Got in a great game vs one of the best players our
FLGS has. Managed to pull off a draw, which is saying something since I usually get crumped by this guy. Even still, he's a great opponent who is always fun to play against. I brought a Tau list I'm working on for a local tournament in September, and he did the same with his Renegade
IG.
Army Lists
1500 pts Tau
C3 ECM Commander (plus ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES)
Crisis Team (3x suits with double plasma and Early Warning Override)
Crisis Team (3x suits with fusion blasters and double flamers)
Riptide (Ion Accelerator,
EWO, Stim Injectors)
8 Fire Warriors
8 Fire Warriors
Kroot Carnivores (12 w/Sniper Rounds, 3 Hounds)
8 Pathfinders
8 Pathfinders
Broadside Team (2x Suits with
HYMP and Target Lock, 1x Suit with
HYMP and Velocity Tracker, 6x Missile Drones)
Renegade IG (IG w/CSM Allies)
CCS (Company
CC with 4x Plasma, Master of Fleet, all mounted in a Chimera)
3x Vet Squads (2x Plasma, in Chimeras)
Vendetta (3x Lascannon)
Manticore
Demon Prince (Tzeentch, Burning Brand)
2x Cultist Squads (10 Cultists each)
Heldrake
Set Up
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Mission: Big Guns (3 Objective)
Night Fight: Off
Synopsis
I was glad to face my opponent with some fliers, since I had not yet tried this list out vs. any and I wanted to see how it performed. Like I said before, he's a really tough opponent, and my track record vs. him is mostly losses (some as early as turn 3) and a single draw. As a couple of early notes, I completely forgot to roll for my Warlord trait (his was -1 Reserves - I would be coming onto the table at -2!) and he never rolled for Psychic powers.
Tau
Both of my Crisis teams underperformed drastically, as one deepstruck off the table and rolled a
while the other team took a single casualty, failed leadership and rolled HUGE to flee off the table edge.
On the other hand, my Broadsides accounted for two tanks (plus hull points on others), shooting down the Heldrake and general pounding on infantry. The Riptide ended up getting locked in combat with the Daemon Prince turn 2 and stayed there until turn 5 where he emerged victorious in melee (I would Nova-charge for the 3++ every turn). My Kroot actually blew up a Chimera turn one with their sniper rifles, and helped distract the enemy forces for a while before fleeing. They even managed two rending shots on the
DP (see below). This was also the first game I've ever played where both Pathfinder teams survived the game more or less intact.
Renegade IG
On the whole I did a decent job of keeping his plasma units out of the game, and wrecked all his Chimeras by turn 3. One of his vet squads spent most of the game fleeing, making morale and then fleeing again. After my tank hunters mishapped, his Manticore was free to pound on me the whole game, although it didn't get a ton of shots (he rolled a lot of 1- and 2- shot turns). His Daemon Prince was the star of the show, effectively tying up my Riptide for most of the game. He was rolling his Tzeentch reroll like a champ too. My second turn was dedicated to shooting that guy down, and between the Skyfire Broadside, drones, and Fire Warriors, managed to cause 0 wounds. The icing on the cake was when I rolled two rending shots from my Kroot and he rolled
for his saves, picked them up and rerolled two 5++! Luckily the shots from the Kroot knocked him down for a single wound, but by then there wasn't anything left to fire! Next turn he would assault my Riptide, and even with all the Support Fire Overwatch I only managed a second wound. He stayed that way for the next three turns while the two monstrous creatures had their epic slap-fest.
Conclusion
If the game had ended at Turn 5, I would have won with two Big Gun objectives, plus First Blood. Unfortunately for me the game pressed on and he managed to kill off my last Broadside in Turn 6. This ended the game tied with each of us owning one objective, myself with First Blood, and him with +1
VP for taking out my Broadsides. This actually points out a problem I have with keeping up with the meta game. I am terrible about remember objectives and keeping up with game score. If I had remembered that Big Guns nets you an extra
VP for killing Heavy Support units, I would have known we were tied and would have used my last turn to try and kill off his Warlord. Instead, I took a random potshot at another unit that was nearby. It's something I'm going to have to correct by the time the tournament rolls around.
