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From Deathwatch: Ark of Lost Souls. Just a rough outline, nothing much yet.
These are essentially tau terminators designed to explore space hulks. They are only given to experienced pilots, and they tend to be better at CC as they are in a more cramped environment ans experience it more often.

XV-46 Vanguard Void Battlesuit Team
Vanguard Shas'vre WS:3 BS:4 S:5 T:4 W:2 I:2 A:2 Ld:9 Sv:3+ Jetpack Infantry
Vanguard Shas'el WS:3 BS:4 S:5 T:4 W:2 I:2 A:3 Ld:9 Sv:3+ Jetpack Infantry (Character)
Special Rules: Supporting Fire.
Weapons: Flame Projector, Burst Cannon, Fusion Torch.
Wargear: Defensive Systems, Ejection Pod, Vanguard Void Battlesuit.
Options: Any Vanguard Shas'vre or Shas'el may take one option from the battlesuit support systmes list.
Any Vanguard Shas'vre or Shas'el may take up to two drones from the drones list.

XV-46-4 Vanguard Commander Variant Void Battlesuit
Vanguard Shas'O WS:5 BS:5 S:5 T:4 W:4 I:3 A:4 Ld:10 Sv:3+ Jetpack Infantry (Character)
Special Rules: Supporting Fire, Independant Character.
Weapons: Flame Projector, Experimental EMP Blaster, Microburst Fragmentation Launcher.
Wargear: Defensive Systems, Ejection Pod, Vanguard Void Battlesuit.
Options: May take two options from the battlesuit support systmes list.
May take up to two drones from the drones list.

Exploratory Drone Team
Exploratory Drone WS:2 BS:2 S:3 T:4 W:1 I:4 A:1 Ld:7 Sv:4+ Jetpack Infantry (Drone)
Special Rules: Supporting Fire.
Weapons: Pulse Carbine.


Flame Projector: Template S:5 AP:5 Assault 1.
Fusions Torch: 6" S:8 AP:1 Assault 1, Melta.
- S:8 AP:1 Melee, Armourbane, Focused Discharge.
Experimental EMP Blaster: 18" S:5 AP:3 Assault 1, Blast, Haywire.
Microburst Fragmentation Launcher: 12" S:4 AP:5 Assault 1, Blast, Ignore Cover.

Defensive Systems: At inititive step 10, all enemy models within 2" of the bearer take a single S:3 AP:- hit.

Focused Discharge: The model can only ever make a single attack per phase(which can not be increased by any means) when using this weapon as it fires a very narrow, short duration beam before needing time to recharge

The only red flag for me is the Torch, because of how crazy powerful it is in melee. It is S8 AP1 swings at init? Or am I reading that wrong?

Oh, wow, I forgot specialist weapon . I was thinking it would be, you can have your S5 attacks or one big S8 attack. A bit like fusion blades, but not as good.

fusion blades already do that.

They're not specialist are they?

Just checked, they are just a S8 AP1 melee armourbane, blind, power outage weapon. They still maintain the number of attacks.

Added Exploratory Drone Team.

Specialist only means you can't benefit from two hand weapons so your basic suit will have 3 S8 AP1 attacks on the charge at Init.

Looks like I'm forgetting things. *sigh*

you could try
Focused Discharge

The model can only ever make a single attack per phase(which can not be increased by any means) when using this weapon as it fires a very narrow, short duration beam before needing time to recharge

Ooh, that sounds much better, thanks .

The drones...I dont get them...

Why bother with them when you got the gun drones who are essentially the same, but twin-linked?

Flame Projector-can't it just be a heavy flamer? (slightly stronger, but AP4 is not game-braking)

Fusion thingy-short range much? they are STILL tau, even if close-quarters intended.

EMP blaster-no. just no. S5 AP3 EMP? how come? EMP has no value other then distuption of systems, its a freak accident when someone actually gets hurt.

The projector launcher is also absurd, pretty much always inferior to a simply burst cannon. prototypes might not be 100% reliable, but this one is absurd and would have been phased out before its even first deployed when the weapon is so clearly flawed.
The commander has WORSE guns then the basic ones?

Shas'el....why? I mean, +1 attack? that's it? not even a change in options or a LD boost? in TAU?

Also, not mentioned but I assume been overlooked-it does not list the suits having the standard multi-traker and blacksun filter.

As I said it's just a rough outline. The EMP blaster in the book has a pen of 8 (power armour has a AP of 8) and is quite powerful. It's less an EM pulse, and more an electric gun.The drones have this fancy sensor thing that I still have to write rules for. All of these thing are based on the book, although they could see a bit of tweaking. It's hard to judge the strength something should be when you are comparing things with 2d10+3 E damage or something, so it's not a direct comparison. I made then LD:9 because I thought LD:10 might be a tad to much. I was also going to give them extra option, maybe their own unique special issue systems. These suits are for a very specific purpose, space hulks, and are smaller than. I was making the frag a mini AFP, but I still have to get the rules exact. Remember, this is just spit-balling, nowhere near done. I still haven't written the rules for the suits.

Why the flamer? It's a terrible weapon to be using in a vacuum even if you've got an oxidizer. Some kind of pulse-shotgun might be better.

That's what the book gave them. I may just abandon staying true to the book and just have fun making weapons.

Ok..first off, love the stats and rules you have listed so far. Will defiantly be converting some. Now or my post.I have an opinion for each weapon option they have and i am basing this on this simple reason: The suits would be great in both boarding Space Hulks and other vessels. I know they are listed as being for Space Hulk use, but i can see them also being used to either board an enemy vessel or repeal boarders.

Now for my weapon and armor reasoning's.

Flame Projector: A strong and intense blast useful against Gretchin,Low level 'Nids,and human grunts. The slightly higher AP in my mind is due to the fact ship hulls and armor are a bit tougher than standard armor on a soldier. And these are Tau...who said they are using a combustible oxygen based fuel and not one based on plasma specifically for non oxygen environments,which also may explain the higher AP.

Burst Cannon: Pretty Self explanatory. Lots of decent shots for multiple targets.

Fusion Torch:High Damage and An AP of 2 make a lot of sense. It seems a lot of Space Hulks are old Imperial ships,Dark Age of Technology Relics, or made from meteors(Ork Rokks), so a strong cutter would be needed for ceremite or meteoric iron. And if a tool can double as a weapon, even better. Though perhaps drop the melee attribute in sake of fairness(Not that GeeDubs cares for fairness, right Mr. Ward??)

Experimental EMP Blaster: This makes some sense to me as another multi-purpose weapon,perhaps as an electric rifle of some sort that can be switched between a standard shock/taser style round to an anti-security type round that might be better suited against intelligent robotic defenses, such as the Men of Iron or some other such Dark Age tech. I'm not sure i'd make it a Sgt/Commander level weapon though,perhaps a 1 per squad option like the Pathfinder's Ion Rifle. But it's written as such and therefore it stays.

Microburst Fragmentation Launcher:I like this. Gives me the idea of a grenade launcher with enough power to sting a little and soften up the enemies for the other squad members weapons. Which when looking at the way the Sgt/Commander/Shas'O is set up seems to be his job as a support to his squad instead of a super powered combat machine.

DX-11 Explorer Drone: The Single Pulse Carbine makes a lot of sense to me,especially if given Stealth as a rule an perhaps a special system that lets them give the suits an advantage,like perhaps rending or twin-linked due to the fact they are stealthed and studied the opponent,since it does say their job is to find an opponent and study them while sending the info back to the squad. If considered this way the single carbine makes sense as it's a defensive weapon. Though in that case i'd make the drones mandatory,perhaps 3 per squad due to the Tau number system, or just 1 with any 2 other drone choices.

Defensive Systems: Makes sense to have them at Init 10, as they are designed to slow the enemy or stop them from engaging,though i'd make it to where if you use the system it's either a 1 use item or force the suits to jump away 18 inches with their Jet Packs, since they are now in fight instead of explore mode. Or let them negate a charge once per game instead of charging damage,sense all 3 of the systems are designed to either scare away or stun the opponent it makes sense to just negate a charge.

Ejection System:I think the easiest way to use this is it prevents Instant Death. Yes the suit/model is out of the fight, but the pilot lives on. Or give it a die roll where on a 4 or better the enemy gets no VP for the model.

As I Said, these are just my ideas, but either way I love what you have gotten so far and would play them as is once the drones are finished. If anything of mne helps then I am happy I was helpful. If not, oh well...still was fun and is a great idea.

tau dont need new battlesuits so i find this notion totally absurd. its like putting more cake on a platter that was supposed to be for the hamburgers and the hamburgers dont even have a tray anymore there sitting lose on the table, its bad presentation.

if i was going to sit down and hammer out a new unit for them it would be a tank or kroot/vespid creations. those are the hallmarks of a more well balanced army. feth this gundam wing tau aesthetic there going for on table, its cancerous to there whole original design philosophy

Umm, wow. I made this thread a while ago.

Also, the vangaurd is a suit that already exists in the lore. And it's pretty small, termie size in fact. It's used to explore space hulks. I just made rules for it.

Well..I have an idea for building the suits...though I know they are going to be to large. Still, it might look nice. I just need to buy a lot of expensive kits and do the kit bash/conversion/bad language prayer to the modelling Gods. ~Does five Hail Marys to our Lord Duncan Rhodes,Lord of the Paint.~

Hello my friend could you please explain me what the ejection pod do?

CCCP wrote:
Hello my friend could you please explain me what the ejection pod do?

I based it on the old one for crisis suits (4th edition codex). When the model would be killed, you instead place a model within 6" (similar stats, but S:3 T:3 W:1 A:2 Sv:5+ infantry) and equipped with a pulse pistol. In the fluff, the pod would automatically head back to base (it was used in space hulks), but if the just meant it wouldn't count as being killed, than it would be a little weird.