So its batep time again!
This week its my newly improved Imperial Guard vs the Tau Empire at a rather impressive 3k points! If anyone has been following my thread on painting and modeling
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/585277.page then you’ll know I recently bought a huge amount of infantry to compliment my Armoured Company, and this is their debut game.
The Armies
Imperial Guard
Primary Detachment
Armoured Company
HQ
Command Tank - Leman Russ Battle Tank - Infernus Shells
Command Tank - Leman Russ Exterminator - Heavy bolter sponsons, heavy stubber
Elites
Commissar Tank - Leman Russ Vanquisher - Lascannon, co-axial heavy stubber, beast hunter shells
Commissar Tank - Leman Russ Vanquisher - Lascannon, co-axial heavy stubber, beast hunter shells
Troops
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Executioner - Plasma Cannon Sponsons, lascannon
Secondary Detatchment
Imperial Guard
HQ
CCS - vox, regimental standard, lascannon, master of ordnance
Dedicated Transport - Chimera, heavy stubber, camo netting
Lord Commisar
Elites
Marbo
Troops
Infantry Platoon Alpha
PCS - 3 flamers, vox
Infantry Squad - heavy bolter, vox
Infantry Squad - heavy bolter, vox
Infantry Platoon Bravo
PCS - 3 plasma, vox
Dedicated Transport - Chimera, heavy stubber
Infantry Squad - autocannon, vox
Infantry Squad - autocannon, vox
Conscripts x 40
Veteran Squad - demolitions, 2 flamers, heavy flamers, vox
Fast Attack
Vendetta
=][= Inquisitorial detachment
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor - 2 plasma pistols, power armour, mastery level 1, 2 servo skulls
Henchmen - 3 warrior acolytes with melta guns, chimera
Fortifications
Aegis defense line with quad gun
2996pts
I forgot the master of Ordnance in these pictures
Tau
HQ
Tau Commander w/ 2x Fusion Blasters and Puretide Engram Chip. 2 bodyguard with 2x Fusion Blaster each
Darkstrider
Troops
12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
12 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
20 Kroot with Sniper rounds
Elites
2x Crisis suits w/ 2 Fusion Blasters
2x Crisis suits w/ 2 Fusion Blasters
2x Crisis suits w/ 2 Fusion Blasters
Riptide w/ Ion Accel, Stimulant Injector, 2x Shielded Missile Drones
6x Stealth Suits w/ 2 fusion blasters
Fast Attack
5x Pathfinders
5x Pathfinders
5x Pathfinders
4x Pathfinders w/ 3x Ion Rifles
2x Piranhas w/ 2x Seekers each, Fusion Blasters
Sun Shark twin linked missile pod
Heavy
Hammerhead with
SMS, 2x Seekers, Distruption Pods, Blacksun Filters
Hammerhead with
SMS, 2x Seekers, Distruption Pods, Blacksun Filters
Hammerhead with
SMS, 2x Seekers, Distruption Pods, Blacksun Filters and Longstrike
Skyray w/ Distruption pods
We rolled off for mission and deployment, getting Crusade for mission type with 5 primary objectives. And for deployment we rolled longways, meaning there was going to be quite a lot of fire going down the narrow stretch of board. We also decided to add a little flavour with a warzone trait and we rolled Warp Winds, which makes any roll of a double perils for psykers! Great for the Tau, not so much for my Inquisitor!
We also rolled Warlord Traits
Tau - Predator of the skies - 1 turn of skyfire for the commander
Armoured Company - Tip of the spear - command tank and all friendly vehicles within 12” get +
D6 on flat out moves (this lead to a bit of confusion later on and we ended up playing it wrong)
The Board
We then rolled for first turn, which went to the Imperium of the role of a 2!
Deployment
Through devious use of servo skulls I stopped the Tau scout moves
Guard Turn 1
My armour started by rolling up on my right flank, with the conscripts moving behind, hopefully with the added support of my gunline on the hill I should be able to punch quite a hole in the Taus heavy forces before his reserves turn up. I tried to move a demolisher up the left flank but naturally, it immobilized itself instantly on difficult terrain.
One of my vanquishers stunned a hammerhead in the shooting phase, and wanting first blood I had most of my line concentrate on taking out the piranhas which they did. However it took more firepower than I first thought, still, 1VP to the Guard! My
LRBT and the plasmacutioner fired at the Kroot squad, killing a swathe and making them run. My infantry also claimed all three of my objectives, the one one my right flank was skyfire, the one in the middle of my line was half charge range and the one on my left was re-roll 1’s.
This is where I made the mistake with my warlord trait, on the right I had all 5 tanks go flat out +
D6, which of course the russes can’t as they are heavy tanks, but that was the only rules balls up I’m aware of this game.
Tau Turn 1
Not a lot of movement from the Tau, more just moving into firing positions as most of their army was in reserve. He also took both his objectives, the one in the crater was sabotaged and the one in the building did nothing. He did have a good turn shooting though, blowing up both my Vanquishers! The explosions killing 2 conscripts and 3 guardsmen. Damn, there goes my answer to his riptide as I have no more tanks with those amazing beast-hunter shells!
Guard Turn 2
Neither of my reserves came in this turn which was disappionting, but no matter! My right flank continued to push up. In the shooting phase I finished off his Kroot squad, wiped out 3/4 of a pathfider squad and broke some firewarriors. My demolishers also fired at the hammerheads but failed to do any damage!
Tau Turn 2
Darkstrider, 2 crisis teams, the stealth suits and the commander come in from reserve getting linebreaker for the moment. The Imperial quad gun intercepts and kills 2 of darkstriders squad. The stealth suits kill off 7 conscripts and a crisis team wrecks the Inquisitorial chimera. He then went crazy and fired 8 seeker missiles into the leading demolishers, which promptly shrug them off taking no damage whatsoever! The demolisher on my left gets shaken by a hammerhead. His commander then opens up and takes out my
HQ’s Chimera, killing the lascannon and putting 2 wounds on the Imperial commander.
Guard Turn 3
Still no reserves! The push on the right continues, though losing momentum as they don’t seem to be doing much damage to the Tau armour. The Conscripts moved back towards the Tau Commander and with the help of the Inquisitors prescience took him and his squad down in a hail of flashlights! I dunno, maybe they invoked a sezuire or something...
So thats Warlord for the guard! I also managed to bring down all but one crisis suit (who took an insane amount of fire I might add), and killed half the stealth suits with flamers from my platoon command squad. Darkstriders squad took heavy fire from the russes on the left and were reduced to a man, who promptly ran away. Yet again my demolishers tried to hurt the hammerheads and yet again did nothing thanks to those disruption pods.
Tau Turn 3
On comes the Sunshark, the Riptide and more crisis teams! The sunshark loses a
HP straight off to the quad gun on a glance, but then immediately pops my exterminator on rear armour getting Warlord for the Tau! Then even more bad news for the Guard as both leading demolishers explode, one to crisis melta and the other to Longstrike, killing off the Inquisitorial henchmen in the overlapping blasts. The riptide takes a crack at the conscripts in an act of revenge for their fallen commander, but only manages to drop 4, wounding itself trying to overcharge. His 3 man stealth team reduce the flamer command squad to just the officer and then do something unheard of and charge into combat! However to no avail, as neither side hurts the other leading to a drawn combat.
Guard Turn 4
My reserves finally arrive! The Conscripts move back and reclaim their objective. The Guards right flank is in a sorry state, with only a chimera left fighting. Still it does well and the plasma guns from the command squad inside kill a new crisis team. I then manage to wipe out the rest of the crisis suits. The vendetta comes on and puts a hull point on the Sunshark with a glance. The immoblised demolisher pops 2 pathfinders with its heavy bolter. Marbo then throws his demo charge, doing no damage to longstrike but clipping the Riptide and a shield drone causing 2 wounds. Finally an infantry squad moves to help thier officer and charges into combat, killing of the stealth team.
Tau Turn 4
The Tau Sunshark made a bombing run over the conscript blob, wounding the Inquisitor and killing a load of conscripts around him, but not enough to force a leadership test. They also wrecked my last chimera with a hammerhead forcing the plasma command squad to continue on foot. Marbo was brutally shot down by infantry holding the objective in the building. Finally his hammerhead took a pot shot at the Vendetta, and hit on a 6! But then rolled a 1 to pen!
Guard Turn 5
The plasma command squad on the right make a last ditch attempt to do some damage before their inevitable gruesome death. They fired their 2 remaining plasma guns into the rear of longstrikes hammerhead, but completely failed to hurt it! And one overheated killing the guardsman. As it was potentially the last turn I wanted my veterans to see some action, and so I tried to use their grav chutes. However, a bad scatter forced a mishap, and I rolled a 1! The poor little guys bounced straight off the side of a building and all died from the impact. A pity, I was hoping to use their flamers and demo charge to clear out the firewarriors holding the objective in the building. The vendetta shot at the hammerhead straight in front of it, but failed to get even a glance with 3 twin linked lascannons. However the Guard did have some luck this turn, the Inquisitor took a prescienced shot at the Sunshark (taking a wound to perils because of warp winds) and hit with double 6’s with his plasma pistols, and took out the flyer! I was wondering if he could benefit from the skyfire objective as the conscript squad was holding it but no matter with those glorious 6’s. This was a good day for the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. I also managed to kill off the riptide taking its last wound with the quad gun.
Tau Turn 5
Well that plasma command squad is technically getting linebreaker, so they have to go! And they do, easily wiped out by firewarriors. A lot of Tau fire went on the squad holding my front objective, blasting them off it and killing all but one man. A single pathfinder jumps out of the building (passing his impact test) and runs towards the objective, getting into scoring distance (or contesting, as hes a fast attack choice technically), closing the points gap dramatically. We rolled to see if the game continues, and it did!
I might add we forgot about night fighting here.
Guard Turn 6
A rather large amount of fire went into the lone pathfinder, barely killing him. One of the infantry squads moved up to reclaim the objective. Seeing as it was so late in the game I put the Vendetta into hover and fired into Longstrikes rear armour, and still nothing! So far I was not very happy with the Vendettas performance! My Executioner on the other hand did a better job and put a
HP on Longstrike with its plasma cannons. The
LRBT Command Tank managed to immobilise itself trying to get a shot at the firewarriors in the back field, and had to settle for shooting at longstrike instead (to no avail).
Tau Turn 6
The lone guardsman was killed off, as was the officer from the last platoon command squad, another infantry squad was mostly wiped out as well. The firewarriors that had so far hidden all game popped their heads up too and the Guards scoring units were being whittled down, but not enough to clear them off the objectives. We rolled to see if the game would go on, and it did! So the Tau still had a chance.
Guard Turn 7
The firewarriors that had appeared in the building suffered for it and lost half their number. The Vendetta fired AGAIN at Longstrike and AGAIN did nothing. The executioner glanced itself on a gets hot! roll. Everything that could hurt it fired at Longstrike but did no damage. However the immobilized demolisher got to fire its demolisher cannon for the first time all game, immobilizing the hammerhead that had moved forwards just into range. So far the Guard had a good lead, and would win as long as they could weather the Taus shooting for one more turn.
Tau Turn 7
Nothing moved, everything concentrated on the scoring units, forcing moral checks on all every squad, however the Lord Commisars threat of executing any deserter kept them in check with his leadership bubble, meaning that they all passed and stood firm. And that was all that the Tau could do, and so the game ended there.
Final Score
Post Game
Well that was an interesting game! It was a bit of a shouting match, a lot of heavy firepower going back and forth, but causing relatively little damage. Those Hammerheads were a thorn in my side, the took a lot of fire and very little damage. I was fairly impressed with the Guard infantry, behind the Aegis their heavy weapons were very useful, and did a good job of holding the hill. My tank company had a mixed fight, initially doing well and weathering a total of 18 seeker missiles, but ultimately most of them were destroyed. I think my MVP for the Guard would be the Lord Commisar, as his leadership bubble is all that held my men together on the centre objectives winning me the game. Though special mention must go to the conscript squad with the inquisitor, who took out the commanders squad, the sunshark and capped an objective. And the worst performing unit was the master of ordnance, who didn’t make a single hit the entire game. For the Tau I think Longstrike may be the MVP, as he did a fair amount of damage, taking down a vanquisher and various other bits and pieces, but more importantly absorbed huge amounts of fire turn after turn coming out almost unscathed. This was a really fun game with a good little narrative to it, and we both really enjoyed playing, though it did take an age to play with so many models on the board, so our next games may be a bit smaller. Thanks for reading!
Edit: slight image issue, should be fixed now
2nd Edit: now with more pics!
3000pts 30 wins 2 draws 12 loses
5000pts 13 wins 1 draws 9 losses
1,500 Points II 
125
5000pts 18 wins 1 draw 15 losses
1000pts 2 wins 0 draws 2 losses
1000pts 1 wins - draws 1 losses
250pts 4 wins - draws - 2 losses 
was it to be bent over moving everything around way down there all the time?
1,500 points
