My Own Experimental Tau Sawfish Rules

Here's some more new experimental rules I made for the Sawfish, a fast redeployment vehicle of the Tau. I 'borrowed' the idea from LordDirk from this thread on ATT and was inspired by Null's conversion here, again on ATT.

Sawfish: Lightly Armoured Troop Carrier                                                                           70 Points

The Sawfish has only been in use for a short number of years but has quickly gained a wide use across many Cadres and battlefields. Although it was originally developed as an alternate transport for small Pathfinder squads, as its small size, incredible speed and open design make it perfect for scout missions, many Fire Warrior squads have taken to using it in lieu of the larger and slower Devilfish. Due to its open troop compartment the troops inside can make rapid deployments and also fire during transit (although this is discouraged by instructors and more sensible Shas’ui).   

However this does make the Sawfish, especially its passengers, very susceptible to enemy fire as there is no external armour to protect them. The Fio Caste have noticed this and begun to add a number of counter measures; incorporated shield generators in place of gun drones; disruption pods; decoy launchers; complex A.I controlled evasive manoeuvres and magnetic harnesses (these were added after several incidents involving troops losing their hold and falling to their doom).  

As the Sawfish becomes more widely employed many deployment techniques have been specifically developed for it. One technique was first used during especially fast raids as the Sawfish deploys its troops by swooping low to the ground and letting the fearless warriors make a controlled leap to the ground. Several other methods are widely used from primitive fast ropes to small, disposable jetpacks.

My Own Experimental XV7 Mobisuit Rules

I have decided that my Tau army which I am in the process of developing will be my fluff army with lots of cool, pointless units and if my opponents let me a few units of my own. The first of these 'experimental' rules are the for my own battlesuit varient, the XV7 Mobisuits.

XV7 Series Mobisuits

As enemy armies begin to more heavily rely on fast tanks and transported troops, the Tau have had to adapt. The newest of the Fio Caste’s suit technology, the XV7 mobisuits, have been developed to face the quick-changing pace of modern battle. They meet these demands by incorporating advanced thrusters packs; lighter, iridium plate shielding; dynamic targeting and sensory equipment and the still powerful weapons of more traditional XV8 Crisis suits.

All of the current XV7 mobisuits are still in development stages but are predicted to soon be deployed in the most agile of combat zones.

Special Rules:

The XV7s have all the same rules as the XV8s and a few additional special rules described here:

-          Option – The XV7 Battlesuit is a free option to any Crisis suit which swaps their XV8 Crisis suit with an XV7 Mobisuit.

-          Advanced Thrusters – Due to their enhanced mobility and smaller size, VX7s are easier to manoeuvre in confined spaces. They may always reroll failed dangerous terrain tests and when making a run move they roll 3D6 and choose the highest result. They may also make their usual assault phase jetpack move after deepstriking.

-          Reduced Power Capacity – Due to the small size of the battlesuit their power capacity is limited and can only sustain a couple of systems. An XV7 may only ever have two weapon/support systems but can still use hard-wired systems. This may be a single twin-linked weapon, two separate weapons, a weapon and a support system or two support systems.

-          Transport – XV7s can only be transported by vehicles capable of transporting XV8s although they only take up the space of 3 Fire Warriors.

So what do you think?