Hey all, figured it was time for my first thread!

Recently I've been writing up and developing an original Sept to base my Tau army around, and as I want to have a rather xenos-orientated flavour I've decided to work in a formal, integrated unit of Tarellian dog warriors as one of my first conversion projects for it, as well as the traditional Gue'vesa'la. However before I do that, I was wondering if there was any established lore to Tarellians and their interactions with the Tau Empire beyond what I can glean from the Lexicanum.

At present, building from what I know, the Tarellians within the sept only number under five hundred in total and their unit as a result reflects their lack of numbers by being small yet elite. In terms of gameplay, they fulfill a close-combat role yet I'm trying to find a way to counterbalance this to prevent my army from losing its big weakness (terrible in close combat). My thoughts are to limit their number to no more than five in any army and make them poor shooters, or else by having the small numbers yet increasing their points value. Say 15 or 20 points a model, with a commander being an additional 10 points and pulse carbines instead of their standard guns costing 5 points per model.

Meanwhile, with the current fluff, the Tarellians (currently my Tau refer to them as Pa) were invited to settle the sept's planet by its governing Ethereal, with generous incentives offered in terms of land and equipment. However only a few hundred settlers responded and have kept largely to themselves, waiting out their existence. Their growth is slow and there have been no additional immigrants since the founding of the Tarellian settlement. They're not very enthusiastic about the Greater Good and have only joined with the Tau Empire because they wanted to find somewhere relatively safe to settle and because the Tau usually have frequent wars with humans. Likewise they're feuding with the human settlements on the colony and Water Caste diplomats are constantly working to keep the two from getting at each other's throats, as well as assimilate the Tarellians more firmly into the Greater Good.

So how does this sound? Is there anything else I can add to give the sept more flavour regarding the Tarellians and the Tau? Are there any problems regarding lore or, potential snags in the gameplay if I use Tarellian soldiers? If there are any short stories or novels out there that feature Tarellians that I could be made aware of, even better.

First, a caveat: ATT generally frowns on custom units/rules.

However, you do seem to have put a fair bit of thought into fleshing out an ally of the Tau that is mentioned in the fluff but is not seen in the rules. This isn't a 'let's make the Tau roxxors in CC!!11!' post. Rather, this is based in the background to your cadre, which is rather in depth.

Before hashing out any rules, I would expand on the fluff for your army more, and perhaps show us any conversions you have for the Tarrelians (down in the Lower Concourse) of course. Only after that would I post anything detailed about the rules you may or may not use for the unit.

That all said, I do like the idea of what you are trying to do with the cadre. And I do like the refugee aspect of the Tarrelians and the fact that the Tau have essentially welcomed them with open arms. The lighter side of the grim darkness

I look forward to seeing an expansion of the fluff and definitely the models that you use.

Cheers!

I always love to see aliens mixed into a Tau force; the coalition aspect of the Tau Empire is my favorite aspect of the Tau. So I highly encourage you to pursue this endeavor. And while ATT has sensible policies concerning player-created rules, there is a huge range of options you can play with in 6th edition. Allied contingents open all sorts of options up. I frequently use converted alien auxiliary models in place of allied units; for example I have a unit of saurus warriors from Warhammer fantasy converted to carry modified kroot rifles. I usually play them as eldar pathfinders, with a similarly converted saurus/farseer.

I'm sure you could find a suitable unit to represent Tarellians, given that as Tau we can ally with anyone except Tyranids. Eldar and Space Marines are of course the most obvious choices since we're battle brothers, but they're not the only options.

And if you're interested in making an auxiliary-heavy cadre, I would highly suggest checking out the resources available here on ATT. There's a ton of interesting third-party models, and a few guides on converting up alien auxiliaries. If you're interested, I recently cooked up my own alien auxiliary conversion, inspired by anthrazopods. Generally speaking, creating your own alien auxiliaries is a lot of work, but they can look great on the table and you'll be proud to have them.

As Shasocrastis said, custom rules for units aren't allowed here, and with the possibility of allies (like Babaganoosh says), there is really no longer any need to develop your own rules. Just tell your opponent beforehand they are Banshee counts-as. Most casual players will have no problem with this, especially if you have an awesome conversion to put on the table.
I would love to see some of these alien auxiliary conversions, and some more fluff for your Sept's allies. You have a good start there.
I don't know of any actual Taurellian lore, but I am not the most learned of Tau Commanders either. Do you have a picture for them in your head already?

Crumbs! And here I thought I'd read the primers! Sorry about that.

Anywho, before I embarrass myself further, I was indeed considering using Saurus Warriors from Warhammer Fantasy as the base model; the results I've seen on the threads Babaganoosh (fantastic conversions by the way!) provided look very awesome indeed, while being in keeping with the descriptions of Tarellians that we've been provided with. Duredhel's pictures of Tarellians are generally what I think of first when I consider them mentally, thanks to the Lexicanum, so again Saurus Warriors are rather in keeping with what I have in mind. Once I start the project I'll be sure to start up a thread about it in the appropriate subforum.

My main issue currently is trying to balance a combat-orientated unit in with the primarily shooty-shooty Tau. While helping to provide a more effective close-combat alternative to the kroot, the Tarellians should feel like a Tau unit and should not make close combat a viable tactic. Essentially I envision the Tarellians as providing an effective team for absorbing charges and tying up close combat units while Firewarriors can move around them. Maybe it's just my poor tactics, but I find kroot tend to be too fragile and require careful positioning and movement. In agreement with Shasocastris, if I make the Tau strong both in shooting and assault, then I'd consider my Tarellian unit to be a failure. It has to fit in, it has to compliment.

Given the rules regarding custom units, I may instead use this thread to discuss fluff rather than gameplay mechanics. As I cannot yet post in the Library, I'll post any background writings for Tarellians within my sept here for analysis. As they're a species we don't have a lot of information on, it should allow me a fair bit of creative leeway. If I create my sept effectively, it should provide an original, or at least entertaining, look at an alien/Tau force while fitting in with current lore.