(WARNING! Rough Ideas Ahead!)
This entire army was based around an idea for the Tau Shadow Warrior proposed by yamgrenade (
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/384133.page), a lost section of the Tau race taken from their homeworld when the
IoM visited ~6K years before the present. While we had hoped they might fit as an alternative to Kroot in a Tau Empire army, kanluwen pointed out that the Tau army idea runs counter to having more than the bare minimum of close combat and further
CC units would spoil that. So, instead of shoehorning the Shadow Caste into the Tau Empire, I've decided to attempt to flesh them out into a complete army!
Concept:
---The entire army is melee based, with a strong focus in stealth and speed.
---There would be no vehicles in the army, and only a few "tamed" beasts (
MCs) to choose.
---The army units have predefined but not rigid roles: They'll be more flexible than Eldar or Tau in unit uses, but not as catch-all as Space Marines or
IG.
---Cover saves, cover modifiers, and the creation of cover saves would be important aspects of the army.
Fluff:
Basically the same as for the Shadow Warriors, except the "First Contact" didn't go so well
, and the Shadow Caste managed to use commandeered dropships to raid and eventually capture the Tau vessel, using it to start invading and harassing other planets. While the caste is technologically primitive, the drone AI on the Tau vessels aren't precise enough to determine that the DNA signatures they are scanning aren't the "pure" Tau strain, and so the Shadow Caste has been using drone autopilot to haphazardly traverse the nearby planets. While the Tau Empire manages to quickly retake lost cities, the forests, jungles, and dense terrain of the invaded worlds means that the Shadow Caste persists, performing raids on their distant cousins. Despite the Shas'o commanders asking for permission to firebomb these areas, the Ethereals maintain that in the interest of the Greater Good, Tau must not commit wholesale genocide on even their primitive cousins. Given the casualties the Shadow Caste have accumulated, and the number of major cities on nearby worlds that have gone silent, it is doubtful the Ethereals will maintain this position for long...
In addition, the Shadow Caste, fully exposed to the Mont'au and fear of death every waking hour of their lives, has developed a slight link to the Immaterium. While the daemons of the warp are limited to giving them nightmares of the worst caliber, in return the most sensitive of the Shadow Caste, called Dreamers, can vaguely detect major eddies or events, and guide his tribesmen accordingly. Whether this link to the Warp will grow in time is unknown...
Unit Ideas:
HQ:
Erra'vre Dreamer-- WS4 BS2 S3 T3 A1 I4 W2 Ld10 5+
Sv and unspecified invul save.
IC, Move Through Cover, Spirit Guide.
Equipped with hand weapon. Can have Tribesguard retinue.
Spirit Guide ability: Any squad joined by the Dreamer become Fearless with 6+ invul saves.
Erra'
el Chief:-- WS5 or 6 BS3 S4 T3 W3 I5 A3(4) Ld10 5+
Sv.
IC, Move through Cover, Fleet, Warlord.
Equipped with hand weapon and Spearsling. Can have Tribesguard retinue, He can buy items from the wargear list.
Warlord ability: any squad joined by Chief become Stubborn
Erra'vre Bladesmith:-- WS6 BS2 S4 T3 W2 I5 A4 Ld10 6+
Sv .
IC, Move through Cover.
Equipped with Ancient Ancestral Blade (As per Ancestral Blade, but Poisoned), can have Tribesguard retinue, can buy items from the wargear list.
Erra’ui Tribesguard: WS5 BS2 S3 T3 W1 A2(3) I4 Ld9 6+
Sv, squad size 10-15 tribesguard. Move Through Cover and Fleet.
May select items from the wargear list, although all models in the squad must take the equipped item.
Troop:
Erra'la Tribesman: WS4 BS2 S3 T3 W1 A1(2) I4 Ld8 6+
Sv. Squad size 10-20 Tribesmen.
Move through Cover, Fleet.
Equipped with 2 hand weapons. Can buy Bolas and/or Smoke Grenades. May upgrade a Tribesman to an 'ui for +1
WS, +1A, +1Ld and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Erra’la Hunter: Statline as per Tribesman, same squad sizes,
Move Through Cover.
Equipped with Blowguns and hand weapon. May upgrade a Hunter to an 'ui for +1
WS, +1A, +1Ld and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Elites:
Erra’ui Bone Eaters: WS4 BS2 S3 T4 W1 A1 I4 Ld9 4+
Sv, squad size 5-10 models.
Move Through Cover, Large Prey, Impale.
Equipped with hand weapon. May upgrade a Bone Eater to a 'vre for +1
WS, +1A and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Large Prey Ability: This unit may reroll missed to-hit rolls against Monstrous Creatures.
Impale: This unit’s Close Combat Attacks count as Rending.
Erra’ui Trappers: WS4 BS3 S3 T3 W1 A1 I4 Ld8 6+
Sv. Squad size 5-10 models.
Stealth, Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Deadly Ambush.
Equipped with Blowguns.
Equipped with hand weapon. May upgrade a Trapper to a 'vre for +1
WS, +1A and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Deadly Ambush Ability: Any terrain that has at least 50% of this units models in counts as Dangerous Terrain for all enemy models.
Fast Attack:
Erra’la Drakelings: WS3 BS3 S3 T4 W2 A2 I4 Ld8 5+
Sv, squad size 3-5 models.
Jump Troops, Fleet.
Equipped with hand weapons and Venom Spit. May upgrade a Drakeling to a 'ui for +1
WS, +1A and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Erra’la Fangknives: WS4 BS2 S3 T3 W1 A2(3) I4 Ld8 6+
Sv, squad size 5-10 models.
Scout, Move Through Cover, Fleet, Shadowmeld.
Equipped with two Fang Knives (Close combat weapons). May upgrade a Fangknife to a 'ui for +1
WS, +1A and ability to buy stuff from the Wargear list.
Shadowmeld Ability: The unit gets +1 to cover saves if in cover, and counts as having a 5+ cover save if not in cover.
Heavy Support:
Scalebeast: WS3 BS2 S6 T6 W5 A6 I3 Ld9 3+
Sv, Squad size 1,
Monstrous Creature, Fleet, Big Teeth, Stubborn.
Equipped with nasty teeth (Hand weapon)
Big Teeth Ability: Close Combat Attacks count as Rending.
Swallow: If this model inflicts Instant Death on a model, it regains a wound. This ability can be used once per player turn.
Deathvine: WS3 BS3 S5 T5 W4 A4 I4 Ld7 4+
Sv, Squad size 1-5.
Monstrous Creature, Slow and Purposeful, Move Through Cover, Rapid Growth, Flammable, Fearless.
Equipped with Vine Flurry and leafy maw (Close Combat weapon).
Rapid Growth Ability: For every unsaved wound the model takes, it may roll 1d6. on a 6, the model regains 1 lost wound, up to the starting maximum.
Flammable Ability: For each wound inflicted by a weapon, before saves, with the range Template, this model takes another wound (With saves allowed, if applicable).
Stalker: WS4 BS2 S5 T5 W4 A5 I5 Ld9 4+
Sv, Squad Size 1.
Monstrous Creature, Move Through Cover, Fleet, Infiltrate, Hit and Run, Stubborn, Concealed.
Equipped with Venom Spit and claws (Close combat weapon).
Concealed Ability: If this model is in area terrain, it counts as having the 50% for a cover save, even if it does not according to the attacking models’s
LOS.
Weapon List:
Spearsling: 12” S3 Ap6 Pistol, Poisoned
Blowgun: 24” S3
Ap- Rapid Fire, Poisoned
Venom Spit: 18” S4 Ap6 Assault 1 Poisoned
Vine Flurry: 18” S5 Ap6 Assault 4 Poisoned
Ancestral Blade: Close Combat weapon, +1 S.
Fang Knife: Close Combat attacks count as Poisoned.
Wargear list:
Bolas: Counts as Assault Grenades
Smoke Grenades: Once per game, the unit gets +1 to cover save or a 5+ save if not in cover.
Dreamer’s Vision: Once per game, this unit gains a 3+ invul save.
Ancestral Blade
Spearsling
Fang Knife
Blowgun
Scalebeast cloak: Unit now has a 4+
Sv.
Army Pros:
---Probably (Hopefully) the best medium-size-
CC army in the game, with less units than an Orc/nid swarm but more than a Blood Angel or other assaulty army.
---Decently nasty short-range shooting
---Ability to set up lots of ambushes and traps (Both with abilities as well as squad positions), especially for enemies that insist on trying to take them in hand to hand.
Cons:
---Not a lot of armor-breaking, especially for AV14, outside of the Bone-Eaters and the
MCs, and none at long range.
---Although I tried to prevent this, possibly slow enough a fast army like
DE can simply fly circles around them and shoot them to pieces.
---Many units rely on area terrain, and a lack of it will seriously screw this army.
What do you guys think?
