CPF Tau (Custodian) Suggestion

[horizon]

The cost of the Merchant Cruiser is inconsistent. In the main list, it is 105 points, but in the CPF list it is 95 points.... Which is correct?

95 Points. Page 31 of the FAQ2010.

[CyberShadow]

The cost of the Merchant Cruiser is inconsistent. In the main list, it is 105 points, but in the CPF list it is 95 points.... Which is correct?

95 Points. Page 31 of the FAQ2010.

Oh boy. So, two lists and the FAQ to keep track of. 

95 points makes it more balanced against the Emissary. I assume that the +2 damage/+15 points upgrade still applies, which makes it 6 hits against the Emissarys 4 for the same points cost...... A much tougher choice.

[horizon]

Yes, upgrades still available.

The lowering was much needed since the Armada fleet tended to be only explorers and heroes.

[CyberShadow]

The lowering was much needed since the Armada fleet tended to be only explorers and heroes.

I agree that the points cost lowering was needed, but really to bring the Merchant in line with the Emissary.

Before the adjustment, a Dal'Yth Merchant has 6 battery and 2 lances to the front, while the Sa'Cea Emissary has an extra 5cm move, double the turn capacity, with the same weapon strength to the front and then adds strength 3 torpedoes. All this for 5 points. Now, the stats are still the same, but for the same cost you can make the Merchant damage 6, and that makes it a lot more difficult to choose, which is good.

By contrast, I consider the Merchant and Emissary as Light Cruisers, and will pair them up. Doing this, I think that they are in line with the 'regular' Cruisers by stats and points cost.

[horizon]

Yes, that was a nice side effect. But when developing FAQ2010 the main input was the ECF fleet selection.

Haven't seen a reply (is your email still valid?): I have an Aquan here with which I could part.

[CyberShadow]

Thanks. I did reply.... I am not sure why you didnt get it. I think that I will pass on the Aquan, as the shipping would be a nightmare and I am looking around for other potential ships to mix in.

[CyberShadow]

So, both the Resistance Trident Battleship and the Yamato Battleship finally came in, and they are very different.

The Trident is big! It comes in several parts, all resin, with a ton of flash and gates, and will be a real project to clean up and assemble. But the fore and aft sections can be added to either end of the superstructure, and so there are several options to put this thing together, and it looks very impressive. Did I mention that its big? I think that it will be around 15cm when assembled fully.

[CyberShadow]

The Yamato Battleship is a more manageable size. It will be around 11cm when assembled, and comes on three blue plastic frames.

I dont have any official BFG ships here with me, but I seem to remember Imperial Cruisers being around 8cm-9cm.

I think that I will treat the Trident as the Custodian (it should really be an Explorer, but I dont have any my current fleet and I am not a fan of the design, so its likely that a Custodian will be the largest ship in my fleet) and I will use the Yamato as a Protector or Emissary. This will also allow me to pick up a few more from the range in different designs, as they are not very expensive and the detail is 'good', not being quite up to regular BFG standard, but being pretty good for game purposes.

[horizon]

Yeah, the large grey one certainly would fit the Explorer role.

Didn't expect to have them so much flash. But Forgeworld also had more flash then other resin manufacturers (Mangozac had very few flash, Wintermans also only a little bit).

The yamato is cool.

[CyberShadow]

Yeah, I am NOT looking forward to assembling that Trident..... It feels like I need to sculpt the ship out of a block of resin! I expect a bit of cleaning up, especially with a resin model, but that is crazy. Its a big ship, too. Not just at 15cm, but in width too, where other ships are thinner, so it feels massive. But it does have that hammerhead front end which is iconic Tau.

Looking again at the Yamato ship, the detail is actually quite good. I think that making a full fleet from this line is certainly realistic and possible, and they are about the right size. The base is different though, so I will need to rectify that. Still, very happy that both ships I picked up can be used, and now I have more minis than I need for my initial 1000 point fleet, so I have a few ships for the next expansion phase too.