Tau Rumours

[Lathe Biosas]

Wasn't that during the good times where if Tau Pope died, the rest of the army would try to run away?

[Griefbringer]

Back in the days of the early Tau codices, the loss of the Ethereal tended to cause morale checks all over the place - though Kroot, Vespids and drones were not affected.

 

This talk of Ethereals reminds me that the Cadre Fireblade is perhaps not the finest model in the range. That said, it is not particularly difficult to build your own versions with a Fire Warrior as a starting point.

[Galron]

Those were the fun days and also why no one used Ethereals. I still build a firewarrior and try a new camo paint scheme now and then but just never can get into it enough to do more than one. I have a cool idea for a 6th or so Tau army but without a scheme I like and can get into it seems like I might be able to hold off on buying more plastic crack to add to my evergrowing pile. 

 

Hazard suits though, if they follow the same aesthetic as the originals. Man, that would be hard to resist. They had some of the coolest fluff behind them. I might be willing to bring back my old Reaction Cadre, especially if they give us a Commander. I remember O'Ralai in one of my games fighting hand to hand with a Warlock and farseer bike blob and actually holding his own for multiple rounds back in 5th or 6th. The days where all the dozens of suit combinations had their own names based on the weapons used. You wanted long range support, you brought Deathrains with 2 missile pods and a flamer for just in case. High strength fire you brought Twin fusions and a plasma Sunforge suits. And you could bring them either in solo suit units or up to 3 mans.  

[Lathe Biosas]

2 hours ago, Galron said:

Those were the fun days and also why no one used Ethereals. I still build a firewarrior and try a new camo paint scheme now and then but just never can get into it enough to do more than one. I have a cool idea for a 6th or so Tau army but without a scheme I like and can get into it seems like I might be able to hold off on buying more plastic crack to add to my evergrowing pile. 

 

Hazard suits though, if they follow the same aesthetic as the originals. Man, that would be hard to resist. They had some of the coolest fluff behind them. I might be willing to bring back my old Reaction Cadre, especially if they give us a Commander. I remember O'Ralai in one of my games fighting hand to hand with a Warlock and farseer bike blob and actually holding his own for multiple rounds back in 5th or 6th. The days where all the dozens of suit combinations had their own names based on the weapons used. You wanted long range support, you brought Deathrains with 2 missile pods and a flamer for just in case. High strength fire you brought Twin fusions and a plasma Sunforge suits. And you could bring them either in solo suit units or up to 3 mans.  

 

You reminded me of my favorite bit from old editions of 40k. My guys couldn't go very fast towards the enemy... but when they failed a leadership test...  they could run from the enemy with blazing speed.

[Mogger351]

1 hour ago, Lathe Biosas said:

 

You reminded me of my favorite bit from old editions of 40k. My guys couldn't go very fast towards the enemy... but when they failed a leadership test...  they could run from the enemy with blazing speed.

More room to maneuver, generally lower lethality and imo a far more narrative experience back in rhe good old days.

[Orion]

On 11/1/2026 at 3:49 AM, Jukkiz said:

My hammerhead had zero fitting issues, as long as you make sure to dryfit parts, test to see in which order you do the assembly and have rubberbands to squish sides against chassis

 

Fitment of the chassis is ok, but what about the engines?

 

 

Before you say "skill issue" it's not mine.

 

This is mine:

 

but it takes effort.

 

Also, this is totally what the suits are going to look like:

On 11/2/2026 at 6:18 AM, Borbarad said:

The twin-lance and commander farsight are great templates to build the new iteration of crisis suits on. If they start looking anything like this, i might be tempted.

 

I'd love if they'd introduce a few non-Tau xenos auxiliaries. The Tau codexs is a good vehicle to introduce a few new xenos without needing ot create a whole faction.

 

[NapyDaWise]

I was thinking about the suits classification in t'au lore. What we know from the models are :

- XV1s (the previous stealth suits) are infantry armors basically

- XV2s (current stealth suits) are exosuits, basically power armor equivalent. They make you bigger than a standard T'au

- XV8s (the crisis, commanders and broadsides) They're all of the same class but are widely different in size. The commander looks the best out of all of them, the broadside looks like an armored up version of the commander battlesuit, but the crisis is way smaller. The crisis are actually closer in size to the stealth suits than the commander of their own weight class.

 

This means that there should be 5 unknown size class between the XV2s and XV8s, but the design space is too crowded.

 

I'm thinking they'll size up the crisis suits, keep them at 3 per squad and make them more elite (which imo they need). Then the Impact might be, hopefully, a XV4 or 5 battlesuit, close in size to the current crisis suits but with lighter equipement. If the XV26 are the stealth suits, the XV8 the deepstrike suit, the impact battlesuits might be scouts, going fast with close range weaponry?

 

I don't want more knight sized battlesuits, I think we have enough currently with the riptide, ghostkeel and stormsurge. 

[Mogger351]

59 minutes ago, NapyDaWise said:

I was thinking about the suits classification in t'au lore. What we know from the models are :

- XV1s (the previous stealth suits) are infantry armors basically

- XV2s (current stealth suits) are exosuits, basically power armor equivalent. They make you bigger than a standard T'au

- XV8s (the crisis, commanders and broadsides) They're all of the same class but are widely different in size. The commander looks the best out of all of them, the broadside looks like an armored up version of the commander battlesuit, but the crisis is way smaller. The crisis are actually closer in size to the stealth suits than the commander of their own weight class.

 

This means that there should be 5 unknown size class between the XV2s and XV8s, but the design space is too crowded.

 

I'm thinking they'll size up the crisis suits, keep them at 3 per squad and make them more elite (which imo they need). Then the Impact might be, hopefully, a XV4 or 5 battlesuit, close in size to the current crisis suits but with lighter equipement. If the XV26 are the stealth suits, the XV8 the deepstrike suit, the impact battlesuits might be scouts, going fast with close range weaponry?

 

I don't want more knight sized battlesuits, I think we have enough currently with the riptide, ghostkeel and stormsurge. 

I was sure that they covered the numbered differences in the past at some point. There is apparently reference to a "The XV-46 Vanguard Void Battlesuit is fairly bulky model, though smaller than the Crisis and Broadside Battlesuits. Its primary function is the exploration of derelict starships. There is a more advanced and heavily protected variant of this battlesuit used by Shas'el ranked T'au or higher called XV-46-4 Vanguard Commander Variant Void Battlesuit." in Deathwatch: Ark of Souls.

Longstrike wore a variation of the XV02 suit which are augmented overalls as well.

[Mogger351]

Well the warhound existing now justifies the rest of this I think.

[Jukkiz]

We have couple of tidbits about "inbetween suits"

The XV-46 Vanguard Void Battlesuit is fairly bulky model, though smaller than the Crisis and Broadside Battlesuits. Its primary function is the exploration of derelict starships. There is a more advanced and heavily protected variant of this battlesuit used by Shas'el ranked T'au or higher called XV-46-4 Vanguard Commander Variant Void Battlesuit

The XV02 Pilot Battlesuit is an small battlesuit intended to be worn by T'au vehicle pilots. Currently it is in trials, with Longstrike as a test subject. 

[apologist]

Here's a pic of the XV02 suit on the Longstrike model, for anyone whose interest was piqued :)

 

 

 

I agree that I'd love to see more xenos auxiliaries and smaller suits than big stuff. The suits currently in the range are nice – I'd happily keep those going rather than replace them.

Edited Thursday at 04:03 PM by apologist

[Lathe Biosas]

19 minutes ago, apologist said:

 

 

Why does Longstrike look like he's a DJ at a club? 

 

Edited Thursday at 04:22 PM by Lathe Biosas
...

[Griefbringer]

23 minutes ago, Lathe Biosas said:

Why does Longstrike look like he's a DJ at a club? 

 

Because somebody has to play music for the rumoured forthcoming super-poseable "B-boy" battlesuits when they get into a battle?

 

In the meantime, you can already have him accompany commander "Fly-girl" Shadowsun, showing the moves that can be done while wearing a XV-22 stealth battlesuit.

 

Just watch out for the "Epic Break Battles of the 41st Millennium" supplement!

[Jukkiz]

1 hour ago, Lathe Biosas said:

 

Why does Longstrike look like he's a DJ at a club? 

 

 

"Yo dawg, pop that tank ova dere!"

[01RTB01]

1 hour ago, Lathe Biosas said:

 

Why does Longstrike look like he's a DJ at a club? 

 

 

Not a club, but he did a cracking set list at Aun'Va's funeral that never happened as he didn't die. 

[The Lost Son]

I never realised Long strike had legs. 

I remember when the tau were released being indifferent to them but they've grown on me over the years. If the new suits have a FW vibe I'd probably be swayed or just slightly longer legs they look like fun modelling projects in themselves just slightly disproportionate to themselves.

[Hfran Morkai]

I'd love to see a Generic Stealth Commander with some weapon options.

 

Because I like Stealthsuits.