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Decided to take my trip-raider Deathwing out for a stroll today, and whaddya know? Stumbled across some filthy new Tau! I have not yet played against new Tau, but given all the nasty stuff I've heard about them, I was pretty nervous about this match. Hypothetically, this is one of my worst matchups. Ah well. To the report!

[1850 Point Match]

Deathwing (Me)

Belial
TLLC

Deathwing x5
TH/SS
CML
CF

Deathwing x5
TH/SS
CML
CF

Deathwing x5
TH/SS
CML
CF

Land Raider
Dozer Blade

Land Raider
Dozer Blade

Land Raider Crusader
Multimelta

Ravenwing Bikers x3
2 Meltaguns
Power Axe

Tau

Shadowsun

Cadre Fireblade

Fire Warriors (12?)

Fire Warriors (12?)

Fire Warriors (12?)

Stealth Suits x 5
2(?) fusion

Pathfinders x6

Pathfinders x6

Crisis Suits x3
Plasma Guns

Riptide
Ion
Missiles

Hammerhead
Railgun
Longstrike

Missilesides x3
SMS

Skyray
networked marker light

We deployed terrain based on the d3 per section rule. Ended up deploygin quite a few ruins around the board. This actually made a difficult matchup even more tricky, given the fact that also all of the ruins had some visibility through them, and that markerlights were going to remove just about all cover for me. We rolled up an obective mission, but hilariously forgot to set objectives, which we didn't discover until the game began. I was fine with this, I wanted to just kill stuff anyway

He deployed two squads of firewarriors on the second and third level of ruins on his end of the board (we were deploying on short sides). The Fireblade went with the unit on the second floor. Longstrike and another squad deployed to the left on the ground behind a wall with another unit of warriors and the skyray. to the right he deployed his missilesides on an elevated platform and riptide. One unit of pathfinders went with the missilesides and the other went with the warriors in the ruins.

I deployed al of my Raiders opposite longstrike on my flank to shield them rom the hammerhead with one of the only pieces of terrain that blocked LOS. This also positioned them to drive up the field and attack the riptide so I could overwhelm his right flank. I positioned my bikes behind another piece of terrain and scouted up, though this proved to be a bit foolish as it left them exposed to the missilesides. He then infiltrated shadowsun and the stealth suits close to the crusader with Belial.

He got first turn and I failed to sieze. He used pathfinders to marker light the LRC. He then unloaded with shadowsuns + the stealth suits fusion on the LRC, and fired with the hammerhead after removing cover from the LRC. End result? Took 3HP and the assault cannon.

He then murdered all of my bikes with the missilesides. Whoops.

He then jetpacked shadowsun behind some ruins. and the Riptide further back.

My turn, I moved my LRC 6" towards shadow sun and disembarked 6". both of the other raiders moved towards the missilesides and the riptide. I had clear line of fire with the Termies and I was able to focus fire one hurricane bolter directly at shadow sun, causing one wound. The termies shooting ultimately did one wound to a stealth suit. I then fired the lascannons at the riptide and caused a wound.

Fun time! My termies assaulted shadowsuns unit, with overwatch causing one wound on Belial. I then challenged Shadowsun, who accepted. This did not end well for shadow sun, who died immediately. The rest of my termies summarily murdered the rest of the stealth suits. With nothing left to kill, I consolidated 3" back towards the LRC.

The next turn his crisis suits deepstruck out of reserve near my exposed termies, unleashing with a hail of hot plasma. In the end, I only had my sergeant and Belial left. Aside from that, he simply glanced one of my land raiders.

I moved Belial and asergeant back into their raider as the crisis suits had jetpacked too far away for me to do anything. My other raiders took two more wounds off of the riptide.

Turn three he tried to crack my raiders, who were now very close to his missilesides and pathfinders. He let loose with his overcharged riptide and longstirke, but only managed to destroy one of the lascannons on the front raider.

My turn, I move forward and dismbark directly under the platform. Termi fire kills some pathfinders while my remaining lascannon and CML finish off the riptide. I then attempt to multi-assault the pathfinders and missilesides, but fail to get further than the pathfinders. I kill them off without any issue whatsoever, leaving me exposed to a terrible amount of fire. I meekly consolidate towards the edge of the platform.

His turn, longstrike immobilizes the untouched raider. He also turns his firewarriors on my exposed termies, deleting them in a shower of red mist.

My turn, I disembark from the broken raider and shield my terms with the functioning raider. My raiders then turn their weaponry on the broadsides, annihilating the unit in a combo of some lucky dice and failed saves.

Next turn, the game ends.

His VP: First Blood, Termie Squad, Linebreaker

My VP: Slay The Warlord, The Hunt, Riptide, Stealth Suits, Fire Warriors, Broadsides, pathfinders

Deathwing win 7-3!

What I learned from this battle:

-Sometimes, even in the face of truly nasty firepower, raiders just don't die!
-New Tau are NASTY. Without AV14 spam it would have been very difficult to survive the withering firepower he unleashed. Fortunately, when castled up in the raiders he only had a few units that could do much of anything, and only two sources of true AV14 killing power.
-Ruins are strictly an advantage to Tau until their markerlight units die.

Mistakes I Made:
-Exposing bikes early on, they literally did nothing.
-Moving one raider directly behind another due to terrain deployment limited my firepower pretty significantly.
-Don't chase crisis suits. I didnt mention it much because it wasn't eventful, but my crusader spent the rest of the game after killing the stealth suits trying to chase the crisis suits. They were much too fast and too good at hiding in cover. I should've rushed the raider up the middle and tried to take out his other unit of pathfinders.

I am thinking of pulling the bikes and making all of the raiders into deathwing vehicles, plus adding dozer blades to the raider crusader. Any other thoughts?

So, what do you think? Any thoughts on the battle, critiques of our lists, etc.? Let me know!

Always good to see a Deathwing army! Peculiar to see it without deep strikes though, though it seemed AV14 wall was the way to go.

I'm looking forward to more!.

Good job.

I am pretty sure shadowsun is T4 with no eternal warrior shouldn't it have been ID by your missile?

You could also replace the RW with a small TAC squad and a PFG libby to fortify the LR with a 4++ for as long as they stay within 3" of the libby. (the libby and TAC squad can just move behind the LR out of LOS)

 ansacs wrote:
Good job.

I am pretty sure shadowsun is T4 with no eternal warrior shouldn't it have been ID by your missile?

You could also replace the RW with a small TAC squad and a PFG libby to fortify the LR with a 4++ for as long as they stay within 3" of the libby. (the libby and TAC squad can just move behind the LR out of LOS)

It was the hurricane bolter that hit shadowsun, not a missile. Not that it mattered much!

Well played. The Tau army was well equipped to pop your land raiders but I think your initial deployment and subsequent movement phases throughout the game (except for the bikes) served you well.

I think the Tau player's big mistake was hanging Shadowsun out to dry in hopes of popping one land raider the first turn... Too much of a risk which resulted in the loss of a heavy hitter early on - if it was me I would have been a lot more conservative.

I would keep the bikes and find the points to equip the LRC with a dozer blade... You just gotta love dozer blades - right?

Nice rep, how were you able to focus shadowsun though was she not in cover too?

 spears wrote:
Nice rep, how were you able to focus shadowsun though was she not in cover too?

The land raider was positioned such that it couldn't see any of the other suits in Shadowsuns unit. Shadowsun was hit five times I think with the hurricane bolter, made 4 saves but took one wound.

Nice to see Deathwing pull one off vs new tau.

I have a question for you, why no invest all in crusaders? What does the standard raider bring over them?

If raiders are dedicated transports for terminators, then they must take deathwing vehicle. This means if you take them without it then they must be as heavy support, and so you cannot begin the game with the terminators loaded up in them.

I was actually considering making a triple Raider Deathwing list for fun games like so:

HQ - Belial

Deathwing command squad - CF, CML, Standard of Devestation. - LRC, Deathwing vehicle, MM

Techmarine - Powerfield Generator, bike, servo harness.

2 x Deathwing terminators 5 men, CF, CML - LRC, Deathwing vehicle, MM

This list would be terrible vs any big str 10 pie plates, but if we ignore those, then you get a big block of 14+ armour with re roll damage table and a 4+ invuln save (Tech hugs the back on the middle landraider.) These would put out 72 TL bolter shots a turn due to dakka standard.

For 1850 I guess I'd have to drop the tech marine and 25 points of other gear.

Big Blind Bill wrote:


This means if you take them without it then they must be as heavy support, and so you cannot begin the game with the terminators loaded up in them.

Not true! If you take a transport (not dedicated) you can put what you want in it (normal restrictions applying). It's only if you want to put units (other than ICs) into another units dedicated transport that they have to start outside it and embark first turn. See pg78 in the rulebook.

Triple land raider looks amusing but a lot of points in few baskets.

I was under the impression anyone from a codex can use a transport, rules permitting, but only a unit with a dedicated transport may start play inside it.

Big Blind Bill wrote:
I was under the impression anyone from a codex can use a transport, rules permitting, but only a unit with a dedicated transport may start play inside it.

I'm afraid you were under the wrong impression, I've given you the page number, check it for yourself.