TAU 5.1 list

From: Bruce Scott <B.Scott_at_...>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 14:00:39 +1000

An echo of my comments over on TacCom:

I'm going through the full list by itself, without any reference to what
has come before. Comments:

(much of the stuff on specific units is coloured by the fact that you also
have to consider their effect in conjunction with (the now more prevelant)
Markerlights.

- I like the change to the army construction rules. (page 4)
- Battlesuits - Not sure I like the anti-Stealth ability. Conversely, they
should probably only occupy the space of 1 Infantry stand on
transports....they are pretty small Walkers.
- Support Craft special ability seems a much better solution than Flyer
for some of the Tau big stuff. (page 6)
- Gun Drones (p9). Why does a unit that takes damage from Gun Drones have
to take a morale check? That effect is very powerful combined with a Drone
with a ton of firepower and Deep Strike.
- Sniper Drones - pretty hefty firepower which is kinda harsh combined
with "super stealth". I think maybe a 5+ to hit would be more appropriate.
Also, I suggest the detachment morale should be - , not 3?
- Pathfinder Snipers - These are too good IMO. I don't think you can fix
them without stuffing up the Sniper Drones though. Even a 5+ to hit would
still be too good combined with the range, -2 TSM and "Super Stealth" on a
unit with Sniper. At a minimum either the range has to come down to 50cms
or they need to lose Sniper.
- XV15/25 Stealth Suits - these look undercosted to me....quite
significantly. Too much firepower on too mobile a "super stealthed"
Battlesuit unit.
- Vespids (page 10) - minor typo in there. Quite powerful, but balanced by
rareity...looks good.
- Kroot Hunter - not a fan of these for similar reasons to the Pathfinder
Sniper...25% chance at taking out a IG CHQ at 75cms is too good IMO. Given
the fluff, I think these guys should be 50cms hitting on 4+ (e.g more
accurate than Carnivore), but 75cm hitting on 5+ would probably be the
better option to keep the Kroot ok as a standalone force. (and change the
fluff to "longer ranged" rather than "more accurate"). Particularly scarey
as there is a Company with 12 of them!
- Kroot Knarloc Raider - Same comments as previous apply.
- XV-88s - Good to see their accuracy reduced a bit, but they still have a
massive amount of firepower....gotta be at least 100 points each I think.
For the smart missiles, should the spotter have to give up their shot like
an indirect fire spotter?
- Vehicles all look ok, though still not a big fan of the Arty piece
- Barracuda - yeah, from experience 250 was too cheap. 300 is probably
still a little light, but a good enough starting point for test.
- Vectors - wouldn't mind seeing these gone largely as they would
introduce a weakness in the list, and they strongly go against the design
philosophy of the Tau. I think this would be ok now the Tau have more
numerous "fluff logical" big hitter options.
- Moray - looks pretty spot on....scary, but balanced.
- Manta - possibly still a twee cheap given the firepower (roughly
equivalent to 4 Quake Cannon, 1.5+ Gatling Blasters (better to hit), and
1.5 Vulcan Mega Bolters (longer range, worse to hit)) but probably close
to right.
- New Companies look good. Nice additional variety.


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Received on Fri May 25 2007 - 04:00:39 UTC