It's come to my attention that there are several experimental armies 'in the works' for Tau. I have an army to paint this Christmas and I'm facing the tough decision of which Sept to choose. Here are my initial thoughts.

I notice some lists don't include Kroot, I like Kroot. (I was going for Farsight until I noticed this).

I would also like to see other Tau allies (humans, squats, vespids ect), but I don't see these in lists.

I don't want T'au, not a fan of the colour scheme, prefer Sae'cea*

What do the experimental lists bring in terms of flavour?

Can Tau players please help me choose

P.s. I've seen battle reports with riptide minis, we're they from?

The Riptides are in the new Vior'la Tau list, which will be going from Experimental to Developmental status within the week. It doesn't include kroot, but this list does include other features from the new 40K Tau codex, including Sunshark Bombers and Cadre Fireblades.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=24822

While the majority of the units have the same stats and costs as the primary Tau 3rd Phase Expansion army, it's designed to allow a more aggressive, in-your-face approach due to some tweaks and upgradeable units.
Which Tau list is best really depends on how you like to play and what suits your approach to games. 3rd Phase is the oldest and best established, and FloKa is a tank-heavy list, and Vior'la have more elite infantry (if you're wiling to pay for them) and new units.

Regarding colour scheme, Vior'la is different from the majority of Septs:

Sept Colours
Bright red
Uniform Variations
Bone white, greenish gray

It is a notorious Fire Caste world containing a centuries old academy that is reputed as the most respected in the empire. The warriors produced here are especially aggressive and skilled in the art of death. The sept warriors of Vior'la are usually painted with hot colours, like red and orange, and usually have many Fire Warriors and Battlesuits.

Thanks for the detailed reply Matt.

My question about the Riptides referred to the minis, are there FW or proxies?

As for the Vior'la army, I love it and would use it if it included Kroot. Why no Kroot? Vespids?

Am I right in thinking that the 3rd phase list is the only Kroot inclusive list? Sorry about my Kroot obsession, I've just purchased a load and want to put them to use. I guess I could paint the army as Vior'la and use both lists (with and without Kroot).

from the looks of it they're DRM battlesuits like these

an alternative may be to scratch-build your own from 40k fire-warrior bits.... IIRC the scale is about right for a 2DC war engine

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I painted mine to fit in with the basing I've used for all my armies (kind of fall/dry season). I did this because Tau seem to actually use camouflage unlike most 40k armies. I intend to paint the round symbol on the left arm in a red color.

That's right, they are DRM Velites http://www.darkrealmminiatures.co.uk/st ... =11&page=1

Note there are 4 in a packet - I didn't realise that when I ordered, and now have 16 waiting to be painted.

@Borka those look great, absolutely fantastic.

Paint it in the colors you like best. Nothing's stopping you from using whatever list you like - most septs are big enough to fight in many different ways on the Epic scale.

These look great Borka. I think I'd rather mine stand-out.

Onslaught makes some good proxies ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Most importantly which colours do you like the look of the most? You're going to have to paint an army of them and you want them to look their best. Another factor for me when deciding colourschemes is what colours my other epic armies are. For example I like the look of the red sisters of battle colourscheme, but I won't use it as I have more red armies/units than any other (Saim-hann Eldar, Ad-Mech, Khorne, Evil Sunz orks).

I think stats were made for Vespid and Gue'vesa (allied human infantry that have been gifted better armour than the Imperium provides) but for friendly games only, rather than being added to the core list. So long as you weren't abusing the option I would have no problem with an opponent including allied aliens along with the Tau in a friendly game (counting towards the allied aircraft 1/3 though to have a drawback to them).

Most, but not all, Tau armies go for camoflaged colours. They could fight on a range of weird and wonderful worlds so could have quite bright or unusual colours and still be camoflaged for their particular alien world type. I plan to have a bright orange Tau army, on jungle bases (I figure the orange would be camoflaged for another planet's conflict but they've had to come quickly to respond to an attack on their allied kroot's planet and they haven't had a chance to change).

Have you read the background for the different septs for the Tau Codexes? (can be found online too) That can play a factor to sometimes if there's something interesting or you like the sound of. I was thinking of going Bork'an at one point as they have a lot of universities and learning.

Thanks GlynG, sounds like you and I have very similar considerations when it comes to armies. My issue with the camouflaged armies is that they don't stand out on the table I've had games were I've forgotten to move units because I lost sight of them on the table. Lol. That being said I do like the Vior'la fluff and colour scheme(s), the light green would actually be considered camouflaged with the base colours I use. With the GW battlemat green as a backdrop, these should work fine.

My plan is to paint up a number of Devilfish and Fire Warriors in several schemes and compare. So far I plan to include: Vior'la (green and white), Farsight Enclaves (deep red) and Sa'cea (blue grey).

That's the why camo works ... you don't stand out, you blend in, you're not a target ... If I wanted to paint models that stand out I'd paint race cars and circus figures ... And yes, I am making fun of you ... I make fun of all new guys that paint anything in circus colors ... It's what I do !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

I like to make the bases blend into the table terrain as well, so use a mixture of medium dark acrylic and sand - and have managed to get my opponent to miss camouflaged scouts before now

Ok! I may add some camo sections to my tanks. Lol

Don't let them get to you. Yes camo is realistic and any sensible military would do everything they can to make their units as invisible as possible. But this is a miniatures game and the point is to play with our cool toy soldiers. What's the point of using miniatures if you can't even see them during the game. May as well play with counters instead of miniatures.

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