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It seems like everyone is gaga over broadsides and riptides - for good reasons obviously.

I started looking at the sniper drones and I keep thinking they have a lot of potential. In my current 1850 list I was going to drop one of my 6 broadsides and a few other things for an 8 drone sniper unit. Keeping them posted near my ethereal would just make these guys rock as stuff got closer. And besides - 8 sniper shots at 48" that hit on 2's that can rend and snipe characters just sounds precious. And if you can put a solid wall between them and their intended targets - wow. JSJ from behind the wall with no worries of being shot at - just wow.

I'm new to Tau but I just don't see why they aren't more popular....

They take up a heavy slot which is their biggest problem. Theyre not bad, theyre actually pretty damn good, te problem is that skyrays ionheads and broadsides are way better lol. If they were a Troop it would be insane though.

If they could deal with fliers i woud use them instead of broadsides, but thats their weakness is any armor since snipers are considered S3 against vehicles....meaning at BEST they can glance av12 and thats asking for a 6 to wound and +3 on rending bonus lol. They put out a lot of shots at long range, and more shots at close range, for cheap. Its just that they shoot the same thing our riptides are shooting, and i kinda want my heavies to fill the gaps the riptide/crisis suits cant do or suck at. Namely, fliers or hordies.

They are decently survivable with stealth and are the longest range snipers in the game with BS 5. They can also provide some effective marker lights themselves.

Sniper drones help deal with MCs like other riptides or the ever troublesome wraithknight, as well. They are a solid support unit IMO.

Sniper drones are by far the best sniper unit in the game, Let us consider a squad of 9 with a Farsight marksman. Most Tau armies already have an ethereal kicking it in the back so we will also assume one of those is present. The sniper team will clock in at 148 points, and will be able to put out 27 BS5 sniper shots a 24" due to storm of fire, lets see what that does against a riptide, something a lot of armies have trouble killing 27 shots* (5/6) hits * (1/2) wounds, now heres where it gets a little tougher 1/3 of those will rend meaning theyre only saved on a 5+ or a 2/3 chance to go through, the other 2/3 will only have a 1/6 chance. Lets see how they do.

((27*5*2)/(6*2*3*3))+((27*5*2)/(6*2*3*6))= 3.75

That means your ~150 point unit took off ~80% of a riptides wounds in a single turn of shooting, the best part is due to their volume of fire they are also fairly efficient at handling any infantry as well, Majority T4 and a 3+ cover means theyre effectively as survivable as MEq and can still JSJ around as long as they stay in coherency with their marksman.

I thought necron despair tek + death mark in scythe was the best sniper team possible

how are they compared too.

Despairteks are good but still subpar in my opinion, First problem is they can only mark a single unit to be wounded on a 2+ Sniper drone teams can shoot anything. Second is range, Despairteks have to be within 12" of their opponent to shoot effectively (and even there they get 1 less shot, I could be wrong though but I think 3 BS5 4+ to wounds is fairly similar with 2 BS4 2+ to wounds, except you get less rending wounds with the 2+ squad) Third is effective turns, with relentless the sniper drone team has an effective range of 30" whereas the Deathmarks need to be in 12" (or closer for the template) meaning they will get far fewer turns shooting, while the sniper drone team will likely be able to unleash their full salvo every turn and be able to safely stay out of charge range. On top of that is cost, the despairteks need to pay for a delivery system which because of their range sniper drones don't. So an effective unit of despairteks (10 with HoD and night scythe) able to get similar results is around 320 points, or the cost of 2 of the sniper drone teams I listed, but the drone team puts out similar fire for almost every turn of the game against any unit for half the cost.


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They can also be used for good marker units 3 drones and 3 markers is too expensive and hits a similar amount of markers compared to 6 pathfinders whilst having a +1 to their cover and majority T4.

Thats also one of the best parts of a drone team, they are deceptively good at soaking fire for 15 points they are effectively as tough as a marine T4 3+ (cover) for only 15 points, an outfitted squad of marines is actually less durable per point and far far less deadly.


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Comparing Sniper drone to Vanilla Deathmark

Sniper drone
Range 48"
Effective Range 24"
Avg wounds: 3*(5/6)*(1/2) = 5/4 =1.25
Avg Rends : Wounds/3= 5/12
Points per wound inflicted: 12
JSJ
One member must stay within 12" of ehtereal
Cover not armour
More than one target

Deathmark
Range 24"
Effective Range: 12"
Avg wounds: 2*(2/3)*(5/6)= 10/9 = 1.1111
Avg rends: Wounds/5 = 2/9
Points per wound inflicted: 17.1
Res Protocol
Single target
Low range
Armour

one unit of Sniper Drones has become a staple in my list. it just makes so much sense. I dont use the heavy slots for anything anyways. No need. So the Sniper Drones are perfectly fine additions there. From a ruin they are exceptionally hearty and while I dont ask them to do much damage, every now and again you'll pin someone with RAPID FIRE sniper rifles that have 48" range. The Markerlights are the real gems though.

Definately worth the points, been using one unit for a good while now and they've come through for me nearly every game. The really good RoF usually means that you'll roll a few sixes to snipe out some specialist equipment when you get to rapid fire. The added bonus to durability with stealth is nice too, getting 2+ cover in area terrain will make them really eat up fire before they're gone. And as we all know, firing snap shots doesn't quite mean the same thing for us than it does for everyone else so you might not end up giving up that much firepower if you're forced to go to ground. (Marker lights and the warlord trait)