If it's one thing it's not, it's fine...
The steam tank has horrible rules is too good versus certain armies and next to useless against others.
It's far to easy to reduce to a scrap since it suffers extremely from suffering just a single wound or two.
Then again, isn't that an inherent problem throughout this fragile system of WHFB?
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Using the last 4 army books as a gauge of what direction GW developers are heading, we can notice a trend.
1. Monsters are becoming cheaper
2. Some Monsters can be run in multiples (this might get revised in 8th because of the rumored % system)
3. MANY of the "setbacks" of these units are negligible as the power of the unit more than makes up for it
Ignoring much of GW-world Fluff (because even they don't take it that seriously, cm'on!) and utilizing game mechanics and just a dash of common sense, lets look at some of the problems of the Stank in the current environment...
1) Its a 300 point rare. Obviously that needs to be lowered. Its closest rival the Ancient Stegadon is 275 and it hardly has any downsides. Next in line is the HPA... with the Warpstone Spikes upgrade (and Skaven generals do LOVE this upgrade) its only 250. Lets ignore the Doomwheel... because I get quite emotional when I talk about it...
2) Steam Point generation based on Wounds. Those of you who play in competitive environments might notice that compared to 6th, the amount of high strength attacks in most armies have gone up. Many fielded armies have widespread S5 as an average. Its actually relatively easy to wound the Stank enough times to render it a 300 point pointsink on turn 2 / 3 with the new armies.
3) Imagine a mirror match. Empire vs Empire. What would your cannons shoot at during the first turn? The Stank of course! D6 wounds... Unless you are very unlucky (or for whatever reasons, field only 1 Cannon), its almost a 300 free victory points target. This is an issue most people do not consider when critiquing units. The crucial mirror match.
Because of how the Stank generate steam points (which is seen more as a setback than a plus point) The model shouldn't cost more than 250 points. Heck, it even has a Engineer onboard and he does nothing but shoot his gun once a while. The cost of the Engineer is
built into the Stank otherwise the Stank is only
235 points. For the Stank to be worthy of 300 points it would need the Engineer to contribute more to the unit.
I think Ganymede's rewrite is a
positive step forward that still can be refined further with accordance to the current trend of army book / unit design.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Steamtank 7 3 - 6 6 6 1 S 10 1+
I think we can still work out the Steam Point generating issue by streamlining it so we can have M X. The wounds still can be 10 since we are using the old Steam Point rules but modified to better suit those with poorer maths skills (I'm really talking about myself here
)
So lets just use the current stat line of BS3 / T6 / W10 / Sv 1+ / US 10 / LD 10
BS 3 because I removed the Engineer. The Empire needs to cut some costs.
Steam Point Generation: At the start of
every turn, the Steam Tank's controller chooses to generate Steam Points. Choose how many Steam Points you wish to generate. Roll 1D6. Add the result to the number you chose. If the number is larger than the amount of wounds the Steam Tank currently has, it takes 1d3 wounds with no saves of whatever allowed and generates no Steam Points that turn. All Steam Points left over during the end of any turn is lost.
(Note that I didn't put a limit to how many Steam Points you can generate a turn. If you feel lucky, try generating 9 steam points...
)
Equipment: Main Cannon, Steam Gun
Special Rules: Cause Terror, Large Target, Unbreakable
Magic: The Steam Tank ignores any magic effects that has no strength value.
Movement: The Steam Tank is able to move only when it spends Steam Points to do so. It moves 3" per Steam Point spent. The Steam Tank also moves like a Chariot, however, it cannot pivot unless it spends at least 1 Steam Point during its movement phase.
Charging: When declaring charges, the controlling player chooses how many Steam Points to use. The Steam Tank's charge distance is 3" per Steam Point spent. If the Steam Tank fails its charge, it will move the full distance according to how many Steam Points were spent.
Close Combat: The Steam Tank does 1d6 S6 impact hits per steam point spent when it charges into combat.
Grind: When the Steam Tank is in close combat, it causes 1d3 S6 auto hits per steam point spent into any unit it is in base contact with.
Main gun: Like current.
Steam gun: Like current.
Master Engineer upgrade: 50 points. You may purchase a Master Engineer upgrade for the Steam Tank.
You may choose to activate one of the following abilities during your turn:
1. Roll 1D6, Steam Tank regenerates 1 wound on a 5+ during the start of your turn.
2. You may choose to reroll your Steam Point generation this turn.
3. You may choose to reroll your artillary dice for the Steam Tank's Cannon this turn.
Base cost: 250 points.