Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Went to my local gaming club (Cannock Gamers Club) for the first time in ages and it's greatly improved. Played against a fella called Mike and his Tau aka Fish People.

Blood Angels "Wing Striker" - 1,500 points

HQ

Librarian - shield of sanguinus & unleash rage

Elite

2 x Sanguinary Priests

Troops

5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - meltagun - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon

5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - meltagun - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon


5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - meltagun - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon


5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - flamer - sgt w/ power weapon - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon

5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - flamer - sgt w/ power weapon - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon

5 x Assault Marines w/ Razorback - flamer - Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma gun & lascannon

Heavy Support

Vindicator

Vindicator


Total: 1,490


Tau "Fish People" - 1,500 points

HQ

Commander in suit - 2 x shield drones and some unknown wargear

Elite

3 x Battlesuits - shield drones and mixed wargear, S5 and S7 stuff

3 x Battlesuits - shield drones and mixed wargear, S5 and S7 stuff


Troops

6 x Fire Warriors w/ Devilfish - Devilfish w/ sensor spines, disruption pods, burst cannon & smart missile system

6 x Fire Warriors w/ Devilfish - Devilfish w/ sensor spines, disruption pods, burst cannon & smart missile system


6 x Fire Warriors w/ Devilfish - Devilfish w/ sensor spines, disruption pods, burst cannon & smart missile system


6 x Fire Warriors w/ Devilfish - Devilfish w/ sensor spines, disruption pods, burst cannon & smart missile system

Heavy Support

2 x Broadside Suits - 2 shield drones



Game: Seize Ground + Dawn of War

Deployment

I lost the roll off but Mike decided to go second, so I kept everything off the field. He deployed the Broadside squad only.

The random Planetstrike weapons are objectives, two are my side by the bastions, one is in the fortress the other Mikes side by some trees.




* Tactical Notes

This is my first time playing Tau so after cluing up with lots of questions from Mike I think I know what I'm going to do. He's left those Broadsides vulnerable so I'm going to nail them as they're his only real anti tank with those down he shouldn't have a fat lot to bust my tanks. I'll use meltas and the Razorbacks on the Devilfish then use flamers and Assault Marines to batter them while Vindicators will shell the battle suits hopefully I.D'ing them.

Turn 1

All my stuff rolls in off the board edge with the Vindicators and a single Razorback forming a armoured wall and popping smoke while the other Razorbacks move 12" behind.

Shooting I blast the Broadsides with mass lascannons killing both shield drones and a suit.

Mikes turn he manages to explode a Razorback carrying a melta squad, two Marines are killed in the blast.





* Tactical Notes

Ok not bad first turn anti tank is almost gone and the last model is vulnerable. Shame I lost a Razorback mind you, though at least the squad is close to an objective so I can go for that next turn.

Turn 2

I move the armoured wall forward with the melta squad on foot running towards the objective but they get poor run roll :(

Shooting the Broadside is full of lascannons holes.

Three Devilfish come on from reserve, one coming down the left flank two on the right . One squad disembarks from the Devilfish and moves onto the fortress claiming the objective.

Shooting some smart missiles fire at a Vindicator I think but do diddly squat.




* Tactical Notes

A mistake from Mike here which I should have pointed out though was thinking what to do next. The Fire Warriors aren't allowed to disembark, move and then get into the building as the Devilfish moved 12".

Next turn I'll blast the single vulnerable Devilfish on the left flank with lascannons and Vindicator while I move a squad towards the fortress and blast the Devilfish which are on the board. With the Devilfish gone that's no transport for the Tau to hide in or be mobile anymore.

Turn 3

I move my armour a little bit but keep it hidden using the fortress as cover, a single Vindicator points towards the solo Devilfish as a solo Razorback moves towards the fortress objective 12", the squad bails out and another Razorback moves with a Priest to give them feel no pain. The melta squad on foot runs to the objective and claims it.

Shooting the lone Devilfish gets smashed by a Vindicator shell and is wrecked, the Fire Warriors are pinned. Assault Marines unleash flamer into the fortress but fail to kill any Tau. A Devilfish does get shaken though by the other Razorback by the fortress.

Mikes turn he calls for reserves with a single Battlesuit unit coming on the right flank walking through terrain. The empty Devilfish moves across and lands in terrain by the objective Mike's side.

Shooting he doesn't do a fat lot, I think he kills a single Marine from the squad which bailed out the Razorback last turn.

In assault me moves the Battlesuits through terrain and one takes a wound thanks to dangerous terrain.





* Tactical Notes

Ok, cool, the lone Devilfish has been nailed by a Vindicator and the Fire Warriors are written off for this game. Nothing else really exciting has happened.

Next turn I'll move the Vindicator 12" or 18" over the objective and ram Mikes Devilfish contesting it while the Razorbacks move up to support it. The flamer squad outside the tank I will bail back in and move the Razorback as close to the fortress objective and hope I'm within 3" while the Razorbacks will try and pop the Devilfish to expose the Fire Warriors inside, any other Razorbacks and Vindicator will go for the Battlesuits and hopefully take them out with mass plasma or lascannons.

Turn 4

This turn I'm going to get the remaining objectives as turn 5 could be it. I move the Vindicator 12" ramming it into the Devilfish on the objective by Mike's table edge, I manage to shake it. I move a Razorback back towards a objective my side, we agreed the ledges of the board are dangerous for vehicles and it gets immobilised but luckily within 3" so that's claimed. I move the two Razorbacks by the fortress a little bit and now contest that, just within 3"! I also move the melta squad into the bastion by the objective they already hold, they're still within 3" and claim it.

Shooting I blast the Vindicator at the pinned Fire Warriors, it scatters off the board. I blast the Battlesuits with lascannons but nothing happens after saves. I blast two Devilfish with lascannons and plasma, one makes cover saves the other is shaken, again.

Mike calls for reserves and the other Battlesuit team arrive and the Commander whose on his own. The Commander comes barrelling down the hill towards my exposed side armour on my Vindicator while the other suits come on by the Devilfish contesting the objective on Mikes side. Only other movement from Mike is moving the Fire Warriors which were pinned into a bastion and movign Devilfish about.

Shooting the Razorback closest to the fortress objective is shaken and immobilised by Devilfish fire and Battlesuits on the right flank. Commander blasts the Vindicator and does nothing while a Razorback gets shot by the newly arrived Battlesuits, nothing happens.

In assault the Battlesuits on the right flank move back into terrain passing terrain tests.





* Tactical Notes

Things are getting interesting. All objectives except for two are contested, the ones which isn't contested is held by me and there's nothing around to get to it plus my Marines are nicely tucked away in a bastion . The other is under threat by a Devilfish..

Plan is to nail that Devilfish with plasma and lascannons and hopefully stop it moving one way or another. I'll move the other Razorbacks forward blast those Battlesuits by the objective Mike's side with lascannons, plasma and melta as I'll the bail the Assault Marines out, the Commander I'll just blast with a Vindicator and any remaining plasmas and lascannons.

Turn 5

I move the Vindicator about so it can blast the Commander in the face while the Razorbacks move forward, melta squad bails out of one into terrain ready to unleash melta on the Battlesuit unit.

Shooting Vindicator lands smack on target on the Commander but Mike gets lucky with his rolls with both drones and the Commander passing the invulnerables; damn. Battlesuit team gets nailed by melta, bolt pistols, plasma and lascannons, leaving one left who fails morale and runs off the board! Devilfish by the fortress gets nailed with lascannon and plasma from the Razorback which isn't shaken, manages to shake the Devilfish only :( .

In Mike's turn he moves the once again shaken Devilfish up and contests my objective. He moves the Battlesuits out of terrain and moves the other Devilfish away and towards my armour.

Shooting a Razorback gets weapon destroyed by the Commander, that's about it.

In assault the Commander gets brave and charges my Razorback even though it moved 6". He manages to immobilise and weapon destroy it.





We roll for it and the game ends on a 2, Blood Angels win contesting three objectives and claiming one.

Summary

That was interesting for my first game against Tau and went better than I thought. My plan worked ok keeping focus on the targets most of the time, though I was surprised by some of Mikes tactics such as the lone Devilfish coming down the left flank - Mike told me he was going to use to contest the objective my side, though even still it had a long way to go and in the end a Vindicator dealt with it. I was also surprised his Commander was running solo, though the Commander managed to shrug off a Vindicator blast and do some damage to a Razorback.

All in all it went well and I was hoping to get into assault and batter some Tau, it didn't happen and the game was really armoured warfare which my guns wasn't doing a fat lot to Tau armour, I didn't even pop one, though Mikes Battlesuits and Devilfish didn't have the right weapons for anti armour and didn't even to take out a Razorback either. I think if I had some more luck taking out transports I could have battered some Tau. Also the game could have been slightly different as those Fire Warriors shouldn't have got out the Devilfish and got into the building on the second turn as they cannot move once the transport has moved, could have maybe had my Blood Angels on instead, maybe.

You didn't list the vindicators

No I didn't, epic fail!

By my reckoning the game was a draw. But i guess it can be open for debate.

Looking at the picture of the end of turn 6, it looks as though the razorback is more than 3" away. It cannot contest the objective on the forress bunker as measurement is taken from the hull. (please read on below to see why i think this is).

By the looks of the terrain and the objective set-up; you have one objective and Mike should have the objective on the fortress of redemption whilst the remaining are contested.

This is as in my experience of measuring to contest objectives in pretty much exactly the same circumstances. If an objective is placed in the centre of the fortess bunker just like what it seems Mike has done, it is very difficult to get 3" from outside of the bunker unless the top can be occupied especially made impossible when you have to consider that measurement is taken at an angle from the Hull of a vehicle at its closest point.

Only subjective thing in this scenario would depend on the foot-print of the objective. It looks as though a sentry lascannon turret from the bastion kit has been used and many people deceide prior to game start whether there is a limited range from the centre of the objective or if any extending part of the objective model counts for measuring (though this is not often the case).


P.S.
I say this not in support or against any individual but to better help others understand and share knowledge from experiences.
Please let there be no judgement on any comment made in this post as i would hope it is to benefit all.

Surprised this one was as close as it was... your opponent seemed to be a good player!

Zid wrote:Surprised this one was as close as it was... your opponent seemed to be a good player!

Though the list was really terrible...

captain_mike wrote:By my reckoning the game was a draw. But i guess it can be open for debate.

Looking at the picture of the end of turn 6, it looks as though the razorback is more than 3" away. It cannot contest the objective on the forress bunker as measurement is taken from the hull. (please read on below to see why i think this is).

By the looks of the terrain and the objective set-up; you have one objective and Mike should have the objective on the fortress of redemption whilst the remaining are contested.

This is as in my experience of measuring to contest objectives in pretty much exactly the same circumstances. If an objective is placed in the centre of the fortess bunker just like what it seems Mike has done, it is very difficult to get 3" from outside of the bunker unless the top can be occupied especially made impossible when you have to consider that measurement is taken at an angle from the Hull of a vehicle at its closest point.

Only subjective thing in this scenario would depend on the foot-print of the objective. It looks as though a sentry lascannon turret from the bastion kit has been used and many people deceide prior to game start whether there is a limited range from the centre of the objective or if any extending part of the objective model counts for measuring (though this is not often the case).


P.S.
I say this not in support or against any individual but to better help others understand and share knowledge from experiences.
Please let there be no judgement on any comment made in this post as i would hope it is to benefit all.

To be fair Mike I measured that objective twice during the game and said it was contesting and you acknowledged, at the end of the game you moved the objective away from my Razorback because you said it had moved. If it had moved during game it should have been moved back a.s.a.p as I could have done something about those Tau in that objective, you can't really move objectives at the end of the game mate that's unfair, like I said to you in person it's a win for me because I measured the objective during the game and you can't move it after at the end, even if it has moved.

Sorry, just realised you're not the same Mike and I cannot be arsed to re-type my comment. Basically I measured during the game and Razorback was within 3", I did this twice. At the end Mike said the objective had moved and moved it away from my Razorback by about half a inch. You can't move a objective at the end of the game, if it had moved during the game then it should be put back a.s.a.p.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Zid wrote:Surprised this one was as close as it was... your opponent seemed to be a good player!

I had some really bad luck with dice rolls and never even popped a single Devilfish at all. We even played a extra turn and the results were the same just with the Commander being deaded and a Devilfish wrecked in assault, that's it.

striderx wrote:

Zid wrote:Surprised this one was as close as it was... your opponent seemed to be a good player!

Though the list was really terrible...

Can't comment on list as no idea about Tau, just out of interest what would a good Tau list be?

looked like a nice game, though i agree the tau list wasn't that good. I only ever played a 1000 point game with tau but here's what i had:


Shas'O 115 pts
- Plasma Rifle
- Fusion Blaster
- Multi Tracker
- Hard Wired Blacksun Filter

2x Crisis Battlesuit
-Flamer
-Missile Pod
-Multi Tracker

12x Fire Warriors 210 pts
- Shas'ui
- Devilfish

12x Fire Warriors 210 pts
- Shas'ui
- Devilfish


3x XV88 Broadside 225 pts
-Multi Tracker

Hammerhead 150 pts
- Railgun
- Two Burst Cannons

Performed alright in my opinion.

I did think the lack of Fire Warriors was a concern and the lack of anti armour weapons on the Crisis Suits.

mercer wrote:I did think the lack of Fire Warriors was a concern and the lack of anti armour weapons on the Crisis Suits.

most tau players run minimal fire warriors, they're the suck

mercer wrote:Can't comment on list as no idea about Tau, just out of interest what would a good Tau list be?

mercer wrote:I did think the lack of Fire Warriors was a concern and the lack of anti armour weapons on the Crisis Suits.

No, not an issue of mass firewarriors.
Stastically, firewarriors are better/more cost efficient than Crisis Suits in anti infantry. However, they do not survive long enough if left outside their transport to unleash their anti infantry fire power.
Also noticed your friend spend too much on upgrading his devilfish so that he is seriously lacking in firepower. Take a look at this 1,500 Tau list :-

Shas El (plasma, missile,MT) - 87
3 Crisis (plasma, missile, MT) - 186
3 Crisis (plasma, missile, MT) - 186
3 Crisis (plasma, missile, MT) - 186

10 kroots, 4 hounds - 94
10 kroots, 6 hounds - - 106
6 firewarriors (devilfish, pod) - 145

1 broadsides (TA) - 80
1 broadsides (TA) - 80
1 broadsides (TA) - 80

Total - 1230. That's 9 Autocannons, 9 plasmas, 3 Railguns, and 2 sets of kroots to bubble wrap your suits so that they survive longer to deal the damage.
Use the remaining 270 to purchase either more FWs+FIsh, more broadsides for railguns, or piranhas for movement blocking.

Unnecessary upgrades on his devilfishes are what ate up his points for more firepower

Missiles are S7 I think and plasma S6 if I remember right. What's multi tracker? That give them +1 BS?

You think a single Devilfish would work? I guess you could add more.

Thanks for the info.

Multi-tracker lets you shoot both weapons, so basically a necessity for most suits (leaders can take hardwired and suicide meltas along with deathrains often take additional weapon systems or targeting arrays instead (which is the one for +1 BS)).

I thought the game was interesting in that the two lists mirrored each other to a certain degree. I think your use of your army's superior mobility won you the game - well played in my opinion on your part.

O'shovah wrote:Multi-tracker lets you shoot both weapons, so basically a necessity for most suits (leaders can take hardwired and suicide meltas along with deathrains often take additional weapon systems or targeting arrays instead (which is the one for +1 BS)).

Thanks for the info

Afrikan Blonde wrote:I thought the game was interesting in that the two lists mirrored each other to a certain degree. I think your use of your army's superior mobility won you the game - well played in my opinion on your part.

Thanks

Correct me if I'm wrong here...

The deployment was Dawn of War. I am pretty sure that Dawn of War says you can deploy an HQ and up to 2 troops. How did he deploy his heavy support in the deployment phase?

Khisanth Magus wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong here...

The deployment was Dawn of War. I am pretty sure that Dawn of War says you can deploy an HQ and up to 2 troops. How did he deploy his heavy support in the deployment phase?

You are correct, I noticed that too.

Also, seems like they didnt roll for night fight

Eh, in my opinion, Tau are too easy to kill. I fought a 1500 pt army at a tournament (Small scale) and won, killing all of his Crisis Suits and his commander, as well as wiping out half of both of his Fire Warrior Squads and Immobilising his Hammerhead before moving out of its line of sight.
Tau are an easy force to beat, since once you get into close combat, their troops will die easy, and their strongest vehicle (in my opinion) is the Hammerhead. You dide a great job in utilising your Vehicles though, I was worried when he started destroying your weapons and everything else, great battle it seems though.

Devil Dogs IX wrote:Eh, in my opinion, Tau are too easy to kill.

Well, did your opponent even bother to bubble wrap his suits?
Tau are easy when the player is easy, and vice versa

Khisanth Magus wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong here...

The deployment was Dawn of War. I am pretty sure that Dawn of War says you can deploy an HQ and up to 2 troops. How did he deploy his heavy support in the deployment phase?

Internet cookie for you

striderx wrote:

Khisanth Magus wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong here...

The deployment was Dawn of War. I am pretty sure that Dawn of War says you can deploy an HQ and up to 2 troops. How did he deploy his heavy support in the deployment phase?

You are correct, I noticed that too.

Also, seems like they didnt roll for night fight

Internet cookie for you

Devil Dogs IX wrote:Eh, in my opinion, Tau are too easy to kill. I fought a 1500 pt army at a tournament (Small scale) and won, killing all of his Crisis Suits and his commander, as well as wiping out half of both of his Fire Warrior Squads and Immobilising his Hammerhead before moving out of its line of sight.
Tau are an easy force to beat, since once you get into close combat, their troops will die easy, and their strongest vehicle (in my opinion) is the Hammerhead. You dide a great job in utilising your Vehicles though, I was worried when he started destroying your weapons and everything else, great battle it seems though.

Destroying my weapons? That didn't happen until turn 4 and turn 5 so no need to worry then when it's almost game over.