Review: T’au Empire Boarding Patrol (inc. Commander Farsight)

In today’s review, we take a closer look at the new T’au Empire Boarding Patrol box, which contains the new plastic Commander Farsight. Let’s see if his brand-new XV-86 Supernova battlesuit makes this model a worthy upgrade or not.

Boarding Patrol: T’au Empire will be available for preorder starting Saturday, March 5, 2023, and go on sale one week after. Unlike Combat Patrol sets, it’s very likely that these boxes won’t become a permanent addition to the range and are only available while stocks last.

In the box you will find:

• The new Commander Farsight model (for now exclusive to this box)
• an XV8 Crisis Battlesuits team (3 suits and 6 drones)
• 10 Fire Warriors with two drones and a DS8 tactical support turret (can be built as either a Strike Team or Breacher squad)
• 3 sheets of Vior’la sept infantry transfer sheets

Plastic Commander Farsight review

Commander Farsight comes on three small sprues and a 60mm base. There are no additional bits or optional assemblies. To my surprise, the head, arms, and hip are ball and socket joints, and can be positioned more freely when you cut away the little positioning nubs. The legs also have a small range of movement.

Commander Farsight is in his new XV-86 Supernova battlesuit noticeably bigger than the former Finecast model. I like the pose quite a bit, even if it’s once again based on a “tactical” rock. The waving ribbons emphasise the powerful stance. I only find that the two branches distract a bit from the model, but fortunately, these are completely optional. The rock is completely separate and has no holes or glue spots to connect it to the branches.

The other stuff

The rest of the box’s contents are solid and complement the Tau Combat Patrol well. Crisis Suits rarely appear in discounted box sets. Of course, it would have been more thematic if only battlesuits had been included, e.g. a Broadside battlesuit instead of the Fire Warriors, so you could make a start of collecting Farsight’s Eight.

Value

It has become a practice for Games Workshop to add exclusive models to Combat Patrol, Vanguard, and now Boarding Patrol boxes. Recently, existing character models are often repackeged into new Combat Patrols and Vanguard sets and then no longer available individually. However, as Boarding Patrols will likely not be a long-term part of the range, I am sure Commander Farsight will also be released individually at some point. Be aware that I’ve heard that due to ongoing supply problems, the Tau and Ork Boarding Patrols are only being delivered in small numbers. So don’t think too long about buying them, they could sell out quickly.

Even though it can be a pain, personally I’m always happy when you can get models at a discount in an army box. With an RRP of £80 / 105€ you get Commander Farsight practically for free. I’m guessing that Farsight will cost at least the same as the current T’au Commander model (so £37.50 / 50€), probably even a few quid more as a special character. That means a saving of about 35% compared to individual purchases, which is not bad for such boxes.

You can find the new 40k Boarding Patrols at our partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, Firestorm Games, and Taschengelddieb. With an additional discount of up to 20% over RRP, these boxes become even more attractive.

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.