Turn 1 had seen the Tau take a mauling, though in return they had destroyed an Imperial Titan and shot down the Imperial aircraft, now they alone ruled the skies!
Confident of getting the first order, Ryan teleported his Stealth Suits to threaten the Basilisks, and we rolled for who would start the turn...
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Again, notable events, not strictly in the order they actually happened...
Strategy Roll : STEEL LEGION!
Jubilant at having gotten the jump on the normally agile Tau, the Tank Company Advanced to the rear, and killed four of the six Stealth units menacing their artillery, saving the Basilisk platoon.
Incensed by the destruction of their Stealth teams, the Tau sprung a trap on the Guard's right flank:
- The Fire Warrior formation Doubled around behind the Reg HQ, markerlighting it with their Skyray and killing some infantry and tanks.
- The Crisis formation Doubled to stand in front of the Reg HQ, and with the Skyray providing 'supporting fire' in the form of a Markerlight, put the Reg HQ in a Crossfire and proceeded to kill even more Human infantry.
The above is
exactly how I hoped the new Markerlight rule would incentivise the Tau to make bold two-stage attacks in a similar manner to the Double-to-Shoot/Engagement/Support tactic works for other more Engagement-focused armies, and I'm pleased that we had such a perfect example happen in this game.
The Reg HQ. retreated to the centre of the board with a third of its vehicles destroyed, and only 5 infantry units remaining... the Tau's unexpectedly fluid flank attack now left the Imperial line in danger of being turned.
The Imperials stopped advancing, and turned the full weight of their power on the flank attack.
The Baneblade opened fire on the Crisis Suits, killing two (including the Tau Supreme Commander!) and breaking the formation.
The Basilisks attempted to sustain fire at the flanking Fire Warriors, but clearly still shaken from their brush with death at the hands of the Stealth formation, failed and only managed a 'Hold' level attack against the Fire Warriors, still managing to kill a couple of units.
The AX-1-0s attempted to stem the Imperial retribution but, still shaken from the previous turn, refused to enter the battle zone.
The Shadowsword attempted to attack the flanking Crisis Suits, but failed to understand its orders and instead killed a single Broadside suit.
Hammerheads on the flank inflict 2DC of damage on the Baneblade, breaking it.
Attempting to disrupt its ability to take orders, the Barracudas strafe the remaining Warhound, stripping a shield.
Undeterred the Warhound Engaged and killed a unit of Fire Warriors from the recently-rallied Mech. formation, which broke the formation, sending it fleeing into the corner of the board. The Tau came close to winning this Engagement as the Warhound failed to hit and only won the Engagement by a margin of 1!
Storm Troopers Engage the recon formation near them for a second time, this time wiping them out.
Barracudas leave unmolested.
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Stealth Suit formation rallies.
Fire Warrior formation near the Warhound rallies.
Crisis formation fails to rally.
Remaining two recon formations fail to rally.
Broadsides rally, dropping some BM's.
Flanking Fire Warrior formation rallies, dropping some BM's.
Baneblade rallies.
Shadowsword fails to rally and keeps its BM.
Needing a re-roll, the Reg HQ. rallies.
Storm Trooper formation drops its BM.
), only to be bounced on and shot down moments later by the Barracudas.
