lengths to stop chaos (such as causing a WAAAAAGH to attack the Empire so a possible Chaos uprising would not occur), and Orks versus Marines, switching slowly into a marines versus chaos. If there were daemons and the likes thrown in, and it was not just fighting marines with a different paint job, then it would be great! (Trying to remember, isn't the blood thirster the big guy with wings, an axe and the like? It's been a bit since I had to take one out :bandit: )

[Fable]

As much as I like the Tau on the 40k table, I think this game should be SM/CSM/Orks/Eldar and if they want a fifth army Nids. That will give it the old school army representation and a strong foundation to give us a serious expansion framework.

[Vulkan]

No the eldar arnt the oldest it would be more suitable to have the Tau the youngest of the races and the Necrontyr the oldest race

[DarthFelth]

i thought the slann were the oldest :p it dont matter they are dead or whatever ;) and i thought the eldar only created Slaanesh not all of them :p

[Noir]

Originally posted by Tribunal
BESM? As in the RPG BESM? (Big Eyes Small Mouths).


Basically :)

[Maximus Decimus]

well, the tau should definetly NOT be in this because they are not part of the essential 40k universe unlike the eldar. by the way the eldar are more part of 40k then the necrons. before the necros were just small raider lists and i believe werent around rogue trader days(i havnt been in the club that long so) from what iv heard. before the necrons came out we did without em and they didnt anymore complete the universe then the tau, they r just seasoned add ons to bring in some new stuff. this game is supposed to represent 40k universe at its best or grimmest and dont think shiny tau with their "we have a just and noble cause" line known as "for the greater good" will cut it, what u have to ask is: if tau were not in 40k would 40k essentially be 40k? same goes for anyrace and ull see that tau and necros are the ones that are not essential.

[Anthonace]

i believe that tau reflect the early imperium before the collapse before the emperor reunited it.
The tau seem to be loosing momentum now and i think that if they get to widespread they may encounter chaos in their minds and eventually do what the imperium did: Collapse

[Maximus Decimus]

well yeah, i think if they came across chaos space and pissed of a lord then theyd probebly get conquered and rlly fall. the imperium hasnt fallen its just not in its golden ages and its just stretched too thin, spend resources fortifying the passage to EoT and fighting nids. if the imperium ever fell then the 2nd race to fall would be tau.

note: when i say lord i mean rlly powerful such as typhus, abaddon, kharn, arhiman, etc.

[Dimension]

i think the 3 most defining factions are imperium, orks and eldar. not even space marines, as i don't feel they represent the human race, but are a weapon employed by it.

imperium, orks and eldar have been around forever.

[No Surrender]

What the Tau need is a major catastrophy to come along and wisen them up to the dangers of the universe. I would love to see a 'nid hive fleet passing tru Tau space chewing everything up.

[elfatto]

I don't think that the Tau and Eldar are going to start going at each other anytime soon. The Tau aren't portrayed as being overtly hostile to alien races, and I doubt that the Eldar would really concern themselves with such a young race in some backwater part of the galaxy. There's also a quote somehwhere in the Tau codex that where an Eldar farseer says something about feeling a kinship towards the Tau.


Originally posted by Anthonace
The tau seem to be loosing momentum now and i think that if they get to widespread they may encounter chaos in their minds and eventually do what the imperium did: Collapse

IIRC Tau are pretty much immune to the effects of Chaos as they don't have any psychic power.

[Anthonace]

Well what about old Mr Commander O'shaovah

[Carach]

lol, interesting debate :screwy: :mrpantha:

[Keslov]

who the [shouldnt swear] says the eldar are farries? have u ever seen the avatar? or some dark reapers? like honestly the only farrieish part of them is the warlocks and farseers and even then the witch blades make up for that.

[Captain Zog]

And the whole prancing about and elvish looks don't count for anything? :p

Also, whoever said the Tau don't have a dark side obviously isn't getting it. The Tau race rose up withing a few short millenia, going from savage and in constant civil war to a completely unified, hi tech race in the length of time it takes the Adeptus mechanicus to approve a change in the insignia on their machines.

The mysterious ethereals came out of nowhere and united the Tau 'for the greater good'. Its fairly obvious they control the Tau people and creatures like Farsight know this and have tried to escape.
The Tau race has a sinister heart below the warm exterior.

As for chaos control, the idea of Farsight being chaos controlled is conjecture, being as the Tau have no warp presence, they probably cannot be corrupted by chaos and i reckon its more likely they are involved with the Necrons (as a race which can truley take on the psychically gifted other races).
For now the Eldar will guide the Tau to their glowing future, thinking they will be allies, when really the Tau will destroy them all.....
Once they figure out how to fire energy blasts capable of destroying a planet from their hands.


All facts and opinions in this post are the views of Zog and as such should be taken with a pinch of salt, i am not trying to state my views as fact, just interesting hypotheses that i feel like voicing.

All life begins and ends with Zog
THIS is what i believe....
At least, for now

Cookie for the person who gets the quote

[Carach]

Originally posted by Captain Zog
And the whole prancing about and elvish looks don't count for anything? :p

Also, whoever said the Tau don't have a dark side obviously isn't getting it. The Tau race rose up withing a few short millenia, going from savage and in constant civil war to a completely unified, hi tech race in the length of time it takes the Adeptus mechanicus to approve a change in the insignia on their machines.

The mysterious ethereals came out of nowhere and united the Tau 'for the greater good'. Its fairly obvious they control the Tau people and creatures like Farsight know this and have tried to escape.
The Tau race has a sinister heart below the warm exterior.

As for chaos control, the idea of Farsight being chaos controlled is conjecture, being as the Tau have no warp presence, they probably cannot be corrupted by chaos and i reckon its more likely they are involved with the Necrons (as a race which can truley take on the psychically gifted other races).
For now the Eldar will guide the Tau to their glowing future, thinking they will be allies, when really the Tau will destroy them all.....
Once they figure out how to fire energy blasts capable of destroying a planet from their hands.


All facts and opinions in this post are the views of Zog and as such should be taken with a pinch of salt, i am not trying to state my views as fact, just interesting hypotheses that i feel like voicing.

All life begins and ends with Zog
THIS is what i believe....
At least, for now

Cookie for the person who gets the quote

cookie for my now i believe?:D

[Maximus Decimus]

they r sinister for riseing up from savage ancestors who wared between each other? i dont think so cause thats something called life and nature. so far from what i read about the tau they r not sinister and dark but rather are the good guys of the imperium who would rather let theyr enemies live and try to turn them then to execute them or slaughter millions to serve theyr own ends. i think u dont get it if u think that they r sinister or grim like the imperium, dark eldar, etc. one such example of their great kindness is absorbing heretics to their cause where sinister and darrk/grim races would execute those b*stards on site.

[deggy]

"the good guys"?

In a future of nothing but war, there are no good guys!

So the Tau doesn’t shoot on site, that doesn't mean they're nice. It just means they don't want to "waste" their resources fighting unnecessary battles. They'll still kill a species or a planet if it doesn't play ball. It's not like they let other races keep their military force or govt. The kroot and other mercenaries are the only other military forces tolerated under their rule and only because they do the Tau's bidding when subtlety or indirect actions are required.

The fiction makes a point of the Tau being very image conscious in their dealings with outsiders. There's a great bit of fiction in the back of the Tau codex where the Tau are visited by an Imperial emissary. The Imperials try to pass themselves off as a "normal" military soldier and an "ordinary" ambassador when in fact they are a Space Marine Chapter Master (or something equally grand, forgive me) and an Inquisitor. Meanwhile their simple guide turns out to be an ethereal. They want to appear placid and un-intimidating, especially to their foes, like the Imperium of Man.

In Gav Thorpes Last Chancers, you get to see how political the Tau are and how they hope to infiltrate into other societies, convince them of the Tau's "noble" intentions and the relegate the local populace to the level of menial servants, unable to have a say in local politics, only allowed to produce and serve the Tau empire.

The Tau are not good! They're just willing to let xenos cultures submit to their will instead of burning them.

[Maximus Decimus]

some very good pts, alright so now theyr commies lol nothing wrong with that. errr sneaky rats.....dont like sneaky rats...

[deggy]

yeah the skaven are horrible! :)

[No Surrender]

They're both heretical Xenos. They should be destroyed and their worlds purged of their existance.

[DarthFelth]

why cant they be corrupted by chaos, Khorne isnt about wizards/psykers and stuff

[elfatto]

Tau have no psychic powers at all, so they don't register in the warp/immaterium/Realm of Chaos/whatever at all. All the Chaos gods (including Khorne) are warp entities so the way I see it they can't really 'see' the Tau at all, much less corrupt them.

[Keslov]

Originally posted by Captain Zog
And the whole prancing about and elvish looks don't count for anything? :p
Cookie for the person who gets the quote


Eldar Dont Prance i take that as an insult i play them i dont dance and prance them around

[Keslov]

Originally posted by elfatto
Tau have no psychic powers at all, so they don't register in the warp/immaterium/Realm of Chaos/whatever at all. All the Chaos gods (including Khorne) are warp entities so the way I see it they can't really 'see' the Tau at all, much less corrupt them.

They can see em its not like a greater demon fighting them wont and you dont have to be pyshic to be possed, taken over by chaos, sure if u are its easier to be taken over but if you've ever read anything about the adversairies rule for demon hunters you kno the tau can be possed

[Anthonace]

if they had no psykic prescence nomal people would feel uncomfortable around them as they woutld be a sort of psykic 'drain' and psykers would feel even worse

tau probably only have a weak prescence but not none

[No Surrender]

The Tau have a weak pressence in the warp. The Codex says their minds BARELY register in the warp.

[Carach]

just what i was about to point out surrender

[Richtofen]

There's also a quote somehwhere in the Tau codex that where an Eldar farseer says something about feeling a kinship towards the Tau.

"I have followed the myriad potential futures of the Tau with great interest. Though barely even striplings compared to us, I feel a strange protectiveness towards them. In time I believe they will exceed even our greatest feats and master the darkness within their souls." - Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwe.

So the Tau are gonna do something really big and good according to mr eldrad.
If you read through the Tau codex you will realise that the Tau actually prefer peace in a non-violent way and they do give assistance to those in need however, they will fight if they need to. There are many humans living (quite comfortably) in the protection of the Tau Empire. The Tau are the only major race that actually has some sort of respect and understanding of other races and it's nice to see a race that actually is younger then humans (I'm sick of humans being the 'newbies' of the universe). I would love to see Tau in DOW. Orcs shouldnt even be in 40k to begin with!

[No Surrender]

This comming from a guy who was supposed to be the greatest farseer but died after touching a crystal...

[Carach]

lol

the tau can not wage mass constant war like humans can though, they do not have the population that we do. that is y they r more tactical... and peacful i reckon, if they had the population of humans they would be very very very dangerous ;) and would probably be more aggressive

[Maximus Decimus]

yeah lucky for them they have the nids bothering the imperium otherwise throw a couple million guard at them with marines and the empire would go poof. retreat forces after everything is conquered and declare exterminatus on ever tau planet to wipe them off the face of the galaxy.

u say this about uldrad right but remember that he sees many paths laid out before him and probebly chooses the most likely one of them with the help of the eldar of course(most the time eldar go around changing fate) now since the big cheese is whacked who knows what will happen to the eldar.

[Carach]

eldar dying, no point listening to them anymore :P :D

[Tribunal]

Hmmm, what if all of the factions of the splintered Eldar reunited? I know it won't probably happen, but it would be interesting to see them become a growing power with a chip on its shoulder than a fading power with a chip on its shoulder :bandit:

[Carach]

lol

they could destroy the galaxy...they could bring everone down with them

[Anthonace]

but that wouldn't be fun wouldnt it

i would like to see the Eldar be a little more positive about things though

[Carach]

dude...WH40K: in the GRIM DARKNESS of the future there is only WAR

those 3 words i capitaled mean anything to u? :P

also, if u were a dying race living your lives alone flying around space to meet your death would u be positive?:ghost: :hdown:

[DarthFelth]

maybe..... anyways i dont really care what happens to either race, im more interesting in seeing Chaos defeat man and the blood angels go mad and teh space wolves go rouge ;)

[Anthonace]

i wouldn't be surprised if the chapters just gave up an forged their own empires in the name of their primarch but still worshipped the emporor

[DarthFelth]

i thought they did anyways ;)

[The Collector]

Only Ultramar is its own "empire" in the sense. Their doctrine and history though, makes them pretty much a inseperable part of the Imperium.

[Executor]

Actually...


They'll still kill a species or a planet if it doesn't play ball. It's not like they let other races keep their military force or govt.

Incorrect. As demonstrated by the Gue'la left after the Damocles crusade and the Kroot Council alien races can mantain their own government under the Tau empire. Indeed you could hardly call the Kroot mercinaries with the majority of them working for the Tau Empire in increasing numbers.


The kroot and other mercenaries are the only other military forces tolerated under their rule and only because they do the Tau's bidding when subtlety or indirect actions are required.

The Nicassar are not Mercenaries and are fully integrated into the Tau society working as scouts in Tau fleets because of their natural space-faring abilities.


In Gav Thorpes Last Chancers, you get to see how political the Tau are and how they hope to infiltrate into other societies, convince them of the Tau's "noble" intentions and the relegate the local populace to the level of menial servants, unable to have a say in local politics, only allowed to produce and serve the Tau empire.

LOL kill team has so many fluff holes that you could drive a Tau Gal'leath Class Starship though them.

Also as said specifially in the design notes when the Tau came out

Tau to be altruistic and idealistic, believing heartily in unification as the way forward. This meant that they would happily incorporate other races into their empire and will not subjugate them, instead enticing them in with the benefits of mutual protection, trade and technology
So lets see what are the characteristics the Tau are ment to have.
They are
Altruistic - So they are Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness
Idealistic
They Don't Sujugate - So they don't To bring under control; conquer; To make subservient; enslave.
They believe in Unification - So they believe to unite everyone and not kill them.

Looking at the aspects that the Tau are ment to be by the design team they look pretty good to me (although I do certainly not think they are good guys but they are a mile in front of everyone else).


The Tau are not good! They're just willing to let xenos cultures submit to their will instead of burning them.

Depends on what you definition of good is. Being given advanced technology. allowed to worship whoever you choose and having control over your own planet. Not to mention protection of the Tau fleets. All you have to do is contribute something to the Greater good. None of the smaller races would refuse that kind of offer.

The Tau are the most good of all the races


In a future of nothing but war, there are no good guys

I disagree. There are many good guys they are just not featured as playable races. The Old Ones are a perfect exameple (although there empire and race is destroyed they still exist).

[deggy]

You're no fun! :)

Well done. I still think they're sneaky bastards, but all of your sources are true.

[Executor]

lol I doubt they would survive if they weren't ;)

[Anthonace]

no one does survive in the end
the eldar are going down the drain
the imperium are following
necrons are already dead
tau are not widespread enough to collapse yet
chaos are already very low
squats.....
orks will probably kill eachother anyway

[Carach]

lol

with eldars last breath they should make a magic storm thing that destroys the universe! :!:

much simpler that way, and with that way u know everyone is dead...

[DarthFelth]

dony say it, then GW will remake everything for 5th ed 40k and make you buy everything all over again...

[Carach]

nooooOOOOooooooo

[DarthFelth]

i tell you what, i was not happy when they re did chaos knights so they didnt have lances, i have 50 of them!!!