When you’re costed like two Land Raiders, but you hit more like one Broadside, you know your rules are written by Forge World. Click to read on, or check out the Tactics Corner for more reviews and strategies.
Overview
The Tiger Shark AX-1-0 is a variant of the standard Tiger Shark Fighter-Bomber; where the normal variant mounts a pair of large underwing hangers that can be fitted with either racks of gun drones or a missile deployment system, the AX-1-0 model forgoes this capability in order to significantly upgrade the main guns. In fact, it goes so far as to dedicate the vast majority of the internal space to a single weapon system, namely a pair of twinned rail cannons intended to vaporize the enemy’s heaviest units with unmatched accuracy and from a distance where they cannot respond. This reflects on the Tau’s preference for avoiding entangling ground combats- air assets can be redeployed quickly as needed and strongly favor the sort of fast-moving hit-and-fade assaults that best suit the Tau.
In terms of its statline, the AX-1-0 variant is identical to the normal Tiger Shark; it can move absurdly far (even more so than most of the Eldar aircraft, maxing out at 75″) and for some reason has a better weapon skill (5+) than other vehicles, though with only three attacks it’s still not going to impress. Strength and toughness eight are both pretty high and give it a decent defensive starting point, as does 3+ armor. However, with only sixteen wounds it is rather fragile for its cost, as it is priced like a titanic model despite lacking the keyword. Ballistic skill 2+ is a big boon for a Tau unit, since it’s a pretty rare feature overall, though of course that does degrade as the unit is wounded. At 561 points, the AX-1-0 is extremely expensive, outpricing even most Knights and other mid-tier superheavies.
Special Rules and Wargear
A Tiger Shark AX-1-0 comes with a handful of generic rules benefiting its status as a flyer in the usual fashion- Airborne prevents it from being charged by non-flying models, Hard to Hit gives enemies -1 to hit with shooting, Supersonic makes it move in straight lines with a limited turn radius, and Crash and Burn occasionally causes mortal wounds to units when it dies. (Note that for the latter of these, the damage is only d3 as normal but the range is 12″, which is unusually large.)
However, the vehicle does have a few rules of its own; Dispersion Field gives it a 5+ invulnerable save against all attacks (both shooting and melee) and Targeting Protocols allow it to ignore the usual restrictions on moving and firing a Macro weapon. What are Macro weapons, you ask? Well, it’s a new weapon type that Forge World created, and while there’s a lot of text associated with the type, the only thing that really matters for our purposes here is that Macro weapons do not suffer any hit penalties when moving (as opposed to Heavy weapons) and they double their damage against Titanic targets.
This is most relevant because of the AX-1-0’s main armament, namely a pair of Heavy Rail Cannons. Each Rail Cannon is S18 AP-5 Dmg2d6 Macro 1, and a 6 to wound will cause d3 additional mortal wounds to the target. Although this is a pretty strong statline in many ways, with only one shot per it is far too easy to glance off an invuln save (which they do not ignore) or to simply fail to hit/wound a target.
As backup weapons, the AX-1-0 is armed with two Burst Cannons (18″ S5 AP0 Assault 4), which can be swapped out for two Cyclic Ion Blasters (18″ S7 AP-1 Assault 3, can be overcharged for S8 and DmgD3 but risks causing mortal wounds) for 20pts. It also has a pair of Missile Pods (36″ S7 AP-1 DmgD3 Assault 2) to supplement things, and for an additional 5pts per can take up to six Seeker Missiles (72″ S8 AP-2 DmgD6 one use).
Uses
So, the Tiger Shark AX-1-0 is supposed to be a titan-hunter; that is its stated purpose. Unfortunately, it is not particularly outstanding in this respect because its main weapon is not well-designed for that purpose- which seems odd, given that it comes with very high numbers and a special ability that applies only to Titanic units, but that’s the truth of it. Superheavy vehicles, in the vast majority of cases, come with invulnerable saves- which can vary a lot in quality, but outside of some of the Baneblade-chassis versions which lack them, that is pretty much the default. It’s necessary due to the way the game system scales and so they almost always get rationalized into having them.
But Rail-type weapons, which have high strength and AP stats but low numbers of shots, do not deal well with invulnerable saves. If the Heavy Rail Cannon does get through and deal damage to a model, it can all but cripple it in a single shot, but the chances of doing so end up being pretty poor- especially when you factor in that the enemy is going to be willing to spend command points to reroll that failed invuln save. The sheer uselessness of the d3 mortal wounds it causes on a 6+ is also pretty galling, as it really showcases how FW completely fails to understand the game’s mechanics or how things scale.
The vehicle is a little bit better, comparatively, when shooting at non-superheavy targets, as those don’t normally have invuln saves and so the damage will simply cut right through. Since it hits on a 2+ and wounds on a 2+, most normal tanks will go down in a single volley from the AX-1-0, and if you’re willing to be a little risky you can even split the guns (firing a Rail Cannon and Missile Pod each at two different targets) in order to maximize your potential- however, even here you’re still not doing great, as much cheaper vehicles can do similarly-high amounts of damage while not needing the same kind of investments.
The cost is the real problem here; at nearly half again the price of the “basic” Tiger Shark (itself a unit that is arguably overpriced for what it does, given the current meta and its status in the FAQs) the AX-1-0 is simply too expensive to justify on its shooting prowess alone, and its survivability is none too exciting, either. T8/W16/3+/5++ would be decent on a smaller unit, as that’s essentially the statline of something like a Plagueburst Crawler, but for a model that is functionally six hundred points it’s completely unacceptable. And yes, it does have the built-in minus one to hit as well as immunity to charges, but these are balanced by its limited maneuverability, which with the massive base size makes it comparatively easy to force into awkward positions and/or crash. And even if this isn’t a possibility, one good round of blows from a Smash Captain can devastate or destroy the AX-1-0, as can cumulative firepower from a number of combined sources, which is pretty easy when aiming at as big of a target as the Tiger Shark is.
Long story short, the Tiger Shark simply isn’t worth its points, not even close to. Now, if it had some kind of improved ability to penetrate enemy invuln saves- by forcing rerolls of successful ones, perhaps, or by converting its damage entirely into mortal wounds on a 6+, perhaps there could be some argument for it in order to keep enemy superheavies in check, but as it stands it is both ineffective and vulnerable- most armies should easily down one on the first turn or can simply ignore it because it presents no threat to them.
Countering
A Tiger Shark AX-1-0 is about as hard to kill as one Eldar flyer, but costs four times as much. I think you’ll be fine.
Final Thoughts
Forge World has never been good at designing rules, and the AX-1-0 is a great example of how this impacts their models on the tabletop. Unable to do the job it is nominally designed for (as well as any other job), most players are completely unaware of its existence- especially because the “basic” Tiger Shark also has a railgun configuration to make things extra-confusing. It may be we will see an update to the IA: Xenos index at some point now that Games Workshop has more-or-less taken over rules design from the FW team completely, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it- they have very little incentive to do so and have made it pretty clear from the Chapter Approved changes in the past two years that they are more interested in ensuring that FW models remain quirky premium toys rather than a major part of the tournament landscape. For now, the Tiger Shark AX-1-0 remains a largely mythical beast, much like its other superheavy flyer cousins.
As always, remember that you can get your wargaming supplies at great discounts every day from the Frontline Gaming store, whether you’re looking to start a new army or expand an existing one.
