Farsight was the more
infrequently-chosen of the pair, thanks to the sharp restrictions he
was burdened with; you could only use him in games of over 1500
points, and he hamstrung your ability to bring a variety of useful
units, and also Vespid. Those restrictions are thankfully done away
with, though it does raise the question of where the isolated
Farsight Enclave is getting its four-fingered hands on XV104s and ion
rifles. As a commander, Farsight is pretty well built, with a solid
statline, including WS5 and I5, a good Warlord Trait (no scatter when
his unit deep strikes), and the option to bring his 7-strong
bodyguard team. The combination of a perfect deep strike, six
bodyguards with plasma/fusion and target locks and one in support
could be absolutely devastating, no matter whose backfield you're
dropping into. Of course, at a minimum of 684 points (Farsight, 7 x
Bodyguards with 7 x PR/FB/TL, MSS, CCN, PENchip), it had better be.
Strangely, Farsight seems to have left
a slot on his commander-variant battlesuit empty, as he takes to the
field with just the Dawn Blade (AP2 Armourbane), plasma rifle and
shield generator. Where's your VRT, O'Shovah, or your Stims, or a
second plasma rifle? Or more to the point, why is the single best
challenge character in a book that otherwise has nothing to throw at
close combat monsters not wearing Iridum armour standard? It seems
like an oversight to me, and more it seems like something that could
be justified on the table-top just as well as in the fluff. Farsight
leads from the front, preferring a bold, close-in style of combat;
why wouldn't the spearhead fighter wear the best armour? He's going
to be taking the most firepower right in the chest, after all.
Shadowsun, in contrast, is a veritable
tank on two relatively tiny legs. A 3+ save, plus a 5+ invulnerable save, plus
Stealth and Shrouded, and if she brings a couple of MV52 shield
drones along not only does her unit's average toughness rise to T4,
but she has a couple of 3+ invulnerable saves she can pass
particularly worrisome wounds off to. She also has Infiltrate, and a
perfect Look Out, Sir! when she's in a squad with other stealth
suits, and her Command-link drone allows a nearby unit to re-roll
its To Hit rolls of 1. Oh, and she's a BS5 model with two fusion
blasters that can target two different models. And her unit gets
3D6" for its Thrust move, thanks to her Warlord trait.
While Farsight is clearly designed to
be the burning heart of the Farsight Bomb, it feels like Shadowsun is
meant to babysit the Riptide. If she only brings the Command-link
drone the three-strong unit has three different T values, meaning it
sticks with the superior T6, plus the Riptide is more mobile, and
it's got a constant 4+ cover save against shooting. Having Shadowsun
along basically provides a slightly inferior version of two different
Nova charge results at once, without having to risk rolling for the
reactor in the first place. And since she's LD10, you could even
bring a couple of shielded missile drones along without having to
worry that the loss of one of them will send the Riptide scampering.
Curiously, though, despite being the Tau character most closely
associated with drones, Shadowsun does not herself come with a drone
controller.
Shadowsun and Farsight can technically
be fielded in the same army together, giving the Farsight Bomb
Stealth and Shrouded and adding the ability to deal with yet more
units. You know, just in case you weren't already reducing any
clustered target to a smoking crater. If you do this, however, be prepared for
anyone even passingly familiar with Tau fluff to roll their eyes at
you as hard as is humanly possible. It will be the least you
deserve.
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