All Quiet on the Eastern Fringe? Not so!

Things have been rather quiet here on Tau of War. I haven't played with my toy soldiers since January and I haven't touched paintbrush to battlesuit since around then as well. Those little three-fingered friends of mine are always in my mind though. I've dreamed up a lot of little conversions here and there, and found lots of inspiration for Tau models while playing and painting games of Infinity.

It's now almost 3 years (?) into 5th edition and still no love, no new models and no new units for the Tau Empire. Apparently this so-called fast-advancing race is going through a Dark Age of their own, with little to no development in their society. Seems too, that Tau have got a plague of their own too, as more and more Tau armies wind up on ebay for sell as players quit for something newer and shinier.

There are still some flickering lights of the Tau Empire across the Galaxy however. Stelek has come up with an interesting and powerful new army list for us all to try. Yes, reading his blog can sometimes hurt, but this post is very well written and the army list is a good one. Nick Nanvati, an east coast player, has done well upon us all by bringing Tau to the Battle for Salvation Tournament and placing in the top tier of competitors. His list can be found here. It features lots of Deathrains, a good amount of Kroot and plenty of railgun support. I really like that he has included the Hammerhead, as I've often felt the need to drop large blasts on units. Congratulations, Nick!

There is still a lot to be done with my own Tau force. There are railguns to build, suits to polish and fire warriors to prep for action. One way to keep Tau fresh is to constantly be looking for new inspiration and ideas. Push the limits of conversions and modelling options and you're army will be unique. Tau are one of the few armies that can really stupefy viewers with greatness and that is partly due to their rarity. The 40k masses have all seen countless Space Marines and razorbacks but few see a Tau Fire Warriors with any regularity. Use that fact to wow your friends and opponents.

Although I wasn't present at the NOVA Open regrettably, I hear Tau were fairly well represented there, although I know nought of their success record. There are some pics around of this army, which I really like.

Where next?
Hopefully someday soon, the Tau will be getting a new Codex and a whole batch of lovely new models. I expect (this is not a rumor or a leak, merely speculation), plastic pathfinders, a new crisis suits sprue and all plastic Broadsides and a mystery big model, something like a flyer or a dreadknight. I hope it means a new mega-battlesuits.

Rules-wise I have no idea what to expect. There are some rumors on Dakkadakka and elsewhere but frankly I think it's too far out for any of those rumors to be at all accurate. If I were a betting man, I'd say that we'll probably see more options for fielding battlesuits, more battlesuits in general, and updated rules for markerlights and drones as transports on vehicles, like Piranhas and Devilfish.

What would I like? Army-wide Stealth USR. Rending Pulse weapons. Burst Cannons with longer ranges. Improved Stealth Suit generators. Some sort of Devilfish-Razorback hybrid. Crisis Suits with Eternal Warrior. Now is that too much to ask?

So what now?
Get inspired! It's hobby time!
Really now is the time for me to do some hobbying. I've got a lot of stuff on the docket that needs to be complete and even new units I want to build. Not from a gaming perspective but just from an enjoyment and hobby perspective. I've always wanted convert and paint a unit of Fire Warriors with Carbines, decked out like true veterans with loads of gizmos and gadgets.

Who knows what the future will bring? But be ready for it!