XV25 Stealth Battlesuits Written by T0nkaTruckDriver, Edited by T0nkaTruckDriver Although described in fluff as "lone wolves" that conduct "flanking raids", in the hands of a skilled Commander Stealth Suits can be the Tau's MVPs. Their amazing potential combined with their low model count, poor Toughness and mediocre assault capablity means that your opponent will likely jump on any opportunity to put these guys down. Fortunately for us, their special rules make it a difficult task, as long as we keep our wits about us. Let's See... S5 Shots... Some More S5 Shots... and OH, More S5 Shots! Much of the lure of Stealths becomes apparent the first time you toss those 18 dice. Virtually no other unit in the game is capable of such a whithering hail of fire... and very few units in the game are capable of withstanding it either. Their only true drawback keeping them from claiming the title of "Ultimate Horde Killing Squad" is their poor BS... and that is all but remedied by a few well placed Markerlight hits. The ideal role of Stealths is as an Elite anti-light infantry unit, however they chew through medium and heavy infantry with equal abandon. Even light vehicles are within their grasp. Although Stealths are certainly capable of these things in a pinch, other units are generally much better suited to these tasks and wherever possible, Stealths should remain focused on what they do best... killing infantry. A handy side benefit of the huge volume of shots this unit produces is their ability to take advantage of the Torrent of Fire rule. By wounding every member of the target squad you can nominate a wound on the LasCannoneer or the Power Fist wielding Vet Sarge depending on the circumstance. This ability is incredibly useful and a full squad of Stealths can take advantage of it almost every round they fire. Playing the Steath Field The key with Stealths is twofold, learning who to engage and how to get maximum use out of their Stealth Field. Without this acquired skill, these guys will just become so much cannon fodder. The opponents you're looking to target are going to be slow moving assault teams (a tooled up command squad whose transport you popped), or stationary Heavy Weapon teams. Occaisionally, fast moving assault squads can be cautiously engaged, however this requires an even greater ability to gauge distance and the margin for error is much smaller. Never engage mobile shooty squads with Stealths. Terminators, Landspeeders, and other move-and-fire units (especially with multiple high Strength shots) should only be engaged if absolutely necessary, and then only with a reasonable chance of wiping out the target squad. The reason these slower targets are best is that Stealths derive almost all of their survivability from their Stealth Field. Ideally this means you jump into 17-18", unleash a devistating salvo of fire, and then retreat to 23-24" in the assault phase. By being more than 21" away, your opponent must roll an 8 or higher for their Night Fight spotting role in order to be able to shoot at you, something which they have only a 42% chance of being able to do. Most of the time these odds will be enough to deter your opponent from even targeting the Stealths... rather than risk wasting the shots he'll either just shoot elsewhere or decide to move instead. Even if he does shoot at you, he has a 58% chance of failing his spotting role, which over time means that all shooting directed against Stealths is reduced in effectiveness by 58%. However, mobile shooty squads can largely negate this benefit. Even if you're good at judging distances and can jump out to 23" with your assault move, a squad of Terminators can walk up to 17" and improve their chances of spotting you from 42% to 72%. The situation is worse when facing off against vehicles that can move 12" (Landspeeders) or squads mounted in transports. These enemies can zip up to within 11" giving them a 92% chance of being able to spot you. In short, if you want your Stealths to survive, choose your targets wisely. Only go after static shooty squads or squads tooled for assault. Get Your Fusion Here! Get 'em While They're Hot! Adding Fusion to one or two members of your Stealth Team both increases your chances of killing Heavy Infantry and allows you to take on Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures. While the low cost of this upgrade is seductive, we need to keep in mind the Burst Cannon shots we're giving up to bring the Fusion Blaster. Furthermore, adding Fusion to your Stealths decreases their survivability significantly. As mentioned above, Stealths derive most of their durability from keeping shooty enemies at range. By moving within 12" to use your Fusion Blaster(s), you open up the possibility of your target squad stepping up 6" and rapid-firing you. Not only will their chance of failing their spotting role be reduced to 8%, they'll get twice as many shots! Finally, Fusion equipped Stealths are inherently conflicted. The Fusion Blaster is designed to engage heavy vehicles or high Toughness and heavily armored infantry while the Burst Cannon excels at eliminating hordes. Adding Target Locks to the Burst Stealths and Target Arrays to the Fusion Stealths can eliminate this discrepency, however we need to consider the short range of all the guns involved. How often will their be a suitable Fusion target within 12" of your Stealths while a suitable infantry squad is within 18"? Vehicles are often shooty in nature and loiter in the backfield while infantry is often assaulty in nature and is pushing towards your lines. Adding Fusion to your Stealths makes them more versitile, but it simultaneously decreases their effectiveness at their primary role: killing light and medium infantry. Before mounting up those cool looking Fusion Blasters, ask yourself a few questions. Do I really need more Fusion shots? If so, are Stealths really the best place to get them? Admittedly, infiltrating Melta weapons can be fun in certain circumstances, but more often than not XV8's and Piranha are better options. Stealth Markerlight Team Bringing a small squad of Stealths equipped with Drone Crontrollers and a compliment of Marker Drones allows you to field a large(ish) number of Stealth shielded Markerlights in an Elite slot. Equipping a Teamleader with a Markerlight of his own and a Target Array allows you to field a squad like this: 3 XV25 Stealth Suits   (240)   - [Teamleader, Markerlight, Target Array, Bonding]   - [DC + 2 Marker Drones]   - [DC + 2 Marker Drones] The value of a Stealth shielded Markerlight team with an Assault Phase move cannot be understated. Careful deployment can easily ensure they'll survive through 6 turns lending Markerlights to crucial firefights the entire time. The obvious downsides to this unit are the cost and the Elite slot. You also need to be especially wary of AP4 fast moving shooting (Landspeeders) which can largely negate your Stealth field with their speed and will chew through your 4+ majority save. However if you've got a spare Elite slot and are having trouble protecting Pathfinders, consider the Stealth Markerlight Team. So, How About Those Support Systems? The ability to mount a Battlesuit Support System allows us to give some variety to our Stealths. Let's take a look at our options: Gun Drones: Adding a Drone Controller and 1-2 Gun Drones to each suit can substantially boost the firepower of a Stealth Squad while adding the ability to pin and a lot of extra wounds. Unfortunately it also significantly adds to the unit's footprint making it harder to hide behind terrain, more vulnerable to ordinance, and generally easier to assault. Gun Drones also reduce the majority save to 4+ making the unit vulnerable to AP4 weaponry. If you're going to bring a Stealth Squad with a veritable cloud of Gun Drones, be sure to bond the unit as well. Marker Drones: Discussed above as a fundamentally different use for Stealths. Best used in a small(er) squad on account of their high cost. Shield Drones: One or two of these isn't a bad use of spare points in order to protect your valuable Shas'ui. Target Array: Although BS4 Stealths are truly nasty, their point efficiency doesn't go up any by adding this upgrade. Their extra killy-ness is exacly offset by their additional cost. However if you fancy adding some Fusion Blasters to the squad, the high priority (and big payoff) associated with Fusion shots makes Target Arrays on these suits worthwhile. However as a squad-wide upgrade, the only real effect these have is to give your opponent more incentive to go after your Stealths and more VP's if he's successful. Target Lock: Again, only really a good upgrade if you're planning to buy Fusion for your Stealths. Blacksun Filter: The short range of Stealth weaponry makes this upgrade largely unnecessary. Shield Generator: There's not much mobile AP3 weaponry that can threaten Stealths. This upgrade is largely superfluous unless you're facing off against large numbers of Vespid. Multitracker: Only useful on a Teamleader with a Markerlight, and even then the huge range disparity between the two weapons means you'll rarely have occaision to fire both weapons at the same target. In general, unless you're fielding a specialized Stealth Markerlight Team, the best all-around loadout for Stealths is still just 6 Stealths for 180 points. Loading up on upgrades doesn't make them any better at fulfilling their primary role of tearing through light infantry, so keep 'em light and keep 'em cheap and they'll perform just as well as they always have. Squad Size With the exception of Stealth Markerlight Teams, larger is generally better where Stealths are concerned. Even a full 6-strong team has a relatively small footprint and can easily use terrain to its advantage. The larger squad sizes also give you a greater chance of wounding every member of your target squad thereby allowing you to nominate a wound on a specific model. They're also one of the best units in the list for taking advantage of Markerlight hits. The downside to 6-strong Stealth Teams is that they become a target. Indirect Ordinance, Landspeeders, Assault Squads, etc are all good at killing Stealths and can easily earn their points cost by doing so. A smaller 4-strong squad will rank significantly lower on your opponent's "to kill" list and will therefore require less micro-management in order to keep them alive and contributing and also gives up fewer VP's if they do succumb. Specialized Deployment Options Stealths can deploy using either the Infiltrate or Deep Strike special rules if allowed. As a general matter, Infiltrating is the better option as it allows your Stealths to be in position and contributing to the battle from turn 1. It also allows you to delay placing them until your opponent has deployed his entire army without the danger and randomness of Deep Striking. Infiltrating them also allows you to place them in the best position to counter the units they're well suited to engaging while simultaneously keeping them far away from units that might be a threat. Furthermore, deploying your army evenly across the table and then infiltrating several large Stealth units on one side can heavily weight that flank in your favor. Having this flexibility built into one of our heaviest hitting units is a significant advantage.