The background section is pretty nice, and covers usual aspects of Tau society and tactics, notable battles, Sept advancements, maps etc. so all quite comprehensive and enjoyable to read through.
Onto the actual gaming content and army lists... to be honest, I was expecting a lot more and my initial impressions were disappointing and a feeling of being downtrodden when looking back at the last few army codicies. So i'll cover the army list from a few aspects: New units\models and changed units\weapons. I've also done a comparison against the previous version of the Codex just to see where the army improves or gets nerfed (on paper, not necessarily on the gaming table).
New models
Firstly, it has to be said that sadly, one of the biggest complains of Tau players is the awful box design of the XV8 Crisis Suits has not been addressed by Games Workshop. This was a perfect opportunity to redesign these models and give them a more sleek and rounded design, more akin to the Forge World battlesuit variants.
Razorshark\Sun Shark - Going by per my previous wishlist from some time ago, this was quite disappointing. A new flyer kit builds both the Razorshark Fighter and Sun Shark Bomber. Both very visually similar and in my opinion doesn't convey the Tau design style at all. They look more like Imperial aircraft than Tau, with the standard aeroplane shape and wings. 4/10
XV88 Broadside Battlesuits - A much bulkier model than the previous version. However, the twin-linked railgun has been replaced with a single Heavy Rail Rifle. The kit also makes both Rail Rifle and High-Yield Missile Pod variants. Quite a nice model, comes on a 60mm base, but all a bit unnecessary.
XV08-02 Enforcer Crisis Suit - A larger variant of the XV8 for Commander\HQ. Better than the standard crisis suit and a single pose without conversion. Nothing special, really.
Fireblade - Quite a nice model, good armour detail and a reasonable pose.
Darkstrider - Again a nice model and pose and good to see an additional character into the army. A bit annoying to be a HQ choice and plug into a Fire Warrior or Pathfinder unit, however, when other armies have characters which are unit upgrades.
Longstrike - An upgrade character model which enhances a Hammerhead; using a new type of suit, more skin to Shadowsun, so looks quite high-tech and sleek. The tact that Longstrike is placed in the turret goes against the background of him being hard-wired into the Hammerhead, but the pose isn't too bad.
XV-104 Riptide Battlesuit - This model stands out as the best of the bunch, easily. At time of release, it was the largest standard 40K model GW had released (soon superceeded by the Eldar Wraithknight). A good pose and great looking weaponry. The whole model has quite a good design; the only gripe I have (backed up by GW with some weak background explanation) is the tiny head being out of proportion - the Forge World XV-107 variant gladly rectifies that :-) )
Unit, Weapon and Rules Changes
Naturally, there were a number of places I jumped to and was looking out for...all of which were sadly disappointing. I still can't believe that they had now changed the Kroot Rifle from Rapid Fire to Assault! ARGH! No characters or upgrades to change XV8's from Elite to Troop units. No jetbikes, no new battlesuit units, no new vehicles, sadly.
As far as weaponry goes, the Ion technology has been beefed up; so as well as standard shots, Ion weapons can be overcharged (adding +1 S) and Nova-charaged (for the Riptide, adding +2 S and large blast, etc.) Pathfinders are also allowed (up to 3 per unit) Ion Rifles as well as Rail Rifles. Another welcome change is Burst Cannons being increased from 3 to 4 shots, Rail Rifles going to AP1 and being Rapid Fire. Pulse Carbines are now Assault 2 and Kroot Rifles can take Sniper shots.
On the subject of Kroot, this is probably the area which I am most annoyed at. As well as the ridiculous stats for the Kroot Rifle, the actual Kroot Carnivores and Kroot Hounds have been reduced from Strength 4 to 3; so the Tau's only unit for any chance in close combat have been screwed over! Krootox also got hit by a point drop in Toughness and Attacks. I just can't understand why GW would decrease so much for a single unit.
Gun Drone Squadrons have increased in size from a maximum of 8 to 12 and can take any mix of Shield, Gun and Marker drones, and Pathfinders from 8 to 10 (as mentioned previously, allowing up to 3 special weapons from Rail Rifle and Ion Rifle, but now also having new drones (Pulse Accelerator Drone (increases Pulse weapon range by 6"), Grav-Inhibitor Drone (decreases enemy charge distance) and Recon Drone (homing beacon and positional relay)). Both Pathfinders and Fire Warriors also decrease 1 point cost per model and include Photon Grenades as standard.
One of the significant changes to the army is a new rule entitlted Supporting Fire: This allows most units within 6" of another to fire Overwatch charges to the enemy which is charging that unit. So gives a chance to certainlt thin down the number of models charging and possibly causing the charge to fail, depending on the angle and position of the firing units.
Ethereals and Fireblades can add an extra shot to the units they join. Ethereals now also have a choice of four powers each turn, called Invocation of the Elements).
Drones can now use the BS of a model which joins the unit and has a Drone Controller. Sniper Drone unit marksmen now have BS5 and have a Drone Controller as standard; thus all Sniper Drones are shooting at BS5 with the new Longshot Pulse Rifle (48" Rapid Fire, Sniper).
Longstrike is a great upgrade (at a mere 50 points) to a Hammerhead; giving BS5 and the ability to fire on Overwatch numerous times a turn.
So the big new model\unit is the XV104 Riptide, which can be equipped with the Ion Accelerator or Heavy Burst Cannon. Both are fantastic weapons, and with the Riptides high wounds, strength, toughness and 2+ save, it can be a formidable unit. The Riptide also has a Nova-Reactor which must be rolled for and one of the four powers chosen before use (there is also a danger of rolling a 1 and wounding the Riptide!); this can allow a Nova-charge to be used on a weapon, a Ripple Fire effect (roll twice) on the secondary weapon, a large boost move or a shield boost.
Farsight Enclaves
Now this is more like it and I had predicted this would be an upgrade before it was announced :-D So at last, Farsight is plugged back into the Tau Empire as a detachment as well as being able to be fielded as a stand-alone army. One of the rules which was "missing" from the main codex is included here, which allows XV8 Crisis Teams to be taken as Troop choices. There are some restrictions on units which can't be taken, such as Ethereals (understandably) but one of the best additions of the codex is the inclusion of "The Eight" as HQ, which consists of named characters made up of a Riptide, XV88, XV8-02 and XV8 suits. There are a number of upgrades to the army too, such as the Earth-Caste Pilot Array, which further enchance the army. Overall, a worthy and impressive book; nice rules, great background section and presentation. I was disappointed, however, that having read the digital version prior to getting the hardcopy, that the rules and stats had been removed from the latter!
Conclusion
So overall, quite a good update to the book and very pleased to see the Farsight Enclaves supplement. Having played a number of games, the Tau Empire stand up well in battle and still have the edge on weapon range and punch. They've lost any chance at close combat and Kroot are pretty useless, but some of the upgrades allow greater range of fire as well as inhibiting enemy charges.
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