Greetings Gentlereaders,Since everyone's throwing out rumors for Tau I thought I'd throw out an idea of my own. This is my creation; this is not a rumor. One of the trends I've seen with sixth edition is the increasing emphasis on the back story being represented in the rules. I've got no idea what, if any, codex-wide special rules will be present in the new codex, but here's one I would enjoy seeing for its representation of the philosophy of Tau'va. I'm not sure how balanced it would be and I'd love your opinions on this idea. Rules text an what not hidden after the break.
Rule: For the Greater Good!
The Tau Empire's castes are divided into ranks, with members showing deference to their superiors in all matters. Warriors of the empire show such devotion to their cause that they willingly sacrifice their lives to protect their superiors. The following ranks are represented in this codex, in order from highest to lowest:
Aun, O, El, Vre, Ui, El, Vesa
If a tau unit loses a close combat and fails their morale test, you may immediately elect to do the following rather than resolving the combat normally. Rather than testing for Sweeping Advance, roll a d6 and nominate a number of models equal to the d6 roll beginning with models of the lowest rank. If there are multiple models of equally low rank, nominate models randomly until there are no more models of that rank that have not been nominated or a number of models equal to the d6 roll have been nominated. If the d6 roll is greater than the number or models of the lowest rank, continue nominating in the same way with models of the next lowest rank until the total number of models nominated equals the d6 roll. If the d6 roll equals or exceeds the number of models in the unit all models in that unit are nominated. Remove all nominated models from the game with no saves of any type allowed. Any remaining models immediately fall back 2d6, as if the unit(s) that could have performed a Sweeping Advance against them had failed to do so successfully. Any units in that combat that are no longer engaged in close combat may consolidate normally.
I hope you enjoy this rule that will not be, and here's hoping to a high-quality tau codex in the near future. what do you think of it?
Heretic
The rule looks good. The only thing I'd have to say is I'd rather see rules come about which interact with other parts of the game. We already have a rule in every space marine codex (totaling 6) which already have rules for sweeping advance trickery. I'd rather Tau get new rules that focus on other aspects of the game.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see that too. If you could come up with one I'd love to hear it.
DeleteI'd just say that the controlling player can choose to remove 1d6 models (high or low rank) just to avoid bogging down the game with multiple random assignments.
ReplyDeleteI would call it "Its too late for them"
Further... this rule would include the possibility to shoot at units locked in combat... Either allowing this after a successful ld test... or a 1d6 test against differential ld... so that units with high ld can more easily shoot at units with low ld ('O vs a unit of FW with no leader, 1d6 vs. 10 - 7 = 3)... while units with equal ld would not be able to do so (1d6 vs 7-7 = 0).
Just riffing here...
You're right that the random allocation is time consuming, though unless the Tau get access to squad special weapons it won't come into play for most units. I specified lowest rank to allow drones to serve the sacrificial role for which I believe most of them were designed.
DeleteShooting into CC would be an interesting ability. It could be that the Tau would roll to hit and any misses would be allocated to any friendly models in the combat a la the Betrayer. Not a bad idea, I especially like your inclusion of differential leadership.