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Battle #47
Tonight was 1500 points against Ben's Tau. I took a tweaked version of my tournament list, based on the advice I got from (and the unfortunate experience that was) Sun, Sand and Slaughter.
I dropped one tactical squad and some wargear so I could add two rhinos and two more speeders. Ben took a vehicle-free suit-heavy list, with just two fire warrior teams and a large squad of Kroot. It was Pitched Battle deployment with Annihilation mission.
Turn 1 - he castled up but left a large area behind his back left. His fire was very accurate, blowing up one rhino and stunning the other one. There was a fair amount of cover across the centre of the battlefield so anything else that did hit I managed to get cover saves for. In my turn, the DP Ironclad did its usual thing and destroyed a Broadside along with five fire warriors. The Whirlwind killed another three fire warriors and the Predator Annihilator killed a whole squad of three suits. The Speeders swung around to my left wing and fired and killed another two suits, leaving just one in that squad. In order to get that shot however I had to leave them in a very vulnerable position, right in front of his third suit squad.
Turn 2 - he turned and fired almost everything at the Ironclad because it was obviously going to cause utter mayhem where it was. He managed to do absolutely nothing to it - got to love that AV13 front and side armour! His third suit team slipped behind some cover, did some really accurate shooting and killed four marines in the Rhino-less squad. However, he forgot to move his suits back into cover during the assault phase. The vulnerable speeders got hit but only lost one assault cannon. In my turn, the Ironclad attacked his final suit squad (which was his HQ and retinue) and killed one but stayed locked in combat which was the best possible result for me because I got to avoid another round of shooting from the remaining broadside and also tied his suits up with no risk to me because they couldn't harm it. The Annihilator took out the lone suit and the Speeders took out another one. The tactical squad in the middle got into charge range for the suit in the center and manged to kill it. The problem I now faced was a large open space for everything to cross to get to his lines. Fortunately, I think I had killed off enough of his "big guns" that that wouldn't be too destructive.
Turn 3 - his stealth suits came on via deepstrike and promptly landed on my Predator so they went back into reserve. He shot everything he could at the two incoming tactical squads and speeders and either missed or I saved everything bar one marine dead. My turn largely consisted of trying to run as far forward as I could. The Predator killed that last remaining suit.
Turn 4 - his stealth suits came on safely this time - by just half an inch - and killed the Whirlwind. The Broadside finally got the Predator and blew it up. In my turn, both tactical squads were within range of his line so they opened fire and killed some more fire warriors. The Ironclad killed off the HQ squad at last. My scouts finally came in from reserve and, although they couldn't shoot or assault, provided another threat to his line.
Turn 5 - his last four fire warriors charged the scout squad largely to avoid the soon-to-arrive 18 shotgun blasts and managed to draw the combat with two dead on both side. The last four fire warriors from the other squad managed to rapid fire into the rear armour of the Ironclad and managed to blow it up! The two tactical squads arrived and killed off all of the fire warriors in the first squad, the Speeders killed that last Broadside and the scouts killed off the last two fire warriors in the second squad. All he had left were his stealth suits way back on my backline with no targets in range and his Kroot who had come on the "wrong" wing in Turn 5. The game finished there.
Final result: Win to me by 9KP to 4KP
What I learned tonight:
1) Tau really are fragile if their initial shooting isn't successful
2) The combination of Whirlwind/Deathwind ML's really is lethal for fire warrior teams.
#) I always get really daunted by facing lots of suits because I expect them to be like Dreadnoughts with AV etc. Once they get in range (particularly to either massed HB/AC Speeder fire or instant death Annihilator lascannons), they die pretty damned quick!
My W-L-D record:
40K: 32-11-0
Apocalypse: 2-0-1
Planetstrike: 0-1-0
I dropped one tactical squad and some wargear so I could add two rhinos and two more speeders. Ben took a vehicle-free suit-heavy list, with just two fire warrior teams and a large squad of Kroot. It was Pitched Battle deployment with Annihilation mission.
Turn 1 - he castled up but left a large area behind his back left. His fire was very accurate, blowing up one rhino and stunning the other one. There was a fair amount of cover across the centre of the battlefield so anything else that did hit I managed to get cover saves for. In my turn, the DP Ironclad did its usual thing and destroyed a Broadside along with five fire warriors. The Whirlwind killed another three fire warriors and the Predator Annihilator killed a whole squad of three suits. The Speeders swung around to my left wing and fired and killed another two suits, leaving just one in that squad. In order to get that shot however I had to leave them in a very vulnerable position, right in front of his third suit squad.
Turn 2 - he turned and fired almost everything at the Ironclad because it was obviously going to cause utter mayhem where it was. He managed to do absolutely nothing to it - got to love that AV13 front and side armour! His third suit team slipped behind some cover, did some really accurate shooting and killed four marines in the Rhino-less squad. However, he forgot to move his suits back into cover during the assault phase. The vulnerable speeders got hit but only lost one assault cannon. In my turn, the Ironclad attacked his final suit squad (which was his HQ and retinue) and killed one but stayed locked in combat which was the best possible result for me because I got to avoid another round of shooting from the remaining broadside and also tied his suits up with no risk to me because they couldn't harm it. The Annihilator took out the lone suit and the Speeders took out another one. The tactical squad in the middle got into charge range for the suit in the center and manged to kill it. The problem I now faced was a large open space for everything to cross to get to his lines. Fortunately, I think I had killed off enough of his "big guns" that that wouldn't be too destructive.
Turn 3 - his stealth suits came on via deepstrike and promptly landed on my Predator so they went back into reserve. He shot everything he could at the two incoming tactical squads and speeders and either missed or I saved everything bar one marine dead. My turn largely consisted of trying to run as far forward as I could. The Predator killed that last remaining suit.
Turn 4 - his stealth suits came on safely this time - by just half an inch - and killed the Whirlwind. The Broadside finally got the Predator and blew it up. In my turn, both tactical squads were within range of his line so they opened fire and killed some more fire warriors. The Ironclad killed off the HQ squad at last. My scouts finally came in from reserve and, although they couldn't shoot or assault, provided another threat to his line.
Turn 5 - his last four fire warriors charged the scout squad largely to avoid the soon-to-arrive 18 shotgun blasts and managed to draw the combat with two dead on both side. The last four fire warriors from the other squad managed to rapid fire into the rear armour of the Ironclad and managed to blow it up! The two tactical squads arrived and killed off all of the fire warriors in the first squad, the Speeders killed that last Broadside and the scouts killed off the last two fire warriors in the second squad. All he had left were his stealth suits way back on my backline with no targets in range and his Kroot who had come on the "wrong" wing in Turn 5. The game finished there.
Final result: Win to me by 9KP to 4KP
What I learned tonight:
1) Tau really are fragile if their initial shooting isn't successful
2) The combination of Whirlwind/Deathwind ML's really is lethal for fire warrior teams.
#) I always get really daunted by facing lots of suits because I expect them to be like Dreadnoughts with AV etc. Once they get in range (particularly to either massed HB/AC Speeder fire or instant death Annihilator lascannons), they die pretty damned quick!
My W-L-D record:
40K: 32-11-0
Apocalypse: 2-0-1
Planetstrike: 0-1-0