[moomeyer]

How good is an Ethereal with a full squad of fire warrior veterans? Is it worth it to give him those bodygaurds?

[Boneguard]

Well it really depends on what you are aiming at, but I would say yes it's useful.

The ethereal alone, despite it's IC status is a bid iffy because if he dies, he's gone and so are your Fire Warriors if they fail their leadership roll.

With honour guards he lose the IC status, but you get to field up to 12 extra fire warriors with a better BS (Useful if your 6 troop slots are full), who are now fearless, and you extend the lifespan of the Ethereal, since you got more wounds to spread around.

[DELPHEUS]

Could one of the honor guard take a drone controller and a shield drone?

[Kiznti]

Originally Posted by Va'Ukos

Could one of the honor guard take a drone controller and a shield drone?

Yes. The honor guard is fielded exactly like a normal FW squad, with all of the same options and stuff (plus veteran upgrades).

Really, this question could have been answered by looking in the codex. It's laid out there, in rather more detail than we can give you online. :

[PiCov]

Originally Posted by Va'Ukos

Could one of the honor guard take a drone controller and a shield drone?

Yes, that is possible. [Edit: Hmm, Kiznti beat me.....] An honour guard can be composed in the same way as a normal firewarrior team (having a shas'ui who can select things from the Infantry Wargear List). The difference is that instead of a troop choice, it is included in the HQ-chart of the ethereal and one is able to upgrade their BS.

And for the next time, beside of doing a closer inspection of the codex, you also want to look at: http://forums.tauonline.org/index.php?topic=20800.0 Tau FAQ (4th Edition)

Hmm, this reminds me of a question: it is possible to equip a firewarrior team with photon grenades, but an ethereal can not have this option. What happens if one assaults a squad of firewarriors with photon grenades which is joined by an ethereal?

Back to the main question: it really depends on the role you give to the ethereal, as already pointed out by Boneguard. I can imagine that you would find the honour guard a cheap way of increasing the BS of a whole firewarrior team without the need to resort to the (perhaps more economic) use of marker lights. And if you are reasonable sure about successfully resolving a Morale Check of your Tau units, then you could use the Ethereal + Honour guard in a more aggressive way.

If you use your ethereal in the back of your army, just for the line of sight, then the honour guards are a way of absorbing enemy unit (they are guards of the ethereal after all). However, for this purpose you could as well let the ethereal join a normal firewarrior team or (even better) make use of the Independent character rules and do not use the honour guard at all.

[DELPHEUS]

When you're sitting in class, it's a bit hard to flick through one's codex, ay?

But yes, now I see that that's so.

[knightperson]

If you're short on points you can always use a regular fire-warrior squad and attach your ethereal to that, but I like the honor guard. A regular FW will hit half the time at 10 points, making 20 points per hit. A veteran will hit 2/3 of the time at 12 points, making 18 points per hit. (Granted, you don't have as many wounds for your points with the veterans). Also, the honor guard is one of very few ways to get a BS4 markerlight.

I use markerlights heavily, and the ethereal honor guard is the one half in my "one-and-a-half pathfinder offense". Give the Shas'Ui a markerlight, and add 2 to 4 marker drones, depending on the point limit of the army. I've never been challenged on this, but both the Shas'Ui and the Ethereal can take two marker drones, right?

[CmdrBonesaw]

Originally Posted by knightperson

Also, the honor guard is one of very few ways to get a BS4 markerlight.

I use markerlights heavily, and the ethereal honor guard is the one half in my "one-and-a-half pathfinder offense". Give the Shas'Ui a markerlight, and add 2 to 4 marker drones, depending on the point limit of the army. I've never been challenged on this, but both the Shas'Ui and the Ethereal can take two marker drones, right?

Actually, the only way to have BS3 MLs are Pathfinders and regular FW Teamleaders with ML. Sniper Drones and Skyrays all have BS4, as well as the Tetra (with Upgrade).

Cheers,
-Bone

[PorMalchior]

I just mentioned this in another post but I really like the honorguard. I take the ethereal for them not them for the ethereal. The upgraded BS makes all the difference for me. I love the 3+ marker hits from a Shas'ui with target lock. I have only once had a tau unit break because of the death of an Aun. I have had plenty of saved leadership tests because of the guy.

[DELPHEUS]

What if you had the ethereal in fire warrior armor? I mean, who said an Ethereal can't wear body armor?