Honda - IA3 pg 119.
A Manta was DEFINITELY used in an aggressive way to assault the defenders of the Hydro plant. It was also a day time battle (the Manta swooped in at dawn).

To quote the book:
"When dawn broke, the Tau mercilessly unleashed their biggest weapon"
"The Elysians had no answer to the Manta's firepower"

8 dice at 5+ does not reflect the Mantas true abilities at Fire Fight range (it should be better).

The Manta (there was only one) that withdrew from the Space Marine Land Speeders did kill 3 of them before retreating to avoid further damage. It didn't run away as soon as the Speeders turned up.

From the Tau codex (2001) pg60, Mantas were used to counter the Imperial Titans of Legio Thanataris.
"The timely Tau counter-attacks stalled the momentum of the Imperial advance and the front stabilised on the line of a broad river some twenty miles north of Gel'bryn."

The Tau are not afraid to put these things in the front lines. A non-fearless titan is easily dealt with by a competent player (far more easily than a Reaver or Gargant etc).

I believe there is enough fluff to support giving the Manta Fearless (not to mention game experience that supports a Fearless Manta).
It certainly should have a Markerlight.
It should be better in a FireFight than it presently is.

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Onyx is in agreement with me here on the fearless by the same reasoning.  While he is showing specific examples I am thinking also in general terms.

Think about piloting such a massive machine (picture if you will the battleship scene from the beginning of Brood War where the commanders are discussing the battle below while smoking their cigars).  You are detached, you are above it all.  Yes, you may need to "land" in order to drop troops but these moments are few.  You are in a massive machine, surrounded by deflector shields, armed with the best the Tau can devise (sans a markerlight apparently).  Do you feel fearless?  I'd have to say comparatively yes.

A player is not obligated to play his fearless unit up in his opponent's grill.  It just means that the Manta pilots would be having this kind of discussion:
Co-Pilot - "We better get out of here. We're taking a pounding and one more heavy barrage like the last one could cause a hull breach."
Pilot - "Not quite yet.  Let's see if we can get these weapons back online.  The Shas'O is aware of our situation and is working to eradicate the artillery on the hill."
Engineer - "Okay, weapons back on!" (rallies)
Pilot - "Here we go."

You see, a 'destroyed' unit in Epic does not always mean destroyed.  It can mean it's engine fell into disrepair, main gun irreparably jammed, crew severly injured, communications lost, and so on.  The damage capacity simply represents how much damage it can take before the unit stops functioning for whatever reason.

I don't think you need to worry about the Manta turning into a flying Warlord though.  The big difference is NOT the fearless ability but the fearless combined with thick rear armor.  

Crossfire, cargo in its hull, not wanting to lose the BTS; these are things that will make the Manta play to the rear all by themselves.  Much as a Phantom Titan would rarely play on the front lines for the same reasons.



Dobbsy, while the points might accurately reflect its value, the unit should really be fearless by most accounts. Fluff and balance are two sides of the same coin.

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A possible compromise path which I really liked was The Real Chris's idea of the basic Manta not being fearless, but you having the option of having your 0-1 Ethereal in there instead of a Fire Warrior unit if you chose (possibly the same with the supreme commander) - the W40k model does feature a Ethereal on a special chair and considering how rare and precious they are it does seem unreasonable that they might stay onboard there - or on the bridge - rather than deploying into a hot battlefield on the scale of an engagement in epic.

Obviously Ethereals are rare and not every Manta would have one so having it as an option fits. It's unit auto breaking if it dies wouldn't be effective in a Manta but you could perhaps add a different penalty for if the Ethereal upgraded Manta dies, with every friendly units within 15cm taking a blast marker (perhaps even two). That way there would be a downside to upgrading him safe in there too - it would make things more interesting in list building (more so again if it you had the option to upgrade a Manta with a supreme commander instead of a Crisis one instead) and tactics. If you took two in a 5k game (I'd be tempted to for the coolness of it considering I have a large enough Tau army) then one would be Fearless, one not.

This thread does showcase a range of very different opinions on the Manta.