Sagitaur weapons in the 10th index

My favorite model in the Leagues of Votann range has to be the Sagitaur. It is, to put it quite simply, cute. It is also pretty good in the 10th edition index. But what is its best weapons loadout?

The Sagitaur, to me, has four main purposes in my lists. In order:

1. Splitting units of Hearthkyn Warriors into two
2. Using their speed, scout move and transport capacity to get early board presence along with pioneers, and to put Hearthkyn in places where they can stickify objectives or get killed for tokens.
3. Charge into shooty infantry units to prevent them shooting. Hello Necron Warriors.
4. Dying to the serious anti-tank-fire to put tokens on big enemy targets before the Thunderkyn, Hekatons (and possibly remaining Sagitaurs) move in.

Note that causing damage isn't really on the list, except as a "possibly" in the last point. That said, their damage output is far from bad! Here's a rundown of their guns.

The Twin Bolt Cannon is the gun underslung under the cockpit, which... makes little sense on what is basically a car, but is really cool. It's also a pretty good gun, being mid-strength and twin-linked, with AP-1 and 2 damage means it's never really the best option, but it can punch into any type of target without too much loss of efficiency. The 36" range is also great. You always get this gun.

The MATR Autocannon (Magna-Acellerated Triple Rotating Autocannon?) is the first of three options for the hardpoint on the roof. It is the dedicated anti-infantry option, and with 6 shots, S7, AP-1 and Dam 2 they're pretty good for that. Regrettably, as we'll see, we have better options. And in my opinion, the alternatives are better looking as well.

The HYLas Beam Cannon (High Yield Las(er) Beam Cannon) is the second option for the roof, and it is the dedicated anti-tank option. At 2 shots, Sustained Hits D3, S12, AP-3, Dam D6, they are extremely swingy, but they are a multishot S12 weapon with AP-3 which makes them good in 10th.

The last choice for the roof hardpoint is a two-for-one. If you choose missile launchers, you get two guns: A Sagitaur Missile Launcher and an L7 Missile Launcher. As we'll see, this makes comparing this option to the other two a bit challenging - especially as they don't have to be firing at the same target. But as we saw in the Hearthkyn Special Weapons article, the L7 Missile Launcher isn't really amazing. The Sagitaur ML though, looks pretty amazing. It has the same stats as the HYLas Beam Cannon, but a flat 3 damage instead of D6, and 36" range vs the 24" of the HYLas. It does lose the Sustained Hits D3 though. It is less swingy than the HYLas but has a much lower damage ceiling. We'll have to see if the L7 can make up for the slack.

Lets look at the numbers.

As you can see, I've included three ways of evaluating the Sagitaur ML + L7 ML combination. First off, you can see them separately. Then I've included a column where they are firing at the same target. Finally, I've included a column where the Sagitaur is firing at the main target of the line, but the L7 is firing at Guardsmen.

For comparison, I'll be assuming both missile launchers are firing at the same target. Split firing at optimal targets is often either difficult, impossible or a mistake, and damage to guardsmen really isn't worth the same as damage to a knight - but I kept the Sagitaur + Optimal L7 column in there in case anyone found it interresting.

I also didn't color the Twin Bolt Cannon column, as you get it anyway. But as we can see, it's a reliable way of putting a wound on almost any kind of target, it even has more than a 50-50 chance of putting a wound on a Knight. This is great for a secondary gun - don't agonize over what to target with it, just put it into the same target as your main gun in most cases. That is what needs to die anyway. Save time!

The MATR Autocannon is the best at killing light infantry. Technically. They win by 0.02 damage per activation. Without buffs, it looks like you should unfortunately never take the MATR - if you want to kill infantry, take the missile launchers instead. They are almost as good against light infantry, and generally better against anything else. Okay, they are the worst at killing marines, which admittedly is a common target, but the difference is small enough at 0.1 per activation that I'm disregarding it.

The HYLas Beam Cannon turns out to be much better on average than I would have thought, being the flat out best option against any target from marines on up. The range is less than the Sagitaur ML, but I find I rarely have trouble getting range with Sagitaurs. As transport of objective-grabbing, short-ranged troops (or melee maniacs), Sagitaurs are going to be up in the face of the enemy. And they have 12" movement. I've yet to be out of range with a HYLas Beam Cannon.

To my mind, getting more anti-tank/anti-monster in a Votann list is always worth it. When the option is also better at killing marines than the next option in the list, there's no question. Before buffs, this looks like the winner.

The Sagitaur Missile Launcher and L7 Missile Launcher together is supposed to be the flexible option. But they loose to the HYLas Beam Cannon against all multiwound targets with T4 or better. Even if you're fighting guard and split fire at optimal targets, you're not winning out by much.

What I didn't factor in here is if you're able to fire the L7 at 20 man blobs. That'll be 2 more shots than the guardsman target here (which assumes a 10 man target). That might swing against light targets. But we have a lot of things that kill light targets, significantly Hearthguard Grenade Launchers.

The only reason I really see for taking the missile launchers is if you have a Sagitaur that you want to hang back, and you need the 36" range on the Sagitaur Missile Launcher. Buffs might change this though.

Also, the combination of the guns on multi-wound targets is a bit wrong, as the combination of guns doesn't fully take into account lost efficiency from spillover damage - though I don't believe the difference is very great per activation.

Tokens!

With tokens, does anything change?

Well, yes. things did change. With one or more tokens, the MATR Autocannon is now the best at killing Marines. To my mind, that doesn't really get it out of the "weakest option"-bracket, as Votann have a lot of anti-marine firepower (this same weapon on the Hekaton Land Fortress, Magna Coil Autocannons on pioneers, Twin Bolt Cannons, etc).

I'm going to have to land on do not take as a conclusion for the MATR Autocannon.

It's more interresting that even just one - and especially two - judgement tokens makes the Missile launchers better than the HYLas against most infantry targets, including Terminators and Gravis. Such targets can be valuable.

Conclusion

You're really choosing between the HYLas Beam Cannon and the Missile Launchers. To my mind, efficiency before tokens - and the fact that the beam cannon still wins even with tokens against the hardest targets - mean that the obvious choice is the beam cannon. But the MLs aren't bad.

Take the HYLas beam cannons. But don't feel bad about taking the Missile Launchers if you like hanging back or just like them. Do not take the MATR Autocannon right now.

But go out there and experiment! Math is no substitute for experience on the table.

Void is in our veins.