Leaving aside the hefty price tag, I like the styling of this model – it fits in extremely well with the existing Tau ranges from both GW and Forge World. While one could very easily make jokes about so many guns being an overcompensation for something, this is hardly a new or unreasonable look when it comes to anime inspired mecha, and it also reflects the Tau fluff well.

Their entire way of war is very technology dependent, and relies heavily on holding the technical high ground when it comes to ranged engagement. It makes sense that the Tau would be concerned about being so totally outclassed in firepower when facing Super Heavy opposition, and so would create a weapon to counter that advantage. The Stormsurge is essentially a giant walking arsenal more than a conventional battlesuit, a scaled up version of a Broadside being the closest analogy to the existing range.

Of course, that is not to say the kit and its rules are not without some odd choices. Even taking into account that this is a fire support suit roughly equivalent to a super heavy artillery piece, it still seems strange that the Tau earth caste would opt to design it with an open cockpit. Tau battlesuits have always relied heavily on sensor suites and have been entirely enclosed, so why expose the crew of the Stormsurge to sniper fire, aerial attackers, overhead bombardment and the countless other such perils that exist in the 40k universe, not to mention the heat and radiation venting from the main weapon that is mounted right next to them? I suppose it could be argued that they are protected by a force field, and the kit may include the option to model an armoured plate over that section, but it just seems strange to me. I imagine the intent was to show off the rather fetching interior detailing and convey that the suit has multiple crew, and aesthetics won out over consistency with the faction fluff on this one.

The other thing that strikes me as strange is that, for a suit described as being designed to be the Tau Empire’s ‘Titan killer’, it’s loadout features an awful lot of dedicated anti-infantry weaponry that cannot be exchanged for anti-armour options.

The primary missile array, the smart missile system, the twin linked flamers/burst cannon/airbursting fragmentation launcher option – all have strength values of 4 or 5 and an AP that renders them ineffective against armour, but leaves them nightmarishly nasty for the poor bloody infantry.

While the Destroyer Missiles are AP 1, the suit only carries four of them and their strength is only 8. They also have no rule that improves their armour penetration. When most Super Heavy vehicles have frontal armour of at least 13 and often 14, that makes it unlikely that the Destroyer Missiles will live up to their name. Of course, if they have the ability to always strike the side armour (to reflect the missile firing upwards to strike from above) like the seeker missile used to then that would help matters, but not by all that much.

The main gun options are much better anti-armour weapons, but the Plasma Blast Cannon functions like giant shotgun, becoming much more effective at very short ranges but lacking the AP to one-shot armoured units or do extra damage to Super Heavy’s at longer ranges. At the same time, the possibility (with stabilisers deployed) to put down four a strength 9 AP 5 large blast templates at ranges between 20 and 30″ makes it a major threat to hoard armies to put it very mildly indeed, and four strength 10 AP 3 small blasts at ranges between 10 and 20″ are great against elite infantry and monsters but still won’t offer improved damage against tanks due to the lack of AP. While the weapon can use its high strength to soften up armoured targets by knocking off hull points at longer ranges, the Tau player has to be very bold indeed to get the benefit of the admittedly very effective two D strength shots available at 10″ or less.

The Plasma Driver operates like a rapid fire, long range Demolisher Cannon. Once its stabilisers are deployed, it’s two strength 10 AP 2 large blast markers at up to 72″ range can certainly threaten Super Heavies, but would be substantially more effective against pretty much any other target, including conventional armoured units and any footslogger unfortunate enough to fall under the Stormsurge’s sights.

I think that, looking at its weapon options and tabletop uses, the Stormsurge works, in practical terms, much more as a general super heavy fire support unit (specialising in long range suppression and artillery fire or midfield denial and ultra heavy close fire support depending upon loadout) than as a dedicated Titan killer. It is obscenely good at annihilating swathes of conventional units in no time flat, but would definitely need assistance to be certain of a super heavy kill. Massed Hammerhead Gunship Rail Cannons, Broadside Heavy Rail Rifles, and battlesuit mounted Fusion Blasters at close range (along with Forge World options) make better dedicated anti-Titan options, with the Stormsurge’s flexible weapon’s array serving the role of freeing up those units to focus on Super Heavy targets while the Stormsurge kills pretty much everything else. I don’t see why there is a disconnect between the fluff and the rules in this regard.

On balance, I like the kit and its rules, just not for the purpose its fluff suggests it was created for.

I really like the video on the GW home page that looks like a Tau technical briefing on the Stormsurge, complete with scrolling Tau script and a rotating image that highlights and focuses on certain aspects of the suit’s design. It reminds me of several sci fi movie scenes, with Iron Man immediately springing to mind as a possible inspiration.

I hope to see more nifty things like this in the future. Perhaps my ‘Nids might get a Magos Biologis Hololith analysis of any new and particularly impressive kits in their next release (I am keeping my tentacles and talons crossed for a Tyranid Gargantuan Creature option from GW).