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Shield drones are treated like any other unit. If the model with the controller is closer, then the controller gets the hit.

From my experience with Grey Knights I would suggest running a DK with heavy incenerator and personal teleporter and a full 10 man squad of GK Interceptors (the ones with the personal teleporters) and 2 incenerators and psybolt ammo.

Your first turn, shunt the DK towards one squad of Fire Warrirors, and then shunt the GK Interceptors at another. Between the two units you should be able to take care of two of the Tau players troop choices in one turn and blow a gaping hole in their gun line. To add extra trickery combat squad the GK Interceptors so that both incenerators are in one squad and send the S5 storm bolters after another squad or rear armor of a tank if you are lucky.

Both units are jump units and have 12" move giving you great flexibility for the next turn for your own target priority.

This should cause your Tau player to re-prioritize his shooting allowing you to get the rest of your army closer and into more effective range.

 Thaylen wrote:

 jamin484 wrote:
...
Shield drones ignore normal wound allocation. Wounds must be allocated to them first, regardelss of where the shots come from.
...

Where did this rule come from?


*Grumbles as I go to check tau FAQs*

My mates are gonna kill me. I've been playing a rule that doesn't exist. Not sure where I got that from. Wishful thinking perhaps. Anyways apologies.

No worries, i make mistakes like that from time to time too.

Having the ability to jump in front of enemy fire is something shield drones 'should' be able to do, but given the 6th ed rules for wound allocation they literally have to be in between where the fire is coming from and the broadsides to do any good currently. Perhaps they'll gain a special rule in the next tau codex that lets them function in that way again?

An example using the nucleus of preferred army list of mine, using Mordak and a psychic ordo-malleus inquisitor:

For the GM: his storm bolter statistically will hit 5/6 of the initial hits, and 5/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 35/36 odds of hitting with each shot.
For the Ghost Knights: their storm bolters statistically will hit 4/6 of the initial hits, and 4/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 7/9 odds of hitting with each shot.
For the Inquisitor: his psycannon statistically will hit 4/6 of the initial hits, and 4/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 7/9 odds of hitting with each shot.
You'll get 2 shots from Mordrak, both of which will likely hit. (2)
you'll get 10 shots from the 5 knights, most of which will also hit. (7)
and you'll get 4 shots from the inquisitor with the same odds as the knights. (4)

Of the storm bolter hits, you'll have a 4+ chance of wounding, so statistically 5 unsaved wounds to roll against.
of the psycannon hits you have a 2+ chance of wounding, so statistically 3 wounds, one of which is as likely to be rending as not.

Given that 2+ armor fails on a 1 only, from those 8 unsaved wounds you'll likely have at least one dead broadside.

From that point your models weather the return fire, and if even just your two HQs live to see the next combat phase? team grey knights utterly annhiliate that broadside team in CC and moves on to any other tau unit in charge range the next turn.

 Neorealist wrote:
No worries, i make mistakes like that from time to time too.

Having the ability to jump in front of enemy fire is something shield drones 'should' be able to do, but given the 6th ed rules for wound allocation they literally have to be in between where the fire is coming from and the broadsides to do any good currently. Perhaps they'll gain a special rule in the next tau codex that lets them function in that way again?

An example using the nucleus of preferred army list of mine, using Mordak and a psychic ordo-malleus inquisitor:

For the GM: his storm bolter statistically will hit 5/6 of the initial hits, and 5/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 35/36 odds of hitting with each shot.
For the Ghost Knights: their storm bolters statistically will hit 4/6 of the initial hits, and 4/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 7/9 odds of hitting with each shot.
For the Inquisitor: his psycannon statistically will hit 4/6 of the initial hits, and 4/6 of any that need to be rerolled also hit, so a total of 7/9 odds of hitting with each shot.
You'll get 2 shots from Mordrak, both of which will likely hit. (2)
you'll get 10 shots from the 5 knights, most of which will also hit. (7)
and you'll get 4 shots from the inquisitor with the same odds as the knights. (4)

Of the storm bolter hits, you'll have a 4+ chance of wounding, so statistically 5 unsaved wounds to roll against.
of the psycannon hits you have a 2+ chance of wounding, so statistically 3 wounds, one of which is as likely to be rending as not.

Given that 2+ armor fails on a 1 only, from those 8 unsaved wounds you'll likely have at least one dead broadside.

From that point your models weather the return fire, and if even just your two HQs live to see the next combat phase? team grey knights utterly annhiliate that broadside team in CC and moves on to any other tau unit in charge range the next turn.

I think it is likely you'll kill a BS if you get the rend, otherwise its much less likely, but still possible of course. The overwatch could cause problems as well as all the shots are twin linked and every BS would be firing 3 shots.Combat is a given. I'd love to play you and see what happened!

Might be feeling brave enough to start my first thread about the usefullness (or otherwise) of shield drones in sixth now that I know I've been playing them wrong. I suppose shield drones could be used to protect broad sides in the situation mentioned here if the unit was sufficiently bubble wrapped. This could force the DS and subsequent shots from a specific direction but means that using drones requires more finese then I'm probably capable of.