The Thousand Sons had been attacking the planet for months, the Tau were starting to get the upper hand. Highly elite Tau forces were being used to scout the planet in search of Thousand Sons parties.

TAU
* Shas'el
-twinlinked missile, plasma, hwmt, hwbsf
* 4 Stealths
* 4 Stealths
* 4 Stealths
* 6 Fire Warriors
-shas'ui
* 10 Kroot
* 10 Kroot
* Hammerhead
-railgun, smart missiles, decoys, multi, target lock
* Hammerhead
-ion cannon, burst cannons, decoys, multi, target lock
41 models
1000pts

THOUSAND SONS
* Lord of Change
* 9 Rubric Marines
-AC with daemonic chains
* 9 Rubric Marines
-AC with power fist, doom bolt, thrall
* Pred
-twinlinked las, las spons, mutated hull, d.possession
* Pred
-auto, h.bolter sponsons, havoc launcher, combi bolter, d.possession
21 models
1000pts


1000pts Cleanse Alpha mission.

I chose quarter.


Turn One Thousand Sons:
He moved his preds west. He killed all 20 of my kroot with his bolters and auto pred.

Turn One Tau:
I moved my railhead forward, but the railgun missed the autopred. The ionhead and commander moved east. I killed 2 rubrics in the d.chains unit with a lot of shooting.

This small tau scouting force was resting when the kroot were attacked by surprise. "Get into the forest" they screamed, but the firepower was too much, the survivors retreated west to safety. Passing a stealth team, they told them of the attack, and it was quickly radioed through to the rest of the force.

The commander decided it was important that the Tau gain ground advantage over the Thousand sons, in order to make base for the larger battle when reinforcements arrive. They prepared for battle, advancing towards the nearest chaos marines in the forest. With all their guns in range they unleashed their firepower, only to find it it takes more than a few burst cannons to kill these marines.

The railhead was the last to receive any orders, moving forward to see what was going on itself. Spotting two tanks, it started to turn around to head back south, firing and missing the autopred in the manouvre.

Turn Two Thousand Sons:
He held the turkey back, rerolling a 6. He couldn't roll high enough to glance my railhead with his pred, one of the sponsons were still behind the forest and couldn't shoot. His autocannon attempted to shoot my ionhead and failed.

Turn Two Tau:
I moved the railhead between the two buildings, but missed the laspred. The ionhead went behind the south eastern building and shot at the rubrics, causing a wound. The stealths also caused a wound. The commander stunned the autopred, which did nothing. I wounded a rubric to the north with my stealths hiding behind the northwest forest.

The commander noticed from behind the ionhead a marine in the forest convulsing. Odd, but he had no idea what it meant, and ordered the stealths to fire another round at them, while he and the hammerhead continued to gain ground east. After witnessing the autopred firing at the hammerhead in front of him, he thought he had the perfect shot to knock it out. He was certain he hit it, it lifted into the air! But it seemed to have little effect.

The railhead crew were able to get control again, after luckily escaping unharmed from a lascannon hit. Their manouvre south was too tricky though, the railgun couldn't shoot straight to hit the laspred.

Not knowing how deep the forest in front of them was, the stealths decided to walk through. Ending up on the edge of the forest, they shot at some chaos marines. They were aware from reports from their commander that these marines took about double the effort to kill, they weren't surprised when one didn't fall. They jumped back behind the forest to hide from return fire.

Turn Three Thousand Sons:
Big Bird came out to play, after a reroll. It assaulted my stealths down south. I had some lucky rolling and did 2 wounds before he killed them and consolidated into the other unit. He stunned my railhead with his laspred, and killed 3 fire warriors with the autopred, but they didn't run, I rolled an 8.

Turn Three Tau:
The fire warriors hid behind the building. The northern stealths did another wound to the rubrics, killing one. My ionhead and commander killed another 2 rubrics, they were now under half. Chicken head killed the rest of the southern stealths and moved towards the railhead.

The commander watched as the autopred moved behind the forest, and was radioed that it was firing at his fire warriors. He told them to hide, they needed to hold their position.

Turning to look east, he saw something he will never forget. The chaos marine from the turn before was now changing shape. A monster, a bird monster, seemed to grow from the inside of the marine, shreding the power armour. No sooner had it grown, did it go straight towards the stealth suits. The commander watched as the stealths fought bravely, a couple of wounds to the beast seemed little justice for the bloodshed. He was now aware of the speed of the beast, and decided to take cover behind a building after he and the ionhead fired at the marines in front.

The railhead suffered for its miss, a direct hit stunning the crew.

The stealths up north now knew it was safe to jump over the forest, and they fired on the marines again, this time taking one out of action.

Turn Four Thousand Sons:
He only glanced the railhead with his laspred, and only shook it. The autopred sat above the northeast corner of the large forest, and had a go at the front of my ionhead without any luck. The railhead was charged, but feather boy couldn't hit it.

Turn Four Tau:
I hid my railhead behind the building in the southwest. I moved the fire warriors behind the railhead. My commander was behind the east building, moved to shoot the quack attack, but failed to wound and hid east of the building. My fire warriors however managed to do a wound to him and took him under half strength. The ionhead moved up into the mid east to shoot the obscured autopred and shook it twice, failing to have any effect. The stealths continued to fire and hide back behind terrain, wounding another rubric.

The commander decided the beast was the biggest threat, and ordered his fire warriors to take it down, while he himself had a few shots at it. The fire warriors appeared to have some success, the beast now looked a lot weaker.

The Tau tanks appeared to be the highest priority for the Thousand Sons, but they were too tough to destroy. Another two lascannon hits only resulted in shaking the crew. The Lord of Change was unable to get a good hit on the skimmer above. The railhead decided to get out of the firepower of the lascannons, and moved west.

The autopred didn't move very far, but the speed on the ionhead was too much and it couldn't hit. The ionhead fired back, appearing to have no effect for hits that would normally shake any crew.

The stealths in the north were aware of the large monster and what it did to the other stealths, but they continued to focus on the chaos marines.

Turn Five Thousand Sons:
He moved his laspred east and fired a sponson at the side of my ionhead, but missed. The 8 rubrics up north got the idea and moved east, out of the stealths range. His autopred moved at full speed to sit west of the large forest. The LoC assaulted the railhead, hit, glanced, and immobolised, but on the re-roll it was only shaken.

Turn Five Tau:
My fire warriors went Colonel Sanders on the Lord of Change and fried it. My railhead moved east and hid behind the central southern building. My ionhead moved onto the middle forest, but failed to even wound a rubric in the northern unit with all its weaponry. My commander was stuck in the east, and managed to wound a northern rubric, killing it, before hiding behind his building again.

The tactics of the commander were working. The Thousand Sons predators were having trouble shooting at his tanks, and the fire warriors were able to finish off a the weakened beast, albeit after it was able to get a decent hit on the railhead in its second try, shaking the crew. He was able to kill a marine to the north too, then hide back behind his building.

The stealths were disappointed to see that the chaos marines had moved out of range, finding the autopred just out of their range too.

The railhead, still unable to shoot, moved east to hide behind the adjacent building.

The ionhead moved west, into the centre of the board, in order to hide from the powerful laspred. The movement seemed to affect its shooting, hitting 3 trees with its 3 ioncannon shots, with the burst cannons bouncing off the chaos marine's armour.

Turn Six Thousand Sons:
He moved his laspred back west and shot at my ionhead's side, and blew it up. The autopred didn't have anything to fire at, and took the south-western quarter. The laspred had the northwestern quarter, and the 7 rubric marines had his deployment zone. Three rubrics were still alive in the southeastern corner.

Turn Six Tau:
I moved the railhead into the south-eastern quarter. My stealths advanced towards the autopred, but stayed in their northwestern quater. My stealths shot at the autopred first. Nothing. My fire warriors shot at its rear armour second. Nothing. Then I shot my commander at the autopred side. Nothing again. Lastly, my railgun shot its side, finally hit, and blew it up.

The laspred was still able to get a sponson to hit the front of the ionhead, which was enough to completely disable the ionhead, sending it crashing to the ground.

The commander, weary of the 3 marines aproaching him, was glad to see the autopred had no targets. He ordered all firepower on that predator. He himself didn't have any effect. His fire warriors couldn't hurt it firing at point blank range into its rear. The stealths didn't have any affect on its side armour. Finally, the railhead, having not had the railgun hit anything so far, was able to hit and destroy the autopred.

The commander was pleased, he had taken control of the south.

End of Game:
I had the two southern quarters, and he had his deployment zone. The north western quarter was contested by the stealths and the pred. I won 2 quarters to 1.

VICTORY TO TAU.