# Operation Shadowtalon Box and Tau Breacher Team



## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Haven't see a mention of this until now over on BoLS. A new campaign supplement set in the Damocles Gulf involving RG and Tau, including a new SM captain mini and plastic Ethereal. It seems slightly different to previous campaign supplements in that the two forces come boxed separately as oppose to all in the one box. Also, some juicy new terrain including a defence line and turret.










































Also, pics of the new Tau Fire Warrior breacher team, complete with plasma shotguns.


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## DeathJester921 (Feb 15, 2009)

Gonna have to get my hands on the space marines when this gets released. Not a fan of the helmet on the captain though. A bit too goofy looking for my taste


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

oooh another campaign box. I might have to get that.


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## Xabre (Dec 20, 2006)

The only thing I'm liking so far of the new Tau release is the new fortifications.

I think it's time to maybe get out of Tau.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

This has been a yawn-worthy slip back into 40k releases with the exception of army specific terrain pieces.

Good job finding the pics that (seem to, anyway) confirm that there will be Tau specific terrain!

EDIT:

AND it will be 'mobile'...whatever that means.


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## Einherjar667 (Aug 23, 2013)

If they'd lead and hyped up this boxed set, it would have been a pretty epic release. Not that I'm unhappy with it, I think the Ghostkeel is pretty cool, and am thoroughly looking forward to the new Crisis suit set. I do think it would have been more effective if they began with the small units like troops and crisis suits, then ended with some of the larger kits.


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## Loli (Mar 26, 2009)

How longs it been since t the ADL was released? Good to see them finally releasing Xenos terrain.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

That Ethereal is f*cking awesome! That is how I pictured Aun'shi, both inspirational leader at all times and fierce warrior when needed. And the Captain looks beautiful, that helmet is a great design that really stands out from the typical kinds of SM helmets. The sword duelist pose makes him even more striking.

I think i'll get that Burning Dawn box, it's actually pretty good value. 20% off £65 is £48 or so, and all the composite kits (minus the Ethereal) at 20% off as well come to £40. So the Ethereal would be valued at £8. Not bad at all. Here's hoping that Wayland or Triple Helix stock these.

As for the Breachers... an £8 price increase on Fire Warriors for two less actual Warriors in the kit. Not impressed by that. The new armor may look fantastic, but I am sick of GW reducing the amount of troops in a kit and hiking up the price. They did it to Assault Marines, Dire Avengers, and now Fire Warriors. It doesn't appear as if they are a dual-kit after all, just Fire Warriors with two different sets of guns (you know... same as the last kit) and yet the price increases. They should at least offer TWO kinds of troops that differ in more than just what gun they are toting.

The new terrain kit looks brilliant though. Might actually be the first terrain kit I buy.


LotN


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Lord of the Night said:


> I am sick of GW reducing the amount of troops in a kit and hiking up the price. They did it to Assault Marines, Dire Avengers, and now Fire Warriors.


I remember 2nd edition being released but I don't remember 10 man Assault squad boxes. That aside (because I don't trust my memory from so far back) and speaking only on the ASM box because that's what I have experience with, the new kit is magnitudes better than the old one that had the same number of dudes and less than half the available weaponry. Not to mention GW's casting process for the new stuff is a touch nicer than it used to be, all my new kits have had way less mould lines and have generally been crisper in detail.

The reason these Breachers don't come with more models is because they can't be taken outside of 5-10 models per unit. Do we know yet that this box will make any other squad and that the current Fire Warrior box will be discontinued?

Is it just me or do these Pathfinders look fancier than they used to?


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

ntaw said:


> The reason these Breachers don't come with more models is because they can't be taken outside of 5-10 models per unit. Do we know yet that this box will make any other squad and that the current Fire Warrior box will be discontinued?


According to the decal sheet, the Breacher and Strike Squads are what Tau Fire Warriors have become. And yes, according to the image below the new Tau Fire Warrior box comes with ten figures, that number had better not include the Drones, and from the image context we can take it to mean that Tau Fire Warriors with these new Pulse Blasters (Shotguns?) are Breachers and the Pulse Rifles are now used by Strike Teams.



ntaw said:


>



LotN


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## Tha Tall One (Aug 16, 2008)

I can't help but imagine a poor bird flew into the space marine's face when he was riding a bike/landspeeder...


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Lord of the Night said:


> And yes


:laugh: coffee before posting. I doubt that there will be 7/8 models and 2/3 drones though, GW has really been pushing for all the options in the box despite the number of models shrinking. Maybe there will be a bit more bling/wargear options in the box as well.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

ntaw said:


> I doubt that there will be 7/8 models and 2/3 drones though, GW has really been pushing for all the options in the box despite the number of models shrinking. Maybe there will be a bit more bling/wargear options in the box as well.


There had better be to justify a 36.5% price increase over the original box.

What bugs me here is that I don't see how there will be a justifiable difference between the two iterations of the Fire Warrior kits. The original contains; 12 x Fire Warriors, 2 x Drones, with 12 x Pulse Rifles/Carbines and a Markerlight. Either way you kit out the Warriors, they are Warriors.

The new kit however appears to only contain 10 x Fire Warriors, yet is supposed to be a dual-kit that makes a Tau Breacher Team or Tau Strike Team, but if the only difference between the two is the weapon they are toting, then how is the new version of the Fire Warrior kit any different from the old one aside from perhaps one or two new gun options for the Shas'ui. (Because let's face it; this kit isn't going to be swimming with weapons like the SM Devastator kit because basic troops almost never get to go over two special/heavy weapon slots.)

I am hoping that the image shown is wrong and that these new Tau Breachers/Strikers are an elite Fire Warrior choice, the Tau equivalents of Sternguard Veterans perhaps, while the original kit remains as the baseline Fire Warriors. Then it would be much better. After all these Breachers look much more elite than the regular Fire Warriors do.


LotN


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

The Tau box is pretty nice. If you're going to be leaning toward the inevitable close range Tau armies that we'll see in a month, then its a good place to start alongside a box of fire warriors!

The marine box, I just don't get. Neither of the 2 units are particularly good, so for showcase armies, yeah.. or themed ones. But not a serious box as far as building an army.
Relies almost exclusively on the selling power of the new captain - which, I think, is the nicest one they've ever done.

Just my thoughts.


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## Xabre (Dec 20, 2006)

Lord of the Night said:


> There had better be to justify a 36.5% price increase over the original box.
> 
> The new kit however appears to only contain 10 x Fire Warriors, yet is supposed to be a dual-kit that makes a Tau Breacher Team or Tau Strike Team, but if the only difference between the two is the weapon they are toting, then how is the new version of the Fire Warrior kit any different from the old one aside from perhaps one or two new gun options for the Shas'ui. (Because let's face it; this kit isn't going to be swimming with weapons like the SM Devastator kit because basic troops almost never get to go over two special/heavy weapon slots.)
> 
> ...


They're just Skitarii. How much do you pay for THAT double kit, which is just weapon swaps? That's really all this is. Vanguard were the short range, Rangers were the long range. Strikers will be the long range, Breachers will be the short range.


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## Loli (Mar 26, 2009)

Lord of the Night said:


> There had better be to justify a 36.5% price increase over the original box.
> 
> What bugs me here is that I don't see how there will be a justifiable difference between the two iterations of the Fire Warrior kits. The original contains; 12 x Fire Warriors, 2 x Drones, with 12 x Pulse Rifles/Carbines and a Markerlight. Either way you kit out the Warriors, they are Warriors.
> 
> ...


Unfortunatly this is the direction GW are taking in their core troops, one range, another short/combat one. If they ever redo the Gaunt box then its most likely they will be merged. My Skitarri dual kits arent much different, nor the Cult Mechanicus dual kits, all they really are is weapon swaps. If GW redo kits this is what they do. Yeah its crap, but just buy third party then the price increase roughly balances out with the old unless you were buying third party anyway in which case its your own fault for the price increase


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

It's a bit blurry, but it's looking like 10 models plus drones at least @Lord of the Night:


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

ntaw said:


> It's a bit blurry, but it's looking like 10 models plus drones at least @Lord of the Night:


That is a disappointment.


LotN


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## Beaker (Mar 25, 2015)

Can the marines be used as ultramarines or do they come with moulded ravenguard shoulder pads? Thanks in advance.


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

Beaker said:


> Can the marines be used as ultramarines or do they come with moulded ravenguard shoulder pads? Thanks in advance.


from the looks of it, its a box with a generic sternguard, vanguard veterans, and generic land speeder. with a specialy sculpted raven guard captain


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## Beaker (Mar 25, 2015)

Thanks Haskanael - that's what I was hoping for.


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## venomlust (Feb 9, 2010)

You can paint him as whatever chapter you like, as you can see in this picture different colors don't at all make him look out of place. Raven becomes an eagle... ooooh...


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## Beaker (Mar 25, 2015)

thanks Venomlust - it looks like the other marines are just the usual sets then


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## venomlust (Feb 9, 2010)

Yeah, kinda ho-hum. Rules could be interesting, but probably will be standard for those units.


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## Einherjar667 (Aug 23, 2013)

Are these LE? I don't see anywhere on the GW website that they are.


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