Are Kill Team Gun Drones As Good As They Say

A quick follow up my initial Tau Kill Team post, is taking a closer look at one of the two Tau units thats getting a lot of interest; the Gun Drone.

The main reason the Tau Gun Drone is good, when in 40k it is rarely seem since their points were increased 12, is actually nothing to do with the Gun Drone itself, but comes from the Kill Team rules itself:

This means that the Gun Drone can only effectively have a -1 to hit modifier.  This is huge in a faction that only starts on a 4+ to hit generally.  When most shots are at -1 or -2 to hit, and their are three very common ways to get -1 to hit (Long Range, Obscured Target & Flesh wounds) along with many others (eg. Moving/Advancing with Heavy/Assault weapons, firing at Stealth units) other Tau units can see themselves firing on 6's as well.

Some abilities can give +1 to hit or ignore the obscured penalty, but these will only work on 2-3 models a turn leaving the rest of the Tau army at the mercy of the negative to hit modifiers with no way to buff their to-hit chances.

However Drones have an even worse chance to hit than the rest of the Tau, so lets check whether the extra shots that Gun Drones have offset this poor shooting accuracy.  For comparison lets compare the Gun Drones to two other Pulse firepower units, the Strike Team Fire Warrior with a Pulse Rifle, and Steath Suit with a Burst Cannon.  To even out the comparison for points costs I'm going to compare a single Stealth Suit to 3 Gun Drones and 3 Fire Warrior Shas'la.

The charts below shows the average number of Injury rolls against a MEQ (marine equivalent, ie. T4, 3+ save).  Normally I would also compare against GEQ (Imperial Guardsmen equivalent), but all the rolls are the same apart from the save, so just double the MEQ figures to get the GEQ figures)
The Math

The basic Fire Warrior is going quite well out of this (well comparatively).  It wins with the extra range, although the damage output at 30" is not that great, and even wins against Gun Drones in the 9-15" range, where the Gun Drones is still at long range, but the Fire Warrior is getting 2 shots and not getting the Long Range penalty.  This still holds up when the target is obscured with Gun Drones and Fire Warriors tied when within 15" of the target.

The Stealth suits comes in last, however it has lots of other benefits which I'll talk about later that means it should not be ignored.  If we moved the comparison onto targets with -2 to hit, then the Gun Drone would easily be the best as it's damage output can not get any worse.

The quick conclusion is that Gun Drones are the best firepower unless you are consistantly at greater than 18" away from the enemy, which shouldn't really happen, as in most Kill Team games you can get Gun Drones in range on the first turn (they should even advance, and not hit any worse against a target they already had a -1 to hit against).

However as with any mathhammer, lets look at the only factors that this analysis does not take into account/  Lets first look at benefits of Gun Drones vs Fire Warriors (I'll look at Stealths later):

Gun Drone Other Advantages

• Faster Movement
• Ability to Advance and Fire
• Saviour Protocols (great for saving Stealth Suits, Leaders and Specialists)
• Higher Toughness (offset by a worse Save)
• Can't gain experience ? (see note below)

Fire Warrior Other Advantages

• Better armour save (offset by lower toughness)
• Can take a DS8 Support Turret
• Can be a specialist (however this is normally taken by the armed Pathfinder Gunners and Stealth Suits)
• The option for a Shas'ui with better leadership and access to a markerlight
• Can gain experience ? (see note below)

Note: Gaining experience is a double edged sword.  Models can gain extra abilities, however they will then cost more.  Even if its only a few points, 2 or 3 models that have advanced a level is the same cost of an extra model.  As the benefits of the better experience levels (outside specialists) is minor I think its best not to have higher experienced models.  having Gun Drones which can't gain experience helps stop Kill Team Bloat, where you have fewer models in a 100 point game in exchange for a fw minor abilities.

Overall I think the Gun Drones wins overall against the Fire Warrior, particularly after you've picked a Shas'ui.  Saviour protocols is huge saving Stealth suits and Pathfinder Gunners is huge, and the extra speed is very useful.  The icing on the cake is that the Gun Drones can't be affected by more than 1 negative to hit modifier.

Stealth Suits

[My Stealth Suit conversion, based on the conversion by Adam from Grotskull's Workshop]

Stealth suits against Gun Drones is an interesting one. Apart from Saviour Protocols, Stealths Suits just have all the advantages:

• Much better save
• Innate -1 to hit to enemy shooting at them and in combat
• Option to carry a tank busting (and Infantry Obliterating) Fusion Blaster
• Option to be a Specialist (with some very nice combos available)
• The toughest Leader option
• Much higher leadership

So how should all this affect your Kill Team.  Pathfinder Gunners, and a Recon Drone are still auto includes in my eyes (leave a comment if you disagree).  Stealth Suits are still good, but after 1 or 2 you have to ask would 3 Gun Drones be better than 1 Stealth Suit.  Personally for casual and for the local GW Store campaign I'm still going to use a Fire Warrior with a DS8 Turret, a Stealth suit & a non-Gunner Pathfinder, and my current list only has 2 Gun Drones, its a nice bit of everything (except Breachers) type list.

However, definitely not for a Store Campaign or anything like that, if I was going to a super competitive event I would consider the following methodology:

• Take the cheapest leader
• Take 3 Pathfinder Gunners
• Take a Recon Drone
• Take as many Gun Drones as possible

This would lead to the following list

Pathfinder Shas'ui (Leader)
Pathfinder Ion Rifle Gunner (Comms)
Pathfinder Ion Rifle Gunner (Demolitions)
Pathfinder Ion Rifle Gunner (Sniper)
Recon Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone
Gun Drone

13 models (including 8 Gun drones, plus a Recon drone), costing spot on 100 points.  This list is putting out, at 18", 38 str5 shots, and 3D3 Str8, ap-1, 2 damage shots (save those command point rerolls for the overheats).  If you like Rail Rifles rather than Ion Rifles (I think they're good, but wanted to squeeze in another Gun Drone) you could lose 1 Gun Drone to have Rail Rifle rather than Ion Rifle Pathfinder Gunners, and upgrade the Pathfinder leader to a Fire Warrior leader.  If you like Stealth Suits you can easily swap the Pathfinder Leader & 2 Gun drones for Stealth Suit Leader with a markerlight and target lock.  Making both changes would still leave you with 5 Gun drones and a Recon drone.

Honestly don't take something like this to anything but a large competitive tournament.  So what do you think, are Gun Drones that good in Kill team, is this (too?) competitive ?

Are you tempted to put a few more Gun Drones in your Kill Team ?  What's been your experience with our Flying Frisbees ?

Back to painting for me, but until next time, happy gaming !!

Rathstar

Curse of the Wulfen - New Rules and Codex

Hi,

We now have an onslaught of information about the new Space Wolves rules in the Curse of the Wulfen supplement, due to a teaser video which allows us to see the rules of the new formtions, plus confirmation on a new codex, which is a digital only.  Also here I'm going to touch on two of the new entries; the Iron Priest's updated rules and the Wolfkin (a new formation for fenrusian wolves).

The teaser video can be seen here, and someone has kindly freeze framed and captured the images on Imgur here, which makes it possible to click on each image and zoom in slightly to read the rules.

Other information that has come out yesterday is a pre-order on Black Library for the Space Wolf Codex: Wulfen Edition (link here).  This codex is a digital only exclusive, and takes the existing Space wolf codex and adds the new Curse of the Wulfen Space Wolf rules, including all the new dataslates and formations.

This would make this the cheapest way to get access to the new Space Wolf rules, with the tablet (android) edition being £22.

All this information gives us a very good idea of what the Space Wolves are getting rules wise:

• 7 New Formations
• 4 New Dataslates, for Wulfen, Wolf Lord Krom, plus updated rules for Ulrik and the Iron Priest
• 6 New Great Company Formations
• A "Decirion" style detachment called the Wolf Claw's Strike Force

The Great Company formations are a bit big, requiring a large number of units, however they do not require the specific Wolf Lord, and can instead be run by a Wolf Guard Battle Leader.  Some of the benefits are quite good (eg. units get free drop pods and they all come in turn 1, or units can disembark after a vehicle has moved 12"), but I'll have to look at them more closely to see if they are worth the heafty points investment, and can compare them to the straight forward but very nice +1 WS for Wolf Guard and Thunderwolf Cav from the Champions of Fenris' detachment (Company of the Great Wolf).

I now want to look at two of the updates close to my heart, first up the Iron Priest.


Iron Priest Update

The first thing you notice is that he has gone up 20 points, but then you notice that he has moved from Elites to HQ, and that his stats have improved.  As well as his WS increasing to 5 he also has doubled in wounds to 2 and gained a point of leadership.  The extra wound is huge, plus the extra WS will come into effect often, overall very much worth the 20 point increase.  His change also puts the Iron Priest in even more direct competition with the Wolf Guard Battle Leader.  The Iron Priest is 25 points more, but comes with a Thunderhammer and Servo arm for weapons, plus having Runic armour, while having one less Initiative (nearly irrelevant when using a Thunderhammer).

A Wolf Guard Battle Leader with a Powerfist and Runic Armour is 100 points.  Both Strike at Initiative 1 with their weapons, the Wolf Guard Battle Leader, and they have the same attacks in combat because although the Wolf Guard Battle Leader has one extra attack on his profile the Iron Priest's Thunderhammer and Servo Arm are both specialist weapons so can be used together to get +1 attack.

The move from Elites to HQ is an issue for people using the Company of the Great Wolf detachment from the Champions of Fenris supplement which requires 2 Elite units.  Previously the Iron Priest was the go to option.  Luckily the new Wulfen unit is an Elites slot to help here.

The other big changes to the Iron Priest is the cost of Cyberwolves.  Previously they were 15 points each, but now they have significantly increased to 25 points stayed the same.

As pointed out by aracersss in the comments section Cyberwolves have not changed in cost - I looked to quickly at a slightly blurred number :(  So every thing is as usual and I think cyberwolves will still be joining Iron Priests in battle

One of the main uses for an Iron Priest was to mount him on a thunderwolf, give him 4 cyberwolves and join him to a thunderwolf cavalry unit, giving them a 2+ save tanker with some ablative wounds to Look Out Sir any nasty hits to.  Now I've been correctly informed that cycberwolves are still 15 points this tactic will be sure to continue :)

It's quite ironic when my painting table has 4 (high elf) lions for cyberwolves, which will quickly be reassigned as leaders of fenrusian wolf packs or character fenrusian wolves:

Wolfkin Formation

One of the unintended ways that formations are great is that they gets units out of a CAD's (or simular detachment's) limit on particluar slots, eg. in my necron army I use a Havest and Destroyer Cult formations, effectively using 5 Fast Attack slots which would not be possible in a normal CAD (Combined Arms Detachment).

At the moment I use Thunderwolf Cav, Fenrusian Wolves & Skyclaws (I know, but I like them) as my 3 Fast Attack units, this formation would free up a Fast Attack slot to allow me the option of putting in a second Thunderwolf Cav unit (or splitting up the existing one into two units).  So how good is the formation ?

It consists of 2-5 Fenrusian Wolf units, which is quite flexible as they can come in units of anywhere from 5 to 15.  They gain Monster Hunter, which is ok, but their low strength will make them struggle against most monstrous creatures.  They gain Outflank, I've never been too much of a fan, but 5 wolves to gain line breaker might be useful.

The big benefit is that the units can all join together to form an Alpha Pack, and additionally when they do they all get +1 attack if the units if 20 models or more.  Now keeping this unit over 20 models will be hard if the enemy fires at them, as they only have a 6+ save, but it will force the enemy to choose between them and the thunderwolves.

I already use a max size unit of fenrusian wolves with Canis, who boosts the fenrusian wolves in two ways already.  When he's with them they reroll to hit in the first round of combat, plus (because of his warlord trait) he gives them furious charge if he's within 12" at the start of the assault phase).  I was thinking Canis with 5 units of 5 wolves, which would give 100 attacks, rerolling to hit, at Str5.  Now this will rarely happen, what opponent wouldn't put some fire into such a large unit ?  Killing 7 models would reduce all the remaining models attacks by 1 each.  However a swarm of 8 point models can be underestimated in both their hitting power and speed compared with other threats like a drop podded Murderfang, Thunderwolf Cavalry, and even Assault Marines accompanied by a Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf.  I just have to paint up some more fenrusian wolves, and unfotunately I use old Khorne hound models for mine, but I think I have a few more lying around.

[My "Fenrusian Wolves" can be seem on the right of the pic]

So overall there's lots to take in with the new information about the Space Wolves release, and I'm looking forward to having a more in depth look at all the other formations.

What part of the Space Wolf release is most exciting for you ?  Which models are looking forward to getting on the battlefield ?

Rathstar


Post Edited 8th Feb to correct the cost of the cyberwolves for the Iron Priest

Burning Dawn Campaign & Infiltration Cadre [Tau] - Updated Dec '15

[Our New Character Ethereal Aun'Do]

Hi,

I'm a bit late to the party with this campaign.  I always thought the Ethereal looked really neat, and was hoping to pick it up cheaply from ebay a few weeks after the release.  However I don't think this is likely to happen, as unlike the previous campaign boxsets there isn't the huge savings on the price, meaning it's unlikely people will be buying multiples of the boxset to either bulk out their army or start an army from scratch.  Therefore the Ethereal is currently, and is likely to stay, being sold for a very inflated price compared to an Ethereal (around £25+).

However while listening to a YouTube battle report it was mentioned that the new campaign Ethereal had fearless, and knowing the new character Ethereal was only 25pts more than a standard Ethereal, I was intrigued with the rules for the Burning Dawn models.

So firstly what do you get if you take Aun'Do, well he got a hover drone (not that impressed, as only means he ignores dangerous terrain checks when he's with a unit), an honour blade (ok, but I've never taken one because an Ethereal shouldn't be getting in combat voluntarily), recon armour (nice but nothing special), once a game can use 2 invocations (nice) and has another rule to do with ignoring cover (which I will try to get more info on).

A normal Ethereal with recon armour, honour blade & hover drone would be 70 pts, so the extra abilities, particularly fearless is only 5 points.  In my eyes that's a bargain, and I would have paid 75 points for him even if he didn't have the hover drone, armour or honour blade.


So what is in the boxset, and would I get it

In the box you get:
1 Pathfinder Squad (10 Pathfinders, including special weapons & 3 Drones)
1 Piranha
1 Stealth Suit Team (3 Stealth Suits & 1 Drone)
Ethereal Aun’Do
Burning Dawn Campaign Book (32 pages, including background story & rules)

If you assume the Ethereal cost a bit more than the current Ethereal and is in line with the other plastic characters, then you're only saving a couple of pounds.  So unless you really wanted to pick up the Ethereal or the rules for the formation (which you could probably pick up elsewhere, eg. ebay) you'd really need to what to use all the models.

Both Pathfinders and Stealth Suits have not been in my army for a while, Stealth suits for a few editions and pathfinders since I started using forgeworld Tetras.  Now while both units are not dead weights like Vespids, they are not the most common units seen (although pathfinders are almost a auto include if you don't have Tetras).

Outside of their formation I wouldn't want to use all of these models, so lets take a quick look at the formation.

The formation gives scout (or infiltrate if you already have scout), and Shrouded.  Scouded is very interesting because it makes the pathfinder much more survivable; 3+ cover save in forests, and 2+ in ruins, plus as Aun'Do is an indepentant character he sould give Shrouded to any unit he joins.  In my army my Ethereal normally joins my Sniper Team, which with their own Stealth would have a 2+ cover save when behind the Fire Warriors and Kroot in front of them.

Aun'Do abilities and the Shrouded seem very good.  Now we need to look at the bloat.  Do the units have extra wargear or costs that make the formation as whole so inefficient to outweigh the formation benefits.

[Update: The formation give Stealth NOT Shrouded, no is not quite as good, plus it ruins my idea of joining the Ethereal to my Sniper Drones, as Stealth does not stack with itself]

The Stealth squad comes as 3 with a marker drone and costs 125 pts.  So it has the shas'ui upgrade, fusion gun upgrade and a drone.  A bit of bloat but not too bad to stop me taking the formation.

The Piranha character has BS4 and a fusion gun, so is fine for 55 pts, effectively you get +1 BS and the formation bonuses for 5 points :)

[What a way to kill something promising]

Now the pathfinders, the death dealers.  They are a full squad (not the worse thing in the world), however they are fully bloated with upgrades, they have multiple special weapons and ALL of the drones, and come stock at 240 points.  They don't contribute many markerlight tokens (for their cost) which is what you should take a large squad for. They have a pulse accelerator drone, but then exchange some pulse carbines for special weapons, plus lots of situational wargear (eg. grav inhibitor drone).  Overall they become a very expensive jack of all trade unit that is not overly good at any task for their cost, while still being as tough as guardsmen if anything with ignore fire shots them.

I know this isn't a full proper review of the Burning Dawn units, but at 240 points for one unit of pathfinders it's a deal breaker for me.  I'll take Aun'Do as part of a Combined Arms detachment, but the pathfinders ruin the formation for me (even with the good benefits of Scout and Shrouded).

What's you take on the Burning Dawn Infiltration Cadre ?  I'm going to get the campaign booklet off ebay (for the fluff and Aun'Do rules), and try to pick up Aun'Do, but after that I'll leave it at that, and save my money towards a Stormsurge or Ghostkeel.

Rathstar


[Update: While attending a convention, Warfare, I saw the boxset £10 less than GW price, so I picked it up, as I was shocked at the prices of the Ethereal and the Campaign booklet prices on ebay, which were regularly going for £25+ each, I'll be magetizing the Ethereal so he can be Aun'Do or a regular Ethereal on foot, pics to follow]

Beasts & Bodyguards Part Four - What I think of Lhamaeans [Dark Eldar]

Interesting for the fourth part in this series we touch on one of the most used in a lot if competitive lists  out of the model being reviewed.  The reason being that she is the cheapest HQ model available to the Dark Eldar, however I believe she deserves a further look.


So Why Do People Take Her

[a familiar start to competitive Dark Eldar lists]

To put it bluntly none of our character HQs are that great, they are fine for friendly games and semi-competitive tournaments, but if you are trying to squeeze every last drop out of a Dark Eldar list in order to compete with the top lists (eg. Eldar, Necrons & Space Marines) then you'd rather have a 10 points HQ (that also gives access to another Venom) and spend the saved points on other units.

An alternative view I have to point out, is that if you are going for a competitive dark eldar list is to leave out combat entirely (or maybe have one counter assault) to concentrate on shooting is a common held view, and not one that I'm going to argue against too strongly.  However if you like a bit of combat in your list, lets take a look at the Lhamaean.


A Closer Look

A Lhamaean costs the same as a Wych and is basically a Kabalite Warrior with better leadership (ld9) and the splinter rifle exchanged for a sword and a splinter pistol (and this is how I converted mine rather than usual mulitples of the, although excellent, finecast model).  However it's the sword (or Shaimeshi blade) that is the real game changer. The Shaimeshi blade is a Poisoned (2+) weapon that causes Instant Death on a 6 to wound roll.  Although the opponent will still get their armour save the 2+ poison will ensure that a fair number of wounds are caused, and the occasional Instant Death wound that could get through will scare Monstrous Creatures (I've killed both a Wraithlord and a Wraithknight, under the last Eldar codex, with that).

The Lhamaean is obviously very fragile, like most Dark Eldar units, with only T3, a 5+ armour save, and later in the game Feel No Pain from the Power from Pain table, so the damage output has to be good to make up for that, so lets take a look.  Can the Lhamaean take on the giants already reviewed and the go-to assault unit; the Grotesque:

[ON = Outnumbered, +1S = The +1 Str Combat Drug result]
Warp Beast = Krymerae, the old school in me slipped out :)

The above table looks at the damage done on the charge against marines (MEQ) and Imperial Guardsmen (GEQ), and compares the ratio between the points killed and the points cost of the unit doing it.

Now an obvious caveat.  This analysis should not be taken in a vaccum, to decide whether you use a unit you also need to consider:

• It's speed; both will it strike first in combat and is it fast enough to get to combat
• How tough the unit is, will it die before it gets to combat, how will it deal with return attacks
• Is it reliable at charging, does it ignore the cover penalty distance, does it have fleet
• How brave is it, will it run at the first sign of damage (leadership) and can this be mitigated cheaply
• Are the numbers reliable, they may be averages but how likely is an average result likely, does it rely on a good number of wounds being caused, does it ignore armour saves (reducing unreliability), does it rely on rolling 6s (eg, rending, which can be very unreliable against opponents with good armour saves - I'm looking at you Necron Wraiths !!)

So now gets back to the numbers.  Right of the bat the Grotesque when it's outnumbered will kill 41% of it's cost on the turn it charges, a very good total, and dwarfing the pitful 23% of a wych if it rolls an inconsequential combat drug result.  However look at the Lhamaean, it kills an impressive 58% of it's points cost in marines on the charge.  It may only kill on average 0.4 marines per Lhamaean but because it only cost 10 points this leads to a very good ratio percentage.

Maybe it's just because the Lhamaean is cheap, but comparing against the Warp beast & Wych with a +1 Str combat drug the Lhamaean still comes up on top.  Looking against GEQ and the Lhamaean and Warp Beast are clear winners.


Can we take this further ?

Although the Lhamaean wins on pure damage dealt it is still very fragile compared to the big hitters of the Grotesque, Sslyth and Clawed Fiend, however lets join two units that cover each other weaknesses.  The Court can be made up of Lhamaeans and Sslyths.  Between them they will have majority toughness 5, the Lhamaeans give the unit good leadership 9 (so they don't require a character to babysit them), and they use up 2 slots in a transport (same as a Grotesque), plus between them they have the same number of wounds as Grotesques and Clawed Fiends.  Overall a nice combined package.  And for those numerically minded, here's there combined stats:

The combined stats are comparable to Grotesques on the charge, has the same majority toughness, most of the wounds start with Feel No Pain, and the rest gain it by mid game.  Advantages compared to Grotesques include better leadership and no need for a babysitter, fleet to make charges more reliable, some shooting to give them some flexibility, and lastly opponents have rarely seen a Court of the Archon with more than a single Lhamaean or a few Medusae, let alone played against one.  Don't underestimate how an opponent's unfamiliarity with a unit can mess with their target priority, force them into making hard decisions and they are more likely to make mistakes.


So for me, we have a...

My top pick for a combat unit is a Court made up of Lhamaeans and Sslyths, however all of the units in the stats table above (apart from Wyches) are good, and all have niches where they are the best unit for the job at hand.  Therefore rather than having multiple Courts I have a unit of each; Grotesques, Krymerae & Clawed Fiends.

Were you expecting this conclusion ?  Have you used Lhamaeans, how did you find them ?  Has this series been useful so far ?

Rathstar


Next up I'll be discussing adding a touch of light.

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit Rules & First Impressions [Tau]

This is the one I was waiting for !  The rules for the XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit has been leaked from pages of next weeks White Dwarf magazine.

The pictures come courtesy of Lady Atia on the War of Sigmar blog.  Here the pages of White Dwarf:

[Click on the pictures and zoom in to read all the detail]

Toughness & Survivability

As rumoured the Ghostkeel is only T5, with 4 wounds with a 3+ armour save, however the Ghostkeel costs barely over a third of the cost of the Stormsurge, and comes complete with 2 Stealth drones, and it's with these drones that the magic starts.  The Ghostkeel comes with Stealth, and if the Ghostkeel is attacked from over 12" away the cover save benefit from Stealth and/or Shrounded is doubled (up to a 2+ cover save).  The drones then give the all models in the unit (including themselves) Stealth, and if a model has Stealth (ie. the Ghostkeel) they instead give the model Shrouded.

However lets look at the exact wording:

"All models ... receive the Stealth special rule.  Any models that already have Stealth receive the Shrouded special rule instead"

now I believe the sentence means that the Ghostkeel receives the Shrouded special rule instead of receiving the Stealth special rule, because the sentence is taking about what rule is being received.  However I can see some people arguing that the sentence means that the Ghostkeel receives the Shrouded special rule and loses the Stealth special rule.

My interpretation means that with the drones the Ghostkeel receives a 2+ cover save in the open (Stealth + Shrouded, both doubled), however let me know your thoughts in the comments.  Even if Stealth is lost the Ghostkeel will have a 3+ cover save in the open, or a 2+ cover save if behind or in any cover or if there are any intervening units.

It's important to note that while the Ghostkeel will have a 2+ cover save in the open (my interpretation) the drones themselves will only have a 6+ cover save, as they only have Stealth, and only the Ghostkeel has the wargear to grant the double cover save bonus.  Therefore careful positioning will be required to ensure the drones are sniped out from an odd angel you weren't expecting.

Update: I obviously forgot that only one model in a unit has to have the Stealth and/or Shrouded rule for the whole unit to benefit, so regardless of the interpretation the whole unit will get Stealth and Shrouded.  It also means that the drones will receive a 4+ cover save in the open, and any type of cover will bump that up to a 2+ cover save, making them much more survivable.

With the cover save bonus the Ghostkeel is quite survivable, once the enemy does not have ignore cover and the Ghostkeel stays more than 12" away from the enemy to get the double cover save bonus.  In that scenario the Ghostkeel is very good for it's 130 points.


Firepower

The Ghostkeel comes as standard with a Fusion Collider, which is a blast fusion gun.  Nice but short ranged, and the Ghostkeel has to get very close (9") to get the melta effect.  The Fusion Collider can be swapped for a Cyclic Ion Raker which has a slightly longer range of 24" (and gets the full effect at maximum range unlike the Fusion Collider) and fires 6 Str7 AP4 shots, or can be overcharged (which makes it Gets Hot) to have a Str8 AP4 Large Blast.

Nothing spectacular, but I think the Ghostkeel is more of a harassing unit like Stealth suits.

The main gun is complimented by a twin-linked flamer, but personally I would immediately upgrade that to a twin-linked fusion blaster if keeping the Fusion Collider as the main gun, or upgrading to a twin-linked burst cannon if using the Cyclic Ion Raker.

So the firepower is short ranged, but it's nice you can make both the main gun and the secondary gun compliment each other, for a total of 10 anti infantry shots or a twin-linked and blast anti tank (or heavy infantry) shots.


The Last Laugh

The last piece of trickery (Holophoton Countermeasures) is that once a game, after a unit has chosen to target the Ghostkeel or it's unit, the Ghostkeel can choose to make that enemy unit fire only snapshots that turn.  That could be very nasty for Wraithguard with D-Scythes because suddenly they wouldn't be able to fire the D-Scythes, but against normal weapons it will still severely limit the damage the Ghostkeel takes.

Typically with GW it mixes up unit and model in the rules for this ability, so it will have to be seen whether when you have multiple Ghostkeels in a unit you can do this ability once for each Ghostkeel.  However either way this is a very nice ability that will probably allow the Ghostkeel to survive another turn at a critical point in the game.


Overall

The points cost is very reasonable (135 for the Cyclic Ion Raker & Burst Cannon variant, 140 for the Fusion Collider with Fusion gun variant).  The harasssment value with the cover saves ability is nice, but the firepower is nothing to write home about, but if it's hard to kill it should be around longer.

It's a stunning model, and while I think the unit isn't outstanding, it definitely isn't bad, it's just not an auto-take, well unless other units get nerfs, eg, Riptides & Crisis Suits, in the new codex.  It's Holophoton Countermeasures make this a good suit to try and get Fusion weaponry in close to the enemy and survive for a second round.  However we'll have to wait for the codex to see if there's longer ranged options to taking out heavy tanks from range.  We already have the Stormsurge, but that is expensive, hopefully Hammerheads or Broadsides will have better tank killing than before.

Interesting at 135 points (for the Fusion variant) the Ghostkeel is the same points as Shadowsun is now, and I think Shadowsun giving a large crisis suit unit with drones Stealth and Shrouded is a valid alternative.  Or maybe as they're both great models, you could use both and have 2-3 Ghostkeels (with accompanying 2 Stealth drones each) as one Stealthed up unit, and Shadowsun with a unit of Crisis suits as another.  You could even round out the elites with a unit of Stealth Suits.


So what's your opinion on the new rules for the Ghostkeel ?  I think the model will sell well, as it's a great model and it's much easier to put 130-140 points into an army without major rewrites.  Will you be buying one ?


Rathstar

PS. Only roughly a week to go before I guess codex page pictures will start leaking, can't wait :)

KV128 Stormsurge - Rules & First Impressions - Updated 29/9 with clearer pics

This is about the time that White Dwarf leaks start appearing and bang on time the rules for the KV128 Stormsurge has been leaked.  Here are links to the original file and Faeit212 where I first saw it reported.

Now to set my bias out first, out of the 2 new Tau suits the Stealth Suit (below) caught my eye more.  So with a tight budget, the Stormsurge is the one that would have to impress me with the rules to get me to part with my money straight on release day.

First off it's a Lord of War Gargantuan creature, so it's doesn't take away any slots for Broadsides, Skyrays, Crisis Suits or Riptides.  It also has the increased mobility of being able to move 12" in the movement phase.  So a very good start.  Coming in at 360 points it's twice the current cost of a riptide, so direct comparisons should be made against Riptide (with an Ion Accelerator, costing 185 pts), and the Wraithknight, which is 65 points cheaper base (however I think a fair cost for the Wraithknight would be about 360-380 points).

Update 29th Sept: New clearer pics of a French version of WD has been found here

Toughness

Defensively the Stats are similar to a Riptide.  It has the same stats as a Riptide apart from 2 key areas:

• It's got a 3+ save rather than a 2+ save, which although making it less susceptible to Grav weapons (which will still be very nasty to it) it puts in a place where you could try to torrent the model down.
• It doesn't have an invulnerable save, although it does have access to Support Systems, so hopefully it will be able to purchase a Shield Generator.  However as it is still slightly tougher in the secondary save arena compared to a Riptide because the Riptide can use it's 5++ invulnerable save instead of it's armour save, while the Stormsurge can use Feel No Pain in addition to it's armour save.
• The Stormsurge has 8 wounds against the Riptide's 5

I think the 3+ armour save is a big issue, with many weapons being able to get rid it, such as Missile Launchers.  However most weapons that will kill both the Riptide and Stormsurge quickly will be AP2 (eg, Lascannons, Plasma guns, meltaguns, Grav) it may not make much difference in some games, however in others such as against my current Tau list, with MissileSides and Skyrays the lack of a 2+ save will really hurt the Stormsurge.

If, and it's still an if at this moment, the Stormsurge can get a invulnerable save from the Support Systems, then it's survivability goes way up, having effectively 3 saves, and being able to use 2 of them to avoid damage.

Overall the toughness of the Stormsurge goes not warrant it being twice the cost of a Riptide, so lets see if it's offensive output is enough to warrant the price tag.


Firepower

So how good are these weapons systems, lets leave the main gun to last and look at the other weapons.

As what looks like a defensive option it comes with a twin-linked flamer, however this can be upgraded to a twin-linked Burst Cannon for a few points.  On top the large missile battery there is a twin-linked Smart Missile System. The big disappointment is the large missile racks, which are only 4D6 shots at the strength and ap of a pulse rifle.  Although there is the potential for 24 shots, because you're rolling 4D6, rather than D6x4 for example, you are very unlikely to get anywhere close to 24 shots, and are very likely to roll near the average 14 shots (you should only get 24 shots once every 1296 times it fires, but it that time you are likely to have also rolled 4 shots as well).  Fire Warrior shots are not exceptional, I use Fire Warriors because they are troops and at 15" with the Ethereal's Storm of Fire ability they get 3 shots each.  Probably the nicest secondary weapon is 4 Destroyer missiles which are one shot Str8 AP1 with a nice long range.

So far the firepower is very mediocre.  So lets more on to the main event; the main gun:

The Stormsurge comes as standard with a Pulse Blast Cannon, which is an odd weapon that is growing on me as I write this overview.  It's a short ranged weapon with a maximum range of 30" which is very short by Tau standards, however I've dealt with the 36" range on my broadsides, so we'll see.  This weapon has a different profile depending on the range the target is, going from Str9, AP3, Heavy 2, Large Blast at 20-30" to Str10, AP1, Heavy 2, Blast at 10-20", and within 10" it changes to Str D, AP2, Heavy 2.  These are very short ranges, but with the 12" mobility of the Stormsurge I think this can still work, when you combine it with Ignore Cover from markerlights, and it's Saving Grace (see below) it could be very nasty moving forwards 12" and them dominating the midfield with firepower.

Update 29th Sept: The clearer pics here show that the Pulse Burst Cannon is not as good as I first thought, it's second profile is AP3, and the last profile is only AP5, which is not as destructive as I thought.  The biggest thing is that it only reliable kills marines at the 10-20" range, and then it's only 2 small blasts.  This puts the nail in the coffin for this model for me, unless the Support Systems in the new codex radically changes something

The alternative to the Pulse Blast Cannon (for the extra cost equivalent to a Sniper Drone) is the much more straight forward weapon, with a great 72" range, and packs a nice punch with Str10, Ap2, Large Blast, Ordnance.

The two weapons dictate the two ways to use the Stormsurge effectively.  Either have it sit back and fire round after round of single large blasts, or move forwards and be more aggressive and dominate the mid field with all it's weapons in range of enemies closing in on the centre of the board.

Both weapons are nice, but don't quite do it for me, but don't worry there is...


The Saving Grace

You thought that was just a stabalising point just behind the leg, no that it what will make the Stormsurge worth it's points.

After moving, at the start of the shooting phase the Stormsurge can choose to deploy the stabalising leg, if it does it can not move for any reason and loses it Gargantuan creature Stormps, however from the next shooting phase it can fire Twice a turn.  Obviously easier to use with the long range main gun, but the devastation from 4 shots a turn with the Pulse Blast Cannon, imagine a target thats is just within 18" with part of the unit  over 20" away, that's been targeted by 4 markerlights to get +2 BS and Ignore Cover (if that doesn't change in the new codex).  It will face 4 Large Blasts Str9 AP3, and on average 44 Str5 shots (assuming the flamers have been upgraded to burst cannons)..

Best yet it is very quick to release the stabilising clamps.  It can do it at the start of any movement phase, so there is no disadvantage of always extending the clamps in any shooting phase, because if you need to move next turn you just release them at the start of the movement phase, or if all is well stay still and fire double shots.

Overall

My overall assessment is that this is an expensive model, and it is devastating sitting back with the stabilising clamps down.  However I think to really make the best use of all of it's weapons I would use the shorter ranged Pulse Blast Cannon.  You may not have the best targets (sometimes none) for the main gun on turn one, but a 12" move should put you in a good position for turn 2.  This allows you to threaten/capture objectives and also make use of stomps in the right situation.

Three factors stop me from purchasing this model straight away. One is that very expensive, if it can purchase an invulverable save from the Support Systems it's going to be close to 400 points, which is huge for something that could die in a turn to D-Scythes, multiple Grav weapons etc.

My second reason is that it may not be able to get a invunverable save.  We'll have to wait for nearly 3 weeks now for the codex (or probably two and a bit weeks before reliable rumours surface).

Finally my last reason is that it's going to need support from markerlights.  If they change in the new codex this model will suffer, because with that amount of firepower you really want ignore cover and a +1 or +2 BS to make the secondary weapons count.

I'm going to wait before getting this model, but I know it will sell like hotcakes, and I can see that the firepower with the stabilising clamps down can offset it's medicore toughness for it's points cost.  Even with an invulnerable save I think 2 units of MissileSides and a Sniper Drone team boosted with the 3 shot power of the Ethereal (ok it'll be hard getting the Sniper Drones to be within 24", but if they are) should do the following wounds:
Broadside Unit 1 HYMP:  1.3
Broadside Unit 1 SMS:  0.7
Broadside Unit 1 Drones:  0.6

Broadside Unit 2 HYMP:  1.3

Broadside Unit 2 HYMP:  0.7
Broadside Unit 1 Drones:  0.6

Sniper Drones: 2.5 (assuming no rends to make the maths easier, when they should be about 3 rends)

I make that 7.7 wounds, if the Sniper went first and the broadsides used their markerlight hits it would push the wounds past 8 to kill the Stormsurge in a turn.  However that it 708 points firing at one model that's less than 400 points.

Time will tell, but I expect we see lots of Stormsurges on the battlefield.  If you have a big wallet, a decision may be swap a Stormsurge and a Riptide to get the forgeworld KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour (reviewed here)

What's you thoughts on the new model, will you be buying it on release ?  Does it allow Tau to complete with Wraithknights and Decurions ?  Can it survive the usual deathstar killers, Grav and D-weapons ?

As potential opponents of the Stormsurge, how will you plan to take it out ?

Next week I'm sure the rules will be leaked for the XV95 Ghostkeel, and I can't wait to see if it can compare in effectiveness, and personally I think it's a really nice model.  With a much lower points cost it shouldn't require the complete rewriting of an army list like trying to fit the Stormsurge in will.

Rathstar

PS. Now back to converting, below is the first work in progress pic, can you guess what it will be ?  There's a pretty big giveaway :)

TAU KX139 TA'UNAR SUPREMACY ARMOUR - and now we have rules :)

Yes, not only is this gorgeous model, the KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour, now on sale, from the Forgeworld website for £250 (click here if you have a deep wallet), but the same page also has the official rules for download, which don't say they are experimental.  Click here to download them.

Checking in at a hefty 600 points, to me that seems like a reasonable amount for something so tough with so much firepower.  With T9, 2+ Save, Gargantuan Creature Feel No pain, a 5++ Invunverable save (4++ from shooting), and to top it off 10 wounds it is very tough.

When it comes to firepower it again does not disappoint.  The Pulse ordnance multi-driver (the big rail-gun looking weapons on the shoulder) has two firing modes, either a 7" D-weapon blast, or a slightly weaker 3 circle Apocalyptic Barrage that ignores cover that will clear out swaths of anything that's not in 2+ armour.  The triple barreled ion cannons fire the same as an ion cannon but with 6 shots, however instead of a large blast option it can opt to concentrate the beam and fire 3 shots Str9 Ap2 per weapon.  Each Tri-axis Ion Cannon can be switched out for a Fusion Eradicator which fires 5 fusion gun shots with slightly better range than a fusion gun.

And yet that's not all the firepower, there's still the smart missiles and burst cannons which add another 16 str5 shots, and can even be fired in overwatch at BS2.


Loadouts

I think the base loadout with the Tri-axis Ion Cannon is best.  The Fusion eradicator are nice, but getting them within 12" to get the melta effect is much closer than this suit wants to get to other super heavies which will probably have D close combat weapons (or at least just be better in close combat),

This leaves the  KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour surprising not that good at taking out other super heavy walkers given that it only has a single 1 shot D weapon, against everything else it's firepower seems ungodly bringing a nice mix of ap2 and ap3 with the two firing modes of it's 3 main weapons, and even a little extra to help thin out hordes.

Oddly enough I think this suit needs support against other super heavies.  Some Tetras for markerlights and homing beacons followed by deepstriking fusion armed crisis suits should be enough.

Also don't forget that although it only has 2 attacks in close combat it still hits at str9 ap2, and there is always stomps which could do much more damage.


So Would I Buy It

If money was no object I would have already bought the KX139, however like most people I have a lot of commitments that come before models.

With the Tau codex being released next month, I'm already looking at buying the Codex, Tactical Cards, the big Stormsurge big suit and the only midly smaller Ghostkneel Stealth suit, so for the moment I can't afford to, but as soon as I have the new codex suits painted up this is something I'd like to buy.


Would I Use It In Games

I think the suit would be great in big games, say 2500, and although you can use it as low as a 1000 point game I think it would unbalance the game and lead to less fun games.  I know GW are pushing us to use anything we want, but for anything less than a 2000 points game (or a 1750 point game where someone wanted to test their army against an expensive Lord of War) I would leave it out.

The Ta’unar Supremacy Armour is after all the cost of 3 Riptides,which is quite expensive, but to me it's nearly as tough as 3 Riptides and I would say puts out the more firepower than 3 Riptides.  So it's definitely worthwhile using it, but it's not going to make your army an auto win.  If you minimise on other expensive units and build around it to have a decent army it should do well for you.

Obviously I couldn't help pointing out a list using the units I have and here's a 2000 point list I quickly made up:

Ethereal with 2 Marker Drones - 74
10 Fire Warriors - 90

10 Fire Warriors - 90

10 Kroot - 60

10 Kroot - 60

2 Tetras - 70

2 Tetras - 70

Sniper Team (2 Marksmen, 9 Drones) - 161

KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour - 600

Firebase Support Cadre (taken for Tank Hunter)

Riptide with Ion Cannon & Early Warning System - 190

3 Broadsides (Missiles) with 6 Missile Drones - 267

3 Broadsides (Missiles) with 6 Missile Drones - 267

Total: 1999 points

It's still a bit weak against a Knight army (with the 52 infantry models being almost useless against the Knights), and an Imperial Guard mech heavy lists would also cause problems, but the list should do fine against most opponents, and hopefully be fun to play with and against too.

Paying By Installments

Lastly you can buy the KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour is parts, you can get the main body for £130, the top gun (pulse ordnance multi-driver) for £60, and each of the tri-axis ion cannon for £30 each.  Coming to a total of £250 meaning you say nothing if you buy them as a bundle.

I may use this option myself, after buying the GW stuff in Oct, I would buy the body in Nov, and ask for the weapons for xmas pressies.

Closing Thoughts

It's going to be an expensive end to the year

Let me know your thoughts on the Ta’unar Supremacy Armour ?  Worth it's points, do the rules and background fit the Tau fluff ?  Will you be buying one ?

Rathstar

Beasts & Bodyguards Part Three - What I think of Sslyth [Dark Eldar]

The Sslyth has to be the 2nd least seen Dark Eldar model (only beaten by the Ur-Ghul), ask any non Dark Eldar player (and even some Dark Eldar players) what they thought of the Sslyth (let alone the Ur-Ghul) and a significant proportion wouldn't even know it was a Dark Eldar model.

Sometimes this is one of the great advantages of playing a less popular army.  As well as being told the stats and abilities of a unit sometimes it can take playing against it once or twice to know exactly how good and threatening it is.  When a Dark Eldar army has a few units an opponent has never played against before it can lead to them underestimating and/or overestimating certain units leading to mistakes.

However lets gets back to why Sslyths are seen so little.  First they are part of the Court of the Archon, which in the previous codex was a very poor unit to have, mainly because you were forced to have one of each of the four members of the Court.  With the current codex you can now mix and match how you want, from having a single Lharmaean to cheaply fill up an HQ slot, to 5 Medusa in a Venom to deepstrike and flame something out of existance, or even a 12 Sslyth bomb, and any combination in between.

So now that the Court has models, this is another reason Sslyths aren't seen often.  The model is a one pose expensive finecast model like all of the other Court Members:

no-one wants a unit where all the models are in the same pose, so again like the Clawed Fiends I recommend using a conversions.  Although you could convert the official Sslyth model:

I just didn't like the lizard head, and then I came accross these stunning sonversions by Eye of Terror:

Here's a link to his blog post showing of his entire Court of the Archon with many more pictures of the Court members he has converted, included links to his work in progress blog posts.  I advise anyone to stay and browse the rest of his blog it's a true inspiration.

Although the actual Sslyth model is no bigger than the Lharmaean model, even though it is on a bigger base:

I think Eye of Terror's conversion captures the feel of the Sslyth much better, so I shamelessly stole the idea myself for my own Sslyths, however there are other ways to convert up your own Sslyths, and once your model has the right weapons you can't go to far wrong, and it can be loads of fun converting up your own model.


But are they any good ?

Is it worth going to all the trouble of converting the official model to have different poses or converting your own Sslyths ?

Lets start with cost, at 12.5pts per wound they are the marginally more expensive per wound compared to Grotesques and Clawed Fiends (and are only 5 pts cheaper than the 3 wound Clawed Fiend), so what do we get for that.

For starters they are not bulky (surprising for a 2 wound, toughness 5 model) so you can fit more in a transport.  You can only fit 4 Grotesques in a raider if you want to include a independent character to offset their awful leadership, where as you could fit 9 Sslyths in a raider.

Next the Sslyths have a gun each, and not just any gun, but one that fires 3 poison shots each with 18" range.  Compared to Grotesques and Clawed Fiends they have the best armour, if only a 5+, and come stock with Feel No Pain, making each of their Toughness 5 wounds the hardest to get rid (outside of pain engines).

To compliment their 3 shots each on the way into combat they have 5 attacks str5 each on the charge.  That's only 1 less a Clawed Fiend as they don't have rage, and while the same as Grotesques it not's poison and they can't get extra attacks if they are outnumbered (like the Groesques from Ramage).

Overall they are not quite as good as Grotesques in combat, and are marginally worse than Clawed Fiends on the charge, however they are the toughest to get a wound from.

When it comes to the baby sitting duties, all three Dark Eldar monsters need a baby sitter because they have very poor leadership.  In this regards the Sslyth comes out on top.  While a Grotesque need an expensive independent character, the Sslyths can take a cheap Lharmaean as an addition member for the Court and use her very good leadership 9, even better than the beastmaster's leadership 8.  Also while the beastmaster adds little to the combat power of the Clawed Fiends the Lharmaean isn't bad for her points (but more on that in another article).


My Experiences

I have been using a unit of 5 Sslyths accompanied by 4 Lharmaeans.  This unit costs 165 pts, and I also use a unit of 4 Grotesques accompanied by an Archon with no upgrades at all.

I find that because the Grotesques have a character (even one with no upgrades) and it's almost as if their reputation precedes them, opponents always go for the Grotesque raider first.  This has normally meant that my Court normally makes combat before my Grotesques

The shooting option of the Sslyths have also been very useful to have, eg. in one game both my Grotesques and Sslyth;s raiders were shot down turn 1, and had to slog it accross the board with 2 wraithlords being the closest models, while the Grots had to run blindly towards the enemy the Sslyth were able to shoot once they got close (at the expense of running), but a volley of 19 shots from the Court took town a wraithlord (average wounds for the shot was 2.1, but the wraithlord rolled a bit bad on saves).

The fleet on the Court also makes them more reliable on the run and charge, making them marginally faster than Grotesques, and I'm be more ready to attempt a longer charge with Sslyth than Grotesques.

The Sslyths are just good as Grotesques at smacking non-walker vehicles, and mine have taken many landspeeders, rhinos, wave serpents in the games so far, and I look forward to them supplimenting my anti tank in future games.  For reference 5 charging Sslyths should do an average of 5.5 hull points to rear armour 10 non walker vehicles, so they have to roll very badly not to do at least 3 hull points.


In Summary...

Sslyths have many similarities with Grotesques and Clawed Fiends, they all hit hard with str5 attacks, and for the points are the toughest Dark Eldar wounds available.

Sslyths have the toughest wounds, and have decent short range shooting, although the shooting is not what you would only take the units for (for pure anti infantry firepower see venoms) it adds flexibility to the unit that Grotesques and Clawed Fiends don't have.

Outside of a raider the Clawed Fiends are the fastest, but with the raider the Sslyths (with their Fleet piping the Grotesques) can cover the most ground for a turn 2 charge when you include a 1st turn 30" move with the raider.

So far in my games the Court (mine made up of Lharmaeans and Sslyths) is becomeing my favourite of my 4 assault units, although my beastpacks are a close second, apart from when all my raiders a blown up 1st turn, and then I love my beastpacks.


What's your experiences so with or against the Sslyths ?  How do you think they measure against Grotesques and the Dark Eldar other close combat units ?  Are you considering making your own, and which models/bits will you use ?

Rathstar

PS.  Below's a pic of the painting I did for a recent tournament.  The back three rows of Scourges, Sslyths and Clawed Fiends still need highlighting, but it was nice to get them up to this level.  Better pictures will follow shortly.