Orca

Type: Super-Heavy Flyer, Orbital Lander

Structure Points: 3

Crew: 1 Air Caste, 2 Fire Caste operators

Weapons: The Orca is armed with twin-linked long-barrelled burst cannons and a missile pod.

Options: The Orca can take any of the following vehicle upgrades as described in the Tau Codex: Blacksun filter, Disruption pod, Decoy Launcher, Targeting array, up to 4 Seeker missiles.

Transport: The Orca may carry 24 Tau warriors*, up to 8 Gun Drones and 1 Ethereal, or it can also carry up to 24 Tau warriors or Gun Drones, or up to a maximum of 6 Crisis battlesuits (each battlesuit counts as 4 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 3 Broadside battlesuits (each battlesuit counts as 8 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 6 Heavy Gun Drones (each Heavy Gun Drone counts as 4 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 4 Drone sentry turrets (each Drone sentry turret counts as 6 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 2 Tetras (each Tetra counts as 12 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 6 Krootox (each Krootox counts as 4 Tau warriors), or up to a maximum of 12 Kroot Hounds (each Kroot Hound counts as 2 Tau warriors).

* Tau warrior includes Fire Warriors, Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, or Kroot.

Super Heavy Detachment: As a Super-heavy Flyer the Orca must be taken as a separate detachment. A detachment consists of 1-3 Orcas.

Access Points: 1. The Orca has a rear ramp.

Fire Points: 0

Special Rules

Rapid Deployment: Rather than land on a dangerous, fire-swept, drop zone, the Orca can drop its passengers from the rear ramp without halting, skimming low over the ground whilst the squads, drones and battlesuits disembark via jetpacks. Instead of halting (like an orbital lander), squads can disembark from the back of the Orca anywhere along its flight path. This is treated just like normal disembarking from a vehicle. Place the models within 2" of the rear ramp before moving the Orca on to the next drop point. Troops which disembark do nothing else until the start of their next turn. Alternatively, the Orca can land using the Orbital Lander rules.

Escape Pod: If the Orca is destroyed, nominate a point on the table and scatter the pod 2D6" as with the rules for Deep Strike. If the pod scatters so that it is off-table, it is counted as escaped safely; see below. If not, place a Tau model within 2" of it (counts as a Fire Warrior with no weapons). The crewman is counted as being below half strength and is worth 0 Victory Points on his own, but the Orca counts only as being damaged for Victory Points purposes whilst the crewman is still alive or if he escapes off the table.

Decoy Launchers: If an Orca is equipped with a decoy launcher then instead of re-rolling an immobilised glancing hit, you may re-roll an Engine Damaged glancing hit on the Super-heavy Flyers Damage tables. You may only re-roll the damage once, and the second result must stand.