Krazed Killa Kan
Minnesota, land of 10,000 Lakes and 10,000,000,000 Mosquitos
|
This is a game I played online over the Vassal program. Though I totally forgot to take screenshots, the unexpected outcome was well worth sharing in a Battle Report. The forces:
Tau Empire
HQ: Shas'o
w/ Plasma, Missiles, Shield Gen, HW Multi and 2 Shield Drones
Total Points: 182
Troop: 24 Fire Warriors
Total Points: 240
Elites: 2 Crisis Suits (Separate squads)
w/ Plasma, Missiles, and Targeting Array (Team leader'd into a Multi-tracker each)
Total Points: 154
Heavy Support: 2 Sniper Teams - 160 Points
1 Hammerhead
w/ Railgun, Burst Cannons, Disruption and Decoy - 160 points
1 Broadside Battlesuit
w/ Targeting Array - 80 Points
Total Points: 400
Grand Total: 976 (I actually mistotaled the Crisis Suits' cost; for whatever reason, I totaled it to 87 instead of 77)
Space Wolves
HQ - Wolf Lord
w/ Twin Claws, and mounted on a Thunderwolf
Total Points: 165
Troops: 25 Grey Hunters (2 squads of 10, 1 squad of 5)
w/ 3 Rhinos
Total Points: 480
Fast Attack: Fenrisian Wolves (2 squads of 13)
Total Points: 208
Heavy Support: Long Fang Pack (1 squad of 5 + a Sarge)
w/ 2x Plasma Cannon, Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, and Multimelta
Total Points: 155
Grand Total: 1008 (We both agreed that 8 points up was not a big enough difference for the game)
The game was C&C Pitched Battle, with 5 objectives in a woodland. The woods didn't block LoS, but did provide a cover save if fired through or into. (And out of, if more than 6" away from the edge the shots were coming from) Tau failed to steal the initiative, and once everything was on the field, the game started with the Wolves.
Turn 1 (Wolves): Save for the Long Fangs, the entire army moves towards the Tau. The Lord and one squad of Fenrisians roll 6s to run and move up quickly; however, this luck is offset by the shooting phase, during which the Long Fangs kill a single Sniper Drone and two Shield Drones with scattered Plasma and a Frag. A Heavy Bolter shot also finds its way into a Fire Warrior, killing it.
Turn 1 (Tau): Two leadership checks are passed, and the Fire Warriors fail to move more than 2 inches out of cover to get to the objective in front of them. The Broadside rolls double 1s to hit and does nothing, but a failed Long Fang save causes the Multimelta to die to a Hammerhead submunition shot. Crisis Suits move up and unleash fire into the Rhinos, but fail to do much more than shake two and disable one with an Immobile and Weapon Destroyed result. Meanwhile, the Missile Launcher in the Long Fangs is felled by a Sniper Drone shot.
Turn 2 (Wolves): 25 Grey Hunters pile out of their Rhinos and plot to move towards the Tau. Several Fire Warriors die to rapid fire bolters, but a Gets Hot roll claims the life of one of the Plasma Cannon Long Fangs. The remaining Cannon seeks its vengeance by taking two Warriors, forcing a Leadership. Meanwhile, the Heavy Bolter Long Fang seems to be picking his nose as he rolls 2 1s and a 2 to hit. On the other side of the board, the Wolf Lord rolls a 6 to get out of cover, but a 1 to run towards the Tau. A narrow roll by the Warriors cause them to pass their Leadership, and they prepare to launch pulse fire at the Hunters next turn.
Turn 2 (Tau): A very close save fails to Instant Death the enemy Wolf Lord, leaving both Hammerhead and Broadside useless for the turn. Some lackluster shooting from the Tau fails to deal with the Grey Hunter threat, though one squad flees nine inches away from a Crisis Suit. After much failure from the Tau, the Wolves are ready to assault.
Turn 3 (Wolves): The 3-man Hunter team regroups and moves up 6 inches towards the Crisis Suit that killed two of its brothers. The other Grey Hunters manage to take out 8 Fire Warriors total in Shooting between Bolt Pistols and the remaining Long Fangs. In the Assault phase, all but two Fire Warriors are annihilated, and they manage to escape out of cover towards the board edge in terror. The 20-some Fenrisians and the Lord manage to tear through two Sniper teams and a Crisis Suit, and with a mere 4 effective models on the table, the Tau face defeat.
Turn 3 (Tau): The Fire Warriors flee off the map, and the remaining Battlesuits decide to take one desperate last stand and kill the Wolf Lord. The Broadside successfully makes his shot this time, and the Lord drops when a Railgun hits him square in the chest. The Shas'o and his Crisis partner move in and manage to take out a handful of Hunters. The Hammerhead manages to take out 12 out of a 13-strong Fenrisian squad, which promptly fails its leadership and heads towards the board edge.
Turn 4 (Wolves): Some long-range bolter firing is able to take out the remaining Crisis Suit. However, despite regrouping from a failed leadership and moving 6 inches into cover, the remaining Hunter squad fails to reach rapid fire range of the Commander. The Tau number only 3 remaining, and defeat is inevitable.
Turn 4 (Tau): Several failed saves from a Grey Hunter squad mean that the entire team is wiped off an objective, but they still hold two points to the Tau zero. Meanwhile, the Broadside utterly annihilates a single Fenrisian.
Turn 5 (Wolves): A 9-man Hunter squad fails to wound the Broadside, but Fenrisians rush in to assault it. Its 2+ save proves too much, and both sides inflict a single casualty to the other. Combat is drawn for the turn.
Turn 5 (Tau): The Hammerhead and Shas'o manage to knock a Grey Hunter squad off of its point by forcing it to fall back 11 inches. However, the Broadside fails a single save and falls to the Fenrisians.
Turn 6 (Wolves): The Hunters regroup and head towards the objective once more, failing to reach 3 inches of it. The Fenrisian Wolves, bolstered by their recent victory, charge a grand total of 21 inches towards the Tau commander into assault. They manage to inflict one failed save while the Shas'o hits only once, killing a single Wolf. Combat is drawn once again.
Turn 6 (Tau): The Hammerhead takes its last submunitions shot, and manages to fell two more Hunters, though their Leadership test is passed by a hair. The final assault places another wound on the Commander, but nothing else. The Shas'o passes his 10 leadership, but a Space Wolf victory is obvious. The final outcome: Tau come in second with 0 points, while Wolves hold one point.
Total Tau Casualties: 24 Fire Warriors, 2 Crisis Suits, 1 Broadside Battlesuit, 2 Shield Drones, 2 Sniper Drone Teams
Points: 597
Total Space Wolves Casualties: 3 Long Fangs, 16 Grey Hunters, 20 Fenrisian Wolves, 1 Wolf Lord, effectively destroyed Rhino (Half points)
Points: 627
Though the objective was failed, the Tau claimed a 30 point lead in points despite losing almost its entire army. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to come out of that with a lead in points, considering that I was down to 2 models at the end of the game (And the Wolves player still had 6 Wolves, 9 Hunters and 3 Long Fangs). The game's outcome was actually decided when the Wolf Lord didn't die from being shot with the Railgun the first time; had he not gone on to kill the Sniper Team, they would have been in perfect position to blast Hunters off of points the next few turns. It was a surprisingly close game with an interesting ending for my Tau army.
|
Kal'reia Sept Tau - Farsight Sympathizers 
Da Great Looted Waaagh! 
The Court of the Wolf Lords 