Warhammer 40,000
Tau Empire
FORCES OF THE TAU This section of the book details the forces used by the Tau – their weapons, the units, and the famous special characters you can use, such as High Commander Shadowsun or Master Shaper Laqi of Pech. Each entry describes the unit and gives rules to use them in your games of Warhammer 40,000. As such, the army list later refers to the page numbers of these entries, so you can easily check back as you pick a force. The Forces of the Tau section is sub-divided into to two parts. The first part describes all of the troops and vehicles fielded by the Tau, including details the special characters that lead them, while the second part details the highly advanced Tau weaponry and equipment.
EQUIPMENT The army list at the back of the book shows all the standard and optional wargear available to a particular model. You will find that some items of equipment are unique to particular entries while others are used by more than one unit. When an item is unique, it is detailed in the following entry for its owner, and where an item is not unique, it is detailed in the wargear section. A good example is the Dawn Blade, a powerful artifact wielded by O’Shovah, High Commander of the Farsight Enclaves. As such, its rules are detailed in O’Shovah’s entry. O’Shovah also has a plasma rifle, a common weapon found on Tau battlesuits, and so its rules are to be found in the wargear section
TAU SPECIAL RULES The models in the Tau army use a number of special rules that are common to more than one unit, as specified in the individual entries that follow. Given here are either the details of those rules or a reference to where you can find them.
TAU COMMANDER Every Tau army must be led by a model with this special rule.
INDEPENDENT CHARACTER See Characters, in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.
INFILTRATE, FEEL NO PAIN, MOVE THROUGH COVER, SCOUT, ETERNAL WARRIOR, SLOW AND PURPOSEFUL, RAGE, COUNTER-ATTACK, FLEET, RENDING, FURIOUS CHARGE, NIGHT VISION/ACUTE SENSES, PREFERRED ENEMY, STEALTH, TANK HUNTERS All these rules are detailed in the Universal Special Rules, in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.
Contingent Commander (Tau: Shas’o) All members of the Fire Caste start at the rank of shas'saal, and slowly work there way up to the rank of Shas'el if they are skilled enough to survive. However, mere survival skills are not enough to be promoted to the rank of Shas'o. It requires a conscious knowledge of the Tau way of war, and the ability to wield it too its full potential. It also requires absolute mastery of battlesuit operation and, most importantly, utter devotion to the Greater Good. On the battlefield, a Contingent Commander sows destruction to the enemies of the Tau'va wherever his attention turns. Equipped with the latest technology that the Earth Caste has designed, and with a mastery of battlesuit mechanics, the Contingent Commander is ranged combat leviathan, making all enemies wary of approaching him. In addition, they have the most advanced combat control systems of the Tau. These include the Command and Control Node, and possibly the Positional Relay, both which give the Tau Shas'os unparalleled tactical control over the flow of the Tau forces. It is this that has made facing a High Commander truly devastating to the enemy. Shas'os are not really born. They are made. Once promoted to the rank of Shas'el, they may either choose to stay at this rank and guide the cadre they have always known to victory, or to face the hardships of learning to use multiple cadres during grand campaigns. Only through successful victory does a
Shas'el even get consideration for the promotion to Shas'o, and even then, final decision rests with the Ethereals. When a Shas'el has succeeded every trial his mentor has set before him, and recommendation is sent to the Ethereal accompanying the cadre. If the recommendation is accepted, the Ethereal will assign the aspiring Shas'o one more task to accomplish. The Aun himself will take to the field of battle to watch the Shas'el, watching every move with an intensity that only the Ethereals can do. Once the battle is over, and the objective was complete in no uncertain terms, the Ethereals will grant the esteemed rank of Contingent Commander. Once given this rank, a Shas'o will be put in charge of their original cadre, and at least two others, forming a contingent. From here on, the three cadres (possibly more) will operate together to perform the missions designated by the Ethereals for the Greater Good. It is a fearful sight indeed to know that a Tau Contingent Commander is on the battlefield, because it means that the Tau will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Shas’o
WS BS S 4 6 5
T 4
W I A Ld Sv 4 3 3 10 3+
SPECIAL RULES Tau Commander, Independent Character. Under the Cover of Darkness: A Shas’o is capable of leading his forces to attack just at the break of dawn, to better disorientate the enemy forces. If a Tau army includes a Shas’o and goes first, the first turn (the first two turns in a Dawn of War mission) are fought using the Night Fighting Mission Special Rules. Battlesuit Master: The skill with which Contingent Commanders wield a battlesuit is legend. A Contingent Commander may choose two of the same weapon (paying full price for both). This can only be used on weapons which have the option to be twin-linked.
Wargear Special Issue Wargear: Contingent Commanders are constantly field testing new equipment, and have access to items the rest of the army doesn’t. View the next page for details.
Special Issue Wargear Rail Repeater: A battlesuit version of the railrifle, this
Ejection System: This system provides a
makes a mockery of almost any armoured foe. Range Strength AP Type 36” 6 3 Heavy 2
chance for the pilot to escape catastrophic damage to his battlesuit, although the Ethereals are still dubious about its use.
Saturation Grenade Launcher: A much more
If the user is killed from a shooting attack that does not cause Instant Death, the pilot is deployed from the battlesuit as if Deep Striking, centered on where the battlesuit was. A 1 is always rolled on the Deep Strike Mishap Table.
powerful version of the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, this has proven to be most remarkable at flushing out enemy infantry. Range Strength AP Type 24” 5 4 Assault1, Large Blast, Ignores Cover* *Cover saves cannot be taken against Saturation Grenade Launcher.
The profile of the pilot has 2 less Strength, 1 less Toughness, and it has 1 Wound and no Armour Save and is armed with a Pulse Pistol.
XV81 Battlesuit: A powerful variant of the Iridium Armour: Like its counter part, Iridium Plating,
Crisis suit capable of laying down a hail of fire.
Iridium Armour is designed to increase the resilience of the XV8 Crisis Battlesuits. While it is not as effective at stopping the enemy's most powerful anti-tank weapons, it has proven effective at doubling the life of the wearer against less powerful weapons.
It comes equipped with a Smart Missile System, and can select two further Crisis Suit Combat Systems.
XV84 Battlesuit: A second variant of the It grants the user a 2+ Armour Save.
Crisis suit. This one focuses more on guiding the Tau forces to victory.
Iridium Plating: The Tau battlesuits offer an incredible amount of protection to the pilot, sometimes it is not enough. Enemy weapons normally designed to attack tanks are sometimes used against battlesuits, with disastrous results. As such, the Earth Caste designed a plating system that would be able to resist these attacks. The design was the Iridium Plating, a system that closes the intrinsic weaknesses of a Crisis suit.
It comes with a Fire Support Relay System and Target Lock. It may select three Crisis Suit Combat Systems.
It grants the wearer the Eternal Warrior USR against shooting attacks.
It raises the Toughness of the wearer to 5.
Stimulant Injectors: Still controversial among the Fire Caste, this piece of wargear pumps the user full of drugs to make them far more resistant to pain than normal. It grants the Feel No Pain USR to the user.
XV89 Battlesuit: The most recently developed XV8 variant, it focuses on increasing the defense of the wearer.
Crisis Suit Combat Systems Airbursting Fragmentation Projector: This
Missile Pod: An arm or shoulder mounted
weapon scatters a large amount of smaller bomblets over a wide area at a specific height calculated by an internal AI. Range Strength AP Type 18” 4 5 Assault 1, Large Blast, Ignores Cover* *Cover saves cannot be taken against Saturation Grenade Launcher.
multiple missile delivery system, missile pods are used to engage light vehicles. Range Strength AP Type 36” 7 2 Assault 2
Plasma Rifle: Though plasma technology is used by many races, the Tau have ensured that it doesn’t hurt their users. Range Strength AP Type 24” 6 2 Assault 2

Tau Codex 8th Edition Pdf