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At the moment with drones we currently play when a drone controller dies we remove the drones at that initiative step.

but we came across the rule in the codex that says "if the character with the drone controller is killed then all his drones are removed at the end of the shooting or assault phase in which he died" p31

so in a combat with a commander and 2 drones v 5 marines. marines kill commander and drones survive.

issue 1. how do the drones take a check morale when they loose combat as they have a LD of N/a
In the rulebook it says - & 0 count as zero level statistics but doesnt mention N/a
if N/a is the same as - & 0 can drones hold if they roll a double 1 or do they just auto faill the morale test.

issue 2 depends on anwser to issue 1, but assuming they survive the combat and roll a double 1 does that mean the drones lock the marines in combat and they cant consolidate, then at the end of the assult phase the drones are removed as per the rule above.

The drones still die. If their leadership was necessary you are to use the stats for gun drones, shield drones and marker drones, as applicable.

i know they still die at the end of the phase, but how does it affect consolidation
also the stat for drones of all types is LD = N/a

unless it a gun drone squadron. which in case above it is not.

If for example a commander and his drones were killed by whatever means in melee, and the unit in melee wasn't in melee with anything else, it gets a d6 movement and that's it.

However if your commander was also in melee with a gun drone squadron, then you would proceed as normal with the rules for assaults.

The drone controller drones are removed, they are simply that, removed. They don't help or hurt the melee at all unless they die by other means.

pottsye wrote:so in a combat with a commander and 2 drones v 5 marines. marines kill commander and drones survive.

Interesting. Keep in mind that the marines can't pick out the commander if he has dones -- they taget the "unit" of the commander and drones. So you are free to stack/assign any power weapon wounds to your drones as possible. Having your commander die before the drones is kind of rare.

Nevertheless!

RAW there would seem to be a problem. You are completely right. Assuming your commander/drone unit was not joined to another unit, then the drones do not have a LD value. Since they don't get removed until the end of the phase, I'm not sure how this would get resolved.

HIWPI is that the drones would be able to attack as normal, but would be removed from the table just prior to determining the assault results.

If for example a commander and his drones were killed by whatever means in melee, and the unit in melee wasn't in melee with anything else, it gets a d6 movement and that's it.

the example I’m trying to give is the commander dies and the drones say 2 shield drones pass all saves.
Then drones say drones are removed at the end of combat phase which is after consolidation so if there not killed in the combat and the commander is, there locked in combat until the end of the phase , stopping the unit that is locked in combat from consolidating and then removed at the end of the phase.

Having your commander die before the drones is kind of rare.

in our games this tends to happen a lot, i get a BA lib with sword of sanguines into CC its S10 instant kills commander or broadsides as he tends to take 2 shield drones & no shield generator, and a lot of the times at least 1 drone survives

pottsye wrote:
issue 1. how do the drones take a check morale when they loose combat as they have a LD of N/a
In the rulebook it says - & 0 count as zero level statistics but doesnt mention N/a
if N/a is the same as - & 0 can drones hold if they roll a double 1 or do they just auto faill the morale test.

Looks like LD:N/A or 0 or - all mean that they fail any type of Leadership test.

From the Tau FAQ, found here
Q. What is the Leadership value for drones that have
disengaged from a vehicle? (p31)
A. They function as a Drone Squadron, which means they
have a Leadership value of 7.

This is, quite possibly, the best answer we're going to get. I see no reason not to apply this to the drones taken as wargear.

Tye_Informer wrote:

pottsye wrote:
issue 1. how do the drones take a check morale when they loose combat as they have a LD of N/a
In the rulebook it says - & 0 count as zero level statistics but doesnt mention N/a
if N/a is the same as - & 0 can drones hold if they roll a double 1 or do they just auto faill the morale test.

Looks like LD:N/A or 0 or - all mean that they fail any type of Leadership test.

Whilst it would be logical to assume that, by the letter of the rules it is incorrect, since it is not stated that Ld: N/A is not an auto-fail, only a value of 0 or '-', which the BRB states is equal to 0.

Ld: N/A is a seperate value which breaks the game, unless you want to say that since their Ld is not applicable, no leadership test is made, and they simply die at the end of the phase.

Bring it up with your gaming group and see what they say, since it's about as clear of an issue as frosted glass sprayed with matte black paint.