Games Workshop just gave us another preview of the upcoming T’au Codex. Come check out the latest Farsight Enclaves rules and Stratagem straight from the source.
The new T’au codex is on its way, and this week Games Workshop is giving us previews of what we’ll be seeing inside the covers. Let’s take a look at what they had to say about the new rules for Farsight Enclaves and a new Stratagems.
The Farsight Enclaves are known for their mastery of close assault, using their battlesuits to great effect in mass drop assaults from Manta transports. On the tabletop, the Farsight Enclaves possess a Sept Tenet that opens up a new tactical avenue for your army, making your force surprisingly deadly in close quarters:
Devastating Counter-Strike is going to allow you to re-roll shooting attacks wound rolls of 1 against enemy units that are within 6″ of the firing model. This is going to make your opponent think twice about how close they really want to get.
As the founder of the Farsight Enclaves, and one of the T’au Empire’s most legendary heroes, Commander Farsight has long been a fan favourite. One small but welcome change to Commander Farsight is an upgrade to both his weapons; his plasma rifle now deals additional damage, and the Dawn Blade possesses a suitably terrifying profile, as befits a life-draining xenos sword older than the Imperium itself.
The High-intensity plasma rifle has an extra 6″ range over the Plasma rifle, it’s still Rapid Fire 1 and Strength 6, but it’s now doing 2 Damage with a -4 AP. Sounds devastating. The only thing changing about the Dawnblade is the Strength went from the User to a +3, which is definitely going to help with those wound rolls.
Any character looking to go toe-to-toe with Farsight will have to deal with four Strength 8 attacks, hitting on 2s, re-rolling 1s, cleaving through all but the heaviest armour and doing D3 damage apiece! What’s more, with the Farsight Enclaves Warlord Trait, this legendary leader will be able to jump to the aid of nearby units.
Hero of the Enclaves is going to be giving your Warlord a nice little bonus. You’ll be able to perform Heroic Intervention if your Warlord is within 6″ of an enemy unit after the enemy has completed all their charge moves. This is going to allow you to move your Warlord up to 6″ when performing a Heroic Intervention, as long as they move closer to the nearest enemy. If you charge with your Warlord, perform a Heroic Intervention, or your Warlord was charged, you’ll also be able to re-roll failed hit rolls for them until the end of the turn.
The new T’au Empire codex has been designed to provide a range of meaningful choices when selecting a Commander – rather than acting as a mere alternative to a unit of Crisis Suits, each feels like a hero in their own right.
This change has been enacted in two parts. On the one hand, in matched play games, you’ll be limited to one Commander per Detachment you take:
The matched play rule for Commanders is making it so you cannot include more than one Commander in each Detachment in your Battle-forged army. So, if you want more than one Commander, you’re going to have to bring more than one detachment, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
On the other, T’au Empire Commanders have a huge array of Warlord Traits and Signature Systems to choose from. You’ll even be able to decide whether you want to equip yours with the XV8 Crisis battlesuit (or even XV8-02 Crisis Iridium armour, which is now an upgrade rather than a Signature System) or opt to spend more points and gain an extra Wound with the XV85 Enforcer battlesuit. These can then be fitted with a wide variety of equipment. In the Farsight Enclaves, we’d recommend stocking up on close combat options with a couple of returning favourites:
Fusion Blades can be taken on Farsight Enclaves models with at least two fusion blasters, but they will replace two of the model’s fusion blasters. You’ll have access to two different attacks, both with some pretty nasty abilities. The ranged is an 18″ Assault 2, Strength 8, -4 AP, does D6 Damage, and if the target is within 9″ you’ll roll 2 dice when inflicting damage and discard the lowest result. The melee attack is Strength 8, -4 AP, does D6 Damage, and each time the bearer fights it can make two attacks with this weapon.
The Onager Gauntlet can only be equipped on a Battlesuit Commander. It’s a melee weapon that’s Strength 10, -4 AP, does D6 Damage, and the bearer can only make one attack with this weapon.
Both of these weapons seem like they’re going to just be unloading a lot of damage on your opponent.
Of course, if you’d prefer to keep your Commanders on the back lines, we’d recommend using the Command-and-Control Node Stratagem.
BUFF IS BACK!
The only Stratagem we’re getting a look at is the Command-and-Control Node. You can use this Stratagem in your Shooting Phase, and for 1 CP you’ll pick a <SEPT> Commander from your army that may not shoot this phase, but one <SEPT> Battlesuit unit from your army that is within 6″ of that Commander may re-roll failed wound rolls that phase. This will come in handy when you’re trying to keep your commander just out of range, but you have your other <SEPT> Battlesuits just a touch closer, popping off shots from a safe distance.
This latest preview is making the Farsight Enclaves look extremely deadly on the tabletop. Make sure you check back in with us tomorrow when we get another preview of what’s in store for the T’au, and a closer look at the Dal’yth and some improvements to the XV25 Stealth Battlesuits.
If you have to have more T’au checkout the latest rules rumors from today along with a summary of the most recent posts going back into last week as well.
What are your thoughts on the latest T’au preview? Are you going to be playing this army when the new Codex comes out?
