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Is there any way for vespids to be made viable? I understand that as of now they are absolutely horrible in doing either CC or ranged roles, but unfortunately they seem to be the most reliable, inexpensive way to take out MEQs without taking up a valuable heavy support slot. If one ran them in max squads, could they ever be deemed useful for their points if they focused on shooting the crap out of things? If anyone has any other ideas, by all means, share. The Greater Good accepts all.

I cant see how. With short ranged guns (for Tau) and only one shot each they basically get 1 round of shooting then are vaporised because they ARE a threat to marines but they are easy enough to kill. They either need some kind of invulnerable save, longer ranged weapons, or at least multiple shot weapons. And cheaper. They need to be cheaper.

Just say no. They are neither reliable nor inexpensive for "taking out" meqs. That's found in the elites choice and it comes with a plasma rifle and a missile pod. Take into account the prevalence of cover and assume any marine player worth his salt will have those marines in some kind of cover or box-like protection that can then be turned into cover after it's dead.

rockprime wrote: Is there any way for vespids to be made viable?

No.

They have short-ranged guns, with only one shot each.

Their guns do not have a very high strength, and are not poisoned.

They are a shooting unit, and they have fleet.

In short, no.

Okay... so if they're beyond potentially using, then what could make them actually viable? Within reasonable boundaries, of course. Since they are essentially the dedicated MEQ of the codex, then shouldn't they have some sort of buff to this general area, like an increased BS or RoF?

rockprime wrote:Okay... so if they're beyond potentially using, then what could make them actually viable? Within reasonable boundaries, of course. Since they are essentially the dedicated MEQ of the codex, then shouldn't they have some sort of buff to this general area, like an increased BS or RoF?

They aren't essentially anything. That is their problem. Nearly everything that you want a shooting unit to do, can be solved by crisis suites and their typical support units.

Vespids are not good at anything. AP3? Crisis suites get AP2, and more shots at close range. AP2 actually matters against FNP (which is more and more common these days). AP3 doesn't, nor does the vespid auto kill. Its really just the worst possible everything, with AP3 and jump movement thrown in to bait people into thinking they can work. S5? Not good enough vs vehicles, doesn't ID anything, and doesn't come in enough volume and/or BS to be decent anti infantry. 12 inch range on a 5+ save unit that isn't good in assault? Yeah, whatever you fail to kill will murder you in assault, and given how bad their weapon is, there should be survivors.

The other strike against them is they are those stupid looking Geonosians from star wars episode 2. Can we be more obvious GW? Its bad enough that the tanks look a lot like the clone tanks from episode 1 (not to mention the drones looking like the pit crew bots collapsed down).

I wonder what GW were thinking when they came up with the Vespid :(

I've used them a few times but they've only done any good in ONE game and that was with a lot of luck.

Basically got a good deepstrike next to some Chaos Raptors in the open. Took out a few and then used rest of my army to take what was left out.

Other than that...normally rubbish!

If you REALLY, despite all common sense and decency, want to use Vespids, I suggest using them as fast reserve unit. They are only Tau Jump infantry which can move 12" on one move. Keep them behind your Suits or infantry, and when other forces fail to finish off an enemy unit, fly the Vespids in and let loose with the Neutron Blasters. Even better if there are some Markerlight hits left (Vespids can use ML's if the Strain leader is alive). If some enemy models are left after all this, you may even assault, Vespids suck in assault, but sometimes they are enough to finish off the last Marine Sergeant with the Power Fist etc.

Another possible use is as a distraction unit. Marines are scared of AP3, even in otherwise crappy unit. Vespids have good leadership and can be surprisingly durable against small arms fire if you keep them in cover and outside Rapid fire range. Just don't send them out there alone to be squashed like, er, bugs.

And of course, they can be used to clear out small objective holding units like Grots, small Guard squads etc. But this is all very situational. Whatever role you find to them, they are still overpriced for what they do. People like to say that Assault Marines suck. Well, Vespids cost as much as Assault Marines with maybe 20% of the capability.