You seem to misunderstand Kot, every single fire warrior from Vior'la (and all of its successor worlds, BTW), one of the Tau core sept worlds, is superior to basic line infantry of the Empire. These are not some super elite special forces unit, they are line infantry who will not hesitate to fuck someone up close in. It is not a matter of physical differences here, it is purely training doctrine. Not even open to interpretation, straight up flat out how they are presented by GW.
You forgot
something in your post.
That’s it. I’m sick of all this “Space Marine supersoldier” bullshit that’s going on in 40k right now. Fire Warriors deserve much better than that. Much, much better than that.
I should know what I’m talking about. I myself commissioned a genuine Fire Warrior in Kel'shan for 2,400,000 Tau'ler (that’s about 1000 Thrones) and have been practicing with him for almost 2 years now. I can even slaughter an entire chapter worth of Terminators with the way of Fire Warrior. Fire Caste drill sergeants spend years training a single Fire Warrior and practice him up to a million times to create the finest soldiers known to the universe.
Fire Warriors are thrice as strong as Orks and thrice as adaptable as Tyranids for that matter too. Anything an Exarch can do, a Fire Warrior can do it better. I’m pretty sure a Fire Warrior could easily cut a Demon Prince Primarch into thousands pieces under in 10 seconds with the simplest of his gear: the knife.
Ever wonder why the. Imperium of Man never bothered conquering the Eastern Fringe? That’s right, they were too scared to fight the Greater Good and its Fire Warriors of destruction. Even in The Damocles Crusade, Imperial Guardsmen targeted the Fire Warriors with artillery barrage first because their combat power was feared and respected.
So what am I saying? Fire. Warriors are simply the best soldiers that the Galaxy has ever seen, and thus, require better stats. Here is the stat block I propose for Fire Warriors:
And They Shall Know No Fear
Points/model 8
WS 5 BS 10 S 4 T 4 W 1 I 4 L 9 SV 3+
Now that seems a lot more representative of the fighting power of Fire Warriors in real life, don’t you think? tl;dr = Fire warriors stronk, imperial piggu go home, Nids can't adapt as fast as us
But seriously, eh, not really. First of all, if we're saying that every single Fire Warrior from certain Tau Sept (which totally doesn't make them unique snowflakes amongst the other Tau) is superior to basic line infantry (what is even basic line infantry in Balkan states?) of the
IMPERIUM, then we could take an example of Imperial Guard regiment from any planet to see if they're better at melee than basic line infantry of Tau or even those Vior'la guys... so, let's embark on a magical adventure:
Catachans? They're fucking RAMBOS IN SPACE.
Tallarns? Swords are even a major part of their culture, they proably sleep with them tucked between their legs.
Death Korpsmen? TANKS SPOTTED, AFFIX BAYONEEEETS!
Armageddon Ork Hunters? Those guys literally go toff to teeth with Orks...
and win.
Kanak Skull Takers or
Brontian Longknives? God Emperor, they usually have more knives, axes and other melee weapons on themselves than charges in their Lasguns.
Tanith First-and-Only? Stealthy fucks that will shank you with their Straight Silvers before you can even notice.
Cadian Kasrkins? Tau should thank their Greater Good that Eye of Terror is on the other side of Galaxy so they never met.
Attilan Rough Riders or
Pyrans or
Death Korps Rough Riders,
Brimlocks or
Vitrians or
ANY ROUGH RIDERS? Getting a face full of explosive spear counts as melee.
Elysians? They kill people
like Mario does, by jumping on them.
Valhallans? Massed Soviet bayonet charges.
Vostroyans? Going to cut you up with expensive-as-fuck heirloom sabres.
Maccabians? HEADBUTTS.
Scintillians and
Mordians? THEY LIVE IN AGE OF 18TH CENTURY WARFARE, HALF OF THEIR TRAINING IS BAYONETS.
Mordants or
Savlars? THEY'RE RIPPED OUT OF MAD MAX.
Harakoni Warhawks? THEY'RE ELYSIANS BUT TWICE AS BIG AND ANGRY.
Finreht Higlanders or
Drookian Fenguard? CLAYMORES FOR FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Athonian Tunnel Rats or
Luggnum Sewer Rats? They would feel at home in Vietnam tunnels.
Praetorian Guard? THIN RED LINE.
And those aren't super elite special forces units, those are regular guardsmen from their respective regiments that are completly regular, it's just that Tau have one sept that is half-not-shit at melee while Imperium has thousands upon thousands of worlds where everyone could rip your head off with the spine still attached, using only a dull spoon.
Not even open to interpretation, straight up flat out how they are presented by GW.
Blueberry propaganda.