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Aboard Nazca, a Tau Emissary class starship, Shas’el R’au of the Shadow Cadre gazes out of a portal. Glittering specks of distant stars shines brightly amid a sea of darkness. Each sparkle marked a distant star system, galaxy, or planet. The vast depth of the universe was both infinite and sublime, a constant reminder of how microscopically small the Tau and its neighbors were compared to the greater picture. R’au’s pride swell, knowing he was at the forefront of a grand crusade. There was no greater purpose than to unite the star systems for greater good.

Alas, R’ue pitied the other naïve other races spread across throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Their inferior philosophies and beliefs misguided them. Why couldn’t everyone just get along like the Tau Empire and its myriad allies?

“Shas’el?” asked Por’Saal Mey’rin, interrupting R’ue’s train of thought.

R’ue turn his attention toward the water caste crew, manning the communication controller. He nods, gesturing Mey’rin to continue.

“We’ve lost contact with Security Orbital ZE9012 located near the planet Krozan,” reports Mey’rin.

“Could it be a malfunction?” ask R’ue. Mey’rin shook her head. “I ran diagnostics on our ship’s computers. All systems are green. If ZE9012 had malfunctioned, its AI would have transmitted the information, by relaying to another Way Station. ZE9012 has completely gone off the grid.”

“Hmm… display the last security checks transmitted by ZE9012,” R’ue calmly orders.

A minute later, the bridge’s main screen flickers on. Everyone inside gasp, appalled at what they saw. A vid captured a sinister face, leering straight into the camera. The being was slim, possessing pale skin, pointed ears, and dark eyes brimming with murderous intent. The creature ruefully smiled before raising his rifle. Then, the screen suddenly went to static, displaying nothing but grainy lines.

“By the greater good, what was that?” cried Mey’rin.

R’ue angrily clenches his fists. “That was a Dark Eldar,” he answered in a seething tone. “They are a sadistic and cruel race, bent on pillaging and capturing prisoners. Those enslaved suffers a fate worst than death.

R’ue turns his attention back to Mey’rin. Por’Saal,” he commanded, “Set Nazca’s course to Krozan. We must hurry, less our brethrens falls victim to this menace.”

.....

Several hours later, the Nazca slowly decelerates from the warp. Once in orbit over Krozan, two Manta Dropships and two Orcas, carrying the Shas’el R’ue and the Shadow Cadre, flew out of Nazca’s hanger bay, and descent toward the planet’s surface.

After contacting the planet’s Sept, the Shadow Cadre flew toward the last town, which reported attacks. The eldritch raiders had already struck three other towns. The fourth wasn’t hard to find. Plumes of smoke bled into the sky, marking its location.

Aboard the lower deck of a Manta, R’ue straps himself into his Battlesuit. The canopy closes, revealing tactical display and support system readings. He grips the arm controllers and plants his feed on the bipedal steps. The suit emulates his movements, like an extension of his body. The Manta’s rear hatch retracts, revealing the ground sweeping beneath. "Shas'el R'ue, heading out."

.....

A couple weeks ago, I played a 2000 points game with my Tau against the Dark Eldar. This was my second time playing against them.

We rolled for mission and got Annihilation. Deployment was Spearhead.

Army List

My opponent brought a mechanized list featuring Vect and the Archon.

Dark Eldar:
-Asdrubael Vect
-Archon, Shadow field, Combat Drugs, Soul-trap, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Husk Blade
-5 Incubi, Klaivex, Onslaught, Raider, Dark Lance, Night Shields, Flickerfield
-4 Kabalite Trueborn, 4 Blasters, Venom, Flickerfield, 2 Splinter Cannons
-8 Wyches, Hekatrix, 1 Shardnet & Impaler, Haywire Grenades, Raider, Dark Lance, Torment Grenade Launchers, night Shields, Flickerfield
-6 Kabalite Warriors, 1 Blaster, Raider, Dark Lance
-10 Kabalite Warriors, 1 Splinter Cannon
-10 Kabalite Warriors, 1 Blaster, 1 Splinter Cannon
-10 Kabalite Warriors, 1 Blaster, 1 Dark Lance
-5 Scourges 2 Haywire Blaster
-5 Scourges 2 Haywire Blaster
-Talos Pain Engine, Chain-flais, TL Haywire Blaster
-Talos Pain Engine, Chain-flais, TL Haywire Blaster
-Ravager, 3 Disintegrator Cannons, Night Shields, Flickerfield

I brought my new take-all comers list featuring a mixture of shooting and hordes or Kroots.

Sac’cea Tau (Shadow Cadre):
-Shas’el, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
-2 Crisis Suits, Plasmas Rifle, Missile Pods, Multi-trackers
-3 Crisis Suits, Plasmas Rifle, Missile Pods, Multi-trackers
-3 Crisis Suits, Plasmas Rifle, Missile Pods, Multi-trackers
-6 Fire Warriors
-20 Kroots, 1 Kroot Hound
-20 Kroots, 1 Kroot Hound
-20 Kroots, 1 Kroot Hound
-20 Kroots, 1 Kroot Hound
-4 Pathfinders, Devilfish, Disruption Pod
-Piranha, Fusion Blaster, Disruption Pod, Target Array
-Piranha, Fusion Blaster, Disruption Pod, Target Array
-2 Broadsides, 1 Target Lock, 1 Blacksun filter
-Hammerhead, Railgun, Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod, Target Lock
-Hammerhead, Railgun, Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod, Target Lock

Link to slideshow

https://picasaweb.google.com/101004510049334313538/2000ptsTauVsDarkEldar#5632336962678603346



Afterthoughts



.....

Asdrubael Vect laughs hysterically as he gruesomely slaughters a whole pack of Kroots. With one single sweep, his Sceptre of the Dark City tears into three Kroots. They immediately collapse onto the ground as toxins paralysis their bodies. Another mixture of chemicals, injected by pain inducers, stimulates the Kroot’s nerves, causing unimaginable pain. Vect inhales deeply. His enemies’ agony brought him sweet pleasure.

Three Crisis Suits emerges from the shadows. Vect spots them and laughs with glee as he hops towards his next victims. In response, the Tau elites raise their weapons and unleash weathering a barrage from their Missile Pods and Plasma Rifles. Explosions erupt around Vect, but a miasma of dark energy deflects incoming blast and flying shrapnel. One ball of pure plasma stops short, suspended in midair by the invulnerable force field. “Resistance is futile,” sneers Vect.

Suddenly, a high pitch noise erupts, followed by a loud crack, causing the Shadowfield to collapse. Vect’s evil grin drops in horror. “Oh frak!” he screams. The Crisis team leader levels his Plasma Rifle and fires another burst. Pure energy spears through Vect’s midsection, vaporizing his vital organs. The supreme overlord of Commorragh drops dead. His face masked with euphoria from the ultimate sensation of pain and his own demise.

.....

Shas’el R’ue surveys the carnage. Burning hulks of enemy vehicles littered the battlefield. Bleeding corpses of Kroots and Kabalite warriors lie strewn everywhere. Fire Warriors began freeing Tau prisoners and tending the wounded. Kroot Warriors that had survived were cleaning the battlefield, gingerly recovering dead fellow kindreds, and gorging on the bodies of both the dead and wounded Kabalite Warriors.

R’ue nods his head with grim satisfaction. Normally he would be appalled by the Kroot carnivore’s primitive ritual in consuming flesh off of former enemies. This time, he felt no remorse for the barbaric pirates, who promised nothing but torture and painful death.

“Those, who we cannot reason with, must perish for the greater good,” R’ue thought quietly.

Was that Tom's army? If it was, then it is totally different from before.

Tau is one of the few armies that consistently does well against DE, especially if they get first turn. If not, then I feel sorry for the beating they're going to endure. But bring enough screening units like you did and you can always expect a good game.

Perhaps next time we play, I'll face your dreaded 9-broadside list? That'll be an interesting fight indeed.

Perfect use of screen units and combined fire, fine game for the tau.

I, too, think that the dark eldar should have just taken first turn, even though he could have seized, he could of forced you away from the bastain (by deploying in it) AND giving himself some good cover saves on his units

If I went second, I would have reserved everything and risked that, as dark eldar cant take an alpha strike

Question: what is the exact reasoning for taking 1 hound, I'm guessing wound allocation from shooting?

my 2 cents

mythological wrote:
Question: what is the exact reasoning for taking 1 hound, I'm guessing wound allocation from shooting?

my 2 cents

My guess was that he was a couple of points shy from taking 21 kroots in each unit.

Great battle report SabrX, glad to see the Tau back in action!

Iranna.

Excellent job. Your format is really great i wish more people used it.

Great Tau victory. Im more of a Farsight enclave rules player but maybe next time I'll have to bring out my Kroot for a spin again.

jy2 wrote:

mythological wrote:
Question: what is the exact reasoning for taking 1 hound, I'm guessing wound allocation from shooting?

my 2 cents

My guess was that he was a couple of points shy from taking 21 kroots in each unit.

You can't take 21 Kroot. Only Hounds and Krootoxi can be taken after you hit 20. But yes, it's useful to have 21 in the unit, enemy needs to kill six to force moral check in one turn.

I've used the Kroot bomb once myself vs Nids, and it was just as effective for me as well.

Glad to see someone else try it and do so well. Kroot are so easily overlooked by Tau players, and yet they're great figures.

As always great battle report, the format is just sublime.

But, I knew Tau would win the moment i saw the armylists, the Dark Eldar are severely underpowered and show no real gameplan nor strategy:

It lackes firepower in the form of darklight weaponry. every squad should have a raider.
Talos are only good when portals get involved and they definetly need those heatlances...
The list also could have used more whyches and a beastpack.

The Tau list on the other hand packs firepower and good screens.

Would love to see some feedback of the Dark Eldar player on the game and how he thought his units worked out or not, but imho he needs to be MUCH more aggresive with his dark eldar, they aren't space marines that can soak up shots...
Its agression or die tbh

Yeah the Dark Eldar were playing way to passive they needed to be way more aggressive.

Thanks for the feedback folks! I greatly appreciate it.

jy2 wrote:Was that Tom's army? If it was, then it is totally different from before.

Tau is one of the few armies that consistently does well against DE, especially if they get first turn. If not, then I feel sorry for the beating they're going to endure. But bring enough screening units like you did and you can always expect a good game.

Perhaps next time we play, I'll face your dreaded 9-broadside list? That'll be an interesting fight indeed.

Yup, it was Tom's army. He's testing new units and different builds.

9 Broadside list is still under testing. I learned a lot from our last match.

Backfire wrote:

jy2 wrote:

mythological wrote:
Question: what is the exact reasoning for taking 1 hound, I'm guessing wound allocation from shooting?

my 2 cents

My guess was that he was a couple of points shy from taking 21 kroots in each unit.

You can't take 21 Kroot. Only Hounds and Krootoxi can be taken after you hit 20. But yes, it's useful to have 21 in the unit, enemy needs to kill six to force moral check in one turn.

As jy2 guessed it, the Kroot Hound is just there as an extra wound. And as Backfire mentioned, It's convenient for staving off moral checks until later on.

bigblackzach242 wrote:Excellent job. Your format is really great i wish more people used it.

I'm glad you like it. I wish other people used slideshow as well.

Spartan 117 wrote:Great Tau victory. Im more of a Farsight enclave rules player but maybe next time I'll have to bring out my Kroot for a spin again.

I don't like Farsight's restrictions on army list.

Maniac_nmt wrote:I've used the Kroot bomb once myself vs Nids, and it was just as effective for me as well.

Glad to see someone else try it and do so well. Kroot are so easily overlooked by Tau players, and yet they're great figures.

I'm having a lot of fun with massive hordes of Kroots. It's a nice change, compared to conventional Tau mech.

Valek wrote:As always great battle report, the format is just sublime.

But, I knew Tau would win the moment i saw the armylists, the Dark Eldar are severely underpowered and show no real gameplan nor strategy:

It lackes firepower in the form of darklight weaponry. every squad should have a raider.
Talos are only good when portals get involved and they definetly need those heatlances...
The list also could have used more whyches and a beastpack.

The Tau list on the other hand packs firepower and good screens.

Would love to see some feedback of the Dark Eldar player on the game and how he thought his units worked out or not, but imho he needs to be MUCH more aggresive with his dark eldar, they aren't space marines that can soak up shots...
Its agression or die tbh

Billythekid256 wrote:Yeah the Dark Eldar were playing way to passive they needed to be way more aggressive.

Yeah, IMO either 3 Ravagers or Void Bombers with Trueborn + Venom Spam will fair better against Tau. My opponent was counting on seizing the initiative on a 4+, but failed. My forces locked down his mech before it could reach my first line of defense. Even an aggressive DE list needs to be careful against Tau. Kroot bubble wrap is key.

Sabr i would not count kroot as a threat when dark eldar are fielding venom's and whyches, they might be a 1 turn soak up and die option, but that is about it.
giving the whyches in that case a painpoint.

But on the other side it might be that crucial turn a experienced Tau player needs to turn the game in his favour.

Valek wrote:Sabr i would not count kroot as a threat when dark eldar are fielding venom's and whyches, they might be a 1 turn soak up and die option, but that is about it.
giving the whyches in that case a painpoint.

But on the other side it might be that crucial turn a experienced Tau player needs to turn the game in his favour.

Unless, of course, half of the squad is in forest terrain for the 3+ cover.

The DE list was absolutely dreadful. If not a complete and utter waste of time to build. And, the general seemed to have no knowledge on how to use his disjointed, poorly created, mash of random and quasi-useless units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Watching that slide show was like watching baby seals getting clubbed by poachers. Good work. . .I suppose. . .

Grim Smasha wrote:The DE list was absolutely dreadful. If not a complete and utter waste of time to build. And, the general seemed to have no knowledge on how to use his disjointed, poorly created, mash of random and quasi-useless units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Watching that slide show was like watching baby seals getting clubbed by poachers. Good work. . .I suppose. . .

Agreed. There were a lot of problems with that list. The warriors should have had raiders, the ravager should have had dark lances, the Talos didn't work with the army, and he played very passivly. Good report though, Tau shine when playing DE.

SabrX, have you ever thought about joining the obligatory commander suit to 20+ kroot unit? It gives them the much needed leadership and also strengthens them with a bonding knife and you won't miss any shooting power if you take a target lock. Then in the later turns you may jump the leader away if the kroot are going to get killed in their screening duties.

That was brutal. I find unless they are power armoured I fare pretty well against most armies with my tau.

Pretty solid victory that. Love the slideshows, and a nice tact change from the sisters

loosing drones to weapon destroyed results? that doesn't sound kosher though (they're passengers not weapons)

Zaephyr wrote:SabrX, have you ever thought about joining the obligatory commander suit to 20+ kroot unit? It gives them the much needed leadership and also strengthens them with a bonding knife and you won't miss any shooting power if you take a target lock. Then in the later turns you may jump the leader away if the kroot are going to get killed in their screening duties.

I'll consider it. I usually prefer my Commander hanging in the back, safe from any assault. I heard it's pretty common to stick him with either Broadsides or Kroots if the list already has 9 XV8 Crisis Suit elites + Commander.

Deathbysoup wrote:That was brutal. I find unless they are power armoured I fare pretty well against most armies with my tau.

I actually had a difficult time playing against Eldar, Imperial Guard, and Necrons. AV12 spam reduces Crisis Suit's effectiveness and Necron's WBB rule made it really difficult.

SevenSins wrote:
loosing drones to weapon destroyed results? that doesn't sound kosher though (they're passengers not weapons)

FAQ has changed that. They are no long treated as passengers when the vehicle is damaged. Until they are disembarked, they are treated as weapons. Thus if the vehicle is destroyed, they are also destroyed and confer no additional kill point.

That's good to know.

Nice one! In games I've seen, Tau tend to own DE pretty consistently. The combination of long range, high strength Tau shooting and mobility means they can drop Mech Deldar efficiently. I think a good WWP list would be the tougher match up for Tau.

Reecius wrote:Nice one! In games I've seen, Tau tend to own DE pretty consistently. The combination of long range, high strength Tau shooting and mobility means they can drop Mech Deldar efficiently. I think a good WWP list would be the tougher match up for Tau.

Yeah, WWP list would be an interesting match up. I usually don't have problems with reserve armies. It's a lot easier mowing down enemy units in piece meals over the course of 2 -3 turns than having them come in all at once. However, DE have mobility and plethora of open-topped vehicles, which their infantry can assault from. I would probably create a tripe or quadruple layers Kroot bubble defense, protecting my vital firebase. Moving and capturing enemy objectives will be difficult. I've considered boosting the Piranhas to 2 x 2 or 3 x 1. I'm also testing 9 Broadsides with 6 Target Locks instead of Hammerheads.

I think you're on the right track with 9 broadsides. Being able to shot 9 targets with twin linked rail cannons is amazing against light mech.

A Tau player went 4-0 at the Bay Area Open last weekend on the first day and he was running that set up. He played some tough lists too, and only got knocked out of the running by Blackmoor's Grey Knights in a KP mission, but it was close. The crazy part was that the Tau player had 20 KPs to Blackmoor's 6!

Tau can still perform well, but they are at a big disadvantage. I enjoy reading reports like yours where the underdog army pulls out a victory.

I have to agree with Grim... this was a DE player who clearly didn't know what he was doing. I'm not trying to detract from your victory here, but if I were to try and name all the things he did wrong here, I would get carpal tunnel before I finished.

As jy2 pointed out earlier, this wasn't my opponent's typical build. He normally fields a lot of Wyches in Raiders, along with 3 Ravagers and 3 Scourges. In this game, he was experimenting. Had he seize the initiative and played a little more aggressive, he may have stood a better chance.

Like him, I'm also experimenting with different builds. This was my 3rd game playing this list. I'm altering it by dropping 6 hounds and beefing up the Pathfinders to 6 members strong.

Perhaps one of these days, we'll have a rematch. By then, he'll hopefully come up with a list honed to perfection.

Looks like I pissed off a couple of fellow DE players – relax, it was only a game.

So yah, an experimental list with some experimental tactics and decisions – so congrats to SabrX for his win, he is a really good general to play against. As jy2 has mentioned above, I play differently all the time in fact, I think jy2 has only seen WWP lists from me and SabrX has only seen rush style lists so who knows what I will play next.

So here is the skinny, I play to have fun and I only get to play once a month (my last game was Father’s Day). You can imagine what I thought when SabrX mentioned he brought his Tau (who I haven’t seen for two years) AND we rolled for an annihilation game as well (it was my 3rd annihilation mission in the last 4 games) DE and annihilation, oh joy. SabrX did offer to re-roll the mission but I didn’t think that was fair to him and I just needed to accept my lumps. Yep, wasn’t looking to be very close but I didn’t have the models to play anything else and I am strongly opposed to writing a list after I know who I am playing – in other words, my list is chosen before I leave the house and I rarely change it unless it is to make a smaller or larger list.

Now for the decision to go 2nd was my 3rd mistake but understand I pretty much was going to have a hard time with kill points and I spent a bunch of points to have Vect in the list (which is horrible) so I thought I was going to “mix” things up, try to utilize Vect’s 4+ ability (which is why he is so expensive) and see if I can make the game a challenge. Things didn’t work out and the Tau got to go first.

From there the game went from bad to worse with some more bad decisions and some unfortunate rolls that just compounded the failure – lesson learned, I got trounced. But I will say this, in a game like this, why not take some chances here that I would not normally make in a tournament? What did I have to lose other than the inevitable thrashing I had a feeling I was going to get when I saw SabrX’s camera box when we started?

All in all it comes down to this – I was this delusional baby harp seal thinking I can take on this burley trapper with a big club. He knew he was playing an experimental game and I knew he was going to report it on the internet (I really do not care about my virtual prestige, if you play me, you WILL have fun) – and if it wasn’t fun, I haven’t been told that yet and since he posted it then I expect he did.

And yes, my list for a tournament would have been totally different - I know if I play a local tournament both jy2 and SabrX will be there and they are better generals than me so I got no problem with them not seeing my tourney choices. My problem, I do not get to play as much as I need to in order to hone my list for any kind of competition - I am still figuring the codex out despite all the obvious popular DE spam favorites I see on the net.

So until then no worries here guys, relax, it s'all good.

I like your avatar. . .

Grim Smasha wrote:I like your avatar. . .

Now if I can change it to baby harp seal with a club then I think I got something...

Oooo. . .that would be gold.