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Just played a 3000 point 2v2 fest, my undefeated Ravenwing (12-0) and some allied Ultramarines versus 3000 points of Tau.

Sort of shoehorned into playing this at Games Night, 3000 points on 48" by 48"? Sure to be a clusterfrak. Here we go!

My list is roughly:
Sammael
Lib level 2, Force Axe, rolled Invis+Scream
4x 3 man Bikers with Melta
Land Raider Crusader
Command Squad with dakka banner
Techmarine, PFG
3man RCS
4 Black Knights

My erstwhile Ultramarines ally:
Company Commander, Jump Pack, Powefist
10x Vanguard Veterans, 3, Power Weapons, 3 Plasma Pistols, Jump Packs, Sarge with Relic Blade and Plasma Pistol
2x Scouts, Missile Launcher
5x Bikes, Attack bike with MM
5x Terminators
2x Dreadnoughts, MM, Assault Cannon
1x Devastator, 2 Plasma Cannon, 2 Lascannon.

Actually, now writing out his list I can see how terrible it was, but he was pretty confident it would do well, So let's roll with it!

Tau:
Not entirely sure of the loadouts but:
Shas'o, Plasma, Missiles, Shield Drones
3x 2-Man Crisis Battlesuits, Meltas, Plasma, Shield Drones
2x 5 man FW squads inside of
2x Devilfish, Burst, Smart Missile
1x 3 Broadsides, Missile Packs
2x Tetras
2x Hammerheads

Tau Player 2
Shas'o, Burst Cannon, Flamer
3x 2-man Crisis Suits, Plasma, Burst Cannon
3x 10 man FW squads
1x Devilfish
1x 3 Broadsides, Drones
1x Hammerhead

First time facing Tau in 6th Edition- wasn't entirely clear on their leadership and stats, as well as abilities. This would be a problem later on.

We get first turn, and I deploy on the right flank in standard Alpha-strike formation: the Black Knights creep up the right table edge, Bikes surround the Land Raider and scout forward, Sammael and Librarian Go with the Command Squad in the middle, to draw fire with Invisibility on. Ultramarines deploy Devs in ruins, scouts infiltrate in the middle building, and Vanguard cluster behind the Land Raider for the 4++. He chooses to deep-strike the terminators.

Tau deploy in standard firing line, castled opposite me, with FW squads across from me. Second Tau player chooses to deepstrike his Commander and all his Crisis suits. (???) I suppose someone's afraid of the RW alpha strike...

Here I start to have my reservations- What's the point of Vanguard Vets if you don't use Heroic Intervention? Against Tau? Multi-Charge on the Crisis Suits will essentially seal the game, even if you take some casualties in the process, since the suits have no way of disengaging from combat and the Vanguard will eventually wear them down. Nevertheless we begin.

Mission is Kill Points. No Night Fight. They fail to seize.

SM turn one:
Entire force scouts forward, Invis goes off on the command squad. Black Knights kill a Hammerhead on the right flank for First Blood- essentially the highlight of the game. I foolishly sacrifice a squad to melta the other hammerhead, hoping for a lucky break- it gets immobilised. Not too shabby... but hardly a good trade. Salvo bolters wipe one 10-man unit of Fire Warriors, and a couple from the other squad. Here I start to make mistakes- I don't shoot the Broadsides first with Salvos to clear out the Shield Drones, but instead hit them with the Command Squad fire. They roll hot and fail to lose a wound, despite insta-death after the Rad grenade hits. On my opponent's side, sum of his shooting is taking a hull poing off a Hammerhead. Later I realise he fired his Devastators at it as well (!!!) instead of at the exposed Broadsides- a wipe on Broadsides this turn would have left them essentially with two Rail Guns.

In retrospect I should have reminded him to hit the Broadsides instead of the Hammerheads- and wiped out the other squad of Fire Warriors instead of Salvoing at the Broadsides.

Tau turn one:
Devilfish lands next to command squad (???) and unloads ten fire warriors into the woods there. Everything else sits tight.

His Broadsides fire at my Land Raider, and get a glance and penetrating hit- I roll a save, but fail to declare for which, so I roll again and fail. He rolls a 6 and it explodes- I forget to re-roll for Deathwing Vehicle- but luckily no one dies in the ensuing explosion. The two rapid firing Fire Warriors wipe my Black Knights- God knows I should have Dakka'd them to smithereens in the last turn. Burst cannon fire/ Smart Missiles and plasma cannon fire kill the rest of the Ravenwing Command despite the 2+ cover save, leaving just my two HQs. On his flank, the Bikes get wiped out and he pops a dread. Pretty horrendous for me- Black Knights are the teeth of my Ravenwing Force and without them I feel helpless. On the other hand, they totally ignore my Command Squad now sitting in the open- the Banner lives another day!

Turn Two
Thanks to the brave sacrifice of my Knights, most of the army is in Charge range and ready to deal out some hurt. Terminators fail their reserve roll. Vanguard move up to assault the Broadsides- I move a lone Melta biker up to kill the immobilised Hammerhead, and split up Sammael to charge one Warlord and the Librarian to charge two stray Crisis suits on my flank. The ten-man unit next to them is worrying however, but the Ultramarines Captain confidently detaches from the Vanguards to charge them solo- 'I got this,' he tells me. What could go wrong?

The Command Squad is still deadly against infantry despite losing their Land Raider, and with the Techmarine pump out enough fire to reduce the remaining 10-man Fire Warrior squad to thee models.
On his flank, the Devastators again shoot the Hammerhead with no effect. I don't know why he never engaged the Broadsides the entire game, or the Crisis suits... since you can pop Shield Drones with plasma and ID the suits with Las, he never tried this all game. How bizarre. A bad turn for melta sees all the melta weapons whiff their attacks- but charges are declared and everyone makes it. The Vanguard make the 9" to the middle Broadsides, losing three to dangerous terrain landing ( they were on top of a Bastion ) and a Dreadnought makes an amazing 10" charge to engage with a screening Hammerhead, but fails to damage it. Sammael charges his commander, and my bikes and Librarian charge the Crisis suits. The Captain shrugs off 20 overwatch shots from the entrenched Fire Warrior squad and makes his charge by one inch- and proceeds to paste five FW, failing their check and catching them on the sweep. The Librarian whiffs his attacks (I forgot I had Furious Charge, and could also use my Force Weapon) and they remain locked. Sammael, usually a beast in combat, seems to have met his match in the Tau commander, who fights him to a stand still- any wounds being absorbed by his shield drones. This is when I realise he has no AP2 weapons in the Vanguard squad, so they are reduced to battering at the Broadsides with clubs.

Tau Turn 2
While Tau in assault is never good, reinforcements are on the way! The remaining battlesuits make their deepstrikes around and in the backfield, going for the Devastators and Command Squad. Fire is suprisingly ineffectual, only two Devs and one Command Marine fall- inexplicably he takes off a Plasma Cannon instead of the Sarge, because a Signum is more important. Most of our units are tied up in combat, so he pops the remaining Dread and Attack Bike, and wipes out the Bike squad in the open, and puts a wound on the Captain. In assault, the Librarian insta-kills a Crisis suit, forcing a morale check which they lose, and they get swept. In the Broadside melee, the suits actually succeed in killing a marine, and they fail all their attacks. Using Combat Tactics, he falls back out of combat- which in retrospect was a good idea, although this is possibly the most inefficient use of a Vanguard veteran squad ever. They consolidate towards the newly arrived Crisis Suits. Sammael and the Commander remain tied in combat, neither side causing a wound- he was rolling hot with his 4+ shield, but couldn't put a wound on me. Things are looking slightly better, this turn around.

Space Marines turn 3:
The Terminators come in, but mishap and head back to the warp. Deep Striking is way overrated in this edition, in my opinion, especially on boards small enough to see assault in turn two. The turn begins with the Vanguards heading for the nearest Crisis unit, and the Captain heading straight at his Warlord. My Librarian prepares to charge the Broadsides in the middle- I pass on invisibility to cast Psychic Shriek, causing a total of 5 wounds on the Broadsides (he rolled a 14) and, stripped of shield drones at this point, die horribly. The Command Squad, still untouched, wipe out a unit of Fire Warriors, and the Techmarine detaches to join the Captain in the assault. The Devastators finally down the Hammerhead they were shooting at since turn one. The Vanguards assault a Crisis suit team, killing it. The Techmarine soaks the overwatch fire but rolls a double 1 for distance, while the Captain makes it into combat- plastering his Warlord with instant death! This guy is seriously becoming a hero. Sammael and the Commander remain locked in stalemate. The Librarian, with no target to charge, is stranded in the open.

Tau Turn 3:
Feeling wrath for the loss of their commander, every single remaining Crisis suit move to charge into the lone Company master, who's down to one wound at this point. Hammerhead and Broadside shooting wipe out the remaining scouts, leaving me with a single biker and the command squad, as the Librarian gets plastered everywhere by most of his force. The Crisis Suits all make the charge distance, and he is pummeled by fourteen Battlesuits... here some discrepancy comes into play. I did not see their rolls, but believe they were rolling to hit on fours, when it should have been 5s (Ws 2 vs 6). As a result, he takes five wounds which he passes... all.. but.. one. Sammael gets charged by two Crisis Suits, and he refuses the challenge and I put a wound on his Commander. However, tired of this stalemate, I hit and run him at the end of the phase to refocus on another target.

Imperial Turn 4
The terminators finally come in, and wipe out the remaining Fire Warrior Squad. The Vanguard Veterans charge the lone Battlesuit, easily killing it, and Sammael charges a team of two, wounding twice, breaking and sweeping them. He consolidates behind the Bastion, as does the Techmarine. The Command Squad, still defiant, shoots down the three-man Fire Warrior squad still remaining... to one man. My last biker fires at him and desperation... and he passes his save. Unfortunately, his squad leader died in the previous barrage, so he tests on 8- and rolls a 9. They flee off the board!

Tau Turn 4
Not much is left on the board at this point- The Broadsides, two suits and the commander fire at the Terminators, who are slain to a man. Sammael weathers about three units shooting at him with no wounds- leaving me with three units on the board. At this point the GW Store is closing so we wrap up:

Tau: 15 Kill Points, Slay the Warlord
Space Marines: 14 Points, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker and First Blood...

Close victory at 17 Points!

After the disaster on turn one I was surprised we were able to turn this around, but I suppose both sides were goofing around somewhat. Analysis to come!

Whew, that was a close one!

Good batrep, I won't comment about lack of pictures since that would make me a hypocrite. Still a good read, and I would definitely take a look at your next one.

A good report! My only suggestion would be to add a few pictures, even just one or two for each turn. You do a good job of painting a picture of the battle, but a couple of images are always nice

Well written though. Im intrigued to hear your analysis of the game.

i agree with the others, nice write up although pictures are always appreciated.

And the UMs list is pretty pretty awful.

Couldnt his term squads use the homing beacons on your bikes? I would never trust so many points in a normal deep strike from reserves.

 HerbaciousT wrote:
A good report! My only suggestion would be to add a few pictures, even just one or two for each turn. You do a good job of painting a picture of the battle, but a couple of images are always nice

Well written though. Im intrigued to hear your analysis of the game.

I know, my Iphone died just as I reached the store! Otherwise, pictures aplenty. They have some amazing terrain where I play.

Analysis down below:


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Moridan wrote:
Couldnt his term squads use the homing beacons on your bikes? I would never trust so many points in a normal deep strike from reserves.

Well it was just one Terminator squad with no heavy weapons (???) so it didn't change much. In fact, it might have won us the game since they spent most of the last turn trying to kill it instead of the three one-man scoring units




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mistakes were made and the damage was irreversible!

Composition:
I like my Ravenwing list, it's very solid. Rolling Invis on the Librarian is as close to an auto-win as you get against my meta (MEQ/Shooty heavy, weak in CC)
The Land Raider usually survives past first turn, but soaks enough firepower to justify it's inclusion. Having all-bikes makes the list vulnerable to certain things, that the Land Raider mitigates somewhat with it's heavy armour.

The Ultramarine list is beyond the pale- all I can say that the guy playing it was pretty cool and supremely confident in its abilities, so it made for a fun game! At least... it's fluffy?

Tau:Can't say much except that Tau Player 1 had a stronger list vs MEQs, and the other against Hordes so they sort of balanced out. My list would utterly spank the second one, although against the first I'm less confident.

Deployment:

My Ravenwing build only has one deployment, which is cluster round the Land Raider for Banner and Power Field, and since we had first turn and scout it didn't really matter.

The Ultramarines deployment was fine, the scouts could have sat further back but the only cover was in the middle building. Deep Striking Termies is always a risk with Vanilla, in this case they could have run behind the Ravenwing but hindsight is 20/20.

Tau:
Castling up is always a good strategy. but deep striking Battlesuits isn't, not against a Jump Pack Vanguard Company. Fire Warriors out in the open is always bad I feel, but unluckily on a 48" square board there is nowhere to hide. Could have bubble-wrapped his Broadsides better however.

Opening Turn:
Sacrificing one bike squadron to melta a Hammerhead is terrible idea. The strength of the list is the 4+ invulnerable in 3" around the LR, and the Salvo Banner.
I should have focus-fired the Fire Warriors in the open and popped the Devilfish with the melta instead- my first instinct was to go for the Railgun units to protect the LRC,
which is what I would normally do against non-Tau and in a solo game. Here, allied Tau presented too many options to eliminate on the first turn and I should have just accepted the LRC as a loss.
I probably broke formation too early as well, losing the 4++ is a waste. I forgot the Deathwing Vehicle re-roll, something which would not happen in a 1v1.

Crisis Suits and Broadsides can soak a phenomenal amount of firepower, thanks to their stupid Shield Drones who take the wounds and have a 4+ invuln. I was pretty sure he was using Look Out Sir to take wounds as well for non-characters, but the game was moving fast enough I didn't question it.

Tau: Popping the LR was lucky for them- it should take far more than a single Broadside shot to do so. Leaving the Banner Squad in the open unmolested was a mistake as well, otherwise fire priority was good.

More to come in a bit!