Y’Vahra Battlesuit – Monster or Expensive Mouse

Hello again, chaps and chapesses, I am here today to talk about the Forgeworld Monster that is the Y’Vahra XV109 Battlesuit.

A couple of months have past since I decided to sell my dear Imperial Fist 30k army and dive into building a beautiful Tau army. You can read about that here: Greater Good Goals

I have got a few units back from the commission painter and they are looking fantastic.  My aim is to have around 50 infantry models and I am dreading the day the bill comes through.  I may have to offer him “favours” as payment.

One of the centre piece units of my army is going to be the Y’Vahra.  It is an incredible model and, compared to other Forgeworld models, wasn’t too hard to put together.  It is basically a standard Riptide sprue with some extra resin bits.

The stats for Y’Vahra speak for themselves.  Damage 3 across the board for both guns and respectable rates of fire (when Nova Charged).  3 Damage for me is the perfect damage output.  Yes you can get D6 damage weapons but in a game of hundreds of variables and luck, any guarantee golden.

The main problem is the range which of its weaponry is dangerously short.  Fortunately, the Bor’kan Tenet adds 6” to these and from my early games really helps.  I think this is only Tenet worth taking if you’re fielding a Y’Vahra.  The short range on the weapons, in my opinion, kills the unit if a different one is taken.

Another drawback is the cost of the unit to field.  With accompanying shield drones you are looking at a punchy 434 points!  Couple this with the fact most games are now played in the much more fluid 1750 points bracket, it’s a sizeable chunk.  Another draw back is the fact on most tables it is impossible to hide behind LoS blocking terrain, this bad boy isn’t small and be usually be seen my every opposing model.

Having to get up close and personal with it can be a bit dangerous as you never want to be charged as a T’au player, but the Phased Plasma Flamer rains sweet hot death dealing 3d6 auto hits!  Couple this with the Greater Good rule and the Bor’kan Strategem to reroll one of those d6 and you really have got a unit that can protect both itself and your ”castle”.

My support system choices so far have been ATS and Target Lock.  I take ATS because it makes the Ionic Discharge Cannon -4AP which takes it to another level. It will blast through almost all armour ignoring anything but invulnerable saves, and if it does go through causing 3 damage per wound and let us not forget the additional D3 mortal wounds when targeting vehicles!

It also makes the Phased Plasma Flamer -3AP which is perfect for what this weapon this there for, munching through TEQ units.  I also usually take Target Lock to allow my Y’Vahra to move and still fire its Ionic Discharge Cannon at full BS.  Any negative modifiers to Tau units kills them and this negates that.

One other support system I would consider is the Early Warning Override.  This will let you target any unit that arrives on the table, via deep strike or any other way, to be shot at if it arrives within 12″.  Now, couple this with the Bor’kan Tenet and you’ve got a unit that fire can it’s auto hitting 3d6 weapon at the arriving unit.  That my friends, is synergy and if there’s one thing Tau love, it is synergy.

One thing I am looking forward to using is the Escape Thrust rule.  This will allow me to remove the model from he table and reappear the next turn via deep strike.  It’s fluffy and could protect my Y’Vahra when things get hot.  Also, the sight of a Y’Vahra turning up in your backfield would make Magnus cry a single tear.

So when all said and done, so far I’ve got to say the Y’Vahra is an absolute monster for a mobile Tau gun line.

Please note Neck Beards, these are just my opinions and I am far from an experienced player, so please take everything I say with the biggest pinch of salt you can muster.