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Tau Empire 2000 Strategicon RTT Part One

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Hey all, here’s my latest installment in my ongoing tournament misadventures.  This was a Game Empire sponsored tournament over in Los Angeles.  Dakka readers have already seen Blackmoor’s batrep earlier (congrats on the win!), but this will be my non-quite-as-impressive as his viewing of the same event.

HQ

1x Shas’O – Plasma/Missile/C&C Node

1x Ethereal

Elite

3x Fireknife suits (Plasma/Missile)

3x Fireknife suits (Plasma/Missile)

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Troops

12x Firewarriors w/ Warfish (Smart Missiles)

10x Kroot

10x Kroot

10x Kroot

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Fast Attack

8x Pathfinders w/ Warfish

8x Pathfinders w/ Warfish

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Heavy Support

1x Hammerhead w/ Ioncannon and Burstcannons

1x Hammerhead w/ Ioncannon and Burstcannons

3x Broadsides w/ 4 Shield Drones and 1 Target Lock

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Game One vs Todd playing Traited Drop Podding Marines

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Oh, what a way to start the tournament off.  I’ve played Todd around a few times at the local game stores, and his Drop Podders have torched me badly every single time. Here’s hoping I’ve learned a bit from all those losses.

Mission is Twilight (not that it mattered too much, because we forget to use nearly all the rules)

Terrain had scattered forests around the board, but as this is a Drop Pod fight, it didn’t really matter too much.  I’m castled up hard with the Kroot spread out across my front causing a push-back buffer, with the Ethereal and Shas’o attached to the Fireknife teams.  Both Crisis teams are placed behind LOS blocking terrain on the back edge of the board while the skimmers deploy in front of them.  The Broadsides are deployed forward to prevent them running off the board and my other units are spread out to fill the entire deployment zone.   Guess what I’m planning against?

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Terminator Librarian w/ Fury and Fear.  Command squad w/ 2 Assault Cannons

Terminator squad w/ 2 Assault Cannons

Terminator squad w/ 2 Assault Cannons

Terminator squad w/ 2 Cyclone Launchers (variety!)

2 Dreadnoughts in Drop Pods w/ Assault Cannons

1 Venerable Dreadnought in Drop Pod w/ Assault Cannon

I completely blanked on his Troop choices, but it was probably like 2 man Tac squads or something similar

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Okay, so it’s not a completely drop podding list, but everything starts off the board so it might as well be the same.  I lose first turn, so we’ll just skip ahead to the bottom of the second turn.

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Marines – Turn Two

Todd hits a good chunk of his reverse rolls and all 3 Dreadnoughts park their pods to the right of my line, all next to each other.  The Librarian command squad materializes on the left side, with another Assault cannon squad nearby.  The Dreads deploy using the Pods to shield them from the Broadside fire while the two Termie squads are using the forest to cut down on the available counter fire.

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With the Kroot screen keeping the Librarian beyond Fear range of the main firebase, Fury of the Ancients screams out instead, knocks a few Fire Warriors and Pathfinders down, and ends up killing a Crisis suit (!!).  Fortunately that’s the Ethereal-led squad and Fearless will keep them unpinned.  Assault Cannon fire shreds into a Pathfinder team, but cover and the nearby Ethereal keeps them around.  The Dreadnoughts blaze fire into the side screen, trying to reduce the Kroot screen.  They’re spread out so far, that the entire squad can’t be killed due to range issues though.

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Tau – Turn Three

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Okay, here we go.  The remnants of the Kroot screen advance forward towards the Marines, pushing the screen forward.  My skimmers zoom forward taking up the places vacated by the Kroot, while my firebase remains stationary.  The Ethereal leaves the Fireknives and heads towards the Broadsides, who are potentially in Fear range next turn.  I go slowed though, and do NOT join the Ethereal up to them.  Anybody see a potential problem here?

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Markerlights pick out the lead Dreadnought and a volley of Ioncannon bolts turn it into scrap.  The right Fireknife team (w/ Attached Shas’O) begin to play JSJ games with the other two ones, Missile Pods wrecking an Assault Cannon.  On the left, the battered Pathfinder team picks out a Terminator squad and the left Fireknives plug two from range.  With no heavy targets in LOS and unwilling to shoot up Drop Pods, the Broadsides slug another two Terminators to death, leaving a single Assault Cannon marine.

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Marines – Turn Three

The Cyclone squad appears on the battlefield and positions on the left to engage the skimmer wall.  The undamaged Librarian Command Squad and the single Assault Cannon Termie advance forward to break the skimmer wall.  On the right, the Dreads maneuver around their Drop Pods, staying out of LOS from the Broadsides.

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Seeing the Ethereal waltzing up the battlefield without protection, the Librarian prepares to Fury his a$$ and teach me why it’s really darned important to pay attention to what you’re doing.  Todd rolls an 11 on the psychic test though.  Cough cough hack hack.  /recovers from minor heart attack

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On the left, Assault cannons and Cyclone missiles hit the skimmers, but Todd can’t catch a break and nothing big happens (a few Shaken results).  On the right, the dispersed Kroot and Fire Warriors keep passing their Morale checks despite getting mauled by the Dreadnought Assault Cannons and Drop Pod Storm Bolters.

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Tau – Turn Four

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Okay, I think I’ve used up my allocation of luck for a bit now.  With the right side jeopardized by advancing Dreadnoughts, I fold the remaining right screen towards my center.  The Fireknives on that side remain where they are, since they’re in pretty much perfect JSJ position.  On the left, I advance the skimmer wall forward, preventing the Terminators (and particularly the Librarian!) from getting any closer to my line.

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The right Fireknives volley Missiles and Plasma and the 2^nd Dreadnought goes down.  That Venerable one’s gonna be a problem though.  On the left, Ioncannons obviously don’t do much to the Terminators, though a Burst Cannon sneaks through and knocks down the one man Terminator squad.  Remaining at long range, the left Fireknives take Markerlight guidance and chip away two bodies from the Librarian command squad.

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Marines – Turn Four

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The remaining Assault Cannon squad appears out of reserves.  Todd places it to engage the skimmer screen, but the scatter die rolls an 11” pointed EXACTLY at a Devilfish.  The Terminator sergeant plants himself directly in the cockpit hatch, so as a laugh we leave him head down in the center of the Fish for the rest of the game.  The Venerable Dreadnought, seeing the Tau screeners run backwards towards the Broadsides decides valor is the better part of discretion and retreats back behind the Drop Pod wall.  On the left the Terminator squads from up to blow a hole through the skimmer wall.

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Assault Cannon fire and Cyclones once again fail to destroy any of the blocking skimmers and Powerfists also can’t claim any of them.  Fear of the Darkness is cast and the left screeners run, but the Broadsides are Fearless and the skimmers have taken the place of the infantry.

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Tau – Turn Five

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So far, so good.  The right side is secure, and although my Fireknives there won’t be doing much more then shooting at Drop Pods for fun, the Venerable Dreadnought is in preserve-VP mode and won’t be coming out.  The left side assault is trapped by the skimmer wall, and I can pretty much shoot unmolested with the left Fireknives, Broadsides and Pathfinders, which I do.  The Librarian Command squad dies, leaving the not-so-happy man alone by himself. 

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Marines – Turn Five

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With no other options, the Termies back up an inch, fire and charge again.  An Ioncannon gets torn off, but in return a Terminator fails its armour save and is taken down by a Flechette Launcher!  (what else to do w/ 10 pts lying extra).

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Tau/Marines – Turn Six

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Repeat Turn Five

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Whew, so there’s that.  I’ve finally managed to pull out a win against the drop army.  A lot of it was due to Todd’s utter inability to roll 6s on the Assault Cannons, and the fact that my five skimmers pretty much locked his units away from my heavy guns.  The Command and Control node came in VERY useful, as I rolled several 9s and 10s for target priority checks along the game.  It also prevents the loss of high strength shots against the Drop Pods, which has cost me games in the past.  Off to game 2.

Tau Empire 2000 Strategicon RTT Part Two

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Game two is against Adam, playing Word Bearers

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Flying Statured Daemon Prince

13-ish Infiltrating Marine pack

Marine pack in a Rhino

1 pack of Bloodletters

1 pack of Daemonettes

1 pack of Plaguebearers

1 pack of Furies

1 pack of Flesh Hounds

1 pack of Mounted Daemonettes

2 Obliterators

Havok squad w/ Tank Hunters, 2 Autocannons, 2 Missile Launchers

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Terrain has the center divided by a large level 3 Forest in the center, a level 2 rock something on the left and a large open space on the right.  The corners have buildings in them to give shooters a nice place to hole up.

Mission is Archeotech Excavation.  This is gonna be a bad match for Adam, as there’s no Infiltrate available, limiting the advance of his Icon Bearers.  Since there’s no listed rules on where to put the 6 tokens, we scatter them around the board reasonably spread out.  I deploy with my Broadsides shooting straight through the right open space and the rest of my units positioned to either grab tokens or rush towards Adam’s side.  Adam places his Daemon Prince and large Marine pack directly in the open space (??) as close as possible to my forces with his Rhino and Havok squad in the back.  I win first turn.

Tau – Turn One

My mobile units swing out, heading to pop as many tokens as possible.  The Ionheads move to cover the large open space and to cut down on the approaching Marines, while the Pathfinders and Broadsides assist them.  A Kroot pack flips the first token of the day, and it comes up a winner!  It’s just gone from bad to worse for Adam now, as not only is he back in his zone, but he’s got to advance against a shooty army to claim the token!

The first Pathfinder team illuminates the Statured Daemon Prince and the Broadsides knock him down rather handily.  The second one marks the large Marine squad and a storm of ion/plasma rounds burns them below half.

Chaos – Turn One

The Rhino squad zooms forward, as it’s rather unlikely the foot squad will survive a second turn to summon.  Obliterators advance while the Havok squad shakes an Ionhead.  Not much to do until the Daemons show up.

Tau – Turn Two

My advancing mobile units head backwards and prepare to form up in defensive blocking formations.  Markerlights and Plasma Rifles dispose of the remaining forward Marine squad, while the Ionheads advance into the Chaos side of the board.  On the left, the other Fireknife team lobs Missile Pod fire over the level 2 terrain and take out the Rhino, stranding its passengers (and the other Icon).

Chaos – Turn Two

Daemons summon to the battlefield from the Rhino Icon, but they’re rather far away from the fight.  Nevertheless, they advance up the center, using the large forest to block LOS.  Obliterator and Havok fire bounces a Devilfish and Hammerhead around, but they survive.

Tau – Turn Three

My units fall back, setting up fire lanes on where the Daemons will appear through the forest.  All 3 Devilfish shift forward, and Smart Missile fire arcs over the forest and begins chewing away at the Furies.  The Havoks take Railgun and Ioncannon fire, but their cover is invincible and most survive.

Chaos – Turn Three

With nothing else to do, the Daemons form up in the center.  The two Cavalry units advance forward, hoping to use their superior speed to at least hit the Tau skirmishers.  Obliterator fire takes down a Devilfish, providing some cover for the daemonic advance.

Tau – Turn Four

See Turn Three.  Additionally, the Mounted Daemonettes fall to pulse rifle fire, not being able to get behind the busted Devilfish.

Chaos – Turn Four

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Playing for VP-preservation, the foot Daemons retreat away from the Smart Missile arcs, but the Flesh Hounds roll massive Fleet rolls and rocket over the destroyed Devilfish and hit the lead Fire Warrior team.  Combat is reasonably bloody, but the Ethereal keeps the Warriors set.

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Tau – Turn Five

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With the Fire Warriors caught in combat, Kroot packs advance to break them out of the fight.  A few more Warriors die, but the Kroot onslaught kills the Hounds.

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And that’ll about do it.  With a lot of factors against him, Adam did well, but having to walk Daemons across the board was just too big a hurdle.  Hopefully, we’ll play again in a more balanced mission soon.

Tau Empire 2000 Strategicon RTT Part Three

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Last matchup was against Robert (??) playing Blood Angels

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Chaplain w/ Grail and usual Jump Packing brethren

1 Marine squad in Rhinos

1 Marine squad in Razorback (Heavy Bolters)

4 Marine squads w/ Lascannon

2 Tornados

1 2 pack of Multimelta Attack Bikes

1 Furioso in a Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Launcher

2 Whirlwinds

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Mission was Cleanse II, and once again a nice scattering of various terrain across the board.  This RTT was pretty neat in that there was terrain just about everywhere AND the staff had a little pre-tournament meeting where they announced what the various terrain was (size levels and whatnot).

As Cleanse II is a table quarters only match, I deployed to dance around the center while whittling down the Marines at range and then run for the center at the end.  I lost the turn roll, but Robert gave me first turn.

Tau – Turn One

Sticking to plan, I swing my skimmers forward, while leaving my firebase stationary for the time being.  I’ll do as much damage as I can and then block out the Death Company while maneuvering away from them.

Pathfinders engage two lascannon squads and my army burns them down in short order.  One man remains, but the lascannon gets Torrent’d out.  I’m feeling pretty safe right now.  This will change.

Blood Angels – Turn One

The Rhino and Razorback zip forward blowing smoke and forming a nice LOS block for the Death Company to hide behind.  Whirlwind fire crashes down among the Pathfinders causing heavy casualties and a pinned squad.  Finally, a lascannon flares out, glances, and sinks a Devilfish.  Grrrr.

Tau – Turn Two

My Ionheads swoop forward, concentrating fire on those last two lascannon squads, while my two remaining Devilfish setup in blocking formation on the Death Company.  Kroot overrun the last remaining Tactical Marine, but Missile Pod fire can’t take down the smoked Rhino and Razorback.

Blood Angels – Turn Two

The Rhino screen continues to advance w/ the Death Company.  The remnants of the lascannon squads both fire and a Hammerhead AND Devilfish go down!!!  Out of four shots this game, 1 missed and the other 3 have been glancing 6s!!!  The Whirlwinds continue to drop rounds, but their fire isn’t as effective this turn.

Tau – Turn Three

Ummm, I think I’m in trouble.  The Death Company will have a Feel No Pain Dangerous Terrain roll through the busted Devilfish as well at the Rhino-borne Troops!  I begin to fall back away from the center, but there’s no way I can make it away in time, especially if there’s a Rage roll.  The remaining Devilfish sets up as well as it can, but the last Ionhead is out of position and won’t be able to block this turn.  Scattered SMS fire shoots down a Land Speeder and a few Marines, but the Black Buddies are on their way in.

Blood Angels – Turn Three

The Furioso Drop Pod shows up and drops behind my lines, whereupon the Dread walks out and blows smoke.  An interesting way of using it, but I’ve got way more problems to deal with.  The Death Company jumps through the Devilfish wreckage and charges into the Broadside unit.  The Ethereal’s already left the unit and is running for his life, but really it’s not gonna matter too much.  Troops dismount from the stationary Rhino and run forward also.

The two lascannons of death shoot down the last Devilfish.  I think I’m getting used to this now strangely enough. 

The Death Company loses one man to a Broadside shoving him off a building, but murder everything else and then consolidate 9 inches forward connecting with a Crisis team.

Tau – Turn Four-Rest of the Game

Um, I’m screwed?  Yeah, suffice to say the Death Company rampages their way through the rest of my army in short order.  Oh yeah, the last Ionhead gets plugged by a lascannon, once again.  Wouldn’t do to have any survivors now, would it?

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So that’s that for the tournament.  I go 2-1-0, but miss out on watching Darrian13 and Blackmoor bash each other for the championship.  I suppose I could have conceded earlier, but I wanted to see if his shooting streak continued through the whole game (it did).  Unhappy loss aside, I had a pretty good time and got to see some buddies I haven’t seen in a while.  Congrats again to Blackmoor on winning Best Overall and two San Diego regulars (Dave Fay and Chris P) for taking some more trophies back!

Great report Erick/spmusubi, Adam was playing Black Legion, not Word Bearers.

We missed you and Johnston at the LA Battle Bunker today.

Reecius, Blackmoor (Allan), Dave Fay (Sneeky Git), Tad and I played in a 26(+) player RTT. Quentin won with his Eldar. You were missed.

Darrian

Hey Darrian,

Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, sorry I missed out on the Bunker RTT. For some reason, I'm much better at attending the San Diego tournaments then the LA ones.