commander windstride

8/11/2019 Commander Windstride

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ShasO VashYaKoShaVai

Commander Windstride

Tau HQ Special CharacterShasO VashYa KoShaVai, or Commander Windstride as he is more commonly known, is one of the

most prominent commanders of the VashYa Sept. Characterised for his own blend ofruthless mobile

warfare, he is one to take advantage of the extensive companionship between the Air and Fire Caste of

VashYa. Commander Windstride himself is one to make use of revolutionary technologies and tactics to

achieve victory and even though he pushes them to the end, and in various occasions his same dedication

has played against him and turned into defeat, he receives the help of the VashYa Earth Caste who trust

him for the trials of new technologies.

Commander Windstride arose to prominence during the Battle of Merulia Prime. During the battle,

Swifstrikes Cadre managed to isolate and eliminate the 66th

Cadian regiment with an incredibly low rate

of losses. Windstrides use of mobile infantry and Apocalypse teams proved extremely effective,

engaging the Imperial forces on a continuous retreat, without allowing them time to establish defensive

positions and so decimated them. Windstrides Cadre continued the advance until they reached Darulis


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Hive, where their swift destruction of the Hive defences allowed for the Air Caste to conduct extremely

effective air strikes upon the hive and finally eliminate the remaining Imperial resistance.

Commander Windstrides latest assignment is the testing of a new variant of Battlesuit weaponry and

equipment. The XV92-8 he pilots is specialised for heavy urban combat and sacrifices the mobility of the

normal Hazard teams for upgraded firepower, additional armour and greatly improved processingpower, enabling it to coordinate fire from the whole cadre and across castes. Commander Windstride is

the head of the VashYa Coalition that is now fighting on Belkir. His forces there have received an

upgrade in available equipment, with experimental weapons readily available to them.

Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv

Windstride 245 4 5 5 5 4 3 4 10 2+

Shasvre 85 3 3 5 4 2 3 2 8 2+

Type:

Infantry

Unit Size:

1 Commander Windstride

Wargear:

XV92-8 AnnihilatorBattlesuit with:

o Twin-Linked Particle Accelerator Cannons

o Two Plasma Rifles

Coalition Support Interlink

Photon Casters (Defensive Grenades)

Jet Blast Projectors

Hard-Wired Drone Controller

o 2 Shield Drones

Hard-Wired Multi-Tracker

Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter

Stimulant Injectors

Options:

Commander Windstride may be accompanied by a Bodyguard Team composed of 1-2 XV88

Apocalypse Battlesuit Shasvre instead of the normal XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguards.

Character: Commander Windstride may exchange one or both of the Plasma Rifles for a Phased Ion Gun (+5

points), a Fusion Cascade (+10 points) or Pulse Submunition Rifle (+15 points).

Commander Windstride counts as the 1+ Commander required in a Tau army.


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Special Rules:

The XV92-8 carries an experimental stabilisation system that allows it to fire his heavy weapons

while on the move. The XV92-8 provides Commander Windstride the Relentless special rule.

Models equipped with Advanced Stabilization Systems may use them as if this model had them.

The XV92-8 Battlesuit grants the user a better sight, even at night. It grants the user the Acute

Senses special rule.

Commander Windstride and any unit he has joined may always attempt to regroup, regardless

of other modifiers.

Special Issue equipment can be taken multiple times on an army led by Commander Windstride

rather than just once.

Particle Accelerator Cannon

A recent development by the Earth Caste, the Particle Accelerator Cannon accelerates ionic particles to

ultrasonic speeds, bombing and piercing armour and flesh alike. Initial trials show it to be extremely

effective and even capable of piercing the armour of guela tanks.

Range Strength AP Type

Particle Accelerator Cannon 48 8 2 Heavy 2, Rending

Coalition Support Interlink

A further refinement of the Positional Relay, it allows its user to coordinate complete inter-caste

operations and strikes with incredible refinement as well as coordinating units awaiting deployment with

almost perfect timing.

The Coalition Support Link allows a single unit per turn in reserve to arrive on a roll of 2+ regardless of

other modifiers, the rest of units must roll as normal. Once per game, he may call in an Air Caste Strike

against an enemy unit within LOS during the shooting phase with one of the following profiles, the strikewill always deviate 2D6-3 unless a hit is rolled:

Range Strength AP Type

Seeker Barrage Unlimited 8 3 Heavy 4, 3 Blast, Barrage

Naval Strike Unlimited 10 1 Heavy 1, 5 Blast

Jet Blast Projectors

The Jet Blast Projectors are a series of auxiliary rockets in the armour that may only be fired for a very

short burst to slow the battlesuits descent. Alternatively they may be fired to create a fiery blast around

the battlesuit and burn down enemies nearby.

The Jet Blast Projectors allow Commander Windstride to deploy as per the Deep Strike rules. If he does

not do so, then he may choose to use the Jet Blast Projectors once per game to create a conflagration

around him. Place the 5 Blast template centred over Commander Windstride. All models under the

template except for Commander Windstride suffer a S4, AP5 hit.


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The Particle Accelerator Cannon System [Development]

Recently developed in the field from the requirement ofVashYaassault teams to carry a more

compact and lightweight anti-armour weapon. It combines the magnetic technology behind both

plasma and Ion weapons systems. With greater understanding in refining the Ion based weapons of

the Demiurg, the Particle Accelerator Cannon is one of the first XV8 mounted Ion weapon systems.

Whilst not requiring much of the support systems XV8's utilise, the energy usage of the dual Particle

Accelerator Cannons requires the XV8 to become a close infantry support platform, much like the

larger XV88. It could be considered a step back, yet the systems allow significant firepower to be

inserted into urban combat environments.

Being a lighter, smaller design, the weight saved was translated into more armour around the

weapons themselves. Heavy sheathing has been placed upon the outer barrels while the more

vulnerable capacitor blocks have been internalized, shielded by the weapon's own structure.

This has proven to boost the survival of the weapon system when under fire by light arms, much

higher survival rate than the current XV8 mounted rail systems. An issue addressed by the more

recent Rail-Rifle mountings. [Ref: XV8.22J Stealth Experiment]

Additionally, to allow a greater degree of modular system swapping required by our urban units,

targeting arrays are part of the weapon units. Hard-Wired Multi-Trackers are standard issue to the

weapon units as a result of the requiring using its weapon systems against multiple targets.

Overall, a superb replacement for the Rail system in use by most XV88s, allowing a lighter more

nimble urban XV8 access to firepower of similar effectiveness.

commander windstride

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