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For the first mission in an on-going campaign, my IG were allied with Sisters of Battle against Tau and Eldar. Each player had 500 points. I had a command squad, two infantry platoons, and three multilaser sentinels, all my special weapons were grenade launchers. The Sisters had a seraphim squad, buffed hq squad, and some troops. The Tau had fire warriors and pathfinders, with the commander's +1 shot upgrade. The Eldar had 6 guardians on jetbikes and a large shining spears jetbike squad with a farseer with fortune.

The mission was a break out with the imperial forces deploying in the center. Tau/Eldar had first turn. There was no cover in our deployment zone.

On turn one, I lost 19 guardsmen. I started to move my entire force towards the table edge with the jetbikes, thinking I could take out the guardians and tie up the shining spears. Mostly I didn't want to face firewarriors on rapid fire. Still no cover. And with re-rolls on his 3+ saves, I didn't kill any of the shining spears.

Over the next few turns my sentinels took out the 6 guardians, but nothing put a dent in the shining spears squad. He would charge my troops, then hit-and-run at the end of my combat phase so he could shoot and charge again. The sisters of battle tried running off the same edge as me, except for his seraphim which took down a fire warrior squad before getting shot to death. None of our units made it off the table, and we lost all of our units, while only killing a handful of the Tau/Eldar forces. Despite my efforts to run my troops off the table, they still had to cover 24" and got cut to pieces by the shining spears. The fire warriors advanced on our rear and double shotted the Sisters to death.

The rules were no vehicles (except walkers), flyers, or non-HQ monstrous creatures. I didn't know what I was going up against when I made my list, but what would you have taken against that kind of force. What tactics should I have used? I sorta feel like the mission was lost from the start, with no cover in our deployment zone, second turn, and facing Tau/Eldar without any IG tanks, but was there anything I could've done to make it more of an even fight?

I would have ensured that there was some cover. Beyond that I would have focused my fire on a single unit, preferably one without fortune. You have to mass enough fire to at least force a break test. Shoot them enough and they will fail some saves. Mixing in some melta and plasma that ignore their armor save leaves them with their jink save only.

Reading this makes it sound like an ideal ambush scenario designed for you guys to lose.
I agree on the front of targeting one unit at a time until its dead or fleeing, but there really doesn't seem like there was much you could do besides forgoing all shooting and just trying to run away.
I'd see if you can get a rematch with some actual cover for you guys (since it makes no sense for you guys to get boxed up in an area with no defenses if you're breaking out), and maybe have them give you a fairly big gap in between the deployments.
It also might not be a bad idea to have it automatically start out as night fighting, since that would be a good time for your armies to attempt to sneak off of the table.

All's simple. U need enough los blocking terrain and cover in all the games. And not just a shooting gallery.

no vehicles? so no chimeras either? those rules are very punishing for an IG player

notrabies wrote:
Reading this makes it sound like an ideal ambush scenario designed for you guys to lose.
I agree on the front of targeting one unit at a time until its dead or fleeing, but there really doesn't seem like there was much you could do besides forgoing all shooting and just trying to run away.
I'd see if you can get a rematch with some actual cover for you guys (since it makes no sense for you guys to get boxed up in an area with no defenses if you're breaking out), and maybe have them give you a fairly big gap in between the deployments.
It also might not be a bad idea to have it automatically start out as night fighting, since that would be a good time for your armies to attempt to sneak off of the table.

Actually, we had the "it's a trap" rule, i.e. night-fighting for only the imperials to represent their disorganized force. Really it was the shining spears 3+ fortune save and hit and run that did me in. All those twin linked shuriken shots and shining spear lances decimated my guardsmen.

We did this mission as part of a gaming group, and I think it was just a perfect combo to take out my IG. Fortunately, the forces of order were 3-1, so I will take credit for tying up the invincible Tau/Eldar on the 2v2 table while my allies took out the easier foes. I also realized that to most players who play with decent armor saves, cover must seem like an afterthought.

Next round is going to be a city mission with more points, and hopefully relaxed vehicle restrictions. However, it's also probably going to be after the new codex goes live, so not sure how much planning I can put into it just yet.