Get Ready the Paranoia Train!

Can you believe it! We are only a few short weeks away from some new Warhammer 40k! I know it seems like a long time, three months to be exact, with Sigmar having sucked all the life out Fantasy, will Tau do the same for 40k? My unease with the Tau release is part self interest, but mostly general 40k game health issues.

I can’t help it, but consider where these feelings are coming from.

My biggest fears when it comes to the Tau are two-fold, one is rules based, and one is priced based. As I watched the ridiculous Sigmar prices, I began to wonder what will the prices be for the new Tau? We just got the price for Skarbrand and he is more expensive than the regular Bloodthirster. As for the Tau, they look to be getting new Fire Warriors, a Riptide, Commander, and maybe new Crisis Suits. If Sigmar is any indication that new Riptide model will easily break $100 bucks. Still, with all the pricing schemes GW has put us through, they have for the most part added in value like extra bits. It seems though to fast approaching the point of no return, where it can’t be justified, even for someone who often defends GW prices, it is starting to hit my limits. If the Tau show the same spike like the Sigmar releases you can expect some serious backlash. Luckily for GW, the Tau are consistently the second best selling army behind Space Marines, so from the collector standpoint they won’t be hurting.

My bigger fear when it comes to the Tau are the rules; ever since the Necron release we have seen a decidedly different type of 7th edition codex, with large linked formations and free upgrades/models. The Tau constantly been a very powerful codex at release, worse they usually disrupt everything that came before it. I often point out Tau did more to hurt Dark Angels the last go around than the Space Marines codex that followed. Will the same story repeat itself? Tau are the shootest army; will GW just give them all Ignore Cover, more likely we will see some detachment with free model giveaways.

These quiet few months have provided time for meta to settle down a bit and people to complete projects. The Tau could be the start of another big arms race, something I don’t think the game needs right now.

Another thing has me a bit uneasy: Chaos Daemons and Chaos Space Marines. I am starting to think we are very far away from an update for either of those two armies. The Khorne Daemonkin should have been the first warning. The changes were few, no unit point costs changed, and units like Kharn were inexplicably left out. The codex was basically a tie in product for the new Bloodthirster, which makes me believe it was made without any idea of what a future CSM or Daemons codex would look like. As the Tzeentch Daemonkin rumor continues to be proven false you just have to wonder, what are GW priorities when it comes the “evil factions”? The fluff changes to Slaanesh in Sigmar hasn’t helped the matter.

No one really knows, for all we know the Tau codex won’t even have any points for units, leaving you to Sigmar you way through army design. This is actually the most annoying part, it has gotten so bad we actually have to entertain the idea GW will just do something that crazy. The zero communication really does hurt the company and even the most sane players. It gives an easily filled space for fear mongering and second guessing GW decisions, because they have no one to stand up and say what is true or not true.

Meaning we are just left with vague feelings and “educated guesses” but more often than not GW idea of educated isn’t the same as the rest of the world. Personally, it makes me think GW is going to spring another big change on us. Leaving us to hope for the best, but expect the worst.