The Barracuda is Back [40k Tau]

[The new Forgeworld Tau Barracuda]

The Tau Forgeworld Barracuda has been out of stock for sometime.  I've got a barracuda myself, and much preferred it both aesthetically and tactically compared to our codex flyers.  It was part of my tournament army for a while, but has fallen out of favour since the new codex dropped last year.

Then out of the blue it's announced on the Forgeworld blog (link here) that a new Barracuda will be available at Warhammer Fest.  The Barracuda shares the same shape as the original, but takes some of the design elements of its larger cousin, the Tiger Shark, shown here:

The upturned wing edges (winglets) on the new Barracuda are nice, but personally I'm not totally sold on the vertical stabilisers at the back, but I'm sure lots of people will like them and prefer them to the fragile antennae on the Tiger Shark and the original Barracuda.

As if that wasn't enough the new Barracuda also comes with different weapon options:

As well as having the classic Ion Cannon and drone controlled Burst Cannons, the Ion Cannon can be swapped for a Long-Barrelled Burst Cannon or a Railgun, while the Burst Cannons on the wings can be swapped for Cyclic Ion Blasters.  It'll be interesting to see the points costs of these upgrades and whether the Barracuda's base cost will stay the same.

The original Barracuda was definitely best against Infantry, but with the addition of the weapon options it can fulfill more roles.  With a Railgun, Cyclic Ion Blasters and Seeker Missiles it can really fulfill an anti tank and/or anti air role (depending on it's aircraft designation follow the Death from the Skies supplement).  I'm tempted with a flexible role with an Ion Cannon & Cyclic Ion Blasters.  With the addition of the Missile Pod that the previously Barracuda had (and from the picture looks like it still has) that would give it 11 Str 7 shots with the option of exchanging 9 of those shots for a large blast & 2 small blasts at str 8 (although with the Gets Hot rule).

I can't wait to see the rules for the model, as it'll be interesting to see whether it stays as a 2 hull point flyer or whether it is upgraded to 3 hull points as it's bigger (and much bulkier) than the codex flyers.


What do you think of the new Barracuda ?  Will you be retro fitting an existing model or are you tempted to buy one of the new models ?

Rathstar