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Tau: Master of War & Invocation of the Elements - pulse or aura effect?

yakface — GMT

I have a few questions regarding the Tau Commander 'Master of War' ability and the Ethereal 'Invocation of the Elements' ability.

1) First, just to confirm that everyone else is reading this the same way as me, can 'Master of War' be used once per Commander in your army, per game, or just once per game no matter how many Commanders you have in your force? The partial rules text is as follows:

'Once per battle, at the beginning of your turn, a single friendly COMMANDER can declare either Kauyon or Mont'ka...'

2) Do you believe that the Kayon & Mont'ka abilities are like a 'pulse' that affect the units within 6" of the commander at the start of the turn when the power is declared and then stick with them regardless of where the commander then moves? Or do you think they are more like a persistent 'aura' that follow the commander around and only affect units within 6" at the time the ability's effect would be used?

For reference, the Kauyon & Mont'ka say:

• 'Kauyon: Until the end of the turn, you can re-roll failed hit rolls for friendly units within 6", but these units cannot move for any reason.'
• 'Mont'ka: Friendly units within 6" can both Advance and shoot as if they hadn't moved this turn.'

If the Kauyon was resolved like a 'pulse', then you'd measure from the commander when the power is invoked, and then even if the commander moved more than 6" away from those units later, they'd still benefit from the ability. If the Kauyon was resolved like a persistent 'aura', then the commander could invoke the power and then move within 6" of some units (which did not move) and then those units would benefit from the ability.

If the Mont'ka was resolved like a 'pulse' then you'd measure from the commander when the power is invoked, and even if the commander or the affected units moved away from each other later, they'd still benefit from the ability. If the Mont'ka was resolved like a persistent 'aura', then the commander could invoke the power and then later if some units moved (and advanced) to within 6" of him, they'd be able to benefit from the ability and still fire as if they hadn't moved.

3) The Tau Ethereal's Invocation of the Elements ability is pretty much exactly the same type of thing. Listed as a 6" ability, but invoked at a certain time, so could that you're supposed to play it like a 'pulse' instead of persistent 'aura'. I'm not going to go through each different option for the Invocation, but suffice to say its pretty similar to what you got with the Kauyon and Mont'ka above.

I'm pretty sure that GW FAQ'd this stuff in previous editions to explain whether it was resolved more like a 'pulse' or persistent 'aura' (and they stayed more or less the similar into 8th), but I can't remember what their answer was. Anyone have the last Tau FAQ they put out available? Did they have anything on record for the Invocation of the Elements?

Thanks in advance!

Tau: Master of War & Invocation of the Elements - pulse or aura effect?

Vector Strike — GMT

The Tau community seems to think that:
1) No matter the number of commanders, can use only once per entire game. It should be like that because Farsight and Shadowsun can activate another use of Mont'ka/Kauyon again, respectively. If every commander could use Mont'ka or Kauyon in the game, Farsight and Shadowsun's special rules wouldn't matter.
I think the wording is fuzzy and could be more clear on the matter.

2&3) They seem to be auras. At least the Ethereal one is certainly used like that by the community. Mont'ka and Kauyon are more confusing, but I guess they act as auras too.

Tau: Master of War & Invocation of the Elements - pulse or aura effect?

Voodoo_Chile — GMT

For what it's worth my two cents are:

1. It's once per battle regardless of number of Commanders. The "...single friendly Commander" section is their to restrict it to just one model.
I think if it was per Commander they'd probably have specified "Once per battle, at the beginning of your turn, unit/Commander etc".

2. I'm leaning towards Persistent rather than Pulse. Just that is my inclination toward how to play that. I could see it going either way.

Though I wonder if the Kauyon restriction of "cannot move for any reason" is something which should be enforced, whether or not you avail of the actual benefit. This would mean the Commander could not move for any reason as well and it would functionally become a Pulse.

You can find the last blast of 7th edition FAQs on the Community website here