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Abbreviated battle report.<?

 

My list:

Codicier, jump pack, familiar, fear of the darkness, combat shield

8x man Jump Pack troop

2 6x man lascannon squads (no plasma guns) each riding in Twin linked heavy bolter razorbacks

1 10x man Sqd in Rhino, HB, plasmagun, Vet with PF

2 10x Sqd in Drop Pod, HB, plasmagun, Vet with PF

2 Annihilators

1 Vindicator

His List:

3 Hammerheads

6x man Stealth team

8x gun drone sqd

2x suit crisis team

1x suit crisis team

commander in crisis suit

4x 12 man sqds in devilfish ? roughly speaking

I played my Ultras against Mechanized Tau - Omega Cleanse - I picked deployment and he made me go first ? we each made 8 out of 11 reserve rolls off the bat. 

I didn?t get the Vindicator, Commander or the 10 man sqd in rhino ? these all come in the next turn.

My 8 man jump pack unit came in on top of another unit and got lost in the warp and my Psyker Commander missed the table completely - starting the game minus 350 point   At this point my heart sank.  Its usually at this point in the game where I resolve to have fun and pick something out of the opponents army to kill ? damn the mission requirements ? usually its their commander ? this time I wanted to own the roads and focused on his tanks.  Even though my list is mobile ? I considered myself the defender in this game ? my commander and jump troops were gone ? so I deployed to defend the center.  This would maximize the turns in which I could shoot and allow for short movements towards the end game to contest quadrants.

Lesson learned:  I felt I lost the commander and jump troops due to my own lack of foresight.  In an Omega mission with an army that starts off the table and has a mix of vehicles and other ways to deploy, let the troops without vehicles or in drop pods deploy first ? there?s more space for them AND you can circle the vehicles around them.  Its obvious enough but I had to learn it the hard way.

There was decent terrain in the center and that?s where I wanted to fight.   Terrain was where it should be maybe a touch on the light side ? neither of us complained though ? it was gorgeous and we both had shootie armies, couldn?t get any better.  I concentratde forces in the middle of the table taking cover as needed.  I anchored my deployment area with the annihilators.  I fielded then butt to butt facing opposite directions covering as much of the table as possible ? like bishops in a chess game.  Razorbacks and lascannon squads deploy in front of them and the pods come down in the center of the table.  I wish I could say I planned it this way ? but each of my units could support other units with overlapping fire.  I deployed in cover rather than sitting beside it to cut off line of sight.  This was to have a major effect late game.

The tau came in heavy on my right flank and center.  Hammer heads on the right flank, crisis suits in the middle ? firewarriors in devil fish ? 3 on the right one in the center.  Only his stealth dudes on the left.  I sent the Vindicator their way and we played cat and mouse till I was able to get them between a rock and a hard place ? 2 units both having line of sight, one to their current location and another to where they wanted to go ? check mate.

I was fortunate to win the duals between my annihilators and his hammerheads.

Lesson Learned:  Mech Tau have a hard time with armour believe it or not ? I never would have anticipated that ? my first game against them.

Also ? towards the end I had 3 men from a 6 man squad contesting a quadrant  - they should have died ? statistically.  I got lucky again here.  The coup-de-grace were my razorbacks taking the firewarriors in the center below half and forcing them to run and the other razorback doing the same to the drone squad.  Had the game not gone 8 turns I would have lost I think.  At no point in the game was there a single round of close combat ? not one.

Due to random game length - it went 8 turns and I was able to eak out victory we each contested the same quadrants but I had twice as many VP's still on the table 600+

 I did not think Id pull it off from the beginning - annihilators (classic duals with his hammerheads) and twin-linked HB Razorbacks (I had 2 and used them together to mop up isolated squads contesting quadrants) were MVP's of the match for me.

 In 8 turns - there was not one single round of close combat!  Space Marines are just too damn hard.  I did have 2 units reduced to one man flee off the table - maybe I need the Commander + retinue rather than suicide jump back dudes - lol.