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Tactica	Post subject: [BatRep] Biel-Tan vs Tau, 3000 points Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:38 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:12 am Posts: 2241	Quote (Chroma @ 09 Jan. 2006 (20:01)) Turn 2 Seething with fire, the Avatar appears directly between the Children of Khyson and the Flames of Vengeance. This is never a good thing. I've learned to be mindful of where that Farseer is at all times now. That guy is just a giant thorn in my side. D@mn eldar tricks!! Strategy Roll: Biel-Tan

First activation in the turn again to the eldar. I find that first activation helps me more on the second turn than the first with the Tau. Typically the first turn is moot as 75cm means I'm either doing some serious movement to get weapons into range, or stalling while the enemy positions so I can capitalize off of his movement. With the IG, I may want to fire my deathstrikes, my manticores, or my shadowswords early on turn 1 - I just don't have any must have choice actions with the tau for turn 1... however, turn 2 seems to be very VERY important to my tau. If I've taken any risks in positioning from turn 1 - I need early turn 2. If I want to use the stealths, its usually on turn 2 for their teleport and I need to go first to capitalize there. If I want to reinforce a front - early turn 2 is important... but more than anything, if I want to deal with an advancing threat that's very close - first turn on turn 2 seems to be crucial for my tau more times than not.

Eldar getting turn 1 and turn 2 initial activations typically really hurt the Tau IMHO due to their inability to fight h-t-h and their need for some tricks to work at taking control of the battlefield before disparate situations develop - regardless of how things work out in this particular report. Just MHO anyway.


With a loud warcry, the Nighthunters warp forward to engage the Shas'O's Cadre.  The Tau try to escape, but their jumppacks are no match for the Eldar warpjump packs.  The Stealth suited warriors give a good accounting, killing two of the Warp Spiders, but the three of them and a Crisis suit team are slain and the remaining XV8s try to get away from the deadly Eldar.

Hmm... turn 2 ouch number 1 for the Tau out of the gates - and it not only broke the formation but it was a CF formation that Dobbsy used in turn 1 to apply some early pressure. Exactly as I was saying, if relied upon in the initial battle strategy - these types of losses can really hurt in early turn 2! Cudos to Chroma for tactically citing the formation early.

The Arrows of Wrath again fire on the smaller Crisis Cadre, sustaining, and dropping one Crisis Team.

2 blast markers on a now 3 man formation make these chaps all but useless on turn 2 as well. :\ Tau's potential for any activation advantage seems to be dwindling rather rapidly - though see above - I'm not sure they really ever had it.


With a wrath-filled roar that shakes the very rocks and trees, the Avatar leads the Flames of Vengeance and the Children of Khyson against the co-mingled Sho'ka'Nan Crisis suits and Korst'la'Ka grav-tanks.  The Shas'El and his companions jump back under the protective guns of He'Kai'Ka? but it is not enough.
...super. Ethereal has vision... Tau turn 2 3rd and 4th 'ouch' is on the horizon.

 Two of the fusion gun wielding Aspect Warrior squads and their Wave Serpent transport are destroyed, but the Tau pay an even higher price for their curiosity as both units are wiped out, shaking the resolve of He'Kai'Ka.

...it was like a vision.
"Ouch, Ouch!"
Eldar Treachery!

The Hammerheads of He'Kai'Ka try to regain their composure, but fail,

no network drones I assume. I'll have to go back and look at the report to figure out if these are contingent or AMHC... assuming contingent.

though they have the courage to fire at the terrifying mass of Aspect Warriors ahead of them.  One Wave Serpent, one Dire Avenger, and one Fire Dragon are killed in the attack and its enough to send the Flames of Vengeance away but it is too little too late.

I hate firing at already activated formations - but there has to be some revenge if the formation didn't cooperate and do what it was supposed to... I assume he was attempting to activate to marshal and save them from break. Hmm... wonder if this was the best choice considering what you might have had left on the field at this time to activate.

The Wraithgate opens again and a swarm of Jetbikes buzzes forth: the Sons of Fury shriek battle cries as they engage the shaken grav-tanks of He'Kai'Ka.  The fight is short, though vicious, and three of the grav-tanks crash, smoking, to the ground: two Hammerheads and the Skyray.

Yep - no real resolve from that... except, stay away from it. This is an experience with Eldar thing IMHO. Always be mindful of what's in there - and their charge range. This may have been more difficult considering the 'no premeasure' mode you guys were playing it... which is foriegn to me in this game btw... however, better safe than sorry distances should have been observed by the Tau general. I hate the darn wraithgate thing in the eldar list. It seems uber strong. There's no real counter for it unless you are just going to mass so many troops around it that nothing can deploy from the wraithgate... which is next to impossible to hold btw and also ends up in a massive game around the wraithgate ... as I have tried to counter this before. Its just a no win proposition. I feel for dobbsy here... I wonder if there could have been a way to manouvre outside of the jetbikes charge potential and thus avoiding Tau ouch number 4 or so on turn 2... seems like its just a brutal turn for Dobbsy, no matter what he's done in turn 1. Turn 1 seems to have really left him in a bad way for you to beat the *@#% out of his army on turn 2. To me, thus far it seems like all the damage he caused on turn 1 with CF was absolutely not worth the positioning he left himself in for your mauling of his forces thus far in the early half of turn 2. We'll see how things go from here.

Death-from-Afar prove their name, as they pop up to sustain fire on the broken Shas'O's Crisis suits.  Three are destroyed in the flash of laser fire, leaving only the Shas'O and a single Crisis team alone in the woods.

More ouch pain.

Knowing they cannot withstand an attack by the shrieking Autarch, the Pathfinders co-ordinate fire with the Ionheads of Or'es'Sha on the Nighthunters, disabling all the Aspect Warriors.

I wonder if the ion-heads could have done this on their own. Were the PF's needed? What orders did each formation follow? Maybe the PF's were needed to get them into ML range while the Ionheads sustained

Despite the bolstering presence of the Avatar, the Ancient Heroes are still disturbed by the sudden silence of the Autarch, and only cautiously move towards the centre of the battlefield.

Remaining quite, the Children of Silence stay on overwatch?

All formations, except the Flames of Vengeance rally and the Avatar disappears.

A happy point for the Tau... broken shas'o and his buddy appearently have benefitted a second time from the commander's initiative and new found commanding presence. That's a good thing as this forward commander was typical somewhat commical bouncing around out in a battlefield, only to get broken and go cowering for a turn or two in the past. I'm pleasently encouraged by the commander's initiative bump after these past two turns. It doesn't appear that the formation is having a great and powerful impact on the game outside of being a pincushion - however, at least he continues to be an activation if nothing less. He's still the SC afterall too. . As you said all formations rally, I'm assuming whatever broken tau HH formations there were left (if any) also rallied at this time. I'm at somewhat of a loss as to whether there were any HH to rally at this point too though. All the tau names start blending together and are a bit lost on my feeble mind I suppose.