The New Tau Lord of War Battlesuit
More details is all we want to know when it comes to seeing the first pictures of the Forgeworld Lord of War from Forgeworld Open Day. Its huge and without any additional information I've heard quite a few guesses as to what the brings to the table. Here are some details straight from conversations from the event.
The pics here come from readers, the comment sections, Beasts of War, Battle Bunnies and More. To be honest... some of these got mixed up in my files and I don't remember which ones came from where. sorry
via mark tait from the comments section here on Faeit 212
So.. lots of talk... but here is the down low...
I managed to bend Mr.Hayes (Will- the designer) ear for the 1st 45 mins of the event, and as always he was kind enough to go through some of their design thought processes as well as the rational behind the "Supremacy" Suit...
As mentioned before.. Alan Bligh, alongside Daren Parrwood and Blake Spence are all keen to develope the Tau War Paradigm beyond that of just the Kauyon and Mont'au strategies... this is leading to not just this suit, but also a likely Superheavy Skimmer/ Tank that is a more suitable heavy platform, but on a scale for the long lost Orca.
*We can expect a new IA book in the first (hopeful) part of next year, which will make our suits non-experimental rules also!
The KX is the Tau's answer to the increasing number of Gargantuan Creature and Knight/ titans that they are encountering across their borders.
The rational is that the likes of the Tigershark, whilst dominating the skies, do not have the capability to take these foe down, due to 'time on target'... they needed something that could go toe to toe with a knight and win.
The success of the Y'varha and R'varnha units has given them the proof and belief in their own ability to develop their strength in the mobile suit arena and therefore decided to bring this to the fore.
In regards to rules- [u]There are none written as yet[/u]... however I can confirm this...
The tracked mounting on the back does indeed house 3 "Rail" type weapons.. all independantly poseable. The current thinking is that while it is a Rail weapon for all intents and purposes, it will have a multi role purpose:
D- shot: had to happen.. they need something to take the knights down.
Armour spiltter: Multi shot mode which is designed to rip SP/HP's off their target.
Bombardment style: allowing the KX to literally carpet bomb from afar
The brace of triple Ion-cannons on each arm, they are unsure of whether it will be x3 shots or perhaps rapid fire...
This WILL be a Super Heavy walker. It is commanded by 3 crewmen (note the 3 vision slits on the chest). As such it will be able to fire ALL its weapons, and at seperate targets.
Special abilities: it will be able to Snap fire/ overwatch unlike other super heavies, due to a pumped up CDS system.
No flight- but as it is a SHW, will have 12" move as standard.
No NOVA: as Alan described, due to the size of it, their would be adequate shielding to in essence, "be constantly on Nova"... therefore keeping the rules set simpler.
In addition to the current load out, Will is already working on a brace of triple barrelled Fusion style weapons and also some ideas to replace the back mounted Rail weapons.... Missile racks, comms pods etc.......
One final note is that Mark Bedford is keen to work on an official Earthcaste Pilot model.. I suggested that he does it as the "event only" model, which he seemed to like (and would mean it would be more likely to get released).... there were 2 pages of sketches which were similar to the Longstrike style suit, but cooler helmets;-)
I think that covers all....
As I say, they have not even started the rules writing yet, and so other sites reporting scuttlebutt of Gargantuan creatures stats and specific rules are making it up..... the above was described by all 3 designers and the rules designer himself.
oh- and it is complete, and off to the mould makers, so I would imagine we will see this in the next 2-3 months (not got a release slot yet)... price will be some where in the region of £225 as it is between the size of a knight and a Warhound titan...
cheers all!
Warhound