“Our tanks were useless. As soon as we broke cover, their battlesuits' heavy guns were locked onto us. I swear it was as though they had someone nearby aiming for them before they shot. And when they did shoot… Emperor's mercy! Their guns punched through our armour like it was paper. All I could see were trails of fire where the projectiles ignited the air.”
   –Guardsman Cauley, 25th Graian Rifles

The battle for Sacaellum reaches a fever pitch. A band of Orks races out of the wastelands, riding ramshackle trukks and eager for a brawl. Dark Eldar raiding parties flash overhead, taking slaves from the midst of battle, and the hordes of Chaos still pour out of the ruined space hulk Kaerux Erameas. Take your place in the front lines when you pick up your copy of Deadly Salvage from your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Deadly Salvage immediately expands the borders of your Warhammer 40,000: Conquest decks by introducing a brand-new Ork warlord to lead your warband into combat. Like the other War Packs of the Planetfall cycle, Deadly Salvage also puts new importance on the planet type symbols—fighting for planets that align with your faction’s goals will quickly unlock new options for your strategies. The lay of the land is changing, and whichever faction masters these new tactics first will claim an undoubtable advantage. 

Today, we’ll take a closer look at the Tau cards of Deadly Salvage and see how they can give new tools to any Tau warlord.

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The Tau are well-known for their innovative tech, unique battle tactics, and their philosophy of the Greater Good. Each of these precepts finds a card to support it in Deadly Salvage. The first Tau card you’ll find is an exemplar of the advantages of Tau technology. The Prototype Crisis Suit (Deadly Salvage, 66) boasts solid ATK and HP, as well as two command icons. These stats are likely to increase, however—after you deploy your Prototype Crisis Suit, you can search the top nine cards of your deck for up to two Tau attachments with a cost of two or lower. Then, you’ll immediately put those attachments into play attached to the Prototype Crisis Suit!

Obviously, the more Tau attachments you have in your deck, the more likely it is that the Prototype Crisis Suit will find suitable targets. Commander Shadowsun (Core Set, 7) naturally encourages you to focus on attachments, and with plenty of cards like Ion Rifle (Core Set, 166) and Auxiliary Armor (Boundless Hate, 46), the Prototype Crisis Suit can become one of the most dangerous units in the Tau arsenal.

One of the major benefits of high-HP units is that you’ll almost certainly get at least one strike before the unit is destroyed, simply because its HP is beyond most units’ ATK, especially when shields come into play. Fortunately, Tau battle tactics offer an appropriate response for dealing with these units. If you need to destroy a high-profile unit quickly, there may be no better time to order a Mont'ka Strike (Deadly Salvage, 67). This event allows you to exhaust all of your ready Soldier units at a chosen planet to immediately deal damage equal to their combined ATK to any one enemy army unit. This coordinated firepower should be enough to destroy even the hardiest unit.

Finally, the Sae'lum Enclave (Deadly Salvage, 68) rewards you for seeking allies outside the bounds of the Tau empire and spreading the message of the Greater Good. Whenever you deploy a non-Tau unit, you can exhaust Sae’lum Enclave to reduce that unit’s cost by two. Whether you’re playing as Commander Starblaze (Decree of Ruin, 6) and allied with the Astra Militarum, or you’re sticking to your standard allies—the Space Marines or the Eldar—the Sae’lum Enclave can be an important piece of the economy that supports your armies in the field.

A Planet Torn by War

The battle for Sacaellum lies not between just two armies or two races, but all eight of the factions currently fighting for control of the Traxis sector. Similarly, the outcome will affect every faction in countless ways. Do your part to decide the future of Sacaellum when you grab Deadly Salvage from your local retailer today!