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Just looking at this unit. Am I correct it does not have a CC weapon for an extra attack? eg: like assault marines?

Seems like an rather situational unit. Do people use them?

Best tactic? Don't take em. Too fragile and not enough damage output for their cost.

Apparently they're pretty awesome the lower the points level though. Over 1000pts though and you're basically wasting your Fast Attack slot.

Good at shooting marines. The trouble is, Tau don't have a pressing need for more anti-marine firepower - the rest of their army does that job just fine. And more importantly, they compete for slots with Pathfinders, who's markerlight support will probably lead to just as many dead marines as the Vespids could manage. I could see them being useful in sub-1000 pt games, where markerlights are less valuable.

In theory, the Vespid are best as a threat either in deep strike or lurking in a ruin somewhere. They can inflict catastrophic losses on MEQs with their shooting, especially with a little marker support. This means they can't be ignored.

On the other hand, they are cheap enough that you don't mind losing them too much after they have mauled a threat or distracted an enemy from assaulting something more important.

My preferred use is deep striking near Devastators or similar to shoot them to bits. The enemy then can either devote resources to killing them or let them run loose in his backfield.

Assault is a last resort for them and should only be attempted against fairly weak units in the hopes of tying up their shooting or delaying them charging a more vulnerable unit.

Vespids only work properly in Cities of Death (lots of ruins) or Combat Patrol (3+ is the best save) type games, and in these games they shine.

They are specialist units, and simply have no room in your regular gameplay, only in specific specialized games.

Jefffar wrote:
In theory, the Vespid are best as a threat either in deep strike or lurking in a ruin somewhere. They can inflict catastrophic losses on MEQs with their shooting, especially with a little marker support. This means they can't be ignored.

On the other hand, they are cheap enough that you don't mind losing them too much after they have mauled a threat or distracted an enemy from assaulting something more important.

My preferred use is deep striking near Devastators or similar to shoot them to bits. The enemy then can either devote resources to killing them or let them run loose in his backfield.

Assault is a last resort for them and should only be attempted against fairly weak units in the hopes of tying up their shooting or delaying them charging a more vulnerable unit.

This is an interesting option. I'll try it.

Vespid's speed has giving them a bit more usefulness in maelstrom missions, but they are as pointed out above a abit to much of a specialist, and as an assault unit even worse than assault marines.

Kill Team, and sub 1000 point sI can use them for good effect as they are effective with out any support, and fast with out transports or ethereal tricks.

I keep seeing the words Vespid and Assault Unit being linked together in this thread. Stop doing that!

Vespid are not assault units. The jump subtype makes them fast but it doesn't make them good at assault. Thinking of them as an assault unit is the easiest way to waste their potential. Think of them as a Strength 5, AP 3 gun that moves 12 inches a turn, deep strikes, ignores terrain and gets added cover in ruins.

They are much better than they used to be in the old dex.

Trouble is, Tau is the 2nd best codex in the meta right now, which means almost every unit in the book is a better pick than vespids.

Assuming you decide to run a unit of Vespid, what's the optimal squad size?

Right now I'm torn between 8 (so the squad would have to be reduced to 1 model before it would require an Insane Heroism result to Regroup) or 9 (so that it would take the loss of 3 models to cause the first morale check). I am leaning towards 9 models, with the Strain Leader upgrade.

 Sir Arun wrote:
They are much better than they used to be in the old dex.

Trouble is, Tau is the 2nd best codex in the meta right now, which means almost every unit in the book is a better pick than vespids.

Tau the 2nd best Codex? I really don't see why people keep saying that, the best builds for the Tau in 6th required you taking rules or allies that no long exist. I would rank Imperial Guard, Dark Eldar and Necrons on par with or even better then Tau in some cases.

Other then that when it comes to Vespids I have never seen them played but would be interesting to try out.

dpaway wrote:
Assuming you decide to run a unit of Vespid, what's the optimal squad size?

Right now I'm torn between 8 (so the squad would have to be reduced to 1 model before it would require an Insane Heroism result to Regroup) or 9 (so that it would take the loss of 3 models to cause the first morale check). I am leaning towards 9 models, with the Strain Leader upgrade.

9 gets the best bang for the shotting. AP3 gun at bs3 wants as many shots as possible.

 gmaleron wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:
They are much better than they used to be in the old dex.

Trouble is, Tau is the 2nd best codex in the meta right now, which means almost every unit in the book is a better pick than vespids.

Tau the 2nd best Codex? I really don't see why people keep saying that, the best builds for the Tau in 6th required you taking rules or allies that no long exist. I would rank Imperial Guard, Dark Eldar and Necrons on par with or even better then Tau in some cases.

I completely agree with you, I hate it when people complain about Tau as, yes they were powerful but emphasis on were. GK were very powerful in 5th but do people keep calling them over powered? People need to realise that Imperium players are probably the 2nd best army as they can ally with each other, bringing many bonuses eg Priests from SoB or AM, Centurions from SM, Drop Pods from SW (to put other guys in) etc.

A quick look at their statline makes me think that they are the opposite of a specialist unit -- they are meant to be useful as an extremely mobile rapid-reaction support unit (note, "support") against a wide variety of enemies.

I never put Vespids in any of my list, ever. Whatever you would be planning on using them for, there are a lot of units that are more needed or will do the job better (like suits for killing marines etc.) So I just never take them

Jefffar wrote:
I keep seeing the words Vespid and Assault Unit being linked together in this thread. Stop doing that!

Vespid are not assault units. The jump subtype makes them fast but it doesn't make them good at assault. Thinking of them as an assault unit is the easiest way to waste their potential. Think of them as a Strength 5, AP 3 gun that moves 12 inches a turn, deep strikes, ignores terrain and gets added cover in ruins.

Ah, but a look at their stats says that they are assault units. More precisely, they are generalist units that are decent against a wide variety of different units in different capacities, but not good enough to take out any unit on their own. Against MEQ, they shoot. Against GEQ, they assault (and then use hit and run to get out and repeat the process; actually their I is so high that they can pull this off against Eldar). And they do both in conjunction with some other unit, never alone. That's why their rate of fire is so low. They are highly unlikely to take out a full squad of MEQ on their own, but they are quite able to take out what is left after somebody else gets done shooting at it.

(Incidentally, on the charge they do on average exactly as many wounds in assault against MEQ as with their gun.)

Then they zoom over to whatever target is being focus-fired upon next.

Think like a game designer.