Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen some great articles on the Warhammer Community page looking at the new T’au codex.
But there’s one reveal that really stands out.
The new T’au Railgun is absolutely bonkers.
First things first, let’s talk about the stats. We start with a healthy Strength of 14. This means that, unless the target has a Toughness value of 8 or higher, the Railgun scores a Wound on a 2+.
And even with a Toughness value of 8 or higher, the Railgun will still score a wound on a roll of a 3+, of course.
Simply put, the Railgun has a good chance of scoring a wound on virtually any target in 40k.
And if the Railgun has scored a wound, the T’au player will almost certainly roll Damage immediately. This weapon has a healthy AP of -6, but that’s only half of the story. The rest of the story?
The Railgun ignores invulnerable saves.
This aspect of the weapon alone is enough to turn some heads, but the frivolity doesn’t stop there for T’au players.
We’ve established that, once a hit is scored, the T’au player is likely to score a wound. Once that happens, there are very few cicumstances in which a model would receive an armour save, and no invulnerable saves whatsoever may be taken.
As a quick aside, other than a Terminator with a Storm Shield in cover — granting it a 0+ armour save — can any other model in the game get an amour save against the Railgun?
We come, then, to the Damage. First, the Railgun deals D3+6 Damage to its target. Second, the Railgun deals three Mortal Wounds to its target.
That’s a minimum of ten wounds and a maximum of twelve, of which three are Mortals.
Like I said, absolutely bonkers.
Finally, the Railgun is a Heavy 1 weapon — more on that in a moment — with a range of 72 inches. If the Hammerhead can draw a line of sight to its target, it’s going to be in range.
Is this one of the weaknesses of a Railgun-armed Hammerhead, then? With only one shot and BS of 3+, a third of those all-powerful shots will fail to hit its target.
Well, not so fast. GW has clearly thought of that.
The Hammerhead now ships with a Targeting Array, granting one hit reroll each turn.
Let’s briefly go over this again. The Hammerhead hits on 3s with a reroll. The Railgun will wound on a 3+ or a 2+, and the T’au player will often have a Command Point reroll at his disposal. The Railgun has an AP of -6 and ignores invulnerable saves. It deals a minimum ten Damage.
This weapon is an absolute colossus.
Those are the stats. However, there is something more important to address when it comes to the Railgun: some people on the internet have been salty.
You really don’t have to look too far to find some pretty spicy takes about what this weapon will do to the balance of the game.
And while there are, of course, some sensible, reasonable criticisms of this weapon, there are far more that really go off the deep end. It’s not too difficult to find some toxic, unpleasant takes on the T’au Railgun.
I don’t want to spend too much time on this point, but I do want to say this: it’s okay to have a negative opinion about a GW product. It’s not okay to be unpleasant about it.
With that said, let’s discuss the main criticism of the weapon.
Is the Railgun too good? That remains to be seen. How much T’au players pay for the platform will, broadly speaking, determine this. If a Hammerhead with a Railgun is 150 points, it’s probably too good. If a Hammerhead with a Railgun is 350 points, it’s probably not good enough. I would guess that it’ll come to around 200 points.
But let’s take a step further. Should a weapon exist in the game that deals a minimum of 10 Damage if a player can roll a 3+ twice, one of which has an in-built reroll?
Put simply, yes.
We have already established that there are certain models in the game that can all but completely bypass an opponent’s defenses. Be’lakor’s Blade of Shadows, for example, does not allow invulerable saves, has an AP value of -4, and deals D3+3 Damage for each unsaved wound.
And even if her target has an invulnerable save, a Drukhari Succubus is highly likely to make mincemeat of anything unfortunate enough to get in her way.
Here’s my point. Sumpremely powerful weapons can — and do — exist in 40k without completely throwing off the game balance. Will the Railgun prompt a change in the meta? Absolutely. But there’s always that chance whenever a new codex is released.
But I would argue that while the Railgun is now one of the best weapons in the game, there’s a much more important factor to consider. The Hammerhead is not a particularly durable tank.
In the current codex, the Hammerhead has a Toughness of 7, 13 Wounds, and a 3+ armour save. Any competitive 40k list will have a handful of tools to deal with such a target.
Granted, the defensive profile of the Hammerhead might change. It might, for example, gain an invulnerable save. I doubt that it will have 5++ built in, but there could be a piece of wargear that grants an invulnerable save, or perhaps a Sept tenet will grant one. You get the idea.
I think that this is unlikely. I would hazard a guess that the defensive profile of the Hammerhead won’t change.
And this means that it will be a relatively simple target to destroy. A few well-placed Dark Lances will do the trick. A handful of Lascannons will get the job done. And so on.
Of course, skilled players will take steps to ensure that the Hammerhead does the business. They will deploy it out of line of sight, for example, or they will pay CP to put it into strategic reserves. That way, the T’au player can practically guarantee that the Railgun will do what it does.
But once it does so, the Hammerhead will be out in the open, an easy target.
And it’s for this reason that I myself won’t be rushing out to purchase three Hammerhead Gunships. I always look for durability when I build my lists, and I don’t think that the Hammerhead will give me enough staying power.
I’m sure there are plenty of people — T’au players and soon-to-be T’au players alike — who have already ordered their Hammerhead Gunships and are eagerly awaiting their shiny new bounty, but I’m not one of them.
This new incanation of the Railgun is very cool. There’s no doubt about that. And goodness knows we T’au players have waited long enough for a new codex with tasty new rules.
But it won’t break the game. It will force players to plan around it, sure, but, to be fair, I hope that there are many more aspects of the new codex that will force good players to take a pause.
Indeed, I hope that there’s going to be much more interesting, powerful new takes on classic T’au weapons. We’ve already seen solid upgrades for the Burst Cannon, the Flamer, the Pulse Carbine, and the Pulse Rifle, and I’m particularly interested to see how GW deals with the Missile Pod and the Cyclic Ion Blaster.
What’s more, the Railgun article states that the Railgun isn’t the most powerful weapon in the codex. Discussing the Railgun, the article asks: “would you believe it isn’t even the strongest weapon in their arsenal?”
I would imagine that this would point to the Stormsurge — unless those cheeky Vespid have been radically upgrading their Neutron Blasters.
Whatever the case, I’m excited the for the new rules, and I’m not at all worried that the Railgun is going to completely change the landscape of 40k. It’s going to be good, but it’s not going to be that good.
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