Other Tau players.

[Menthak]

A question to other Tau players out there, do you get annoyed when others call you race fishy or communist ect? do you agree or do you just find them ignorant? ( not a rant, i'm after other people to comment 'cause I want their opinion)

[uga bug]

When Tau are called fish or space cows I find it just odd. The vehicles are named after fish, so they get called fish, strage. I don't see an imperial guard army and think "oh look at the ancient greeks" or whatever. The whole thing of referring to Tau as cows though is beyond me.

I do however agree with the communism vibe; all castes working for the common greater good.

[megatrons2nd]

Tau have hooves instead of human style feet. Thus the cow nomenclature. I however just ignore the jarhead derogatory comments (sorry to all Marines out there, I really do respect what you and all military members do).

[ForgottenLore]

Yes I do, since they really aren't anything like any of those things.

[Theocracity]

The Tau philosophy of the Greater Good resemble Communism in the same way that the Imperium resembles Rome - not much beyond a vague pastiche that only makes sense if you ignore the myriad ways in which they are different.

[otakuzoku]

The Tau philosophy of the Greater Good resemble Communism in the same way that the Imperium resembles Rome - not much beyond a vague pastiche that only makes sense if you ignore the myriad ways in which they are different.

im with you on that.

but i always find it strange they name there veichails (or the IOM code name them) with nortical theme when there from a world with not a lot of water ?

[Theocracity]

im with you on that.

but i always find it strange they name there veichails (or the IOM code name them) with nortical theme when there from a world with not a lot of water ?

Perhaps the first human worlds they found were nautical, and gave the ships names based on their sleek profiles. The Tau, upon learning the names the humans used, decided 'yeah alright, we can dig that' and blessed it rather than bothering to translate the original names for the vehicles. Tau are pragmatists, after all; why bother goin through the work of translating for your new citizens and let them call it what they like?

[Ozendorph]

The commie spacecow thing gets brought up because some Tau players get so worked up over it. It's a joke, just like "utra smurfs", or my DA wearing "dresses" or "bathrobes".

[taudau]

Depends a lot on the setting.

In my FLGS it's all good fun, if sometimes a bit tiresome.
Same goes for the internet. However anonymity and haters amplify the whole 'spacecow/fishpeople anime communists" enough to make it annoying.
On some forums people seem to hate Tau even more than they hate Ultra Marines :/

[Ozendorph]

Sure, but what's to like about them? Bunch of marxist bovines with a single gil in the middle of their forehead...


...

[agurus1]

I think the whole communist/caste/hindu thing makes them more intriguing honestly. very at odds with most of the other races, and makes the unique. pretty much the only race that is inclusive of other species rather than exclusive and xenophobic.

[lantzkev]

I think it's great, who doesn't want a communistic society?

[samiens]

After that comment maybe, in all seriousness, this thread should get closed before it turns into an inappropriate political debate.

On topic, no I don't get offended (although I refer to them as poor little grey dudes), just as I make jokes about my dark angels wearing dresses. Honestly, making a negative comment about the background to someones miniatures army is a bit of a giggle (I like to talk at length abit how much I hate space wolves, referring to them as space puppies etc)- its not a personal attack on you- if this is an issue for individuals I supect its because they are taking the background too seriously and identifying with it too much- its just a game!

[lantzkev]

Pff it's general discussion, it's not like it's not related to the OP and not related to the fish heads.

Face it, if we could get a entire society behind communism full force without corruption, it'd be ideal. Problem is we're still not as a society near the limit of human potential.

[FashaTheDog]

When I fight Tau I refer to them and their vehicles as corpses and wrecks, respectively. Anything else would imply that they would be otherwise when I'm done with them. When I play as Tau, I make Gundam references (Sieg Zeon!), mostly Universal Century.

Sure, but what's to like about them? Bunch of marxist bovines with a single gil in the middle of their forehead...

Wow, Tau just got a whole lot more cool for me! Also, my Dark Angels wear dressing gowns, thank you very much.

[Kakapo42]

I personally do, since it's just...so...common. If it was just the occasional thing, then I probably wouldn't mind quite so much, but after seeing it so many times it's novelty has long since worn off to me.

I think what really fries me about it is that it gets used so often I worry that people might start to think that that's all there is to the Tau, which is a shame because they are a really cool and interesting faction. I also fear that it will put them off the faction, which is also sad, since they really could use more publicity (the reason why I don't mind similar remarks about Space Marine chapters, since I consider them to have the marketing spotlight and popularity to take it).

I also fail to comprehend how they are in any way similar to fish. The only connection I can see is with their vehicle and aircraft naming scheme, but that connection seems suspect at best.

[lantzkev]

I also fail to comprehend how they are in any way similar to fish. The only connection I can see is with their vehicle and aircraft naming scheme, but that connection seems suspect at best.

I fail to get why people refer to vagoo's in seafood terms... I mean just because it occasionally smells fishy...

Seriously the references to fish in the naming scheme of vehicles, the smooth dolphin like skin of the race as a whole... seems a pretty strong reason to call em fishheads.

regardless of how much they actually line up, as anyone who has been called some name they didn't entirely deserve, the slightest connection to a word will cause a link.

[Lord Squidar]

I must say the worst off for this kind of thing are WHFB dwarfs. I think there are two categories of people in the world, people who love dwarfs and those that hate them. Mostly people just hate them. Its really weird because regardless of who is winning in a match, if people come to spectate, they always say "kill the stunty idiots" or something like that, or you get that one gem of a dwarf lover who gives a battle cry in Khazalid =)

To be fair, marines of all shapes take a lot of flax too.

[Grinder]

I think a major factor in the name calling is because many other forces don't match up to an interesting game with the Tau Empire codex.

The Tau play like a highly developed boxer with feints, jabs and vicious power shots then retreats. Most other codex(ii...wtf) lunge and stab, while having great rules, saves and such to save the day.

I have had more than one opponent mention they are not fun to play against, of course they were somewhat of meatheads themselves...WWWAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

[ehlijen]

I think it's great, who doesn't want a communistic society?

The ethereals for starters :P Ruling by birthright and communism don't go that well together (ask the Tzars...).