The lists: 1500 Tau Empire - Shas'el - plasma, missile, array, hwmulti 97
- Crisis - team leader, plasma, missile, array, hwmulti 77
- Crisis - team leader, plasma, missile, array, hwmulti 77
- 4 Stealths - 3 arrays, bsf
- 12 Fire Warriors - shas'ui - in Devilfish - sms, decoys, multi, array, pod 255
- 12 Fire Warriors - shas'ui - in Devilfish - sms, decoys, multi, array, pod 255
- 10 Kroot 70
- 10 Kroot 70
- 10 Kroot 70
- RH - sms, decoys, multi, lock, pod, bsf 190
- RH - sms, decoys, multi, lock, pod 185
1499
1700 Daemonhunters - Termie Grand Master 145
- 4 Grey Knight Termies – psycannon, incinerator 234
- Inquisitor – plasma pistol 35
- 2 Mystics 12
- 3 Vet guardsmen – 2 meltaguns, plasmagun 60
- Rhino – smoke 53
- 9 Grey Knights 250
- 9 Grey Knights 250
- Dreadnought – twinlas, dccw, incinerator 145
- Dreadnought – twinlas, missile, smoke 143
- Land Raider – smoke 253
1700
Background: The Vash'ya M'yen Mechanised Cadre has allied with the Xolis Guard, a chaos legion. The Cadre does not know the legion is chaos, they believe they serve the imperium and want to fight for the greater good. In fact, the Xolis Guard are a tzeentch legion that is using the Tau for their own purpose.
The Vash'ya M'yen Mechanised Cadre had little information about whom they were fighting and for what purpose. Shas'el Vash'ya M'yen Or'Es only knew that they were an elite force and had one goal, to destroy his own forces. He had to survive as long as he could while controlling the area in order to bring in reinforcements. The board: The battle takes place in an arid wasteland, with occasional mountains of rock and scattered woodland. There were a couple of outposts in the area as well.
The Mission: Cleanse gamma.
Deployment: 
Land Raider goes down first, then 2 hammerheads and 2 dreadnoughts. Kroot then go down to stop further pushing back of Tau deployment. The other 2 units of kroot infiltrate, as do the stealths. GKT's and Callidus go in reserve.
Turn 1 Daemonhunter: Land raider moves 12" southwest into southwest forest. Rhino moves 12" east. Dreads turn around, then shoot and kill 4 kroot (pass
ld).
GK's move southeast, 4 shoot and kill 2 kroot.
Turn 1 Tau Empire: Both DF move north, shoot at
GK and kill 1. Commander jumps into building, plasma kills 1
GK. Stealths jump over forest and shoot at
GK, 11 hits, 6 wounds,
GK pass all saves. FK4 walk into the forest and shoot their missile pods at the rhino. All 4 shots miss. Railheads move northeast, smart missiles kill 1 grey knight, both railguns miss the land raider. Kroot in the northwest move toward the dreads. Commander jumps behind the building, stealths jump back behind the forest, and both FK4 jump back behind the forest (north of original position).
El'Or'Es sends his troops forward towards the enemy, planning to throw them into close assault where their weaponry is most effective. He commands Ui'Ko'Vash and Ui'Kais to stay back and guard the northern flank, and sends hammerheads in support. Turn 2 Daemonhunter: GK disembark from the land raider and move north, shooting and killing all the kroot in the northwest. Terminators deep strike a few inches west of south building but scatter back towards the kroot in the southwest. They shoot at the kroot, and with the help of an incinerator they all die. Dreads move south into the forest. Las dread stuns the DF further away, while las-missile destroy the closer DF. Land raider moves a few inches through the forest, then shoots and destroys the other DF. 3
FW die from each DF.
GK move south and kill 3 kroot (pass
ld). Rhino moves 12" south east, =][= and retinue disembark and shoot at the side of a hammerhead. Every shot hits, the hammerhead is stunned multiple times and loses its railgun.
Turn 2 Tau Empire: Mobile railhead moves south of the forest and shoots and shakes the las dread (it couldn't see the las-missile dread due to the forest). Stealths move northeast, FK4's move north. Smart missiles, stealths, and an FK4 all shoot at the =][= and retinue and kill them. The other FK4 destroys the rhino. Commander kills 2 GKT's. Kroot shoot at
GK's and kill 1.
El'Or'Es is starting to get worried. The enemy force is overwhelming and the disabling of both devilfish has greatly hindered his plan of attack. The message gets through that he is being flanked from the north. Not knowing how to react, he decides to stick to the plan and defend the northern flank, sending all the support he can to eliminate the threat, while he tries to hold off his own flank without support. Turn 3 Daemonhunter: GK's to the west move next to the land raider. Land raider pivots 180 degrees on the spot, shoots at the southern railhead, shakes it and destroys its railgun. Las-missile dread moves south and shoots at the FK4 over the destroyed rhino. Both lascannon and krak missile hit and wound, but the FK4 passes both cover saves. Las dread moves back behind the forest. GKT's shoot at and kill 3 kroot (pass
ld).
GK's shoot at fire warriors to the west and then charge. One is left alive, and flees into the building.
GK's consolidate to the west of the devilfish, hiding behind it.
Turn 3 Tau Empire: South railhead hides, north railhead moves further north. Far north FK4 hides behind northern building. East FK4 shoots at
GK and kills 1. Stealths fail to spot grey knights. Fire Warriors move north over the devilfish 3", but can't shoot at the
GK because they can't see them because they're behind the other devilfish. Commander rapid fires at GKT's and fails to do any damage. Kroot move into building and rapid fire
GK's and fail to wound. Fire warrior rapid fires and fails to wound.
With the northern threat eliminated El'Or'Es decides to concentrate on the original mission and start capturing ground. The changing tide of the battle is making it extremely tough, but he decides he can stick it out by himself and orders the rest of the functioning army to fall back. 
Turn 4 Daemonhunter: GK's in the west embark into the land raider, it moves 12" out of the forest between the rocky hill and the devilfish. Las-missile dread moves an inch southeast and shakes the northern railhead, las dread moves east through the forest and also shakes the railhead. GKT's move towards the building and incinerate the kroot and the fire warrior in the building.
GK's shoot and charge and sweeping advance the remaining fire warriors, and consolidate on top of the devilfish. The Callidus assassin arrives next to the northern FK4, shoots and fails to wound, then charges and fails to wound. FK4 fails to hit back. Drawn combat.
Turn 4 Tau Empire: South railhead hides behind east forest, northern railhead moves northwest, north of the building. Commander rapid fires at the termies and kills 1. Stealths shoot at grey knights and kill 2. East crisis shoots at grey knights and kills one. Callidus assassin kills crisis in combat and consolidates 6", but is unable to get in charge range of anyone even with 18" movement.
Ui'Ko'Vash radios in that he's been horrifically wounded and is unable to continue the fight for the greater good. El'Or'Es tells him the fight is almost over, and that he feels the tide is changing, soon Ui'Ko'Vash will be given much needed medical attention. Turn 5 Daemonhunter: Land raider moves 6" east, fires at the commander, and fails to hit.
GK justicar hides between the devilfish and shoots at the commander, commander passes both armour saves. GKT's hide behind the building and devilfish. Callidus assassin shakes the hammerhead with the neural shredder, but fails to glance it in combat. Las dread also shakes the hammerhead, while the las-missile dread fails to glance it.
Turn 5 Tau Empire: Northern hammerhead moves into the northwestern corner next to the rocky hill with its rear to the board edge. Crisis jumps over forest, kills the assassin, then jumps back. Stealths hide behind the forest. Commander kills
GK justicar.
El'Or'Es has stuck to the plan, and the plan is starting to work. He has held onto his flank by himself, his elite men and women have avoided as much danger as possible, and ground is being controlled. Turn 6 Daemonhunter: Las dread walks on top of the rocky hill and shoots the hammerhead in the side, stunning it, then charges, hitting but fails to glance. Las-missile dread moves into southwestern quarter, and fails to glance the hammerhead.
GK jump out of the land raider and move into southeastern quarter, four shoot at the commander but fail to do any damage. Land raider moves into northeastern quarter.
Turn 6 Tau Empire: Commander jumps into the building and wounds the termie master. Stealths move into southeastern quarter. Crisis jumps over forest and shoots his missile pod at the dread on the rocky hill, hitting once, penetrating, and immobilising it.
El'Or'Es couldn't be more pleased. Reinforcements are arriving behind enemy forces, he knows who's won this battle. Tau Empire kills: 792pts.
Daemonhunter kills: 797pts.
Tau Empire mission victory pts: 750.
Daemonhunter mission victory pts: 375.
Win to Tau Empire by 370 vpts. Mistakes of the Tau Empire: An FK4 should have been deployed in the south. This would have provided greater firepower against the GKT's, the ability to shoot at the dreads, and a scoring unit to contest the southwestern corner.
Kroot in the northwest should not have moved, this put them in range of
GK stormbolters.
Railheads should not have moved so far north first turn. This put one of them in range of the =][= and retinue's weaponry.
FW should have walked on top of their DF in order to see the
GK, rather than try to see them around the other DF.
Mistake of the Daemonhunters: There shouldn't have been any scoring units in the Tau Empire quarter; it was always going to be contested. The
GK should have been in the northeastern quarter and the land raider in the northwestern quarter to stop the Tau Empire capturing it.
Lessons to be learned from the Tau Empire: Deploy kroot in a manner to buy the rest of your army more space. This can be direct, by deploying them as far forward in your deployment as you can, or indirect, by deploying them where the enemy will have to go out of its way to kill them.
Don't ever let stealths get shot or charged. Don't rely on their stealth field unless the threat is more than 30" away.
Spread units out as much as possible if you're expecting the arrival of a Callidus assassin. The assassin got the perfect rolls this game and it still wasn't of any help. It remained in combat during the Tau Empire turn so it couldn't be shot at, and rolled a 6 for consolidation for a total charge range of 18", but that still wasn't enough.
Sometimes you have to start thinking about the objective as early as turn 3. The northern railhead went straight for the
GK deployment quarter from the beginning.
Thankyou for reading.
