Drone Clarification

[Charlo]

Can I allocate more wounds to Drone units than it has number of drones?

 

E.g. if my opponent wounds my commander four times and he has 2 shield drones nearby, do I do it all individually until the drones die, or do I allocate up to two wounds to the drones (on a 2+) and the rest go on the commander?

[Panzer]

Since attacks get rolled one by one normally it's not possible. Fast dice rolling is just a short cut and shouldn't violate the base rules.

[Charlo]

Okay but to clarify... Does I use drones until they fail, or could I only roll for saviour protocols twice because there are only two drones?

[The Yncarne]

You roll one wound at a time on the targeted unit and allocate to the drones if you roll the 2+ until the drones are gone. 

[Charlo]

So my unit of two drones could, for example, tank ten Lascannons if I kept rolling a 2+ and then made the 5+ FNP?

[The Yncarne]

Yes.

[Charlo]

Oh wow. Okay then my assessment of them were way off. So much stronger than initially thought.

 

Thanks guys.

[The Yncarne]

Yes, that’s why non-Tau players weren’t happy with the FAQ. Note the process around attacks that don’t actually require a wound roll. I think the FAQ makes things very clear.

[ValourousHeart]

The FAQ seems to miss one situation.  The one where the weapon causes additional Mortal Wounds if "the weapon causes any damage" like with the Dark Angels Dark Talon and the Imperial Knight Valiant.

 

By the wording of the rule you would have to fail a save first in order for the MW clause to take affect.  However all of the examples in the FAQ seem to indicate that the MW are already applied at the point where the roll is made to activate savior protocols.

 

Previously it worked like this:

 

• The Valiant's Harpoon would hit and wound the commander (10 damage on a failed save)
• 2+ to pass that to a drone
• Drone takes 1 MW
• If a shield drone, 5+ FNP
• Against non-shield drones or shield drones that fails the FNP, the "any damage" clause kicks in and an additional d3 MW are applied to the Commander.
• Commander can then pass each of those MWs off to Drones on 2+

Is that still how it works?

 

EDIT - Or would the MW apply directly to the Drone unit, similar to how the Tremor Shells would affect the Drones?

[The Yncarne]

As I read it regardless of whether it is a shield drone or not, the additional mortal wounds don’t get applied to anybody. The drone takes a mortal wound and the attack sequence ends.

 

Page 90, 97, 98, 99, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 116 – Saviour Protocols

Change this ability to read:

‘When resolving an attack made against a <Sept> Infantry or <Sept> Battlesuit unit whilst that unit

is within 3" of a friendly <Sept> Drones unit, if the wound roll is successful, you can roll one D6; on a 2+ that Drones unit suffers 1 mortal wound and the attack sequence ends.’

 

Edit:!if the savior protocols roll fails, the commander takes damage as if there were no drones nearby (e.g. the damage sequence happens as normal)

[Panzer]

If a weapon causes mortal wounds as result of the damage roll there's no problem at all. Either the Drone turns the wound into a Mortal wound via Saviour Protocol, then there is no damage roll at all, or the Saviour Protocol fails and you proceed as normal.