Been quietly lurking in this thread for awhile... Kinda watching the back and forth over the possibilities upcoming for he greater good. Well, I couldn't keep quiet any longer and just had to post up something developed for a Dreadknight tau suit conversion I made a few years ago. The rules were developed by myself, some ATT input, and some help from some fellas over at Dakka Dakka. The link goes to the actual main post, but if you just wanna check out the rules we developed and see how "similar" some of them are to what is rumored... Could've been a GW rules developer lurking around when I did this

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17743


XV-12 SUPPRESSOR WARDRONE………………………………….175 Points
FOC: Heavy Support
WS2 BS3(4) S6 T6 W4 I2 A3 Ld10 Sv3+
Unit: 1x XV-12 Suppressor Wardrone
Unit Type: Monstrous Creature
Wargear: Targeting Array (BS bonus included above), Defensive Grenades
Special Rules: Acute Senses, Emergency Power

Emergency Power: since the Wardrones do not have a living pilot, they can use a somewhat dangerous Fusion Overload Generator to divert power to critical systems depending on the tactical situation. At the beginning of each Tau Player Turn, the controlling player may choose one of the following options, which will remain in effect until the beginning of the next Tau Player Turn:

* Emergency Power to Shields!: only available if the XV-12 has a Shield Generator; the model may not Run, Assault, or move in the Assault Phase, but improves its invulnerable save to 3+. If it fails any of these invulnerable saves, its Shield Generator ceases to function for the rest of the game.

* Activate Afterburners!: only available if the XV-12 has an XV Macro Jump-Pack; the model moves like a Jetbike instead of Jetpack Infantry, and must make a Turbo-boost move this turn (suffering from the normal consequences). It must make a Dangerous Terrain Test at the end of this move.

* Weapons Free!: the XV may not move, Run, assault, more move in the assault phase, but may fire all of its shooting weapons. All shooting weapons gain the Twinlinked and Gets Hot! qualities.

Options:
May take any of the following upgrades:
* Blacksun Filter (+3 pts)
* Multi-Tracker (+10 pts)
* Positional Relay (+15 pts)
* Shield Generator (+20 pts)
* Target Lock (+10 pts)
* Vectored Retro-thrusters (+25 pts)
* Iridium Armor (+10 pts)
* XV Macro jump-pack (+60 pts)

May take up to two of the following weapons (mounted on the arms):
* Short-barreled Railgun (+45 pts)
* Ion Cannon (+20 pts)
* Heavy Flamer (+15 pts)
* Twinlinked Burst Cannon (+5 pts)

May take up to two of the following (mounted on the shoulder):
* Smart Missile System (+15 pts)
* Heavy Missile Pods (+25 pts)
* Seeker Missile (+10 pts)

Wargear (any not mentioned follow the rules for Crisis Suit wargear in the Tau Codex):
- Iridium Armor: improves the XV-12's armor save to 2+, but also gives it the Slow and Purposeful USR
- Multi-Tracker: permits the XV-12 to fire one additional weapon in the shooting phase (for a total of 3)
- Shield Generator: grants the XV-12 a 5+ invulnerable save.
- Target Lock: allows the XV-12 to fire its shooting weapons at two target units; all shooting must be declared before any rolls to hit.
- XV-Macro Jump-pack: An XV-12 equipped with this moves in the same manner as Jetpack Infantry, although it retains all of the other properties of a Monstrous Creature, including the Move Through Cover USR. This model also gains the ability to Deepstrike.

Weapons:
- Short-Barreled Railgun: may be fired in one of the following modes:
--- Projectile: 60" S10 AP1 Heavy 1
--- Submunition: 60" S6 AP4 Heavy 1 Large Blast

- Heavy Missile Pod: 48" S7 AP4 Heavy 2 Twinlinked, Anti-Air

kanebbcksc,

the thread you have posted this in was about the upcoming Tau Release, I have split your reply into it's own thread, since you want to talk about your custom rules for an Tau-Dreadknight conversion / count-as Riptide, which does not belong into the release-discussion!

Further, I have to ask you to re-read the Primers, regarding Custom Units and Codices:



I will lock this thread until further review

Gue'el Che Gue'vesa

That looks like quite the design there kanebbcksc.

Unfortunately this post doesn't fall into our accepted criteria as Che has pointed out.

If you were to construct a model of your new uber-unit, playtest it, and present the findings in a detailed battle report then perhaps you would have more luck here on ATT.

In the meantime, there are plenty of 'other' sites out there which cater to this sort of creativity: http://apocalypse40k.com/ for example.

Kind regards,

modelglue