Battle Report: 500pt BA vs Tau - League Round 2

Last night saw round 2 of the Escalation League at my local store. I showed up on time like usual, but a lot of people couldn't play that day and will have to reschedule. There were an odd number of players so one would have to sit out til someone showed up. The more seasoned Space Wolf player I faced off with in round 1 said he would wait and let me face the other person waiting to play. He said this was his first time playing 40k and he pulled out a Tau army... Well what are the odds? I already felt bad for the kid before deployment. I had to re-do my list since it was built for 1000pts, so this was what I came up with at an even 500pt:

• 1x Libby (JP; Shield, S10 Sword)
• 3x 5-man ASM (1x MG; PW)

His army was approximately: 

• 1x Ethereal
• 1x 12-man FW Squad with Team Leader
• 1x ~20-man Kroot Squad with Shaper
• 1x Hammerhead (Rail; SMS; MT)

You all read my rant in the post below right? Well, I didn't want it to happen, but the dice gods were bowing down to me. I chose to go second and DS everything so he got 2 free turns of movement, as he spread out to take other table quarters. I decided to DS everything right behind his HH to melta it... and it happened. All 3 units and the Libby (all on his own) all made it in from reserves and either hit or scattered 1". This lined up 3 meltas with one taking down his HH in an explosion and the other popping the Ethereal. This lead his FW to take a leadership and they failed. This led them to fall back into me within 6" and they couldn't regroup and ran off the table without firing a shot. The Kroot turned around to charge at me but were outside of assault range so just fired and killed off 2 marines. I shot into the Kroot to weaken 'em and then the Libby and two units charged, with the 3rd waiting in the back to hold that table quarter. By the end of the turn the Kroot were wiped, ending the game on bottom turn 3.

The Organizer gave me the Massacre and points for assuming I could continue the game to hold 3 quarters and ones other than my deployment zone and this would could as my round 2. So, I'll have to make a 1500pt list for two weeks from now. I told the guy I fought that I felt bad for doing it, but really, I didn't think I'd pull off all units in on turn 2 like that and still get in all my shots in. We talked a bit about how he could improve some of his list, but really, not much can be done against my entire force starting withing 12" of his. He could use the Kroot as bubble wrap so I had to deal with them first, but this was his first game, so it's not like he knew that meta-game technique. Some of the other games going on were Plague Marines vs Eldar and Ork vs Space Wolves. Since they were in transports and the models were on the side table, I thought I'd take another pic of the Wolves:

Battle Report 1000pt: BA vs Tau - League Practice

Fit in a quick game to practice for Friday's League game. Here's a repeat of the scenario: "The game will play out that there is an attacker and the other is defender (determined by dice roll). The defender will hold a central bunker with the rest of his army coming from the deployment zone (a sort of reinforcement scenario). Winner is determined by Victory Points, but you get bonus League Points for either eliminating the defenders in the building and then holding it (if attacker) or having those troops survive (if defender). Both sides can get bonus points for holding more table quarters than the other as well."

So, I rolled higher and took the Attack role. If I should be a defender in the League game, I have a plan in mind already. Since everything of mine was deep striking, he got a free turn to set up his heavy weapons and he was planning on taking his troops from the building and falling back instead of making it a meat grinder. His list was:

• Shas'O (Plasma; Ion Blaster; MT)
• 2x Bodyguards (Plasma; Flamer; MT)
• 2x 6-man Fire Warrior
• 1x 4-man Pathfinder (1-Rail Rifle; mandatory DF)
• 2x Hammerhead (Ion; SMS; MT)
• 1x 3-man Broadside Team (TL-Rail; SMS; MT)

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

With that, I was able to wipe out everything except the DF was still immobile, a suit, and a single gun drone. That would basically chalk up to a Massacre of 17pts holding probably 2 table quarters and the center building, plus 1 for killing the troop choice from the center for the max 20pts. My VV squad of two L. Claws failed me and never came on until turn 5 and never assaulted because they scattered 4" away from the XV8 suits (plus the built in distance I gave them so they wouldn't scatter onto the suits). All my troops got shot to pieces with the XVs taking out one whole unit of 5 on their DS turn. The Libby did very little in the role I thought he'd play, but he did kill off the two suits, getting the Shas'O with his Force Sword sapping all its wounds at once. The priest also was outside of helping range most of the game, but that was just poor placement and reserves rolling.

So, there it is. It went well, but could have gone better if my VV came in soon, so the ASM had to pick up the slack. They did alright, but my goal is to not commit them if I don't have to to combat. I didn't adhear to that rule this time and it got me shot to pieces. I need to be more focused on a game plan instead of just reacting to what I see on the board and throwing it out the window.

»Side note, how do you guys play the Blood Chalice FC bubble? Do the units just have to start in range of it in the start of the Assault Phase to benefit from it (4th Ed PDF method) or check for FC after the assault move is completed when you need to determine what everyone's Initiative value is?

Battle Report: 500pt BA vs Tau - Skirmish

I got word of an Escalation League at the LGS where it starts at 500 then goes to up every two weeks to 1000, 1500, and ends at 2000. I'll detail it out in my next post which will cover the first game I played of the League. I built a list, mostly in fear of a mech enemy. Someone sneaky trying to field minimum troops and fit in a tank or walkers. The list was:

• 1x Libby (Shield, Lace)
• 1x Priest (Meltabombs)
• 3x 5-man ASM (Sgt has MBs; 1x Meltagun)

This comes out to 500 even. Covers vehicles well, but no power weapons or fists and that is the weakness here. The Tau list was:

• 1x Shas'el (Flamer; TL-MP)
• 2x 6-man FireWarriors
• 2x Hammerhead (Ion Cannon; SMS; MT; D-pods; Sensor Spines)

Basically my plan was to drop down first chance I got and melta the tanks and then do mop up. My Priest drops in first just fine but my Libby squad fails, even with DoA and the normal squad makes it in. I place my Priest near his HH on his flag but since I only have the 1 squad now, I take the shot on his HQ suit instead. Melta fails and one pistol wounds him, woo... The other normal squad drops near my flag to keep his units from just piling on it and holding it all game. In retrospect, I might have done better dropping it on the HH as well to try and pop it, or the suit. It boiled down to my two special squads working together on his point, and my loner squad holding the home base and him having two teams of a HH and 6 FW (one at his flag, one at my flag) with his HQ in the center, lending missile pods where needed. I only ever shot down a HH and nothing else, proving to be quite ineffective. However, I was able to weather dozens and dozens of wounds from missions and pulse rifles, winning the game by just surviving.

I'll soon do a write up of the actual League game I participated in and details on how it is structured.

Battle Report: 750pt BA vs Tau - Retaliation

The scouting party of marines that were dispatched were left bloodied and crawling back, past their smoking Rhinos as the second squad arrived on the battlefield. This battle report covers the rematch Jason and I declared at the start of the previous game where he stole the initiative. We deployed exactly in the pics as the first battle report. The follow are what happened with me zooming up to the center.

I skipped pics of turn 1 and 2 as I only get to the center and use cover and no shots were landed on me that did damage. The pics are tops of turn 3 and 4 and bottom of 4 and 5. The game ended at the bottom of 5. While I wasn't crushing him, I did a ton better as I had the mobility to get into range of disembarking and assaulting. Even with melta guns and bombs, I only managed to wreck one HH and take off an Ion Cannon and Burst Cannon the whole game. But, it was enough to keep the wounds from piling up. He was able to hold me off until turns 4-5 before I accumulated any real KPs, which ended in a 5 - 2 win for me. It goes to show that the littlest thing like having first turn can turn the tide. The scary thing is that Jason is refining his list as I type this, which means it will only get tougher for me as he becomes more points efficient and picks deadlier weapons.

Battle Report: 750pt BA vs Tau - Alpha Strike

Fit in a game last night and had a hell of a time of it. This will actually break down into two post to make sure I cover both the battles in detail and the lessons learned. My army was basically half of what I fielded against the Daemons in the report earlier.

• 10-man ASM (PW/MB; 2xMG; Rhino)
• 5-man ASM (PW/MB; 1xMG; Rhino)
• Librarian (Shield; Lance)
• Priest (Meltabomb)
• 5-man Sternguard (2xCombi-Melta; Rhino with HK Missile)

The Tau forces fielded by my enemy (Jason) was built around Hammerheads as they really appealed to him. He built it on his own and then I went over it to ensure it was legal and had the proper allotment of weapons/support systems and that upgrades like Team Leader were applied so he could use certain items. Sure, some of the selections are not the best, but this is his first list and we all have to learn the game via trial and error. We don't always accept other people's suggestions as the best without knowing how things really perform first.

• Shas'el (Flamer; Missile Pod; Multi-tracker; Shield Drone)
• 2x 6-man FireWarriors
• 1-Shas'vre (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Flamer; MT)
• 1-Shas'vre (TL Fusion Blaster; Flamer; MT; Shield Drone; Stim-Injector)
• 3x Hammerhead (Ion Cannon; Burst Cannons; MT; D-pod)

Now, for the twist in this report. I got first turn and kept it, to deny the Tau an Alpha Strike so I can go Flat Out, pop smoke, go FO again, then unload into his lines. What happens, Jason rolls his magical 6 for like the 3rd game in a row and steals the initiative! As I fume, he lines up his shots and explodes the Sternguard and wreck the utility Rhino with the special characters. Well... there goes the game in my head. I can no longer zip in with Meltas to take out the tanks and have to hoof it around to get into assault. We agree right then to play a rematch with the exact same deployment but I get first turn, to see how it would be different. Pictures follow with the play by play.

Basically, that alpha strike ended the game. There was no way to take out his tanks anymore and they just picked me apart with AP3 weapons, eventho I normally had 4+ or 5+ cover saves, it wasn't enough. It was my first loss in a while and only with the new BA, but it's all good. I learned a few things about BA, but makes me confident in the Tau being viable still. The list can be refined more and be even more deadly. My only counter would be to switch to Jump Packs under the cover of a Libby Shield to fore go the Rhinos getting popped. The rematch will be posted tomorrow with pics to show you how important deployment and first turn can be!

Army List: 750pt Tau - Scouting Cadre

 

Army list, ok... wait, for Tau?! Yeah, that's right, I'm dipping my toes into a different army for the moment. I'm still painting my Angels, no worries, but I'm mixing things up. If you check out the blog Tau of War you will see my help desk email with more information. Basically my friend is learning Tau and making me read the codex and I've gotten bitten by the Greater Good. I made up a list at work, but got a quick reply for some help and tweaked it. This is what I got so far:

• Shas'el XV8 (Targeting Array, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster)
• Drone Controller: Shield Drone and Gun Drone
• 3x Shas'ui XV8 (TL-Missile Pod, Flamer)
• Team Leader with Shield Drone
• 6-Fire Warriors
• Devilfish with Disrupt Pods and Multi-tracker
• 10-Kroot and 5-Hounds
• 2x Shas'ui XV88 (Targeting Array x2)
• Team Leader with Shield Drone

I'm sure it's not the most efficient or whatever, but it's my first list with the army so be gentle. I figure not a lot of use with multi-trackers on the suits because i'll either be firing at range and scooting away, or if they catch me, i'll just use the flamers. Sure, if it was 1500pt game, I'd take em, but I need to squeeze out points. Plus it mirrors a lot of what Old Shatter Hands suggested, so take it up with him. :-p I'll write up a report as soon as I test it out. As for my friend, he's making his own list that will fight my Angels. Hoping to give him good advice and turn him to OSH's blog for deployment tips and actually give me a challenge that the Necron were not providing. A rep will follow for that as well.

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.

Battle Report - 1000pt Blood Angels vs Tau

So this is my first battle report on here and it was between my Blood Angel successor chapter (yet to be named or built... haha) vs my friend Dak's Tau themed around the Soviet Union. The battle as 1000pt as I couldn't proxy enough Rhino hulls, as my 1500pt list has 3 Rhinos and 2 Baal Preds but I only have 3 actual Rhino models. So, my forces were:

• Lord Dante
• Carbulo in Rhino with 3 DC
• 2x 5-man ASM in Rhinos
• Sargents had PW and Melta Bombs
• 10-man Tac Squad with Las-cannon
• 2x Landspeeders with MM

Tau forces where:

• 2x HQ Suits (Plasma/Missile)
  
• 1x Elite Suit (Plasma/Missile)
  
• 2x Firewarrior Squads with Devilfish transports
• Hammerhead with Rail Cannon
  
• Hammerhead with Ion Cannon

Deployment and mission were spearhead/annihilation, he won roll off and went first and chose his quadrant. He deployed everything near the center and I deployed my las-cannon team near the center as well, everything else of mine is in reserve. The center of the board is my bunker from earlier posts, so it's up for grabs. One DF runs up and unloads his troops near the door and the rest circle around the bunker to get LOS on my unit which brings his other DF and HH near my table edge. The squad take shots like a champ surviving the round of shooting. They didn't have a shot at the end of the turn so they move to cover for the incoming plasma shots next turn.

Top of 2, he pours more shots into them reducing them to just the lascannon, but the final failed save was from a pinning shot, which I of course fail so he can't shoot next turn. I roll for reserves and one Landspeeder, Dante, and a normal Rhino come on. The speeder rolls on behind his DF, penning his rear armor for an immobilize. Dante arrived behind his HH, penning rear armor with his melta-pistol, wrecking it, and the Rhino just moves up 12" but forgets to pop smoke. The key here was the Tau not knowing I can come in on the whole table edge and the skimmers were both near 12" of my edge so were in range of getting 2d6 pen rolls on rear armor. On his turn, I think a suit missile'd the side armor of my Rhino and it got wrecked, failing an area cover save. My ASM pile out into this cover to get saves vs any plasma or Ion cannons. Their mission is now to melta the downed DF to get the KP.

Top of 3, one of his HQs goes to rapid fire plasma and missiles into my lone lascannon who promptly sticks the cannon into the ground and hides behind it, as the HQ rolls 4 1s missing all shots! The HQ is forced to charge or he will open fire next turn, and he is finally cut down. The ASM squad on foot takes some wounds from the Ion cannon but live on. His other units maneuver around but not much else. My second 'speeder comes on and moves up 12" to get in MM range of the second DF which hits on side armor and immob that one as well. My DC Rhino comes on and moves up and pops smoke. The speeder that immob the 1st DF moves around to fire on the HQ with his MM, but fails to hit. Dante jumps forward and pops a suit with his pistol.

Top of 4, his HQ suit proceeds to score a weapon destroyed and an immob on my 1st speeder, but doesn't give up its KP. His two downed DF launch their 2 gun drones each to bring the fight to me. His suit and some FW in the bunker fire at Dante scoring 1 wound, but Carbulo was close enough to heal it. I can't remember how, but my 2nd speeder was destroyed by fire, probably the Ion cannon. My ASM go to meet his one squad of gun drones and shoot them from the sky on their way to the downed DF. Dante jumps past the other downed DF where a suit was hiding and preceded to kill him in CC, leaving just one suit left, which was an HQ. The DC rhino moves up to stay within range of Dante to give him a saved wound for the next shooting phase.

Top of 5, he turns everything around and labels Dante the threat. The FW in the bunker come out so all can rapid fire into him, the other FW in the immob DF pile out and move to get into RF as well, the last suit comes around the bunker and the Ion HH take aim. Both squads of FW fail to wound, as Carbulo heals the only one they inflict. The suit inflicts one wound, and finally 2 Ion blasts aren't saved so he is knocked out. This allows my ASM squad to stroll over to the other DF and melta it and wreck it. My 3 DC unload and hop the nearby wall and charge his closest FW squad, winning combat but they only fall back a few inches, which sets me up to charge them on turn 6 and sweep them. Speaking of turn 6 my last rhino that came in on turn 5 rolls up and shoots the other gun drone squad from the air with help from bolt pistols inside. The other FW squad ran back in the bunker but couldn't shoot much. The game ends there as a win for me 7 to 4.

Some questions that came up, that I pose to anyone that plays and is reading this are: Can foot infantry go thru walls that are tall enough to cover a rhino and are gun drone squads that disembark from a Devilfish count as a squad that create a KP? For the first, I figured it was just a difficult terrain test, like they blow a hole thru the wall with explosives. We just played it as 1d6 difficult terrain, instead of 2d6 picking the highest. And for the second, I counted the drones as KP as they have an entry in the codex as an actual fast attack choice with a unit stat line, they just happened to start on the DF. My opponent said they shouldn't as they are more like a wargear choice for the DF. Lemme know what you think of this post as well, if it was too long or what. It was long as I don't have a way to recording it and making it like a 5-7 min post on YouTube like Jawaballs and the other bloggers. Thoughts?