Page 1 of 1

[ 14 posts ]

[BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2
Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:41 am
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Got in a second game of Black Legion vs Tau and this fight was quite unusual... cuz the Black Legion was coming down from space! _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:43 am
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Rules Used Black Legion 3.7 Tau 4.3.3 Armies Death from Above - 2000 points Aregan's Ravagers Black Legion Retinue (Khorne) 8 Chaos Marines Chaos Warlord Chaos Champion Daemonic Pact Icon Bearer Dreadclaws Fists of Fury Black Legion Chosen Space Marines (Khorne) Chaos Lord 6 Chosen 3 Dreadnaughts Dreadclaws The Bloody Remnants Forlorn Hope (Khorne) 4 Chaos Marines Daemonic Pact Dreadclaws Deathburners Helltalon Fighter-bomber (Khorne) Bringer of Woe Devastation Class Cruiser (Khorne) Daemon Pool 1 Greater Daemon 14 Lesser Daemons Tau Investigation Force - 2000 points Cal'Au'Ka Armoured Cadre 4 Railguns 2 Ion Cannons Hammerheard Upgrade Networked Drones Kayon'La'Shi Battlesuit Cadre Crisis Upgrade Shas'O Shas'Or'Saal Fire Warrior Cadre 8 Fire Warriors 4 Devilfish Al'Kayon'Ka Hammerhead Contingent 3 Railguns 1 Ion Cannon Mont're'Naga Tetra Contingent Da'Vash'Mont Piranha Contingent We Who Hunt Kroot Kindred Krootox Upgrade _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:54 am
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Setup 4'x4' Table Objectives and Garrisons Black Legion had nothing to deploy on the table. Deployment I knew the planetfall was either going to be inside the "triangle" of the Tau side objectives, or edgeward of the hill with the Black Rock, so I gambled. Afterward, I realized the obvious thing I missed. ?I should have deployed inside the "triangle", with a double ring of my scouting formations and my other units forming a blanket of ZOC that would prevent landing within it. ?That's what I get for never playing against drop armies. ?(There was another obvious thing I missed, but I'll wait until the first turn to share that one.) _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:33 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Turn 1 When I saw the grin on my opponents face as we prepared for Turn 1, I knew I had gambled and lost, I thought all hope might be lost as well, until? Strategy Roll: Tau Uncertain as to what to do on a battlefield with no enemies, the Fire Warriors of Shas'Or'Saal hesitate, and then zip across the battlefield, marching to the Black Legion Blitzkrieg and debussing into the nearby ruins. The Shas'O orders his Crisis Cadre to do the same, but the Tau are confused by his urgency as the sensor drones detect no nearby danger, and they only make a single leap forward over the hill with the Black Rock. ?(Here's where I made my second big mistake, I blame the lack of targets. ?I should have had the Shas'O call a co-ordinated fire attack with two other units and just doubled them all out of the potential kill zone, that would've been a single 1+ activation and would've saved a lot of Tau, in addition to allowing me to potentially save a fourth unit? live and learn!) The Bringer of Woe arrives? and rains death. ?The Orbital Bombardment is targeted slightly off the Black Rock catching the Hammerhead Contingent and the Piranhas in its deadly embrace. ?Three Piranhas are felled, but the grav-tanks weather the initial storm. ?The Dreadclaws carrying the Fists of Fury land within the "triangle", near the lurking Kroot, but not near enough to hit them with fire. ?The Chaos Warlords retinue lands directly on the Black Rock and their Dreadclaws knock out one Hammerhead from Al'Kayon'Ka while spraying fire at the Hammerhead Cadre. ?The Bloody Remnants also land nearby and manage to knock out two more Hammerheads from the, one from each tank formation! The Chaos Warlord keeps attacking, first calling up five Bloodletters and then attempting to engage the Shas'O. ?The Crisis suits jump back near the Tetras. ?The ravening daemons can't reach the Tau who pick them off with Fusion Blasters and support fire and, incredibly, drive the Chaos Marines back! The Tetras advance towards the Forlorn Hope and tear them into more bloody remnants leaving only one broken squad still standing. The Fists of Fury maintain their excellent tactical position and sustain fire into the backsides of the Kroot. ?The Reaper autocannons live up to their names as five Kroot, two Krootox, and the Master Shaper are all cut down. (So much for my attempt to try out Kroot!) The Deathburners scream in on ground attack, skirting the maximum range of the Ion Cannons to eliminate the survivors of the Hammerhead contingent. Trapped in the corner and sorely battered, Cal'Au'Ka tries to rally? and fails, breaking and fleeing up the flank. Disgusted by his loss against the elusive Tau, the Warlord Retinue remains broken as do the remaining Hammerheads, remarkably, the Kroot rally! _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:46 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Turn 2 Strategy Roll: Black Legion The single Bloody Remnant left calls upon his dark god and receives 4 Bloodletters for his prayers, but even those blood red warriors are unable to reach up and swat down the nearby Tetras, who wipe out the last survivor of the unit. The Shas'O advances on the Black Rock and fires on Aregan's Ravagers, killing three of the furious Chaos Marines. The Chosen double towards the Kroot with the thunder of mechanized death, but are unable to hit the crafty creatures. The Tetras perform a lateral advance to markerlight the Chosen, while firing on the broken Warlord's retinue, and manage to kill three more Marines. ?Only the half-insane Warlord is left standing, shaking his fist at the sky. From their defensive position in the ruins and seeing the red flashing light of a marked target on their scopes, the Fire Warriors launch Seeker Missiles and the Dreadnaughts of the Chosen, but score no kills. (Boy, did *that* surprise my opponent!) The Deathburners perform another long strafing run, attacking the broken Hammerhead Contingent and knock out two more tanks. Without the direction of the Shaper, the Kroot are confused. ?They marshal, moving deeper into enemy territory. All units, but the Hammerhead Cadre, rally. _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

Chroma	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:54 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada	Turn 3 Strategy Roll: Black Legion The Chaos Warlord says a fervent prayer and is only rewarded with 5 daemons, but he engages the Tetras anyway. ?His fury is enough to scatter his enemies and the entire Tau unit is rendered combat ineffective. The Fists of Fury advance on the Crisis suits and obliterate two teams of XV8s. Seeing no one around, the Kroot march forward to claim an undefended enemy objective? and light it on fire! The Helltalons race in one more time, bombarding the Shas'O's cadre with a ground attack, but the Tau armour withstands the onslaught. Still sitting pretty, the Fire Warriors advance slightly nearer the enemy Blitzkrieg while their Devilfish pop up to launch missiles at the Chosen's Dreadnaught? and manage to take out two of the lumbering machines! Things look really desperate, until both armies realize they're actually in each other's territory! ?(Since my opponent dropped into my side, and I was constantly trying to move onto his side, we kept standing at the "other" side of the table? was mildly confusing and we initially thought no one had any objective.  Then we realized... *laugh*) End of Turn: Black Legion 0 (none) vs Tau 2 (Blitzkrieg, Take and Hold) Oh how the Chaos Warlord howled about that! _________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
Top

clausewitz	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:17 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:02 pm Posts: 916 Location: Glasgow, Scotland	Sounds like a good fun battle.  Though with only 3 objective holding capable formations the BL would have needed to be really fortunate to win this one.  Especially slow moving formations.
Top

Tactica	Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:21 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:12 am Posts: 2241	Quote (Chroma @ 10 Jan. 2006 (22:43)) Been a while since I've read a BL report, this should be good. Some pre-game comments: Do I understand it correctly that there are only 3 formations capable of holding objectives in the BL army here? No Barracudas in the tau army seems to be more common with recent battle reports than I personally like. That's just a general observation. I'm happy to see folks playing all crisis formations, however, tactically I can't help but wonder if its not better to play crisis + stealths, or crisis + heavy drones I wonder if this is not tactically more sound due to formation unit strength, and the insulation for the crisis. I'm just wondering on the value of 2 add'l crisis vs. 4 marker drones or 3 RA stealths. Hmm... FW with Df only always concern me. I find that the formation is not flexible enough and ends up being religated to ML and smaller anti-personel operations at best. If 1 or 2 Df are dealt with early, it seems to put the infantry in a bad way with not much option but movement in many games. The lack of ranged AT if further upgrades are not taken is somewhat a questionable decision in my mind. Perhaps that's due to my playstyle not solely relying on ML and GM. Stand alone tetra and piranha formations bring similar questions to mind. Kroot - yay, somebody's trying the latest version of the kroot! This is a formation we need to get more playtest out of for sure. Glad to see somebody fielding them. I have high hopes for them against this foe. Typically, I've seen them as initial deturant, and one-hit-wonders. The complete lack of armor means they usually lose the combat they enter, but they can usually deal a bit of damage before they go. Should be interesting to see how they fare. Cheers, _________________ Rob
Top

Tactica

Post subject: [BatRep] Black Legion vs Tau - 2000 points - Game2 Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:17 pm

Brood Brother Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:12 am Posts: 2241

Quote (Chroma @ 11 Jan. 2006 (08:33)) Strategy Roll: Tau Yay! Quite the impressive kick-off considering the relative differences in strategy! The Shas'O orders his Crisis Cadre to do the same, but the Tau are confused by his urgency as the sensor drones detect no nearby danger, and they only make a single leap forward over the hill with the Black Rock.  (Here's where I made my second big mistake, I blame the lack of targets.  I should have had the Shas'O call a co-ordinated fire attack with two other units and just doubled them all out of the potential kill zone, that would've been a single 1+ activation and would've saved a lot of Tau, in addition to allowing me to potentially save a fourth unit? live and learn!)

Hmm... I'm wondering if you could actually have issued a CF if there was no target formation. Just speaking hypothetically in lieu of your situation you presented.

Perhaps I'll start a seperate thread on this one... interesting...

The Bringer of Woe arrives? and rains death.  The Orbital Bombardment is targeted slightly off the Black Rock catching the Hammerhead Contingent and the Piranhas in its deadly embrace.  Three Piranhas are felled, but the grav-tanks weather the initial storm.  The Dreadclaws carrying the Fists of Fury land within the "triangle", near the lurking Kroot, but not near enough to hit them with fire.  The Chaos Warlords retinue lands directly on the Black Rock and their Dreadclaws knock out one Hammerhead from Al'Kayon'Ka while spraying fire at the Hammerhead Cadre.  The Bloody Remnants also land nearby and manage to knock out two more Hammerheads from the, one from each tank formation!
Would this classify as an ouch yet? (d@mn drop armies!)


The Chaos Warlord keeps attacking, first calling up five Bloodletters and then attempting to engage the Shas'O.  The Crisis suits jump back near the Tetras.  The ravening daemons can't reach the Tau who pick them off with Fusion Blasters and support fire and, incredibly, drive the Chaos Marines back!

The Tetras advance towards the Forlorn Hope and tear them into more bloody remnants leaving only one broken squad still standing.

Must - absolutely must kill them dead... those chaos are just brutal if there's one summoning capble unit left! Marine push back is always a welcomed 1st turn event though!

The Fists of Fury maintain their excellent tactical position and sustain fire into the backsides of the Kroot.  The Reaper autocannons live up to their names as five Kroot, two Krootox, and the Master Shaper are all cut down. (So much for my attempt to try out Kroot!)

Well, that was disheartening. Unfortunately, with no armor, this happens all too often. Kroot have to be deployed into great - not just good cover to have a chance to impact that game. That typically means buildings and ruins or fortifications. When hits equate to kills, many drop/teleport, barrage, and aircraft formations just make short work of the kroot formation unfortunately.

Question: do you think you could have deployed them into better cover, or was there no hope of that due to field conditions.

I had hoped to see kroot in action here. Bummer.

The Deathburners scream in on ground attack, skirting the maximum range of the Ion Cannons to eliminate the survivors of the Hammerhead contingent.
Definitely the way to deal with the Tau AA cover. break em' and finish them off. Definitely a good example of using the enemy air against the Tau. Cudos to your BL enemy for putting that tactic together effectively.



Trapped in the corner and sorely battered, Cal'Au'Ka tries to rally? and fails, breaking and fleeing up the flank.

Disgusted by his loss against the elusive Tau, the Warlord Retinue remains broken as do the remaining Hammerheads, remarkably, the Kroot rally!

LOL - and thus begins the commedy! Maybe we'll see something out of those kroot yet!