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[Jedibean]

So I was thinking about how lame our HQ special characters are.  I mean, mediocre at best equals lame as far as I'm concerned.  I got to thinking about commander farsight and what could make him not just better... but also more interesting.  Then I came up with an idea that seems so good.... and so obvious... that I'm wondering whether or not someone suggested it before.  In any case, I was going to post this in the "new codex" thread but I personally felt it was such a good idea that it deserved it's own thread.  Anyway....

So, we've all heard the phrase Commander Farsights "Seven Samurai" in reference to commander farsights bodyguard.  To me this brings up memories of movies such as "The Seven Samurai", or "The Magnificent Seven" for people who are familiar with the american version.  Each of the characters had their own personalities and abilities that made them the legendary heroes they became.  I think you're all beginning to get the idea here...

Commander Farsight is unique among the Tau for having such a massive bodyguard of powerful units.  It would be awesome to make him unique among the entire 40k universe by giving him a bodyguard entirely made up of special characters.  How awesome would that be?

Each one is a unique special character with his own rules.  You can take them in any combination but you obviously cant take more than 1.  Additionally, you can divide them up and take them as squad leaders of individual crisis suit squads.  But of course when you do this then you cant take them as commander farsights bodyguards.

I've got no idea of what their rules would be but I wanted to throw the idea out there and hopefully stir up some ideas and get the ball rolling.  Lemme know guys...

[Floobosaurus]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean. Do you mean each of his bodyguards become a special HQ unit? They're just Shas'vres iirc, so I'm not sure they each deserve a place of their own, over say, a Cmdr Brightsword or Shas'O Ry'mr

If you mean just giving Farsight's Shas'vres more character, then I think that's a good idea. Same with the idea of making them squad leaders. Each approach would mean totally different approaches though.

I'll just throw out some ideas on keeping them a single unit of 8:

Give them all vectored thrusters, including Farsight. 5th ed made the ninja'o what it is today, and Ninja Tau players deserve a special character to represent them. Since he's a special character, he's allowed to be OP'd. He can have the +1500 pt stipulation and stiffer list restrictions to keep non-Farsight Ninja lists viable.

^I think this could really work, with all the things the Space Marines got. Yes, this unit would become a substantial cc unit, but Farsight lists won't have any Kroot whatsoever (or they shouldn't in this incarnation, if they do right now). Farsight's buddies would still be more-or-less regular Shas'vres (iirc) anyway in terms of stats, so it wouldn't be gamebreaking, right?

[enderwiggin]

That's actually a pretty good idea Jedibean.

It kind of reminds me of the old doctrines rules where the one set of guys (was it Last Chancers or First and only?) that had seven doctrine choices or something.

How would the interactions work though? Would they defer their special rules to Farsight when joined to him or would they have a cumulative effect when all joined up (aka a Voltron'esque set of dyi kicking abilities)?

Splintered, we could have them giving additional special rules/abilities/orders to the squads joined to at the time.
House Ruling this... We can easily say that this is a Farsight Enclave, and you can use any of the 8 (Farsight included) to represent a force, or use all eight when the matter is large enough or even as an Apoc special datasheet to represent the power all eight would wield!

In fact, being cut off from the main Tau force, why not just say that the body guards have been "promoted"? Obviously the age and amount of constant conflict they've gone through is justification enough to say that, the rank can be given under the stipulation that it'll kick in (or already has if you like the "traitor" mindset) once they return to the greater Tau fold. Make them Shas' Els and we'll see some real "Seven samurai".

This bodes more thought. 

[crazyguy832]

He should allow us to take Crisis suits in any of the force organization slots.

 

Back to your point though, OP, I like the idea of having each bodyguard unique.

[Jedibean]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean. Do you mean each of his bodyguards become a special HQ unit? They're just Shas'vres iirc, so I'm not sure they each deserve a place of their own, over say, a Cmdr Brightsword or Shas'O Ry'mr

No no no... not HQ.   Just Upgrade Special Characters.  Like Sergeant Telion or Snikrot or any of those characters.  Not HQ's or independent characters.  Just special character choices.  I haven't come up with any ideas. I'll post something later.  I'm just running through the different ideas in my head and coming up with some reasonably cool stuff.  More tomorrow.

[Floobosaurus]

Something like this would be good to see in the next codex, even if the unique bodyguards ended up relatively mediocre.

[Seskahin]

Well, i like the Idea. Basicly i would handle it like this:

Give each one of the Commanders a special Story and Weapons, for example:

Nr1. fought against the Orks together with Farsight. He has a Energy Weapon (or a close Combat Weapon which counts like the Staffs of the Etherals) and a Shield (Shield Generator) because he is CC skilled.

Nr.2 fought espeassaly in the jungle, because of that he has twin linked flamers or something

You get what i mean? The Problems are the Pint costs. How about you take the new Space Wolves Codex and use the Sagas inside of there as a inspiration?

[Jedibean]

Yeah, since the past couple of days that I came up with the idea I've been trying to come up with some specifics.  I havent' made much progress.  I'm going to put some thought into it when I get home from work tonight.  I do like the idea of a guy armed with twinlinked heavy flamers.  Or maybe some of them could be using modified Ork Weaponry or something since the Orks have taken to using Modified Tau weapons.  Definitely gonna need to give this some serious thought.  It's too good of an idea just to let it die. 

The trick is to not make them too powerfull.  They're just upgrade characters not Full on HQ special characters.  It would be great if they came out with a unique model for each one.  But then again the idea is barely off the ground just yet. 

[Seskahin]

I'd like to help you if you want, it's a very cool Idea!

Yes, the problem with the "too powerfull" is a hard one, but it should be solveable

[Jedibean]

I'd like to help you if you want, it's a very cool Idea!

Yes, the problem with the "too powerfull" is a hard one, but it should be solveable

Most definitely.  Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.  That's actually kinda why I threw it up here.  I knew it was a good idea but I couldn't come up with anything specific as I've been using all of my creative momentum towards contributing (to little avail) to the "New Codex" thread. 

I should be home in a couple of hours so I'll help you when I've got a little more time.  In the mean time, I figured I'll plug my other post.  I just put up a thread about a new type of elite fire warrior unit.  lemme know what you think. 

[Nightmonkey]

  To me this brings up memories of movies such as "The Seven Samurai", or "The Magnificent Seven" for people who are familiar with the american version.  Each of the characters had their own personalities and abilities that made them the legendary heroes they became.  I think you're all beginning to get the idea here...

I love the idea. I get it. I don't think need new rules. Just different wargear and weapon layouts. Wouldn't always be optimal, but super fluffy. If you care enough to paint them well, then you can care enough to give them a story and make them interesting.

[Jedibean]

  To me this brings up memories of movies such as "The Seven Samurai", or "The Magnificent Seven" for people who are familiar with the american version.  Each of the characters had their own personalities and abilities that made them the legendary heroes they became.  I think you're all beginning to get the idea here...

I love the idea. I get it. I don't think need new rules. Just different wargear and weapon layouts. Wouldn't always be optimal, but super fluffy. If you care enough to paint them well, then you can care enough to give them a story and make them interesting.

I just think it would be something that would add a little more flavor to commander farsight.  He's a player favorite but really we end up limiting ourselves a lot to have him on the board.  I think Farsight should take on the role of the Space Wolves of the Tau empire.  While the Tau Empire under the Ethereals are completely selfless and sacrifice all for the greater good the Farsight Enclaves could be an army of Tau led by the strongest and most heroic of Tau warriors.  As such they should get a disproportionately large number of unique characters with their own specialties and rules. 

This would change the play style between a farsight army and a regular Tau army even more completely.  While a regular Tau empire army is more focused on synergy and force multiplication a Farsight army would be focused on the overall performance of a few heroic Tau warriors supported by their followers.  I think this could go a long way towards creating that. 

Just my 2 cents. 

[Seskahin]

So, i've thought about two characters and here is the result. i just gave them numbers because i had'nt found a name

Nr.1, "The Ethernal"
Short Fluff Idea: Very old for a fire warrior (but not as old as Farsight himself) and fought with Farsight since a long time. In this Time he survived kinda everything, thats why he's called "The Ethernal"

Equiptment, Special Rules and Point cost:
No speical Equiptment.
Has the Rule: Ethernal Warrior (i hope this is the name, i don't have an english rulebook. I mean the rule where he can't get killed instantly)
He costs the point of a Shas'vre + Equiptment + 35 (like the bear saga in the new Space Wolves Codex)

Nr. 2 "Farshights Champion"
Short Fluff Idea: Master of close combat, learned from Farsight himself and trains the firewarriors.

Equiptment, Special Rules and Point cost:
Equiptment: Power Weapon and a Shield (may take additional Equiptment)
Special Rules: Again, i don't have the english rulebook, only the german. I'd give him the Rule where he get's an additional Attack when he get's attacked and passes a moral test... I hope you know which i mean
Point Cost: Difficult... I'd say normal Shas'vre + Equiptment. Also he must Take a shield generator (as shield) and a Power Weapon (i think for other Armys its 15 Points here). Then additional 10 up to 20 points for the special rule.

Do you like it?

[Floobosaurus]

What do you guys think of giving the group vectored thrusters?

As I've been saying earlier, Farsight lists pretty much exist to showcase Farsight and his unit, so having HnR not only makes him flashier, but a bit more effective for a unit that probably has the biggest footprint in the Tau army list. Again, a small degree of OP is okay, since we can always give the overall Farsight list stiffer unit restrictions.

[PsyBomb]

making the Farsight Bodyguard a set of 7 special characters is a very interesting way to go about it, and would definitely be completely unique in the 40k universe. Unfortunately, such a unit would have to be incredibly expensive. Keep in mind that a regular 7-man bodyguard team with nothing but TL-Flamers and BSF in the third slot totals over 400 points when farsight is included.

What could be done is to make those particular configurations into upgrade characters only allowed to be taken in Farsight's bodyguard. Make them each either cheaper than normal and/or with some perk not normally available to suits and you're good to go.