Greater Good Today

[Messor]

Came across it on Reddit: 

[eternal_warrior12]

Those all look great but super hyped for upgraded Shadowsun model and weapons!!!

[Triszin]

I really hope she can be a generic hq choice.

 

New suit looks amazing.

 

X2 fusion

X2 middle pod now also

[eternal_warrior12]

Look out for those Genestealers in the pic though. Hopefully new bugs to crush as well.

[Triszin]

4arms she has now

[The Yncarne]

Today I played and lost a 2,000 point game against the Guard. We played the new eternal war mission with 4 objectives worth different VPs. It was a good game with both sides having lots of poor dice. This army seems to play slower than I remember in 3rd and 4th. Must be nostalgia.

[Panzer]

I like the 4 arms thing she has going now, however it's really sad that they are just parallel to her regular arms. Kinda wasted potential for a very cool pose there.

[VanDutch]

Looks like I got my wish, she can be run in any sept now. Excellent.

[Panzer]

For the people who don't want to check the News&Rumours section of the forum:

 

 

Her newly up-gunned battlesuit now comes equipped as standard with an arsenal of weapons, from a flechette launcher to light missile pod, and the choice of tank-busting high-energy fusion blasters or Space Marine-melting dispersed fusion blasters. Shadowsun is also accompanied by her trusty pair of high-tech drones which bring with them a suite of handy tactical abilities.

 

 

Best of all, as befits this iconic hero of the empire, she can now lead any Sept, not just those of her homeworld, so she can take command of any T’au Empire collection***

 

 

***She’s not a big fan of Farsight though…

 

 

And my comment from the N&R thread:

 

Love that she can be part of any T'au force now. That means two things for me:

1. she'll completely replace my Quadfusion Commander with Iridium Suit and Dynamic Mirror Field
2. the Dynamic Mirror Field can go back to my Coldstar Commander (no fusion blasters there, don't worry ), however that means I regret having him as my painting project right now because it means I'm going to change his colour scheme (all kinds of stealth suits get a special paintjob in my army) 

Anyway, I'm glad to hear she got upgunned as well. Nobody took her for her weapons etc these days. She was all about the second Kauyon and the Command-link Drones. With special Fusion Blasters she hopefully becomes a decent choice for that alone already. I don't think the Flechette Launcher or the Light Missile Pod will be worth mentioning though. So far Flechette weapons have always sucked and a single light version of a Missile Pod won't put a dent into anything.

 

Only negative things I have to say about her is:

• they waste a LOT of posing potential by having the second pair of arms be exactly parallel to the regular arms
• the half-helmet head looks dumb as hell AND makes no sense.

 

[Panzer]

She got options!

You can equip her with either the anti-tank Fusion Blasters or the anti-heavy infantry Fusion Blasters (perhaps even mix but we'd need to see the rules first to be sure).

 

 

 

Also for the people who were concerned about how she could fit into the suit since the legs are pretty far apart ... GW has anticipated that concern. It appears her new suit is a lot bigger than a regular Stealth Suit and is halfway to a Crisis Suit already.

[Triszin]

My favorite Tau model...

 

I'm buying like 2 atleast.

 

I'm.a bit sad it won't double as a generic hq choice. But options!! Aww yiss

Edited January 4, 2020 by Triszin

[chapter master 454]

Is that...a PULSE PISTOL in the sprue? Well there we go lads, we're done. She has the most powerful weapon in the Tau codex, thank goodness. Not like her Fusions would be of any good against anything.

 

Well, at least it will make for a good piece to put on another model.

[Triszin]

No, it's a light middle pod/ flachette pod.

 

And her fusions got super charged

[Panzer]

No, it's a light middle pod/ flachette pod.

 

And her fusions got super charged

No, she got a Pulse Pistol in the sprue as well.

Is that...a PULSE PISTOL in the sprue? Well there we go lads, we're done. She has the most powerful weapon in the Tau codex, thank goodness. Not like her Fusions would be of any good against anything.

 

Well, at least it will make for a good piece to put on another model.

 

Really weird thing to nitpick about. :huh:

[Triszin]

O.o

 

 

She does have a pulse pistol

[Triszin]

So flechette will probably be a mortal wound within 1" of her type system?

 

I. Assuming lmp, will be a 30" range

 

I wonder if the fusion blasters have a different range value.

[Panzer]

So flechette will probably be a mortal wound within 1" of her type system?

 

 

I doubt it. So far all the flechette stuff was some S4 AP0 shots as either assault or pistol weapon and some S4 AP0 melee attacks (one variation is twice the attack stat, the other is "amount of models within 1 inch unless your number of base attacks is higher").

[andes]

I'm very happy to see her sept-unlocked. I've been enjoying experimenting with Vior'la lately and she'll fit in nicely. Great looking model too.

[Triszin]

anyone else getting a "edge of tomorrow" vibe on Shadowsun's new armor? I hope they evolve the idea on future kits

[Bryan Blaire]

I just really don’t understand the 4 armed thing at all. :facepalm:

[TheMostGood]

I just really don’t understand the 4 armed thing at all. :facepalm:

My guess is that the suit has AI that auto targets for her so she can focus on other things when she’s busy or has other matters to attend to.

 

Imagine playing an RTS while also trying to play paintball at the same time. You couldn’t do it. But if you had a pair of robo arms on your back shooting your paintball gun, you could manage it.

 

I’m gonna throw out another wild guess. Her drones will be part of her unit much like how Aun’va’s bodyguard is part of his whole unit.

 

The write up said they’re supposed to add tactical use to her kit. They won’t be much use if they come down with her then form their own unit. They’ll just be shot off the board.

 

I think GW is also going to change how drones work in this book as well. My wild guess is that Drones that come with units will be part of that squad and won’t form a new one. However you can still do savior protocols in the same fashion but only for wounds in that squad. And I would assume even if wounds are already allocated to a unit other than the drone it can still be done.

 

This would be a good response to the current meta where spamming shield drones and riptides is cruise control for cool. It’s not fun for most involved and might help make it a more interesting and balanced list.

 

As for drone squads themselves. A buff would be sufficient. Perhaps +1 BS if you have over X amount in a dedicated squad? Something like that, but they lose the ability to savior protocol units that are not in their squad.

 

But that’s just my crazy guess.

[Bryan Blaire]

I can understand the potential AI thing, and that would be fine, but then why does she even need her real arms out there - it could be like a Crisis Suit, where she's 100% in the center pod. No need for real arms if all her weapons are on the two artificial arms anyway.

 

I think that's my real issue with the model - why aren't the weapons split amongst all four arms? Put the minor weapons on her real arms, the heavy weapons on the artificial arms, and then that way if she needs to not use her concentration for attacks, then at least she's only losing a bit of combat effectiveness.

[VanDutch]

As for drone squads themselves. A buff would be sufficient. Perhaps +1 BS if you have over X amount in a dedicated squad? Something like that, but they lose the ability to savior protocol units that are not in their squad.

 

But that’s just my crazy guess.

That would be useful on a squad of 6 missile drones supporting a broadside squad with a drone controller. Perhaps the minimum should be 7. EDIT - ah I guess they wouldn’t be what you call dedicated.

 

Reflecting on the only PA book I’ve bought, work was done to make lesser seen units more competitive (Sanguinary Guard). I think we’ll see some useful stratagems for Crisis Suits, Ghostkeels and Stealth Suits, and maybe some improvements for Tau flyers.

Edited January 5, 2020 by VanDutch

[TheMostGood]

I can understand the potential AI thing, and that would be fine, but then why does she even need her real arms out there - it could be like a Crisis Suit, where she's 100% in the center pod. No need for real arms if all her weapons are on the two artificial arms anyway.

 

I think that's my real issue with the model - why aren't the weapons split amongst all four arms? Put the minor weapons on her real arms, the heavy weapons on the artificial arms, and then that way if she needs to not use her concentration for attacks, then at least she's only losing a bit of combat effectiveness.

Crisis suit arms have retractable fingers on all models. From shas’ui to Shas’o.

[TheMostGood]

 

As for drone squads themselves. A buff would be sufficient. Perhaps +1 BS if you have over X amount in a dedicated squad? Something like that, but they lose the ability to savior protocol units that are not in their squad.

 

But that’s just my crazy guess.

That would be useful on a squad of 6 missile drones supporting a broadside squad with a drone controller. Perhaps the minimum should be 7. EDIT - ah I guess they wouldn’t be what you call dedicated.

 

Reflecting on the only PA book I’ve bought, work was done to make lesser seen units more competitive (Sanguinary Guard). I think we’ll see some useful stratagems for Crisis Suits, Ghostkeels and Stealth Suits, and maybe some improvements for Tau flyers.

That seems to be GW’s genuine goal is to make the game overall fun for everyone and with as many viable units as possible. So I think we can expect to see some changes with this book.

 

Although their gradual teasing of army buffs and new rules is antiquated and probably should not be done for the future.

 

While it’s fun to anticipate, it leaves a bad taste in the players mouth because they’re “not complete” when it comes to rules and playing the game itself.

 

No one wants to play with a “80% complete” army if that makes sense.

 

But going further with the drone change idea, it would also make some other solid changes to how units function.

 

It would make shielded missile drones viable for riptides. They haven’t been taken since like 6th edition. Perhaps buff it to two wounds per drone and keep the same points.

 

Ghostkeels will have an easier time managing their stealth drones since they would be part of the whole squad rather than separate and easy to pick off. This would also increase mobility of the model too since you don’t have to babysit drones or hide them out of LOS.

 

It makes drones like the guardian drone make more sense. What’s the use of a drone that buffs a squad if you can just kill the drone? And how useful is it on a squad that’s supposed to be mobile and getting into combat? It would be the first to go and provide almost not benefit.

 

This is just wild speculation of course. Hopefully tau get some good changes. They’re a strong army, but very singularly built without a lot of wiggle room. That’s one reason why shadowsun is going to be an “any sept” (NOT YOU FARSIGHT) unit. In all honesty I have no idea why they made most of the names people Tau only. Made no sense to me.