Battle Report - 1500pt Blood Angels vs Tau

Managed to fit in a quick game on Sunday with my friend Dak and his Tau again after a long hiatus. He's more into Dungeons and Dragons right now so his Tau are on the side lines at my place most of the time. I decided to repeat my last army list, which my friend Seth came up with during my last batrep. I also took pictures this time to help detail the situation! My list:

• Carbulo (on foot)
  
• 3 Death Company (on foot)
• 2x Land Speeders with MM and HF
• 2x Baal Preds with HB Sponsons
• 1x Furioso Dread w/ DC and HF
• 3x 10-man ASM (2 in Rhinos, 1 Jump Packs)
  
• Sargent w/ PW and MB
• 1 Plasma Pistol

One unit of ASM were using Packs for two reasons: 1) I didn't have enough Rhino hulls to represent 2 Preds and 3 transports and 2) I had yet to field Jump Packs and wanted to see how maneuverable and deadly they could be. Tau forces were (from my memory):

• 2x HQ Suits with Plasma/Missile and Shield Drone
• 2x Suits with Plasma/Missile
• 2x Hammerhead with Ion Cannon
• 1x Hammerhead with Rail
• 2x Firewarrior Squads, only 1 Devilfish transport
• Squad of Kroot and Hounds around 20 or more strong
• Mystery unit that was in the back, but never shot or did anything so I can't remember what it was.

Here is a picture of the opening layout. We rolled for Seize Ground and Pitched deployment. He won the roll off and handed me first turn. I deploy everything and so does he.

(BA Deployment Details)                (Tau Deployment Details)

For the most part in the Tau picture what you see is what you get. I had to point out my stuff as I proxy a lot. He tries to steal the initiative, but rolls low, a theme that will dominate his dice. I move my tanks up, staying behind the destroyed bunker to get cover saves instead of popping smoke. My Rhinos and Speeders on the right move up to the wall and tower with one of the objectives. My overall strategy this time around is to play the waiting game and make him close the distance to get shots on me, so I'm not out in the open getting pinged by all his S7 shots from Missiles and Ions. My forces in the center move up behind the bunker for cover with the goal of charging across the middle to get into CC with the Kroot on the other point. One of the Speeders on the right goes flat out to the center bunker as well, to help the Baal Preds take on the Hammerhead on the left. No shooting takes place on my first turn. In general nothing dies on the ensuing Tau turn via cover saves ignoring everything he throws at me. Here are the results of Turn 2 shooting, to speed things up:

(Bottom of Turn 2 Shooting Details) 

The Tau only managed a Shaken result on a Rhino and a Stunned result on one Speeder. My Baal Preds moved up to guard the point and my Speeder while getting angles to fire their ACs on the remaining HQ suit on the left. The Jump Pack ASM were in range to jump into the remaining FWs. The ASM took on shots from the FW and an Ion Hammer, but as I said, Dak was rolling lots of ones tonight and failed to down any of them. On the right, knowing I had the DC, a Furioso, and a HF Speeder all ready to pounce on the Kroot, plus I had a Rhino full of scoring troops on the flag behind the wall, I went for a crazy move and tank shocked his HQ. He failed his DoG and I crushed the suit and it's shield drone.

 (Turn 3 Details)

 

At the end of my shooting phase, before I even assaulted his FW with my ASM, he called the game. He failed to kill anything of mine and his troop choices were dwindling. He was down to one suit as well that already lost its drone and a wound. I would say my forces were nicely balanced and I was rolling an abundance of 4+'s with about 3-4 rending shots on his suits. He also rolled an abundance of 3-'s for his to-hits, to-wounds, and armor saves for his troops. 

Strategy Summary: I'd like to think I had a better strategy as well compared to other fights. Presenting 2 Baal Preds and a MM Speeder up against only 1 Railhead means he can pop one of my guys but I still have enough to kill off his suits. On the right I had a Furioso with HF, the DC, and a Speeder with a HF, all threatening his Kroot in cover (which wouldn't matter vs HF and assaulters with 'nades). This overwhelms the opponent's choices for attack and provides that even if something is eliminated, I have enough backups to get the job done. I also used more cover for my vehicles in terms of doubling up so the one behind is covered and then popping smoke on the front unit where possible. These cover saves stopped all his incoming missiles and ions, and he just rolled poorly for his two Rail shots so they never landed either. Also, with my limited Melta shots and good blocking cover, my strat was to avoid taking on the tanks. I took on the Devilfish as I had a side shot with a MM within 12" and got a destroyed result. Beyond that, I was going to focus on the suits and just run away from the armor or let my ASM charge in with a Melta bomb and 9 Krak attacks on the rear armor, rather than hope 1 melta shot hits his AV13. This seemed to work better as I popped his suits with ease, while his tank shots were deflected by smoke.

After the battle, I did find one thing I played wrong and that is having my Jump Pack squad enter the bunker in the center. The Rule Book states buildings are the exact same as transports except they are immobile, so they cannot fit Jump Packs inside. I jumped them to the door on turn one and embarked and then disembarked on turn two on the other side and moved them up to assault. Had I know, I would have just used the building as cover and stayed out, jumping over it and assaulting, either way, I would have made it in on Turn 2, but I wanted to write this down to remember for next time.