Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Alcibiades wrote:
To be honest, I'm trying to figure out how the hell to keep an Ethereal alive.

At least Aun'Shi has a save!

The best way is to put him inside a Devilfish (preferably with disruption pod and/or sensor spines)

Alcibiades wrote:
I was thinking that he might work with Kroot, since he could

throw in a blind grenade
eat overwatch with his 4+ cover save as he charges in
then charging kroot are much more effective in combat


In general I think Aun'shi is intended as an "ethereal that doesn't fall over when poked"

and Blind grenades are unreliable, 4+ any save isn't much and Kroot are even more squishy than fire warriors.

He will still fall over when poked, if anything S6 shoots him and he fails that save he's dead.

What do you want from your list? If you really want Aun'shi, I can't give you any advise cause I don't know a good way to use him but I can tell you there's something in the Tau codex that will do anything he does more efficiently.

Taffy17 wrote:

Alcibiades wrote:
I was thinking that he might work with Kroot, since he could

throw in a blind grenade
eat overwatch with his 4+ cover save as he charges in
then charging kroot are much more effective in combat


In general I think Aun'shi is intended as an "ethereal that doesn't fall over when poked"

and Blind grenades are unreliable, 4+ any save isn't much and Kroot are even more squishy than fire warriors.

He will still fall over when poked, if anything S6 shoots him and he fails that save he's dead.

What do you want from your list? If you really want Aun'shi, I can't give you any advise cause I don't know a good way to use him but I can tell you there's something in the Tau codex that will do anything he does more efficiently.

Well there are 2 things going on.

1. Aun'shi is a Kung-Fu Alien! How cool is that?

2. The core of the list is Kroot, with their sniper rifles having the highest damage potential. To get the most out of them it seems a good idea to let them benefit from the presence of an Ethereal. Their guns' range is only 24", meaning that any such Ethereal will be up with them in the midfield, not hanging around in back behind a building, meaning that he will be exposed to fire. Ethereals are made of paper and worth nothing in combat -- except for Aun'shi, who has 3 wounds and a 4++ instead of 2 wounds and nothing.

Once you start playing you will quickly realize what a liability having an ethereal in your army is especially at the low points that you are playing. You have no way way to protect him. He really needs to be sitting in a transport or building surrounded by multiple squads who benefit from his buffs to get the best use. Unless he is completely hidden you can expect to lose him 1st turn giving up Warlord, the bonus VP, and possibly First Blood.

You will get more bang for your buck using a fireblade with firewarriors. Or keeping your pathfinder theme use Darkstrider.

1. Yes, its very cool!

2. Remember sniper rounds wound anything on a 4+. That includes your neighbours cat, and at 500pts your more likely to see weak squishy things than T6+ monstrous creatures. So not necessarily the highest damage potential.

IMO your original list looked better.

But if you insist on trying to make it work get the models, play a few games and find the gaps yourself and then adapt.

Where's the Riptide?

At this points level, you really want numbers on the board.

You could probably afford to drop the Stealth Suits for Fire Warriors and a few upgrades on the Commander. I would also suggest taking a few XV8 Crisis Suits with Fusion or HYMP (I think they have them) to deal with vehicles, or have EMP Grenades on the Fire Warriors (do they have them? Don't have my friends Tau Codex on hand).

Could also have a Riptide but that is a lot of points and money for one model that has the tendency to be flat out ignored by a smart opponent until its the last model standing.

 D6Damager wrote:
Once you start playing you will quickly realize what a liability having an ethereal in your army is especially at the low points that you are playing. You have no way way to protect him. He really needs to be sitting in a transport or building surrounded by multiple squads who benefit from his buffs to get the best use. Unless he is completely hidden you can expect to lose him 1st turn giving up Warlord, the bonus VP, and possibly First Blood.

You will get more bang for your buck using a fireblade with firewarriors. Or keeping your pathfinder theme use Darkstrider.

Aun'Va is super awesome though.