Hi!
So, my first battle report! First at all, my apologies for the poor pictures and the non-painted miniatures and the huge amount of "this is".
The idea was to try to use a different DKOK list, in this case I decided to not use any Gorgon and use a lot of infantry and artillery.
My list:
(Question here…is it allowed to repeat in same formation an upgrade? Can I have 2 support squads in the same formation?)
Quote:
- HQ + 2 Support Squad
- Inf 1 + 2 Support Squad
- Inf 2
- Macharius
- Death Riders
- Greandiers + Centaurs
- Heavy Mortars + Centaurs
- Heavy AA + Trojan
- Earthshakers + Gun Emplacements
- Medusa + Trojan
- Inf 1 + 2 Support Squad
- Inf 2
- Macharius
- Death Riders
- Greandiers + Centaurs
- Heavy Mortars + Centaurs
- Heavy AA + Trojan
- Earthshakers + Gun Emplacements
- Medusa + Trojan
The Tau list:
Quote:
- Crisis 1
- Crisis 2
- Broadsides
- Hammerheads 1
- Hammerheads 2
- Kroot 1
- Kroot 2
- Kroot 3
- Piranha
- Tetra
- Barracuda
- Tigers + Droids
- Firewarriors
- Crisis 2
- Broadsides
- Hammerheads 1
- Hammerheads 2
- Kroot 1
- Kroot 2
- Kroot 3
- Piranha
- Tetra
- Barracuda
- Tigers + Droids
- Firewarriors
DEPLOYMENT
DKOK Deployment
- Left flank: Macharius, Medusa. Inf 2 garrisons near objective
- Centre: Earthshakers and mortars. Inf 1 and Heavy AA garrisons near objective
- Right flank: Grenadiers and Death Riders. HQ garrisons near objective
The idea was to overwhelm the centre and the right flank with massive infantry assaults (they were on Overwatch, so good enough defending). The Grenadiers and Death Riders would support the assaults while the artillery "prepare" the Tau. My left flank was "sacrificed". I just needed to hold during the first turn to avoid a collapse in the centre.
TAU Deployment (left/right flank refer to the DK perspective)
- Left flank is occupied by Hammerheads 1, Crisis 1 and Crisis 2
- Centre is occupied by Hammerheads 2, Tetras and Piranhas
- Right flank is held by the Broadsides
- Kroots and Firewarriors garrisons near objectives
TURN 1
- DKOK win initiative
- DK: Eartshakers Sustain Fire on the Kroots and the Firewarrior on the right flank. 2 Losses for the Firewarriors (3 BM), no losses for the Kroots (1 BM)
- TAU: Crisis advance on the Infantry on the left flank (not on overwatch). 6 losses, 7 BM. Crisis move to cover
- DK: Grenadiers advance and disembark on the right flank to shoot the Firewarriors. 2 losses, 3 BM --> Broken
- TAU: Crisis advance to shoot at the infantry at the centre. No losses. 1 BM
- DK: Mortars fail and move (disembark). Move to the centre behind the cover of a building
- TAU: Kroots on the left flank engage Infantry on the left. Inf losses 5, Kroots loosses 7. Kroots loss the combat and withdraw. Inf is broken and move to cover behind the buildings
- DK: Death Riders march on the right flank to secure engage positions for turn 2
- TAU: Hammerheads double on the Medusa. 4 losses. Broken
- DK: Macharius advance on the Hammerheads which shot the Medusa. 2 losses. Broken
- TAU: Tetra doubles to the Death Riders on the right flank. 1 lost. 2 BM
- DK: AA sustain on the right flank Kroots. 1 lost. 2 BM
- TAU: Piranhas double on the Death Riders. 2 losses. 3 BM
- DK: Infantry on the right flank engage the kroots. Kroots loss 7, Inf 4. Kroots are wiped out
- TAU: Hammerheads fail and marshal
- TAU: Barracuda ground attacks Rough Rider. 3 losses. Broken
- TAU: Tiger ground attacks the Inf at the right flank unleashing the drones. Flak fire gives 1 BM. 7 losses to inf, 8 BM
- End phase: Barracuda disengage but one is shot down by the AA. 2 BM. We did not write down the rallies, but it was not significant…
TURN 2
Situation at the beginning
- Centre is firmly held by the DK, the right flank seems ok but the Drones, Tetras, etc are looking "problematic", the left flank is lost as expected but the Macharius are holding and ready to shoot some Crisis
- TAU win initiative
- TAU: Drones sustain fire on Infantry on the right flank. 3 losses. 4 BM
- TAU: Broadisdes retain and advance on Inf for 4 losses. Inf is broken
- DK: Earthshakers SF on Piranhas. 4 losses. Broken
- TAU: Tetra advance on Inf. 1 losses. 2 BM --> 2 more losses
- DK: Medusa advance on the Crisis. No losses. 1 BM
- TAU: Crisis advance on Medusa…and disappear
- TAU: kroots on the left try to retain and fail. Marshal
- DK: Macharius advance on the Crisis. No losses. 1 BM
- TAU: Crisis double on Inf at the centre (HQ). 8 losses. 9 BM
- TAU: Hammerheads retain and advance on the HQ again…6 losses. 7 BM. HQ broken
- DK: Mortars sustain on Hammerheads and Crisis. Crisis 2 losses (broken), Hammerheads no losses (1 BM)
- TAU: Barracudas fail to enter
- DK: Grenadiers double on Drones. 1 loss, 2 BM
- TAU: Firewarriors reagroup
- DK: AA sustain on borken Crisis. No losses. 1 BM --> 1 loss
- TAU: Tigers fail to enter
TURN 3
No pictures for the start of this turn, but…the right flank was in serious danger (only the Grenadiers were ready to do some damage). The centre was in danger also, but the Tau had no army there of significance. The left flank was far better than expected (the Tau "redeployed" to the centre on turn 2 most of the forces).
- TAU win initiative
- TAU: Broadsides call for Coordinated Fire on the Grenadiers…and fail!!
- TAU: Tetra try to retain and call also Coord Fire and fail (we realized later that Tau could not retain after failing, but it did not affect the game)
- DK: Grenadiers engage broadsides. 1 loss for the broadsides, 3 for the Grenadiers. The Grenadiers win the assault
- TAU: Crisis double on the Macharius at the left flank. 1 DC. 2 BM
- DK: Mortars sustain again on the Hammerheads and the lonely broken Crisis. 1 loss for the Hammerheads (2 BM). No losses for the Crisis, but 1 BM and it is wiped out
- TAU: Hammerheads advance on Macharius. No losses. 1 BM
- DK: AA fail and marshal
- TAU: Hammerheads advance on HQ (centre) causing 3 losses. 4 BM
- DK: Macharius sustain on the "brave" Crisis that were just in front of them. 3 losses. Broke
- TAU: Kroots engage the Macharius. The kroots lost and are wiped out, but the Macharius are broken
- DK: Earthshakers sustain on the Drones. 3 losses. Broken
- TAU: Firewarriors sustain on the Grenadiers. 1 loss. 2 BM
- DK: Infntry on the left finally regroups
- TAU: Barracuda ground attacks Inf on the left. 1 loss. 2 BM
- TAU: Tigers ground attack Inf on the left. 1 loss. 2 BM. Broken
- End phase: aircraft disengage without losses. HQ regroup
- DK 1-0 (They Shall No Pass)
TURN 4
No pictures…but the situation was awful for both armies. Almost everything with real killing capacity was broken or destroyed. Anyway, DK had a chance if the Death Riders (or the Grenadiers) on the right could hold the Blitz.
- TAU win initiative
- TAU: Hammerheads sustain on HQ. 1 loss. 2 BM
- TAU: Tetras retain and fail. Shoot Inf on the right flank. 2 losses, 3 BM
- DK: Grenadiers fail to march, repeat with HQ and fail again…Shoot Tetra. 2 losses. Broken
- TAU: Firewarriors sustain on Grenadiers. Broken
- DK: Morters sustain on Hammerheads. 1 BM
- TAU: Crisis advance on Macharius. 1 DC, 2 BM
- TAU: Hammerheads sustain on Macharius. No losses. 1 BM. Broken
- DK: Earthshakers sustain on Broadsides. 1 BM, Broken
- DK: Death Riders retain and march to Blitz
- TAU: Barracuda ground attacks Death Riders. 1 loss, 2 BM
- DK: HQ (centre) sustain on Hammerheads. 1 BM, Broken
- TAU: Tiger ground attacks Death Riders. 1 loss. 2 BM. Broken
- DK: AA sustain on Hammerheads. 1 BM --> 1 loss
END
- We end here…we decided it was a draw (no matter the points) given the insane amount of losses for both sides
CONCLUSIONS
- It was a draw…but what a massacre for both sides!
- The Tau have a capacity to maneuver and shoot that makes very difficult to the DKOK to chose where to attack
- I was extremely lucky with some dice rolls (aircraft in turn 2 or the failed "retained" initiatives tests)
- The markerlights are…terrifying. I should have destroy them with the artillery
- While the infantry had enough numbers (above 15 I would say) they performed really well. I should have move them back to regroup and advance again instead of holding the ground.
However, as soon as they lose numbers (quickly considering the savings…) they become much softer. They can not support engagements and very fragile to shoots.
- I loved the mortars! The 2 template barrages where very useful and I just needed 1 turn to put them on position with Centaurs
- The Macharius tanks killed enough, but are fragile…I think that their cost is too high for what you get
- I used awfully the Grenadiers. I should have not disembark them on the first turn. They are in the army to assault…not to shoot in my opinion
- The Medusa artillery…the Tau focussed on them quite soon, but anyway I think that the range is too short to make it work. You have to advance aggressively to use them and they are very fragile
- I need at least other AA or some Thunderbolts
- So…summarizing, I liked a lot the aggressiveness of deploying so advanced. It allowed my to control the middle from the beginning and to fully exploit the massive infantry assaults. I think a pure "non-Gorgon" DKOK list is playable although much more fragile than the usual mechanized list. Next would be to try a similar list but adding a Gorgon formation
Thanks for reading!