eyebuck wrote:
I wasn't really picking up what you guys were mentioning with FF and small arms, wouldn't it just use its 3autocannon or MW when in firefight? It's within 15, I might be forgetting a rule or two.
If you're within 15cm range (or end up there) and have chosen to double, march, hold or sustain - you shoot with your weapons as normal.
However if you pick 'Engage' and attempt Epic's equivalent of a GW close combat attack, your weapon stats no longer come into it - if you're in base to base you use the CC stat, if you're within 15cm you use the FF stat.
Some weapons, marked with 'small arms' can't be used in normal actions as they are either exceptionally short range (like meltas) or their limited ammo that means they've got just enough for a few shots in a 40K battle but can't spend a day trading fire (most basic guns).
Small arms weapons look like 15cm weapons, but can only be used in engagements and generally give other bonuses - +1 attack or turning their firefight value into Macro Weapon attacks.
So a hypothetical Ghostkeel with 3xAp5+ 30cm range and 1x(15cm) small arms, MW , +1 A, means at any range from 10cm (can't be inside a enemy zone of control) to 30cm he will shoot three times with his AP5+ gun. And that's it.
If he engages, and remains out of close combat following the enemy piling in but is still within 15cm he would get to roll two dice (1 for engage, and one for the +1A fusion gun), needing to beat his FF value of 5+. However as the fusion gun gives his small arm attacks MW, those hits would not allow normal saves and knock down reinforced armour - but only in Engagement actions (assaults)!
So those two guns may look even, but the big difference is that if the Ghostkeel shot an enemy unit - it's kills would add blast markers and suppress the unit, but if it Engaged and won it'd break the unit. In the 3rd sphere list, the idea was that Tau don't do these risky engagements to break the enemy, and rely on suppressing them and then harassing broken units to prevent them from rallying and maybe taking out a few unfortunates you can't get away - very Kauyon.
Vior'la embraces the Mont'ka method of more decisive strikes - they're still not Eldar or Orks and can't just run at an enemy and take them out, but they are better equipped at dealing a devastating blow to a battered formation via an engagement. Rather than merely continuing to fire and making the formation less than combat effective - they'll strike, call and engage action and try to go in for the kill.
Balancing these two aspects is the key, the Kauyon 3rd sphere force would be devastating with it's current guns and a decent ability to break formations under fire with engage actions - a massive firepower army that waits for you to come to it before beating you in assault is practically the definition of overpowered.
Mont'ka is much the same in the other way - it'd make the Tau a lot less cautious and stand-offish and more prone to racing hell for leather at the opponent to use their FF values to break them, then use Recon teams to mop up survivors rather than a primarily firepower based army with a penchant for surgical strikes when the time is right.
The epic Tau army has traded (small arms) it's basic guns - from pulse carbines to pulse rifles, in exchange for a real shooting attack. This has come at the cost of FF value, Tau aren't bad at Epic - but in Epic they are worse at 40K style engagements that you think they are based on their stats in 40K.
