Fire Warrior

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You will never see offical artwork like this, because GW thinks that we want nothing but grimderp all the time. Sometimes though, you just got to stop and smell the flowers...

Not to be confused with the video game Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior.

The Fire Warrior (Shas'la) is the Tau Empire's basic infantry unit. Armed with the mighty Pulse Rifle, a set of Combat Armour and a fuckload of other gadgets to help them survive the galaxy better than most other factions' unfortunate grunts, these Tau go out to claim territory and bring the galaxy into the fold of the Empire, and, like certain other armies, the Tau Empire has a whole fuckload of them.

While comparable to Guardsmen in most respects, their gear and training are far superior to what most other factions in the galaxy can muster - Not because it's objectively better, but because it synchronizes with the rest of the tau military to turn a decent weapon into a devastating weapon. Combining with equipment from other units, the fire warriors can turn their accuracy up to eleven and disintegrate anything caught in their weapons range. Fire Warriors also keep tabs with the Pathfinders of their Cadre, who designate targets for them to shoot, long before they would be able to see them themselves.

According to the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, they are physically weak, have poor eyesight and cannot hit the broad side of a space-barn. In reality, they are just fine at shooting, though they really do fold up like paper in close combat.

Training and Wargear

Fire Warriors are warriors from birth. When a Tau child is born in the Fire Caste, that child will die somewhere at sometime in gruesome battle, unless they are so lucky/skilled that they end up becoming Shas'o and retire after many years of warfare and command, and at that point I think most people would've liked to die anyway. The training begins from an early age, and from that moment and onwards, the Fire Warrior is put into a Sqaud of warriors, who will fight together for the rest of their life. Therefore, many of them perform the T'salari Bond, which is kinda like a Nordic blood bond, which makes them all siblings to each other. It's accepted by the military, as it strengthens the morale greatly under fire.

Most notable of the Fire Warriors wargear is the Pulse Rifle, a plasma combat sniper rifle with a terrifying range and damage. Timing and placement combined with targeting computers in the Warrior's helmet and the support of Markerlights, Fire Warriors rarely miss and can chew through many a squad of enemy troops if given the order to. A Fire Warrior also is equipped with a set of Combat Armour, made of a combination of nano-mesh and other technobabble, which includes the iconic pauldron, made to face towards any enemy that would be firing at the Warrior. For anti-tank, some Warriors carry EMP-grenades, though these are not standardized equipment.

On the Tabletop

Costing slightly more than two Guardsmen a model, Fire warriors spot a 4+ armour that makes them twice as survivable against basic (S4 AP5) guns compared to guardsmen, and S5 AP5 R30 RAPID FIRE gun, that makes them two to five times killier depending on what they're shooting at. Mathammer wise they trade evenly in a firefight with an equal points cost of tactical marines when unsupported. But there are a lot of support available for them - Buffmander can make them twin-liked, ignores cover and tank/monster hunter (remember, S5 can glance METAL BOXES!), Ethereal and Fireblade grant extra shots, and markerlights can boost their accuracy - with a proper support things around your Fire Warriors gonna die and die fast. So all in all unless you have taken them only to fill your mandatory Troops slots (at which point you may consider taking Kroots instead, or going Enclaves), it's highly advisable to actually support your Fire Warriors.

One Fire Warrior in a squad can and probably should be upgraded to Shas'Ui, not only because it grants +1 Ld, but also for a cheap Night Vision and Markerlight+Multi-tracker upgrades. The last one allows your little blue sergeant not only to spot targets for other units, but also to man (tau?) fortification gun emplacements without compromising the squad's targeting.

There is a common belief, that Fire warriors violently explode the moment they come in base to base contact with enemy, and like many common beliefs this one is wrong (they have been known to kill the likes of necron warriors and other shooty stuff in cc): WS2 actually doesn't matter much against WS4, and photon grenades with 4+ armour grant them decent survivability, not to mention supporting fire, that grants at least few enemies wouldn't make it to the BtB contact due to a massive multiple-squad Overwatch. Don't get me wrong, They're going to eventually die in close combat with anything, but it could take a turn or two, or even three, and warriors have a nice chances to take at least few enemy models with them. Photon grenades can actually turn the tide and blind entire enemy squad to WS1, which may even give Fire Warriors a slight chance of winning. That being said, average Leadership and poor Initiative means Sweeping Advances are extremely dangerous, unless nearby Ethereal covered them with his bubble of Stubborn.

Gallery

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  Small blue men eating small-blue-men-rations.

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  No, they don't get Rail Rifles. No, their armour doesn't look that cool in official artwork. No, I'm not bitter.