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So, what do you all think? I always hear people saying to go with the shas'el but for only 25pts, you get +1BS/WS/Wound & Attacks. I don't see the reason to take a shas'el over a shas'o unless you are really hurting to save points.

The question is out of those perks, which are really handy? The BS is most certainly but you can take a targeting array to get that now. The extra wound in certain circumstances is nice but IC protection makes it less necessary and instakill makes it less effective. WS and attacks are purely close combat upgrades and its really an insignificant boost . Plus you really don't want a crisis suit in close combat, unless its Oshova with his voltron sword (or whatever its called).

So for 25 points you get a pip of BS and a wound that you'll actually find usefull. Since Tau players usually follow the 'Take more shots' dogma, you'll find them saving 15 points and only upgrading the BS of their shas'el.

Now, there might be a new reason to take the Shas'o for leadership (isn't there a new item that confers leadership within a certain range?) but I'm not completely familir with the new wargear.

It is only available for shadowsun, the other thing (command and control node) only allows units with a model within 12" of Shas'el/o to use his/her LD for target priority.

targetting array gives you shas'O for 15 pts less.

so the question is when would you ever want to pay 15 pts for the LD and combat stats?
never normally.

but, if you have an army with a lot of infantry shooting, rather than skimmer-based, eg. a lot of broadsides, it might be worth the C&C node to give LD10 for target priority tests.

also, if you build a HQ suit with vectored thrusters, stim injectors, and short ranged guns, he can be used extremely aggressively. jumping forward to get use of the extra distance, and fusioning tanks deep in the enemy's backfield, i love the idea of this guy but you just know he'd die unless used with god-like skill and care.

so anyway if you build a suit to make aggressive use of hit & run, then the combat stats of a shas'O would be helpful.


in all other circumstances, take a shas'el with bs5