The machine spirits take care of all of it you stupid heretek.

The Pulse rifle doesn't convert a whole full sized rifle slug into plasma. It fires a "particle, which reacts by breaking down to create a plasma pulse as it leaves the barrel"*, so it's not as insane as you were lead to believe. The Kroot rifle is a regular rifle that fires a "charged pulse round". I assume that it has a contact detonator for a very small plasma shaped charge.


* == pg 29 of the Tau Empire codex

If Pulse rifles had any of the usual characteristics of plasma weapons, namely an AP of 2 or the Gets Hot! rule, I'd be fine with the Siphon fucking them over. But they don't. This change to the siphon just means that one of the weakest armies in the edition has an even harder time stopping a death star from walking into its midst.

Well, you might note that the Crisis Suits can carry plasma that isn't AP 2 or prone to Gets Hot! But it is very specifically noted that it is A: Plasma and B: exempt from the usual governing rules of plasma because of how the Tau designed them.

And another reason to not play 40K---rules that are not clearly spelled out.....

Warmachine/hordes is 10 times better in that regard.

I've heard that alot (Warmachine vs Warhammer) but Warmachine has yet to replicate the moment when my Skaven Pack Master and his giant rats totally routed and then decimated a unit of wood elf blade dancers that cost 10 times the points. Of course, the dice were pretty instrumental there but still

It balances out my 40k game where some punks 80 points of Gaunts destroyed my terminator close combat squad. Sometimes the dice just decide they want a specific thing to happen and you can't avoid it

Running 20 steam powered zombies being reainimated by a necrosurgeon while advancing in the face of a Cygnarian gun line, meanwhile your death ripper scoots past enabling you to arc a spell into the opposing caster winning the game to me is way more fun. Bad dice happen, boldy obfuscating you opponent so he doesn't know what attack vector your goinng to use to me is more priceless.

I've seen dice do some weird probabilities in my life of gaming (25+ AND GOING STRONG!). Worst was 5 flack hits on Axis and allies(original version) when germany attacked my 3 defending infantry vs 5 fighters and a tank in Moscow. That was epic!

I was reading through a few pages of the Warhammer book, the part that explains the movement phase. To paraphrase a line from Beetlejuice: that thing reads like stereo instructions. I can certainly see how it could lead to almost constant bickering.