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Hello everyone. With my first two armies in the bag I am currently trying to decide what my third army will be (as posted in the following link: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/554804.page ) and thanks to a friend of mind he allowed me to test out a small 1000pt. force of Mech Tau earlier today to see if I liked how they played or not. Another reason for this list is to show exactly how nasty Mech Tau really is, granted Riptides are amazing and all but I think Mech Tau has the potential to be even nastier.

Against me was an Imperial Guard player (Catachans if you can believe that) who has had middle of the road success in tournaments and is leaning towards a Mech IG army for the next tourney of 1000pts. in October. These were the lists:

"SEAWOLF" MECHANIZED SPEARHEAD



63RD CATACHAN MECHANIZED INFANTRY "BLACK TIGERS"



TERRAIN:

The table was a standard 6x4 with a scattering of trees and low hills across it, basically very limited cover for both armies. We rolled for Warlord traits (both which did little to help us) and the rolled off to see the mission and who went first. We got the Purge the Alien and Hammer and Anvil Deployment (which favored me) and after the roll off I got the first turn!

DEPLOYMENT:

I deployed as far back as possible yet close enough for my Hammerheads and Skyray to engage (which was still near the back fo my deployment zone) and deployed from left to right: Hammerhead, Commander+Drones, Hammerhead, Devilfish, Devilfish, Devilfish with the Skyray sitting behind the line hidden in a grove of trees (when the Vendetta came on).

He deployed: Chimera, Demolisher, Chimera with the other two Chimeras directly behind the others forming a wall of 12 and 14 armor.

TURN #1 TAU:

Deciding that the Demolishers firepower would prove to be troublesome if left alive I manuvered both my Hammerheads and Commander to take good lines of sight on it, with the x3 Devilfish moving forward up my right flank to get side shots on the Chimeras, this put my opponent into a tricky situation with a "L" shaped manuver I was performing. Either he exposed his side to my Devilfish or my Hammerheads and Skyray. The Skyray stayed where it was as it already had range and sight with its Marker Lights.

Taking a gamble I fired the Skyrays Marker Lights at the Demolisher and scored two hits, with this I increased my BS of my center Hammerhead and fired on his Demolisher. It hit, scored a Penetrating hit and immiediately it was imobilised! Seeing the threat of the Demolisher now non existent my Commander ordered the Drones to target the Chimera to the left of the Demolisher. The other Hammerhead used one to up his BS to 5 and fired completely destroying it with ease. The explosion caused 4 of the Guardsmen to die (no plasma guns though) and despite the shock of their vehicles demise they remained strong ready to move. The Commander then targeted another Chimera and caused two glancing hits on the Chimera positioned to the right of the Demolisher.

TURN #1 IG:

My opponent moved his remaining three Chimeras forward as fast as he could towards my Devilfish, doing so to keep a constant 12 armor front to both my Hammerheads and Devilfish. He then Popped Smoke, he did nothing else this turn besides have the squad in the open move and run to shelter in the Chimeras smoke screen.

TURN #2 TAU:

My Devilfish retreated in the face of his Chimeras zooming towards them and shifted to the right so they could shoot the squad in the open. I did not move anything else this turn. My Devilfish Opened fire with their smart missiles and ended up wiping out the squad in the open, meanwhile both the Skyray and Commander markerlights targetted two of the Chimeras and in combination with my Hammerheads, succeded and taking them out, with both Veteran squad suffering a few casualties but holding.

My Skyray fired its Smart Missiles killing two more Guardsmen from one of the disembarked Veteran squads but saved its seeker missiles for the dreaded Vendetta. (*Note: I made a tactical bluner here, had I shot the Chimeras first my Devilfish could have then lit up all three of the Veteran squads in the open, oh well, lesson learned for next time!*)

TURN #2 IG:

Sure enough his Vendetta zoomed on heading straight for my Skyray while his remaining Chimera (with the CCS) moved up right next to one of my Devilfish with the disembarked Veteran Squads moved up to get their few plasma guns in range. Shooting his Vendetta he succeded and destroying my Skyray while after all of his Veterans and Chimera fired (including the CCS from inside) I had lost one Devilfish losing a single Fire Warrior in the explosion and had a second Devilfish missing a hull point.

TURN #3 TAU:

Realizing I HAD to kill that Vendetta I moved both my remaining Devilfish 6 inches to get line of sight on the rear armor of the Vendetta, disembarking the squads of Fire Warriors for them to target the Veterans out in the open. Both my Hammerheads moved so that his Vendetta would have to go into hover mode to bring all its Lascannons to bear on them with the Commander moving into a grove of trees to give him cover.

Shooting my Commander targetted the zooming Vendetta and only managed to score a single marker light hit which he decided to use so his missiles needed a 5 to hit. After 4 missile Pod shots I had taken off a single hull point. My Fire Warriors then rapid fired and slaughtered the remaining guard squads in the open with ease. Then my Devilfish fired at the rear armor of his Vendetta...and BROUGHT IT DOWN! (I LOVE TL Smart Missile Systems). At that point my opponent called the game as both my Hammerheads were licking their chops starting at the lone Chimera which was looking rather lonely.

SCORE:

Tau: First Blood, x7 Kill Points

IG: x2 Kill Points

LOSSES:

Tau: x1 Devilfish, Skyray

IG: x3 Chimeras, x3 Veteran Squads, Vendetta

After the game I was able to talk to my opponent and tried to help him out as best I could in regards to tactics he could utilize in the future to bring to the tournament. Had he brought an Aegis Defence Line with IG swarm against my army it would have been a much tougher challenge for my army to fight him. That and if he is going to take any Leman Russes he may consider those with a little bit more range.

In regards to my list I was quite happy with the results of how the army performed with the only thing I was not a fan of being the lack of anti-air (meaining "interceptor") which has me considering taking a Riptide for my anti-air capability. Other then that I think Mech Tau, especially in this infantry heavy edition could be very nasty and quite effective, especially in higher point games (can you imagine x15 Pirahnas on the board all with burst cannons?!). Anyways I hope you all enjoyed reading and feel free to post!

I hardly think that highlighting how mad your opponent became multiple times was necessary. Sure it is pretty rude to get angry like that, but pointing it out on the internet after the fact isn't the most polite thing, either.

 Talore wrote:
I hardly think that highlighting how mad your opponent became multiple times was necessary. Sure it is pretty rude to get angry like that, but pointing it out on the internet after the fact isn't the most polite thing, either.

Fair enough, not trying to be a prick, basically just stating what happened and in part to put emphasis on how potent Mech Tau can be (as it even took me a little by surprise). However I have removed that from the report as you are correct it does not directly effect the battle, thats my bad!

Good battle report and good gamesmanship editing your post. I would've have enjoyed some pictures as well.

Sounds like your list was a success. However, I don't see why you'd choose a Riptide for additional anti air.

Anyway, good report. Do you find 18 fire warriors to be sufficient for objective games?

Talore: If my opponent was getting mad I'd bring it up in a report. The mentality of an opponent is as important as any other aspect. However, doing it in an objective manner (as opposed to "He was SO mad LOL!") is important. Simply stating the opponent was upset would suffice. But this is off topic, anyhow.

Unless I am missreading it, your T3 move with your Commander is illegal i believe.

Commander and Drones targets have to be declared at the same time, and they are not networked so even if they did the same target he can't take advantage of them.

Other than that, I read the edited report, and it looked good.

Thanks!

4TheG8erGood wrote:
Unless I am missreading it, your T3 move with your Commander is illegal i believe.

Commander and Drones targets have to be declared at the same time, and they are not networked so even if they did the same target he can't take advantage of them.

Other than that, I read the edited report, and it looked good.

Thanks!

I thought Target Lock would negate that to be honest, is that not the case? If so I did make a mistake and thats my bad!

 liquidjoshi wrote:
Sounds like your list was a success. However, I don't see why you'd choose a Riptide for additional anti air.

The Riptide that I would take would have Skyfire and Interceptor meaning I would have something that could potentially take out opponents flyers before they are able to do anything, like in this case destroy my Skyray before it could do anything.