Steel Legion vs Tau

Steel Legion

REGIMENTAL HQ [500]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera (Commissar)

SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [550]
2 Baneblade, Shadowsword, 2 Ogryns (Commissar)

INFANTRY COMPANY I [350]
Commander, 12 Infantry, Fire Support Platoon (4 Fire Support) (Commissar)

INFANTRY COMPANY II [275]
Commander, 12 Infantry, 1 Sniper (Commissar)

ROUGH RIDER PLATOON [150]
6 Rough Riders (Commissar)

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]
3 Bombards (Commissar)

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels

FLAK BATTERY [150]
3 Hydra

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250]
2 Marauders

WARHOUND TITAN [275]


Tau

CRISIS BATTLESUIT CADRE [425]
5 XV8 Crisis Battlesuit, Gun Drone, Shas'o

FIRE WARRIOR CADRE I [475]
6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish, 2 Pathfinders, 1 Devilfish, Bonded Team, Skyray

FIRE WARRIOR CADRE II [350]
6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish, 2 Pathfinders, 1 Devilfish

ARMOUR SUPPORT GROUP I [400]
6 Hammerheads w. Railgun, Skyray

ARMOUR SUPPORT GROUP II [300]
4 Hammerheads w. Twin Fusion Cannon, Skyray

BROADSIDE GROUP [300]
6 XV88 Broadsides

KROOT KINDRED [175]
Kroot Master Shaper, 9 Kroot Warriors

RECON SKIMMER GROUP [175]
6 Tetra

STEALTH GROUP [250]
6 XV15 Stealth Units

BARRACUDA SQUADRON [150]
2 Barracuda Fighters

Tau choose corner-to-corner.


Objectives


Guard set-up


Tau set-up


Aggressive Garrisons show the enmity between the two empires.

Turn 1 – no teleport. Tau wins strategy roll.
T1 – Barracudas fail activation, fail re-roll


G2 – Bombards sustain on Kroot Kindred. Kill 3 + Master Shaper. Kroot break and withdraw to center ruins.


T3 – Fire Warrior Cadre II doubles into edge of woods, “clips” infantry company. Triggers overwatch. 1 Fire Warrior killed, 0 kills. 2 BM each.


G4 – Thunderbolts Ground strike Broadsides. No kills, 1 BM.


T5 – Crisis suits march to edge of wood.


G6 – Marauder Bombers ground strike, hit Crisis suits and FW Cadre II. Kills one Devilfish, 2 and 3 BMs respectively.


T7 – Fire Warrior Cadre I fails activation, moves behind ruins.


G8 – Rough Riders march forward
T9 – Recon Skimmer Group fails activation, regroups.


G10 – Hydras double, kill 1 Fire Warrior from Cadre II.


T11 – Broadsides fail activation, regroups.
G12 – Regimental HQ fail activation, regroups.
T13 – Hammerhead Group I fails activation, moves.
G14 – Infantry Company II fails activation, regroups




T15 – Hammerhead Group II rolls 2! Advance.
G16 – Super-heavy Tank Company doubles, fires at Hammerhead Group II, kills 2. Hammerheads break and withdraw.
G17 – Sentinels double, lay BM on Recon
G18 – Warhound doubles, fires at Broadsides, kills 3



Disengage: Thunderbolts – 1 killed for a total of 3 BMs, Marauders – 1 BM

Rally: Kroot fail, withdraw to woods. Broadsides rally with 1 BM, Crisis Suits shed all, Fire Warriors Cadre II sheds 4/8, Hammerheads Group I sheds all, Hammerhead Group II fails to rally, withdraws behind palace.
Infantry Company I fails to regroup, still has 2 BM

Remarkable: The thunderbolt was the first Guard casualty of the game. Tau fails 5 activations, including a snake eye for the first activation.

Both forces await the outcome of the strategy roll


Tau readies their forces for a renewed assault

Turn 2 – Tau wins strategy, goes first.


T1 – Fire Warrior Cadre I doubles into central wood, fires at Infantry Company, kills 3 + Commander/Commissar + Fire Support.


T2 – Fire Warrior Cadre II advances, fires at Rough Riders, kills 4 (sniping Commissar – damned that white horse) and breaking them. They withdraw towards Blitz.


G3 – Infantry Company I fails activation despite re-roll, regroups removing 5/9 BMs


T4 – Crisis Suits advance, firing at Hydras, killing all 3.
G5 – Regimental HQ fails activation, mounts and moves forward.
T6 – Broadsides fire at Warhound, taking down its void shields.
G7 – Infantry Company II doubles into woods, fires at Fire Warrior Cadre II, takes out one Devilfish.
T8 – Recon Skimmer Group moves and fires at Sentinels, killing 2. Sentinels break and withdraw back to screen Bombards.
T9 – Hammerhead Group I retain, fail, moves behind buildings
G10 – Super-heavy Tank Company fails activation, shoots at Recon, kills 4. Recon breaks and withdraws behind buildings.
T11 – Barracudas ground strike Bombards, score one hit but Bombard make its save to remain active.
G12 – Thunderbolt stand down


G13 – Marauders ground strike Fire Warrior Cadre II, kill 1 Fire Warrior.
G14 – Warhound advances, kills 1 Broadside. Broadsides break and withdraw to woods.

Disengage: Marauders receive 1 BM
Rally: Kroot fail, remain broken
Warhound fails, repairs one void shield.
Broadsides fail to rally, remain broken.
Rough Riders rally, 1 BM
Hammerhead Group II regroups, 0 BM
Infantry Company I regroups, 2/4 BMs (Commissar died)
Hammerhead Group I fails to regroup
Super-heavy Tank Company fails to regroup
Recon Skimmer Group fails, remains broken
Fire Warrior Cadre II succeeds to shed 4/8 BM

Remarkable: Twist of fate. Guards fail 4 of their first 5 activations.

Turn 3


Tau teleport Stealth Suits around Blitz, gains 2 BMs.

Guards win strategy. Guards go first.


G1 – Bombards sustain on Fire Warrior Cadre I, kill 5 Fire Warriors, 1 Pathfinder and 1 Devilfish.


G2 – Guards retain. Rough Riders fail activation and break, withdraw behind city.


T3 – Hammerhead Group I doubles, fires at Super-heavies, scores 1 DC on Baneblade.
T4 – Tau retains. Crisis Suits advance, fire at Super-heavy Tanks with no casualties. Crisis Suits manage to score 5/5 MW hits and super-heavies make 5/5 4+ saves.


G5 – Warhound advances, fires at Fire Warrior Cadre II, kills 1 Fire Warrior and 1 Devilfish, breaking them. Fire Warriors withdraw into ruins nearby offensive objective.
T6 – Barracudas fire at Super-heavy Tank Company, no kills.


G7 – Infantry Company II doubles back to T&H objective, eliminates Fire Warrior Cadre II.


T8 – Stealth Suits advance, set up defensive perimeter around Guard Blitz.
G9 – Marauders ground strike Crisis suits for no kills and 2 BMs.
G10 – Superheavy Tank Company marshals, shoots at Hammerheads, kills 1 Hammerhead and 1 Skyray, removes 3 BMs
G11 – Reg HQ doubles back towards Blitz, shoots at Stealth suits for no kills.
G12 – Infantry Company I fails its activation, regroups, removes all BMs

Disengage: uneventful

Rally:
Kroot succeed to rally, remove 3/6 BMs
Hammerhead Group II succeeds to rally. 1 BM.
Recon Skimmer Group succeds to rally, 1 BM.
Broadsides fail, remain broken
Sentinels fail, remain broken
Rough Riders fail, remain broken
Super-heavy Tank Company fails to regroup.
Crisis succeeds, removing 2/2 BMs.

Tau leads 1-0 (Blitz). Game goes to fourth turn.

Turn 4 – Guards win strategy roll. Guards go first.


G1 – Thunderbolt lays BM on Crisis Suits.
G2 – Infantry Company I engages Crisis Suits, lead 6-3, win by 4, wiping them. Infantry Company consolidates back onto objective.


T3 – Recon Skimmer Group and Hammerhead Group I takes Coordinated Fire, despite blast markers and loss of Supreme Commander. Recon doubles to markerlight and Hammerheads advance to pop-up. A hail of hits and saves later, an Ogryn goes down and a Baneblade loses 1 DC.


G4 – Reg HQ engages Stealth Suits, Chimeras tank shocking to consolidate onto Blitz. Stealth Suits break but cannot withdraw into safety and they are eliminated.
T5 – Kroot Herd marshals, protecting Tau Blitz by ZOC denying Warhound the possibility to march to Blitz.
G6 – Bombards fail activation, regroup.


T7 – Barracudas ground strike Super-heavy Tanks for another BM.
G8 – Infantry Company II doubles around T&H objective.


T9 – Hammerhead Group II doubles, 1 of 2 MW attacks hits, Baneblade fails its save and explodes. Super-heavy Tank Company breaks and withdraws behind hill.


G10 – Marauder Bombers ground strike Hammerhead Group II. No kills but Hammerheads break due to BMs. Tau has no active formation on Guard half of table. Recon Skimmer Group misses the halfway mark with a couple of cms.
G11 – Warhound advances while contesting offensive objective, shoots at Kroot for 0 kills.


Rally: Both Recon Skimmer Group and Fire Warrior Cadre I fail to rally. Sentinels, Rough Riders and Super-heavy Tank Company succeed.


Guards win by 2-0 (Defend the flag and They Shall not Pass)

Really good battle report - how many failed activations!!?

A lot!

That first turn was very disenhartening. I failed 6 (including the reroll) I think out of 10 activation rolls. Starting the game with double one and knowing that would kill my kroot was disapointing. I felt way behind after turn 1, but in the end it was only a 2-0 win and I enjoyed the game a lot. I had two broken formations partly on his side of the board that rallied on 4+ and if one of them would have had the decency to rally then it would only have been 1-0.

I've played 4 games now with Tau and have to say that the stealth suits haven't delivered. They'll have to go. I'll probably buy some Tiger sharks AX-1-0. I need something that can threaten my opponents reinforced save warengines.

Thanks for a great game mate!

/Borka

Thanks yourself. Looking forward to meeting your Necrons soon.

Your first turn saw 6/9 failed attempts to activate.
Your second turn was 1/6.
You did not fail any activations in turns 3 and 4.

Guards failed 2/11 activations first turn, 4/7 for the second turn. 2/8 in turn 3 and 1/7 in turn 4.

Your first turn put you in trouble, because you were not in good position for the second turn. If you had been, you could have taken full advantage of my failed second turn. Actually, I think the key to the game was your failed rally attempts, keeping me in an activation advantage throughout the game.

I also think a thing has to be said about the Epic A ruleset. I think the Hold rule is brilliant, giving you a tactical (although appropriately limited) choice within the "failure". All the differents options were used over the course of the game.

/Fredmans

Any chance of a rematch report - hopefully not so influenced by failed activations? I can see it being a lot closer with a little less luck on activations. What would you change to the Tau army, or are you happy with it as it is? I don't leave home without my Hero/Protector personally for the reasons you said.

Not in à while I'm affraid, Fredmans have requested to meet my necrons next time. Which is something I'm happy to do as I haven't played them for the last 12 months.

It's not à rematch, but I have posted another report from a game I played after this one. It's in this forum in the thread "Borkas Tau adventures". I hadn't bought any new miniatures so had to play with the same list. It's against another player who plays orks.

After these two games i've felt that i need to do some changes. I'm going to skip the stealthsuits next time, like I wrote. I want to try out the skysweep formation to save points and up the activation count. Will also try the AX 1-0's. Will probably take another recon formation as well. I want to get to 11 activations.



Good to hear looking forward to that and to see your new IG.

Cheers

Marauders, I have to admit, is not nearly as good as artillery batteries at killing things. Their lack of sustained fire and ignore cover or disrupt makes them much less deadly than their ground forces counterpart. On the other hand, they have a great advantage and that is that you do not have to rearguard them, which means that you do not tie up as much of your army to protect your artillery. I find that it fits my playing style better since I like to be aggressive with my formations.

So, for me, they work fine.

In this battle, a comparison would be:

Bombards: 2 impressive rounds of sustained fire, breaking two formations, but if I had not survived the Barracuda attack, they probably would not have made more than one attack.

Marauders: Brought two or four blast markers to the table every round, without counting the kills, breaking one crucial formation in round four.

Would be great to get a game in later this summer.

/Fredmans

Would it be fair to say that Marauders have the potential to be better later in the game when you may have had the chance to remove/suppress enemy AA, whereas Artillary is better from the start but easier to neutralise? I can imagine using a Marauder as your first activation for example would have to take a lot more risks to put the shots anywhere, then suffer from reactive AA moves as well. On the other hand a Marauder Sqn later in the game would be incredibly frustrating to have to deal with once your AA/fighter support is gone.

Horses for courses.