XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit

EVERYBODY DO THE CONGA!

The XV-8 Crisis Suit is the main battlesuit of the the Tau Empire.

Seen in every campaign the Tau have been involved in, the XV-8 Crisis suit is piloted only by those who have reached the rank of Shas'ui, but is ubiquitous enough that it is commonly used by many commanders in the Tau Empire as well.

The suit itself is highly customisable, capable of carrying a wide variety of weapon load-outs, and specialist equipment, including rare signature systems

Somewhat uniquely among the Tau military is that unlike most other units Crisis suits aren't half bad in assult. Two base attacks at S5 can easily dent many vehicles and threaten light infantry (such as guardsmen). WS/I 2 means theyre dead against heavier assult troops, but so are many things. Keep in mind however a single power fist or the like equals instant death, so only try this against light or injured foes (guardsmen, boyz, necron warriors, etc) where a pisspoor initiative and weapon skill is largely irrelevant.

Tactical Properties

Just Dropping In

Tau Battlesuits all have the ability to Deep-Strike into the battlefield (Except for Broadside & R'Varna Suits as they lack Jet-Packs) however Crisis Suits make the best use of this ability as they have the greatest level of tactical variety given their wide choice in Weaponry & Support Systems, meaning as long as you have a properly prepped Crisis Suit held back in reserves you can adapt to anything your opponent throws at you.

Jump-Shoot-Jump

Jet packs man, just, Fucking Jet-Packs. Roll 2D6, move anywhere you want within that distance. Only check for terrain if you land in a bad place. In addition, jet pack infantry confer Relentless. Enjoy shooting heavy weapons on the move. Optionally, double-tap plasma into a squad of Tacticals, and leap behind a obscuring wall to escape return fire (or charge whats left if you're feeling ballsy).

Crisis Suit Variants

WANNA HUG?!

XV-8 "Crisis" Suit

The basic suit. Nothing in the galaxy quite like it. Think of the Leman Russ, and how it works (or better yet check out its page). 22 points base, but tooled up with the most expensive options it will break eighty, so try not to go overboard. Its strength is its versatility, letting you build it for literally any foe.

XV-81 "Crisis" Suit

A bulkier variant of the Crisis Suit, it has an integrated Smart Missile System, but this system also cost it a bit of customization. That said, however, these missiles are handy in granting the Tau ranged bombardment (as if that was ever something needed for the Tau).

XV-84 "Crisis" Suit

This variant gets integrated Target Locks and Networked Markerlights. These suits are basically meant to be targeters for their teams using these systems to aid with the assaults.

XV-89 "Crisis" Suit

Fluffwise, this is meant to be really bulky and hard to move around in, eventually being scrapped for the Iridium armor. The issue with this is that crunchwise, it's essentially identical to the basic Crisis Suit save for a slightly curvier head and Pauldrons.

XV-8-05 "Enforcer" Suit

It's not very different than the basic Crisis Suit with the only real difference between them being some flashier bitz and articulated fingers on one hand. Normally piloted by Battlefield commanders, it has more space to carry Weaponry & Support systems. If you dont like fincast (or are really cheap) you could always use a regular suit in its place, just be sure to tell you opponet which is which.

XV-8-02 "Iridium" Suit

A rare prototype of an advanced defensive system, the "Iridium" suit is made using an experimental iridium alloy granting it greater defensive properties than the normal Crisis suits. This variant of the XV-8 is rarely seen on the battlefield, and more commonly given to a commander's bodyguards to aide them in their task.

XV-8-06 "Coldstar" Suit

No rules or images for this suit exists, it is only mentioned in the fluff. It should be designed for fight in a void environment and should carry a whole lot of unique support and weapon systems.

Weapon and System Combinations

Fire Crisis

A Combination of 2 Flamers and a Vectored Retro Thrusters system. This allows you to throw down 2 templates before darting away in the Assault phase and will keep you up close and personal with the enemies infantry, while the Vectored Retro Thrusters allow you a chance to escape from melee, even if at Initiative 2. A whole squad of three XV8 with this configuration is able to dish out a genuine HELL on the battlefield, eating hordes like there's no tomorrow, and even terminators wouldn't charge them lightheartedly. And for an extra bonus, it's cheap too, coming in at 111 Points in total (37 Points per suit)

• Getting a Chance to test this one out in a 500 pointer vs Tyranids, only piece I didn't get was the VRT, but I'll put up how many points I manage to earn with this set up.

• Managed to Strip 5 Wounds off of a Carnifex and take out a Tyranid Warrior over the course of 2 games, but they kept fire off of my Stealth Suits, while they wiped from the other side, so they didn't earn their points, but they presented enough of a threat to let my other units do their thing relatively unmolested. Tactically sound, but leave the VRT at home if you're not taking drones or up against IG, and be prepared to lose them early against anyone else.

Field of Fire

A Combination of 3 suits, with all of them having 2 Burst Cannons and a Target Locks. It allows you to have a group of 3 Crisis suits threaten 3 separate enemy units at the same time with 8 S:5, AP5 R18 shots each.

Tank Wrecker

A Crisis Suit Shas'vre with 2 Fusion Blasters and an Onager Gauntlet. This unit spells DOOM! for any light Vehicle with 2 Hull Points, and stands a decent chance at dealing with Vehicles with 3 Hull points in one turn. You can exchange the Onager Gauntlet for a Velocity Tracker to make a short-range Anti-Air unit that can force your opponents Air Transports to take the long way around or risk dealing with this.

Commander Dakka

Take a Crisis Suit Commander (using up one of your few HQ slots) and outfit him with 2 Burst Cannons (add in a "Neuro-Web System Jammer" if you're feeling fancy): each turn you'll be putting out as many shots as an Heavy Burst Cannon, even if they are weaker, without the risk of 'gets hot', at BS 5 and you'll usually be close enough to an opponents unit to make the best use of the NWSJ as they move in closer to try and put the hurt on "Commander Dakka". Add the Drone-controller and two drones at your own discretion (hihgly recommended if you really want the Dakka!!). To make your enemy cry you can even put the commander in a squad of gun drones for a grand total of 36 strength 5 pen 5 shots at BS 5 per turn on a highly mobile and sufficiently tough unit.

Utility is the Best

A commander with drone controller, target lock and two missile pod goes into a squad with the exact same configuration, minus the drone controller (for obvious reasons). Then give to all of them 2 marker drone each, and suddenly you have a squad with a lot of range and mobility, that can threaten light vehicles or infantry from a safe distance while shooting markerlight everywhere! The ice on the cake is that every crisis suit in the unit can fire against a differente target, making this squad incredibly versatile. Put the commander in a squad of bodyguard if you are really afraid to lose him.

The Indomitable

A Crisis Suit commander equipped with A Drone Controller, A Stimulant Injector, A Shield Generator, Iridium Armour, and the Weapon of your choice (Cyclic Ion Blaster might be Fun as Get's Hot! is very rarely going to hurt this guy), then Bubble-wrap him in Marker Drones, and make sure that he's always in between the Drones, and any source of enemy fire, and laugh as you've got something that can only be insta-killed by S:10 AP2/1 Weaponry, and his Invul save stands a 1/2 Chance to save him from those, now in control of 12 Markerlights that can be dropped into the enemy formation where you please. Expensive yes, Hilarious Hell Yes (Also counts as a Distraction Crisis-Suit)