Tau-rific 9 day count down

Due to the over exposure of all the leaked picture on all major forums and blogs I think it would be a little repetitive to post them here.With both the American Release of White Dwarf and the pre-order of Tau 2 days away, I feel cursed that the release day is 9 days away.  To sum up how I feel in one word, "exhausted".    I have been getting pumped for this release, my adrenaline has been literally been pumping for this release.  I have been losing sleep, doubling my workout routine, and digging through every little bit of Tau nostalgia that I could find.  I even tried to shake down a GW employee the other day for more information.  For the sake of the sanity of my family, I have been denying all of this to my wife. 

There have been many new re-sculpts as well as a few new additions.  To be honest the only sculpt I was really disappointed in was the commander.  Don't get me wrong, the weapons options are awesome, but they seemed to take the chicken legs and make them more chicken like and then gave it a fire warrior shoulder pad.  This was extremely disappointing after the the 2 forgeworld sculpts and after seeing the new Farsight sculpt.  There are other things I didn't like about other sculpts, tiny head on the riptide and the fixed pose on the fire warrior special character, but those can be fixed with green stuff.  Overall I was really impressed with the sculpts, although I disagree with making a new flyer when Tau fluff clearly states the Barracuda is the most common fighter seen with the Tau.  What's killing me right now is the fact that they haven't published (or leaked) any news on whether they will create new sculpts for Kroot or Vespids or just keep the old ones.  I keep on trying to guess what the new stats are going to be but that is driving me insane.  As far as funds go, I kind of dug my own grave when I told all my buddies that my Sept has an overwhelming amount of Por and Fio keeping the sept up to date with technology.  This means i'll have to get the riptide and new Broadside models in order to keep up with my own fluff. 

The "10 year" time capsule.

With a new tau codex coming out I decided to go through the warp (also known as my garage) and see what I could salvage from my old Tau collection.  Now for a digression!

At the beginning of 2003,  I was going through a particularly difficult time in my life.  Without dragging you through a sob story of what was happening, i'll just tell you what I did to cope with it.  I looked back at the year 2001 which was a wonderful year for me, The release of Tau, I discovered both Red Bull and the female physical form, Van's Warped Tour was at it's peak, Free Media seemed to be taking over, and I was getting good at pushing a plank (Southern California is the perfect location to live if you love, Surfing, Snowboarding, and Skate Boarding).  Well I decided to make a time capsule.  I spent the next several weeks getting a couple of things off ebay, garage sales, surf shops, etc.  I labeled the aluminum tin "DO NOT open til  DEC 2011".  I was hoping to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of 2001. Now back to my garage rummaging.

After being distracted by all the books I found, I eventually came across a box that my parents had put together after I had moved out.  The first things I came across were an old gas mask and an old school Fat gray Game Boy.  After going inside and playing with my still functional piece of video game history, I made my way back to the box.  I pulled out an odd shrink wrapped tin with blue painter's tape serving as the label.  Reading the faded description I realized that I had hit the jackpot.  I don't know how I forgot about it, maybe because I had duplicates of the two GW models I had put inside.  It could have also been that I had changed highschools twice, enlisted, gotten married, had two kids, went to college, and moved half a dozen times.  Honestly, 10 years ago I saw plenty of Hobby stores come and go within the span of a few months. If you would have asked me I would have told you that "GW will fade into memory by 2011".  I unwrapped the shrink wrap and took the clips off the tin.  It was like uncovering King Tut's tomb.  It was like I crawled into the mind of a an overly hormonal teenage boy.  Among the contents were the following:
- ticket stubs to the 2001 Van's Warped Tour
- some music I had scratched onto notepad paper
- a Hook-ups sticker (skate board brand with questionably dressed anime girls)
- a Red Bull wrapped in a Zip-Lock freezer Bag (I won't drink it)
- a couple burned CDs
- a bra from a teenage girl (pink with black polka dots, by the way she's now an adult)
- an expired gym membership to 24 hour fitness

there was also a reminder in the form of a picture of my God Father with the words, Happiness can always be found among the overwhelming reality of tragedy.  I come from a long line of American Military Veterans (all the way back to before the French and Indian War).  My God Father's office was located on the side of the pentagon that was struck during the 9/11 attacks.  Fortunately, he decided that he was going to make an impromptu visit to Quantico that morning (The man has escaped death more than he can count). 

Finally there were 2 Games Workshop miniatures:

*Note: The codex was not in the capsule, I thought I would include it in the shot for Nostalgia purposes. The models are also in original packaging. 

This really got me thinking.  As I sit here typing this to you, i'm drinking a silver edition Red Bull, listening to some Punk Rock, and occasionally looking up at my beautiful wife.  I think about how I would have never guessed the girl living next door to my highschool back in 2001 would become my wife, Red Bull was not outlawed, media pirating has both advanced and received lots attention from governments around the world, and I haven't touched an instrument or a board in a long time.  I am also surprised with the Tau, 3 editions later we have a playstation video game, a Forgeworld Expansion, a spin off White Dwarf codex (Kroot Mercenaries), an additional playable ally (3 if you include BFG), and soon a 3rd codex. 

Thought For the Moment
How do you think your Tau army will change in the next 10 years?  Will you be playing Tau at all?  Do you think you'll be playing Warhammer a decade from now?  Please feel free to share your answer in the comments below.

Tau Helpers is back

 

For those of you that have noticed, there has been very little going on for over a month with Tau Helpers.  Unfortunately my back up computer had died and I was left with little more than my cell phone, not the ideal platform to write articles on.  But SO MUCH has happened in the last month. With the approach of the new Tau codex coming, i'm going to have to put reviews and tactica on hold.  But this has given me an even greater incentive to do some history lessons.  I'd like to apologize to the loyal followers for being absent, but like to assure you that were "Back into the fray".

Thought for the moment
Broadsides will have larger bases and an option to choose from different loadouts for a main weapon.  Will this make old models illegal on the table?