Played a smaller game against dakkite Shrew last Friday, his Tau vs. my Chaos. This was his first game using the Tau Empire codex, and first game in a while in general, but all the same Tau make me nervous so I was preparing for anything ...

Lt - MoCU, furious charge, power weapon, bolt pistol, speed, spiky, frags

1 Obliterator

10 CSM - MoCU, autocannon, plasma gun, AC w/ kai gun, power weapon

8 CSM - MoCU, infiltrate, lascannon, flamer, AC w/ powerfist, combi-flamer, mutation

6 Daemonettes

6 Havoks - MoCU, 3 missile launchers

Dreadnought - Plasma cannon, mutated hull, heavy flamer

Shas'el - Plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, HW target lock, 2 shield drones

2 Crisis Shas'ui - Plasma rifles, missile pods, multi-trackers, HW target locks

12 Fire Warriors - Bonded?, 5 carbines, Shas'ui w/ markerlight

13 Kroot - Shaper w/ carbine

8 Gun Drones

2 Broadsides - 1 SMS, 1 twin-plasma rifles, "slow & purposeful," multi-trackers, +?

Hammerhead - Railgun, burst cannons, multi-tracker, target lock

We decided to play a standard "kill everything for victory points" game, with infiltrate and deep strike in effect. Terrain was mostly ruins and woods, with a big wood on one side of the Tau zone and a patch of rocky cover at the other end. A second large patch of woods near the center of the board would also prove important.

Chaos deployed first, and I ended up with an oblit and speed Lt on my left, across from the Kroot hiding in the woods; dreadnought out in the open mid-zone, but with ruins blocking fire from the broadsides and Tau HQ on the other sides of the board; and havoks and 10-CSM squad to my right, facing the fire warriors and railhead (hidden behind central woods). The 8-CSM squad infiltrated just on the my side of the central woods, bringing them fairly close to the broadsides and railhead on the other side.

Tau won roll for first turn. So far I was 0/2 on my dice rolling, and the game hadn't begun ...

Tau: Kroot and fire warriors stayed put, crisis team scooted around some ruins - and toward my Lt hiding behind some trees - to get shots on the dread, broadsides trundled forward a bit to find some targets, and railhead flew 12" and was declared to be hovering over the central woods, knowing full well that most of my big guns could see it now. FW shas'ui marked the 10-CSM squad and boosted the railhead, which hit with its submunition and killed 5 marines! Yep, failed 5 of 6 armor saves ... and rolled box-cars for morale, which MoCU blessedly let me reroll. Thankfully other fire was minimal, with the dread's mutated armor absorbing the HQ's shots and the SMS failing to kill any of the 8-CSM squad hiding behind the woods.

Chaos: Oblit shuffled vaguely toward the center, Lt ran out from behind the woods towards the Tau HQ, dread blood raged 6+1" toward the Tau HQ (o_O), 8-CSM squad and Havoks held and 10-CSM squad moved up to within 24" of the FW squad across from them. Oblit hit a broadside with a lascannon, but rolled a 1 to wound. 8-CSM's lascannon missed the railhead right on top of it, and 2/3 havok kraks hit and failed to glance the skimmer 12" from them. Only the kai gun from the 10-CSM squad had range, killed a FW and the AC passed his mastery test on a 9. The Lt, however, fleeted 6", easily putting him in charge of the Shas'el. He slammed in, neatly killed the Tau commander, and caught and destroyed the 2 crisis leaders when they fled and tried to jet away. This left him totally exposed - with 1 wound left, having taken one from the now-dead team leaders - in front of 13 Kroot skulking in the woods. Ah well.

Tau: The FW tried to squeeze into the cover of the difficult terrain next to them, but only managed to get a few models in. The broadsides tramped forward somemore, seeing the silly dread's side armor; the railhead flew 12" more and landed right in the middle of the table, in front of the broadsides and with solid LOS on the dread as well. The Kroot held still and took aim, and the drones deep struck near the hiding 8-CSM squad. FW fire killed 1 more CSM from the [increasingly-inapropriately named] 10-CSM squad, drone fire killed 1 of the infiltrating CSM squad (passed the pin test though), broadside and railhead railguns only stunned the dread (!), and the Kroot shot the Lt to death many times over.

Chaos: Daemonettes didn't show up, so the 8-CSM squad mobilized and ran toward the broadsides, now easily in charge range. The Oblit stumped forward - away from the Kroot - a little more, but otherwise nothing else moved. The Oblit missed the railhead with its lascannon, but this lackluster start was bolstered by the infiltrating CSM wounding a broadside with a flamer, and the havoks smashing apart 5 drones with frag and bolters, causing them to flee very far back towards their board edge. The 10-CSM squad kept the heat up, killing a bunch of FW despite the cover saves. In assault the infiltrating CSM squad smashed the broadsides for no return, spreading out for fear of submunitions and moving a bit toward the Kroot's forest.

Tau: Kroot scoot out of their jungle a little bit, railhead boosts 12" to land in the Chaos deployment zone, but protected a bit by some ruins and with its head pointed toward the Chaos guns. The drones continued fleeing, taking a few pot shots at the infiltrated CSM squad. The FW stayed put and bounced some pulse off of the CSM squad in front of it, to no real effect. Railhead slams the dread again (pen to the back I think), but only shakes it this time.

Chaos: Daemonettes don't feel like playing and stay away again. The dread, however, feels rambunctious and blood rages toward the railhead, easily getting within charge range. The Oblit doesn't move (enough to count anyway), and the infiltrated CSM squad moves toward the Kroot, but have a ways to go to get into flamer/combi-flamer range. The 10-CSM squad holds and knocks the FW down to 2-3 models, who hold fast. The havoks hit the railhead again with 2 of 3 krak, and again fail to do anything except shake it. The Oblit, assuming the dread will finish off the railhead, kills a Kroot with a heavy bolter. And naturally, the dread misses with all 7 attaks, though it did need 6's to hit the fast-moving skimmer.

Tau: Drones leave the table, Kroot get spooked and move back into their woods, and FW and railhead sit still. FW throw some more pulse around but that's about it.

Chaos: Daemonettes show up! They materialize off the infiltrated squad, but scatter back behind the CSM, away from the Kroot. With nothing much to do, the girls move toward the central woods to hang out. The infiltrated CSM run toward the Kroot some more, but still have a ways to go for BBQ chicken. Everything else stays where it is, with the dread able to fire for the first time all game! The 10-CSM squad finishes off the FW, and the havoks surpirse everyone by killing the railhead. The Oblit and dread shrug and kill a total of 3 Kroot between their heavy bolter and plasma cannon, causing the Kroot to fail their morale test and run off the table. Game over.

Chaos ended up only giving points up for the Suicide Speed Lt. (107), making for a very crushing victory, and a good game in general.  In the beginning I was plagued with some abysmal rolls ... until my dice started to heat up - it was damn cold in the store's game room - and start the killin' good and propper. Shrew was a great opponent, and he was talking to me afterwards about everything he has to find time to add or change with the new codex ... Definately looking forward to playing him again, so he can try out more new Tau toys on my Chaos boys

Thanks for reading.

- Boss Salvage

P.S: Check out http://www.anarchonquistadores.blogspot.com/ for more of my Anarchonquistadores in action!