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Hey all,
Ive been reading through some older posts about Vespid tactics, but of course everyone takes them over their shoulder's and suplexes the crap out of them (verbally).
I was wondering, since it's been awhile since Codex: Tau Empire came out, if anyone's had any luck, just used them and used them until they found a purpose? I have the models from whenever the book came out, but never painted them. My buddy and I are starting to do more and more battle force battles, but we're slowly expanding too. From 500pts of whats in the battle force, the 6 Vespid would take me up to the proposed 600pts of an upcoming game, but is it reaaaally worth it? Probably going to be fighting Orks too....

Feedback? General berating?
Bring it over here!

T-

In my experience, Vespids are a one-trick pony.

I mean, sure they have that nifty ap3 gun, but not a whole lot of range to go with it, and you have to be constantly moving with these guys...

They might get one good volley off, but after that they will either be rapidfired into goo, or slapped senseless in the retaliating charge...

And against orks? Not a brilliant plan!

Remember? I was under the impression most people were trying to forget.

BYE

PanzerSmurf wrote:In my experience, Vespids are a one-trick pony.

Funny that, I dubbed them "One Shot Wonders" from all the games I play where they zoom in, shoot, then die.
Or if close enough, assualt then die. lol

Despite this I still find Vespid worth taking. They are fast, have fleet and have good weapons. They DON'T last long in a fight without good support but their presence on the battlefield does have the advantage of making the opponent weary of them. I mean, who wants to have a 11x AP3 shots pumped into them and then assualted by them? regardless of wether they can be killed in cc easy by most enemies.

If you have a lot of interveening terrain then they are excellent at assualting enemies that are advancing which can really hold up their battleplans. Especially if it forces an opponent to send reinforcements to assist.

Summary: Yes they can be good, but on a hit or miss basis. I'd recommend taking them to allow additional tactics but you certainly won't win battles with them.

so what you're saying is for the 100pts, Id be better off with a few more crisis suits, or even a squadron of gun drones eh? Well.....it was worth a shot I guess....

Thanks all!

T-

My opinion is that they were much, much better in 4th ed. when terrain blocked direct fire and you only got cover saves for being in terrain.

5th ed means they can be shot from anywhere that can see them and Ap3 turns into 4+ cover half the time. The only game I've encountered them, I was playing 2k Imperial Guard and 3 Hellhounds cooked 26 vespid before they shot anything worth mentioning.

Speaking of cooking
Apparently ... Vespid tastes like chicken
Apparently ... Tau ... also tastes like chicken

They do seem to have less places to hide in 5th Ed. Could be a consideration to take smaller squads so that you can hide them easier. The points saved could be used for more FW's and suits etc.

Kroot ...Turkey??

I never thought they were much good in 4e, but that was based on reading the paper rather than playing with them.

I just figured they were a few points too expensive given their bad armour.

Vespid are one of those 'almost good' units that currently don't make the cut. They're too expensive for what they do. You have to remember, alone it takes 3 vespid to kill a marine, 6 if they're in cover. For the 2 more points at the same range, 5 fire warriors are more than twice as good, and are still better (point for point) at up to 30" and can hold objectives. A vespid with a full move using full range of thier guns can't touch that, so the mobility argument is at best debatable. Also far superior for horde control.

Even with markerlight support, while the equation gets closer, it's still not encouraging. Assuming 4 ML hits from a full PF squad, we get the following.

6 Vespid: 6 shots, 5 hits, 3.33 wounds = 3.33 dead MEQ or 2.77 dead MEQ if they were in 4+ cover (now reduced to 6+)
10 FW: 20 shots, 16.66 hits, 11.11 wounds = 3.7 dead MEQ at 12" or less (i.e. same range as vespid neutron blaster), 1.85 dead MEQ at up to 30"

Sadly, in this scenario, the vespid even cost more by 2 points. Granted the vespid are a little tougher in CC with I5 and T4, but WS3 S3 and 5+ armor hurt enough that it doesn't really cut it.

I'd like to see a 20 point vespid in the new 'dex that has an 18-24" rapid fire or assault 2 weapon and 4+ armor. Or a vespid that can take it's move in the assualt phase if it didn't move in the movement phase, or get a jetpack type move. That could be interesting.

Right now, however, for me they stay in the realm of wishing they were cool, but not cutting it for anything but a completely non-competetive game.

Rmeju