Nick, while I respect your opinions, I have to bring up my observance of the boards upon which Europeans tend to play. Of the boards that i have seen in pictures of tournaments, the majority contain little to no intervening terrain, and are, for the most part, target ranges suited towards heavily gunned forces.
The game is designed to be played in medium to heavy terrain with environmental rules. Becuase of the propensity to use very little terrain, I have seen the European players complain that the Vulkan is too tough, and that Paradeploy is too limiting.
That said, here is why I have the opinion of Vahl.
Vahl'Dredd is a beast. He has a lackey, which gives him an additional WD (for a total of 4), +2 LD (total LD 17!) and an AR of 23. He has staying power, and will not die easily unless you are making him a target. He can reach out to MR with the Vasa Heavy Machinegun, doing DM 13, with even more shots at SR and PB - a truly powerful weapon as ranged weapons go. His sword is the Voidbringer Battle Sword - DM 15 in a charge, and AV: 3 - can you say, "can opener?" Hec an Channel (selecting one Ilian Power, such as Void Gate, Dark Lightning, etc.), is a Force Commander, and has the Chains of Ilian, preventing enemies from gaining a charge bonus and from breaking from CC, not to mention imparting Close Combat: 2 to the wearer. Vahl whoops a fair amount of tail in CC. Alone, he is awesome.
Add a Nepharite, and look out! 4 AC! 3 Powers (Dark Lightning, Void Gate, Dimensional Storm, etc.), may Channel, Void Slayer Battle Sword (12 DM, AV: 2, may Sweep, residual versus mortal models - a Vulkan Killer!), AR 22, 4 WD, and the above-mentioned Chains of Ilian. If you think that this is weak, I am afraid to consider your opinion of strong.
I added Karak to the force, and for 750 PC, had a lot of fun, andwon even after I completely forgot to bring Vahl's lackey into the game (and its benefits).
It is my opinion that your opinion is a bit clouded due to the type of terrain on which you may be used to playing. I would like to see you try our way (read: the book's suggested way) of playing, and see if your opinion does not change. Take a look at the boards on which we play. There are no wide open areas. If Sniper's want to find fire lanes and killing zones, they have to look for them, and move to them. Very seldom does a sniiper find itself deployed in an ideal location from the start of the game, in our games. Very seldom will a Vulkan squad find itself covered by a 1/2" high wall, covering half the board with withering firepower (at least not withoout being on a desert board where their weapons stands a large chance of jamming every few rolls).
Counterpoint(s)?
