Re: [NetEpic ML] Re: Shield Drone suggestion

From: Kelvin Henderson <kx.henderson_at_...>
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 09:08:14 +1000

>I sense from your message that you are not too fond of
>the changes I suggest. I understand that they may
>cause some modeling side-effects to your Tau army, but
>IMHO it makes sense that Shield Drones should be more
>than nice scenery on a commander stand.

I just get tired of adding in too much detail into NetEpic. At one stage
we had about 6 different versions of the same Eldar Falcon tank so that
people could represent all the different types of models around! Shield
Drones are never seen in independent units. Forgeworld don't sell them
separately to the commander units (have a look at their page) and not in
large enough numbers to make formations of them viable. As a result IMO
they are best left to the abstracted rules of being scenery on a
Commander/Ethereal stand.

We have Standard Bearer figures for each of the other armies (Eldar,
Marine, Chaos, Squat, Imp Guard). They have no purpose other than to mark
out a Command Stand and act as nice scenery on it. Should we now introduce
rules for them? Some things need to be abstracted in 6mm scale.

>True, Epic scale cannot represent drone controllers as
>they are in W40k. But consider it the other way
>around: Shield Drones are likely to be affected to the
>most prized target and stay with it until they are
>destroyed.

Hence the reason they are modeled onto the stand in the first place! They
tend to only come in pairs in 40K and must stay within 2" of their
controller. Hence they are best left as scenery for the Command stands IMO.

>For the drone controller issue, in W40K a lot of
>models have access to shield drones; for example, any
>suit with access point and any Tau character can
>purchase them. They are not as restricted as it seems.

True, but if anyone is buying them for anything other than an Ethereal,
Broadside or Shas'el or Shas'o, they are wasting their points and I don't
envisage the Tau using them for anything other that covering their most
important units. A lowly Shas'ui leading a Fire Warrior squad is hardly
worthy of being covered by Shield Drones.

>Since they don't share any special ability of the unit
>they protect, it's completely counter-productive to
>assign them to some stealth suits (for example).

Well, in 40K they do. If you assign drones to a Stealth Suit Shas'vre,
they gain the Stealth abilities.

>Maybe I should restate the whole thing to make it
>clearer?

For me its not that your rules were unclear. They make sense for what
Shield Drones are capable of. My issue is with the detail. Its too
much. Shield Drones are in no way independent and do not appear in large
enough numbers in 40K to warrant them getting their own formation in Epic
scale. Epic is 6mm scale! Shield Drones are a personal protection unit,
not a formation designed to intercept incoming shots for squads of
troops. They never flying around in squads, protecting whole units from
fire. They fly around in pairs (usually) protecting one or two individuals.

If people really MUST have Shield Drone formations, then please make this
an extremely optional unit. I for one would not play against them not from
a game mechanics point of view, but from a background point of view. They
simply do not function in the way Stephane has suggested. The Tau list is
one of the simplest lists in NetEpic. I think we should keep it simple.

-Kelvin....

"All power corrupts. Absolute Power is kinda neat."
Received on Wed Jun 23 2004 - 23:08:14 UTC