RED ELF
SPECIAL RULES

Shields. Tau shields are formed by shaping the gravitic field to repel incoming fire. They function as normal shields in every respect.

A note on Tau weapon configurations

Tau rail gun and lance turrets are extremely sophisticated with advanced targeting systems that allow several turrets to engage each designated target regardless of their relative positions on the Tau ship. Where individual turrets and batteries may be relatively weak, combining firezones in this manner make Tau railguns and ion cannons fearsome prospects, especially in forward firing arc, where turrets from all over the vessel can combine against a single enemy vessel or squadron.

Turrets. Tau turrets are extremely sophisticated combining a range of weapon types with overlapping fire zones. Note the Tracking Systems special rules.

Ion Cannons. Ion cannon shots vaporise the object struck magnifying the energy discharge. Armour is of no value against them. They function as lances in all respects.

Railgun Batteries. Railguns of the size mounted on warships require massive amounts of energy to fire despite Tau superconductors. Because of this, power is routed to a single barrel at a time. The sequence is timed to ensure the first barrel is reloaded before it is charged again. Railguns function as standard batteries.

Tau ship names

As with many things the Tau adopt a very structured approach to naming their vessels. Each ship or squadron's name is made up of a series of elements.

The first element is the Sept responsible for building the ship or squadron.

The second element is the ships class name.

The third element is the personal name of the ship or squadron's first commander. This will always be an air caste member of Kor'ui rank or higher.

The fourth element is the personal name of the ship or squadrons current commander. This is omitted if it is the same as the third element.

Thus Tau Gal'leath A'proh M'lath is an Explorer class vessel built by on the Tau homeworld, first commanded by Kor'O A'proh and now commanded by Kor'ui M'lath.

Spine Guns. Spine guns are massive railguns where mass drivers trigger the initial acceleration before the ships gravitic field is pulsed to squeeze the missiles toward the enemy at enormous speed. The missiles are drone-controlled and exceptionally dangerous. See the ordnance section for more details.

Deflector. The deflector is a specialised shield generally mounted on the prow of the latest Tau ships. It turns the gravitic sheath around the vessel into a dense wedge, which is far more effective against incoming fire. If fired at from the front the deflector augments the passive armour which counts as armour 6. Deflectors are always mounted on the prow and will be disabled if the ship suffers a prow weapons damaged critical.

Tracking Systems. Tau Messengers boast highly advanced data storage and processing facilities to cope with the vast amounts of information they carry. When linked to ship sensors though this processing power can be used to provide a direct feed to the ships turrets. In fleet actions Messengers can route this data to nearby Tau vessels. Any Tau vessel using turrets within 10cm of a ship with tracking systems may re-roll misses and ignores the column shift when firing batteries at ranges above 30cm. Tracking systems continue to function even if a ship is braced for impact.

Critical Hits. Tau ships use the standard critical hit table.

Other Notes

Tau ships roll leadership normally.

Tau ships may not conduct teleport hit and run attacks.

Boarding strength is half normal for the size of ship.