Warhammer Tau & Sniper Drone Teams

Warhammer Tau's Web Famous Paint Scheme

Warhammer Tau is probably my all time favorite Tau blog, and I was really happy to see that it's writer came back to it recently - though by the time I had found out about it, I had several pages of back articles to catch up on. Even when he's not talking about the Tau, he's generally on about something I want to know, and I can't recommend you check him out enough - he's undoubtably one of the motivating factors that made me take up my own blog here. This guy is smart without being so bold to lead you on with any guess work that's too far sighted, so when he takes the time to say things like this, I listen. It's not a rumor, or anything like that, but it's worth your time. 

Sniper Drones and an Ethereal were among the
very first models of the initial Finecast launch.
We've yet to see anymore Tau models go resin.

His brief comment on the Tau Sniper Drone Team is interesting, I had never taken the time to think that a unit from the existing Tau line-up, limited as it is, might just get cut entirely. While I'm not convinced it will, especially with just having been redone in Finecast, the amount of work the little guys need, to be turned into a viable unit is staggering. Frankly, the three Rail-Rifle shots and Markerlight shot will have no noticeable impact on the average game. So how do we fix a unit like that without losing it's feel? I can't say how GW will tackle the situation in the end, but I feel you could salvage the unit with some creative USR implementation. Imagine if the Spotter didn't have a Markerlight anymore, at least not a traditional one. What if his successfully landed shot enabled the Sniper Drones to attack individual units within an existing squad? Don't like the way that Tactical Marine with the Rocket Launcher has been eyeing your Devilfish? Problem solved. Or perhaps a more limited example of a similar rule might just allow them to target Independent Characters, I mean heck, that's just the norm in close combat. This is probably one of the examples that's easiest to pick out that illustrates just how inefficient some of our existing units can be, and how a quick fixer upper might really help turn a unit like that around.

And for those interested, the second half of the Rumor Breakdown is currently being composed. I just wanted to take a time out to drop something worth your time. Take care folks, and thanks for reading!