29/10/09

Army Lists
World Eaters: World Eaters v1.3
 
Discussion thread: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ ... 82;t=16291


Tau
Tau 6.01 Discussion thread:


Apologies: I forgot the camera so was using my mobile for the photos.


Pre-game table set-up





Game Note: In this game, I wanted to test a pure ground force (no teleports, or drops) to test out the new V1.3 units. Bloodgors and Ogryn Berzerkers were the main emphasis for this battle.  


Frogbear – World Eaters 3000 points (8 Activations)
- Berzerkers(1) + 6xBloodgors + 2xBerzerker Ogryn + Skull Lord
- Berzerkers(2) + 6xBloodgors + 2xBerzerker Ogryn + Skull Lord
- Berzerkers(3) + 3xLand Raiders + 2xRhino + Blood Lord  (BTS)
- Bloodgors + 6xBloodgors + 1xBerzerker Ogryn
- Defiler Engines (4xDefilers) + 1xSlaughterfiend
- Daemonic Engines (3xDoom Blasters + 1xDeathdealer
- Hellblades
- Hellblades

Yes, I know, Slaanesh engines used for Khorne..oh the humanity! Sorry BL. I am working to rectify this, but I left all my Defilers at home  



Tau  3000 Points (11 Activations)  
- Crisis + 2 + Supreme
- Crisis + 1
- Mech FW + Pathfinders + Skyray (BTS)
- Stealth
- Broadside
- Hammerhead (Rail)
- Hammerhead (Fusion) + Skyray
- Barracuda
- Barracuda
- Recon Squad(1)
- Recon Squad(1)





Note: All directions in battle report will be given from the standing point of the World Eaters Player

WoE = World Eaters

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Garrisons:
Tau
- Recon(1) behind RHS ruins
- Recon(2) centre table
- Broadsides LHS crater (Overwatch)

World Eaters:
- Berserkers(2) centre city
- Berserkers(3) RHS city
- Bloodgors LHS stretching between forest and city block (Overwatch)


Setr Up
- Defilers centre table
- HH Railgungs Centre table
- Daemonic Engines right hand side of Defilers
- Crisis(2) LHS behind Recon(2)
- Berserkers(1) RHS table
- Firewarriors Centre table (embarked in vehicles)
- HH Fusion behind Firewarriors
- Crisis(1) RHS city block


The armies set up before the first dice roll:

Tau


World Eaters



Teleports: None

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Turn 1
WoE win Initiative  (on a ‘6’ gaining 2 extra daemons)

- Hellblades GA Crisis(1). AA from Skyray kills one Hellblade. GA continues for no kills
- Barracuda(1) go on CAP
- Defilers double into centre city block. Obviously the Tau had scouted ahead and planted large pit traps as 2 of the Defilers failed their DTT (even with walker)!! The other 3 continue on and shoot at HH Railguns killing 1.
- Barracuda(2) Stand Down, even after a verbal serving from the Supreme Commander.
- Hellblades(2) GA HH Railguns. Barracudas(1) enact CAP killing 2 Hellblades. The Skyray AA kills the third (Finally a correct use of Barracudas! Hooray!! – although an incorrect use of Hellblades)
- HH Railguns Fail and Break (That’s right, and take your railguns with you! Cowards!) *WoE player shakes fist*
- Bloodgors march to the Centre crater
- HH Fusion Fail and remove BM instead
- Berserkers(3) March to the RHS crater
- Broadsides Advance towards Bloodgors – nothing to talk about
- Berserkers(2) March to the front of Berserkers(3) in the crater
- Recon(1) Advance on Berserkers(2) for no kills
- Berserkers(1) Double on Recon(1) killing a single Pirhana.
- Crisis(1) Double vs Berserkers(2) using crossfire and ML – Here we go – 3 Dead Bestigors and 1 Berserker. *Tau player realizes that Bestigor upgrades for Berserkers having Disposable are going to be a pain*
- Daemon Engines March to RHS of Berserkers(1)
- Recon(2) Advance on Bloodgors for no kills
- Crisis(2) Advance on Bloodgors using crossfire and ML killing 4 Bloodgors.
- Firewarriors Fail and instead remove a BM


Rally Phase
- Only the HH Railguns fail to rally


End Turn 1





Teleports:
- None

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Turn 2
Tau win initiative.  WoE player rolls a ‘1’ and loses 1 daemon

- Crisis(2) Advance vs Bloodgors killing 3
- Recon(2) retain and double behind Bloodgors killing an Ogryn Berserker and the Packmaster. Under so much fire, the Bloodgors break.
- Defilers Sustain vs Crisis(1). The armour saves of these guys prevent anything meaningful being reported.
- Berserkers(2) retain and Charge Crisis(1). WoE win by 3 for no losses in return. Crisis(1) run for their lives (hahaha – man I hate those guys).
- Recon(1) Fail to activate. The Supreme Commander once again goes into a tirade yet realizes that he has lost the respect of his fellow Tau as his further orders are ignored. Instead they decide to move towards the Blitz objective.
- Daemon Engines Double towards Recon(2) killing 1 Pirhana (what can I say? I like to fish)
- Broadsides Double to Defilers killing the Slaughterfiend and breaking the unit who decide to risk more DTT and move back towards the blitz.
- Berserkers(3) Double to RHS crater
- Barracuda(1) GA Bloodgors killing 1 due to BM
- Berserkers(1) Double towards Broadsides. Tau *stupid* armour saves all hits
- HH Fusion Advance on Berserkers(2) killing 3 Bloodgors
- Hellblades(1) GA Crisis(1) sniping the Supreme Commander and killing him due to BM rule.

The Tau army cheers at losing such an incompetent Commander. Both forces stop the battle for a 4 day celebration wherein a game of soccer is played and tea and biscuits are shared. The WoE win the soccer game – a short consolation however as the rest of the game will show. Both forces take up their positions again.

- Barracudas intercept Hellblades  for no kills (however they are being used correctly)
- Firewarriors Advance on Berserkers(2) - (wait for it) – and kill 4 Berserkers breaking the unit.


Rally Phase
- Crisis(1) Fail
- Bloodgors Fail
- Recon(1) Fail


Teleports
- None

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Turn 3
WoE win the Initiative   (on a ‘6’ gaining 2 extra daemons – Yay!)

- Daemon Engines Advance on Firewarriors killing 1 Firewarrior and a Devilfish
- Berserkers(2) retain and Charge Recon(1) who are next to the Blitz. A series of embarrassing attacks from the berserkers sees the combat go on for 3 rounds before they finally manage to win by 1 (note to self, sacrifice this formation as a lesson to all future formations that make it into my army lists).
- Broadsides Advance vs Berserkers(1) killing 1xLandraider, 1xRhino and 1xBerserker
- Barracudas retain and CAP
- Defilers march to LHS table and wave their guns at Recon(2) in a futile attempt that their plastic bullets may actually penetrate the impenetrable

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Can you tell by this time that I am over my dice rolls? 4 games in a row now of just totally dice rolls for combat situations  
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- HH Fusions Advance on Berserkers(1) killing 1x Land Raider.
- Barracudas Fail and Stand Down
- Berserkers(1) do something totally different and Marshall to prevent becoming broken.
- Firewarriors Advance vs Berserkers(2) killing a bloodgor and breaking the unit
- Berserkers(3) Charge Firewarriors and lay a lazy smackdown winning by 2
- Recon(2), emboldened by the fact that Defilers do not shoot real bullets, Double towards them and cackle while another Defiler dies of shame and they run like the useless curs they are
- Hellblades GA the cackling Recon(2). Barracudas enact CAP for no hits. The sole Hellblade kills a tetra breaking the unit
- HH Railguns Double to own Blitz and shoot at Berserkers(2). No hits and Stubborn saves the extra hit from BM.
- Crisis(2) Advance on Berserkers(1) – here we go – and kill 2 Berserkers and 1x Land Raider.



Rally Phase
- Berserkers(1) Fail
- Bloodgors Fail
- Crisis(1) Fail
- HH Railguns Fail

End of Turn 3


World Eaters: 0
Tau: 0


So the game continues…..


Teleports
- Tau Stealth units near Blitz in city. 2BM

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Turn 4 – 1 week later
Tau win the Initiative   (…and there goes the WoE chance of securing the game)

A series of maneuvers that does nothing but reduce more WoE units to being almost useless. The game finishes in a draw.

World Eaters: 2 (Blitz, T&H)

Tau: 2 (Blitz, T&H)

GAME OVER

Tau player wins on countback of ~800 points

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Post Game Thoughts

A series of bad rolls throughout the game. WoE obviously had the worst of it due to being so specialized in their abilities and having to foot-slog it.

Winning Turn 4 initiative would have been good to give the WoE any real chance of pulling off the win. If you have to rely on luck however, you have already lost the battle.

Hellblades could have been used more efficiently, however the death of the Tau Supreme Commander was well worth it if simply for the fact of writing this battle report.

Opponent thought that the Bloodgors and Ogryn Berserkers were a welcome addition to the list.

Overall IMO the addition of the Bloodgors and Ogryn Berserkers give the WoE survivability and character for a foot-slogging force. It was agreed that without the Bloodgors and Ogryns, the WoE would have most likely have been finished by the end of turn 2.

'Disposable' is the General’s best friend when facing Tau.

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Clearly, to improve your dice rolls you must paint the army  

...just finished gluing my bloodgor stands together

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Ah yes, that altar is almost finished. Pic to come this weekend when it is finally set up.

Only then will the painting begin...

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Just wanted to add one thing not covered in the report.

Stealth Suits with a 2+ Initiative IMO are pointless. Teleporting in attracts a BM about 75% of the time. At this point, it's a 3+ to activate, assuming you survive. Recon Formations are a much better buy IMO. The Stealth in this game did fail their roll, and if the WE player had of been able to kill a single unit, would have won the game. I got lucky, and that's not something that should be relied upon.

Same can be said for Crisis Suits. Without an SC, reliance on some heavy luck is required. Even with an SC, you have enough 2+/3+ activations to worry about that a second/third Crisis squad shouldn't be soaking those up. Thankfully in my game, my non-SC Crisis didn't fail an activation, but the last one, but that's due to good luck, and a good matchup (he wasn't able to BM them due to more than half his army lacking ranged weapons). As above, luck shouldn't be relied upon. A single activation failure in turns 1 through 3, could have cost me the game. The failure in turn 4 (along with the Stealth failure), cost me the chance at actually winning.

Not sure Broadsides need it, at their current price, but I think the other two definitely do .

Morgan Vening

@MV: Point noted. I will say that I do not disagree with your overall comments on suits, but I am concerned about modifying the Stealths. +1 makes them extremely good, not necessarily a bad thing, but would require a cost bump up, thus making them much harder to field. If you would like to open up a thread in the Tau forum on this, we can get the discussion going (if you haven't already).

I do not see a change occurring for Broadsides. Well used and they are a very strong formation to deal with.

Great report all!

So, Frogbear. At what point are you going to start using all the options/features of the list together? The recent games all have a self-imposed handicap and I'm concerned that it's giving the impression that the list might be weaker than it really is. Also, if you could have someone else roll your dice for you, we might see some results that are a bit closer to reality.  

Cheers,

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

Hi Honda

Well I have about 4 test games to go and I have tested ground-pounders now to my satisfaction. All the games from here on will be with the total list. I am sure you understand the self imposed restrictions as no doubt such things help iron out areas in an army that need to be tested  




Definately. New dice are needed. I do have TRC at the helm for this next game and he rolls like a charm. So I guess we will see a WoE win finally and yet another loss recorded against the Frogbear  

I will do my best however  

Cheers....  

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