My list
Fire Warriors
Mech Fire Warriors+Bonded team+skyray
Mech Fire Warriors+Bonded team+skryay
Kroot
Crisis+2 Crisis+Shas'o
Crisis+2 Crisis
Broadsides
Recon (5 Tetras+1 Piranha)
Recon (5 Tetras+1 Piranha)
Orca
Orca
Barracudas

3 Wins, 2 losses - 3rd place

Game 1 v EpicUK Biel tan eldar
Revenants
Vampire
Aspects (reapers,avengers+FD exarchs)
Aspects (shining spears+exarch,autuach)
4 Rangers
Void spinner
Storm serpent
gate
Falcons w 2 Firestorms+stones
Falcons w 2 Firestorms+stones
Guardians+support weapons

Eldar chose corners deployment with aspects in vampire+ guardians in webway. I had crisis in both orcas.
Rangers garrissonned in buildings along diagonal centre line, kroot garrissonned in rubble covering 2 forward objectives in my half, foot FW went in woods on OW on 1 forward objective.

Sserpent, spinner, falcons+ spears deployed towards centre of long edge, revenants+other falcons on other edge
Broadsides deployed on my blitz, recons+mech FW went in pairs behind woods one on short edge one on long.

Eldar won initiative but spinner was out of range of broadsides+mech FWs so only killed 1 foot FW - who them marshalled. One falcon doubled forward and placed a BM on a recon while the other failed to activate. The broadsides went on OW as did the kroot.
Revenants doubled forward and killed a tetra on the other recon. Barracudas went on CAP.
The recon on the short side doubled forward and markerlit the falcons who had activated and then a mech FW doubled forward broke the falcons. Storm serpent doubled over and broke that recon and sspears doubled to threaten the mech FW, the other mech FW then doubled forward to ML+BM the spears. They were the BMed by the rangers.
The 1st orca came on and crisis came out + shot the spears (with ML) wiping them out. The vampire refused to come on. 2nd orca+crisis then came on and killed the spinner.

After end phase the tau had very much been on top of t1 with spinner+spears dead and 1 falcon not rallying with all tau rallied but the revenants were in a threatening position and the aspects+vampire still to deploy.

Turn 2
Eldar went first - and went for their triple retain. the revenants singled and shot up a crisis unit leaving only the shas'o alive, this left the titans beside a mech fw. Eldar attempted to retain with guardians out of the serpent to assault the mech fw needing only to survive to trigger the reventant support - they rolled 1 and with the autarch dead stayed in the webway. This was critical as it saved the mech fw and also whatever would have been the 3rd activation target. The tau retaliated by killing the serpent with the crisis. The vampire then deployed suviving the barracudas before air assaulting the OW broadsides who kiled the vampire and an avenger with their OW before being wiped out in the assault taking an avenger with them. A recon then doubled back and BMed the aspects. The rangers sniped away the bonded team before being wiped out in return by the mech fw. The falcons were BMed by the other recon and broke themselves trying to activate. The foot FW doubled back toward the blitz and broke the aspects thanks to recon ML them. The other mech FW doubled forward to threaten the eldar blitz

After rallying the eldar were left with the revenants, 5 aspects (with 2 BM), the guardians in the webway and a falcon formation.

Turn 3
The guardians assaulted the mech FW out of the gate (on the blitz) but could only get a few in range and lost the assault, the aspects assaulted and broke the foot FW before themselves being broken by the orcas strafing.The revenants then broke+nearly destroyed the mech FW with a sustain fire. The recon+barracudas broke the falcons. The recon then moved back onto my blitz and the other mech FW+ crisis moved the blitz+another objective

3-0 to tau (blitz, take+hold, defend the flag. Probably the most important factors were the failed retain in t2 but also corners deployment whihc really limited the eldar in the t1 as they had trouble getting to the tau - the spinners targets were limited and the falcons+revenants couldn't do significant damage.

other games to follow

_________________
www.epic-uk.co.uk
NetEA NetERC Human Lists Chair
NetEA Chaos + Black Legion Champion

Looking forward to seeing your view on our game.

I'm not looking forward to your review of out game!

Game 2 vs Tiny-Tims Steel legion
Reg HQ+hydra
SHT co
Infantry co+hydra
manticores
deathstrikes
tbolts
warhound
warhound
rriders
shadowsword
hydras

I deployed with kroot garrisonned spread out behind a hill on OW on an objective and the broadsides on the objective nearer my side again on OW. Foot FW deployed in buildings on my blitz with mech FW and recons behind cover as much as possible.

Tim garrisonned his infantry co forward off his blitz in buildings on OW in a central position, the dstrikes+manticores hid behind those buildings on the blitz. The rriders garrisonned forward on the right hand objective. Everything else also deployed to the right of the infantry co.

IG went first and dstriked 1 broadside, retained and broke a mech FW formation with the manticores. The rriders were ML by a recon group and then broken by the barracudas. The broadsides were then broken by a warhound, shadowsword and SHT co. The hydras came forward and BMed the recon before a warhound destroyed them with the other recon refusing to activate. IG infantry went back on OW before the other mech FW doubled and broke the hydras with guided missiles. This left the crisis+orcas - the first came in and suvived the hydra before shooting the reg HQ but only managed 4 kills. The other then came in to try and do the same with a crossfire but couldn't find a free area to land as Tims broken units had fled nearby so instead shot up the SHT co only managing 1 hit - but criticalling a SHT. The reg HQ then assaulted the BTS crisis- but luckily the 3+ saves balanced out numbers+the commissar leaving the roll off at +1 to tau however unluckily I then rolled 1+2. 3 crisis suits survived and fled into the woods.

T1 had been brutal for the tau losing an orca+recon, the broadsides, mech FW and BTS crisis failed to rally. For the IG the rriders+hydras failed to rally.

T2 IG again went first. The SHT co assaulted the unhurt crisis cadre with warhound support wiping them out. The warhound then singled and shot the BTS crisis not killing anything but reducing the unit to 1 by BMs. The barracudas then broke the manticores.
The 2nd warhound shot up the unhurt mech FW but only killed 1 FW, the shadowsword followed up but missed. The mech FW then put BMs on the warhound. The reg HQ doubled forward slowly (most of the chimeras were gone thanks to crisis shooting and the assault) and broke the mech FW who ran into a building. The surviving recon doubled forward and put a BM on the ssword with the piranha. Tbolts intercepted the barracudas killing one and finally the surviving orca came on and picked up the foot FWs

Going into t3 the tau had the orca loaded with foot FW, the shas'o (final survivor of the BTS), 1 barracuda, 2 half strength mech FW, the kroot and a recon group. All the IG bar the rriders rallied.

T3 Tau went first with the shas'o stripping the warhound next to him of its shields, the recon then moved forward getting the warhound in their ZoC to try and hinder it attacking the shas'o. The reg HQ engaged them and destroyed them and the warhound broke the shas'o who survived and ran behind the wood. The mech FW then shot the other warhound in a vain attempt to stop it moving as it turned and reduced the FW to 3 broken FWs. The other mech FW finally got involved and doubled forward to surround the left hand objective and break the manticores. The SHT co refused to activate but the tbolts then killed the shas'o. At this point I realised that though the tau had little left I held my forward 2 objectives and Tim had nothing in my half. The Orca dropped the FW on my blitz to potentially give me an undeserved 2-1 win. This however tipped Tim off and the hydras marched forward (on a 3) into my half leaving it at 1-1.

This left me with the foot FW on my blitz, the kroot on the forward objectives, a battered mech FW on one of Tims objectives, a barracuda and the orca.

T4 The mech FW shot up the infantry co (who had left their buildings in t3) failing to break them but removing them as a threat. The manticores sustained but only killed 1 kroot and the HQ doubled forward to contest an objective killing another kroot. The foot FWs had no choice but to stay on the blitz to protect it from the hydras while Tim grabbed all his objectives and mopped up broken units. At this stage IG had 1-0 (BTS) . I had 1 of IG objectives, was in their half and had secure hold of my blitz. This left my forward 2 objective with 1 contested by the reg HQ+kroot and the other held by the kroot but with a warhound nearby. The kroot marshalled and spread out so nothing could get on the objective (like marching rrider) without entering their ZoC. This left them having to be moved and the only way the warhound could was by assaulting - unfortunately 3 hits - 3 kills meant the kroot were broken and 2-0 to IG

I had wanted to avoid iG as I didn't really have an answer for artillery or any experience playing IG with tau but really that wan't the problem in the end. Tim did a good job of keeping his formations supporting each other and removing the MLs but I played far too aggressively as I would do with SM or eldar and basically fed Tim formations. I would have been far better sitting hiding as much as possible with just 1 recon sent forward to try and ML potshots to disrupt the IG advance with missiles and holding the crisis back to t2 - forcing the IG to come to me and then using speed and MLs to make the most of the short range firepower and crossfires.

_________________
www.epic-uk.co.uk
NetEA NetERC Human Lists Chair
NetEA Chaos + Black Legion Champion

Game 3
vs Jeridians SM

Land speeders
Scouts
thunderhawk
thunderhawk
Strike cruiser
Assaults+chaplain
Assaults
termnators+SC
devastators
Tacticals+captain
devastators
tbolts
tbolts
+another character somewhere

Both assaults deployed in 1 thawk, tacs+both devs in drop pods, termies teleporting. Scouts went on OW on blitz, speeders on OW strung out in middle of table.

Kroot garrissonned forward on objective in buildings, with recon on other objective. Broadsides went on my blitz with both mech FW and foot FW on left away from objectives to try and avoid the orbital bombardment. Other recon strung out in front of FW to keep pods away with scout ZoC.

SM went first and spacehip came on hitting woods in front of blitz with all 3 pods landing nearby. This and the deathwinds broke the forward recon and the broadsides and put a BM on the other recon and one of the mech FW. SM then sustained with a dropped dev formation killing a couple of FWs in the BMed mech FWs. Tau then retaliated with the undamaged mech FW singling and killiing 3 devs on the unactivated devs with a markerlit crossfire. The barracudas went on CAP. The tacs then failed to activate (they had a BM from OW) but BMed the undamaged mech FW. The damaged mech FW then singled and with another ML crossfire broke the 2nd dev formation. SM then air assaulted with the thawk surviving a skyray+barracudas but Si then realised he had deployed the tacs by pod this game so the thawk was empty. I offereed to let him reconsider but he went ahead with the assault on the mech FW which - 2 kills against outnumbering went into resolution +1 to SM but rolls went against SM and the thawk was destroyed. The speeders then doubled forward and put another BM on the FW, the foot FW marched forward towards SM blitz. The tbolts then strafed the broken recon destroying them. The BTS crisis then came on in the orca shooting the speeders and wiping them out, they were the in turn air assaulted by the thawk+assault marines but the 3+ saves worked and the SM lost the engagement losing 4 assault marines and the thawk. The other orca+crisis then came on and destroyed the tactical formation.

End of t1 tau had lost a recon formation+ the broadsidesand both mech FW were damaged but SM had lost both thawks, tacs+speeders with the devs+assaults both reduced to 3+1 stands

t2 SM again went first with the terminators teleporting and destroying the BTS crisis. The other crisis then singled accross and did another ML crossfire but the termies armour held losing only 1. The 3 devs then killed a couple of tetras but the tetras still managed to activate and broke the single dev before MLing the 3 devs for the mech FW to destroy. The tbolts both strafed the tau causing minor damage before a combination of an orca and the foot FW -still moving towards SM blitz, broke the 3 assaults. The 1 assault broke trying to activate while the scout remained on OW. The 2nd mech FW doubled forward for t3, the barracudas killed a tbolt in an intercept and the 2nd orca came on and picked up the crisis.

Going into t3 the SM had 1 dev stand, 1 assault stand, the 3 terminators, scouts and 2+1 tbolts.

t3 SM went first with the terminators assaulting and breaking a mech FW in FF. The dev shot the kroot putting a BM. The mech FW who had moved forward in t2 doubled again and broke the scouts on the blitz. The 1 tbolt failed to activate. The foot FW moved onto a SM objective and the kroot killed the assault marine. The barracudas went on CAP and intercepted the other tbolts killing them.
The orca+crisis landed on the SM blitz but the termies were solidly in my half on an objective. 2-1 (blitz+take&hold - BTS).

I think it was a mistake for the SM to deploy so much via drop pod as with the deathwind not doing a huge amount of damage it put the SM exacly where the tau wanted them - 15-30cm away markerlit and vulnerable to crossfire. Si was also unlucky with his air assault (though nearly very lucky with his 'empty' assault. I also made mistakes though with the recycled crisis probably would being better used to target the termies rather than going for the blitz.

_________________
www.epic-uk.co.uk
NetEA NetERC Human Lists Chair
NetEA Chaos + Black Legion Champion

Great report on our game Steve, almost makes me look like a good player. You did surprise me a little going straight for my RegHQ with your Crisis Suits, I more expected you to hit the centre of my deployment zone, effectively my right flank and pick off the Manticores and Infantry Company in the building. This would then have forced me to move to try and clear you off my blitz. However you were very unluck not to be able to get your second Orca in place to hit my RegHQ with the second Crisis Suits. If only you hadn't broken the hydras and I'd (very luckily) placed them back behind cover.

Really enjoying the reports Steve.

I always find my recollection of games get muddled into one.

Cool beans; What's your opine of the Tau in general Steve?

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

I'll try and post a more detailed review of the army after the final 2 batreps but in short I really enjoyed using it. I think its pretty balanced against other tourney lists and provides a different play style with definite strengths and weaknesses.

From games 1,2+4 where I managed to stick to my planned tactics - staying back waiting for my opponent to come to me then using speed, ML + crossfires to shoot them to pieces. they were very effective. Would that qualify as patient hunter?
ML balance I think is good as they provide a major boost but the army is workable when they die

Its definitely joining my rotation of armies - and will be used (slightly tweeked) at Open War

_________________
www.epic-uk.co.uk
NetEA NetERC Human Lists Chair
NetEA Chaos + Black Legion Champion

Yup that's a "Patient Hunter" style alright, tempt them in then spring a trap.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

In other words... "patient hunter" followed by "killing blow."

Well, the whole "killing blow" thing is meant to be just about going on the attack and never letting up, I think, which would probably be emblematical of a popcorned Mech. army in Epic scale, I guess.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

It looks to be what I expected once an experienced tourney goer played them. They will do well initial as people that haven't seen them struggle to work out a counter, but over time should end up pretty well balanced as both players and opponents get to grips with the list.

However I am keen to see the batrep for your game against Mike T, as I want to see just how you killed that many greenskins!

I'm pretty interested to see how they shake out; "Jstr19" (The most experienced Tau player I know, and against whom I've played most of my own vs. Tau games) reckons they'll shake out to be fairly under-powered once people catch on to how to fight them, whereas I think they'll be ok.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Add me to this view. I've had it for a while.