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2014/06/23 10:40:50
Subject: Tau Forth Sphere expansion, armory and heroes.
This is a collection, of my former creations of tau characters, of wargear I've come up with, and other bits and pieces.
For now, its just a random mess of things to be taken as add-ons to the TE codex and the FE supplement. soon enough, it will be expanded to an army list of sorts (akin to the necron one found in IA12, similar, but not quite the same) that will have its own special wargear choices, warlord traits, equipment choices, and alternate units that are separate from the main codex, with its own expanded versatility, but with some downsides.
Also, some things refer to "fire warrior strike squad", that's because I intend to separate "fire warriors" into "strike squads" (carbine users) and "suppression squads" (rifle users), this is mainly in order to control who can use what new options.
Lets start with the HQ characters: (4 of the 5 are up, the fifth is going through major reworks into something entirely new and will be added soon. for a tease, he is equipped with something called "XV35 mirage battlesuit")
Commander Arcblade165 points
Spoiler:
During the late days of the third sphere, the ethreal's influence has grown thin, having too few of them is some areas of the empire had led to some strays from the rules laid out by the empire. one of there strays will be known in the future as Commander Arcblade.
All information of the parents of this renown commander is classified, all that is known is that they have committed some sort of crime leading to their imprisonment for unlimited time, this verdict was given around the time of Arcblade's birth, and given his unusual body structure it is widely suspected that they have done something to the unborn child, though none says so out loud either from fear of the consensuses or respect for the commander.
Arcblade has started his way in the fire caste academies as a failure on all accounts. his body was too tall, too slim and almost sickly, had difficulties managing simple pulse weaponry and with low physical strength, his only redeeming factor being his fast reaction time, he was deemed unfit for service and was only trained out of pity, with no exceptions he will see actual combat.
When he has aquired his rank as Shas'la he was positioned in an orbital as a stationary guard, this was where s differences began to show. while most fire caste members took long periods of time to adjust to the orbital's low gravity, he has adjusted nearly instantly, as if there was never an issue. in fact, within days he was better adjusted than those who spent years on board. he was a natural when it came to low gravity.
After his four years were over, and he was to be tested for Shas'ui rank, the higher ups decided to make a test, and place him in a battlesuit. the results were astounding.
While having difficulties operating the fire controls, he controlled the jetpack movement within minutes of being introduced to it, and could quickly catch up to experienced pilots in complex maneuvers. the young soldier could not aim, but he could fly.
The increasing need of troops in a nearby system due to rampant ork incursions was his fire real call to a battlezone, where his commanders quickly realized that he is not one to deal with precision, but to be equipped with high rate of fire guns, and be sent to make harassment maneuvers, as he could easily go in and out of practically any situation, his speed and agility earning him the title of "Arcblade", and a quick promotion to Shas'vre after a highly successful raid he preformed on the ork organization ground, leading to chaos in the ork command lines and effectively winning the war. at that point he was selected to be the pilot of the experimental XV-9-07 suit, one that was almost as if built for him specifically, a suit he then took with him as he eventually rose in ranked to Shas'o and became a pivotal leader in the forth expansion sphere.
While the suit was considered a success, it was deemed that there are no pilots capable of controlling it, none other than Acrblade. something about his body was just too different.
WS3 BS4 S4 T5 W4 I4 A4 Ld10 Sv3+
Character, Flying Monstrous Creature (Special)
Rules: Supporting Fire, Arial Grace
Wargear: XV-9-07 Battlesuit, Stimulate Injector, High Yield Thrusters, two Phased ion Guns.
XV-9-07 Battlesuit: This modified XV-9 battlesuit was designed for prolonged and safe flight, at the expense of defensive measures, it is equipped with Multi-traker and Blacksun filters, it also provides the user with a 3+ saves and allow reroll of grounding tests.
Arial Grace: unlike a regular Flying Monstrous Creature, Arcblade's Gliding mode have his play as a Jet-Pack Monstrous Creature, also he does not gain Fear, Hammer of Wrath, Smash and Vector Strike as a regular Flying Monstrous Creature, instead he gains Vector Dancer.
After the separation of the Enclaves from the Tau empire, the followers of farsight were forced to move further away then ever explored by the Empire, moving away from the relative safety of the known space, and veered into the great unknown, with all its dangers.
On one such expedition, a group of earth caste engineers were escorted by a mere cadre of the fire caste as they went to research an unknown planet, filled with dense forests, where strange reading were detected, first though of as static noise, but clearly discovered to be that the noise is actually real, and the planet is filled with it.
A pair of orca dropships have landed, and a group consisting of two dozen engineers, with a dozen fire warriors, a crisis team and a lone hazard suit as escorts went to explore, while the others remained to establish a base of operations, among them were the commanding shas'o and the bulk of the force.
The exploration team have eventually encountered the origin, a band of what at first seemed like the elite warriors of the Impeium of man, clad in black and pink armor, were keeping themselves amused by causing bizarre sounds, and torturing local wildlife.
The team attempted to connect the base, but with no respond they feared the worse. they rushed back only to find the base destroyed, with only a handful survives who have told stories of horror about the arrival of the warriors in pink, the horrid screeches as shots hit those who took cover as if the trees were never there, the shouts that melted battlesuits, and the torments they have inflicted on those captured alive, torments who have only ended when the victim was no longer able to scream, and was left to die.
There was nothing that could be done for the survivors, and as an act of mercy they were put out of their suffering.
During the following days the group has taken into hiding, with the hazard pilot taking command over, and managing the survival. he noted none of those under his command are properly equipped to fight such an enemy, nor in such environment. the burst cannons mounted on all suits were unfit for penetrating the thick armor, lacked the range for hit-and-run tactics, and were still hinder by the thick treeline. and he devised a plan.
He waited to find a handful of tormentors isolated in patrol, and by employing a well-placed ambush he managed to command lead the crisis pilots to kill the patrol in a single, well timed volley, after scavenging the bodies for the weapons they retreaded, and the earth caste modified them to fit into the crisis suits, and even modify the vocal cannon to be powered by the hazard suit, causing some sort of subsonic hum that left those unused to it quickly incapacitated.
The refitted suits them began a series of hit-and-run strikes, preventing any approach to the foot-restricted survivors until a ship came to check what has happened, and evacuated the group.
For his actions the hazard pilot has eared the name He'Elro, the unlimited voice, marking his new-found proficiency with sonic weaponry, and he was promoted to a command position, despite the fact he has not completed the customary trials, his experiences was considered unquestionable proof of his worth.
Wargear: XV9 Battlesuit, Stimulate Injector, Sonic Blaster, Doom Siren
Rules: Supporting Fire, Extremely Bulky, Favorite Enemy (Chaos Space Marines), Sonic Specialty
Warlord Trait: Through Surety, Destruction
Signature System-Subsonic Pitch Emitter:The Subsonic Pitch Emitter is a device made to amplify the sonic weaponry by generating pulses of nauseating soundwaves to accompany the destructive high-pitched ones, deafening unprepared foes and rendering them unable to resist the mont'ka. At the beginning of He'Elro's shooting phase, each enemy unit within 12" must take a leadership test, if they fail the test they suffer a -1 Weapon Skill and -1 Ballistic Skill penalty until the end of their next turn, the effect can never take WS or BS lower than 1.
Units with no leadership values are immune to the effect (such as vehicles.)
Sonic Specialty:He'Elro's suit was modified to resist and absolve incoming violent sonic pitches, rendering them little more then a disturbance, he also equipped his followers with this type of weapons.. He'Elro cannot be wounded by any sonic weapon.
One XV8 Crisis Suit team in an army that includes He'Elro may take Sonic Blasters for 10 points each.
Zetrii, Lord of the Locust 145 points
Spoiler:
Of the warriors of the Vespid, one stands out in particular, he was first seen in the battles at the Damocles Crusade, appearing suddenly uncalled and without any communication he and a host of Vespid strains under his command made daring assaults against imperial forces and dealt heavy casualties to the marine forces, from unknown reasons he seem to focus his attention against the Black Templar and strike at them at every opportunity.
As sudden as Zetrii's appearance was, so was his disappearance. he made no contact with other Tau forces in the gulf, and not even other vespids who remained as he disappeared knew who he was, all they knew is that when he came, they could not refuse his call.
Ever since from time to time he appears on a battlefield, with a locust of Vespid strains in his wake, delivers a crippling blow to whatever enemy the Tau are fighting at the moment, and disappears without a trace, and the strains who came with him are left there, confused and unaware of where they are and how they have gotten there, apparently having no memory of the entire time spent with him and the last thing they recall is his call to arms made at their home planet. though the scale of time of these encounters is far too long for the lifespan of any ordinary vespid, yet none has any doubt it is indeed the same one.
Over the years Zetrii made direct contact with the Tau only once, where he has left a general schematic for the XV-27 Strike suit at the hands of an earth caste engineer, though unknown how he knew of its completion, it appears he has stolen it the very day the prototype was ready, along with all schematics of it, and even the engineer who made the suit had no memory of how to make it anew.
Of the many mysteries that surround the one called Zetrii, such his unnatural age and the his apparent ability to alter memories, the greatest mystery of all appears to be his commanding presence, who makes others follow him into combat without a word being spoken, tau, vespid, kroot and even gue'vesa alike all follow after his attacks as if ordered to, in a manner suspiciously similar to the Ethereals.
Type: Jump Infantry (independent character)
Composition: 1 (unique)
WS4 BS4 S3 T4 W3 I7 A3 Ld10 Sv3+
Wargear: XV27 Strike Suit, Advanced Targeting System, Two Neutron Blasters
Rules: Failure is Not An Option, Fleet, Hit & Run, Lord of the Locust, Move Through Cover, Stealth (Ruins)
Warlord Trait: Precision of the Skilled Hunter
Signature System-XV27 Strike Suit:The lost XV27 was designed to support the Vespid natural speed and augment it with sensor arrays for improved targeting, and powered by Vespid crystals who are vented for both ranged and melee combat, ever since Zetrii has stolen the prototype, its construction could not be replicated despite many attempts. The suit provides a +3 armor save and contains integrated Blacksun Filter and Multi Tracker, in addition the unique positioning of the Neutron Blaster projectors in the inner side of the claws allows the wearer to make use of them in combat as melee weapons (provides an additional attack for fighting with two weapons, and attacking at S5 AP3)
Lord of the Locust: Vespid Stingwing squads may be taken as a Troop choice in an army that contains Zetrii. Zetrii may only join squads of Vespid Stingwings.
Special Rules: Independent Character, Slow and Purposeful, Stance of Solitude.
Trait: Inspiring Presence (from rulebook)
Cyclic Rail Rifle: This experimental rifle is an attempt to combine the raw strength and versatility of rail weaponry with the high fire rates of cycling weaponry, resulting a gun that is capable of eliminating any target, however due to its extreme difficulty to operate and lacking range the creation was deemed not enough to be worth the abnormal production costs, and only the prototype remain. The Cyclic Rail Rifle has two fire modes:
Standard: Range: 30, S8 AP1, heavy 3
Submmunition: Range 30, S4 AP4, Heavy 3 Blast.
Singularity Generator:A failed attempt in creating a new shield generator that empowered gravitational forced to push away enemy fire and add enough force to make it return to the enemy, the Singularity Generator has accidentally created the opposite effect. while at first deemed to be worthless, Dam'ail saw the hidden potential in the device and request it for field testing. The singularity Generator allows to redirect any shooting attack made against a unit within 6" to the user on a roll of 4+ (roll as a Look out Sir!), the surrounding gravitational ripples also reduces the strength of shooting attacks that hit the bearer by 2.
Stance of Solitude:Due to the ripples created by the Singularity Generator, Dars'vil find it irresponsible to be too close to his allies, as he might interrupt their own weapons. Shas'o Dam'ail many never join units, nor may other Independent Characters join him.
Dedicated Transport: (for pathfinders and strike squads)
Angelfish 45 points
Spoiler:
This new assault craft was designed mainly with the concept of providing fast transport to Pathfinders and Strike squads, while the capacity is highly limited, it allows for extremely fast drop offs and disappearance of the craft itself, making it ideal for small commando teams that operate in hostile territory, but it lacks the armor to be a good shelter against enemy fire, as the craft was built extremely light to allow high speed works. the fast movement speeds of the angelfish and the desigen for drops on the run required some high powered electromagnetic locks to hold the soldiers inside properly while it scoots over the battlefield though, and as such prevents them from utilizing the angelfish as a fireport, as they cannot move while the locks are active.
BS3 F10 S10 R10 HP2, fast skimmer, open-topped, Transport (6 infantry/drones or 3 stealth suits)
Wargear: Turret-mounted Burst Cannon.
Rules:Mag-lock Deployment: units may disembark from the Angelfish regardless of how much it has moved in the movement phase, and the Angelfish may move flat out in the turn a unit has disembarked, units embarks within the angelfish cannot fire from within.
On to guns and systems.
Tau Grenade Projector 10 points (Special weapon choice for Pathfinders and Fire Warrior Strike Squad) (FWstrike special weapons will be cleared later)
the tau grenade projector is using a modified variation of the rail technology in order to propel grenades to long distances. A TGP allows to fire any grenade the unit is equipped with to 18" rather than the original range. grenades shot this way do not count against the regular 1 grenade per squad limit.
Warp Inhibitor 3 points (battlesuit support system)
The warp inhibitor uses sophisticated technology in order to create a slight interference within nearby warp manipulation. Warp Inhibitor grants the wearer Adamantium Will.
High-Yield Thrusters 5 points (battlesuit support system) Utlizing extra room on suits that were not fully loaded the high-yield thruster allows for more reliable and efficient usage of the jetpack for covering long distances. A unit composed only of models with High-Yield Thrusters may reroll a single dice when making a thrust move in the assault phase.
That concludes the armory of the 4th sphere, FOR NOW.
Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated, i have a direction in my mind, but if something that sits right in my direction is suggested, it will become a part of it.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/06/29 18:03:25
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now.
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now. 