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.

Game last night had a few issues come up that I am not totally familiar with.

Shield drones on a unit of battlesuits; can these be an ablative wound for the suit unit? Shield drone was at the front of the unit, I make a wound, he fails the save, takes the save on the shield drone instead of his suits. Does the position of the shield drone matter? or can he take the wound on a shield drone regardless? or is this not allowed at all.

Also, on the 7th turn, he skimmed a devilfish over to my objective, detached a gun drone, and claimed it was then contesting the objective; is this correct?

I do believe that the Shield Drone positioning does count in that wounds have to be resolved from the front of the unit. Tau players I've all been playing against have been putting their drones in front of battlesuits all the time, and I'm guessing that it's due to positioning, not because Shield Drones can automatically take hits regardless of positions.

daedalus-templarius wrote:Game last night had a few issues come up that I am not totally familiar with.

Shield drones on a unit of battlesuits; can these be an ablative wound for the suit unit? Shield drone was at the front of the unit, I make a wound, he fails the save, takes the save on the shield drone instead of his suits. Does the position of the shield drone matter? or can he take the wound on a shield drone regardless? or is this not allowed at all.

Also, on the 7th turn, he skimmed a devilfish over to my objective, detached a gun drone, and claimed it was then contesting the objective; is this correct?

Drones are part of a unit so if they are the closest model they would get hit first and shield drones have the same armor save and toughness as the unit they are in. They can also do look our sir for any characters in the unit.

And yes detached drones count as denial units as per the Tau FAQ.

Slagmar wrote:

daedalus-templarius wrote:Game last night had a few issues come up that I am not totally familiar with.

Shield drones on a unit of battlesuits; can these be an ablative wound for the suit unit? Shield drone was at the front of the unit, I make a wound, he fails the save, takes the save on the shield drone instead of his suits. Does the position of the shield drone matter? or can he take the wound on a shield drone regardless? or is this not allowed at all.

Also, on the 7th turn, he skimmed a devilfish over to my objective, detached a gun drone, and claimed it was then contesting the objective; is this correct?

Drones are part of a unit so if they are the closest model they would get hit first and shield drones have the same armor save and toughness as the unit they are in. They can also do look our sir for any characters in the unit.

And yes detached drones count as denial units as per the Tau FAQ.

Can the detatched drone come within less than 1" of an enemy unit and claim to be contesting an objective?

Also, dumb; both of those things. How a drone that would immediately be destroyed as soon as a turn rolls over contesting an objective

once drones detach from a vehicle they act as a separate gun drone unit and have to follow all of the rules for a unit which means they cannot move to within 1" of enemies (unless they are charging).

Its important to note if the vehicle gets destroyed then the drones are removed as well.

daedalus-templarius wrote:
Can the detatched drone come within less than 1" of an enemy unit and claim to be contesting an objective?

Nope, detached drones still need to observe the 1" rule. Also, since drones disembark from the vehicle they are attached to, remember that they can't detach if the vehicle moves over 6" in the movement phase.

daedalus-templarius wrote:
Also, dumb; both of those things. How a drone that would immediately be destroyed as soon as a turn rolls over contesting an objective

This is how it worked in 5th as well. In my opinion, it's the reason why Tau vehicles are so expensive!

Well, if he had of tried to charge me, I'm fairly certain 4 paladins would have made quick work of a shield drone.

I will keep the shield drone unit rules in mind in the future.

Slagmar wrote:
Its important to note if the vehicle gets destroyed then the drones are removed as well.

This is only true if the drones have not been deployed form the vehicle. If they have not been deployed and the vehicle is destroyed, so are the drones. If they have been deployed and the vehicle is destroyed, then they are fine.

As for wound allocation: under 5th ed, yes, you could do that. Your opponents may not be entirely used to the new rules yet. Also of note: if the suit at the front is a character, then they can LOS! the wounds. ALSO OF NOTE: if the model that owns the drones is a character, the drones inherit that unit type, of character. Then, the drones can sit in the front, and LOS! the wounds.

In the end though, the model in the front takes hits. If that is a character, he can LOS! to the shield drones.

Shield drones can contest. That is actually a core of Tau denial strategy.

Slagmar wrote:once drones detach from a vehicle they act as a separate gun drone unit and have to follow all of the rules for a unit which means they cannot move to within 1" of enemies (unless they are charging).

Its important to note if the vehicle gets destroyed then the drones are removed as well.

Only if still on the vehicle when destroyed or wrecked if still attached. After detachment they are their own unit unrelated to vehicle.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

daedalus-templarius wrote:Well, if he had of tried to charge me, I'm fairly certain 4 paladins would have made quick work of a shield drone.

I will keep the shield drone unit rules in mind in the future.

I don't know he could make all the S3+/4++ saves