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In the Tau codex it states that when it come to Steath suits one in three modles in the squad may be upgraded to fusion blasters. Do drones count as modles? If they did you could pack a ton of fusion blasters in a stealth suit squad.

No the drones act more as wargear in this case. It is one in every three suits, having up to six suits.

Yep, as Smashotron said, drones count are wargear so only the stealth suits are counted

I question the rules interpretation. It does appear that the drones count as models, so whether they are wargear or not is irrelevant.

For example, if you have a crisis suit and a gun drone, and the gun drone dies, more than 30% of the models in the unit have died, causing a Ld test, correct? So, if drones count as models for causing Ld checks, why do they not count towards the stealthsuit rule?

Antonin is thinking what I was thinking. It seems that drones only count as models when it is negetive for a tau player, and not when it is positive.

I thought they were models in game, but for purposes of outfitting the unit were wargear.
That's a good question though, since couldn't you give every stealth suit the blaster that way?

Come to think of it, every stealth suit can take a blaster in DOW. Not exactly rules lawyering, but I wonder if that doesn't give a glimmer of intention that makes it worth thinking harder about.

Not sure the dawn of War game is a good comparisson, for example, you can take 6stealth in a team with drones, in DOW, you can only take 4suits and no drones. Would be great if you could field a blaster squad of stealths in 40K

I agree with cuda1179 with the exception that the drones have the positive effect of bolstering the squads numbers.

cuda1179 wrote:Antonin is thinking what I was thinking. It seems that drones only count as models when it is negetive for a tau player, and not when it is positive.

. . .except for casualty removal. When a drone dies instead of your stealth suit I'm sure you're happy about that right?


But seriously, wargear drones aren't listed in the unit entry. The points costs for upgrading weaponry are priced per the models in the unit entry so it would be downright underhanded to attempt such a thing, IMHO.

I'm with Yak on this one... though It does bug me that a squad takes morale tests for losing wargear, or that a lone crisis suit must take last man standing tests after getting his protective drones beat to hell.

All fusion blaster stealth squads would certainly help in the anti-tank department, and perhaps allow for increased diversification in heavy support... maybe the XV22 will go into general service in the next codex?