Last Edited 1/18/2017

Hey everyone, I hope the start of the new year is treating you well.

I am in the middle of running an All-Tau game using the Tau PC Guide from Rogue Trader, but mostly using Only War/DH2 rules for nearly everything else (I may post this in the Only War forum as well). The game centers around a small special ops strike force (3 players) who will be doing some really covert/black-ops type missions for the Tau Empire.

I actually got the idea from another GM who started the same type of game that never got off the ground. Since I am not one to take that lightly, I decided to run it myself.

I have a good sized list of house rules my players will be using, but I also want to incorporate new weapons and gear as would befit a strike team such as this. There is an abundance of gear made for DH1/2 that I can simply "transfer" over and make Tau-y. I was wondering if anyone has done anything like this? Or, if you have created some Tau specific gear, if you would care to share?

Some ideas I had:

- Digital Shield : a forearm attachable device that, when activated generates a shield of energy to reflect and block incoming ranged or melee attacks. It would function as a shield and add a static bonus to parry while also providing a set AP to the arms, legs, and body of the user (or it could function as a directional force field - not sure).

- Pulse Blaster : Essentially a close range pulse shotgun for breaching teams. Use Pulse Carbine stats, drop range to 30m, & add scatter. I feel like it's missing something, but can come back to it later.

- Rapid Pulse Pistol : Essentially a pulse SMG. Use Pulse Pistol stats & carbine rules from Only War's hammer of the emperor. Also give it a new rate of fire to reflect its purpose as a rapid fire, close range weapon. Functions as an in-between between pistol and carbine.

- Flamethrower : Man portable version of the same weapon found on battlesuits. Rather than a liquid fuel, I was thinking of maybe a gas that combusts when oxygen and a second element (found at the barrel) are introduced? Obviously more compact than Imperial counterparts. I am thinking of giving it the same damage profile as a standard flamer but with slightly shorter range and a higher penetration to account for the more advanced flame.

- Medical Arm Unit : A forearm sized piece of technology that uses digital/nano tech to make battlefield healing more effective; +20 to medicae/blood loss tests; Can heal up to 1/2 Intelligence Bonus of Critical Damage as well.

- More Grenade Types : Self Explanatory. Tau spec ops need more than just photon flash.

That's it off the top of my head. I am also down to post my house rules as well, if anyone wants to take a peek.

Edit (4/18/2016) Here's what I ended up coming up with so far:

Guys... don't all post at once. You are going to shut down the server.

You're making a full homebrew campaign man, whatever weapons or gear you choose to make as long as they remain partially within the blanket of the game are gonna work fine.

Don't need our input to stat your own weapons exclusively for your own game, unless you're presenting them as expansions of the existing armory. Judging from your post, that seems not to be thr case.

I appreciate your vote of confidence.

The purpose of the post was to start a discussion about weapon ideas just as much as, if not more so, than people giving input about how weapons should be properly built (stat'd out).

I was wondering if anyone has done anything like this? Or, if you have created some Tau specific gear, if you would care to share?

^^^ That was the main focus. I have posted things like this before (albeit in Deathwatch and Only War forums) and have had a great response from people sharing ideas. Obviously, I was expecting something similar here.

Problem in the RT forum is from the nature of the game itself there are so many such concepts that can be made that people tend to populate their games with unique weapons all the time.

Really if you want feedback on crunchy things I'd recommend posting a full list of statted weapons and gear that could then be directly play-tested.

See my link below, in the Other Races section, Rogue Trader Tau. It has various weapons, armor, and some gear for Tau me and some other fans created.

Almost completely unrelated, and I'm sorry ahead of time, but it COULD be a thing; do Tau have the technology for Power Weapons? I know they are often portrayed as being of a technology level similar to that, but do they actually make them? As much as I sometimes fail to see the blatant Japanese/Chinese parallels inherent in the Tau (I DO see a lot of them, so don't worry), and I know they are not fond of melee combat, even when garbed in Crisis Suits, I often see pictures of Infantry Tau, or Officer-analogues, but when NOT wearing their CS, wielding katana-like swords. While this could almost certainly just be that artists' creative license, to say "look, they're Asian", or something equally similar, would they have the know how, and the inspiration, to mount a power field generator on one, if they actually used such weapons, or is that too "un-Tau" for them?

I'm not certain on who, or under exactly what circumstances, but in the close quarters of ship-board combat, where Stealth and Crisis Suits might be less common, and more potent firearms can be depressurization risks, I'm wondering if the Tau defenders might resort to melee weapons (maybe even only their leader, like so many tabletop units), or what, and I've no idea what the non Fire Caste fighters might use. Other than Farsight's alien sword, might the Tau have infrequently used power weapons?

First off Venkelos, yes they have Power Weapons. Both the Farsight Enclaves and the Tau Empire itself have "Power Fists" that use melta-based technology and the Ethereal's often use power weapons in the form of glaives or swords. However, on the whole they do avoid close combat as you said and most if not all basic infantry up to and including the elite Crisis Suits may have no dedicated melee weaponry installed relying instead on disorienting defensive systems (e.g. clusters of flash grenades or kinetic pulse generators).

In ship combat there is very little we really know about Tau tactics, some sources say they use shotgun versions of Pulse weapons or simply carbines alongside lots and lots of drones. In the Ark of Lost Souls campaign for DW it does have stats for what appear to be Crisis suit variants designed specifically for ship-combat, these use flamers and meltas mostly iirc alongside the aforementioned defensive countermeasures.

I suppose. I knew about their rare Onagar Gauntlets, but wasn't certain if they were "power weapons", or simply "similar in effect to what Imperial Power Weapons do", while O'Shovah's nifty suit sword is certainly not Tau science (years ago, I think it might even have been Necron tech, like the "C'Tan" Phase Sword Callidus Assassins carry). As for Ethereal Honor Blades, in TT, they have no AP, so not power weapons there, and only Pen 2 in DW (MotX), so I wasn't thinking of them as power weapons; I see Imperial officers keeping power swords and fists as "status symbols", but the Tau don't seem to need to do that, and Ethereals duels are usually not bloody. If the Farsight Enclaves have special stuff, I don't know, as I never bought that pdf. I certainly agree that they'd rather misdirect, back up, and keep firing, rather than resort to melee, unless they have Kroot support.

I know they aren't officially in the Expanse, for the most part, and DW doesn't Space Hulk it enough to make frequent use of ships, and the boarding actions, thereof, but I really do wish i had a better image, in my head, of Tau repelling boarding actions. As I've said before, I can see Stealth Suits, modified with more hull-friendly weaponry, and various kinds of Drones being very effective, but at that point I'm just making stuff up (the GM's job ), and wondering if it sounds stupid to people more in the know, if you will. Also, would the Air Caste, the Tau who actually man their craft, fight? Would they have variants of suits? The Tau have so much material they have never really touched on, as the Fire Caste are the ones who matter to the tabletop minis game, and while I can be creative, sometimes disasterously so, I often prefer to have at least some skeleton of pre-established truth to build from. It's silly enough when I'm writing some material for the Tau to be in the Expanse, but to then not know how the preeminent sort of encounter (hit-and-run/boarding actions) would work with them, in opposition, makes me just feel sort of dumb, even if I CAN sort of blame GW. Well, lunch is ready, so babble is done. Thanks much.

While I understand the necessity of the close combat nerf in mechanical terms, from a lore point of view, I don't adhere to it at all. While I believe that the Tau are better innately at ranged tactics (obviously) than close combat, it is silly to me that in an Empire of billions upon billions of beings, none are specialized melee combatants. This is a culture that (relative to current day humans) has mastered science, space travel, art, philosophy, and most importantly for our discussion, warfare. Yet, the very nature of warfare would not allow for only ranged engagements. And before anyone says it, yes I know that they rely on auxillary forces to supplement them in this regard. But in a "slightly more realistic" setting (such as the game I am running) the Tau themselves would actively work to improve this shortcoming themselves.

Whether it be boarding actions, Urban combat and house-clearing, close jungle warfare, etc. etc., I believe that a sophisticated ultra-modern army would have specialized units whose entire goal was to master the art of close combat.

Anyways, that is a side note. The important thing is that it isn't a far step to create something akin to a power weapon, whether it truly be a power weapon or not. One idea I had today after reading in-depth how pulse weapons work was a sword (katana of course) that utilized the same principle of operation.

Cyber-Katana: Crafted of the same nano-crystal material that reinforces their battle-suits, the cyber-katana holds a power-pack and a cylinder of metal disks inside its handle. Much like the pulse weaponry employed by the Tau, the power pack heats the metal disks one-by-one until they reach critical levels. The plasma is then redirected along the length of the blade in an instant. Each time the wielder lands a strike, the built up plasma is released into the target and the process is repeated. If the wielder ever runs out of discs, the weapon loses its Power Field quality.

- (Melee; 1d10+3 E, pen 7; clip: 12; reload: full; Balanced, Power Field)

Compared to the standard Power Sword, it has a lower static damage but a higher penetration. This is to account for the build up of extra plasma along the length of the blade that surpasses even that of a pulse rifle blast. Secondly, it has a clip that must be reloaded, otherwise it loses its Power Field quality.

As for the Air Caste, while not "born and raised" in the fires of war like the Fire Caste, it is common sense that when it came to it they would fight for their lives and the Greater Good. Half of the philosophy is that everyone does their part, and they couldn't exactly do theirs if they simply gave up when things got hot. I would assume or house rule that they are all issued pulse pistols or pulse SMGs on occassion with void suits or pilot's armor at AP 2 at least.

Please no Katanas...

Yeah, that happened.

#Dealwithit

Yeah, sorry; I'd make them be katanas, too. Whether we want to dwell on the racial portrayal of the Tau, or not, katana-style swords are just good, possibly better, then most other shapes of swords. Also, and this can matter in 40K, it's a shape that can differentiate them from the rest of the armies, at least somewhat.

In tabletop, I can see the reasons why they would wince away from melee combat: low Strength, Toughness, and Armor Save, and this is what keeps many armies from assault-specializing, which allows the Space Marines, their twisted siblings, and big forces of Gaunts, or Genestealers, to be their kind of cool, and the Eldar get around it some by having epic Initiative (even SoB, who are often "T3 Space Marines", usually don't assault, even with all those short-ranged weapons they tote). When I made a miniature inspired by Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander , from DoW: DC, one of his biggest failings was he's a dual-fist assault unit, first and foremost, with no dedicated IG assault unit to join (he's no an Ogryn/Bullgryn, before I'm reminded they're a thing), and his pimp-gear was too much to justify "just in case he gets assaulted", as well as losing his Orders, if locked in an assault. Still my second favorite IG character, but a hard fit in his own army, and even with enough little specials to make him a snowflake worthy of note from Elsa, he's still a somewhat fragile Human in an army of fragile humans, who usually only assault when they have to, to shift an objective, and hope they can survive the attrition to at least contest it. Same thing happens when I statted Aedan; he's a swashbuckler, with some rather pimped specials, who still has no one to assault with, unless he happened to find a unit of Salamanders, or I make his assault-dedicated escorts, who are still fragile humans.

In the RPG, though, thankfully, you get some say in your stats, and growth, so you COULD become a dedicated assault unit human, or Tau, in this thread's case). There, I would want a nice power-katana, either "just in case", or, preferably, Just As Planned.

First off, the shape of the Katana (aka the curved blade found in many weapons across the asian continent) is a terrible design outside of its intended role, i.e. causing slashing wounds and disarming opponents. The european broadsword and its variants were designed specifically to be used with and against armoured targets and as such do not slash but more batter the enemy with their weight and the force of the swing.

This sort of heavy-handed approach to combat can also be seen in the fact that most knights armed themselves with maces and hammers instead of swords which were reserved mostly for cavalry or soldiers that defended the flanks (Zweihänder were a fantastic example of this).

The Japanese Katana on the other hand has terrible performance against armor and its blade is too thin to provide good protection against heavier swords. This is also why in Japan itself the preferred weapon of choice was the spear, even among the samurai, after the bow of course. In fact the connection between Tau and Japanese combat goes even further than this, with most Samurai engaging the foe at range on horseback with bows and only closing to run down already engaged enemies or in ambushes. The katana simply was not a weapon for prolonged fights and often are the stories of swordsmen breaking or bending their blades upon any sort of armored surface.

Going back to 40k, if you do want to make a power weapon for a Tau, I would remind you that individuality is something frowned upon and derided in Tau culture and a Fire Warrior would be hard-pressed to even consider melee combat as a viable option even had he the talent for it. There is a reason the Tau have auxiliaries like the Kroot and Vespid handle the close combat for them and why only Ethereals are ever seen wielding dedicated melee weapons (Farsight notwithstanding).

Also on the point of the Air Caste and their operation, iirc they do pilot most of the vehicles from the Tabletop (Barracudas, Mantas, etc.) and they do wear suits that monitor vital signs and allow them to make higher G maneuvers. It is important to remember as well that the Air Caste are almost exclusively Voidborn and struggle in standard gravity environments as a result.

Really the shape of the weapon doesn't matter, because in 40K your "blade" is either a chainsaw, or wrapped in a field of power so that edge is less important. Space Marines use power swords because if the power field doesn't finish them off, the weight of being struck by a genetically augmented superhuman swinging a massive hunk of metal could.

SCKoNi hits on the main point with the Tau though in that they won't be making weaponry or armour for every situation because their Melee plan is "Send the Kroot after it" and their short-range assault plan is "Send the Vespid after it". Their physical stats, including vision, are worse than humans and we're already terrible at combat compared to everything else in the Galaxy (because we have killed almost everything worse than us at combat by this point).

I do like the idea of more Tau gear though. Both in terms of battlefield control, but also that they would offer as trade, and then politely shut down remotely if the people they trade with betray them.

I would really like to see some more extensive gear options for the Tau, battlefield control devices or enhanced communications equipment. Think DNI or the Tacnet from Shadowrun 5e or the Astartes Signum Link from Deathwatch. Those are things that I would associate with the mentality of the Tau, a focus on teamwork over personal skill.

They do get their markerlights, which are pretty good in DW, and more so in TT. I could see them getting some more stuff, but they are already great at shooting, and negating cover, so I'm not sure I want them to be that much better, again, than people who have had guns millennia longer than they have. In the RPG, they probably do have those things. Wouldn't be too hard to add, if they don't. Do your Tau have Squad Modes? Could be cool. In tabletop, I'm not so impressed with the signum. I only browsed my SM Codex quickly, but most of the things that can equip a signum I'd rather have shoot, and I'm otherwise missing the point of making one gun in one squad BS 5. As for Tau, they can already get BS 5 easily.

I am aware that the katana was more a symbol of prestige, than a weapon of war, in the hands of a samurai; they were trained as cavalry, and favored the bow, and some people say that those who were true masters of swordsmanship were actually seen in less standing, as it meant that they were inferior archers. Much of their swordsmanship would probably come into play indoors, where you were expected to leave the katana at the door, and the length of it would make drawing, and certainly swinging it, hard anyway, in narrow hallways. This is where the wakizashi comes in to be useful. Having said that, my take on katanas is that they are physically superior; flexible in a way that would snap a broadsword, possibly curved enough to be used like a saber, on horseback (the shorter ones, anyway; the longer are usually two-handed, in my experience), and a real "cutting sword", rather than a bladed club. Of course, samurai armor, in my understanding, was much lighter, with lacquered wood, lamellar, and layered fabric being more of the ingredients, rather than steel, or other such metals, and heavy padding. Armor like that cares more about bashing and piercing weapons, to stun the wearer, or get at their soft innards, but against the samurai style, katanas could cut right through, and behead someone in a single stroke; broadswords couldn't always do that to a man tied down to a stump. As you said, of course, each is a product of their environment, and culture. As for spears, in their culture, I more see "humble foot soldiers" use them, to set against the aforementioned cavalry.

Sorry to rant there, and I'm certainly not telling you anything you don't already know. Not an expert, by any extent, as much of this could as easily be only our take from copious entertainment sources, like video games, but something I'm rather fond of.

Yeah, sorry; I'd make them be katanas, too. Whether we want to dwell on the racial portrayal of the Tau, or not, katana-style swords are just good, possibly better, then most other shapes of swords. Also, and this can matter in 40K, it's a shape that can differentiate them from the rest of the armies, at least somewhat.

In the RPG, though, thankfully, you get some say in your stats, and growth, so you COULD become a dedicated assault unit human, or Tau, in this thread's case). There, I would want a nice power-katana, either "just in case", or, preferably, Just As Planned.

This is where I am coming from. Lore aside, the rest of my posts in this thread will run under the assumption that whatever misgivings people may have regarding the Tau and CC, I don't share them.

First off, the shape of the Katana (aka the curved blade found in many weapons across the asian continent) is a terrible design outside of its intended role, i.e. causing slashing wounds and disarming opponents. The european broadsword and its variants were designed specifically to be used with and against armoured targets and as such do not slash but more batter the enemy with their weight and the force of the swing.

This sort of heavy-handed approach to combat can also be seen in the fact that most knights armed themselves with maces and hammers instead of swords which were reserved mostly for cavalry or soldiers that defended the flanks (Zweihänder were a fantastic example of this).

The Japanese Katana on the other hand has terrible performance against armor and its blade is too thin to provide good protection against heavier swords. This is also why in Japan itself the preferred weapon of choice was the spear, even among the samurai, after the bow of course. In fact the connection between Tau and Japanese combat goes even further than this, with most Samurai engaging the foe at range on horseback with bows and only closing to run down already engaged enemies or in ambushes. The katana simply was not a weapon for prolonged fights and often are the stories of swordsmen breaking or bending their blades upon any sort of armored surface.

Going back to 40k, if you do want to make a power weapon for a Tau, I would remind you that individuality is something frowned upon and derided in Tau culture and a Fire Warrior would be hard-pressed to even consider melee combat as a viable option even had he the talent for it. There is a reason the Tau have auxiliaries like the Kroot and Vespid handle the close combat for them and why only Ethereals are ever seen wielding dedicated melee weapons (Farsight notwithstanding).

Also on the point of the Air Caste and their operation, iirc they do pilot most of the vehicles from the Tabletop (Barracudas, Mantas, etc.) and they do wear suits that monitor vital signs and allow them to make higher G maneuvers. It is important to remember as well that the Air Caste are almost exclusively Voidborn and struggle in standard gravity environments as a result.

The size/shape doesn't matter at all. It really doesn't. Make it whatever cultural milieu that you prefer. All sword-knowledge aside, this is a universe in which the weapon's power will come from the far-futuristic technology that we (and it goes without saying our forebearers) don't have. You want to make it a Naginata? Sweet. Do it. Bringing up the spear is a good point.

Again, LORE ASIDE is how I am going to proceed in this thread. It makes no practical sense that the Tau would master warfare and simply ignore one aspect of it - hoping that they will always have enough Kroot or Gue'vesa on hand to deal with it. It's nonsense. To further emphasize my point, this game is based on a group of black-ops Tau - hand picked to serve as the surgical scalpel of the Greater Good. Yes, individuality is frowned upon in the Greater Greater Good. It is required for the purposes of my game. That is why it is special/different/and not simply an Only War game where everyone is playing a Shas'la,

SCKoNi hits on the main point with the Tau though in that they won't be making weaponry or armour for every situation because their Melee plan is "Send the Kroot after it" and their short-range assault plan is "Send the Vespid after it". Their physical stats, including vision, are worse than humans and we're already terrible at combat compared to everything else in the Galaxy (because we have killed almost everything worse than us at combat by this point).

I do like the idea of more Tau gear though. Both in terms of battlefield control, but also that they would offer as trade, and then politely shut down remotely if the people they trade with betray them.

Again, this game is operating on the "more realistic" assumption that the every single Tau fighting force won't be fully stocked with fodder to throw at every CC problem.

You bring up a good point about physical stats being worse. That is hardly an issue since they obviously have the technology to counter this. Which is a wonderful segue into your next point: new gear. Specifically, gear that would aid in that whole eyesight thing. We already do this today with corrective lenses; it isn't a stretch to think that the Tau would not have some sort of ocular technology that would bring their eye sight up to snuff. Perhaps some sort of combat-capable system that could be integrated into the helmet to not only enhance the user's vision, but close combat variants that help monitor and determine the upcoming movements an enemy will make in a stand up fight (by scanning body chemistry, eye movement, muscle tension, I dont know. Like that Japanese robot that can win every game of Rock Paper Scissors by watching minute differences in their opponents body language).

Sentou-Sensors: (I live in Japan, it has to have a Japanese name) These goggles were developed for Tau Marines who have to repel boarding parties. They scan the minute details of an aggressor's body movements to help predict what their next move will be. This information is then represented in real time to the user as color coded highlights in his vision representing incoming attacks. User's with this system installed into their combat helmets, optics, or battle-suits gain +20 to Parry attempts an +10 to WS.

I would really like to see some more extensive gear options for the Tau, battlefield control devices or enhanced communications equipment. Think DNI or the Tacnet from Shadowrun 5e or the Astartes Signum Link from Deathwatch. Those are things that I would associate with the mentality of the Tau, a focus on teamwork over personal skill.

Seriously, me too, man. I am drawing a blank right now. Long day.

They do get their markerlights, which are pretty good in DW, and more so in TT. I could see them getting some more stuff, but they are already great at shooting, and negating cover, so I'm not sure I want them to be that much better, again, than people who have had guns millennia longer than they have. In the RPG, they probably do have those things. Wouldn't be too hard to add, if they don't. Do your Tau have Squad Modes? Could be cool. In tabletop, I'm not so impressed with the signum. I only browsed my SM Codex quickly, but most of the things that can equip a signum I'd rather have shoot, and I'm otherwise missing the point of making one gun in one squad BS 5. As for Tau, they can already get BS 5 easily.

I am aware that the katana was more a symbol of prestige, than a weapon of war, in the hands of a samurai; they were trained as cavalry, and favored the bow, and some people say that those who were true masters of swordsmanship were actually seen in less standing, as it meant that they were inferior archers. Much of their swordsmanship would probably come into play indoors, where you were expected to leave the katana at the door, and the length of it would make drawing, and certainly swinging it, hard anyway, in narrow hallways. This is where the wakizashi comes in to be useful. Having said that, my take on katanas is that they are physically superior; flexible in a way that would snap a broadsword, possibly curved enough to be used like a saber, on horseback (the shorter ones, anyway; the longer are usually two-handed, in my experience), and a real "cutting sword", rather than a bladed club. Of course, samurai armor, in my understanding, was much lighter, with lacquered wood, lamellar, and layered fabric being more of the ingredients, rather than steel, or other such metals, and heavy padding. Armor like that cares more about bashing and piercing weapons, to stun the wearer, or get at their soft innards, but against the samurai style, katanas could cut right through, and behead someone in a single stroke; broadswords couldn't always do that to a man tied down to a stump. As you said, of course, each is a product of their environment, and culture. As for spears, in their culture, I more see "humble foot soldiers" use them, to set against the aforementioned cavalry.

Sorry to rant there, and I'm certainly not telling you anything you don't already know. Not an expert, by any extent, as much of this could as easily be only our take from copious entertainment sources, like video games, but something I'm rather fond of.

No squad modes. This game has three players currently and will max out at 4. Special ops - not big squads. Scalpel, not hammer, etc. etc. I am beating a dead horse now. Forgive me.

The Katana's function as a status symbol over a weapon of warfare is highly dependent on what era you are referring to. By the Tokugawa, the warring states period was over and the Samurai began their descent from a warrior class to more or less a class of bureaucrats which eventually led to the Meiji restoration. Yet during the Kamakura and before, they were widespread - as well as the Naginata. Remember that Katana is simply a general term for "sword" in Japanese and the early armies relied on them - especially during the Sengoku civil war period. Alas, I don't know how this furthers the game conversation lol.

What other gear ideas/concepts do you gents have?

Well if you're going with the "more realistic" approach, honestly I would go straight to Shadowrun and plunder the gear section of 5e. 40k may not be a system where innovation has a place, but the Tau can provide a nice exception to this rule even if my hatred for them remains unchanged (the Mary-Sue depiction of Tau by GW and how their power just spikes between books really rubs me the wrong way, read the new Imperium vs Tau splatbook its a descent into autism.)

The Rigger section in particular seems like something the Tau would be doing, especially with drone controllers.

Dude, I remember my brain bleeding when I made my Rigger for 5e. But that is a great idea - at the very least looking through it and grabbing some inspiration.

I know one of the Tau units in TT, somewhere, has "Movement Restriction" Drones, or something, and they make the space ahead of the Tau unit Difficult Terrain, or some such, making it much harder for the Tau to get assaulted, before it is they doing it. if these Spec Op Shas' are already planning to have some drone accessories, these repeller drones might help them to control their little swathe of the battlefield. Hell, in an RPG setting, they might even tweak it up to the bot in a mission f Fallout 4, that can shatter walls, and doors; maybe a little grav gun it mounts, which could take the place of some demolitions equipment. At the least, though, I KNOW they have the "slow down incoming enemies" drone, in one of the Forge World things, or Farsight Enclave, which I don't own.

They do get their markerlights, which are pretty good in DW, and more so in TT. I could see them getting some more stuff, but they are already great at shooting, and negating cover, so I'm not sure I want them to be that much better, again, than people who have had guns millennia longer than they have. In the RPG, they probably do have those things. Wouldn't be too hard to add, if they don't. Do your Tau have Squad Modes? Could be cool. In tabletop, I'm not so impressed with the signum. I only browsed my SM Codex quickly, but most of the things that can equip a signum I'd rather have shoot, and I'm otherwise missing the point of making one gun in one squad BS 5. As for Tau, they can already get BS 5 easily.

I am aware that the katana was more a symbol of prestige, than a weapon of war, in the hands of a samurai; they were trained as cavalry, and favored the bow, and some people say that those who were true masters of swordsmanship were actually seen in less standing, as it meant that they were inferior archers. Much of their swordsmanship would probably come into play indoors, where you were expected to leave the katana at the door, and the length of it would make drawing, and certainly swinging it, hard anyway, in narrow hallways. This is where the wakizashi comes in to be useful. Having said that, my take on katanas is that they are physically superior; flexible in a way that would snap a broadsword, possibly curved enough to be used like a saber, on horseback (the shorter ones, anyway; the longer are usually two-handed, in my experience), and a real "cutting sword", rather than a bladed club. Of course, samurai armor, in my understanding, was much lighter, with lacquered wood, lamellar, and layered fabric being more of the ingredients, rather than steel, or other such metals, and heavy padding. Armor like that cares more about bashing and piercing weapons, to stun the wearer, or get at their soft innards, but against the samurai style, katanas could cut right through, and behead someone in a single stroke; broadswords couldn't always do that to a man tied down to a stump. As you said, of course, each is a product of their environment, and culture. As for spears, in their culture, I more see "humble foot soldiers" use them, to set against the aforementioned cavalry.

Sorry to rant there, and I'm certainly not telling you anything you don't already know. Not an expert, by any extent, as much of this could as easily be only our take from copious entertainment sources, like video games, but something I'm rather fond of.

Eh ... the katana is severely overhyped in modern pop culture. It's a decent sword, but give me a quality western cruciform sword (longsword, broadsword, etc) any day. The western cruciform sword is actually going to be more resilient, not less, assuming it's a decent quality blade, in addition to allowing more versatile options, both offensively and defensively. Only part of a classic katana is flexible - the unsharpened back half and core - the cutting edge is extremely hard, but also relatively brittle, without the softer core behind it, it'd be worthless. Admittedly, this is a design compromise imposed by the lower quality raw materials available to Japanese swordsmiths, whereas European swordsmiths had generally better quality ore to start with; the European style blade also allows for more flexibility in how you craft it - you can "braid" one together, hugely increasing its resilience, or do a trick similar to what the Japanese smiths did to make a katana, but the Europeans usually didn't because they didn't need to - their ore was good enough to make a decent blade without needing to get fancy with the process. Block a longsword with a katana, and you probably need a new katana; block a katana with a longsword and you can riposte and shove a foot or so of sharpened steel into your opponent.

In addition, combat beheadings are absolutely not practical with any sort of modern or historical blade.

As far as anti-armor performance goes, the Japanese couldn't make the kind of heavier metal armor that Europe could and did - put a katana against plate armor, and it'll shatter before it does much to the wearer, put a longsword or broadsword against the kind of heavy armor the samurai had, and it will crunch through, the armor providing limited protection to the wearer. Heck, even good quality chain mail would generally provide better protection against a katana than it would against a longsword or broadsword from the right era. Europe also went into shields much more than Japan did - sword and board >> daisho.

Also, the characterization of western cruciform swords as "bladed clubs" isn't exactly accurate, although to an extent this depends on the era and style of the sword, thus affecting what it was expected to go up against and how it was intended to be used. The bigger heaviest blades tended to be specialized in application - something like a zweihander would be especially effective in breaking the pikes of a block of pikemen, reducing their protection.

That said, there are also a whole lot of semi-forgotten schools of European sword and martial combat skills - Europe had developed more effective means of killing their enemies long before, and the role of the aristocracy and even knights had largely changed away from what they had been - who needs to be good with a sword when you can shoot your enemies? In Europe, the value of combat swordsmanship was greatly diminished with the spread of cheap and practical gunpowder weapons, and just declined from there, especially with the associated rise of professional standing armies. Japan didn't really start to enter the then-modern world of warfare until the later half of the 1800s, and until then were mostly suppressing advances like gunpowder weapons - of course, they did modernize successfully in a hurry after they finally did modernize, but they basically went from melee infantry levies with archers and a scattering of matchlocks to a fairly modern military in a very short period of time. As a result, Japan didn't have the same kind of fading in the value of swordsmanship - they're only a handful of generations removed from the sword being a widely used weapon of war, whereas in Europe, the sword hasn't been practical as a primary weapon of war outside of naval boarding actions for more than twice as long.

That said, the technology available to the Tau would make up for most of the katana's shortcomings, but the Tau strike me as practical sorts, and for close combat employ shotguns and similar weapons. I suspect they would have followed a path more similar to Europe than to Japan as regards the evolution to their weapons technology. There's a modification you can make to an Imperial Plasma weapon in one of the books that turns it into a spread weapon like flamers - I suspect the Tau might have something similar, or be able to develop something similar if they needed/wanted to. Also .. shotguns - the Tau equivalent would probably be a small railgun firing spreads of flechettes. Plus, y'know, their pulse weapons are respectable - and useable up close; I expect that the Air Caste pilots would have a pulse pistol or Tau PDW/SMG equivalent if they needed to bail, and Fire Caste close-combat specialist teams would have a variant on the pulse carbine. If you think of the various modifications available to an M-16/M-4 series, things like the underbarrel grenade launcher and underbarrel shotgun attachments would be the sorts of things the Tau probably have developed an equivalent of.

Exterminator Cartridges, or rather, the Tau equivalent. I would expect the Tau standard issue bayonet would be reasonably solid as a weapon, same for their combat knives. Might not be a strong powerfield, but a weaker one, perhaps, enough to give it an enhanced cutting edge.

The Imperium has combi-weapons, I expect that the Tau can produce something similar, if not better (more than one shot, perhaps).

The Tau would probably be enthused with linking gunscope views and sensor readouts directly to their helmet's HUD display, probably also be able to share information between individuals, ie, send images from one person to the others, same for feeds from recon and such assets; probably also stuff to improve their ability to call artillery strikes/air support.

Also, it's quite possible, even likely, that they can or have developed a version of light power armor that's not a full battlesuit, and doesn't increase the bulk of the wearer by that significant an amount, but still provides a (minor) strength boost and better protection than their unpowered armor.

Definitely more variety in grenades.

It always blows me away that everyone on this forum is a blacksmith and professional sword fighter.

Edit: Tau Pulse Shotgun exists in the lore already, actually. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Pulse_Blaster

It always blows me away that everyone on this forum is a blacksmith and professional sword fighter.

Edit: Tau Pulse Shotgun exists in the lore already, actually. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Pulse_Blaster

I just know how to shoot someone.

I just know this page: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Katanas_are_Underpowered_in_d20