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Looking at the large variety of LOW's that are available to take with SM's and I've been considering purchasing a Typhon siege tank. I already have a Knight Errant and had also considered a Knight Crusader.

I play in a meta with a few Tau players and wouldn't mind knocking them down a peg or two. Which unit might be better in all your dakkanite opinions?

The Typhon will be better if he takes an Optimized Stealth Cadre, as they always hit rear armor.

However, with the new Hunter Contingent Detachment, Tau have become very good at taking out Death Stars, and a good four hits with their markerlights will cause their Stormsurge to be shooting four S: D missiles, which if he Coordinated Firepowers with a Buffmander two other MCs, will be twin-linked, hitting on twos, and ignore cover. It may be better to focus on fast MSU.

While it may be good to focus on MSU against Tau, the firepower for only 350 skulls the Typhon brings may be worth the risk of it being one shotted.

I figure that against the OSC it would be easier to simply ignore them if playing with a Typhon. The massive blast weapon it uses can be easily countered by the ghostkeel's cheese ability to make everything snap shoot it.

However, the 7" blast with ignores cover at Str 10 ap1 would seem to put a hurt on any other infantry and battle suits barring 'tides and Stormsurges.

I hadn't thought about the destroyer missles though. How do they get to become D weapons?

 bomtek80 wrote:
I hadn't thought about the destroyer missles though. How do they get to become D weapons?

You can expend a Markerlight counter to make one missile S: D.

In my opinion countering Tau hasnt really changed, kill marker lights and drop pod assault with as many decent cheap shooting units as you can. If i am playing a Tau player i tend to go with Ravenwing spam multiple regular biker units and combat squad them all down, if my opponent wants to ignore cover to remove jinks hes got his work cut out for him because i can turn 4 maxed bike squads into 12 units and he is not going to have enough marker light shooting units to hit more than a 3rd to half of those squads.

I've even used 5 pods against a Tau opponent with 3 dreadnought pods and 2 company vets with combi weapons just to force him to deal with something turn 1. Dont forget any unit he intercepts with is not going to be firing whatever weapons they use in the following shooting phase so providing the unit deep striking survives the shooting it can normally get its job done.

Overall i dont like playing against Tau as much as other armies because it forces me into a specific strategy almost every time if i want a chance of winning whereas you can use a number of differing lists and strategy against other armies.

 Benedict wrote:
In my opinion countering Tau hasnt really changed, kill marker lights and drop pod assault with as many decent cheap shooting units as you can.

Interceptor spam from Stormsurges, Riptides, and Broadsides say hello.

 Benedict wrote:
If i am playing a Tau player i tend to go with Ravenwing spam multiple regular biker units and combat squad them all down, if my opponent wants to ignore cover to remove jinks hes got his work cut out for him because i can turn 4 maxed bike squads into 12 units and he is not going to have enough marker light shooting units to hit more than a 3rd to half of those squads.

Buffmander Coordinated Firepowers with Crisis Suits with Target Locks. One model from each unit (can be up to 9 Crisis suits each) shoot at the main target and everyone else shoots everywhere else with twin-linked and ignore cover.

 Benedict wrote:

I've even used 5 pods against a Tau opponent with 3 dreadnought pods and 2 company vets with combi weapons just to force him to deal with something turn 1. Dont forget any unit he intercepts with is not going to be firing whatever weapons they use in the following shooting phase so providing the unit deep striking survives the shooting it can normally get its job done.

Overall i dont like playing against Tau as much as other armies because it forces me into a specific strategy almost every time if i want a chance of winning whereas you can use a number of differing lists and strategy against other armies.

It is true that Interceptor does remove the ability to fire that weapon their turn, it is still signifigant damage (killed an entire Terminator squad with one shot from a Riptide) and does not affect weapons that did not fire, so a Stormsurge can fire its remaining weapons (D Missiles).

You are right through, the primary thing you need to do is remove the markerlights, but also the Buffmander, as he can give the entire army twin-linked, ignore cover, and tank hunter/monster hunter. With clever target lock placement in your army, you will be able to Coordinated Firepower everyone at once and shoot most of the enemy units.

I would say build an army focused on being able to get into combat turn two, that is really your best bet. However, I would caution against too much list tailoring if this is a friendly game.

 Nilok wrote:

 Benedict wrote:
In my opinion countering Tau hasnt really changed, kill marker lights and drop pod assault with as many decent cheap shooting units as you can.

Interceptor spam from Stormsurges, Riptides, and Broadsides say hello.

Yes yes we know you have a lot of shooting, the OP wasnt asking what Tau would do to counter his plays he was asking for plays to use against Tau so /shoo

 Nilok wrote:

 Benedict wrote:
If i am playing a Tau player i tend to go with Ravenwing spam multiple regular biker units and combat squad them all down, if my opponent wants to ignore cover to remove jinks hes got his work cut out for him because i can turn 4 maxed bike squads into 12 units and he is not going to have enough marker light shooting units to hit more than a 3rd to half of those squads.

Buffmander Coordinated Firepowers with Crisis Suits with Target Locks. One model from each unit (can be up to 9 Crisis suits each) shoot at the main target and everyone else shoots everywhere else with twin-linked and ignore cover.

Buffmanders are easily countered for minimal points cost, Vindicare assassin......thing is if we follow this conversation to its logical conclusion it becomes a case of "My Dad's better than your Dad!" so i'll just leave it there i think.

 Nilok wrote:

 Benedict wrote:

I've even used 5 pods against a Tau opponent with 3 dreadnought pods and 2 company vets with combi weapons just to force him to deal with something turn 1. Dont forget any unit he intercepts with is not going to be firing whatever weapons they use in the following shooting phase so providing the unit deep striking survives the shooting it can normally get its job done.

Overall i dont like playing against Tau as much as other armies because it forces me into a specific strategy almost every time if i want a chance of winning whereas you can use a number of differing lists and strategy against other armies.

It is true that Interceptor does remove the ability to fire that weapon their turn, it is still signifigant damage (killed an entire Terminator squad with one shot from a Riptide) and does not affect weapons that did not fire, so a Stormsurge can fire its remaining weapons (D Missiles).

You are right through, the primary thing you need to do is remove the markerlights, but also the Buffmander, as he can give the entire army twin-linked, ignore cover, and tank hunter/monster hunter. With clever target lock placement in your army, you will be able to Coordinated Firepower everyone at once and shoot most of the enemy units.

I would say build an army focused on being able to get into combat turn two, that is really your best bet. However, I would caution against too much list tailoring if this is a friendly game.

Any amount of Tau turn one shooting can be reduced by nil deployment as much as possible, also outflank is very useful to have because you dont need to rely on covering a 3rd of the table when you can come on from an edge considerably closer to the enemy than you otherwise would. Tau are certainly one of the toughest match ups i've had recently but they aren't insurmountable. You have to understand that are not going to avoid them shooting at you, you just need to consider how quickly you can get them into combat after they've had a turn or two of shooting. If you are using the correct amount of terrain with LoS blocking then its not just a case of the Fish shooting you in a barrel

Overall, struggling against Tau?, look at your table terrain and consult the terrain guidelines in the BRB. its not that you want cover saves, you want to make him work for LoS to shoot you. If you play against Tau across a table of rolling fields and copses of tree's then its your funeral I'm afraid.

 bomtek80 wrote:
Looking at the large variety of LOW's that are available to take with SM's and I've been considering purchasing a Typhon siege tank. I already have a Knight Errant and had also considered a Knight Crusader.

I play in a meta with a few Tau players and wouldn't mind knocking them down a peg or two. Which unit might be better in all your dakkanite opinions?

The typhon can't be hurt by Str 7 at all, limiting the things that can realistically hurt it to Fusion blasters, Railguns, Ion Accelerators on Nova Charge and Str D missiles, and 20 points on Armoured ceramite all but removes Fusion blasters from that list.

The knight on the other hand can easily be glanced to death by missilesides regardless of facing.

The Typhon threatens everything in the Tau dex bar the Riptide and Stormsurge with instant death on a 2+, no saves. You can also "accidentally" hit a ghostkeel that happens to be standing a bit too close to a stealth suit if they're taking the formation, doubling them out with no regard for their 2+ cover save. Commanders with Irridium? Doubled out, only get a save if they brought a shield gen, in which case he either prays for a bunch of 4++'s or all his drones go pop. Broadsides all fall down, no saves. The IK will wreck face if it gets into combat, same as virtually anything else against a tau army, but the Typhon will wreck face from turn 1 almost regardless of target. For Riptides and stormsurges, there's Grav, for everything else, Typhon to the face.

While the knight looks cooler, the Typhon is where the money is IMHO.

Typhon.

Tau have a very difficult time vs AV 14, especially with ceramite plating since that removes fusion blaster as an easy way to kill it.

With my Tau army, I cannot think of an easy way to kill AV 14 without fusion blasters. Tau are all about mass Str 5 and Str 7 shots. Only thing would be Str D missiles from the Stormsurge. So you would just have to try and kill it turn 1 (which is actually pretty easy) and then you would be set

notredameguy10 wrote:
Typhon.

Tau have a very difficult time vs AV 14, especially with ceramite plating since that removes fusion blaster as an easy way to kill it.

With my Tau army, I cannot think of an easy way to kill AV 14 without fusion blasters. Tau are all about mass Str 5 and Str 7 shots. Only thing would be Str D missiles from the Stormsurge. So you would just have to try and kill it turn 1 (which is actually pretty easy) and then you would be set

I'm not sure it would be "pretty easy." A naked Stormsurge, for sure, but a correctly equipped Stormsurge with a 4+ invulnerable and its native 5+ FNP can still shrug off a decent amount of firepower.

Stormsurge may not be Biotitan level of durable, but its still 8 wounds with a 3+, 4++, and FNP. The fact that its T6 is the only reason its not on the same level of FW GMCs or the Wraithknight because it can actually be hurt quite easily, so its making those saves often. Usually a GMC is immune to a lot of guns, so it doesnt even have to make those saves.


Unless youre sporting Wraithknights or some other form of long range Str D, i'd be surprised as hell if you kill it turn 1. Especially considering its even harder than a Riptide to kill and i dont think ive EVER lost a Riptide turn 1 even against ID threats (just never happened, or invul save'd). Even then, unless you roll a 6 i can still 4++ that Str D that will only do max 3 wounds if i dont save it (my track record with 2-5 results on my missiles are either i straight up missed or i got a 1 on the D3 lol)

Maybe using a Void Shield can help the typhon survive a storm surge shot?

 Nilok wrote:

notredameguy10 wrote:
Typhon.

Tau have a very difficult time vs AV 14, especially with ceramite plating since that removes fusion blaster as an easy way to kill it.

With my Tau army, I cannot think of an easy way to kill AV 14 without fusion blasters. Tau are all about mass Str 5 and Str 7 shots. Only thing would be Str D missiles from the Stormsurge. So you would just have to try and kill it turn 1 (which is actually pretty easy) and then you would be set

I'm not sure it would be "pretty easy." A naked Stormsurge, for sure, but a correctly equipped Stormsurge with a 4+ invulnerable and its native 5+ FNP can still shrug off a decent amount of firepower.

In a recent Battle Report on Miniwargaming, a stormsurge was killed in one single ranged attack from a group of Adeptus Mechanicus Kastelons with about average dice rolls.

notredameguy10 wrote:

 Nilok wrote:

notredameguy10 wrote:
Typhon.

Tau have a very difficult time vs AV 14, especially with ceramite plating since that removes fusion blaster as an easy way to kill it.

With my Tau army, I cannot think of an easy way to kill AV 14 without fusion blasters. Tau are all about mass Str 5 and Str 7 shots. Only thing would be Str D missiles from the Stormsurge. So you would just have to try and kill it turn 1 (which is actually pretty easy) and then you would be set

I'm not sure it would be "pretty easy." A naked Stormsurge, for sure, but a correctly equipped Stormsurge with a 4+ invulnerable and its native 5+ FNP can still shrug off a decent amount of firepower.

In a recent Battle Report on Miniwargaming, a stormsurge was killed in one single ranged attack from a group of Adeptus Mechanicus Kastelons with about average dice rolls.

So they did 21.33 wounds to the Stormsurge in a single attack?

21.33 with 4+ invulnerable on average dice rolls goes down to 10.66 unsaved wounds with a 5+ FNP goes to 8 unsaved wounds which exactly kills it.
Or did the Stormsurge fail more dice rolls than average or not have its 4+ invulnerable upgrade?

I could see it if it was a fully max squad with twin-linked heavy phosphor blasters and heavy phosphor blasters, but that unit is 860 points, which is more expensive than two Stormsurges both with shield generators. Which just so happens to be pretty close to half your army in one unit, which the Tau got a lot better at removing.

 Nilok wrote:

So they did 21.33 wounds to the Stormsurge in a single attack?

21.33 with 4+ invulnerable on average dice rolls goes down to 10.66 unsaved wounds with a 5+ FNP goes to 8 unsaved wounds which exactly kills it.
Or did the Stormsurge fail more dice rolls than average or not have its 4+ invulnerable upgrade?

I could see it if it was a fully max squad with twin-linked heavy phosphor blasters and heavy phosphor blasters, but that unit is 860 points, which is more expensive than two Stormsurges both with shield generators. Which just so happens to be pretty close to half your army in one unit, which the Tau got a lot better at removing.

Well your first mistake was arguing from the point of averages in a dice based game, yes it did happen, if you were a miniwargaming vault member i could link you the video and time stamp where it occurred. In mitigation Leland used his Datasmiths Relic to instantly change his Protocol to Protector Protocol which let him double tap his carapace mounted heavy phosper blasters (the not Twin-Linked ones)

put 7 wounds on,
Matt made 3, 5+ cover saves,
failed 4 FNP rolls,
Luminagen then activated reducing cover by 1,
Leland then put another 7 wounds on with the T/L Heavy Phosper Blasters,
Matt made 1 6+ cover,
Made 2 FNP rolls,
Took his last 4 wounds and died.

Lelands rolls were above average and Matt's saves were slightly below average, Niloc is correct that neither stormsurge in the battle had an Invulnerable save which is a big factor in the survival of a stormsurge as a 4++ would have saved at least 4 more of those wounds. However, the Stormsurge is by no means hard to kill, it crumbles like any T6 MC would regardless of its FNP. This was one unit of 4 Kastellans shooting at a stormsurge, nevermind the 2 units of destroyers that were still to come.

Overall Stormsurges dont phase me at all, Ghostkeels are by far and wide a much much larger threat because of their abilities and synergies with other units. I think your faith in the Stormsurge is miss-placed Niloc,

I agree that the Typhon is a better choice. It's blast marker is so big that it grabs units it doesn't target. It also has a 48" range when standing still. Tau will have to close to it and then the Typhon thunderblitz's with a +1 to the roll. 5+ to remove models it rolls over.

Typhon, with its blast you could target a Broadside unit and might clip a Ghostkeel, resulting in killing a Ghostkeel without actually targeting it (so won't be snap shooting)

Knight is AV13 so S7 spam, which Tau do well, will glance it to death, another point to the AV14 Typhoon.

The one Knight which might be able to withstand Tau firepower would be the Atrapos. This FW Knight reduced the strength of shooting attacks on it's shield facing -1 and -2 for blasts. With 7 hullpoints and a 6+ IWND, this Knight might be the best choice vs. Tau. Also one of it's weapons is a St D 8" beam which does not target a model so the Ghostkeel can not defend from it with snapshots.

IK are actually not TERRIBLE against the OSC, their Ion Shields still hold up against them. If you can get a 3++ Ion Shield they're ignorable.

 raverrn wrote:
IK are actually not TERRIBLE against the OSC, their Ion Shields still hold up against them. If you can get a 3++ Ion Shield they're ignorable.

There ion shield only hold up against OSC if you choose to place them on the rear armor, thus leaving your front armor open

DarthDiggler wrote:
....Tau will have to close to it and then the Typhon thunderblitz's with a +1 to the roll. 5+ to remove models it rolls over.

Not necessarily. A 5+ is S10 hits. A riptide with 3++ can survive it.

notredameguy10 wrote:

 raverrn wrote:
IK are actually not TERRIBLE against the OSC, their Ion Shields still hold up against them. If you can get a 3++ Ion Shield they're ignorable.

There ion shield only hold up against OSC if you choose to place them on the rear armor, thus leaving your front armor open

Hell no. Ion Shields work on attacks 'originating from' a chosen arc. Even if the OSC decides to hit on rear armor, their attacks still originate from the models, and you can save against them.

 raverrn wrote:

notredameguy10 wrote:

 raverrn wrote:
IK are actually not TERRIBLE against the OSC, their Ion Shields still hold up against them. If you can get a 3++ Ion Shield they're ignorable.

There ion shield only hold up against OSC if you choose to place them on the rear armor, thus leaving your front armor open

Hell no. Ion Shields work on attacks 'originating from' a chosen arc. Even if the OSC decides to hit on rear armor, their attacks still originate from the models, and you can save against them.

HAHA i advise you to re read the rules for ion shield.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ion Shield: Whan an Imperial Knight is deploted and subsequently at the start of each of the opposing side's shooting phases before any attacks are carried out, the Imperial Knight player must declare which facing each Imperial Knight's ion shield is covering. The choices are, front, left side, right side or rear. The Knight has a 4+ invulnerable save against all hits on that facing until the start of your opponent's next Shooting phase. Ion Shields are repositioned before any attacks are carried out in the Shooting phase. Ion shields may not be used to make saving throws againt close combat attacks.

This has already been discussed in a YMDC thread. It does not matter at all which direction the shot is coming from, only what side it hits. AKA OSC hits rear and if you do not have the shield on the rear you do not get an inv..

 Benedict wrote:

 Nilok wrote:

So they did 21.33 wounds to the Stormsurge in a single attack?

21.33 with 4+ invulnerable on average dice rolls goes down to 10.66 unsaved wounds with a 5+ FNP goes to 8 unsaved wounds which exactly kills it.
Or did the Stormsurge fail more dice rolls than average or not have its 4+ invulnerable upgrade?

I could see it if it was a fully max squad with twin-linked heavy phosphor blasters and heavy phosphor blasters, but that unit is 860 points, which is more expensive than two Stormsurges both with shield generators. Which just so happens to be pretty close to half your army in one unit, which the Tau got a lot better at removing.

Well your first mistake was arguing from the point of averages in a dice based game, yes it did happen, if you were a miniwargaming vault member i could link you the video and time stamp where it occurred. In mitigation Leland used his Datasmiths Relic to instantly change his Protocol to Protector Protocol which let him double tap his carapace mounted heavy phosper blasters (the not Twin-Linked ones)

put 7 wounds on,
Matt made 3, 5+ cover saves,
failed 4 FNP rolls,
Luminagen then activated reducing cover by 1,
Leland then put another 7 wounds on with the T/L Heavy Phosper Blasters,
Matt made 1 6+ cover,
Made 2 FNP rolls,
Took his last 4 wounds and died.

Lelands rolls were above average and Matt's saves were slightly below average, Niloc is correct that neither stormsurge in the battle had an Invulnerable save which is a big factor in the survival of a stormsurge as a 4++ would have saved at least 4 more of those wounds. However, the Stormsurge is by no means hard to kill, it crumbles like any T6 MC would regardless of its FNP. This was one unit of 4 Kastellans shooting at a stormsurge, nevermind the 2 units of destroyers that were still to come.

Overall Stormsurges dont phase me at all, Ghostkeels are by far and wide a much much larger threat because of their abilities and synergies with other units. I think your faith in the Stormsurge is miss-placed Niloc,

The example used is a bit....amusing. 4 Kastelans with the Datasmith is 590 points if they are going the dual Heavy Phosphor Blaster build, and that's not including the points spent on that upgrade for the Datasmith - of course, if it was a War Convocation, it's a different story. In any case, that unit averages this for shooting; hitting on 4s so 9 hits with the twin-linked HPB, 6 hits with the non twin-linked HPB. Those 15 hits wound on 4s, leading to roughly 7.5 or 8 wounds. Before we account for cover, a third of those wounds would be ignored by Feel No Pain, so this was definitely a case of above average for the aggressor and below average for the defender. Also, who in their right mind uses Stormsurges without Shield Generators? Now, let's look at this way; you're using a bad anecdote (Stormsurge with no Shield Generator, rolls were well in favor of the Mechanicus player) to try and say the Stormsurge isn't that durable when by all rights it should have survived against a near 600 point unit that puts out loads of AP3, -1 to cover shots.

With a Shield Generator and making full use of its incredible range, Stomsurges actually are pretty difficult to kill for the vast majority of armies in the game, especially seeing as Deep Striking to alpha-strike them is no safe bet given the wide-spread access to Interceptor Tau have. The 4++ means you ignore half of the AP3-AP2 wounds you suffer, while a third of any unsaved wounds are further ignored by the Feel No Pain roll. Another look at the Kastelan example you just used; the Stormsurges' two main weapons and Destroyer Missiles have 48" range or better, while the Kastelans have a 36" range. Depending on the size of the board, terrain placement and the actual deployment zones, the Stormsurge can comfortably stay out of the Kastelans' attack range for a turn or two as well (i.e. 6x4, short table edge deployment). Saying it is like killing an average T6 monstrous creature is facetious; T6 monstrous creatures don't innately have a combination of 4+ invulnerable save, 5+ Feel No Pain, immunity to Instant Death, immunity to Poisoned Weapons, 8 Wounds and colossal ranges on all its weapons meaning it doesn't need to be in range of things like plasma to do its job. Heck, most T6 monstrous creatures only have one of those traits (or none in the case of Tyranid MCs). In an edition of Destroyer and Graviton weapons, the Stormsurge is theoretically almost as hard to kill as the Ta'unar or Hierophant with regards to those weapon types as the only difference is that it has 2 less wounds but a better invulnerable save (with regards to the Hierophant).

If a Gargantuan Creature that is one of the most efficient sources of firepower in the game (anchors engaged) that is also deceptively difficult to kill (as pretty much anyone will tell you) and can actually give Tau a forward moving objective-taker and death-star stopper with Stomp somehow doesn't phase you at all, I truly wonder if the Tau players you go against don't utilize theirs correctly or if your meta is some kind of super-level competitive tier that no other region follows. These things are making big splashes in competitive play for a reason mate. Saying that Ghostkeels are a much larger threat is.....weird. A Stormsurge with the recommended load-out backed by Markerlights is absolutely terrifying for every army in the game, a Ghostkeel....not so much. Ghostkeels are ridiculous in the Optimized Stealth Cadre, but saying they are generally scarier than Stormsurges? Hell no.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the topic at hand, it depends on what kind of Tau you go up against. "Gundam" Tau with heaps of Riptides/Stormsurges/Ghostkeels/etc would be better suited for an Imperial Knight as a Typhon will simply bounce off of all of those (the Ghostkeels have their Holophoton Countermeasures). For pretty much any other kind of Tau army, go the Typhon; it obliterates pretty much everything short of the big stuff in the army which usually means killing off the Markerlights.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

DarthDiggler wrote:
The one Knight which might be able to withstand Tau firepower would be the Atrapos. This FW Knight reduced the strength of shooting attacks on it's shield facing -1 and -2 for blasts. With 7 hullpoints and a 6+ IWND, this Knight might be the best choice vs. Tau. Also one of it's weapons is a St D 8" beam which does not target a model so the Ghostkeel can not defend from it with snapshots.

With regards to the Atrapos' ranged weapon, that is incorrect. It does not have the Beam type in its profile but is instead "Heavy 1" meaning it merely shoots a single shot, much like a missile launcher or lascannon. It is the same deal with the Knight Lancer; the ranged profile for its dual-use weapon is also labeled as "Beam" in the descriptor part to differentiate between the Melee and Ranged profiles of the single weapon, and this is true of the Atrapos as well. Generally speaking though, yes, an Atrapos would be better against "monster" Tau than any of the other Knight variants.

Caederes wrote:

DarthDiggler wrote:
The one Knight which might be able to withstand Tau firepower would be the Atrapos. This FW Knight reduced the strength of shooting attacks on it's shield facing -1 and -2 for blasts. With 7 hullpoints and a 6+ IWND, this Knight might be the best choice vs. Tau. Also one of it's weapons is a St D 8" beam which does not target a model so the Ghostkeel can not defend from it with snapshots.

With regards to the Atrapos' ranged weapon, that is incorrect. It does not have the Beam type in its profile but is instead "Heavy 1" meaning it merely shoots a single shot, much like a missile launcher or lascannon. It is the same deal with the Knight Lancer; the ranged profile for its dual-use weapon is also labeled as "Beam" in the descriptor part to differentiate between the Melee and Ranged profiles of the single weapon, and this is true of the Atrapos as well. Generally speaking though, yes, an Atrapos would be better against "monster" Tau than any of the other Knight variants.

Hmmmm....interesting. So the Atrapos' beam weapon isn't actually a beam? Wished I would have known that when I played against my friend's War Convocation with the Atropos.

@jy2
Yeah I double-checked its' rules a few times and its lascutter is worded as such;

Atrapos Lascutter
(beam) - 8" S: D AP2 Heavy 1
(close combat) - "" S: D AP1 Melee, Wrecker

So sadly yes it sounds like you got cheated!