News:

For the most up to date reports about what is going on with the forum, and the latest topics of interest, throw us a like on Facebook, and if you're wanting some light banter with the seasoned and spiced members, join the Second Sphere Members Group.

Main Menu

The Bap'li Incursion (create a character entry)

Started by Mabbz, September 30, 2013, 09:33:32 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Mabbz

This was my entry to the create a character contest, as well as the character I was going to use for one of the currently dead RPs. Now you can tear it to pieces.



Shas'O Kor'vesa Vishai, better known as Commander Dronestorm, is a young commander only recently finished with his Shas'El training. His first command role and the defining moment in his career occurred back when he was still a Shas'Vre, on a small world called Bap'li, near the Perdus Rift.

The Shas'Vre was the leader of a Crisis battlesuit team in a cadre assigned as a garrison for a small mining outpost on Bap'li. An unexpected warp storm engulfed the world, and the colony was attacked by Kroot that had been twisted by exposure to the warp. A Kroot Warsphere smashed into the largest settlement, and the Kroot forces began slaughtering the unsuspecting Tau. As what remained of the cadre retreated in disarray, the Shas'O was slain. When the remnants of the Tau regrouped at a mine far from the Kroot, they discovered that only a tenth of them still lived, and that Vishai  was the highest ranking officer present.

They were vastly outnumbered and the Kroot were advancing, but they had two advantages; the mine provided near unlimited raw materials, and it came equipped with a drone fabrication unit designed for building and repairing mining drones. On Vishai's orders, the unit was repurposed to construct gun drones and even some new drones they devised to react to their situation, such as the command relay drone, which allowed them to control their drone forces from the safety of the mine.

Vishai's drones fought a guerrilla battle against the Kroot for two weeks, slowing their advance and luring them off course. The Kroot didn't make it to the mine as the warp storms cleared and reinforcements arrived to rescue the beleaguered Tau. The Shas'vre was given the name Dronestorm for his efforts, and upon his eventual promotion to Shas'O he was given command of various experimental drone forces for field testing.

   WsBsSTWIALdSv
Commander Dronestorm
4
5
5 4 4 3 4 10 3+   150pts

A Detachment that includes Commander Dronestorm in it may include one Drone
Squadron as an HQ Choice. This unit does not take up a Force Organization Slot. His
detachment may also take Drone Squadrons as troops choices.
     
Unit Composition: 1 (unique)      
Unit Type: Jet Pack Infantry (Character)      
Equipment:

  • Crisis Battlesuit
  • Flamer
  • Cyclic ion blaster
  • Gravity wave projector
Signature System:

  • Drone Command Hub
Special Rules:
  • Experimental forces
  • Shadow of Bap'li

Drone Command Hub: Dronestorm has an advanced battle computer designed to help him control a larger number of drone with greater precision than a standard Commander.  Dronestorm may take four drones instead of the usual two.  In addition, if Dronestorm doesn't shoot in the shooting phase he may nominate a single unit within 12". All drones in that unit may re-roll To Hit rolls until the end of the shooting phase.

Experimental forces: Drone Squadrons taken as troops choices count as scoring units. All other drones count as denial units.

Shadow of Bap'li: Past experience has given Commander Dronestorm a very good reason to dislike Kroot. He treats all Kroot units as desperate allies




This is actually part of a book I was writing. I was planning to do a full book on the "Bap'li Incursion" in the style of the Imperial Armour books (I only have the Taros campaign, so I was basing it on that), complete with rules for using entirely drone forces with a bunch of new units as well as chaos kroot. I don't think I'll ever finish the book, but I might post a load more units here, or in a separate thread.

QuoteHmm, I wonder why they don't just have the option to take a Grav Drone then? Seems like the thing a Drone commander would take.
I thought about it, but I wanted the commander to have some kind of special wargear aside from the DC hub. Also it frees up space for more drones of other kinds.

Narric

Personally speaking, I'd want to see a model representing this character. Sounds like he would look awesome ^_^

Sadly, not having the new Tau Codex I can't really say much about his rules and equipment.

Charistoph

Just a few notes.  It appears that you either do not have access to the new codex...
Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 09:33:32 AM
Bodyguard:
  • May take either a normal crisis bodyguard team or a drone squadron

There are no Bodyguard units any more.  Certain units like the Bodyguard Team, are slotless and become unlocked when certain qualifications are met.  In the case of having a Commander, the Bodyguard Team becomes available for use.  The Commander does not have to join this team, however.

I would then just add as a note under his name that a Detachment that includes Command Dronestorm in it may include one Drone Squadron as an HQ Choice.  This unit does not take up a Force Organization Slot.

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 09:33:32 AM
Drone Command Hub: Dronestorm has an advanced battle computer designed to help him control a larger number of drone with greater precision than a standard drone controller. The Drone Command Hub acts as a normal drone controller, except he may take four drones instead of the usual two.

In addition, if Dronestorm doesn't shoot in the shooting phase he may nominate a single unit within 12". All drones in that unit may re-roll To Hit rolls until the end of the shooting phase
Drone Controllers are not required in order for a unit to have Drones now.  They are added just like members of a squad in the Army List entry.  Instead, if a Drone Controller is present, the Drones may use the owner's BS instead of their own.

So, as an alternative write-up:
Drone Command Hub: Dronestorm has an advanced battle computer designed to help him control a larger number of drone with greater precision than a standard Commanderr.  Dronestorm may take four drones instead of the usual two.  In addition, if Dronestorm doesn't shoot in the shooting phase he may nominate a single unit within 12". All drones in that unit may re-roll To Hit rolls until the end of the shooting phase.

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 09:33:32 AM
Experimental forces: An army containing Commander Dronestorm may take drone squadrons as troops choices. It is highly recommended that the various drone units in the Imperial Armour books are used in armies led by Dronestorm.

Okay.  Just so you know, Drone Squadrons don't Score and cannot Deny any more.  Also, any notes about FOC movement are no longer in special rules, just a note under the Army List entry.  Now, if this rule allowed Troop Drone Squadrons to be Scoring and Deny....

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 09:33:32 AM
Shadow of Bap'li: Past experience has given Commander Dronestorm a very good reason to dislike Kroot. He treats all Kroot units as desperate allies

Good balance to having Gun Drones as Troops.  It doesn't exclude a unit from your army, you just don't want this Commander anywhere near them.  This also doesn't seem to affect the rest of his army, I should point out.
Are you a Wolf, a Sheep, or a Hound?

Quote from: Megavolt-They called me crazy.  They called me insane!  THEY CALLED ME LOONEY!! and boy, were they right."

Mabbz

See, this is what I get for writing a character without owning an up-to-date version of the rulebook. I'll make all the changes you suggested, including making drone squadrons scoring. I didn't know that they explicitly weren't  :P

As for the Shadow of Bap'li rule, currently it only affects Dronestorm himself, as I didn't want kroot to be a too much of a hindrance. I also considered making it affect all pure drone units as well to represent Dronestorm giving them standing orders to observe their kroot "allies".

Charistoph

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 05:30:15 PM
See, this is what I get for writing a character without owning an up-to-date version of the rulebook. I'll make all the changes you suggested, including making drone squadrons scoring. I didn't know that they explicitly weren't  :P
I wasn't sure, either way, so I tried to couch them as suggestions and let you decide from there.

And now that I think of it for the Drone Command Hub, the Drones would be part of an upgrade list, so having that part in there won't be needed.  Just have it do the rest of the rule, and you should be good.  But note that re-rolling hits will only be useful for the Markerlight and Sniper Drones.  The Gun Drones are already Twin-Linked so will re-roll failed To-Hits already.  If this is planned, then well and good.  Maybe Drone Squadrons can use his Ld if they are within 12"?

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 05:30:15 PMAs for the Shadow of Bap'li rule, currently it only affects Dronestorm himself, as I didn't want kroot to be a too much of a hindrance. I also considered making it affect all pure drone units as well to represent Dronestorm giving them standing orders to observe their kroot "allies".
At least it was deliberate.  I wasn't totally sure you were planning on just him or not.
Are you a Wolf, a Sheep, or a Hound?

Quote from: Megavolt-They called me crazy.  They called me insane!  THEY CALLED ME LOONEY!! and boy, were they right."

The Man They Call Jayne

"In addition, if Dronestorm doesn't shoot in the shooting phase he may nominate a single unit within 12". All drones in that unit may re-roll To Hit rolls until the end of the shooting phase"

Other than Marker drone Squadrons, the only drones you can take in a squadron that actually fire anything are Gun Drones, and they are already twinlinked, making that particular part of his ability kind of redundant. Unless it was Markerdrone Squadrons you had in mind.
Jaynes Awesome Card Counter: +5

Secondspheres Crash Card Counter +4



Mabbz

Quote from: Charistoph on September 30, 2013, 08:21:50 PM
Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 05:30:15 PM
See, this is what I get for writing a character without owning an up-to-date version of the rulebook. I'll make all the changes you suggested, including making drone squadrons scoring. I didn't know that they explicitly weren't  :P
I wasn't sure, either way, so I tried to couch them as suggestions and let you decide from there.

And now that I think of it for the Drone Command Hub, the Drones would be part of an upgrade list, so having that part in there won't be needed.  Just have it do the rest of the rule, and you should be good.  But note that re-rolling hits will only be useful for the Markerlight and Sniper Drones.  The Gun Drones are already Twin-Linked so will re-roll failed To-Hits already.  If this is planned, then well and good.  Maybe Drone Squadrons can use his Ld if they are within 12"?
Hmm, good point... Ld might be a better choice. Or perhaps +1 Bs for a single unit within 12"?

Quote
Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2013, 05:30:15 PMAs for the Shadow of Bap'li rule, currently it only affects Dronestorm himself, as I didn't want kroot to be a too much of a hindrance. I also considered making it affect all pure drone units as well to represent Dronestorm giving them standing orders to observe their kroot "allies".
At least it was deliberate.  I wasn't totally sure you were planning on just him or not.
My problem is I want to get the right balance between making kroot a potential hindrance while not making them an outright bad choice. I'm worried that if I leave it as just affecting Dronestorm then it won't ever come up in game, making the rule kinda pointless.

Charistoph

#7
So for a little 6th Edition rewrite he would look like this:

Commander Dronestorm                                                                       150 pts
   WSBSSTWIALdSv  Unit Type  Unit Composition
Commander Dronestorm
4
5
5 4 4 3 4 10 3+   Infantry (Jet Pack, Character)    1 (Unique)

A Detachment that includes Commander Dronestorm in it may include one Drone Squadron as an HQ Choice.
This unit does not take up a Force Organization Slot. His detachment may also take Drone Squadrons as Troops
or Fast Attack choices.


Wargear:

  • Crisis Battlesuit
  • Flamer
  • Cyclic ion blaster
  • Gravity wave projector
Special Rules:
  • Experimental forces
  • Shadow of Bap'li
Signature System:

  • Drone Command Hub
Options:
  • May take up to four Drones from the Drones List.

Drone Command Hub: Dronestorm has an advanced battle computer designed to help him control a larger number of drones with greater precision than a standard Commander.  If Dronestorm doesn't shoot in the Shooting Phase, all Drone Squadrons within 12" gain +1 to their BS, and may use Commander Dronestorm's Ld.

Experimental forces: Drone Squadrons taken as Troops choices count as Scoring units. All other drones count as Denial units.

Shadow of Bap'li: Past experience has given Commander Dronestorm a very good reason to dislike Kroot. He treats all Kroot units as desperate allies
Are you a Wolf, a Sheep, or a Hound?

Quote from: Megavolt-They called me crazy.  They called me insane!  THEY CALLED ME LOONEY!! and boy, were they right."

Mabbz

That looks significantly nicer, cheers!

I'm hopefully going to post some of the other unit ideas I came up with here soon too.