[Nox]

Tau Crisis and Broadside units are much smaller than units from other races and can end up going from 2 or 3 suits to 1 quickly, on top of this with a Ld of x and then a penalty for being below 50% if the unit was 3 suits you can pretty much guaranty that our suits will run. The same is true with shield drones, for example if I field a Broadside with a Shield Drone and the shield drone dies I have to make Last Man Standing checks for the rest of the game and that means that my 88 will run sooner or later. Topping all of this off is the fact that half the armies I fight are fearless or have know no fear and never run making the situation even worse.

Am I seeing things correctly or have I missed something? What do the rest of you think?

[spoot]

the solution I see is to give every small squad a bonding knife, which allows them to re-roll failed moral checks.

as for fearless or know no fear, just get some ionheads or vespid to back up your suits (that's what i did).

other than that, I'm not sure.

[Commander_Vimes]

I rarely have problem with last man standing tests. My broadsides are generally at full or nearly full strength, or have been completely wiped out. My crisis suits are either HQ, Mon'at, or in squads of two. My two suit Deathrain unit survives by avoiding fire. Generally if they take casualties, it is enough to kill them outright.

I've made more last man standing tests for kroot and fire warriors than I have for suits.

Tau may take more Last man standing tests than most, but it is hardly crippling.

[Elliott]

I'm with Nox on this one. It's a very annoying problem that, because of the size of my cadre (~1000 pts), I run into all of the time. My Broadside just walks off on turn four. I understand the idea behind Last Man Standing tests, but... this is absurd. If I bring 30 points less wargear, it isn't a problem, which is completely counterintuitive.

And he's right - that lone Marine just hangs around!

[waters]

I never thought about that before. To tell you the truth though, when it comes to xv's I usually either keep full units the whole time or the squad gets whipped out in one go.

@GIR, bonding knives don't allow you to re-roll failed morale tests. They allow you to regroup after the squad is below half strength. You'll still be taking all on your own tests.

[Nox]

It just doesn't make sense to me that Tau are actually penalized for taking things like shield drones on a single suit (or suits for that matter). I had an 88 with a shield drone that lost the drone in the first round and ran away in the second due to last man standing. Why would a soldier care if a machine designed to take the bullet for him buys the farm?

Some of the marine players have actually told me not to use the Last Man Standing rule on my suits when playing them!

[DELPHEUS]

I thought bonding knifes let a squad regroup no matter what?

[Nox]

Bonding Knives just let you continue to make checks after falling below 50% unit strength. Normally you just run after falling below 50% str.

[waters]

Yes, what Nox said. The bonding knife is like our version of ATSKNF, only you don't regroup automatically, you still need to roll for it.

Nox, I don't know what to tell you. I don't like it much either. It doesn't make sense at all. Neither do units with jet packs getting stuck in combat. I mean if I were in a stinking crisis suit and someone charged me, I'd just jump up and shoot down at them. The game is full of pot holes, you just have to find a way to deal with them. Maybe stop taking the drone all together, or take two drones, or take another broadside. I agree with you that the rules don't make sense according to the fluff, but I guess its just there to keep the game uniform for all armies.

[Nox]

Originally Posted by Waters

I mean if I were in a stinking crisis suit and someone charged me, I'd just jump up and shoot down at them.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD G...huh?!?! Get down here and fight like a ... like a man without a jet pack!" ;D