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As I was pondering for a Tau list I came up with an odd realisation or rather question I suppose. Would the Gun Drones of a Devilfish for a Troop Choice(Fire Warriors) count as a scoring since they satisfy the conditions of A)Being a Troops choice, and B)Being a non-Vehicle unit.

I was just wondering this since the ramifications for this are enormous.

DakkaDakka wrote:

Incorrect che: they do indeed score

The rules for dedicated transports make them troops, as they are boufgt for a troops choice. once disembarked they are a separate unit, as evidenced by them giving away a killpoint, amongst other indicators.

Thus they score.

From the description on page 30 under "Gun Drones," Gun Drones are not considered a separate unit until they disengage from the vehicle, in which case they form a separate unit. Until then, they are part of the vehicle. FAQ has clarified this by pointing out they do not confer a separate kill point if attached to the vehicle because they haven't been "detached". Also note that on page 30, it states:

"The drones may not rejoin the vehicle during a game and will never count as a Scoring Unit."

Tau's only scoring troop choice is Kroot Carnivore Squad and Fire Warriors.

Yeah, disembarking gun drones would count as a scoring unit if it weren't for the specific rule they have which says they never count as a scoring unit.

Yep, specifically says they can't score, IIRC.

As much as I dislike tau, I'll say this: it'd be better if they were fast attack anyways, that way you'd have troop choices open for more fire warriors and such.

DakkaDakka wrote:

Thank you all for the responses that has helped clear things up. Such a shame though.

Question, if the gun drones start in the transport, how is it not a dedicated transport? You can't do that unless your a dedicated transport.

juraigamer wrote:Question, if the gun drones start in the transport, how is it not a dedicated transport? You can't do that unless your a dedicated transport.

The gun drones don't start IN the Devilfish, they start as PART of it.

Being a Fast Attack choice is not an integral part of the Gun Drone Squadron's rules. Therefore Gun Drones that are a part of a Troops Devilfish remain as Troops.

I dunno, I'd like to see where it shows that Gun Drones are either scoring units or troops in the codex. Otherwise they're Gun drones which count as a FA choice

jdjamesdean@mail.com wrote:I dunno, I'd like to see where it shows that Gun Drones are either scoring units or troops in the codex. Otherwise they're Gun drones which count as a FA choice

Devilfish come with a pair of Gun Drones that may disembark and form their own unit. If the Devilfish was taken as a transport for Fire Warriors it becomes a troop choice, and since the gun drones were part of it they COULD score if not for that one little rule since they satisfy the conditions of being a scoring unit otherwise. A)They are a Troops Choice and B)They are a non-vehicle unit.

I dunno, I'd like to see where it shows that Gun Drones are either scoring units or troops in the codex. Otherwise they're Gun drones which count as a FA choice.

Show us anything within the Gun Drone Squadron army list entry that says they are always a Fast Attack unit. If you can not then they are a Troops unit if that is what Force Organization slot that the Devilfish was taken from.

DakkaDakka wrote:

Che-Vito wrote:

Ghaz wrote:Being a Fast Attack choice is not an integral part of the Gun Drone Squadron's rules. Therefore Gun Drones that are a part of a Troops Devilfish remain as Troops.

Now you're just making it up.

The only unit of Gun Drones that exist, are as a Fast Attack choice. RAW, when they become a unit of Gun Drones, they become a Fast Attack unit.
What you are stating has absolutely zero back. Nowhere does it say that they're using it as a Dedicated Transport, and nowhere does it state that they become a unit of Troops.

What it does state, is that they become a unit that can only be one thing.

Just because Gun Drone squadrons are normally taken as a Fast Attack choice does not mean that they are always a Fast Attack choice. There are many, many, many units in codexes that are normally taken from a certain FOC section but then some special rule allows them to be taken as a different choice.

The fact is, the Gun Drone squadron comes as part of taking the Devilfish, which in the case we're discussing is purchased as a Troops Choice...that makes the Devlifish, the squad it was purchased for AND the Gun Drone squadron all part of the same FOC choice (a Troops choice).

For example, if you had a specialty mission objective that only gave you Kill Points for wiping out whole FOC selections do you not think that killing the Drones that popped off the Devilfish would be included? They are all part of the same FOC selection, which is a 'Troops' choice.


But really within the context of the OP's question, this whole argument is just an excercise in typing now...except for those really wacky tournament specialty scenario rules it does not matter whether or not the Drones are a Troops choice or not as they can't score.

So perhaps everyone should just retreat to their corners and let it go since it doesn't matter?

DakkaDakka wrote:

And again, the fact that Gun Drone Squadrons are a Fast Attack choice is because of their placement in the army list and not because of their own rules. Unless you can find anything within the rules for for Gun Drone Squadrons that state that they are always a Fast Attack choice then they remain the same as the Devilfish they were purchased with.

heh didn't know wargear gets a FoC slot ...

DakkaDakka wrote:

No they don't back you in the least because you've not provided any support for your claims that gun drones purchased as a part of a Fire Warrior's dedicated transport (which is a Troops unit) suddenly becomes a Fast Attack unit. Nor have you provided anything within the rules for Gun Drone Squadrons that say that they can only be a Fast Attack unit even though you've been asked twice to do so.

DakkaDakka wrote:

What yiore missing is the rules for dedicated transpoirts, which states the vehicle has the same FOC slot as the unit it was bought for. Troops.

Now find a rule, within te Gun Dron entry and NOT the FOC entry for Gun Drones which states tehy are ALWAYS fast attack.

Youre the one lacking rules here.

Che-Vito wrote:
What are you missing here?

They're missing anything that says it actually becomes a Fast Attack choice. Just because it operates as a unit of the same name that happens to be a Fast Attack, does not make it a Fast Attack. Bottom line, it doesn't matter what they are, they cannot claim an objective, etc etc. So really, who cares?