Now for the Tau Battle...
I wanted to change things up a bit with my list and try dropping Fa'alorath (Eldrad). I still wanted fortune for my two guard sqads so I needed to take two farseers. This meant no Avatar. That's find a wraithlord was an easy replacement; better firepower and fair cc ability. The other thing was the two Falcons. In the interest of decheesifying a bit, I figured I should drop one and the dragons. What to replace this with? Another wraithlord to make up for the loss of firepower and between the two lords I almost have one Avatar's worth of cc potential. There were still many points to spare. I had lost a bit of my ability to apply quick pressure to enemy lines and wanted to replace it. Shining spears seemed like a good choice. Fast, can help harlies in cc much better than dragons, can go after vehicles in a pinch, can handle cc on their own. Also I gave fusion pistols to the harlies; again trying to balance the loss of the fire dragons a bit.
My list
HQ
Farseer, Fortune
Farseer, Fortune (one may have had runes of warding, can't remember)
Troops
10x Wraithguard, Spiritseer, Conceal
10x Wraithguard, Spiritseer, Conceal
Elites
6x Harlies, 5x Kisses, 2 Fusion Pistols, Troupe Master with Power Sword, Shadowseer
Fast Attack
Vyper with dual shuricannons
Vyper with dual shuricannons
5x Shining spears with exarch with both powers
Heavy
Wraithlord, dual flamers, EML, Scatter Laser
Wraithlord, dual flamers, EML, Scatter Laser
Falcon, all upgrades, dual shuricannons
Tau (More or Less)
HQ
Shas'el (or Shas'o)
Shas'el (or Shas'o)
Troops
12x Firewarriors, Flash Bang Grenades (can't remember real name), Devilfish
12x Firewarriors, Flash Bangs, Devilfish
6x Rail Rifle Team, Devilfish
Elites
3x Suits with missilepods, 12" AP2 gun, shield drone, gun drone
3x Suits with missiles and plama, gun and shield drone
Fast Attack
Pihrana with fusion gun
Pihrana with fusion gun
Heavy
Railhead
Railhead
Ionhead
All the vehicles had missiles that could be fired with markerlights.
MissionThe mission was "priorities". We could put out markers with different secret values (marked with stars on the picture below). The player controlling the most points wins. You needed a scoring unit within 6" of the marker and no enemy scoring units that close to control it. I used two three point markers, my opponent put out three. The demployment was a corners deployment with 10" zone from board edge.
The Board and The Strategy
The Tau corner was the upper left corner, mine was the lower right. The Black irregular shaped objects with blue gray lines were hills. The center line of those pictures are a portion which could block line of sight to standard troops. The wraithlords could see over it. It was difficult terrain and gave a 4+ save. It was not area terrain; real line of sight was used. The brown circles were dead trees treated as a forrest. The gray objects were a collection of buildings. The terrrain looked really good. The board had black cloth over it. The hills will black with scattered grass. I like games on boards where the terrain is well themed and this was.
I figured I could hold both my markers and all I would have to do is contest one more to win. The one near the center of the long board edge near the enemy DZ was one I could get to without taking too much fire since the Building it was in would block line of sight from much of his army. Also a large building was near the center of the board and if I could get close much of his army on the other side wouldn't be able to shoot without getting very close. If they got that close to the guard it would really hurt. A squad of guard near this building would be out of sight of most of his army, yet punish anything that approached the two markers I wanted to control. A squad there and another behind the building on the board edge with the priority marker could effectively stop his forces from contesting the two markers I wanted to contest.
Deployment
The large yellow oval is the Falcon. The two smaller yellow ovals are the vypers. The shining spears are the orange ovals. The lords are the yellow ovals. The guard are orange circles and the farseers small yellow circles.
The Railheads have the long black bars, the Ionhead a shorter one, the other same size oval are devilfish. The pirahnas are the same color, but smaller. Small red dots are firewarriors, the ones deployed had the rail rifles and had made a scout move. The larger red dots are broadsides (the drones are with them, but not shown). The blue dots of the same size are the HQ suits.
I hid the Falcon, Spears, Lords and Vypers. I couldn't hide the guard and would have to hope that they could withstand initial hits from railrifles, railheads and the ionhead without taking too much damage. I suspected they could, so didn't mind leaving them in the open too much even if I didn't get first turn to get my fortune up and running. The farseers attach to the guard squads.
I won the roll for inititive. I seriously considered going second so I could contest at the last minute with vypers, falcon or whatever, but didn't want to start losing guard before I had fortune up so I chose to go first.
Turn 1I cast fortune on the left guard squad and the spears. Ahhh a 10, that was close. I want to turboboost the spears and fiigure a 3+ invulnerable should keep them alive. Turns out turboboosting straight where I wanted them would have left them open to way too much shooting so I hide them behind the hill instead. The falcon zips up the the space between the hill and the building with the priority marker I want to contest. I hope if it is shot down, it will block some shooting lanes. The lords advance into cover and prepare to act as a firebase. The vypers move sideways to line up some shots.
There isn't much shooting to do but one lord kills three of the rail rifle team and pins them with the plasma missile. The other lord didn't have the range to the Railhead he targeted. Oops. Forgot about the 24" range of the vypers shuricannons. They are useless now and in the open waiting to get shot. I could have moved them farther so they could hide behind the woods. (You forget some things when you don't play for a while).
The tau player shook the falcon in his shooting phase and moved around a bit. He poured fire into the Falcon. I think this was a mistake. He had some shots on a squad of guard which wasn't fortuned, but didn't take them. It was probably the best chance to hurt them, and he missed it. He only managed two or three glancing hits on the falcon. Suits moved forward shot and moved back. The suits on the left used both moves to advance. I suffered no casualties that turn.
The board looked more or less like this after turn 1. The left guard should be further forward I think.
Turn 2I fortune the bikes and the left guard squad again. This time the bikes are able to get behind the building at the center of the long board edge. The harlies don't have range to assault so the falcon needs to get closer. I decide to move toward the center. If shot down the Falcon will block a firing lane. The position is one from which the harlies should have two or three targets in range for an assault the next turn. They have their eyes on the HQ suit or the rail rifle squad as plan B. The tau player had moved an empty devilfish forward to where the entire left guard squad could advance and be in range for a nasty volley. They move forward. The other guard squad isn't fortuned and move for cover a bit. The vypers turbo over to the woods to prepare to shoot down the pirhana over there. One wouldn't have had a shot past the building, the other would have needed to be over the building and would be exposed to almost his entire army. The pirahna might drop one but couldn't drop both. Then the surviver could kill off the pirahna and threaten the marker in the woods.
The guard destroy the devilfish with four glancing hits. Remember the idea about hiding near that center building. Now a downed devilfish is blocking most of the firing lanes for the tau in the upper center of the board. The plan looks like it will work very well. There is a nice nook for the guard to hide in and destroy anything that tries to get to the objectives. A wraithlord takes down the pirahna in the upper center of the board, a drone is entagled, the other dies. I think the other went for a vehicle on the left but didn't have the range. Man, I am judging range very badly.
The tau player moves to intercept the vypers. Ooops, I didn't count on the pirhanna getting support from the ionhead. Moving vypers there was a stupid plan. The Tau had way too much stuff over there for the vypers to deal with. I couldn't have successfully hidden one. I was locked into a plan made before the game, but should have abandoned it during or after deployment. Four glances stun both vypers.
A devilfish drops off some firewarriors who want to "fish of fury" fortuned wraithguard. Bad idea! This means the fish and the warriors are in gun and charge range. With luck 1 guard will drop though the odds are against it. The broadsides on the left, the devilfish, the rail rifles, and the ionhead assist the fire warriors. Three guard drop. Oddly enough they made the cover saves and failed the armor saves and rerolls.
The falcon gets a lot more attention and is again shaken. The right wraithguard still don't have fortune, yet not one shot had been directed their way. That falcon is really scarry. The shining spears make there saves. The map show one died; I made a mistake, he dies later.
So far the eldar have lost three wraithguard and that is it. The board looks like this after turn 2.
Turn 3Fortune does not go off for the left guard squad. They could be in trouble as they have many guns trained on them. But they have those lovely firewarriors waiting to provide a safe cc haven. The guard advance toward them. The other squad finally gets fortuned. They move toward the long board edge. The Tau player had made a mistake with his railhead and I can trap him. The harlies dismount and run toward the HQ suit which is now in the terrain. The shining spears move forward into position to assault the braodsides on the other side of the building. The falcon moves to where they were. Now the hammerhead can't get out of the corner. I positioned the falcon so there wasn't room to move toward the center. The advanceing guard were cutting off the other direction of movement. An attempt to get out of the corner meant either exposing the rear armor to the falcon or risking many wraithcannons. The wraithlords get together at the corner of the building.
One wraitlord kills the pihranna with shooting. The other misses with its shots. The left wraithguard don't shoot because they want to ensure an assault. The harlies fleet 1".
Three assaults this turn. Guard dual charge the firewarriors and the devilfish. Harlies charge the HQ, and the spears charge the suits. The tau grendades steal guard attacks but three firewarriors die anyway. The spiritseer's attacks on the fish miss. The firewarriors pass leadership. The spears have to charge through cover, one fails the dangerous terrain test and the reroll and dies. A drone dies and the rest of the spears don't get their attacks. Pile in. The harlies kill the HQ suit and consolidate into a nearby drone who had just gotten out of the wreckage of a downed pihrana.
The tau player tries to get his railhead out of the trap but realizes it can't be done. The devilfish flies away from the combat and sits atop the hill near one objective. The ionhead goes after the vypers.
The falcon is shaken again and loses the pulse laser. A wraithlord is marked but the seeker missile misses. A vyper drops, the other is stunned again. The wraithlords take a few more shots but don't get hurt.
In assault the guard squich a few more firewarriors who decide it is time to run away and the guard roll a one and fail to catch them. They want to assault the nearby broadsides next turn, but the firewarriors are in the way. That was a bit of luck for the Tau player. Instead they have to mover to shoot down the nearby devilfish. The shining spears predictable don't infilict any wounds. The suits kill one though and the others decide to run. The harlies have no trouble dispatching the gun drone and consolidate a whole inch toward broadsides who are feeling pretty good about chasing off the spears.
Time for an aside. The spears running was a big dissappointment. I had a beautiful leapfrog strategy lined up. The spears were to hit and run toward the HQ suit in the upper left corner of the board. The next turn they could have easily reached him. Meanwhile the harlies would kill off the suits the spears had just left. What a wonderful plan, but it went down in flames thanks to the spears running.
The board looks like this after turn 3.
Turn 4Both guard squads get fortuned. One moves to take out the railhead and the falcon moves for a rectal exam. The other guard shift around a bit preparing to shoot down a devilfish. The wraithlords sit tight. The shining spears regroup. The harlies move toward the broadsides.
Wraithguard drop a devilfish and railhead. Wraithlords miss. Harlies fleet 1".
Harlies assault the braodsides and wipe them out facing no return attacks and consolidate 1". Ok, time to say something about this. Have you noticed how many times I rolled a 1 trying to move. Harlies fleet 1" twice and consolidate 1" twice. The spears roll a one on the dangerous terrain reroll. My army does not want to move. Now the harlies are stuck in the open staring down an HQ suit and a Railhead. Guess what happens next?
I don't remember much about Tau moving. The HQ suit and railhead line up shots on the harlies. The firewarriors keep running and get in the way of the broadsides. The railhead and devilfish move somewhere.
The last vyper drops. Wraithguard and wraithlords absorb some shots with no trouble. Two more shining spears drop leaving just one and the harlies drop down to just one model. Everyone passes leadership.
The board after turn 4.
Turn 5The wraithlords begin to advance to contest objectives. Fortune goes off for both guard squads. The one on the right moves toward the center. The falcon moves behind the builing to contest the nearby objective. The other guard squad moves toward the building so it can attack the nearby suits. The last shining spear prepares an assault on the rail rifle team.
The harlie uses his fusion pistol to stun the railhead. Oops I just remembered that this is where I lost the spear to the dangerous terrain check because the spears shoot and kill two of the rail rifle team, then charge and lose one more. The last guy rail rifle guy does nothing with his attacks then dies. Nothing else worth noting in shooting or assault.
The tau player unloads a devilfish to shoot at the left guard squad. Again the ionhead, nearby suits, devilfish and now regrouped firewarriors add there shots. No guard drop. The HQ suit finishes off the last Harlie
The board after turn 5.
Game OverWe decide to call it at this point. I am a bit disappointed as I was looking foward to a repeat of the guard charge the nearby firewarriors theme. Also the wraithlords had more good targets in range than they had the rest of the game.
The tau player controls one marker in the center bit of terrain worth three points. I control 7 points worth of markers. I may have been able to contest the center the next turn or perhapse the spear exarch could have dropped the numbers of the last broadside squad. Anyhow more tau would have died with few eldar losses.
The game plan worked well. I missed my dragons a bit. There was some armor I couldn't get to and the dragons would have helped. That said, the spears did cause enough disruption to allow the harlies to destroy more than the may have otherwise destroyed.
The tau player missed opportunities to shoot unfortuned wraithguard and probably could have done a better job prioritizing targets.
