Rules Used

Epic Update 2008
netERC
Tau v5.0

Armies Used

Tau Armoured Cadre - 3000 points

Armoured Mobile Hunter Cadre-1 BTS
6 Railcannon Hammerheads
Network Drones
Skyray

Recon Skimmer Support Group (brown)
4 Tetra's
2 Pirrahna's

Scorpionfish Support Group
1 Scorpionfish
Supreme Commnader upgrade

Armoured Mobile Hunter Cadre-2
6 Railcannon Hammerheads
Skyray

Recon Skimmer Support Group (black)
4 Tetra's
2 Pirrahna's

Singray Support Group 1
4 Stingrays

Armoured Mobile Hunter Cadre-3
6 Railcannon Hammerheads
Skyray

Stingray Support Group 2
4 Stingrays

Tigershark AX-1-0
2 Tigershark AX-1-0's

Hero Orbital Support
1 Hero Class Cruiser (Lar’Shi),

Steel Legion - 3000 points

Regimental HQ
Supreme Commander
12 Infantry
7 Chimera
Hydra

Leman Russ Tank Company
1 Vanquisher
9 Leman Russes
Hydra

Super Heavy Tank Company
3 Baneblades

Artillery Battery
3 Manticores

Artillery Battery
3 Bombards

Sentinal Squadron
4 Sentinels

Super Heavy Tank Platoon
Shadowsword

Flak Battery
3 Hyrdas

Rough Rider Platoon
6 Rough Riders

Thunderbolt Flight
2 Thunderbolt Fighter Bombers

Battlefield

Vassal 180cm x 120cm map drawn by Hena.

Tau selected North Edge.

Deployment

Hero scheduled for Turn 1.

No reserves.

Tau did not garrison any formations.
Guard Garrisoned Rough Riders and Sentinals.

Remaining setup shown below.

Right, a real tease but that's it for now!

The news is the game is through 3 turns with turn 4 to play. This is scheduled for Wednesday.
I should bet a bit of time tomorrow to write up turns one and two so be patient!

[edit] And for the record I'm playing Tau and Hena the guard.

Turn 1

No teleports

Strategy - Tau

As battle is joined the Hero appears above the battlefield and targets its missiles on the super heavy company. Both hit destroying one baneblade that goes critical but does not damage the nearby bombards or the commissar baneblade

Fearing the AX-1-0 thunderbolt flight is put on cap.

Recon brown double out of the rubble to attack the rough riders. One hit is scored but the brave horsemen save.

Stingray-1 then retain and sustain fire at the now lit rough riders. 3 hits kill 3 units and the formation is broken, moving off the the eastern edge of the board.


The manticores use 2 launchers to shoot at AMHC-1. 2 Hammerheads are hit, destroying one.

AMHC-2 advance to hide behind the nearby buildings and pop-up to shoot at the sentinels. 2 hits take down 2 of the walkers. The formation breaks and moves back towards the guard blitz.

Despite a brief communication black out (SC re roll) the shadowsword doubles forward. It fires the volcano cannon at Stingray-2 wreaking one stingray.

The AX-1-0 are called into action and fly straight toward the lone super heavy. The t'bolts cap the tau bombers, hitting one but no damage is done. 3 DC is done and the shadowsword is no more.

The super heavy company now marshal, moving forward to find cover and removing all blast markers.

Stingray-2 also marshal. They move towards the woods on the centre west and clear all blast markers.

Spotting an error by the Tau the bombards sustain fire at Stingray-2. 2 tanks are destroyed leaving a lone survivor broken to run behind the woods.

AMHC-1 marshal. Moving forward to hide behind the rubble. They remove all blast markers.

Recon black double up to hid near the western objective on the guard side.

Reg HQ is ordered to double, gets confused and just advances.

Using the road the Leman Russes march deep into enemy territory.

AMHC-3 double forward. They shoot at the baneblades but somehow all miss!

The hydras are ordered to over watch, but fail. They clear the blast marker.

Scorpion doubles forward but with no lit targets or LOS can't shoot.

End of turn

The AX-1-0 fly on taking a hail of hydra fire that brings one of the bombers down.

The T'bolts are only hit once but its enough to blot one fighter from the sky.


Rallying

Tau
Pass Stingray-2
Fail

Guard
Pass Reg HQ, Baneblades
Fail Rough Riders, Sentinel.

Turn 2

No teleports

Strategy - Tau

Recon Brown double over and close off the south end of the road behind the Leman Russes and the eastern side of the rubble. The piranha's let fly with guided missiles but they miss.

AMHC-2 are then ordered to advance and take the russes in a crossfire. However the order goes astray and the tanks stay put and remove blast markers - So my well laid trap fails. With 6 AT3 and 7 AT5 if stood a good chance of breaking the tanks, and with nearly all the exit points covered they would have struggled to escape.

The Baneblade commissar has to check with HQ that he heard the order to engage correctly (failed test, re-roll used and passed). Once he was sure the two super heavies moved forward to bring AMHC-3 into FF range. The Hammerheads moved forward to bring most of them into range and a brief and ineffective exchange of fire (one hit each, each saved!) resulted in a straight dice off! The Tau win by two and the super heavies retreat broken, with one of the baneblades pretty beat up.

To attempt to do the job the baneblades had just failed at the guard retain with the bombards to shell AMHC-3, Killing 2 hammerheads.

The scorpion advanced to try and do to the leman russes what AMHC-2 was supposed to have done. It selected MW missiles from its salvo launcher and let the missiles fly. However of the 3 tanks hit only one died even with crossfire. At this point I began to have that sinking feeling. My cunning plan of blocking the russes and hammering them with fire had gone badly wrong.

Realising that the Russes are trapped the Reg HQ is ordered to double forward and clear out the Tau recon element. With 21 attacks 6 targets are hit, leaving one tetra and one piranha to retreat rapidly toward the tau blitz.

The Tau commander calls for the AX-1-0 but the aircraft is not ready and stands down.

Free of the scouts the leman russes are ordered to engage the scorpion. They move down the road and all get in range. No hits are caused to the russes, but two hits are enough to cause critical damage to the tau skimmer and it explodes harmlessly.

Recon Black are now ordered to double over to the wood containing the artillery. The broken baneblades are a road block leaving the scouts just short of were they were really wanted. The piranhas fire the missiles at the untouched hydras, killing one and breaking the formation.

The manticores are ordered to sustain with the intention of hitting AMHC-2 but the order goes astray and they clear blast markers.

The lone surviving stingray-2 is ordered to sustain at the lit bombards, but the order goes wrong and it is broken, moving towards the objective on the western edge in guard territory.

The final guard activation is the lone thunderbolt. The pilot manages to find a clean route in and attacks Stingray-1, killing one.

AMHC-3 are ordered to advance and take the broken super heavy company under fire. Two hammerheads shoot 2 hits are saved but the damaged baneblade is destroyed by the blast marker.

Stingray-1 marshal, hitting the lit sentinels for no damage but killing one scout due to blast markers and clear all blast markers.

AMHC-1 are then ordered to double, but refuse! They sit still and clear blast markers.

End of turn

The lone T'bolt has to fly through two static skyrays field of fire (only because both formation failed to activate and sat still!). One hit brings the brave plane to the ground despite the desperate manoeuvres of the pilot

Rallying

Tau
Pass AMHC-3 (1 BM),
Fail Stingray-2, Recon Brown,

Guard
Pass Rough Riders (1 BM), Leman Russ (1 BM),
Fail Hydra, Sentinel, Super Heavy Company.

Turn 3

No teleports

Strategy - Tau! (3 for 3!)

Recon black are order to advance to contest the guard blitz and put all the artillery in scout zone's of control. This requires some skill full flying through trees but everyone survives!

The leman russes double forward to contest the tau blitz and shoot at AMHC-2 in a case of do it to them before they do it to me! With some fine shooting 8 hits are caused, but only 2 hammerheads and the skyray are destroyed. The broken remains fall back towards AMHC-1.

The AX-1-0 is ready when called this turn and flies down the western edge to turn in and attack the manticores. However the manticores are deep in the forest and no hits are scored.

Having cleared one formation of scouts the Reg HQ is again order to double back towards the blitz to take care of the second. 2 tetras are destroyed and due to crossfire the formation breaks.

With the artillery now clear of the scouts the bombards retain and sustain fire at AMHC-3. 3 tanks are hit but only the skyray is destroyed.

Stingray-1 advance to bring the russes under their marker lights. One tank is hit by their missiles but its armour saves the tank.

The manticores then sustain at AMHC-3. 2 hits cause no damage but the tanks are broken. They move forward to hide behind some buildings.

AMHC-1 then double to bring the russes under crossfire with the stingrays. 2 hits kill one more russ, which is really not enough!

The rough riders are confused when ordered to march and break themselves.

End of turn

The AX-1-0 is attacked by the Reg HQ hydra but no hits are scored and the plane departs via the eastern edge of the board.

Rallying

Tau
Pass Stingray-2 (0 BM), AMHC-3 (2 BM),
Fail AMHC-2, Recon Brown, Recon Black

Guard
Pass Leman Russ (1 BM), Super Heavy Company (0 BM), Hydra (after RR) (0 BM), Sentinel (0 BM)
Fail Rough Riders, Manticores (2 BM)


Score
Tau 0 - Guard 0



So on to turn 4....and in the best TV impersonation

TO BE CONTINUED!

Turn 4

No teleports

Strategy - Guard (Finally, or fatally for the Tau!)

The Leman Russ mark their target and let fly at AMHC-1. 8 hits are scored and a lone Hammerhead flies for cover in the

rubble.

The bombards retain and lob shells at AMHC-3 after a stern word from the Reg HQ (SC Re-roll). 2 tanks are hit but only one

is destroyed. The remainder break and move to the western edge of the battlefield

The AX-1-0 is again ordered to attack the manticores. Its shot is yet again deflected by the trees but the blast marker is

enough to break them.

The Reg HQ marches forward to claim both take and hold objectives in the Tau half.

Stingray-1 advance to get shelter behind the buildings and fire their missiles at the lit russes. All miss.

The lone sentinel marches to hold the eastern take and hold objective on the guard half.

Stingray-2 sustains fire at the russes. Its missile hits but the reinforced armour saves the tank.

The Hydras advance and shoot at AMHC-2. They miss but one tank is destroyed by the BM.

The lone baneblade is ordered to double but refuses! Guess the commissar shot the driver


End of turn

The AX-1-0 is attacked by the hydra's but no hits are scored and the plane departs via the eastern edge of the board.

Rallying

Tau
Pass Recon Brown (1 BM), Recon Black (2 BM)
Fail AMHC-1, AMHC-2, AMHC-3

Guard
Pass  
Fail Rough Riders, Manticores, Super Heavy Company, Leman Russ



Score
Tau 0 - Guard 1 (T n H)

Points
Tau 925 - Guard 1925

So a massive points win to the guard. Thanks to Hena for a fun, close game.

that was a surprise, I thought the Tau were going to win that. I guess that focusing everything on the SHT left the Russes and RegHQ relatively unscathed and able to grab objectives late in the game.

First Vassal batrep that I've really enjoyed, thanks!

_________________
numquam culum es

The Reg HQ, having failed its first activation then spent 2 turns having to react to the tau which was fine by me. Losing the 4 turn initiative left the tau with no chance of a win.

I've got no real conclusions just yet, only more play testing with a similar list will tell. Having no Supreme Commander re-roll hurts Tau as much as Guard so I may have to fit a Shas'O in the list somehow.

One interesting note is that the only ground formation totally destroyed is the scorpionfish, and I could have saved that by not trying to box in the leman russes. However I did think I'd have killed more than one with a MW crossfire!

I'm comfortable with targeting the super heavies with my TK weapons turn one. Had that shadowsword been left on the board its basically a free kill every turn so it had to go.

How did you feel the ML/GM worked?

My initial reaction was that the Tau might find their long-range fire hampered by the lack of mobile ML (eg a third recon force and by not having upgrades to reinforce them). Consequently I felt they might not be able to make best use of their range advantage by keeping ML forces active.

I do agree with your views on the Shadowsword - and think you were lucky Hena did not field more of them in the SHTC!

_________________
"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

As neither of us knew lists the baneblades with netERC mods become a reasonable all rounder. They should have won the assault turn 2 really.

An extra mobile ML would have been good, but at the cost of fire-power. I'll be amending the list to work with 5.1 and hope to get some more test in.

How does ML make the Stingrays more attractive? They can still only illuminate targets 30 cm away.

_________________
"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

I think Hena is talking about the 90cm range. even with normal deployment they can reach a large part of the battlefield.