Goatboy’s 40K: Is the Tau KXI39 TOO Good?
Goatboy here again and I want to have a quick discussion on the new Tau Super Knight Suit thingie aka The Wallet Killer.
Its the new ForgeWorld model that had a lot of people chatting about it when it was initially shown from one of FW Events. The sheer amount of weapons shown on it had everyone wondering what kind of killer beast this was going to be. The KX139 rules finally came out and while yes – it is a mighty beast I still don’t think it is the best LoW/GC in the game.
Let’s break it down to get an idea on why I am not jumping on the ban it now bandwagon. First let’s go over its overall rules and discuss each piece. This way we can have a true discussion about it and see if it is worth it to help keep my friends credit cards safe.
KX139 Under the Microscope
First it is obviously a Lord of War for the Tau. It is a Gargantuan Creature so it has all those rules (Move through Cover, Fearless, Fear, Hammer of Wrath, Unstoppable, Relentless, Smash, Strikedown). It has pretty nutty stats – Wounds – 10, Toughness – 9, Strength 8. It also has some crappy stats – Weapon Skill 3, Ballistic Skill 4, Initiative 2, Attacks 2. It has an ok Leadership – 9 – which is where it might eat it a bit due to some psychic shenanigans. It also has a great Armor Save of 2+ with a 4+ invulnerable save vs shooting and a 5+ invulnerable save to close combat punches. It does lose that shield if a Deathblow attack occurs on it as it cuts those wounds in half and then stops working for the rest of the turn. So if you have a lot of D attacks hitting him, well he won’t be long for the world. All in all it has a lot of stuff you expected from a Tau super Suit with limited upgrades.
Points Cost
It runs in at 600 points so while cheap when you compare it to most other GC except the Wraith Knight, it is probably the correct cost based on the new “40k” rules. For those other GC’s out there I expect some changes to come whenever ForgeWorld decides to update your book/rules. It still takes up a big chunk of you army and while it has some impressive shooting I will go over later on it still loses out on what a lot of the strength is on a big Monster – some kind of close combat D mixed with game ending stomp. It also seems to rely on being a ForgeWorld only model so I doubt it will actually be a part of the new “rumored” Tau codex update.
The Guns
Let’s look at its damage output. That is where we will see if this is “too cool” for the competitive school of 40k. It has 3 Weapon pieces of wargear – 2 arm mounted guns, the back mounted super gun, and a defensive system (under boob missiles/gatling guns). The 2 Arm Mounted guns come in two flavors – a Tri Axis Ion Cannon or the Fusion Eradicator. (If this was a Khorne thing it would be call a Tri Murder Killer Skull Cannon of Face Melter Kill Fister). The Ion Cannon has 2 different shots – Both 60’s inches one Str 7 AP 3 for 6 shots or 3 Shots at Str 9 Ap 2. Both of those are pretty good especially when you don’t have to overcharge it and take a derp wound and you get 2 of them – so 6-12 shots. Not to shabby and a good “rhino” killer or Look out Sir causer on a big fat ole Wolf Star. The Fusion Eradicator is a 5 shot Multi-Melta. That isn’t too terrible either and I think the Multi-melta will probably end up being better for popping all those Gladius free rides.
The next gun is the one causing the most “chatter” as it a huge ole pie plate of D. The initial load out is a big ole pie of 7 inches and having the Weapon profile of D. That is a whole lot of damage potential especially if you hit a big ole fat unit/death star. The next profile is the other “problem” issue as it has the pesky rule – ignores cover. It is a Strength 8 blast that uses the weird Apocalyptic Barrage (3). While the ignore cover option is pretty rough only being Ap 3 means it doesn’t have much of an answer to a massed 2+ armor save unit that is pretty common. While the D option is pretty mean in an event that allows true Invisibility this gun becomes next to worthless when trying to deal with a unit that will most likely kill this unit in one assault phase.
The final weapon system gives the big suit an overwatch set of weapons at BS 2. It has 2 TWL Smart Missile systems (8 Str 5 AP 5 Ignore cover shots) and 2 TWL Burst Cannons (8 Str 5 ap 5 shots) that can fire and while that is still a ton of Str 5 firepower it isn’t the scariest thing. It is one of those cute upgrades like the Scatter Lasers on top of the Wraith Knights shoulder pads. Of course these weapon profiles can change if the new codex decides to do a complete update but I seriously doubt it. Those weapons aren’t setting the competitive world on fire right now. Also without any way to “Nova” charge these guys they are just some extra sprinkles on this Tau Cupcake of doom.
In the Balance
All in all this is a pretty spicy piece of resin and while “very good” I don’t think it is back breaking. Sure in other armies this would be an auto include but there is the reason why it isn’t nearly as bad as we read it to be. Do you remember the days of Tau being Battle Bros with all those lovely broken codexes? Without those old psychic friend options this guy becomes a pretty big point sink that is still very vulnerable to the most common super weapon in the game – Grav. Sure it takes a lot of damage to hurt this guy but don’t think a Marine list could easily put out enough firepower in one or two turns to remove this guy from play. Plus a lot of events give extra points for removing this guy and at 10 wounds you are going to get 3 extra points on the Secondary/Maelstrom section of the match which can easily put you ahead of the game.
Let’s break down between the other aggressively costed GC – the WraithKnight. Since this guys is 600 points we could fit in 2 Wraith Knights for that cost.
KXI139 – Pros
GC Creature with all those Rules
1 D Weapon – 7″ Blast
Either 10 Multi-Melta shots at 24″ or 12 Str 7 AP 3 Shots or 6 Str 9 Ap 2 shots at 60″
10 Str 5 at 18″ and 10 Str 5 at 30″
Gains benefits based on Markerlights from its army
Doesn’t need cover as it always has a 4+ Invulnerable save until a Deathblow hit happens – then it is screwed.
Maybe can gain benefits from an Ethereal if the Pulse Driver actually counts as a Pulse weapon
Has issues with Psychics due to its Ld of 9 – Psychic Shriek will hurt and Dominate could be an issue with some of the mind power combos
2 Wraith Knights
2 GS with all the Rules
4 D Weapon Shots at 36″ or 5+ Inv save with a Close Combat D hit
Jump Infantry so initial movement can always be 12″
Can Deepstrike In if needed to ignore loss of First turn
Has Psychic friends that will be more then happy to help them out and their powers don’t turn off when someone rolls a Deathblow attack.
Final Thoughts
All in all while this Tau guy is good – without the old rules of Battle brothers he just feels like another “powerful” option for the Tau that has some distinct disadvantages. Is he really so good he has to be banned right away? I don’t think so but I won’t really know without any true testing. While I don’t like Multiple Wraithknights it was only due to the specific nature of the ATC that made that type of list so powerful. In a normal event the threat of hitting a massed Grav army is too great to invest in so many GC’s. If this guy had come out in 6th edition I would be the first in line to jump on the box and say Eff this jerk. But right now – until we see what the new Tau book will bring we have no idea if this guy is truly going to be the monster some expect him to be. It is also really hard to truly judge this as we only have one other appropriately costed GC out there so we have no real standard to judge if these things are too good. The Super Heavy Walkers feel weak when compare to them but I feel GW things their “immunity” to Grav makes them stronger in the environment. Still the most common used special weapon in the game by most armies hurts this model very easily. Sure they can make saves – but when you are rerolling to hit and causing a wound on a 2+ it doesn’t take long to remove this expensive piece of resin from the game.
~Do you think you could handle a KX139 staring you down from the across the table?
