Hee hee hee!  

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

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But it sucked ass before.

I think the new version is fine, as previously the jet pack units were just too good.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Since the jetpack needs a special rule anyway, how much effort would it be to simply change jetpack to the eldar hit and run special rule, minus the full movement for consolidation?

Problem solved.

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

Crossfire is a nice bonus but it doesn't replace Engagements. Same with Co-ordinated Fire.

I keep hearing Tau are supposed to set up Crossfires....stuff happens...Tau win. That stuff (an extra Blast Marker and worse Armour Saves) doesn't win you games on it's own.

The Tau philosophy that says the army with the best small arms in the game never wants to get within small arms firefight range is missing a huge chunk when it can't Engage. Facing Tau is like facing a toothless Eldar, they have the mobility to dance around an army like Guard, and the SR to prepare some decent Engagements..but they aren't allowed to do them (i.e. it's suicide to do so), so the enemy just shrugs, laughs and keeps on fighting.

I think we've met a very strong impasse in that there are 2 or more opinions of what the 'core style' of a Tau army should be, and when the core 'theme/style/combat doctrine' is in dispute there's a long way to go.

For my part I can't get my head around the Tau being scared of firefights, it goes against every shred of fluff I've ever read on Tau. They are the kings of Firefights, the Fire Warrior is built and equipped for this job. He is supposed to be the core around which the rest of the Tau army concentrates.


Jet Pack- I prefer the current one to the old rule. I really don't like rules that break the agreed structure of the game, i.e. when it's my Activation, I get to Act. The old rule was so very lame, it was basically '15cm assault chargers don't bother'. The Tau player never had to think or plan their movement during their Activation to prevent assaults, as they had this special 'f*** you' rule to slap on the opponent when he's supposed to be doing something.
Rules that have the Jump Back taking place in the Tau players activation have my vote.

Some varient of hit and run might work, but there are other problems. Imagine a mixed formation with some jet pack units and some not, say a FW formation with added gun drones. How can hit and run be applied here? You'd end up with different units shooting in different parts of the activation, which isn't allowed.

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http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

I definately prefer the new Tau Jump Pack rule to the old one (I have playtested it).
I think the addition of a 10cm move after a March is warranted.

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Just call me Steve.

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I like the jump pack rule as it is. It lets me think about my movement, gives me a possible edge to get damage out and getting to safety afterwards, without being completely invulnerable.

The only thing that I dislike are teleporting or assaulting units from a air transport, since in that scenario the Jump Packs do me no good.

Of course.  I'm currently working on my own version of the Tau, based mainly off of V 5 and 5.1, for my own personal use and the way i've worded the rule is as follows:

Tau Jet Packs follow all the rules for Jump Packs. Additionally, units with Tau Jet Packs that take advance or double actions may choose to shoot either before or after each move. However, they may still only shoot once during the action. For example, a Tau jetpack formation taking an advance action could shoot and then move or move and then shoot, while a formation taking a double action could shoot and move twice, move twice and then shoot, or move then shoot and then move again.  Only formations that consist entirely of jetpack troops may benefit from this ability.

For my part I can't get my head around the Tau being scared of firefights, it goes against every shred of fluff I've ever read on Tau. They are the kings of Firefights, the Fire Warrior is built and equipped for this job. He is supposed to be the core around which the rest of the Tau army concentrates.

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

Please keep in mind that "we" the community are not afraid to put Tau in the engage side of things, it is a design directive, if you will, for the Tau. Whether you agree with the directive or not is kind of irrelevant at this point as it is akin to disliking the laws of physics.

Actually, Jeridian, it's not based on a group opinion at all!  

It's based on an "executive order" from Jervis *early* in development that Tau should be "different" from other armies instead of just being a combination of Eldar and Imperial Guard.

The "best" way to do this was thought to reduce their FF ability and balance that with increased "direct" shooting, and that's been a design goal for quite some time.

The truth is, you'd probably find a *lot* of people who think this idea is flawed and is what's hindering the development of the Tau (I'd be one of those people!).  That's why there are a few of us who have posted "alt-Tau" lists that do away with that limitation.

For me, the "perfect" Tau list would be insanely strong in Firefights... *AND* insanely strong in shooting... and be costed appropriately, but "The Word of Jervis" prevents such a thing.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?