Okay, time for Codex: Tauist Monks
Wait, hang on, that's not right.
You know how we start things by now: if a unit has the Bondage Ritual, they get Heroic Morale even if they don't have a character. Ethereals give a bubble to all Tau, where they use his Ld, but if an Ethereal is killed in a mission that uses VP, the enemy gets one extra point. Any unit that has 3 vehicles or Monstrous Creatures has +1 BS (not including their drones). And finally, units with the Supporting Fire special rule can Overwatch for units within 6". Now any given unit can still Overwatch only once, but you can totally have one enemy unit charge one unit, and three squads Overwatch them in the face.
I'll also explain Markerlights, because they are important. If something has a Markerlight weapon, that's 3 feet Heavy 1. If you hit, there's no damage, it just places a token on the target for the rest of that phase. Any other unit can then "use" those tokens: anything firing a Destroyer Missile can change the Strength from 8 to D (1 per missile), you can spend X to increase your BS by X (even for Snap Shots), you can Ignore Cover (2 tokens), and you can fire one Seeker Missile per token (no LoS needed, BS 5, Ignores Cover, fired beyond the usual weapons-per-turn limit of the vehicle). If you're not making full use of these, you're a chump. It's your shtick.
What the hell, let's also talk about Drones:
They're mostly 2/2/3/4/1/4/1/7/4+ and move like Jet Pack Infantry. If a unit is only Drones, they are not Scoring even though "having a bunch of sentry turrets guarding the Thing and shooting anyone who approaches" is a great way of actually holding an objective. I guess you're supposed to assume the Objectives aren't just tactical locations, but they're crates of loot and data nodes and shit and you need people to sit and interact with them.
"Is anyone there?"
If a unit takes Drones, they count as extra dudes for basically all purposes. But they can't purchase options (and thus don't pay for them), so if "all members of X squad can take EMP grenades for 1 point each", you aren't forced to (and cannot choose to) pay those points to put them on Drones.
If an Independent Character has Drones, he can still join units, and his Drones join as well. If he then gets killed, his Drones join the other unit. If he is killed otherwise, they remain a unit (and can be joined by another Independent Character who cannot then join another unit and still take them). The unit is only wiped out when the Drones are too.
Drones can be attached to vehicles, and can then just detach. They are ignored for the purpose of Victory Points, and if they are still attached when the vehicle Gets Rekt, they are destroyed as well. When attached, they get to shoot as though they were embarked passengers with their own fire points, but have to shoot the same target as the vehicle.
There's a gun drone with Supporting Fire and a Twin Pulse Carbine.
There's a gun drone with Supporting Fire and a Missile Pod.
There's a gun drone with Supporting Fire, a Missile Pod and a Shield Generator.
There's a gun drone with Supporting Fire, a Burst Cannon, a Homing Beacon, and Positional Relay.
There's a drone with Supporting Fire and a Markerlight.
There's a drone with a Shield Generator.
There's a drone with a Pulse Accelerator to boost the Pulse weapons of its squad.
There's a drone with a Gravity Wave Projector.
There's a drone with a better Shield Generator (3++)
There's a drone that lets nearby units re-roll 1s to hit when shooting
There's a drone that grants a 6++ to its whole unit (5++ to itself and to models with field amplifiers)
So drones also play a big part in tactics and in unit customisation.
NOW we can move on to Warlord Traits: enemies can't Look Out Sir!*, 1/game bubble of re-roll 1s to hit when shooting, 3d6" Jet Pack Jumps*, 1/game all Gone to Ground units just jump to their feet and act normally, 1/game gain Skyfire, no-Scatter Deep Strike*
*If you lack the wargear for this to actually apply, re-roll
So half of them are 1/game things. And they're not shitty, admittedly. The other half depend on your load-out but can be re-rolled if they're literally useless for you. The Deep Striking is technically 1/game too, because you can't jump in and out. So I can see people using it, especially seeing as they'll obviously have a re-roll, I mean, who doesn't?
So far I wouldn't say it's bad. Actually, I like the Markerlights and cooperative elements. It helps with making a synergistic army that isn't just "The best Heavy choice" and "The best Fast choice". But you haven't even seen the actual units yet. So let's move on to some of those.
Actually first, let's look at their Decurion:
1+ Core (Hunter Cadre, but the wording leaves open the possibility of future books adding new Core choices)
0-1 Command per Core (Contingent Headquarters)
1-10 Auxiliary per Core:
-Optimised Stealth Cadre
-Retaliation Cadre
-Allied Advance Cadre
-Firebase Support Cadre
-Drone Network (just a unit of Drones, nothing special)
-Air Caste Support Cadre
-Assigned Air Caste Asset (just a Sun Shark Bomber or Razorshark Strike Fighter)
-Infiltration Cadre
-Heavy Retribution Cadre
-Armoured Interdiction Cadre
The benefits are the Warlord Trait re-roll, and any number of units can choose to all shoot the same target at the same time, being treated as one unit. This means they get to share Markerlight expenditures. Futhermore, if 3+ units do this at a time, they get +1 BS. SCORE! That alone is very nice, and if you were going to take 1 Commander, 3 basic Troops, 1 Battlesuit squad, a Fast Attack squad and a Heavy Support squad anyway, then just straight-up do this.
HQ
Commander
Here's hoping GW images can be hotlinked. It's a defensively bulky model that is Jet Pack Infantry with Supporting Fire. It can take a variety of special weapons and stuff, and can also be upgraded to the XV86 Coldstar with a Missile Pod and a very shooty High Output Burst Cannon. The Coldstar can choose to move like a Flying Monstrous Creature, but without all the other stuff. So basically they can become hard to hit, move really far, and accurately shoot Flyers. That isn't a bad option, but it IS an expensive one.
The big bits on the backs of the shoulders are the bits that make it a Coldstar. It's just an option in the plastic kit.
Ethereal
Weak statline. Stubborn. Each turn you choose a different element, granting an effect to a bubble:
-Earth: Feel no Pain 6+
-Fire: Pulse weapons (including Kroot Rifles with Pulse rounds. Not including Pulse Bombs, Pulse Driver Cannons or Pulse Blastcannons) get an extra shot when at half range.
-Wind: can Run and then fire Snap Shots (not as cool as Eldar haha)
-Water: Stubborn
-Heart: sorry, it was omitted
They can take a few options. They have handy support abilities, but they're pretty squishy for a model that awards extra points when slain, and the fact is there are HQ choices that have mecha suits and Jump Jets.
Character: Commander Farsight
So it's the Battlesuit, with a Plasma Rifle, Shield Generator, and Preferred Enemy (Orks). Also has a special close combat weapon: S 5 AP 2 Armourbane.
Character: Commander Shadowsun
Special Stealth Suit (Jet Pack) with a 3+/5++ and two Fusion Blasters that can be used at different targets. Infiltrate, Stealth, Shrouded, and if she joins Stealth Suits, they auto-pass Look Out Sir! rolls. Can also take some Drones.
Character: Aun'Shi
Ethereal with an Honour Blade, Photon Grenades, EMP Grenades, a Shield Generator, and in a challenge he has to choose between re-rolling all failed Saves or gaining Rending.
Character: Space Pope Aun'va
Well he has more Wounds, and also comes with some bodyguards, which is something I guess. Also, whenever he suffers an Unsaved Wound, he then rolls 1d6, and if he rolls equal to or higher than the AP value, the Wound is discarded - so he always ignores AP 1 hits, he never ignores AP - hits (though his Armour Save can help there), and I guess you want to hit him with that (1/3 chance from the Armour Save) or with AP 5 because that's only a 1/3 chance to ignore while still denying his Armour Save. He gets to use two elements per turn, and the whole army re-rolls Leadership Tests while he's alive.
If you were taking an Ethereal, it's only twice as expensive to take this guy, who actually survives more, and gives a much better effect. I mean he practically gives literally twice the benefits and has twice the Wounds (plus guards), but the extra defensive stuff is a bonus. Also he looks like the pope which is kind of funny.
Cadre Fireblade
If you're on a budget for HQ choices but want to survive a bit more than an Ethereal and don't want to give free VP to the enemy, take this. Pulse Rifle, Markerlight, Photon Grenades, 4+ Save, 3 Wounds, Split Fire, and when you attach him to a unit and that unit stands still, their Pulse Rifles and Pulse Carbines fire an extra shot in the Shooting Phase. Stacks with the power of Fire, for something like 4 shots/turn.
Character: Darkstrider
Scouting, Outflanking character who can only join Breachers, Strike Teams and Pathfinders, and after firing Overwatch, his unit gets to make an extra 1d6" shimmy, before the enemy rolls charge distance, which can really fuck their plans up. That bit is awesome. When shooting enemies with Toughness (but not Snap-Shooting), the enemy has -1 T (against his shots and those of his unit). Yes, it explicitly says this affects Instant Death thresholds, so you can Instant-Death Eldar/Human/Tau heroes with T 3.
Tune in next time for Troops and maybe Elite.