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So the Tau are, in the fluff, a fluid and mobile army. They make use of lots of mechanised squads and air superiority to transport their soldiers.

So why, when we got our fliers, did we not get some form of flying transport? Able to get Fire Warriors and Jet Pack suits into the fray right where they're needed and provide some support against infantry and light vehicles.

With that in mind I came up with this:

Beluga Dropship

Fast Attack Choice

BS: 3
Front Armour: 11
Side Armour: 10
Rear Armour: 10
HP: 3

Transport Capacity: 12 models
May not transport models with the Extremely Bulky Special Rule.

Wargear:

Twin Linked Smart Missile System
2 Burst Cannons

Special Rules
Hover
Jet Pack Deployment
Jet Pack Assault

Jet Pack Deployment

Jet Pack Infantry embarked in a transport with this special rule may embark and disembark whilst the vehicle is zooming. When disembarking in this way, one model from the unit is placed 6" from an access point on the flier as normal however the unit may then scatter. This scatter follows the rules for deploying via Deep Strike, with the exception that the scatter distance is dependent on how far the Flier moved that turn. If the Flier moved 18" then the scatter distance is D6". If it moved over 18" then the scatter distance is 2D6". This scatter is not affected by rules which allow a unit to Deep Strike without scatter (such as Warlord traits and Homing Beacons). Once the final location of the first model is found the remaining models are placed in base contact as per the Deep Strike rules.

If the deployed unit scatters onto a friendly or enemy unit then the deployed unit must be moved the minimum distance required until it can be deployed without any of its models being within 1" of the unit. In addition the unit will not be able to use its Jet Pack in the following assault phase.

If the deployed unit scatters onto impassable terrain and it is not possible to place all the models atop the terrain with the bases touching (as per the Deep Strike rule) then each model in the unit will suffer a wound, with armour saves allowed, before being moved the minimum possible distance required to allow the unit to deploy. The unit will then not be allowed to use its Jet Pack in the following assault phase.

A unit which scatters onto impassable

Jet Pack Assault

If a unit of Jet Pack Infantry is embarked during the Assault Phase then it may make special assault move called a Jet Pack Assault, provided the Beluga Dropship did not move further than 18" in its movement phase during that turn.

The charge range is determined as for a normal charge (2D6"). To determine whether the charge was successful, measure from the access point of the vehicle to the enemy unit that is being charged. The unit making the Jet Pack Assault ignores the effects of difficult terrain. The enemy unit may overwatch as normal. If the charge is failed then the Jet Pack unit is placed at a distance (in inches) equal to the highest roll on the 2D6 from an access point which places it closest to the unit it was attempting to charge.

If the charge is successful then the models are moved as per the usual assault rules with the exception that distances are measured from the access point on the vehicle, not from the models base.

A unit making a Jet Pack Assault gains the Hammer of Wrath rule for that assault phase.

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Not sure what points cost it should be (thinking similar to Valkyrie, maybe a bit less due to lighter armour and weapons?) or what weapon upgrade options it should have (Probably swap out SMS for a Missile Pod). Has normal access to vehicle upgrades list.

Thoughts?

Tau already has the Orca Droship (FW). It is a superheavy flyer.

I'm not sure about the Jet Pack Assault special rule, seeing as Tau is a shooty army, and should stay out of combat (with the exception of Farsight, Aun'Shi, Riptides and/or EMP equipped models vs vehicles).

About the Wargears, removing one Burst Cannon seems reasonable, as Tau flyers in the Codex have only one; with that much firepower (12 S5 AP5 shots) they can easily trash even MEQ.

 xalvissx wrote:
Tau already has the Orca Droship (FW). It is a superheavy flyer.

I'm not sure about the Jet Pack Assault special rule, seeing as Tau is a shooty army, and should stay out of combat (with the exception of Farsight, Riptides and/or EMP equipped models vs vehicles).

Dammit, now have to think of another sea animal

Whilst true that Tau are predominantly a shooty army, Crisis Suits can be effective in an assault thanks to S5 and a pretty decent number of attacks and I'm sure Farsight would like to have a method of travelling around the battlefield faster than he can now whilst still having the option to assault. I think the Hammer of Wrath would help mitigate the Crisis Suits low initiative and so make an assault a more appealing option.

So it may not be used that often but damn is it cool to be able to have your suits descend from the skies to kick a Marine in the face

Are you talking about this ?

Yes, S5 Attacks from Crisis Suits can threaten GEQ, but with WS2 and I2, they will have difficulties wiping out their foes in combat, and will take casualties, which, compared to the chance of killing one squad of Guardsmen, it's not worth it.

And they also have great options for ranged weapons, then why will players want to assault with them ? One turn of shooting can decide the course of batte, and I'm sure people will not want to waste it.

So basically, it's an up-gunned mini-Orca?

I like the idea. Relying entirely on a superheavy for air transport isn't great. Worse still, the Orca model isn't particularly appealing. It'd be nice for the Tau to have a Valkyrie-equivalent. It would also be nice for the existing Tau fliers to be interesting.

Oh, come on! why can't you just have a regular deepstrike. Why do you need a better version of it?

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Sillycybin wrote:No one else can assault out of transports, not even close combat armies. There is no reason the tau should be able to do this.

Except Assault Transports and Open Topped. So, Orks, Dark Eldar, armies with Land Raiders....

So Dark Eldar can assault out of their transports and have assaulty units, Orks can assault out of their transports (except the new big walker thing) and have assaulty units and all flavours of marines can assault out of Land Raiders.

koooaei wrote:Oh, come on! why can't you just have a regular deepstrike. Why do you need a better version of it?

Because paying for a transport which has to get to the location where you want to drop and then, unlike most other transports disembarking troops, has a risk of scatter and potentially leaving your unit stranded in the open or wounded or both is flat out better than Deep Strike? Which can be guided in perfectly by units with Homing Beacons, or a commander with the no scatter warlord trait?

If anything this is worse than a regular deep strike as it cannot benefit from Homing Beacons or warlord traits and costs more. Sure the risk is less as you can't lose the whole unit (unless they are stealth suits and you roll really badly on their saves) but what other transport has any risk when disembarking? Necrons dropping out of a Night Scythe are not impeded in any way, for example, unless the vehicle moves over 24" in which case they can only fire snap shots.

I think we can both agree that the downsides I have come up with are potentially greater than snap shots.

Whoops... there doesn't seem to be anything here.

 Sillycybin wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:


Except Assault Transports and Open Topped. So, Orks, Dark Eldar, armies with Land Raiders....

None of these are flyers that can move up to 36" and can only be hit by snapshots.

And the Necron Night Scythe which can fly 36" and drop a unit with pinpoint accuracy? And also the unit inside is immune to Crash and Burn?

In my rule, the assault rule is restricted to the flier only moving 18".

An interesting idea. Perhaps something derived from the Razorshark Strike Fighter/Sun Shark Bomber?

Here's a rough idea:

Hell Shark Attack Craft

Role: Vehicle (Flyer, Hover, Transport)
Force Organization Slot: Fast Attack

Transport capacity: 10 models.
May transport Drones. However, a Hell Shark cannot transport models with the Bulky, Very Bulky or Extremely Bulky rule.

Fire points:

1x nose-mounted fire point

1x tail-mounted, attached Drone only, fire point

Stats:

BS: 3

Front armor: 10

Side armor: 10

Rear armor: 10

HP: 3

Wargear:

2x Twin-linked Pulse carbines (Wing mounted)

1x Gun drone (Tail mounted)

Special Rules:

Quick Jet Deployment:
If a Hell Shark has moved more than 6'', embarked units may only exit the transport using this special rule. The unit must the move exactly 2D6'' in a straight line; ignoring other models and terrain as in Skyborne. Landing is resolved as if on Dangerous Terrain. The unit can then choose to either Shoot/Run or Assault but not both.


Options:

May replace nose-mounted fire point with:

2x Twin-linked Pulse carbines

2x Fusion blasters

May replace Gun drone with:

Marker drone

Missile drone

Interceptor drone

May replace 4 transport slots with:

2x Seeker missiles (recessed)

OR

May replace all 10 transport slots with:

Heavy Cargo special rule. This allows the Hell Shark to transport 1 basic-sized, non-Monstrous Battlesuit unit. Riptides cannot be transported.

I personally think a different approach is needed. Jetpack units already have deep strike etc so instead why not make a transport for basic infantry? BUT to make it unique have it the first flyer with fire ports for the infantry to fire from.

Keep the flyer basic. Just a couple of weapons. Then have the crew able to fire as normal UNLESS the craft jinks.

Let the crew jump out much like the imperial guard jump from theirs.

Dont make into a mega gunship flyer that transports. Keep it simple and have the crew the focus maybe?

Personally i feel the Tau flier should of just been the barracuda or the remora. if plastic remoras? id probably have 2 cad FA slots full of em.

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Because paying for a transport which has to get to the location where you want to drop and then, unlike most other transports disembarking troops, has a risk of scatter and potentially leaving your unit stranded in the open or wounded or both is flat out better than Deep Strike? Which can be guided in perfectly by units with Homing Beacons, or a commander with the no scatter warlord trait?

If anything this is worse than a regular deep strike as it cannot benefit from Homing Beacons or warlord traits and costs more. Sure the risk is less as you can't lose the whole unit (unless they are stealth suits and you roll really badly on their saves) but what other transport has any risk when disembarking? Necrons dropping out of a Night Scythe are not impeded in any way, for example, unless the vehicle moves over 24" in which case they can only fire snap shots.

I think we can both agree that the downsides I have come up with are potentially greater than snap shots.

If you don't want to scatter, just go in the hover mode and disembark your troops. If you don't want to go hovering, just deepstrike them.

The moment you try to create rules that grant you unique benefits just because...it's becoming bad game design and people won't apretiate that.

If you want to allow them assault out of your assault flying thing - just give it assault transport special rule so that you can assault after you disembark having gone into hovering mode.

By the way how much would you like it to cost? Flying vehicle that has decent transport capacity, allows you to assault or deepstrike, has 11 front av, 3 HP and has decent weaponry should cost around 180 pts in my book.