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Like most parents, my Dad has put up with this hobby between me, my brother and friends for the past 20 years, happy with the fun that it brought us but never interested in it himself. He's witnessed countless games, bought a few (old LotR) models for himself over the years and even a copy of the rulebook with the intent (but never the time) of learning how to play. This week, out of nowhere, I was shocked to hear he actually asked to play a game with me. I have no idea what brought this about (he's declined the offer to play a hundred times in the past and openly declared he wasn't interested at all in such a complex game). Obviously, I accepted and we went through an introductory game with a couple of models so I could explain the basics; it was pretty funny actually, and ended with The Sanguinor insta-killing a Company Commander with a krak grenade. He really enjoyed it (probably because I set it up so he'd win ) and asked for a proper game later in the week, the report of which follows:

Before the game, I wrote a simple WYSIWYG 500pt list for each army I have available, and presented him with 8 codices so that he could pick forces for us both to play based purely on the cover art and a brief description of how the army plays. The armies all had at least 1 HQ and 1 Troop except for the Tau because I only have an unbound Farsight Bomb. He picked Tau for himself and Eldar for me, which was good because I'd be able to introduce him to the Psychic phase without him needing to worry about his own powers.

Tau 500pts
> Commander R'alai
> 3 Crisis Battlesuits (2 Plasma Rifles each, 2 Gun drones)
> Hammerhead (TL Smart Missiles, Railgun with Submunition Rounds)

Eldar 500pts
> Spiritseer
> 5 Rangers
> 5 Howling Banshees
> 5 Wraithguard
> 3 Dark Reapers
> War Walker (2 Scatter Lasers)



Obviously the Tau were outnumbered, but after I showed him the two forces and offered to swap he still wanted to play for the greater good! We weren't playing a game with objective markers, just a simple variable game length destroy-the-enemy scenario on a 3' square board, but still counting VPs for First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. I let him deploy second as well as giving him the first turn, since he wouldn't know which units did what anyway to counter my deployment. Both teams deployed defensively; Rangers and Banshees in a rubble crater and Dark reapers atop a ruined building, while the the War Walker sat in the open comfortable with it's shields and the wraithguard plus spiritseer hid out of sight; the Tau battlesuits and leader sat back with the Hammerhead positioned behind a low wall. We agreed that all cover would give a 5+ save for simplicity, and no Warlord Traits (mainly because R'alai's is stupid and confusing).



Turn 1 Tau
The Tau start by rushing forward into range with their plasma rifles and out in the open centre of the battlefield. R'alai detaches from his marker drones which land both their markers on the Rangers. R'alai follows up with a devastating 2 large blasts at S4 AP4 rending, and by using the markerlights to ignore the cover save manage to eliminate 4 of the 5 Rangers. Only 1 of the crisis suits is in range to shoot, and fires 2 plasma shots at the Dark Reapers, both of which hit the ruin. Finally, the Hammerhead elects to shoot at the War Walker; S10 means an instant penetrating hit, but the walker's shield absorbs the shot. The smart missiles fire an accompanying volley but only take it down by 1 hull point. The shooting phase ends with the final living Ranger failing his leadership test and fleeing straight off the battlefield with the cry of "Where'd my squad go? Screw this!". The Tau claim First Blood and end their turn by jumping back behind cover, although a dud roll means the crisis suits aren't able to hide completely.



Turn 1 Eldar
The Howling Banshees charge forward hugging the terrain the protect them, while the Wraithguard and Spiritseer squad marches onwards and stays hidden under a ruin. The Spiritseer casts Conceal to give his out-of-sight unit a pointless cover save (mainly for a quick demonstration of the psychic phase). While the Banshees run, the Dark Reapers open fire on the exposed crisis unit, killing both drones and injuring a suit, while the War Walker tries to glance the Hammerhead with its scatter lasers but fails. The crisis suits pass their leadership test for the lost drones and all is well for now.



Turn 2 Tau
R'alai moves up the edge of the battlefield with his 2 separate marker drones moving towards the centre of the table along with the crisis team. One markerlight hits the War Walker, which the crisis team use to boost their plasma accuracy, exploding the vehicle in hot smoke. The nearby Dark Reapers survive the explosion but are fired on by Commander R'alai who is only in range to shoot with his 36" mode. His two S9 shots take down a single Reaper while their cover save helps one to survive. The Hammerhead finished the round in style with its submunition shot and smart missiles unloading on the Banshees, killing all but 1. Clearly Rangers are space-pansies because both the Reapers and Banshees passed their leadership tests with ease. The battlesuits move closer with their jetpacks, unafraid of the hidden Wraithguard.



Turn 2 Eldar
With their expendable units... expended... the Eldar lie in a tough position. The Wraithguard must make an impact soon and confront the Tau in open ground; it is crucial that the Spiritseer casts conceal to give them a cover save. Using all available warp charges, the warlord passes 3 times and suffers Perils of the Warp, losing a wound ignoring all saves! The Tau have only 3 dice to deny on, meaning 3 sixes would be needed and was "basically impossible" I said... ...and that's exactly what he rolled. That's right, the warp-ignorant Tau manage to out-psyk the Eldar of all races at a pivotal moment! The Wraithguard will have to rely on their high toughness alone against the powerful plasma and railgun arsenal of the Tau. Only one Wraithguard is in range to shoot at the Hammerhead, but luckily the tank fails it's cover save and the d-weapon causes it to explode! Meanwhile the final Howling Banshee runs for cover and the Dark Reapers fire another devastating round at the unhidden suits, finishing off the wounded member and killing another.



Turn 3 Tau
With numbers dwindling, it becomes apparent that the little Reapers are a much bigger threat than they initially appeared. The two marker drones light up the squad allowing R'alai's two S4 AP4 rending large blasts to ignore cover, annihilating the remainder of the unit. The final crisis suit positions itself behind a wall hoping that the Reapers would be wiped out and is then able to focus the Wraithguard. Rapid-firing 4 plasma shots, the suit somehow manages to only kill a single model, how unfortunate!



Turn 3 Eldar
With R'alai still sitting at 4 Wounds and able to massively outrange and outmanouvre the Wraithguard it's looking grim for the Eldar. Until suddenly an idea! If the last remaining Howling Banshee can reach enemy deployment and hide behind the northern building a victory point will be earned for Linebreaker. In a desperate effort the Banshee abandons the cover-saving comfort of the blast craters and runs at the enemy table edge. Once more the psychic phase comes around, and learning from past mistakes only 3 warp charges are expended on casting conceal on the wraith-squad. As important as it is that the squad gets its cover save, it's hardly worth risking perils by rolling too many dice and awarding a victory point as little 'seer blows his own brains out. 3 charges expended, 1 pass. This time the Tau only have 1 warp charge, 1 chance to deny on a 6, there's no way it could happen agai... ....he knows what he just did, I can see it on his face! Once again the Eldar are beaten at their own game (I like to think that since the Tau do not actually have the psychic ability to nullify the Spiritseer in an epic mind battle, they instead just shoot a barrage of plasma fire at him to put him off ). In an act of revenge the Wraithguard unleash an ungodly amount of destroyer firepower at the remaining crisis suit, killing him 18 times over.



Turn 4 Tau
Wisely staying as far a way as possible, R'alai opts to remain stationary and use his 36" weapon profile against the Wraithguard after both markerlight drones miss the target. The high accuracy and raw power (and lack of cover save thank you very much Spiritseer!) deletes two squad members. The drones then attempt to charge in a tarpitting effort (a roll of 12 would be needed to reach). They fall short and are overwatched but take no hits.



Turn 4 Eldar
The rogue Banshee makes a final sprint and reaches the enemy deployment zone, hiding out of sight behind a ruined building. If the Spiritseer can survive, a draw can be held. Conceal is cast once again, and finally passes with no nullification. Including the bonus from moving up behind the barricade, the unit will benefit from a tasty 2+ cover save for a short while. The two Wraithguard unleash their weapons on the drones but fail to hit, and even the Spiritseer's pistol fails to harm them.



Turn 5 Tau
Now aware of the Howling Banshee's little quest, it's too late and too far away too be dealt with. The Tau have two options for claiming victory; moving Commander R'alai further towards the west edge to also claim a victory point for Linebreaker, or finishing off the Spiritseer to claim a point for Slay the Warlord... obviously the latter is more fun! R'alai elects to stay far back and bombard the squad with high-power shots. The drones hit with both markerlights, meaning R'alai ignores that sweet 2+ cover save and kills another bodyguard. Finally, the drones charge in, one of them falling as a casualty to overwatch. In an intense battle of epic non-assault units, amazingly the drone comes out on top, killing a wraithguard! These sixes man...



Turn 5 Eldar
Locked in combat, the Spiritseer casts Drain to reduce the drone's initiative and weapon skill. He then misses his attack, as does the drone.



Turn 6 Tau
Now that the Spiritseer is in combat, R'alai no longer has the option of firing down the range to finish him off. The final choice to abandon Linebreaker is made; he needs to reach the combat as fast as possible, but is out of charge range currently. His jetpack rolls 7" and he moves in closer. The combat continues with both parties unable to lay down the hurt on each other (damn AP- weapons!).



Turn 6 Eldar
Once again the seer casts Drain and managed to whiff his attack, as does the drone unsurprisingly. All that remains is to see whether or not the game continues for a final turn... it does not! Before R'alai has a chance to reach the assault and fight warlord-on-warlord for the game-winning victory point the battle ceases. Tau claim one point for First Blood while Eldar claim a point for Linebreaker - both warlords survive and are the last men standing!

On a side note, if R'alai had chosen to go for Linebreaker and moved 6" + the 7" that he rolled for his jet pack move he would have been 1" away from the deployment zone, meaning a draw would be had none the less! Overall, a surprising game considering the armies used and various funny outcomes. I did offer a lot of advice during each action as to which units should shoot which enemies, where I would suggest to move to, which weapon to use with R'alai etc, but he played very well and every decision and action was his at the end of it. What else can I say, he's played just over 1 small game now and he's already blown up a Company Commander from full wounds with a krak grenade, beat the Eldar in a psychic war using psykerless Tau, and even proved that weaponless drones are more threatening than Wraithguard in combat.

Awesome report. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, your dad could have won had he gone for Linebreaker. That's a 6" move + 7" jump + a run move as well.

Awesome report - what did you use to make the pictures?

This may actually be my favorite battle report - mostly because of the presentation.

Fantastic presentation! I'm with Nevermind - what did you use to make the pictures? I'd love to do my own battle reports in a similar style!

R'alai detaches from his marker drones which land both their markers on the Rangers.

Great job describing everything, the pictures are great!

As someone who plays R'Alai, yes his Warlord trait is confusing. However, he cannot detatch from his Marker drones. It's dumb, becuase it causes him to be effectively considered T4 until one dies.