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The Stingray was created to be the equivalent of a Whirlwind, but without being a BP weapon. JimmyGrill was very emphatic that the Tau would not use BP weapons. Stingrays are built on the Devilfish APC chassis, not the Hammerhead tank chassis (hence their lighter armor).
The problem is that Stingrays scale better than Whirlwinds do... 4 Whirlwinds (4bp) hit everything under the templates, but since you're never really going to get more than 6 stands under one template (and if you get that many your opponent is way too bunched up!), it puts an upper limit on the effectiveness of the Whirlwind (though this issue is true of *ALL* BP weapons). 4 WW end up with a theoretical 12-stand effect fairly easily, and 4 Stingrays have an 8 ap/4 at effect, period. 1-3 WW will always get ~6 stands of effect, but while 3 Stingrays are slightly more effective than 3 WW are, 1-2 WW can get more targets (at lesser chance of effect) than 1-2 Stingrays.
I think the problem is that people are using the Stingray as a tank, not as a highly-mobile artillery vehicle. As much as I like the SMS, maybe that needs to go away to reduce the temptation to use Stingrays in close support of other vehicles?
The Swordfish was created as an example of the Tau VDR, so there has been a 'published mini' in a GW Chapter Approved (even though that mini was a conversion). Personally, I don't like the model or the idea of a "Tau Vanquisher", but it's certainly easier to convert in Epic than 40k.
The Moray is something I like better than the Scorpfish, but both ideas are mentioned briefly in GW fluff, not fanfic. I think the Scorpfish could use a bit of tweaking (it doesn't have to be a 'flying Superheavy tank', as I don't really see the Tau making use of such vehicles). During the design phase, one of the ideas that was kicked around was an 'Orca Gunship' like the AC130 Spectre. The problem with the AC130 is that it's horribly vulnerable to real AA capability, like a SAM (the airframe is tough enough to shrug off just about any modern AA gun, but an 88 would probably do it in), and is significantly slower than most combat air support (Even A10s outrun a loaded C130!). Right now, the Scorpfish is too much 'flying SHT', and not enough 'Orca Gunship' IMO.
The Human Aux commander isn't specifically mentioned in IA3 that I remember, but the Human Aux in that book only appeared in the 40k scenarios, where company-or-higher command teams don't show up anyway. I would argue that a Human Aux commander would be canon if someone had thought enough about the military organization to realize that Tau almost certainly would NOT directly order squad placement, but would instead rely on a 'local militia leader' to run 'his' forces. IMO, this omission comes from no-one at GW having real military experience.
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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"
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