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I know that somewhere there are the experimental fan-made rules for a Kroot fleet list and I want to air my thoughts on this out.
In this fan list, all of the ships which the Kroot make use of are some variation of the Kroot "Spheres" be they the classic Warspheres that would represent a community of Kroot or a smaller sphere to represent a smaller band of Kroot. I think that while the Kroot would make use of whatever they made for themselves (thus validating the possibility of a wide range of sphere class craft) I think that the Kroot would make use of other vessels as well.
The main reason for this is that the Sphere type ships, being relatively ponderous in movement but rock hard in defense, fits with a concentrated population of Kroot that serves the Tau empire and it's allies. What they fail to portray, in my thoughts at least, is a representation of the wide ranging mercenary Kroot armies which are sent out from Tau space to bring new genetic material and strains back to the Kroot race. Now in the Kroot 40k army list, they make heavy use of equipment given to them by former/present employers so why not give them non-spherical ships as well? I don't imagine that they would be flying about in military grade Imperial escorts or cruisers, but they would make use of things which were
1: Relatively easy to operate and maintain/repair since they will likely be headed back for Pech at some point. (Likely not Imperial ships since they don't know how half their stuff works anyhow- so how would they explain it to the Kroot?)
2: Well adapted to their strengths in personal combat, thus requiring fast craft which perhaps have specialized systems for boarding or planetary landings. This speed would also allow them to escape most enemies should they be confronted with overwhelming force.
--To meet these speed requirements I would say that only escorts and light cruisers could fit this Non-Kroot base design theme
I think that in the case of a planetary assault scenario all Kroot escort type ships may also serve as transports for the purposes of landing troops onto the planet- or perhaps require x % of the squadron to be present for a landing. They could also represent Convoy ships. Some good examples of what kind of ships the Kroot may employ:
Tobari Raider ships from Warprift 11- perhaps replace the special disruptor weapon rule with a standard 30cm lance since if the Tobari gave these as payment, it is unlikely that they would give their fancy and unique gear to mere mercs.
Chaos Escorts- this in particular could work since the Idolator is theorized to have been based on tech acquired from an alien race such as the Kroot or Fra'al. It doesn't even have to be the Chaos ships themselves, just the stat profiles while you model whatever design you'd like for them.
Other Escorts: Another idea is we could make a few general and variable escort and light cruiser designs and then give them characteristics of whoever gifted them to them- in effect similar to marks of chaos
---Payment from the Tobari- the ship benefits from advanced tobari teleporter technology. The ship may make a teleport attack against any enemy ship within 10 cm- if the Kroot chooses they may opt for victory points (similar to slave taking) to represent their raiding of enemy supplies and the consuming of new genetic material.
---Dark Employers like your style- The vessel has been modified by a rogue Dark Eldar group. You may either add 5 cm to it's speed and make come to new heading orders at +1 LD (if applied to an escort the whole squadron benefits) or have an assault boat bay added. For escorts add 1 per ship up to 3 escorts, for light cruisers add 2 to the dorsal assembly.
---Imperial Profits- Wishing to pay you and have you gone before Inquisitorial censure finds them wanting, the leadership of this planetary system has offered to reinforce your ships. Despite the large and flamboyant words used to describe it, they are basically welding extra armor that had been meant for the prow of some ship onto yours. Increase the prow armor of the capital ship or escort squadron to 6+
---Assault Goodies- whoever your most recent employer was, they were generous enough to pay you with high grade small arms from their army. Your H&R attacks now have a benefit of +1 and the Kroot ship may multiply it's boarding value by 1.5, rounding up (total an escort squadron's numbers THEN multiply it as such).... funny how easy it is to storm an airlock when a warrior with a meltagun is leading the way....
---Shields up!- A former employer upgraded this ship or squadron with enhanced shields. +1 shields to each escort squadron or individual light cruiser to which this applies.
---They may not be good eating, but they pay well...- Having worked for a chaos lord recently, you have been allowed to have any 3 chaos escorts in a squadron together as the most recent products off of an excommunicated forgeworld. They do not need chaos ships to represent them "No, no, no, more krooty!". You must pay an additional 15 points each time this option is taken (or just add 5 pts to the cost of each ship)
Well those are my basic thoughts. Very rough and unrefined but there they are. I think perhaps later I will refine it more and put some limits on what kind of ships can be present in what fleets- only raiding fleets may have the option of non-kroot ships- while battlefleets always incorporate some types of sphere craft.
Opinions welcome! Especially if you have worked on or have an opinion of the other Kroot fleet rules being developed!
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