NockerGeek has recently revised his article on Mont'ka vs Kauyon, adding new arguments and moving away from the less effective ones. However, he is still off on some areas, and so this is, again, a counter-counter-point. He has stated it is his last post, so I will just toss this down and it will likely end roundabouts there, unless he pops back in or someone else wants to take up the mantle.
Instead of going paragraph to paragraph I'm going to go issue to issue:
Tethered to cover/Making our own cover:
This is a misconception; The Kroot do not need cover, as anyone shooting at them is simply wasting their bullets, and the survivability of the Kroot is not the purpose of their positioning. The first line is vulnerable to first turn, turn 1, alpha-strike, but it will be in cover turn 2 or bottom of 1, because of what I will describe below.
The second line is behind the first, meaning automatic cover. These two walls give cover to everything behind them; this is the very definition of making our own cover.
At the beginning of the Kauyou player's first turn, if shooting is expected, the Piranhas move out, blocking clear LOS to the first line of Kroot. They are now in cover. The Piranhas can gain cover via either flatout or disruption. Everything has a cover save. Crisis Suits, both lines of Kroot, Pathfinders, Broadsides. Suits can jump out. Broadsides are hitting tanks or MCs, meaning the shooting through a unit rule does not apply.
So the Kauyon MAXIMIZES cover; a large amount for you, and no self-inflicted cover on the enemy; meaning they have to tether themselves or take indirect routes... and even then Pathies can strip it away.
Mont'ka can give cover to everything via D.Pods and running away... but if they get anything within 12" you're in trouble, specifically because that thing is likely a meltagun.
Note also that the Mont'ka requires retreat from melta-carriers to stay alive; and since melta is so prevalent, that is a lot of retreating to do.
Fire Bad:
Flamers are incredibly overrated, and that says something because most of the internet hates them already. To do significant damage to my likely strung out line, you'd have to be right up next to the Kroot and spray sideways... a task that would have had you within rapidfire of my Crisis Suits the turn before turn, even with Jump Packs (unless you DS'd in rightnext my Kroot and whole army, but I encourage that idiocy against me). Then you have to deal with me shooting after, so:
1) You somehow moved a unit through rapidfire of two Fireknife units boosted with Markerlights.
2) You spend your last surviving turn flaming kroot.
3) You get rapidfired AGAIN.
Seeing as how that unit must have been rather expensive to effectively live to GET to me, or at least have been paying for a Deepstrike ability... you are at a loss even if you do flame my Kroot.
Then I throw in the tidbit of information that even with optimal positioning, strung out Kroot will only grant you 3-4 flamer hits (you need 5 to cause morale on 17-man squads)... yeah, that doesn't work.
And I KNOW someone would mention other weaponry in the squad, but honestly... how does it survive to get there? And why would anyone take a flamer oriented squad anyways? To get beatdown by mech?
Assault Worse/Assault not as bad
As to your talk about assaulters vs Kroot lines:
1) A decent general will shift the Kroot line to center near a suspected attack... or even give them no other option than to do so by surrounding them! The Kroot WANT to absorb that assault, leaving them in the open for our guns. Speaking of which...
2) We don't anchor to cover, not normally at least. If we do, your consolidate won't be enough to reach it if you are hitting the edge of the line, no way in hell.
As to Mont'ka being "not so bad" in CC... I admit that the tanks can be hardy due o the hit on 6s rule. The problem is that the squad assaulting you is now in position to perpetually assault, and thus perpetually melta, your vehicle. Also, if that melta (I assume it's there because it always is) immobilized you, your tank is now made of wafer and balloons.
Furthermore, your tanks are not as expendable as my Kroot... they contain juicy Fire Warriors, whom you praise later for their ability to score, and fun Gun Drone kill points.
My Kroot give you scorers I planned to lose, and a fistful of plasma and missiles.
Around, Over, or Through
Don't forget under! Sneaky Tyranids.
But yeah, this is really not a problem.
Jumpers: They can't jump over the wall because against jump infantry I'll puff out all my units to take up maximum space, and thus there will be no area they can legally jump into... meaning landing front of my line and assaulting Kroot like everyone else. Also, these guys can't hop in transports, meaning that I can be hitting them since turn 1.
Outflanking: Won't do crap. I'm either in the middle of the board so they have to walk through like everyone else, or I'm in the corner with a vehicle blockage plugging the wall, meaning that when they come in the fight... Kroot. Like everyone else.
Infiltrators: These guys. Here's the thing... I have Kroot. They can't get within 18" of said Kroot. The Kroot are often INFILTRATED farther forward, or at least placed far up. meaning they are basically not doing anything special.
Deep Strikers: See what I did in Jump Infantry? That. But with added fun of scattering amidst me and blowing up. Against a DS heavy army, I'll castle up in the corner or put my walls fully around myself. Against a random DS unit in there? It can't assault first turn unless you took Vanguards (good luck making your 300 point power armor unit work, bro! Got an Honour Guard?) they can't assault me that turn, meaning I just smash them. No big deal.
By the by... how does Mont'ka deal with this? My Mont'ka always had problems with those tricky Wolf Scouts with melta. Have you ever faced a Chaos Termie squad with combi-meltas deepstriking in? What about Multimelta/Meltagun Oblits? What about Logan with Relentless, splitfiring, Multi-melta LongFangs popping out of a drop pod? What about melta in drop pods in general? What about Scouting Veterans with melta hitting you first turn? Same with Deffkoptas?
Mont'ka has problems with these. Kauyon can laugh them all off with Kroot Walls.
Fire Lanes Required/Making our own Fire Lanes
So your problem with the Kauyon is that we have to make a killzone? All joking aside:
1) My entire army can shift 6" in any direction, with the Broadsides lagging around slightly. My Crisis Suits and Broadsides are just as mobile as Mont'ka Crisis Suits and Broadsides. The only units that can "outspeed" me and "make their own fire lanes" are Mont'ka's dual or triple Hammerheads... I have one as well.
2) If LOS either way is really bad, then I don't need too many Kroot for cover, do I? Meaning I can keep one back for a later assault blocking role and move one farther forward as a lure into my sights.
3) Bad LOS will even screw the Kauyon... more so, in fact, because the denser the terrain, the more LOS is blocked, the easier it is to get into effective melta range.
4) When they hit my line of Kroot, I will see them. While this not the best scenario, and bad LOS screws with Tau, I can still reliably draw them to me, assuming they aren't Guard. Mont'ka can as well, but every sacrifice is more costly.
Support Dependency/Support-Independent
Quite frankly, this is the worst argument throughout.
First off, let's look at the fallacy that Kauyon uses less guns...
A) The Kauyon has access to the cheaper, stationary units for both Railguns and Markerlights. This is true... point for point, our 'lights and Railguns are cheaper.
B) The Crisis Suits for Mont'ka nd the Crisis Suits for Kauyon are priced equally.
C) The Kauyon often spend less on Troops than the Mont'ka does. Luckily for us, NockerGeek, we see the perfect example of that in our two lists; you run two minimum Fire Warriors in cheap Devilfish (310 total). I run the minimum 6 Fire Warriors in reserve, and two 17man Kroot units (284 total).
D) Based on C, we know that the Kauyon has slightly more points to spend on Troops, and one more scoring unit than the Mont'ka in this case; though Mont'ka could add another, it would simply accentuate the difference in cost of troops.
E) Based on A and B, we know that the Kauyon player can afford more bullets than the Mont'ka player, point for point.
F) Based on D and E, one can thus conclude that Kauyon lists can easily hold more firepower, if they'd like.
The reason is because I purchased Devilfishes with the Pathfinders. This is not a detriment; one is necessary, but the other one is just useful; blocking, acting as a backup, tank-shocking to contest, etc.
If I had dropped a single Pathfinder squad and its Devilfish, I could afford a THIRD Fireknife squad, factoring in the difference between our troops as well. I could afford another Hammerhead or a Broadside squad. I could even grab a damned Skyray For now, I like the extra 'fish and redundant 'lights. But note that the Kauyon is NOT outgunned.
This is not to mention the comparative survivability of our units, specifically the slow moving Broadsides and Pathfinders the Mont'ka is so keen to leave in the dust.
As to the other assertion:
1) Pathfinders will be on the same line of fire as the units they are supporting (namely Broadsides), meaning that the lanes of fire only hurt them as much as it hurts every other Tau army in existence.
2) Pathfinders do not widen the wall, the will be very close by to the Crisis Suits and Broadsides, or will take the place (or sit directly behind) Piranhas had occupied, etc. Piranhas actually help the wall; late game, if the wall is breached, they become the next skirmishers to keep my guns alive.
3) A canny opponent should never ignore 12 Pathfinders. I'd love to spend the first through turns marking him up as he whittles through my Gun Drones with a 4+ cover save.
An Objective Too Far/Capture and Control
The idea that Kauyon is a static, unmoving mountain of firepower is a farce. The Kauyon can attack the enemy with incredibly heavy firepower, and then use the Mont'ka method of reserving Troops to the same effect; only with more enemies dead.
The Kauyon can be surprisingly mobile for its playstyle; often 1 or 2 squadrons of Piranhas, not to mention anywhere from 1-4 vehicles, the Kauyon can be a very mobile force when it wants to; and can act like a Mont'ka in terms of objective taking, making up for a lack of one or two vehicles with its ability to reduce the enemy resistance more than the Mont'ka.
Furthermore, the Kauyon has more troop choices base, despite the Kroot being used foremost to keep their guns alive. Kroot also make better late game contesters/converters (turning an enemy held objective to your own) than Devilfish, as most Troops hold anti-tank and the assault ability to kill Fire Warriors. A Devilfish's worth in such a time really comes from its tankshocking abilities and size, but not much else.
Kroot however, can assault the unit, and are not affected by meltagun fear nearly as much. A whittled down unit of Marines can still kill Fire Warriors and hold melta. A whittled down unit of Marines may not survive the remainder of your Kroot crashing into them.
In conclusion:
The Kauyon is effective, and requires a lot of planning and understanding to use to its full effect. On a personal note, I'm actually enjoying it more; the games becoming more about target priority and subtle defensive shifts than my old Mont'ka games, which I did not expect. Not having a Achilles' Heel in melta really relieves a lot of stress and makes me play more aggressively.
The Mont'ka is a fun way to play, but I feel it folds in circumstances in which your opponent has melta and knows how to cut off your movement advantage with it, which happens too often. When your opponents figure this out, your games become a inferior Kauyon; your tanks trapped in a corner and your units pummeled without enough firepower to stem the threats. Without this fear, the Kauyon can strike offensively, even move upfield.
My suggestion: Try the Kauyon and the Mont'ka, and find that which fits you best; just make sure you find a way to deal with melta en masse if you choose the latter.
