Shas'O Kais
Shas'o Kais is the hero unit of the Tau campaign in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. Also, according to developer commentary, he is really the Kais, the lowly Shas'la protagonist of Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior, all grown up to Shas'o status. He is the textbook noblebright in a galaxy gone grimdark. One of the only commanders in the entire campaign willing to negotiate and talk common sense, Kais is nonetheless exceptionally manly for a Tau, and proves he can get shit done.
The fact that he's the most merciful commander in the setting does not stop him from getting a body count in the thousands. Though he's unique in that he's willing to use diplomacy first, he's just as hard-edged if that fails, and is more than willing to rely on Ambassador Plasma Rifle to come to a resolution afterwards. He's a hell of a lot less of a dick than Commander Or'es'Ka, though.
Service in the Dark Crusade
A Fire Caste commander who is an inspiration to his men, Shas'o Kais rose from the rank of Shas'la to his current command position, probably due partly to his individual heroism during the events of Fire Warrior. Along with Commanders Farsight and Shadowsun, he was one of the three top students of Commander Puretide, who led the Tau forces that took Kronus from the Imperium in the first place. In their training under Puretide, Farsight specialized in Mont'ka ("The killing blow") and Shadowsun in Kauyon ("The patient hunter"), while Kais took the rare specialty of the Monat ("the lone hero") combat philosophy; in both Dawn of War and Fire Warrior, his character represents this through his kinda ridiculous one-T'au-army status.
Farsight - Crisis of Faith revealed that while he, Farsight, and Shadownsun are bonded, Kais committed a deed that forever drove a wedge between the three. He was so ashamed with himself that he was actively avoiding his bond mates, going so far as to ask to be the first to be frozen as a plan to preserve Puretide's students.
Kais was sent to the war-torn world of Kronus in the hopes that he could mimic his teacher's great feats, now that the planet was being ravaged by six other goddamned fucking power groups. With a secondary duty of keeping the Ethereal Aun'el Shi'Ores safe, Kais's forces occupied the planetary capital of Or'es Tash'n and made ready to slowly take the planet back for the Tau Empire.
Kais did some major damage during the Dark Crusade, and was rather infamous for the damage his forces did to the Orks and Eldar during the war, and they engaged in some truly bitter fighting with Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander's men. Unfortunately, Kais's forces did not count on the aggressiveness of the Blood Ravens Space Marines under Davian Thule, and Aun'el Shi'Ores was assassinated. With the Tau spiritual leader dead, their war machine broke ranks when morale plummeted; Kais gathered together the survivors and got them out of the system, making him one of the four Three, (Eliphas still died, he just came back) commanders to survive the Dark Crusade.
He would, at some point fuck Ork shit up, and found the Sept of Fi'Rios, though its unknown if he did this before or after the Dark Crusade.
Combat Ability
Kais is akin to a Magikarp: when he starts out, he'll only have his piddling little burst cannon to fight with and can't even jump because you need a wargear for that, but give him a few upgrades and he'll be kicking ass and taking names in no time. His anti-infantry burst cannon can be replaced with an anti-vehicle fusion blaster and later an anti-everything plasma rifle. Between his upgradeable main-hand weapon, his secondary flamer and his shoulder-mounted missile pods, he can have up to three ranged weapons at once, making him unrivalled among the Dark Crusade commanders for sheer dakka power. Among his other upgrades are a helm that lets him detect infiltrated units, iridium armour that increases his health and reduces the damage he takes and a cloaking field that infiltrates him, making him one of only two commanders able to become invisible.
Tabletop(7E)
HQ: Shas’O Kais - 160 points
"Better destruction than bondage" "So says a Gue'la slave to a free Tau" A partial recording of a conversation between Captain Davian Thule & Shas'O Kais during the failed Kronus Reclamation as Kais attempted to negotiate Thule's surrender
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shas'O Kais | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 2+/5++ |
| MV4 Battle Drone | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 4+ |
- Unit Composition: Shas'O Kais
- Unit Type: Jet-Pack Infantry (Kais is an Independent Character)
- Wargear (Shas'O Kais): XV-2-04 Knight Stealth Suit, Multi-Tracker, Blacksun Filter, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Twin-Linked Missile Pod
- Gravitic Shield Generator (5++ Inv Save, May re-roll 1 Save per turn)
- Wargear (MV4 Battle Drone): Advanced Targeting Engram (+1 BS, already in profile), Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine, Wide-Area Communications Link (allows all Tau units in 12" to use Kais's Leadership)
- Signature System - XV-2-5'4 "Knight" Stealth Suit: Shas’O Kais’s personal Battlesuit has been with him ever since he first started out in the Crisis suit teams as a Shas’Ui, and he has used it to protect both his commanders and his subordinates, due to his habit of putting himself between his commanders and the enemies of the Greater Good it was chosen to mount an experimental reinforcement of the Iridium suit known as the “Knight” suit to help him protect Aun’El Shi’Ores during the reclamation of planet Kronus. This suit Grants +1 Toughness, +1 Wound, a Gravitic Shield Generator, and a 2+ Armour Save.
- Special Rules: Supporting Fire, Independent Character (Kais), Very Bulky (Kais), Stealth (Kais), Shrouded (Kais)
- Warlord Trait: For Many, One Sacrifice Shas'O Kais may use the Look Out Sir Special Rule, and Automatically succeeds on all Look Out Sir attempts to protect Non-Battlesuit Infantry, in addition Shas'O Kais may re-roll any Armour, Cover, or Invulnerable saves made due to the "Look Out Sir" rule.
- Options:
- Shas’O Kais may purchase up to 2 Drones for the following costs:
- - Gun Drones 12 Points/Drone
- - Marker Drones 12 Points/Drone
- - Shield Drones 12 Points/Drone
- - Missile Drones 12 Points/Drone
- - MV4 Battle Drones for 20 Points/Drone
- If Shas'O Kais is your Warlord you may purchase Aun'El Shi'Ores without taking up a HQ slot.
HQ: Aun'El Shi'Ores - 90 Points
Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aun'el Shi'Ores | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | --- |
- Unit Composition: Aun'el Shi'Ores
- Unit Type: Infantry (Aun'el Shi'Ores is an Independent Character)
- Wargear (Aun'El Shi'Ores): 2 Equalizers, Homing Beacon
- Special Rules: Communication Network, Failure Is Not An Option, Independent Character, Invocation Of The Elements, Rally To Me!, Stubborn
- Communication Network: So long as both Aun'el Shi'Ores and Shas'O Kais are on the battlefield, Aun'el Shi'Ores may use any MV4 Battle Drone as the origin point for his Failure Is Not An Option and Invocation Of The Elements special rules.
- Rally To Me!: So long as Shi'Ores is not part of a unit, any Tau units within 12" that are falling back automatically regroup, but must use their 3" consolidation to move as close to Shi'Ores as possible.
Tabletop (8E)
Shas'O Kais
HQ: Shas'O Kais - 140 Points; 14 PL
| Name | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shas'O Kais | 8" | 3+ | 2+ | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 2+ |
| MV4 Battle Drone | 8" | 5+ | 4+ | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4+ |
- Unit Composition: Shas'O Kais is a single model equipped with a Plasma Rifle, a Fusion Blaster and 2 Missile Pods. He is accompanied by 2 MV4 Battle Drones both of which are equipped with 2 pulse carbines and a Wide Range Comms Link
- Weapons
| Name | Range | Type | S | AP | D | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Blaster | 18" | Assault 1 | 8 | -4 | D6 | --- |
| Missile Pod | 36" | Assault 2 | 7 | -1 | D3 | --- |
| Plasma Rifle | 24" | Rapid Fire 1 | 6 | -3 | 1 | --- |
| Pulse Carbine | 18" | Assault 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | --- |
- Abilities
- For The Greater Good: Index - Xenos 2 (page 48)
- Monat: If there are no friendly <Sept> Infantry, or Battlesuit models within 6" of this model, he may re-roll all failed to hit rolls and saving throws.
- Gravitic Shield Generator: This Model has a 5+ Invulnerable save.
- Camouflage Field: Your opponent must subtract 1 from all hit rolls that target Shas'O Kais
- Manta Strike: Index - Xenos 2 (page 50)
- Drone Support: Index - Xenos 2 (page 53)
- Saviour Protocols: Index - Xenos 2 (page 53)
- Wide Range Comms Link: Any friendly <Sept> Infantry or Battlesuit units within 6" of a MV4 Battle Drone may re-roll 1D6 whenever they make a morale test.
Faction Keywords
- T'au Empire, Tau Sept
Keywords (Shas'O Kais)
- Battlesuit, Character, Commander, Jet-Pack, Fly, Shas'O Kais
Keywords (MV4 Battle Drones)
- Drones, Fly, MV4 Battle Drone
Gallery
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Shas'o Kais in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.
| Heroes of the Greater Good | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereals: | Aun'Shi - Aun'Va | |||||
| Fire Caste: | Commander Farsight - Commander Puretide Commander Shadowsun - El'Myamoto Longstrike | |||||
| Dawn of War: | Shas'O Or'es'Ka - Shas'O Kais | |||||