Nostril-impaired Techno-bureaucracy Indicted
By
Shas’el Aun C’lter
(FBN) – Yesterday, Imperial authorities gathered to serve multiple subpoenas to Service Earth caste Intergalactic Union (SEIU) charging the SEIU with vote tampering, suborning the planetary vote process, and destroying Imperial chad tabulators. An additional charge of aiding and abetting plague zombies in return for voting favors has also been lodged.
Soooo, Anton and I got together to give the new Elysian 3.11 .list a run against Tau 6.3.2. Anton has a pretty wide range of Tau minis, so I didn’t really know what he was going to bring. So, I took a couple of gambles.
Elysian list:
1 x Regimental HQ, + 1 x Hardened vets
2 x Drop Troop Cos, + 1 x Hardened vets
1 x Drop Troop Cos, + Infantry upgrade (4 units), + Drop Sentinel upgrade (4)
2 x Drop Sentinels (4), + Sky Talon upgrade
1 x Vulture squadron, standard armament
1 x Vulture squadron, Punisher cannon upgrade
2 x Storm Trooper companies, + Vendettas
So the big gamble on my part was in not taking any AA assets. This turned out to have quite an impact on the game. Also, I picked a number of the new formations to see how they interacted with the Drop companies, hence the Sky Talon upgrades on the Sentinels and the Punisher cannon armed Vultures
Tau list: (from memory)
1 x Manta
2 x Orcas
1 x Crisis, + Shas’O, + 2 Crisis
1 x Crisis
1 x Hammerheads, + Hammerhead upgrade, + Skyray
1 x Skysweep cadre (3 Skyrays)
1 x Broadsides (6)
1 x Recon, 3 x Tetra, 3 x Piranha
1 x Pathfinders
So, let’s see, the Tau have lots of flying stuff and the Elysian ground troops will get to stand around and watch the air show. Not a good deal.
So there was a theme in our game and that was, “disrupt Elysian operations”, to which the Tau did an excellent job. I was on the back foot almost the entire game, except for the initial activation.
The Tau deployed the Skyrays, HHs, and small crisis formation spread across the baseline. The Elysians deployed the Storm Troopers, Sentinels with Sky Talons, and both Vulture squadrons.
<see pics>
Turn 1 Summary:
The Elysians teleported the two light drop companies into the right side of the Tau deployment zone, cornering the four stand crisis formation. One formation did not receive any BMs, the other got four (that’s right 4, quarto, shi).
The Elysians won initiative and engaged the crisis, using the non-BM’d formation, supporting with the other. End result, the Tau didn’t roll so good on saves and it was reduced to one unit.
I decided not to retain, primarily because I didn’t have enough targets to engage and I didn’t want to over commit. What I failed to see is how vulnerable my backfield deployment was (everyone was limbered in their transports) and the Tau wisely took me up on the offer.
So in comes Orca #1 carrying Broadsides. They sidle up next to the Sky Talons and Storm Trooper company #1. Not a good deal. The Orca manages to drop a Sky Talon, the Sentinels fail their save and now they are broken. The Broadsides just hose the Storm Troopers over and I lose all transports and only four stands of infantry remain. They stick their tails between their legs and limp off to cover the Blitz. The remaining Sky Talon et al, withdraw to the Elysian right side objective.
Not wanting to stop a good thing going, Orca #2 comes screaming out of the sky and lands the heavy Crisis formation next to the other Sky Talon formation and the Punisher Vultures. The Punisher Vultures go down in flames, the Sky Talons crash and burn, the sky raining bits of Sentinel over a broad area.
Not good. So what to do? I’ve got nasty broadsides on the left, nasty Crisis on the right and it’s going to be awhile before I get some reaction forces.
So, I activate the other Storm Trooper company and they engage the Crisis, with the thinking that I might be able to affect T2. So the STs win by a little bit, the Crisis take one or two casualties and break towards the mid-table river. The accompanying Orca is wiped out while the pilots are walking around on a bio break.
Just to show that there aren’t any hard feelings, the Hammerheads single up and blow away the broken Sky Talon and Sentinels.
Not trying to be petty, but annoyed anyway, the remaining Vultures yell “FOX FOUR, FOX FOUR, FOX FOUR, FOX FOUR”. Thankfully, three foxes hit and we’re down to two units, including the Shas’O.
The Manta zooms up a bit, drops off the Pathfinders and fires a shot into broken Elysian formations, exacting additional casualties.
Rally phase, everyone on the Elysian side rallies except for the broken ST company supposedly guarding the Blitz (Yay!). All Tau rally except for the Shas’O (Yay me, I need all the help I can get).
Turn 2
The Elysians drop the remaining companies around the Tau right side objective. The Elysians win the initiative again and decide to engage the nearby Hammerhead cadre. Great idea, poorly executed, the drop company breaks and the Hammerheads fire burst cannon into our backs to add insult to injury. Not a good deal.
I also dropped the reinforced drop company to surround the Broadsides and Orca on the left. Once again, the great idea is poorly executed (let’s just say that the die rolls were “interesting”), though they still win. Unfortunately, the plan to completely surround the Broadsides to wide them out in the win failed because of so many Sentinel losses and the Broadsides escape, relatively intact.
Note: I botched the teleport BMs on this one and in reality, the Broadsides would have won the combat. Anton very generously allows the result to stand. I am now well and truly hosed. A lot of remaining units are not only bloody, they’re in ICU.
Still we soldier on. It’s the Elysian way.
I engage the Shas’O in a clipping assault from across the river by a drop company and wipe the formation out.
The Manta continues to close shooting trashcans at the speed of light at carapace armored infantry (reinforced drop company) with predictable results (it breaks). It also drops off a Recon formation.
I marshal with a drop company on the right and the remnant ST takes Hammerhead hits, further degrading its capabilities.
Most of the Tau formations rally as do the Elysians..except for those critical formations near my Blitz..
Turn 3
Well, the Elysians are pretty well cornered and out of options. In general, I move a few things around. The Tau close on my Blitz wiping out the remnant Storm Troopers as well as the remainder of the reinforced drop company.
Darkness falls.
Tau win, 3-0 (BTS, Blitz, Take and Hold)
Summary:
Anton played a very aggressive game and his plan worked very well. The Elysians struggled to maintain any momentum at all. Some of this was due to bad mistakes on my part, but really the credit has to go to Anton for playing very well.
We had a lot of fun in the game and I look forward the rematch.
I've got pics this time and as soon as I can get them off the camera, I'll update the batrep.
The Elysian “Book of Grudges” is getting pretty thick.
Cheers!
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