Finally got a chance to sit down and put down some brief reports on the games, although a week on i may be a bit off here and there!
I took the same Tau force as last year in the end, as i didn't have a lot of painting time, and didn't want to subject everyone to the Krieg (Good thing too given Mike brought them).
Game 1: Joe (Marines) With 2 marine players in the field i was pretty apprehensive, Tau really don't tend to get on well against armies that can air assault. I bunkered up for a lot of the game and tried to take out units where i could. The Kroot were pretty damn good in this game, breaking two warhounds and taking out a scout unit, along with breaking the remnant of a dev squad. Good work there kroot! This was key to the game in the end, as i was able to trap Joe's BTS in a corner with Tetra's after he had some poor activations for his two air assaults, stopping him contesting some key objectives and take a 2-0 in turn 3.
Game 2: Tim (Necrons) This is another less than ideal matchup, as the hammerheads are a bit lacklustre against monoliths thanks to lance being useless against living metal. Still, mainly thanks to some sub-par armour saves from Tim i managed to decimate his Monoliths, taking him down to 3 portals (including his back line) by turn 3. Tim's Spacecraft and pylons were also less than ideal, as i had limited air and no war engines, so that did hamstring him a bit, plus my spacecraft had some shiny pylons to shoot at! While i couldn't take down his BTS, especially after a few failed activations, i was pretty happy again taking a 2-0 in turn 3.
Game 3: Tom (Marines) Blood Angels this time, with an unusual for Marines in a full terminator unit with landraiders. I was a bit concerned he might stick it in his landing craft and go for a hard air assault on me, but Tom decided not to risk my AA and run it on the ground instead. Some pretty lacklustre shooting in turns 2 and 3 meant i just ignored it in the end, and carried on picking on smaller activations, which really paid off in the end when i was able to take the blitz and another objective for another 2-0 in turn 3.
Game 4: Mike (Krieg) Last year this went pretty well, unfortunately this time around things went a bit pear-shaped. Mike resolutely refused to not rally pretty much everything each turn, and for guard (especially plinked guard) was successfully activating with distressing regularity. My army fell to bits in turns 3 and 4 when nothing rallied and Mike was able to roll onto my blitz. Still, i did at least manage to take down his BTS. His Artillery though was the absolute bane of my existence, and was making a mess of my army. Turn 1 should have said it all when he sniped out my supreme commander with his first shot and that kinda set the scene for both units all game. I should have possibly tried lighting them up with tetras, but it's not easy when you're out-activated and have gorgons breathing down your neck! 3-1 to Mike, and he's definitely got running the list down to a tee now.
Game 5: Steve (Ulthwe) Possibly the most cagey game i've ever played. I thought it was going to be a wash after steve's first activation saw his spacecraft break 3 of my activations on some pretty epic rolling, but instead his entire army was sat behind terrain, and basically went onto overwatch. I did kinda the same back, but popped up (yay longer ranged guns!) and the first two turns were something of a mexican standoff. This worked well for me however, as it gave me a chance to rally the earlier broken units. Things finally started moving (cautiously) in turn 3, when we both started finally moving forward somewhat, and then got bloody in turn 4. Steve had a bit of bad luck with an air assault that got shot down though, which left him at a bit of a points deficit for a winning draw to me. I'm still quite surprised he didn't go ham after the success of the spacecraft though, as i think he could have rolled me early on while he had the heavy activation advantage, especially if he'd pressed a flank hard.
Game 6: Dave (Tyranids) Gah! Bloody genestealers! next time i play Dave i'm just going to shoot the little buggers, as despite going into assaults 2-3 up, i lost every single one. This is however a bit of a recurring theme against Dave's Genestealers, as the fates seem to punish those who would dare firefight them. However, the rest of Dave's army didn't fare so well, and i had an excellent spacecraft run, killing one harridan, and taking the other down to a single wound. The tanks also did a good job against the smaller dominatrix, but the last wound proved bloody stubborn, and i had to put more firepower into it than was ideal before it would go down. This left Dave's BTS able to get out of the line of fire and sit in my half on an objective thumbing it's nose up at me. Despite yet more lack of being able to rally much of anything, my infantry units managed to decimate Dave's assault swarms, and i ended up managing to take his blitz and another objective for a 2-0 in turn 4. Both forces by this point were pretty bloodied though, and i'm glad it didn't go to a turn 5!
Mike and I had been neck and neck up to the last game, unfortunately Tim's Necrons kinda fell apart against the Krieg and mike was able to pull off a bigger win to take the event. Still, i was pretty happy with second place, especially having come up against 2 marine opponents, and i do find the Tau a fun army to use at 4k. Looking forward to next year!
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