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 Savageconvoy wrote:
The point in bringing Darkstrider is the unit he shoots at is considered -1T for rolling to wound and Instant Death, so S6 railrifles can insta-kill T4 models. Only problem will always be price with the unit. Even a min squad with rail rifles is 89 points, with Darkstrider another 100. If you can get an opponent to overlook them or even outflank them into a safe area, it can work.

Eh, i'm not convinced. 189pts pts for 3 BS 3 sniper shots and you lose markerlights. On top of that, pathfinders are squishy with their 5+ armor saves. So, sure you might be able to ID 3 marines MAX, but that doesn't really seem worth it for the point cost and shooting skill of these guys.. For 3 points less, i can grab a riptide with just an IA and do the exact same thing the pathfinders are doing, except have a chance to wipe out an entire squad...if i pass the Gets Hot! roll....and get a good scatter....and they fail their cover. Riptide is more durable as well.

Most players also don't have their MEq hanging out in the open. They like to put them in metal boxes, or in cover, and if i'm not mistaken, you can still take a cover saves against sniper shots. Might be useful for a small game, MAYBE, but that's still kind of pricey IMO. It's also a waste of Darkstrider. IMO, if you're going to field him, make him as trolltastic as possible. Stick him in a pathfinder group, and give them the grav-inhibtor drone and fill up your tear cup with the rage of your foe as he tries unsuccessfully to shoot and charge your squad.



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 dementedwombat wrote:
I take the fusion blaster for one reason and one reason only. My most common opponent runs the doom of malan`tai in a spore. Evey single model in my army that has the opportunity to take both interceptor and strength 8 weapons does so.

Oh i see. Well then yea, i see why you put that. I guess that's as good a reason as any. He's very scary.

HEY, weren't we suppose to get some kind of warp resistance special rule? >:| What happened with that? lol

You can also roll with ion rifles and ID toughness 5. It's probably best in a less competitive meta where your opponent doesn't expect it though (i.e. doesn't know every capability of your army as well as he knows his own).


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AnonAmbientLight wrote:

HEY, weren't we suppose to get some kind of warp resistance special rule? >:| What happened with that? lol

I agree 100%. Tau minds don't even register in the warp. I feel like any kind of power that doesn't directly influence the material world would just "slide off" a Tau. I was at least hoping for some way to get a bonus on deny the witch. Instead we're the most vulnerable army in the entire game to powers.

Oh well, you can't have everything. I guess that's why you take the bloody cookie cutter eldar allies like everyone else.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
I messed up. I forgot only the commander has 4 hard points. My idea won't work

Signature systems on a Commander or Bodyguard Shas'vre don't take up hard points (which is why the Farsight bomb build works). So you can actually stick some more stuff on there

Yeah but my whole selling point was the deathrains were cheaper and could take EWO and VT on the same build.

But to be honest if that was the case, someone would have noticed by now and there would probably be no discussion on HYMP.

That just seems like a lot of wasted dakka potential to handle one issue that you can neutralize next turn (probably!) with HYMP/HRR broadsides with VT. The deathrains are too specialized. Once the flyer threat is removed. (if you get good rolls) they're now just 4 shot TL MPs. :\ I don't think 36/26 points saved on not getting broadsides is worth it to have a chance to maybe knock out a flyer as soon as it comes in.

Then again, i don't have much experience against flyers so i don't know how scary turn 1 flyer shooting can be.

Broadsides don't actually need skyfire to shoot down fliers. Twin linked means that with a full squad of 3 missile broadsides you will get 3-4 hits even needing 6s. 3 strength 7 hits is still very nasty against most fliers.

I don't like the idea and it seems like a bloody waste, but 20 points per velocity tracker makes you wonder just how much you need them.

 dementedwombat wrote:
You can also roll with ion rifles and ID toughness 5. It's probably best in a less competitive meta where your opponent doesn't expect it though (i.e. doesn't know every capability of your army as well as he knows his own).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AnonAmbientLight wrote:

HEY, weren't we suppose to get some kind of warp resistance special rule? >:| What happened with that? lol

I agree 100%. Tau minds don't even register in the warp. I feel like any kind of power that doesn't directly influence the material world would just "slide off" a Tau. I was at least hoping for some way to get a bonus on deny the witch. Instead we're the most vulnerable army in the entire game to powers.

Oh well, you can't have everything. I guess that's why you take the bloody cookie cutter eldar allies like everyone else.

Forgot about Ion rifles, but they'll still probably have a cover save, and when you add ion rifles, rail rifles, and Darkstrider the cost goes up to 252. Still...you add in that grav-inhibitor drone, make it 267 and you'll be one slippery unit. Also, i dislike things that can potentially blow up. Overcharging 3 ion rifles might be risky. If they blow up, 5+ armor save, maybe 4+ cover save? is going to suuuuuuccccckkkk.

Yea, i remember reading a thread focused on "Rumored Tau rules" and What rules do YOU want to see in the Tau codex, and one poster suggested a rule called "The Warp? What's That?" - All Tau units (except kroot allies, vespid,) get a 5+ or 6+ save against warp powers. TBH, i just really liked the name of the rule. It fits with the fluff and would be nice for the army. Not too strong, but nice to have.


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 dementedwombat wrote:
Broadsides don't actually need skyfire to shoot down fliers. Twin linked means that with a full squad of 3 missile broadsides you will get 3-4 hits even needing 6s. 3 strength 7 hits is still very nasty against most fliers.

I don't like the idea and it seems like a bloody waste, but 20 points per velocity tracker makes you wonder just how much you need them.

How does TL work on flyers exactly. Do you re-roll 1's and 2's only, or everything that wasn't a 6, since technically it's a "miss"?

Personally, i like predictability in my army. That's why i lean towards VT, and not just EWO or something else for the broadsides against air. It's why i don't really care for weapons that Get Hot! I like riptide's nova charge option but i like to put a Stim on him for a little extra security. Maybe i should take more chances, but i like to be a cautious commander.

Edit: I hope my multiple edits are not sending you guys e-mail messages or something every time i update.. I keep forgetting to add things or i see typos and i have to fix them. <_<

 dementedwombat wrote:
Broadsides don't actually need skyfire to shoot down fliers. Twin linked means that with a full squad of 3 missile broadsides you will get 3-4 hits even needing 6s. 3 strength 7 hits is still very nasty against most fliers.

I don't like the idea and it seems like a bloody waste, but 20 points per velocity tracker makes you wonder just how much you need them.

Yeah, is 20 points worth it? On Railsides I think yes, because you don't have the number of shots to negate the difficulty of hitting. With Missilesides, it's debatable. Also skyfire is a one trick pony, it only works on fliers. Interceptor, on the other hand, works against all reserves and so is more widely applicable. Once those fliers are dead that 20 point upgrade is useless whilst the EWO will continue to be effective as long as the opponent has units in reserve either through dealing damage or creating zones they don't want to bring their reserves onto for fear of the amount of fire they'll have to weather.

'Course sticking Interceptor on everything can end badly when another Tau player trolls you with a Mech list where all their vehicles have Decoy Launchers. "What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of my 4+ Invulnerable save against your Missilesides!"

I don't see Skyfire being a one trick pony as a bad thing.

Let's say you have a squad of three sides with VT. You have about 250 points of broadsides on the board. If they drop a 100 point flier in one turn of shooting, they've paid off the Velocity trackers and about half a broadside.

If you have to deal with a lot of fliers, it's not that bad. There's a reason you hear people talking about taking Tau Allies for Skyfire. We get it good and fairly cheap.

If you never see fliers locally, where do you play and what time?

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 dementedwombat wrote:
Broadsides don't actually need skyfire to shoot down fliers. Twin linked means that with a full squad of 3 missile broadsides you will get 3-4 hits even needing 6s. 3 strength 7 hits is still very nasty against most fliers.

I don't like the idea and it seems like a bloody waste, but 20 points per velocity tracker makes you wonder just how much you need them.

Yeah, is 20 points worth it? On Railsides I think yes, because you don't have the number of shots to negate the difficulty of hitting. With Missilesides, it's debatable. Also skyfire is a one trick pony, it only works on fliers. Interceptor, on the other hand, works against all reserves and so is more widely applicable. Once those fliers are dead that 20 point upgrade is useless whilst the EWO will continue to be effective as long as the opponent has units in reserve either through dealing damage or creating zones they don't want to bring their reserves onto for fear of the amount of fire they'll have to weather.

'Course sticking Interceptor on everything can end badly when another Tau player trolls you with a Mech list where all their vehicles have Decoy Launchers. "What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of my 4+ Invulnerable save against your Missilesides!"

I guess it just depends on who you play against. For a tournament, i don't think i'd leave home without reliable anti-air options. Like i said, personally, i don't like to deal with chances. I like guarantees. Fliers are pretty potent, and i agree missilesides could dakka them enough to take them out without VT, but i'd rather them be gone for sure.

Also, keep in mind that the EWO is a double edge sword. You get to fire at deep striked units after their movement phase, but you can not fire that weapon on your shooting phase next turn. It's the same amount of fire power for that round, just at different times. Which, yes, could make or break the deployment strength of that freshly bloodied unit, but that unit can only shoot after deep strike anyway. No charging allowed. For fliers, i guess knocking it out of the sky before it can do anything is nice, but again, not a guarantee without VT, and you forgo the next normal round of shooting with that model's weapon.

In the case of our follow Commander, demenetedwombat, he has an opponent that drops a mean deathstar on him that HAS to die ASAP. (My friend has that unit....shudder.) So, i guess EWO is as situational as VT is, but cheaper by 15pts.

Edit: As i understand it, the chaos, or demons have a flier called the helldrake or whatever and it's apparently really strong. I'd want that thing dead with well placed shots, and would be willing to pay 20pts and wait next turn to knock it down.

Helldrake is 12/12/10 3 HP with a 5++ invuln and the ability to regenerate hull points like It Will Not Die.

I never want to see them across the table from me, but if I do then i will be packing sky rays.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And maybe a Barracuda. Those things are really nasty air superiority, as long as they don't just vector strike it to death.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Helldrake is 12/12/10 3 HP with a 5++ invuln and the ability to regenerate hull points like It Will Not Die.

I never want to see them across the table from me, but if I do then i will be packing sky rays.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And maybe a Barracuda. Those things are really nasty air superiority, as long as they don't just vector strike it to death.

This is the exact reason why I want ewo on my units. With tank hunter I stand a chance of getting a pen to stick. And with any luck actually stop that beast from destroying a whole unit that turn. If all I give up is shifting my shooting phase to a different part of the turn. I feel its well worth it.

I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

optimusprime14 wrote:
I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

All for a low price of 370pts.....

I'll never agree to give my commander MSS and C&C. Seems like a waste of our only Natural BS5 platform. And really expensive base price too just to carry around support gear. The Riptide does well enough with Some markerlights and extra BS and ignore covers saves from them. if you really want rerolls, get two sets of them from a 100pt farseer.

Coyote81 wrote:

optimusprime14 wrote:
I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

All for a low price of 370pts.....

I'll never agree to give my commander MSS and C&C. Seems like a waste of our only Natural BS5 platform. And really expensive base price too just to carry around support gear. The Riptide does well enough with Some markerlights and extra BS and ignore covers saves from them. if you really want rerolls, get two sets of them from a 100pt farseer.

If you're worried about a wasted BS5, give the commander marker drones with target lock and drone controller. I think the Support' O could be a valid option for specific army set ups. I might tinker around with a list that will accomplish just that for today since i have nothing else to do. (Isn't being sick great? )

AnonAmbientLight wrote:

Coyote81 wrote:

optimusprime14 wrote:
I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

All for a low price of 370pts.....

I'll never agree to give my commander MSS and C&C. Seems like a waste of our only Natural BS5 platform. And really expensive base price too just to carry around support gear. The Riptide does well enough with Some markerlights and extra BS and ignore covers saves from them. if you really want rerolls, get two sets of them from a 100pt farseer.

If you're worried about a wasted BS5, give the commander marker drones with target lock and drone controller. I think the Support' O could be a valid option for specific army set ups. I might tinker around with a list that will accomplish just that for today since i have nothing else to do. (Isn't being sick great? )

Somewhere on ATT, I remember reading the Support'O is called the Raven. I wish I could find what thread that was in, but that's just a cool name.

Anyways, I've been looking at using one with three or four Marker Drones, (one or two from joined crisis squad, two with commander) and giving the Crisis team Target Locks. Since the Commander give them Reroll hits and Ignores cover, the Bladestorm squad (burst/Plasma) doesn't need any Markerlights. The drones however are now BS5 and reroll ones. Giving me almost without a doubt 3(or 4) markerlights to throw around on top of the two 8 man Pathfinder squads I'm using,

Coyote81 wrote:

optimusprime14 wrote:
I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

All for a low price of 370pts.....

I'll never agree to give my commander MSS and C&C. Seems like a waste of our only Natural BS5 platform. And really expensive base price too just to carry around support gear. The Riptide does well enough with Some markerlights and extra BS and ignore covers saves from them. if you really want rerolls, get two sets of them from a 100pt farseer.

Fair enough. It's also a large bullet magnet. At T6 and 9W it is very survivable. I agree it's a large chunk of points but it allows me to use my pathfinders on other units to make them BS5. As far as the natural BS5 goes, it can be used on marker drones or gun drones. He can also bounce out of the Riptide and go join some broadsides or another unit. I run my Tau with SM support and I can make up the shooting elsewhere. I find (and this is only personal experience) that it tends to attract so much fire power that the rest of the army is ignored.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:

AnonAmbientLight wrote:

Coyote81 wrote:

optimusprime14 wrote:
I've been playing around with a buffing Cmdr and a Riptide. Cmdr runs CnC, MSS, IA, PT, and a shield. I stick him with a EWO and VT Riptide and have fun. I ignore cover and get to re roll almost everything. Plus it is a T6, 9W unit with 2+/4++ and I can get cover but putting the Cmdr out of LoS or in terrain. It's expensive, but I can reliably drop S8 pie plates every turn. I can reroll the gets hot or reroll the scatter dice. My pathfinders are free to buff the rest of my army now.

Flyers don't get a Jinx save and I have tank hunter against them. Bikes don't like it because I ignore their armour and cover save.

All for a low price of 370pts.....

I'll never agree to give my commander MSS and C&C. Seems like a waste of our only Natural BS5 platform. And really expensive base price too just to carry around support gear. The Riptide does well enough with Some markerlights and extra BS and ignore covers saves from them. if you really want rerolls, get two sets of them from a 100pt farseer.

If you're worried about a wasted BS5, give the commander marker drones with target lock and drone controller. I think the Support' O could be a valid option for specific army set ups. I might tinker around with a list that will accomplish just that for today since i have nothing else to do. (Isn't being sick great? )

Somewhere on ATT, I remember reading the Support'O is called the Raven. I wish I could find what thread that was in, but that's just a cool name.

Anyways, I've been looking at using one with three or four Marker Drones, (one or two from joined crisis squad, two with commander) and giving the Crisis team Target Locks. Since the Commander give them Reroll hits and Ignores cover, the Bladestorm squad (burst/Plasma) doesn't need any Markerlights. The drones however are now BS5 and reroll ones. Giving me almost without a doubt 3(or 4) markerlights to throw around on top of the two 8 man Pathfinder squads I'm using,

Putting markerdrones in a crisis squad seems like a waste because of the low BS and asking for LD rolls when the markerlights take damage. (if they do). They only have a 4+ save. I say, pay the extra 2pts per markerdrone and make a fast attack squad of markerdrones and stick ....but that wouldn't work. Because then your commander has the drone squad already joined and he cant join other squads like the riptide. (nevermind)

Forgot about that detail. -.-

Anyway, Drone controller says drones in the unit use BS of the wearer. Would that confer to the crisis drones as well?

To answer my own question BRB pg 39, an "IC counts as part of the unit for all rules and purposes."

At that point, i wonder if a strategy would be to do like you're doing with the markerdrones on crisis suits, but put marker drones on multiple units. (crisis and broadsides) and have your commander join groups as needed. It's 2pts more than a PF, but you can have an interesting cascading effect, and force multiplier opportunity with multiple squads shooting both their guns and markerlights to buff the next squads markerdrones and shots.

That sounds interesting, at least on paper.

I'll have to play a few games to see if this works as well as I want it to, but It sounds much more concrete than yesterday's brilliant idea I had.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
I'll have to play a few games to see if this works as well as I want it to, but It sounds much more concrete than yesterday's brilliant idea I had.

Also could add an interesting dynamic to a Support'O / Raven that jumps from squad to squad to deal with threats as needed based on what your troops offer. Although i'd have to double check on rules relating to IC joining and leaving squads.

Sounds like a fun and interesting strategy though if it all pans out. Gives us another option other than shoot and scoot.

There's no such thing as a bad idea or a stupid idea on discussion forums. If they didn't exist then the forums wouldn't exist and conversations would not be driven towards new ideas.

IC's join squads at the end of ther movement phase if they are within 2" of the squad. They can only be a part of 1 squad at a time. They can leave durring the movement phase at any point by moving outside of 2" (ie the squad and move and the IC stays put or vice versa)

There is some debate on if the IC has to move first before the squad due to RAW, but I've never found anyone who inforces that

So you could move the commander 6 to the new squad, move the new squad 6 to the commander, then as long as they were within 2 inches you could join the new squad. Effectively just be within 14 inches and you are golden

I always build out my support commander with missile pods, EWO, and skyfire. That way he gets to shoot in enemies turn, and buff in my turn. No wasted BS5.

optimusprime14 wrote:
IC's join squads at the end of ther movement phase if they are within 2" of the squad. They can only be a part of 1 squad at a time. They can leave durring the movement phase at any point by moving outside of 2" (ie the squad and move and the IC stays put or vice versa)

There is some debate on if the IC has to move first before the squad due to RAW, but I've never found anyone who inforces that

So basically, if your squads are close enough, he can easily jump to squad to squad in the movement phase, (6in max range between squads so the squads don't have to move?) depending on what's needed. This could work.

I'm tinkering around with a 1500 list as we speak. It's weird but i'm trying to find reasons to spend points on stuff with my commander being a Support'O. Then again, i'm also kind of tailoring the list for a FFA 3 way battle with friends. I've got everything i want and then some though.

Total: 1494

HQ (219pts)

Commander (169pts)
Command and Control Node , Drone controller, Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite , Neuroweb System Jammer, Puretide Engram Neurochip
2x Marker Drone

Ethereal (50pts)

Elites (533pts)

XV104 Riptide (210pts)
Early warning override , Ion accelerator Twin-linked smart missile system, Velocity tracker

XV8 Crisis Team (152pts)

Crisis Shas'ui
Burst cannon Twin-linked missile pod
Crisis Shas'ui )
Burst cannon , Twin-linked missile pod
4x Marker Drone

XV8 Crisis Team (171pts) (For deep strike purposes)

Crisis Shas'ui
Crisis battlesuit, Plasma rifle Twin-linked fusion blaster
Crisis Shas'ui
Crisis battlesuit, Plasma rifle , Twin-linked fusion blaster
Crisis Shas'ui
Crisis battlesuit, Plasma rifle , Twin-linked fusion blaster

Troops (252pts)

Fire Warrior Team (54pts)
6x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle

Fire Warrior Team (54pts)
6x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle

Fire Warrior Team (72pts)
8x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle

Fire Warrior Team (72pts)
8x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle

Fast Attack (66pts)

Pathfinder Team (66pts)
6x Pathfinder Shas'la (66pts)
6x Pulse carbine with Markerlight

Heavy Support (424pts)

Hammerhead Gunship (190pts)
Disruption pod Railgun with submunitions , Twin-linked smart missile system
Longstrike


XV88 Broadside Team (234pts)

Broadside Shas'ui (70pts)
Broadside battlesuit, Early warning override Twin-linked high-yield missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system
Broadside Shas'ui (70pts)
Broadside battlesuit, Early warning override Twin-linked high-yield missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system
Broadside Shas'ui (70pts)
Broadside battlesuit, Early warning override Twin-linked high-yield missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system
2x Shield Drone


The list feels weird. But it also feels like i have a lot of fire power going down range, with a good number of markerlights available, especially if i put my commander in the two man crisis squad with the 4 markerdrones. Then again it almost feels like the commander and all the markerlights on other units make for wasted troops and too many markerlights in general. Because at this point, the CNC, and MSS = to about 3-4 markerlights at least.

I could probably remove the pathfinders and some markerdrones, and get piranhas instead for some mobile FB. Work in progress though!

AnonAmbientLight wrote:


Putting markerdrones in a crisis squad seems like a waste because of the low BS and asking for LD rolls when the markerlights take damage. (if they do). They only have a 4+ save. I say, pay the extra 2pts per markerdrone and make a fast attack squad of markerdrones and stick ....but that wouldn't work. Because then your commander has the drone squad already joined and he cant join other squads like the riptide. (nevermind)

Forgot about that detail. -.-

Anyway, Drone controller says drones in the unit use BS of the wearer. Would that confer to the crisis drones as well?

To answer my own question BRB pg 39, an "IC counts as part of the unit for all rules and purposes."

At that point, i wonder if a strategy would be to do like you're doing with the markerdrones on crisis suits, but put marker drones on multiple units. (crisis and broadsides) and have your commander join groups as needed. It's 2pts more than a PF, but you can have an interesting cascading effect, and force multiplier opportunity with multiple squads shooting both their guns and markerlights to buff the next squads markerdrones and shots.

That sounds interesting, at least on paper.

The Tau drones have a special rule in the bestiary for drones with ICs. They can still join units, even when they purchase drones, the drones and the commander become part of the unit. if the commander leaves, the drones go with him. if the commander dies, the drones become permanent members of the unit. your ideas works great.

Commander DC + whatever load-out you want with TL
3x crisis suit unit plus drones
-----------------------------------------
BS5 drones all around (sweet!)

I'm digging that list. Although as I read it, I wonder where my points are going, because i only have 2 crisis suits, 2 broadsides, and a riptide at 1500. I think they're all going into markerlights...and a big fat unit of outflanking kroot.

But i still say with a list like that your crisis suits should have target locks, because whatever you shoot the marker drones at will have to get the crisis team shot at them as well, which will either devistate the unit (if its an appropriate target for burst cannon/missile) or else waste the firepower of what is probably your hardest hitting unit (if it's not an appropriate target).

I don't understand why people put their C&C node and multi-spectrum sensors on their commander. Since commanders have bs5 it is almost always better to pay 10pts to make a regular crisis suit the buffing suit.

I got some down time at work to whip up a 2k list with two ideas.

The Raven commander and a three man Broadside squad with Puretide Chip.

Ethereal

Commander
MSS
CnC
Marker drones(2)
Controller

3x xv8
3x burst cannon
3x plasma gun
3x target lock
1x Marker Drone

Riptide
Fusion
Ion
Stimms
EWO

9x Fire Warriors

9x Fire Warriors

9x Fire Warriors

9x Fire Warriors

9x Fire Warriors

5x Piranha

Hammerhead
Longstrike
Submution
Disruption Pod

Hammerhead
Submution
Disruption Pod

2x Broadside Shas'ui
2x High Yield Missle Pod
1x Broadsie Shas'vre
1x Heavy Rail Rifle
1x Puretide Chip
3x Velocity Trackers.

The Raven buffing thing has been covered, but I think a HRR mixed with the HYMP and a Puretide chip gives some "reach out and touch someone" vibes. I really want to put this on the table and give it a whirl, but I gotta make sure my math is right.

 lambsandlions wrote:
I don't understand why people put their C&C node and multi-spectrum sensors on their commander. Since commanders have bs5 it is almost always better to pay 10pts to make a regular crisis suit the buffing suit.

I think the issues here are a lack of flexibility, durability, and buffing efficiency.

The commander is a lot more flexible, since he can join any squad. If they have lots of 2+ saves, the Commander can join up with a Crisis team. If they have lots of skimmers or flyers, the commander can join up with the Broadsides.

The commander is a lot more durable, since he can take a 2+ save and can make use of LoS (plus he just has more wounds, obviously).

The commander's ability to join a squad increases the total number of models that can enjoy the benefit of his buff. A regular Crisis suit with the buffing systems can buff two other Crisis suits. A Commander can buff three (or three Broadsides and their missile drones). Also, since your buffed unit has more firepower but not more defense than an unbuffed unit, it's a priority target for the enemy. If your Crisis team with a buffing member loses any of its suits, you've lost a lot of value in your buffing systems - either the buffing suit is dead or 50% of what it was buffing is dead. If the Commander's current unit gets shot to pieces around him, he can just take his buffs to another unit that hasn't lost any suits yet.

 lambsandlions wrote:
I don't understand why people put their C&C node and multi-spectrum sensors on their commander. Since commanders have bs5 it is almost always better to pay 10pts to make a regular crisis suit the buffing suit.

Some people will also put EWO on him, shoot his weapons in their phase and then support in his phase. Doesnt work all the time but can be effective lol

Putting all those points into the Commander makes him quite pricey and if he cant intercept, you end up wasting quite a few points.

At 145 points for Iridium armor, Puretide and MSS, the support Commander is an absolute steal. Put him in the right squad (target locks and lots of drones help to take advantage of special rules) and you will do an absurd amount of damage to mech. It is also nice to have AP4 that ignores cover now that Fire Warriors and Avengers will be more popular (and the ever ubiquitous Necron Warrior).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My Commander + Broadside unit is the MVP of almost every match-up I play. Being able to engage 3-4 targets with special rules such as Tank Hunters/MC Hunters is a beautiful thang.

The ability of MSS can be duplicated by markerlights, I feel if it's not super cheap(ie on a shas'vre), you might as well buy the marker lights you need to do the same thing, that way you can use them for more then just the unit the Cmdr is buffing.