R'Varna Battlesuit

Forge World has posted up the experimental rules for the R'varna Battlesuit now, and this thing is disgustingly good.  I like the idea and the fluff behind the Cluster Fire rule, with bigger things getting pelted with multiple micro explosives, but the strength scaling up along side the hits just seems excessive to me.  Shy of fliers, there isn't a wrong target for it's guns.  Bikers?  Burn two marker lights, and I don't see any more bikers.  Marine blob? Nope. That Land Raider over there? Every time a large blast clips it it takes three Str 8 hits, and with Volley Fire and marker lights, getting 12 hits is a distinct possibility, half wrecking it on average, and out right killing it with decent rolls.

I love the model and the fluff behind it, but man, that scaling strength really gets me in combination with the scaling hits.  It feels to me like it should be one or the other, but not both.  That being said, it's still "experimental" stamped, and has plenty of room to be tweaked between now and hitting a book.

I have to say, though, the fluff saying that three of these held off an onslaught by Hive Fleet Gorgon, with stats like that, I wouldn't have trouble believing it.

I don't think it's OP even with the scaling. It would definitely fit in with me Ke'lshan army but the model is so hideous. Maybe it looks better in person.

In isolation it is high end good. It's once all the other Tau mechanics kick in (marker lights, drones, etc) that things start getting stupid. With it's ability to simple delete Tervigons, I would not want to be a Tyranid player sitting across from one of these things.

Meh, I'm a Tau player so I'm a little biased, but I don't see them being that incredible. At 260 points its good, but not amazing without another 200+ points of support. Sure with enough markerlights anything is good, but without them its meh. It's only bs 3 and goes into the already hotly contested Heavy Support Slot. Also do not forget they lose their Jet packs, making them incredibly less mobile, nor do they have a secondary weapon system.

How are you killing a Land Raider? If you manage to pass your 3+ to not lose a wound, you still have to hit with all four shots. Then even if all four shots hit that is 12 str 8 hits. which turns into two glances on average. I wouldn't even waste my time. I'd rather deepstrike 3 battlesuits worth 150 points next to it with double melta. Way more likely to do anything to it.

Tervigons don't have FNP/Biomancy/Coversaves anymore. That's weird, I could have sworn they did  

Planes wrote:I would not want to be a Tyranid player.

Fixed that for you:)

Jk we all know Nids have issues, I'm not sure they are the best opp to compare to for power level.

Well you are also comparing it to a what a single 150 point unit that spawns more units?

dunno. doesn't seem that bad

. its 260 points. anything good or "high end good" as you describe it still has to pass the omfg its 1/5 of my army in one model test. i think the model is more useful because its t7 with 6 wounds and a 4++ vs shooting. which is better survivability than any AV vehicle in the game. but the weaponry leaves something to be desired i think. its still only two shots @ BS3, so your using up marker lights to boost both that and remove cover saves. which you arnt using for other stuff. Its another baleflamer-ish weapon, but i dont think heavy tanks really care, 6 str 8 hits vs a landraider is still only 1 glance on average. and if you shoot this at my rhino, i'm super happy.

Looks cool, looks table-worthy. don't think i'm going to be peeing myself when i see it hit the table, much more worried about regular riptides tbh.

TBH I think its shooting profile is good enough to pass that test. But there are so many ways to get rid of monstrous creatures these days. I will admit I did miss the 4++ vs shooting. That should adjust the points up a bit. But other than that you still have all the normal ways to deal with them (JAWS priest in a pod, poison weapons, sternguard, d-weapons, fast monstrous creatures that everyone seems to have these days, psychic powers like hallucination, close combat). 

Riptides are awesome since you can get one with an Ion Accelerator and Interceptor for 190 points. 

Also no Earth Caste Pilot Array to make sure you pass those nova-charges.