As the 5th Edition OFCC tournament approaches and i prepare myself for it it is humorous on a couple of levels to me, because as part of trying to make a friendly list (which is sort of the point at OFCC, or at least ostensibly it is) I included this unit as one that never sees play...ever. I've literally never seen anyone usee them EXCEPT me.
Yet looking forward to 6th Edition I am kind of glad I own them. Let's take a look.
First off, they are STR 6. In 40K, STR is easily the most important stat in the game. Even terminators fail saves, given enough of them and so the more wounds you do, the more chances to kill them. Obviously, STR 6 weapons are in the sweet spot for negating Feel no Pain on many more "mundane" toughness models like most Dark Eldar. You're wounding on 2's against the vast majority and it means that even Monsters are getting wounded on 4's. In other words, it inhabits a very important and valuable niche.
Adding to that is the AP 3. It is a Marine killing gun platform for sure. There really isn't a trygon anywhere who wants to see these things as it pops up in front of the Tau gunline either. Even an Avatar would be less than enthused.
It is also a pinning Weapon. 2/3 of the Codex's do not feature primarily fearless units. Everyone likes to live to fight another day. So while it is poo poo'd by many, Pinning can and has won battles for people. Being stopped from making a charge at a critical time can be a death knell.
Add to this the ability of markerlights. 6 markerlight hits will allow all 9 guns to hit on 2's, wound on 2, no save. 12 Markerlight hits (unlikely, but factually true) will do the same thing, only removing your cover to boot. Point is, they can obliterate entire units of Marines. Very potent threat.
Now the new rules make them even heartier. You can no longer ALLOCATE KILL the Drone Controller which was a huge reason why people didn't take them. when the enemy would dare to try the Night Fight rules to see them, three wounds usually did in the entire squad.
But now Shrouded and Stealth make a Sniper Drone Team almost immortal. They are AS HARD TO KILL AS BROADSIDES WITH TWO SHIELD DRONES. And thats pretty darn tough! Shoruded and stealth give them 4+ cover saves in the open and 2+ when actually in cover. ridiculous. When defended by their doughty Fire Warrior Buddies, they are just a really impressive unit now in the Tau repertoire.
I don't know if people will look at them more favorably than using the slot for Broadsides but if you have the slot, I can think of many things that would be a ton worse to have than them. Its a very viable unit now. if the Three drone squad kills 5 marines, it got its points back. They should be able to do that every game with maarkerlight help.
