4/2 1500 Game 3: Tau

Sorry, I've been sick so the battle reports have been slow coming.

Game 3 and I'm up against Gus's Tau.  I've played Gus many moons ago, I'd guess over two years probably.

Here's the current version of his Tau Empire:

Shas'o- Plasma/MP/ Flamer + HWMT+ 2 Shield Drones, SI
+1 Shas'Vre Bodygaurd, Plasma/MP, TA, HWMT, BSF
+1 Shas'Vre Bodygaurd, Plasma/MP, TA, HWMT

Shas'o- Plasma/MP + MT+ 2 Shield Drones
+1 Shas'Vre Bodygaurd, Plasma/MP, TA, HWMT, BSF
+1 Shas'Vre Bodygaurd, Plasma/MP, TA, HWMT

6 Firewarriors + Devilfish w/ Disruption Pod
6 Firewarriors

4 Pathfinders + Devilfish w/ Disruption Pod

Hamerhead, Railgun, Disruption Pod, MT
Hamerhead, Railgun, Disruption Pod, MT
2 Broadsides. 1 Team Leader, Target Lock, ASS, 2 Shield Drones

Gus, much like I've been thinking, has gone for firepower over scoring units.  Unlike my Tau choice he's gone with 2 3 man teams (5 when you add shield drones) that have loads of upgrades but that does provide some Multiwound/Equipment Shenanagins.  I tend to go for more bodies and less upgrades when it comes to my Crisis suit selection.

The mission is basically Spearhead, with Objectives in the center of the non deployment corners.  Kill points also play into the breakdown of the massacre/major/minor wins.

He wins the roll off and chooses to go second.  I'd rather be going first, but on this heavy terrain city board I decide to try to pin him in to a very cramped table quarter.

Here he is his force at the end of turn 1.  You can see the building on the top right really sucks up a lot of space in that quarter.  He put his Devilfish and troops in deployment, and I didn't really worry about the fact that the devil fish for the Pathfinder might have needed to roll separately than the firewarriors it was obviously intended for it.

My turn 1 and I get a really good drop.  I think one speeder stayed out.  One troop goes over to camp the far 'left' objective.  The Champ squad scattered back but into cover, and the dread scattered way off also (you can barely see the pod in the picture below).  The termies and marhal hit down and the speeder rolled backward but was fine.  Most shooting was not much to speak about (as usual) but I did manage to kill to pathfinders and they broke.

His turn 2 and one of his FW/DF teams comes on the board.  He's torn because he had hoped to get two to try to kill down my one squad, but one is not going to be enough so he deploys it with his main force.  The Emperors Champ squad is whittled to only 3 guys but they RZ forward, but my marshal takes a few losses and fails his LD to fall back a few inches.  My Landspeeder is also immobilized.

 My turn 3 and my other troop and speeder come down.  I put the speeder down safe behind the other, and drop the troop down to try to hold the other objective.  My dread moves their way  to support them and pops smoke.  I don't think my shooting is grand but I do make some combat charges.  My marshal charges the Broadsides and his squad is able to kill them.  My termies charge the pathfinders to help with their advance and kill them to consolidate into some cover.  The EC and his two remaining lads charge one of the Crisis teams.  Believe it or not I only killed one Shield Drone and lost a dude, so we tied combat.

His turn 3 and his other Troop comes on to bolter his mechanized advance which is inching up to 'my' objecitve.  He does manage to down my dreadnought, and I may have lost a few other bodies to shooting.  The impressive thing this turn is his HQ team kills my PF before it strikes, and the EC only manages one wound for another tied combat.  Maybe Shield drones are better than I thought on these squads!

My turn 4 and I start pulling back a troop squad to camp 'my' objective.   My marshal goes after a hammerhead to no avail, and my termies combo charge his suits and the other hammerhead.  I still don't do anything to the hammerhead, but the crisis suits can't stand up to that many attacks of doom.  In the consolidation they move toward his flank.

In his turn 4 he knows he's got to divide some effort for a chance at winning this game.  His hammerheads move off to plug pie plates down on my only troops sitting on the left objective.  He pushes forward with  his devilfish, and he focuses what firepower he can on my troops on my objective.  If all goes well for Gus he can shoot me off the objectives and take one with a surviving FW squad.

My turn 5 and my termies EC can not catch a vehicle nor JsJ Crisis team because he's blocked me off with drones from the fish.  I do my best in shooting, and I also charge with my Marshal, but all I can manage is stunning the Devilfish.  Destroyed would have been nice, but stuns do help.  The termies kill off the drones easily in combat.

His turn 5 and his hammerheads whittle my troop on the left objective down to one guy.  His Crisis shoot at my troop and take a few more bodies down.

My turn 6 and the only tactical move I can think to make is to drop my speeder in such away that his crisis can't jump to double tap plasma my troops.  In shooting I suck, and in combat I kill one Devilfish.

His turn 6 and his hammerhead kills my lone guy, and the rest of his army (1 crisis team, 1 devilfish, and 12 FWs) lay fire into my guys.  They go to ground (thus also avoiding even having to take the RZ test) and I am left with 4 guys standing on one objective.

While the other objective has nothing.

This was a game that I could have seen get away from me quickly do to some aggressive early drops.  I I think the terrain really hurt him, as I have said many times about some of these tables and shooty armies.

As it stood I had the more objectives and more KP (but barely) so that made this a Massacre Victory for me.

Last game of the day: Sister of Battle!