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This came up in a tau army list thread:

Wakinglimb wrote:Also you don't have any bonding knives? So when you go below 50% you can't regroup, remember that drones are part of the unit, not just wargear. So lose your 2 shield drones on the HQ and you'll need to do a morale check (on your LD9) and not be able to regroup if you fail.

Is poster Wakinglimb correct about not being able to rally without a BK? I thought being an IC bypassed this ....

IC rules: they're used to fighting alone, blah blah blah. Consult Next-To-Last bullet, page 48, RB.

With a Shas HQ and two drones, sure, losing a drone to shooting causes a morale check (33% loss). Let's say the unit fails it and Falls Back. Soon, they get shot up again, and the other drone dies. Another failed Morale check.

Now, *next* turn, that Next-to-Last bullet no longer applies, correct? So, by being an IC, isn't he fine once the drones are gone? And can still attempt to rally?

(Yeah, yeah, that's a lot of table for a JetPack Crisis Suit to Fall Back and not get off the table in 3 turns, maybe a lot of 1s got rolled )

Same thing when a Farseer joins a DA unit? They get shot up more than 25%. Fail the morale roll, with just the HQ and one DireAvenger and they Fall Back. Next turn, the last DA dies, leaving the farseer by himself. He can rally now, right? The last bullet point on the IC page 48 doesn't prevent this.

*Does* the tau HQ need bonding to able to rally if he's bought drones?

No, he doesn't. The Drones technically form a Retinue, so once the Drones die, he reverts to being an IC and can rally, as he is at 100% Unit Strength.

However, if the IC is attached to, say 2 Crisis Suits, and you lose 2 Drones and a Crisis Suit, and run, you WON'T be able to rally unless you have the Knife.

Gwar! wrote:However, if the IC is attached to, say 2 Crisis Suits, and you lose 2 Drones and a Crisis Suit, and run, you WON'T be able to rally unless you have the Knife.

I agree.

Once that last elite FoC suit dies, and the HQ is alone again, *then* it can rally without a knife, correct?

Brothererekose wrote:

Gwar! wrote:However, if the IC is attached to, say 2 Crisis Suits, and you lose 2 Drones and a Crisis Suit, and run, you WON'T be able to rally unless you have the Knife.

I agree.

Once that last elite FoC suit dies, and the HQ is alone again, *then* it can rally without a knife, correct?

Yup. Of course a Smart opponent will just ignore them for the rest of the game and let them run off or be auto destroyed at the end of the game.

Codex page 31 -

Talking about the controller -

"If he he is an independent character then the drones and the character form a unit."

That's where I got it from...