How to identify miniature parts that correspond to in-game enhancements?

Question

I'm totally new to Warhammer and to assembling my own miniatures. I'm preparing a team of tau fire warriors and I am confused with the enhancements and how to prepare the miniatures to reflect them in 'what you see is what you get' games. The codex says that the Shas'ui of the team can take a markerlight and that the team can take EMP grenades. How do I know which of the dozens of optional pieces in my box corresponds to these? Moreover, my kit comes with two options for the tactical support turret (smart missile system and missile pod) but I'm also having trouble identifying the pieces for these. I have one piece with three missiles and another with six, but no idea of which is which.

Is there a guide, with pictures, if possible, linking each piece to what they are supposed to represent?

Answer 1

I recommend you check out the Modelling Section of the Advanced Tau Tactica forums. This will probably be more helpful for their great magnetization guides, but there are a TON of other guides linked there... if you stick with Tau it will be an invaluable resource.

If you can find a copy of some of the older codexs they often have better pictures of what counts as what, but to some extent, even in a WYSIWYG tournament no one is going to check whether or not your squad has Grenades (or give you a hard time for not buying grenades even though they're modeled with them).

Answer 2

Aslum answer is good. ATT can be a bit pretentious at times, but there's some good stuff on there.

As for your Missile Pods vs Smart Missile System - the missile pod is the one with three (it's the same as on the Crisis suits) while the SMS has the six (just like the Broadsides).

As far as WYSISWG - most people are fine with every last bit of wargear not being shown correctly (I.e. how are you meant to show an engram chip? or Digital Weapons?) - and this used to be in the rules itself (not sure if it still is). It's more to do with units and weapons being easily identifiable and not likely to cause confusion for your opponent.

Answer 3

With the most recent box sets and codexes, there are images for most weapons. Within the weaponry sections and in the second half of the book, there are images that show what each weapon or piece of equipment looks like. Likewise, the back of the box that the models come in will often tell you what the weapons are that come in the box with an example of the model holding it.

Answer 4

Tau Codex 2 editions ago (4th, I think, it was) has a page with full comprehensive list of pictures, with text which bit resembles what. I recommend you to find that.