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I have a friend who plays tau. On average he takes 2-3 Riptides and 1 is always O'vesa. Now this is obviously a massive pain in my ass. However I have just discovered the delight of daemon flying circuses. And I think if I can grab puppet master I'll be laughing. No longer will I have to match his gun when I can just use his gun. Here's where the unsurity starts.

If I puppet master a riptide do I:

a) just get to use the gun as is with no modifications. Bog standard ion accelerator for example

OR

b) get to nova charge the riptide first and then drop instant death pie plates of doom on his suits?

I'd like some opinions, but more importantly some written references. Because if I CAN nova charge it, he's going to argue with me and want to see where it says it?!

The Nova Reactor is used at the start of Movement phase, and since you use Puppet Master in the Shooting phase you can't do it yourself. (see page 45 of Tau Codex)

It also lasts until its next Movement phase so if your opponent used the Nova-charge...

 Khaine's Wrath wrote:
I have a friend who plays tau. On average he takes 2-3 Riptides and 1 is always O'vesa. Now this is obviously a massive pain in my ass. However I have just discovered the delight of daemon flying circuses. And I think if I can grab puppet master I'll be laughing. No longer will I have to match his gun when I can just use his gun. Here's where the unsurity starts.

If I puppet master a riptide do I:

a) just get to use the gun as is with no modifications. Bog standard ion accelerator for example

OR

b) get to nova charge the riptide first and then drop instant death pie plates of doom on his suits?

I'd like some opinions, but more importantly some written references. Because if I CAN nova charge it, he's going to argue with me and want to see where it says it?!

Nova charge is done at the start of the movement phase, so no you don't get to Nova Charge.

However, it lasts until the start of his next movement phase, so if he Nova Charges on his turn to fire the pie-plate of death you get to fire it as well.

Ok, awesome. So, if he nova charges his weapons, I get to as well? If he doesn't I can't?

Here's another similar question, as the riptide is a monstrous creature, does that mean I can use him to fire as many shots as he is normally allowed to? i.e with a riptide could I fire 2 weapons?

Yes, you fire with that model as if it were your own, so you can fire two weapons

Super. Sweet.

A common misconception with the riptide is that it has to nova-charge to shoot the pie-plate. The ion weapons (and in fact, all ion weapons of the Tau) can overcharge (different from nova-charge) to shoot a slightly stronger blast instead of the normal number of shots. This also makes the weapon get hot. The nova-charge profile is unique to the riptide and will only be able to be puppet mastered if the Tau player elected to nova-charge the main weapon on the suit. If the Riptide elected to ripple fire the secondary weapon you only get to shoot it once, as it states fires twice in the next shooting phase. Also, if the ion weapon is nova charged, you cannot fire any other weapons the Riptide may have, as the weapon becomes ordnance. I hope this information helped.

Apart from the last. You snap fire all other weapons when firing ordnance.

nosferatu1001 wrote:
Apart from the last. You snap fire all other weapons when firing ordnance.

Incorrect. Vehicles firing ordnance snap fire their other weapons, infantry models may not fire any other weapons. Pg 51, second half of the second paragraph under ordnance weapons.

As an MC the riptide can move before, and charge after firing, but the relentless rule does not override the restriction on only firing the ordnance weapon.

Nor does the Multi-Tracker, just in case someone wants to raise that argument again.

Then again, if you are firing the nova-plate, do you need to fire the rest?

Is this genuine? If he nova charges he can't fire another weapon? Damn it I've fallen foul of that one then!

Only for the Ion Accelerator, as it is an ordnance weapon on a non-vehicle model.

Fair enough, forgot that was one of the few "cannot fire" left in 6th edition, thanks for the clarification of my error

He's tried to argue that the suit system that allows them to fire 2 weapons. But he's now conceded that the ordinance rule supersedes that. Sweet. No more nova charged ion accelerator followed by fusion blaster...

So he will just overcharge instead of nova charge it and it will still be Str8 ap2 large blast and he will still fire the second weapon. Not losing out much by not nova charging the ion accelerator.