A first look on the different Septs

[Panzer]

So, I wanted to take a first look on the different Septs and their strengths based on this leak: https://imgur.com/a/eV25Z and the WarCom articles. For now I'll assume the leaked Tenets are correct since 5 out of 6 were already 99% correct.

 

 

T'au Sept

Tenet: If your unit is within 6" of another T'au Sept unit you can shoot Overwatch on 5+ rather than 6+. Likewise units that join in with For the Greater Good shoot Overwatch on 5+ as well.

Warlord trait: 5+++ against Mortal wounds

Stratagem: Focused Fire. After one of your T'au Sept units dealt an unsaved wound to an enemy unit all other T'au Sept units +1 to wound against that unit for the rest of the phase.

Signature System: JSJ for the Character in a Battlesuit (6" move after shooting in any direction).

 

This is honestly pretty much an allrounder. As long as you keep your guys together they benefit from it. Doubling the amount of hits in Overwatch is really strong and makes the CDS support system actually worth taking for once imo and +1 to-wound works really well with the second warlord trait and Rail weapons but is also very strong on any other weapon (just look at the Blood Angels Chapter tactic and how well that works for them).

Something that I tend to forget that works really well with this Sept is Overwatch with Photon grenades. On average you should hit a charging opponent once with this Sept Tenet which makes your Strike Teams/Breacher (and the one they help with Overwatch if in range) a lot more survivable as well.

 

The Stratagem is what makes T'au Sept a generally good pick if you don't aim for anything specific even if you aren't facing melee armies. It may be expensive but used at the right time and against the right target it's a huge buff for your army.

 

 

Bork'an Sept

Tenet: +6" range to all your Rapid fire and Heavy weapons

Warlord trait: For each hit-roll of 6, that hit gets +1 to the wound roll. No aura, just the Warlord himself.

Stratagem: Re-roll the number of shots for a weapon with random amount of shots (Heavy 1d6 etc.)

Signature System: Plasma Accelerator Rifle. Replaces a Plasma Rifle and is a 30" Rapid fire 1 S7 AP-3 D2 weapon instead.

 

The interesting thing here is the Strike Team/Fireblade/Pulse Accelerator Drone combo. It lets your Strike Team shoot 3 shots at 21" range.
Also Ghostkeels with +6" range on their heavy weapon are pretty nice considering they want to stay as far away as possible from the enemy. With the Codex only >6" instead of >12" tho, so it's not that much necessary as originally thought when they released the WarCom article. Still good for a Fusion Collider loadout if you want to stay within melta range I guess.

Other Heavy weapons usually have more than enough range so an additional 6" doesn't do much for them and the only other Rapid fire weapons I can think of are Plasma rifles which are worse than Cyclic Ion Blaster and the Rail rifle which would benefit at least a little bit from it (tho I think with the D2 buff on the Ion rifle it's definitely outclassed crunch-wise).

The Stratagem is nice but nothing super awesome. Same with the Signature System. A single better Plasma rifle won't make that much of a difference.

 

This Sept works best if you want to build a more or less static or slow moving gunline with mainly Rapid fire and Heavy weapons. However not as static as the Dal'yth Sept so that's something.

 

 

Farsight Enclaves

Tenet: Re-roll wound rolls of 1 when within 6" of the target

Warlord trait: 6" heroic intervention and re-roll hits if the warlord got charged, charged or heroic intervened

Stratagem: +1 to-hit for Crisis the turn they dropped

Signature System: Fusion Blades. Replaces two Fusion Blaster. 18" Assault2 Fusion Blaster and two melee attacks with the same profile.

 

Well ... to be fair, the Tenet is pretty meh even if you enjoy more close ranged T'au. This is just TOO close. The Warlord trait is only useful if you go with Farsight himself or a Fusion Blade character. The Fusion Blade itself offer really awesome modeling opportunities and are almost reason enough to go with FSE in itself. Shooting wise you don't lose anything by taking them and two attacks with a FB profile is better than anything else we can do in melee.

The main gem here tho is the Stratagem. Drop in a really big unit of Crisis Suits all equipped with Cyclic Ion Blasters, put a Markerlight (or 5 if you can lol) on the targets, activate the Stratagem and melt a big fat hole in your opponents army. The ultimate Mont'ka. If you have enough points for a second Crisis unit do the same thing next turn but you probably need stuff on the ground to prepare the arrival of such a huge and expensive unit so that's rather unlikely (Nurglings, Marine Scouts, Stealth Suits and any kind of extrem bubble wrapping is your enemy).

 

If you don't want to build such a list better don't take this Sept imo.

 

 

Dal'yth Sept

Tenet: If you haven't moved or manta strike or anything else that's not standing still you get the benefit of being in cover. 

Warlord trait: Kroot and Vespid within 12" of your Warlord gain For the Greater Good

Stratagem: One of your Dal'yth units can do the JSJ thing like the T'au Sept signature system

Signature System: -1 to-hit for your Warlord. Same as the Stealth Suits (at least the Index version) so not just for shooting but also in melee.

 

This..uhm..yeah. My least favorite Sept. It only works if you're playing a super static gunline (tho then the you have Sv1+ Broadsides, SV2+ Hammerheads, Sv1+ Riptides and so on). But the Stratagem makes you think you want to be mobile. Kinda feels like a trap but I guess is good when you notice you were too static and need to get to that one Objective Marker asap lol

Kroot with For the Greater Good aren't that interesting either. It's just some Bolter shooting on 6s and usually Kroot are the bubble wrap so they are the ones who get charged anyway.

The Signature system is pretty cool tho and I'm a bit sad that I can't take it because I won't do any Dal'yth detachment anytime soon.

 

tl;dr if you want a rather durable super static gunline, this Sept is not that bad. Unless your opponent ignores Cover. Or you care about objectives.

 

 

Vior'la Sept

Tenet: Your Rapid fire weapons become Assault weapons. No double shots for being in half range anymore. However you can advance and shoot with Assault weapons without the negative to-hit modificator now. Yay!

Warlord trait: Volley Fire, Failure is not an Option and Master of War from your Warlord now has a 9" range. You also get +1CP.

Stratagem: One of your Vior'la Sept Infantry units can shoot twice, but has to shoot at the nearest enemy.

Signature System: Thermoneutronic Projector. Basically a better Heavy flamer. 8" Assault1d6 S6 AP-1 D2 hits automatically.

 

One of my favorite Septs so far. Just take all the Assault weapons you can and enjoy ~3.5" more movement than other Septs without any downside. Breacher would have a ~19" threatrange with their S5 AP-1 profile and even more if they disembark from a Devilfish first ... which btw. can happily keep advancing and shooting with his Burst Cannon and Gun Drones as well.
Every weapon Crisis Suits have except for the Plasma rifle is Assault as well so you can for example advance with CIB Crisis and overcharge them without increasing the risk of overheating. Stealth Suits have only Assault weapons as well. The Quad Ion on the Razorshark got buffed to Assault4 too so he can really cover the whole board.

The rest is okay. +1CP never hurts, especially if you want to use the double shoot stratagem regularly and who doesn't like a better Heavy flamer with D2.

 

If you go with this Sept you should definitely focus around Breacher, Crisis Suits and Gun Drones.

 

 

Sa'cea Sept

Tenet: You can re-roll one failed hit roll for each unit in the shooting phase. Also your units get +1LD

Warlord trait: Sa'cea units within 6" of your warlord trait reduce the number of models that flee as a result of morale by 1

Stratagem: At the start of your shooting phase you select one unit in LoS of a Sa'cea Sept character of yours. That unit and every unit within 6" gets a Markerlight counter. Just like that.

Signature System: Grav-inhibitor field. Does the same thing as the Grav-inhibitor Drone but without any range restriction and only for your warlord. Aka -2" to the enemys charge range.

 

This is my go-to Sept for a few reasons. Some of them depend on the kind of list you play tho.

If you have a more MSU style list and those units have single-shot weapons spread around like Stealth Suits with a Fusion Blaster or Markerlight, Strike Teams with a Markerlight, HRR Broadsides, Railgun Hammerheads or Fusion Blaster Piranhas, then this Tenet will be GOLD. Your accuracy for those weapons will go through the roof. It's basically a load of free CP. Not as good as the Salamanders Chapter trait but good enough.

The Warlord trait is okay. Having less models flee is always good but only really important for bigger units or units with bad morale like Drones or Pathfinder ... but wait they just got +1LD anyway from the Sept Tenet.

The Stratagem is just as awesome as the Tenet in the right list. Automatically hitting Markerlights on multiple enemy units. It basically guarantees that your army has at least re-roll 1s.
Remember the Markerlight Stratagem from Chapter Approved? That one is there as well of course. It won't work with the free Markerlight hit from the Sa'cea Stratagem because of the way it's worded but with those two Stratagems and the free re-rolls from the Tenet you can stack Markerlights more easy than any other Sept. You should be able to reach the holy land of 5 Markerlight hits more than a few times as Sa'cea.
The Signature System is pretty great as well. At least for me since I usually bring a Coldstar who often finds himself alone in some corner where my opponent tries to catch him with a cheeky deep strike charge. This Signature system makes it basically impossible unless the dice gods are with him and if you put him into ruins or a forest it stacks to a -4" even. For ultimate shenanigans try to spam the board with Grav-inhibitor Drones as well (be reasonable about it tho).

 

This Sept is the Markerlight and single-shot weapons sept. If you prefer big units or units that rely on weight of fire (so basically Crisis Suits, HBC Riptides and so on) then you'll benefit only little from the Sept Tenet. However since the Stratagem and the Signature system are still good with those armies it might still be a good choice. Especially if you don't like to invest your Markerlight sources.

 

 

-------

 

If I had to pick, I'd say Sa'cea and Vior'la are the two strongest Septs.
Farsight Enclaves alpha strike is really scary as well but requires a lot of points since Crisis didn't drop in points at all and is very hit or miss. If you can pull it off it should look very good for you. If you don't you will have a very hard time to win.
Likewise the T'au Sept should be extremely strong against assault based armies but if you face a shooty army it's not a great pick.

 

So what do you think? Did I miss something important? Do you see things differently? What Sept will you pick and why?

Edited March 10, 2018 by sfPanzer

[Guest Triszin]

I'm considering a dual sept

 

Vior'la

and borkan or farsight.

 

T'au sept trait is okay only if all your infantry/have multiple groups that travel together so they get the overwatch on a 5+ which is kinda awesome.

 

leaning towards Borkan and Viorla.

Between these I think I can create my Tau themed army pretty good.

[Marshal van Trapp]

The Viorla trait was teased and it's only assault while advancing, which is huge!

[Waking Dreamer]

I'm definitely going to work on the FSE as my main Sept. I know it wont be that competitive but the WL Trait, Sig. System, and Stratagem do work together. 

 

I already have the Farsight model and with his now improved weapons and that WL Trait, he can now put in some work! Modelling the Fusion Blades will also be a treat and it doesnt break in this edition like it did in 7E. Noice!

 

Im glad to hear the Farsight / Crisis Bomb can still pack a decent punch (thanks to the Stratagem) even though its high risk - high reward. Having Farsight, the Fusion Blades Commander and maybe even the Onager Gauntlet Commander leading this:

 

 

Yes please!

 

[Panzer]

I think I'm going with FSE as my secondary Sept as well just so I can model a Coldstar with Fusion Blades lol

Edited March 9, 2018 by sfPanzer

[Calistarius]

Would T’au and Bork’an be a good combination if you’re looking at fielding a couple of Riptides and support? Forgive my ignorance. I’m new to these waters.

[Panzer]

Sure why not.

Riptides are pretty solid on their own and don't really benefit from any of the Septs. Bork'an and T'au are probably the only ones. The Bork'an benefits are pretty small tho (42" HBC or re-roll Stratagem for the IA). The T'au benefits seem a bit more desireable if you keep them in the middle of your army.

 

Without knowing what else you want into your list it's hard to tell what would be a good pick but when it's just about Riptides I'd probably go with T'au Sept and ditch Bork'an.

[Marshal van Trapp]

I think for my army I'm going with mixed Vior'la, Bork'an, and FSE, using just Vior'la and FSE in smaller games. My army concept is a mixed faction of smaller breakaway cadres that don't agree with the way the empire was doing things so they left to join the FSE. Also there may be some engram neurochip robots running around from an experiment that got shut down by the ethereals before the cadre broke away

[Captain_Krash]

WoW sfPanzer great write up! Seriously Thank you.

 

I'm really digging the Vior'la just because it really reminds me of my old 3rd-4th edition FIsh of fury days. So FSE and Vior'la it is for me.

 

Krash

Edited March 9, 2018 by Captain_Krash

[Calistarius]

Sure why not.

Riptides are pretty solid on their own and don't really benefit from any of the Septs. Bork'an and T'au are probably the only ones. The Bork'an benefits are pretty small tho (42" HBC or re-roll Stratagem for the IA). The T'au benefits seem a bit more desireable if you keep them in the middle of your army.

 

Without knowing what else you want into your list it's hard to tell what would be a good pick but when it's just about Riptides I'd probably go with T'au Sept and ditch Bork'an.

Makes sense to me! Honestly, I don’t really know what else I want. The Riptide is arguably my favorite model in this faction, so I figured I’d start there. I’ll have to do more research!

[The Pounder]

Thanks sfPanzer!

A great article with some good insights.

I think I'm going to be boring and go with either Vior'la or Tau.

Most of my opponents run close combat armies so I think I could benefit from their special rules.

Plus I want to run a few Hammerheads! (love those tanks!)

[Sete]

How would you guys run a vior'la list? Edited March 9, 2018 by Sete

[Panzer]

How would you guys run a vior'la list?

 

Mainly Breacher (in a fish), Stealth Suits, Gun Drones and Crisis Suits. If you don't build your list around Assault weapons and Infantry you're better off with another Sept.

Things like Riptides and Commanders to taste. Riptides don't really benefit from any Sept anyway and Commanders are obviously just generally good.

Edited March 10, 2018 by sfPanzer

[Marshal van Trapp]

So I'm planning on doing a mixed force with Bork'an for my heavy ranged units, Vior'la for my fast assault units, and FSE for my close range units. I know how I would outfit my FSE and Vior'la commanders but what should I throw on a Bork'an commander to make the best use of their tenet/stratagem/relic?

[Panzer]

Well the only weapon that benefits from the Bork'an Tenet is the Plasma Rifle but I really don't recommend taking them. CIBs are way stronger.

However the plasma rifle relic is pretty neat and has a 36“ range with the tenet so it works pretty well together with the 18“ of the CIBs.

 

CIBs also work well together with the warlord trait due the higher amount of shots compared with Plasma rifles even in Rapid fire range.

[depthcharge12]

How would you guys run a vior'la list?

Here’s my current one. Just need to find where to put an extra 45 points ;)

 

(Extra CP from Vior’la Warlord)

 

1955 pts - Vior’la (8 CPs)

 

BATTALION DETACHMENT

 

>XV8 Commander

+3 MP, 1 velocity tracker (Kauyon babysitter)

 

>Fireblade

 

>10 breachers

>10 breachers

>5 FW strike team

>5 FW strike team

 

>10 Pathfinders

+ 2 ion rifles, recon drone, pulse drone

 

>Devilfish w/2 seeker missiles

>Devilfish w/2 seeker missiles

 

>Broadside

+HRR, dual plasma, seeker missile, shield

 

>Broadside

+HRR, dual plasma, seeker missile, shield

 

VANGUARD DETACHMENT

 

Coldstar Commander

+ 2 fusion, supernova launcher, shield gen

 

3 Crisis Suits

+ 3x3 CIBs

 

2 Hazard Suits

+ 2x2 fusion cascades, 4 shield drones

 

Ghostkeel w/stealth drones

+ Ion gun, 2 fusion, target lock, shield gen

[Marshal van Trapp]

Hmm with no changes to the plasma rifle I can see the merits of CIB over them, although plasma are still much cheaper, so if I did take the relic, would that mean I'd do 3 CIB (or 2 and ats) and the relic? Really nothing from the commander benefits from Bork'an but with only 1 per detachment now it's either take him there or be short 1 commander :/

[VanDutch]

My guys are painted as Vior'la, and that's probably the way in going Sept wise. Now I just need to pick up another squad of breachers, a new Commander and another ethereal. I might even try out a razorshark now that ion weapons are assault and don't suffer a move penalty.

 

I think my optimal force will always include breachers, devilfishes, stealth suits and a ghostkeel. If I can fit in a Riptide too, then even better. Who knows when I'll get to play my Hammerheads and Kevin again...

[Waking Dreamer]

Can a T'au Sept Etheral still buff say some FSE crisis suits even though they're from different detachments?

[Panzer]

Can a T'au Sept Etheral still buff say some FSE crisis suits even though they're from different detachments?

Unknown since we haven't seen any datasheets yet. It depends on whether their aura affects units from a specific Sept or all T'au Empire units

[Sete]

Great so Vior'la goes with my playstyle.

Might get a few boxes next week.

[Emicus]

Suddenly finding myself in need of 100+ firewarriors... But how would you go about movement trays for them?

Single rank, 2 ranks, base-to-base or max unit coherency?

[Panzer]

Suddenly finding myself in need of 100+ firewarriors... But how would you go about movement trays for them?

Single rank, 2 ranks, base-to-base or max unit coherency?

 

Since the most moving for mine would happen in Devilfishes I wouldn't use any movement trays at all. Once you move around terrain/other units they aren't practical anyway. :D

[Emicus]

I ain't taking out 100+ models out of my bag, let alone scooting them around the table! If they ain't on trays they're dead... These are just limitations I have to live with in order to maintain a healthy outlook on life.

 

So how would you space them out? Or not at all?

[Panzer]

You're talking about playing and painting 100+ infantry models ... you lost any healthy outlook on life you may have had a long time ago already. :D