Today it’s the turn of the T’au Empire to receive their updated rules for use in Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition. Games Workshop let us have an early peek at the new Index Adeptus Custodes and you’ll find our thoughts below.

Over the next week Games Workshop will be releasing the free 10th Edition rules for every faction in Warhammer 40k over on Warhammer Community! Every army will be getting a set of Index cards (That will also be available to buy later) covering the rules for each datasheet, along with the Army Rules, Detachment rules for a single detachment plus all the enhancements and stratagems!

If you want to add to your T’au Empire and also support the site why not order through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

Also check out our 10th Edition 40k Coverage on the site and below on YouTube.

Army Rules

As with all other factions in 10th edition, the T’au now have a much more streamlined set of army rules. No surprises really that the T’au Empire’s rule is called For The Greater Good that will see you using your units in pairs, nominating a unit to be an Observer unit and a second to be a Guided unit. When the Guided unit targets a nominated enemy Spotted unit it will benefit from a number of bonuses such as +1 to hit and Ignores Cover. Watch out though as you’ll be penalised for targetting a non-spotted unit!

The T’au also get a new re-worked set of Drone rule which now act as an upgrade for individual models within a unit, the Drones themselves acting merely as ‘tokens’ to represent said upgrades. Gun Drones grant the upgraded unit an additional ranged weapon option whereas the Shield Drone adds 1 to the Wounds characteristic of the bearer. Note though that Tactical Drones can still be taken as a unit, which, may be a bit confusing on the battlefield.

Kauyon Detachment

Detachment rules have also changed quite a bit in 10th edition with each faction gaining access to a single faction-specific Detachment (although I suspect we’ll see more options as Codexes are published). Ordinarily there are no longer any ‘army-build’ restrictions imposed upon the player when using a Detachment although T’au are slightly different here in that you are not able to mix Commander Farsight or Ethereal units in the same army – they still don’t get along it seems. The Kauyon is the T’au Empire Detachment rule (I suspect we’ll see Mont’ka at some point in the future too) and grants all models in the army (including vehicles and such) and grants all models the Sustained Hits 1 ability from the third battle round, increasing to Sustained Hits 2 if that unit has been selected as a Guided unit.

Kauyon Enhancements

Enhancements are a new concept in Warhammer 40,000 10th edition and essentially bring together a number of Warlord Traits, Relics and other ‘unit upgrades’ from across the different 9th edition books. The Enhancements themselves are associated with the aforementioned Kauyon Detachment and are only availble to make use of if you have selected this specifc Detachment. Only Characters (not including Epic Heroes) can be upgraded with Enhancements and they are limited to just a single choice (although you can take up to three across your entire army).

Exemplar of the Kauyon is a nice upgrade that allows the unit to which the bearer is attached to benefit from the Kauyon from the second battle round onwards! Puretide Engram Neurochip allows you to re-use a Stratagem that may already have been used on a different unit. Precision of the Patient Hunter works in conjunction with teh Kauyon bonuses to grant a +1 to hit for ranged attacks and and additional +1 to wound rolls for ranged attacks from the third battle round onward.

Through Unity, Devistation buffs the attached unit’s performance when selected as an Observer unit, graning the Lethal Hits ability to their Guided unit counterpart!

Kauyon Stratagems

The selection of Stratagems have also been trimmed for all factions in 10th edition with just six (in addition to those in the Core Rulebook) available to the Adeptus Custodes – these being locked behind the Kauyon Detachment.

Stimm Injectors can be used to boost the defence of your Battlesuit units by granting them the Feel No Pain 6+ ability when targeted with a ranged attack. Coordinate To Engage can be used to allow a Observer unit to benefit from thge Observer bonuses when targettng the nominated Spotted unit.

Strike and Fade brings back memories of the ;jump-shoot-jump abilities of yesteryear, allowing a Battlesuit unit to make a normal move after shooting. Point-Blank Ambush grants an AP bonus to a selected unit when firing at close range (although you have to wait until battle round three onwards before you can make use of it.

Photon Grenades can be used to deter enemy charges, inflicting a Battle-shock test and reducing the enemy’s Charge roll! Finally Combat Embarkation is a really fun pick that allows a unit that has been targetted by a charge to jump into a friendly Transport!

Key Units

Index T’au Empire contains all the relevant Datasheets which are now all available over on the Warhammer Community website for you to download and digest at your leisure. Every Datasheet has been updated in some way and there are plenty of synergies and devastating combinations to discover.

The standard Commander unit retains access to multiple weapon loadouts and support systems and provides a couple of nice buffs to his unit of Battlesuits in the form of a re-rolls and the ability to fall back and still fire their weapons. The different versions of the Commander unit each provide a cool bonus, such as the Enforcer variety which reduce the AP of incoming ranged attacks for him and his unit.

Broadside Battlesuits are solid units, boasting the Feel No Paint 4+ ability against mortal wounds and a toughness of 6 with a 2+ save. Kroot Carnivores are not to be sniffed at, especially when joined by a Kroot Shaper which bestows the Feel No Pain 6+ ability.