War Gaming

[Cloud3514]

I thought that was long-established canon, and the rituals they go through to become GK is what keeps them from being corruptible..? Or something outside one guy's mind that made them that way?

The rituals make them very hard to corrupt, but the canon before the Grey Knights Codex was that, while no Knight has ever fallen to Chaos, it is still entirely possible. Many of them have gotten close to the brink and to the point where Marines of other Chapters would have been killed for heresy. They have more Inquisitorial leeway than other Marines, but it is absurd to say that it is impossible or them to fall to Chaos.

This is the same chapter that chased down IG regiments that fought Abaddon to kill them so word of Chaos would not get out... 

Yes, but the Sisters of Battle are another part of the Inquisition. Not to mention that killing them and bathing in their blood is something Chaos would do. Hell, even if I take Ward's bullshit excuse, it conflicts with his declaration that Grey Knights can't be corrupted anyway.

UGH! I can't stand Ultra-Smurfs... They're so perfect they are annoying...

My big problem with them is, with a few exceptions like Captain Titus, they're BORING. There's nothing that really makes them stand out. The Dark Angels have their secrecy and the Fallen, Blood Angels have stuff like the Death Company, the Space Wolves have.... every fucking thing about them, but the Ultramarines are just Marines in blue armor.

[Askold]

I don't know how much the canon has changed, but I have the Inquisition war trilogy and it mentions that a person who has once been possessed by a daemon with the demon being driven out cannot be corrupted or possessed again, unless that person specifically allows it. And because this was a warhammer book it happened to few of the main characters and yes one of them did get corrupted anyway. (Grimdark... Actually inquisition war books were the first novels written about Warhammer 40k so it was one of the defining things for grimdark setting.)

In the fluff this process has been done by the imperium and inquisition. For example, there is one chapter of space marines that was created for this purpose. All the recruits got possessed and excorcised. (Then they executed some, or most, of them to select the ones that seemed stable.)
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Exorcists

I also think I've read somewhere that the same process is done to grey knights as one of the rituals but they have to banish the demon by themselves. Unfortunately I can't find anything to back that up.

[Distind]

This is the same chapter that chased down IG regiments that fought Abaddon to kill them so word of Chaos would not get out... 

Yes, but the Sisters of Battle are another part of the Inquisition. Not to mention that killing them and bathing in their blood is something Chaos would do. Hell, even if I take Ward's bullshit excuse, it conflicts with his declaration that Grey Knights can't be corrupted anyway.

Not to mention it's similar behavior that's the Blood Angel's grimdark hat and with them such actions are a source of much angst.

UGH! I can't stand Ultra-Smurfs... They're so perfect they are annoying...

My big problem with them is, with a few exceptions like Captain Titus, they're BORING. There's nothing that really makes them stand out. The Dark Angels have their secrecy and the Fallen, Blood Angels have stuff like the Death Company, the Space Wolves have.... every fucking thing about them, but the Ultramarines are just Marines in blue armor.

I liked a few of the old depictions where they weren't mediators, but rather pompus assholes who believed themselves to be above the rest of the chapters. Not natural leaders, but they believed themselves to be. The new stuff... yeah, pretty boring  really. It's even annoying within the Deathwatch gamebook.

[Meshakhad]

I favor banning Matt Ward from the hobby forever, up to and including confiscating all of his models.

[Cloud3514]

I favor banning Matt Ward from the hobby forever, up to and including confiscating all of his models.

Nah, we need an ironic hell for him. Make him play armies written by Phil Kelly for the rest of his life.

[Bender_Rodríguez]

I've played many minis and war games over the last several years.  I'm tempted to post some shelf porn to show off my non-miniature games. 

[Cloud3514]

I know that rumors are all over the place and that it was more or less confirmed by leaked pictures last week, but this happened. I will cease my bitching for a while.

[Vypernight]

I don't know if it counts as wargaming, but I just started collecting various sets from the Pirates of the Spanish Main card game (the one where you assemble the ships).

[Distind]

I know that rumors are all over the place and that it was more or less confirmed by leaked pictures last week, but this happened. I will cease my bitching for a while.

So what? Firewarrior 2? I'm kinda outta touch with GW these days. Particularly after DOW2.

[Cloud3514]

A new Tau codex, which they've been sorely needing as they still have a 4th edition codex from 2006. The newest White Dwarf leaked and it has a shit load of info about the new codex and models.

[Yaezakura]

*Sighs* Why couldn't it have been Eldar? Eldar are way more important to the universe than the Tau are. Little backwater buggers don't even actually matter to anything.

[Cloud3514]

*Sighs* Why couldn't it have been Eldar? Eldar are way more important to the universe than the Tau are. Little backwater buggers don't even actually matter to anything.

Ah, but they will. You should know as well as anyone just how fast the Tau Empire grows. There is a reason that the Imperium has an eye on them despite controlling such a small part of the galaxy.

[Yaezakura]

The Tau aren't even capable of real warp travel. At a certain point, their empire would reach its maximum effective size and then no longer be able to expand without sacrificing too much in the way of threat response and governmental operation. And this is, assuming, they survived long enough for that to happen, which, frankly, is impossible.

We all know that in the end, the Tyranids win this war. What of their race is visible in our galaxy now is probably only a tiny fraction of the whole, and they're basically already winning.

[Askold]

Fun fact: Tyranids lose to Necrons since Necrons bodies teleport away and can't be eaten. Necrons lose to chaos since the C'tan are weakened by warp and chaos. Chaos loses to tyranids since corrupting the tyranids is really difficult and they do not have emotions, wchich chaos needs to feed on.

The thing about the Tau empire is that they really don't need a central hub since they try to make every sector self sustaining. Their lack of "real" warp travel does mean that they can't pull reinforcements from the other side of their empire but unless they are invaded with overwhelming force this is not a major problem. (Which is likely to come only from the Tyranids.)

The bigger problem the Tau have is that the closest thing they have to central goverment (or religious leaders) are the Ethereal caste, without them each caste will concentrate only on their own agenda and there will be no concentrated efforts. Fire caste won't get more equipment or ships since the earth caste will only want to build farms and bridges and stuff, the air caste has no oblication to transport anyone and will probably just go explore stuff or something...

[Cloud3514]

Not to mention that the Tau are the most adaptable race in the setting, as well as the fastest developing. The idea that they will reach a point  where they cease to expand soon is pretty unlikely because of their high adaptability. This adaptability, combined with their technological prowess (with them viewing technology simply as a tool to advance their Greater Good) and the fact that they're the only major faction in the galaxy willing to bring in allies (regardless of it often being by force) means that they're doubtful to stagnate soon.

I always fail to understand why everyone insists that their slower warp travel is such a major weakness. Yes, they can't bring in reinforcements very quickly, but they can bring in more reinforcements more safely. The way their warp drive works means that they don't stick around in the Warp for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Not to mention that the Imperium is in a bad state. It is stagnate and the standard of living is very poor. Human worlds often join the Tau Empire willingly because the Tau will increase their standard of living by a large margin. This means that the Imperium will start to lose its threat as the stagnation turns into decline. The Tau will likely fill that power vacuum and continue to expand. Hell, if it were to be revealed that there are a handful of Space Marines that joined the Tau Empire, I'd believe it (and it would explain why Tau and Space Marines are Battle Brothers level allies).