[MYcrimsonTEARS]

if a HQ unit takes gun drones does he loose his independent character statice? i have looked though the codex and the core rule book and i cant find any reason they would count as retinues.

i had a guy that looked 35 and still lived with his mother accuse me of trying to bend the rules in my favor, saying that the drone on my shas'el made him loose the independent character statice and would not allow him to be attached to the crisis suit team he happened to be deployed with.note that the crisis suits where a separate team and not bodyguards.

[Sanctum]

Yes they do make him lose his IC status. I don't have the book on me right now but I belive it is in the Wargear section.

[MYcrimsonTEARS]

i looked there, and it never says that he looses it or that they count as retinues. i dont see why they would as every leader in any squad can take drones.

[AuinMyrrath]

It's in the army list entry for the Shas'O/Shas'El - it states specifically that if he takes gun drones, he and the drones form a unit... 'nuff said, I should think. About squad leaders, it's irrelivant - you can't loose IC status if you never had it...

[MYcrimsonTEARS]

true but it also says that he mey still join another unit which does not mean they are a retinue. the big argument is that newer published books override the older works, seance the 4th end. book came out after the tau codex the core rule book should override it making him loose the IC statice, but it never says that there a retinue... no reading between the lines.

[DireStrike]

Actually I think codex rules take precedence unless it's specifically stated otherwise, like the issue with drones and mixed armor/majority toughness stated in the FAQ.

I don't think it's stated anywhere which books take precedence, except that it's obvious in the case of two codices for the same army. I could be wrong but I don't remember anyone on record about how codices and new rulebooks interact.

Still, I think it's intended that he loses his IC status. If it's important enough to state it in the codex, it probably represents the designers considering it significant enough... just because it's not specifically designated as a retinue seems kind of meaningless to me. Would you ever call robotic flying gun platforms, controlled by the character, a retinue? It seems more like equipment to me, but equipment that changes the unit enough so that, for balance terms, the designers wanted it to remove IC status.

[AuinMyrrath]

Actually I think codex rules take precedence unless it's specifically stated otherwise, like the issue with drones and mixed armor/majority toughness stated in the FAQ.

Wrong, the newer version of the Big Black Book (well, this version is black at least) takes presidence. The thing about "no reading in between the lines" is irrelivant - it says a character with Drones may still join a unit as an Independant Character, it does NOT say that he is still an independant character... and as I've already said, if you read the entry it states that the character and drones form a unit - no questions asked.

[junkmonkey]

Not to be too argumentative, but are the drones in this case not considered wargear? I don't remember wargear removing IC status. Could be wrong though :

[Vash113]

Originally Posted by junkmonkey

Not to be too argumentative, but are the drones in this case not considered wargear? I don't remember wargear removing IC status. Could be wrong though :

They are war gear but it specificly states in the entry that if the commander buys gun drones he forms a squad with them. The use of the word squad is indesputable. This means he is no longer an IC and can now unprotected, the only differance is that he can still join another squad.

Auin'Myrrath is completely correct in this.

[Calaban]

I can answer that in a very solid way (solid in that the Codex spells this very thing out):

Originally Posted by Tau Codex, Pg 18, "Controlled Drones"

Drones must maintain coherency with the unit that their controller is in. [glow=red,2,300]If he is an Independant Character then the drones and the character form a unit [/glow] but the character may still join another unit.

^-^ there ya go! doesnt get any more solid and in black and white print than that! sorry!

Not to be too argumentative, but are the drones in this case not considered wargear? I don't remember wargear removing IC status. Could be wrong though

.. and loosing wargear doesnt trigger morale checks either.. but.. DRONES do!