Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello fellow Dakkamembers,

I had my second game last night with Tau (me) vs Dark Angels 600 points.

Mission was The Emperor’s Will with Hammer and Anvil deployment (didn’t matter as we are playing on 4x4 table for now)
No night fight in turn 1. – I started deployment and game, no seize the initiative.

I brought:

10 Fire Warriors with Cadre Fireblade
6 Fire Warriors
6 Pathfinders
1 Piranha with fusion blaster (little bit of tank hunting) and Disruption pod
3 Stealth suits with Shas’Vre + homing beacon
2x Crisis suits with 2x plasma rifle and plasma + fusion
1x Crisis suit with 2x fusions (my tank hunter)

Crisis suits were deep striking nearby my infiltrating Stealth Suits with Homing Beacon to avoid Scatter when landing.


He had the following:

9 Space marines with Sergeant and flamer and Commander with force sword + combi melta in a droppod
5 Scouts with Sergeant - they had camoucloaks and bolters
5 Terminators with sergeant and assault canon


He started with his Droppod and Terminators in reserve and we had to roll for infiltrate Stealth team vs his Scouts.
I lost and had to put them first on the table (rest of my army was of course already deployed). But as he didn’t had anything on the table yet
I could place my Stealth team everywhere on the table and deployed them in the middle of the table in a building, did we do this correctly?

In my first turn I couldn’t do much as he had only his scouts on the table behind a building. Moved up my Piranha (flat out) and troops to my objective
(we also played mysterious objects and it was the one to re-roll 1’s when rolling to Hit.

In his turn the droppod came in with a direct hit between my Fireblade’s squad and the other Fire Warriors squad. His terminators also came in but
Scattered 11 inch to the left which brought him behind a building with only sight on my Piranha which he only glanced once (saved 1 pen and another glance with my jink save)
His Commander with space marines did much better. His Sergeant threw a Frag grenade and killed 1 warrior, the other space marines and flamer killed another 4 and his commander used his melta one shot and I failed my look out sir roll! And was instant death…..without even having fired a single shot! Lucky for me the remaining Fire warriors stood their ground. His scouts came out of the building and shot at my Stealth team but nothing happened.

The storm bolter on the droppod killed a fire warrior from the other squad.

During my turn 2 the unit of 2 Crisis Suits came in near my Stealth Suits without Scatter due to the Homing Beacon. The pathfinders marked the Space Marines and got 4 hits.
Fire warriors walked a little bit and both squads shot at his unit killing a few marines. My Crisis suits shot also at them with upgraded bs and ignore cover due to markers
And killed a few as well. His Commander failed one save and had 2 wounds left, Sergeant and 2 space marines survived as well. Stealth suits shot at the Scouts but did nothing. My piranha was able to kill one Scout and the Sergeant. Suits jumped back but not far.

His Turn two he managed to kill my Piranha with his terminators, his scouts walked back to his objective. His stormbolter from the Droppod did also nothing.
The remaining space marines and commander shot with pistols at my fire warriors before charging and killed 1 warrior. Combined overwatch between my Fire warriors and Pathfinders killed one space marine and another wound on his Commander. Of course I was butchered in combat and he consolidated 6 inch which he managed to get his commander and sergeant in a building (through a closed door but we agreed that you could walk in and out) with only his remaining space marines in front of the door.

Turn 3 my 1 Crisis suit entered the game also at the centre of the table (Homing beacon ftw!). My stealth suits jumped from the building to get a better view at the terminators and mentioned to kill one of them. The Fire Warriors walked back to my objective and shot at the space marine in front of the door and killed him, however we had a bit of discussion here as I was only allowed to kill him and not his Commander and Sergeant who were on the other side of the door as the door was closed so I had no line of sight.
My pathfinders were in the same building as the commander / sergeant and jumped down to shoot them with their pulse carbines but did nothing spectacular – a few wounds but he saved them all. However my 2 suits managed to shoot through a window and killed the sergeant ! Commander survived again. Suits jumped back.

His Turn 3 – His scouts remained hidden at his objective behind a building. His Terminators came through a door and fired at my Fire warriors and killed 3 of them. The remaining
2 were so impressed by this shooting that they decided to run away..only Heroic Morale can save them now! His Commander shot with his pistol at my pathfinders killing one and decided to charge. However the combined overwatch from my pathfinders and Crisis Suits through a window killed him finally.

Turn 4 The Fire warriors were still impressed and run of the table, no troops left for claiming any objective. The Pathfinders run through the door to take aim at the terminators and together with my crisis suits I managed to kill them all. My stealth suits jumped to the building with the Scouts and killed 1 of them.

His Turn 4 he run away with his scouts but not far enough.

Turn 5 no night fight but managed to kill the remaining 2 scouts with my Stealth team – GAME OVER and victory for the Tau.

Remaining models on the table: 3 Stealth Suits, 3 Crisis Suits and 5 Pathfinders.
He had first blood and slay the warlord – I had Line Breaker and Slay the Warlord but tabled him.

However we both had the feeling that the game was already decided after turn 2, the amount of models I had vs his and the amount of firepower I have.
What could he have done differently to get more out of the game, or take other units perhaps?
Or is the game not balanced at this point level and need to try again at 1000 points?


Thank you for reading and advice / input.

Well, great Batrep, I would say that the armies were very one sided. The Tau had much more firepower plus the amount of models was much more. than the Dark angels. If you bump it up to 750 pts then it would not be that bad. My guess 1000 points is probably better for you guys. Great game. Tau'va

thank you.

Yes we had the same feeling. Perhaps he should have used more marines instead of the terminators.
Next battle will be around 750 points and then we will go to 1k.

(however just bought a secret weapon - Riptide... )

Always glad to hear of Tau victories! Good job.

Against the Tau, a lot seems to depend on what the enemy does. If they try a shooty game, the Tau win. The opponent must close and HtH the Tau.

Thanks,
Duncan

Thanks for the report.

It is hard for DA, maybe he can try with ultramarines and 3 drop pods. In the first turn he can have 2 tactical squads splitted and can twinlink its shots.

My regular game is against Tau and until we got it to 850pts it was hard to feel a decent balance.

Having said that he was brave/foolish bringing a terminator squad to this battle, that is a hell of a lot of points that does very little against massed firepower a Firewarrior squad can lay down.

I also noted that the supporting fire is a powerful ability - especially on a smaller table where the units are more likely to be
within 6”of another unit for overwatch.

Table is now being expended to 6x4 which will also make a difference I guess.
Next week we will try a rematch (but this time he will bring Necrons to the table!)