New XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit Joins The Tau For The Greater Good
October 10, 2015 by brennon
Another new Battlesuit has popped up for the Tau by Games Workshop. The XV95 Ghostkeel is a deadly walker with a vast array of different weapon options, special rules out of the whazzoo and it also happens to look fairly awesome too. Will you be using one of these in Warhammer 40,000...
The Ghostkeel
As a model it is very impressive. I like the hunched shape, making it look like a bit of a predator. This makes sense considering the Ghostkeel also has rules for going into Stealth. It has a 3+ Armour Save and a doubled Cover Save from over 12" due to it's Electrowarfare Suite.
On top of that Suite of tricks it also has the ability to scramble the targeting systems of other units on the battlefield. If it chooses to do this the unit can only make Snap Shots against it this turn. Crazy.
Guns. Lots Of Guns
The two big weapons the Ghostkeel comes with are the Fusion Collider and the Cyclic Ion Raker. The Collider is used to melt armour into slag whilst the Raker has two uses. It can either be a dangerous assault weapon or powered up to make it a higher strength to blast away opponents.
Tie this in with the fact it can have two additional Stealth Drones, Burst Cannons and a Fusion Blast as options and you have a Battlesuit which is well on the way to being a One-Tau wrecking machine.
So, will this feature in your Tau army?
"...you have a Battlesuit which is well on the way to being a One-Tau wrecking machine."
Love this!! Going to check the rules but this looks like it packs a punch.
It doesn’t, most Tau players have been left disappointed with the rules leaks of the new units because Tau did not need nerfing they needed boosting
what is it that people feel Tau are lacking at the moment?
Decent prices on new kits 😉
price is all relative. People always complain about the cost of things no matter what your hobby is 😉
Seriously, I’d be interested to know why you think that? I think the new kits are really fantastic and the variety of units now available to Tau is just very exciting! Yet I can’t say I felt that before this that Tau struggled in games! If anything they were challenging to play against! In a good way!
While I agree it is nice to see Tau have added variety, no leaks of auxiliaries is reaffirming the rumour that they are being dropped so overall we are not gaining alot. Tau are not a top tier meta currently as they lack any sort of D weapon, the stormsurge is not a good platform for it and the weapon is very anti-tau, having to get close to use it. The best option for the stormsurge is that str10 Ap2 large blast. Now the Ghostkeels weapon is underwhelming, AP4 is not something that makes an impact these days. The Tau… Read more »
I really like the design of the Ghostkeel. As Brennon points out, it does have something of a predator about it, and it overall sleeker design puts me in mind slightly of the Mecha from Ghost in the Shell and the Landmates from Appleseed. As for the tabletop – you have to love the potential for stealthy shenanigans. Employed properly, a Ghostkeel (or even better, two of them or a full team of three) with its drones should make for an ideal harassment and disruption unit that should be hard for an opponent to deal with quickly. The flexible weapons… Read more »
That looks really nice. It looks like Crisis Suit but with head similar to one that Stealth Suit has.
Much nicer than the other new tau battlesuit.
it should be named Achilles the ankles look to thin? I think.
Thats standard Tau suit design 😉
I find this is a much slicker looking kit than the other released this month. Mash them together and you’ll have a real cool quad walker.
Makes the Chapter House one really fit in
http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=132&product_id=201
Prices may bee relative but when were facing the prices we do in Aus it very much kills my hobby on the GW front. Its beyond a joke
love the look of this mecha 😀 it’s so much better than the Riptide 🙂
and I agree with @vetruviangeek it has a cool Appleseed vibe going on 😉
Now that’s a suit i want!
The new Tau are really a success so far.
Yes the leaks for the new firewarriors with the stationary missle system is an awesome idea. It makes me yearn that other factions would get more innovative extra units!
I do like the Breachers and their Pulse Blasters – they are basically pretty rocking Tau Plasma Shotguns. It is an interesting approach to a Tau analogue to an assault squad that still plays to their preference for ranged combat but also allows them to attack defended positions and fight in confined quarters. Sooner or later circumstances in the 40K universe would demand that the Tau engage in short ranged combat of one kind or another – boarding actions, urban combat, dug in adversaries around an objective to valuable to be reduced at long range like a captured Ethereal –… Read more »
I also agree that the little turret is also a very Tau solution to the issue of extra firepower for the Fire Warriors. Disposable, temporary mini-turrets offer extra fire support as and when it is required, and alongside the other types of drone demonstrates that the Tau embrace autonomous systems and AI more than other factions in the fluff and the Imperium in particular.
On the whole I think 40k just keeps on getting better, I feel like I’ve been spoiled this year with Adeptus Mechanicus, Harlies and new Tau and marine kits. I would very much like to juggle several armies but the cost is beyond me to sustain, so I’ll finish off my Dark Eldar and then go for a Skitarii/cult mech mashup in the new year if nothing else shinier (plastic heresy?!) comes along. Tau do look fab but I’d like an Imperium army for the first time.
I never paid the Tau much attention but with them being one side of the upcoming campaign release, I’m tempted to get whatever boxed set is released. It’d be a handy starting point and I’d love to lay my hands on their new releases. And I’m really liking the white colour scheme they’ve got going on. Although I was a little surprised that with all the promo shots being of white armour, last week’s White Dwarf covered the traditional tan scheme in Paint Splatter.