New 10th Edition 40k Tau are here – from Stratagems, Datasheets, and army rules; here is our review guide on how to play them.
Exciting changes to the Tau army’s gameplay, rules, and style are here with the release of their new Warhammer 40k index cards. This review guide provides an overview of the new index cards, including Stratagems, Datasheets, and army rules, to help players understand how to play Tau in 10th Edition Warhammer 40k. Additionally, we’ll take a closer look at the new rules, giving you everything you need to dominate the battlefield. Get ready to spread the Great Good and conquer your enemies with one of the youngest factions in 40k!
Find out more from our guide on how to play T’au Empire by jumping to any of the sections below, or dig in from the beginning!
- Tau Yauyon Detachment Rules
- New 10th Edition Warhammer 40k Tau Empire Datasheets
- New Weapon Rules
- New Tau Empire Warhammer 40k Stratagems
- How To Play Warhammer 40k Tau: Points
- Tau YouTube Review
- Is It Still Worth Playing Tau?
How to Play Tau in 10th Edition 40k: Rules Guide
The new rules come from Warhammer Community.
It’s an elegant system – you select an Observer unit to support a Guided unit in targeting a single enemy unit. The Guided unit gets +1 to their Ballistic Skill when shooting the target, while the Observer shoots as normal that phase. Even if the enemy knocks out your precious Markerlights, you can still keep highlighting targets for destruction – but you’ll want to bring a few along anyway, as Observers with Markerlights also help their comrades Ignore Cover when shooting.
In a thematic shift, this new set of spotters and shooters makes for an interesting system! Getting +1 to BS and Ignoring Cover are also great bonuses for nearly your entire army! That being said, straying from your target and getting -1 BS is enough of a downside to creating tough decisions.
Tau Combat Patrol
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Tau Yauyon Detachment Rules
For the first T’au Empire Detachment, we follow the way of the Patient Hunter – the favoured martial philosophy of Commander Shadowsun. Kauyon rewards cunning commanders who can keep their army safe for as long as possible, baiting the opponent into a compromising position before hammering them with a furious barrage in the latter half of the game.
Sustained hits are bonus hits on 6s, meaning tons of Tau will get two extra hits on 6s after the third round. If their opponent is lucky, a lot of their army will hopefully be dead by then. Otherwise, things may escalate quickly from there…
New 10th Edition Warhammer 40k Tau Empire Datasheets
Dedicated spotters have a new lease on life. Not only do Pathfinders all come with Markerlights to aid Guided units in blasting through cover, they can also act as an Observer twice per turn with their Target Uploaded ability.
Even a minimally-equipped squad of Pathfinders can dramatically increase the efficiency of your bigger guns with a bit of careful positioning – but if you like to pack yours with all of the fanciest toys, you’re also well-catered for.
Pathfinders are a staple, and with these new rules, they will continue to be! Being an observer twice gives them bonus synergy with the faction rule, making them even better choices than before.
Eagle-eyed Earth Caste engineers will notice that the special Grav-inhibitor Drones, Pulse Accelerator Drones, and Recon Drones are listed as wargear abilities, rather than models in their own right. That’s due to a new approach to Drones across the board – instead of individual models, all Drones are treated as equipment on a model’s datasheet, granting new weapons or abilities directly to their unit.
Gone are the days of trying to fit a swarm of Shield Drones behind limited cover, or stringing a line across the battlefield for some range-enhancing shenanigans. Now your Drone models are just helpful tokens, and the dutiful kor’vesa aid their masters without obstructing them.
As an outsider looking in at the Tau faction… Thank the Emperor, lol. Simpler list construction and execution is always a good thing!
The less we have to think about how many drones and where, the better. But this does raise the question, are the physical drone models now obsolete or a “required” token?
New Weapon Rules
We’ve talked about it already, but the Hammerhead’s railgun truly is the yardstick against which all other T’au weapons are measured. The overall lethality of the game has been brought down, but this is still a monstrous anti-tank weapon that puts the fear of the God-Emperor** into anything with tracks, tyres, or Tyrannic hooves.
As a popular armor choice, Hammerheads see a good amount of play, meaning this new buff (+6 S, now -5 AP instead of -6, and D6+6 instead of D3+6) will have a good impact on the faction!
But if even that isn’t enough bang for your buck, the walking god of war that is the Stormsurge has put some extra pep in its pulse blast cannon to deal with tougher vehicles.
The Stormsurge didn’t see too much play in 9th, but with buffs to Strength and AP, this might be enough to get people playing it again!
New Tau Empire Warhammer 40k Stratagems
As your average Fire Warrior is less than impressive in close combat, a hasty Combat Embarkation is an ideal way to keep them safe from harm while enemy blows bounce harmlessly off your Devilfish hulls. With this, a reckless foe can be forced to over-extend into a killing field, where they’ll be met with a wall of firepower in perfect Kauyon style.
A quick getaway might be annoying for opponents, but this will definitely help generals protect their precious ranged attacks!
How To Play Warhammer 40k Tau: Points
You can find the latest points for playing this faction in 10th Edition Warhammer 40k here on our Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates Page.
Tau YouTube Review:
Watch the video below for some more insights into the faction until they get their codex book!
Is It Still Worth Playing Tau?
Yes! They have a ton of really interesting rules and mechanics, are fun to hobby on, and have giant robots! If you want to help the Greater Good spread throughout the galaxy, then you need to put some minis down on the table. They are just a fun army to play and hobby on, plus they always do ok in the meta no matter the edition.
Updates, in general, for any game are just good business. That being said, it also seems like in 2023-2024, GW will have its hands full trying actually to get out all these codexes.
However, Tau is on the list pretty early, so even if you don’t like the index, you’ll have a codex soon to fix things!
The new Tau army rules in 10th Edition Warhammer 40k provide exciting changes to the gameplay, rules, and style of the army. Tau can dominate the battlefield with tons of shooting and giant advanced robots. The army’s squads, vehicles, and Stratagems provide players with a lot of options to defeat their enemies and have some really fun games. Overall, the new Tau army is a force to be reckoned with in Warhammer 40k.
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Do you like the Tau rules for 10th Edition Warhammer 40k in this guide? Will you be playing them?
