[Skeith]

I haven't been keeping up with how all you other guys are working on your TODex's, and such, so bear with me.
[hr]
I had these ideas a few days ago, and I just thought I'd run them by you guys, to see whether or not I should continue with this side project.

HQ
Farsight (well duh :) as a special character
2/3 other Farsight styled SC perhaps not as kick-ass, but still in the same niche
Commander same, but comes with a Powersword like upgrade standard (points increase for said upgrade)
Elites
XV8 near same, but with option to take CCW for one hardpoint
0-1 Stealth Squid, but each member of squad is an IC if you read the rules for IC, you can actual make squads of them, so this would allow for flexible squad manipulation in-game
*repares for dreadsocking* 0-1 Gun-fu squad
Troops
0-1/0-2 Veteran-esque squad - 3-6 Squad cap, BS 4, 20+pts per model
Regular Fire Warriors - as codex
Fast Attack
0-1 Pathfinders/Piranhas - same as codex
Variant Battlesuit with Jetbike rules but restricted weapon choices
Heavy Support
0-1 Sky Ray/Broadsides/Hammerheads - as codex
Heavy Support Variant Battlesuit but is more of a Broadside stand-in as opposed to replacement.

Army Wide
Preferred Enemy (Orks)
Bonding Knife Standard on Squad Leaders

[Jedibean]

Originally Posted by Skeith

I haven't been keeping up with how all you other guys are working on your TODex's, and such, so bear with me.
[hr]
I had these ideas a few days ago, and I just thought I'd run them by you guys, to see whether or not I should continue with this side project.

HQ
Farsight (well duh :) as a special character
2/3 other Farsight styled SC perhaps not as kick-dyi, but still in the same niche
Commander same, but comes with a Powersword like upgrade standard (points increase for said upgrade)
Elites
XV8 near same, but with option to take CCW for one hardpoint
0-1 Stealth Squid, but each member of squad is an IC if you read the rules for IC, you can actual make squads of them, so this would allow for flexible squad manipulation in-game
*repares for dreadsocking* 0-1 Gun-fu squad
Troops
0-1/0-2 Veteran-esque squad - 3-6 Squad cap, BS 4, 20+pts per model
Regular Fire Warriors - as codex
Fast Attack
0-1 Pathfinders/Piranhas - same as codex
Variant Battlesuit with Jetbike rules but restricted weapon choices
Heavy Support
0-1 Sky Ray/Broadsides/Hammerheads - as codex
Heavy Support Variant Battlesuit but is more of a Broadside stand-in as opposed to replacement.

Army Wide
Preferred Enemy (Orks)
Bonding Knife Standard on Squad Leaders

Well this isn't terribly different than the standard codex. It's just that the elites get close combat weapons. Nothing that great really. The problem is that we pay for this by losing our heavy supports and fast attack options. Which is a bad thing.

Frankly I think if they're going to limit our standard units then they should replace them with something just as good.

1 of the ideas that I had thrown out a while ago is that give commander farsight the option to take regular crisis suits as bodyguards as normal or give him the option to replace any or all of his bodyguards with special character bodyguards each with their own individual special rules. So they wouldn't be independent characters but they'd all be upgrade characters. They could be the Tau version of Thunderwolf Cavalry or Nob bikers. Which could be pretty amazing.

[PsyBomb]

I actually had a list going one time of this exact thing. The idea of it was "tons of close-in firepower, with the ability to do decent on the charge to finish things off". Due to the turning of time, a lot of units ended up costing the same as weaker C:TE entries. Thematically, Farsight has relatively few people but lots of basic gear to equip them with. Thus, what gear is available to them is cheaper or tweaked (many XV8 weapons and systems, for example), but many things are just missing from the list or are very rare. There are also still almost no power weapons running around, but alternates are available to make some of those guys very dangerous in CC.

Fire Warriors gained a Pule Pistol and CCW option
Stealths are gone due to being unable to keep up the SFGs, but there are burst cannon specialist light suits
Crisis suits have the option for Battlesuit Honor Blades for +2 strength and Rending in CC, and a specialist shield generator that's worth a 3+ in CC but only a 5+ against shooting.
Most everything is +1 WS above C:TE, though there are still initiative problems everywhere.
Broadsides are 0-1, but BS4. Only the best are allowed to use these now-rare pieces of gear.

Special characters:
Shas'el Suam'va (Inferno): XV8 character, carries around a flamer like those found on the Redeemer and a Fusion Blaster (no multitracker).
Farsight with the character upgrades on his bodyguard.
One or two others.

[Skeith]

Originally Posted by Jedibean

Well this isn't terribly different than the standard codex. It's just that the elites get close combat weapons. Nothing that great really. The problem is that we pay for this by losing our heavy supports and fast attack options. Which is a bad thing.

I unfortunately have only ever run Troop & Elite heavy lists, so my experience with Fast Attack and Heavy Support is somewhat limited. Any and all help in this area would be appreciated

Frankly I think if they're going to limit our standard units then they should replace them with something just as good.

We'd need a fluff master to help with those sort of things.

1 of the ideas that I had thrown out a while ago is that give commander farsight the option to take regular crisis suits as bodyguards as normal or give him the option to replace any or all of his bodyguards with special character bodyguards each with their own individual special rules. So they wouldn't be independent characters but they'd all be upgrade characters. They could be the Tau version of Thunderwolf Cavalry or Nob bikers. Which could be pretty amazing.

That would be pretty awesome. Have you posted something like this before by itself, becaus ei wouldn't mind seeing you ideas for this.

Originally Posted by PsyBomb

I actually had a list going one time of this exact thing. The idea of it was "tons of close-in firepower, with the ability to do decent on the charge to finish things off". Due to the turning of time, a lot of units ended up costing the same as weaker C:TE entries.

What does C:TE mean ???

Thematically, Farsight has relatively few people but lots of basic gear to equip them with. Thus, what gear is available to them is cheaper or tweaked (many XV8 weapons and systems, for example), but many things are just missing from the list or are very rare. There are also still almost no power weapons running around, but alternates are available to make some of those guys very dangerous in CC.

Fire Warriors gained a Pule Pistol and CCW option
Stealths are gone due to being unable to keep up the SFGs, but there are burst cannon specialist light suits
Crisis suits have the option for Battlesuit Honor Blades for +2 strength and Rending in CC, and a specialist shield generator that's worth a 3+ in CC but only a 5+ against shooting.
Most everything is +1 WS above C:TE, though there are still initiative problems everywhere.
Broadsides are 0-1, but BS4. Only the best are allowed to use these now-rare pieces of gear.

These are some cool starting ideas

Special characters:
Shas'el Suam'va (Inferno): XV8 character, carries around a flamer like those found on the Redeemer and a Fusion Blaster (no multitracker).

Surprisingly, this is the kind of thing I'm going for with one of my Battlesuit commanders.

[Jedibean]

That would be pretty awesome. Have you posted something like this before by itself, becaus ei wouldn't mind seeing you ideas for this.

I unfortunately drew a complete blank on this one. I haven't had a chance to revisit the idea since I've been building a brand new army. But if you wanna toss around some ideas I could try to help you out in my free time.

What does C:TE mean

Codex: Tau Empire

[Skeith]

Just refound your "Seven Samurai" Idea thread, so I'll be lookin at that for inspiration, and already noted comments on that subject.

I have a strange memory, because I knew this had been done, just not sure who did it :P (and vice versa)

I may go one step further, and devise special equipment for each Samurai.

[hr]

Back to the Codex.

[hr]

I know a lot of people dislike the idea of close combat orientiered Tau, but I have tried to make a line-treading, in the shape of a gun-fu unit.
Basically, so long as your warriors have two pulse pistols, they use their BS instead of WS, which does make sense if enemy wargear affects WS only, like the DE Wyche Weapons, and the models strength is 5.
I'm not sure if I should add the line "and is treated as a powerweapon against enemies with a 5+ Armour save or worse."

Also, a Jetbike Variant, and a Heavy Variant of the XV8 may be tricky to work out, due to the multiple rules associated with each role/unit type.

[The Kaiser]

For special character I would suggest O'var AKA Commander Brightsword. He may be the sole reason Farsight left the Tau Empire to form the Farsight Enclave. [spoiler]According to Last Chancers the novel series he was assassinated, however from what I have seen, not everyone who is dead really is, and seem to find there way back into the 40k storyline somehow.[/spoiler] He seems to have been the commander for Es'tau, which is a small outpost world within the Tau Empire. As well as the leading/beginning commander for the Nimbosa Crusade for the Tau side. So while his background is small, at least there is something to go by, and he does have a strong tie with Commander Farsight.

I never understood why the Broadside battlesuits were in the 0-1 range for Farsight Enclave armies. There just heavily modified Crisis Battlesuits. While the Railgun would be top tech for the Farsight Enclave to reproduce, I do believe it can be done. After all, as far as I can tell, Farsight did not just take his fire caste teammates with him, but also the earth, air, and water castes that were serving along side him. For how could the fire caste build his heavily fortified worlds? Fly the ships needed to transport the goods, and his men from one point to the other, and bring successful contact to other alien races to hire out Farsight and his Enclave as mercenary's (if that story is to be believed).

Perhaps as a special add on to help Farsight's Enclave since they have some heavy limitation on them, but not to kill the break away faction lore from the codex. Maybe give Farsight's Enclave, or at least his Bodyguards, the option to take Iridium armor as a non special issue item(even without the D6 rule for it). Perhaps even some of, or all of, the other battle gear options to be taken as non special issue gear.

There is no reason to believe the Farsight Enclave would not be attempting to create more powerful Crisis Suits, if not battlesuits. So try to come up with something that would scream Farsight in design. Such as a new Battlesuit with a Close Combat Weapon, a new shield generator that can be used as a shield (Tau form of a Storm Shield), Vectored retro-thrusters, and Iridium armor, and one Battlesuit wargear option left open.

There is allot that could be done, the hard part will be trying to make it usable, while not being overkill. Good luck.

[Skeith]

Originally Posted by The Kaiser

Such as a new Battlesuit with a Close Combat Weapon, a new shield generator that can be used as a shield (Tau form of a Storm Shield)

You do realise, that thats essential what the basic shield generator is, as its wargear entry doesn't stipulate its effects not working in combat. In fact, its better then a Storm/combat shield, as its invul save can also be used against Shooting attacks, where storm/combat shields can't.

I do agree with you on making more battlesuit variants. The only two problems I can think of are 1. naming, 2. abnilities/wargear options.

[The Kaiser]

No I did not, but I do now, so thanks for the info.

The limitation placed on the Farsight Enclave would mean that his XV8 Crisis Battlesuits would need to try and fill this gap as best they can. This would lead to odd, if not strange weapons being implanted on the Crisis suits. Perhaps if you stick with the 0-1 Broadsides you could go with the idea that the destroyed or broken down ones were scraped for parts. So maybe smart missile systems could be taken from the broadsides and stuck on the Crisis. Maybe, just maybe, use one railgun which has been for lack of a better word "sawed-off" and stucked on the crisis suit. Less powerful, with a shorter range. (not sure if you should still use a crisis jump pack with it, as it might be overkill)

The names are going to be a pain, as we are not the Tau, and even a ancient eastern philosophy mindset would not give us the same mindset as the Tau. I would think that the best solution to this problem would be to try and come up with a battlesuit variant, and then try to come up with a name for it based of its combat role. If your still having a bit of a problem with it, just try and pass it on here and see what everyone comes up with. With a population such as this forum, someone has got to have a good name.

Come to think of it, I think I remember hearing that the numbers given to the Tau battlesuits define there role. As the XV9 is a 9 for its size. So the hard number to figure out would be the second number which should decide its role in the army. So as an example (and a shot in the dark) the example I gave would be a XV86 Crisis Dire Wolf(s) as they come in a wolfpack and hunt much larger (or armored) prey.

[Skeith]

This idea seems to have a powerhouse of ideas behind it.

Just so you guys know, I'll be using my Own TODex as the base for this, so you really need to have a look at the work I've done here, before deciding if you'll help me with this.