[Tsumishi]

Hmm...well, I do think that too much diversity in armies can become a problem, gameplay style, but on the fluff side, I'd have to say that you're looking at things too narrowly.
The Fire Caste is not the only caste that defines the Tau in an area. The Air Caste flys the spacers, Water Caste act diplomatically, and the Earth Caste builds and engeneers. Now, say, if there was a large concentration of Earth Caste in a particular planet, it would be pretty normal for the army stationed there to have the latest equiptment, as well as the most of it, as the weapons are built there to such large numbers to accomedate outposts, and other planets too.
If there are a lot of Air Castes in a certain area, then there would be a larger concentration of Pathfinders, and seeker missiles, as the Pathfinders would be used often for seeker strikes in coordination with the Air Caste, as well as many other bombardment strategies, ect.
With a concentration of Water Caste, there would be a greater need of bodyguards, and smaller task forces that can protect the diplomats during their negotiations in hazzardous locations and situations, eg. more battlesuits, more transports, ect.
If there's any concentration of Ethereals, then that'll mean better trained units, as well as vetrans that have been brought over from other planets to act as the Ethereal's guards, strike forces, ect.
Now, these things can also be implemented to a certain degree by the players themselves, but I think there'd have to be some modifications to accomedate some of the more unique ones, like my Air Caste example. Orbital Ion Cannons, off-board Orca with a complement of Seeker Missiles, ect.
But basically, I'd think that just a few more units that'll be introduced in the next codex will fix all this up. It won't mean that there will be any varient armies, but it'll mean more choices to make a standard army from, and I think that's really all we need, as it'll make for truly unique armies that haven't been possible with the current limitations.
I fully agree with Keichi, however, on the other hand, I doubt that GW will actually sit idly by, and will end up giving us some sort of rules for rouge armies like Farsight, just for fairness with the situations with other armies (there will always be ones to complain. I bet there were a lot of complainst with the gene splicing in the last Tyranid codex). But then again, if this does happen, it's either with the next update, or not for at least twenty years or so, if the grim future still exists by then ^_^.

[Sightline]

It's an argument that can be made from both sides.

The back of the Codex gives us the baselines for possible future "sept specializations", though I think it was primarily intended as a way of putting a fluff explanation behind all the nifty symbols on our transfer sheets. Let's face it, the symbol for a place like Sa'cea just looks different if it doesn't have any fluff behind it. Add the explanation at the back of the book and suddenly there's a reason to use that particular transfer rather than the standard Fire Caste symbol.

I can see wanting to add more traits to the Tau, but I'm relatively new to the entire game and what I have on them is enough for right now. In the future, my opinion may change. Someone else said that right now we've basically got two flavors, Farsight (of Vior'la) and "normal". The Codex I've got still seems to indicate (like a lot of people are saying) that the Tau are a young race. We're the new kids on the block. Part of that means that we don't have all the nifty stuff the other guys do.

<shrugs>

On the other hand, I'll agree that this is probably about to change. Anyone think much on the fluff regarding O'Shovah and where he found the Dawn Blade? I mean this is an artifact weapon that makes it so the guy in a Crisis Suit (basically the Tau version of powered armor) is treated as a Monstrous Creature in HtH combat. His fluff makes him into a good leader with a different approach to HtH than the rest of the Tau Empire and the ability to improve the base statlines of any troops following him with a certain template. This is balanced by a limitation on the unit selection for rules purposes, but the part that concerns me is this: The fluff says the world he found the Blade on was in a region of space the Ethereals had basically decreed as off-limits. O'Shovah went there chasing Orks and then found the Blade. He's lived longer than is normal (that or someone is impersonating him - not something I can see normally happening amongst the Tau), gathered a lot of power, and is basically in a state of secession (sp?) from the rest of Tau space. Now look at that and tell me it's not possible that it just might be Chaos making footholds inside the Tau Empire.

The Damocles Crusade was another interesting point. Get your butts kicked, fall back, regroup and hand out the whipping. Territory means little to the Tau in the middle of a conflict. They claim it after they've put you in the ground. But again, read the fluff. They knew what was coming. They had intelligence on the Imperium forces. They trained to fight against them in mock battles, etc. But really, all they had was an intellectual inkling of what was about to happen. The reality was different than they expected. The Crusade was, basically, a "Welcome to the Galaxy at large" party combined with a wake-up call. It was a way of saying "Yeah, you're good, but you're playing in a new league." We held our own towards the end, but the only reason it didn't go further is the 'Nids hit Ultramar.

I think everyone's favorite little blue boys are in for a wake up call in the near future. It'll be fun.