Topic: Clan Saim-Lucster vs Tau 1500pts (pics too)

[moc065]

I met up with my good buddy Greg and we both had an army with us... I had my 2K Eldar Tournie list and he had his Tau (about 1500) on him... we threw down some banter, then choose the cool Snow Table as we did some mental math to try and build 1500pt lists on the Fly.... I was unpacking a crap load of Jetbikes (happened to be in my box, and in the way, when I thought hey.. .what the hell, I will field as many Jetbikes as I can and then throw in what ever points I need to get to 1500... while Greg assembled his Tau (it should be noted that Greg has won the 2/3 of our last 40K games, and tabled me in Fantasy - so he is a competent enough General to get the job done, and he always packs some of the coolest figures around).

About Ten minutes later....

Clan Saim-Lucster @ 1500pts on the Fly.

(125) 1 Farseer on JB, Runes of Whitness, Fortune.
(140) 1 Autarch on JB, Mand, LL, and FG.
(365) 7 Warlocks on JBs, 2 embolden, 2 enhance, 1 destructor.
(202) 6+1 GJB's; 2 cannons, lock has Embolden.
(156) 4+1 GJB's; 1 cannon, lock has Destrucotr and Spear.
(130) 10+1 Storm Guardians; 2 Flamers, lock has Destructor and Spear.
(145) 1 Wave Serpent; TL-BL's and stones.
(237) 5 Shining Spears; Ex has Starlance, Skilled Rider and Withdraw.

1500pts, 3 Scoring Units, 8 Kill Points, 38 Figures, with 26 Jetbikes (I think I had 3 more Warlock JB's in the box; but I was out of bases, and the JBCouncil was big enough for this size game - actually threw in #7 as as I was short on points otherwise). Customary Army pic included... {Click to enlarge - as always}
 

Parady-Sept @ 1500pts as I remember them.

Etheral (OK I did a double take on this guy).
Command Suit with Nasty shooting
3 Crises Suits with buckets of MP's, Flamers, Fusion, (loaded OK).
3 XV9's (from Forgeworld) TL-Burst (240pts I think) and mean as hell.
12 Fire Warriors to go with Etheral (Max Models - includes 4 Gun Drones in there)
12 FW's in Fish (Shas'ui - bonded, and EMP I think)
12 FW's in Fish (Shas'ui - bonded, and EMP I think)
12 FW's on foot (Shas'ui - bonded, and EMP - Carbines)
Broadside
Broadside

1499 as Greg informed me, with 4 Scoring Units, 14 KP's and loads of figures (you count them, here is the picture - I will check it to see if I missed anything). Nice Paint Greg, your progressing it an an incredible pace.




Arrgh onto the Battlefield... Greg rolls mission (3 Objectives) I roll Deployment (Pitched - 12" insertion), we throw the  terrain around a little, I get 2 MO's (using Big-E and a Bonesinger as I will be trying to rescue them - they are in the rough terrain) and he gets 1 MO (using my near completion Scratchbuild Tomb Spider as the Tau want to rape the Old School tech from its hard wiring - slightly behind the big Fortress Tower section).



We roll to get sides, Deploy first, etc... I win and force him to go first (hell I have a big Wall to hide behind).

Tau deploy it all, in a fairly standard array... I was wondering why he didn't put his armour together but I figured he had a slick trick up his sleeve (as usual)...


Saim-Hann keep the GJB's in reserve with the rest turtled behind the Fortress and using the Serpent to build an extra wall.


I try to steel the initiative (why not)... but get a 4... so Tau will retain first turn.

Turn 1
The Tau advance, actually gain a shot on the JB Council with the one broadside but fail to wound (lucky Invul save for me)... other Broadside bounces one off the Serpents Energy Field (pew --).

The Eldar "Fortune" the JBCouncil (and you can assume its always Fortuned from this point forward)... They advance on mass and use the serpent as a mobile wall... Shooting does nadda (and goes in stride with my percentages for that serpent -- actually has failed to do anything for 5 games now -- TL-BL can't hit/damage squat).



Turn 2

     Sneaky time for Tau, as he advances with the Fish (one lands on the Fortress) and they dis-embark 24 Fire Warriors within Rapid Fire range of my JBCouncil.. The Tau then throw another 12 Foot FW's with Carbines onto the Fortress, while the Crises, Etheral, Commander teams hang back and the XV9's and Broadsides gain possition to augment the wall of bullets comming at the Saim-Hann.
     OK, shooting... about 80 shots later (all into the Council BTW) and guess what... 1 Regular Warlock eats the dust and the Autarch take a wound (un-freaking-believable -- as I think I rolled about 30 saves at 3+, and fortune was good; but only saved 1-2 bikes as my initial rolls were that good -- sorry Greg, that was a great plan, it just didn't work).. Assault has him shifting some suits around...

     The Saim-Hann get the small GJB Squad to enter as reserves and set up on one FW team, the Council goes at the Carbine team, the Stormies get out to try and roast another FW team, while the Spears go for a Broadside, and Sir Lance A Lot (Autarch) heads at the XV9's.
     Shooting is insane as multiple Destructors let loose, in the end, GJB squad kills all but 2 FW's, the Stormies roast all but 2 FW's and the Council mows down all 12 without even firing a Catipult shot (1 Destructor did them all - and I was hoping to get an assault so I never fired the Cats). Fusion bounces off the XV9's and Lances bounce off the Braodside.
     GJB's assault the FW's and Fish -- Fish looses its gun, and 1 FW eats the dirt -- but they stay in CC. The Spears gobble up a Broadside and get a 1" consol. The Council moves a little - as they had no target left to assault. Sir Lance A Lot mows through 2 XV9's take a wound in return, and then watches as the last XV9 pops out of CC using the a fancy "Hit & Run" technology stolen from the Eldar (I Know the Tau stole that Tech -- probably during one of our games at that). The Super resilient Tau do manage all their LD tests through that turn as well, or things might have gone south for Greg.....

 

Turn 3

     Well the Parady Sept reels back and does a double take... something holy cow, that was gross is muttered by a few onlookers...
     Greg takes it in stride though and carries right along (seriously good general to not let that mass destruction phase him)... He Rams a Fish into the rear of my Serpent - Lock tries a DoG and gets run down for his efforts, while the rest of the Storm Squad gets out of the freeking way (in a hurry). No damage to the Fish; but the Serpent is Shaken (not stirred). Other Fish sets up as a blocker while the rest get set to unload into the Saim-Hann once again.
     2 Warlocks eat the dirt, including the Destructor Lock, Sir Lance A Lot take a few too many shots to the face (spirals out of control and crashes hard). And I think that one Fish took a shot with its missing burst cannon; but it missed/failed to do anything anyway.
     In CC, the last FW eats the dirt vs the GJB's so they consol 2".

     Big GJB Squad enters play. The Saim-Hann also respond by advancing the Spears on a fish, moving their Serpent and re-embarking the Storm Squad, while setting up for a clear shot on that XV9 that hurt my Autarch.
     Shooting has the Spear remove that Fishes Gun, the Council mows down a couple FW's and Gun Drones, Serpent "Fails" - as usual, so the GJB's do a gang bang action to waste that last XV9.
     In CC the Council mows down more guys (Photon Grenades were getting their fair usage today) while the Spear Immobilize that Fish, and the GJB's shuffle a little to gain Objective location, etc. 



Turn 4

Camera Batteries went wonky, so I thought I was taking pictures; but messed it up...

    Tau hold the Line in CC with the Council and add the Suits to the mixture... Fish tank shocks both GJB units but the Eldar simply get out of its way.. it is too close to the Objective though... The FW's and Gun drones in other fish hunker down; but the Spears fail to do much of anything vs it.
    In the Saim-Hann turn, the Spears move on to hopefully help with the CC action as the JBCouncil will not hold for ever (not close enough to get into the fray though). The serpent actually finsihes off that fish by the Spears, and the GJB's work over the fish to wreck it, Gun Drones get out and are pinned; but are still there... A Warlock dies in CC, and the Suit with a Flamer takes a wound.

Turn 5

     The Braodside starts killing GJB's and after a failed LD test the smaller squad falls back (7")... The CC action carries on; but at the end, the Command Suits take a time out and goes off to seek a better location (away from Spears). The Gun Drones flutter over by the Saim-Hann deployment area, while the FW's head to the Objective.
     The GJB's regroup but sit there. The bigger squad gains the objective again, while the Serpent fails to kill anything. The Stormies dis-embarked and Roast/Assault the Gun Drones to death -- Consol so they can re-embark next turn. Spears kill almost everything in CC but that Etheral lives on as does 1-2 of his retinue... and they hold out as well.

Turn 6
     Command suit + Broadside go for the GJB's on that Objective, while the FW's try to get to an objective. In CC the Commander pulls the GJB's off their objective, but fail do much to them...
     The small GJB squad goes onto the Frotress to gain LOS on the FW's and gain teh objective, their shooting is crap though so I switch over to the Serpent which is loaded with Stormeis once again and moving towards that objective -- BL insta gibs one FW. I am out of shooting and the FW passes anothe LD test.. In CC, I declaire the Coucnil first so before the Commander can do anything the Farseer kills off the Etheral forcing LD tests all around (actually I finished all his retinue too)... the Commander and Broadside fall back immediately. And my GJB's are close enough to score (maybe). But those FW's are still standing over by the objective (to far I am hoping)...

Hey one more picture worked.. here is the Lone Fire Warrior trying to score (not)


Turn 7

    Greg rolls a crap dice and gets a repreave, with the Eldar winning a solid Victory 2-0 in objectives.. not too shabby for a bunch of super soft Jetbikers.

Thanks for the game Greg, it was great... thanks to the onlookers for cheering respectively (or booing as things went south for their side)... and thanks to GW Halifax (best GW Store in the world) for once again providing such a great table, atmosphere, etc. Sorry about the Camera issues... I will try to get more batteries for the next game.

Comments are always welcome, and Greg is always welcome to a re-match as that was a great game, and he almost pulled off a Draw after his epic fail of shooting in turn 2, followed by a Major Bar-B-Q action by the Saim-Hann; just goes to prove that you should never throw in the towel (well done) .

Cheers

[NewHeretic]

Nicely fought, moc065.  Pics were great.

NewHeretic

[Sanctjud]

Well, it's not that it was a good plan.... I see it as the only plan/responce Tau have to a 'Death Star' as they don't have their own.
Gamble it was, and he sadly lost.

Nice to see you gaming again, kinda saddened it's not the Fast White army .

-Sanct.

[moc065]

Thanks for the comments NewHeretic.

@ Sancty
     If he had of waited another turn and worked his Crises Suits into the mix, I think that he would have had a lot more success with the Gang Bang on the JBCouncil... I also think he should have spread his guys out a little on deployment as the Fish has a huge deployment zone in comparison to many other vehilces. Greg and I discussed these two issues and he agreed that he rushed it a little; but he really didn't realize that I had 2 maybe 3 Destructors (Heavy Flamers) at my disposal as only the Strom Squad stands out as a Flamer Squad.
    As for the White Scabs, I am reworking the Landspeeder weapons (magnets) and painting an Attack Bike (my old Attack Jeep will become a White Scab -- stays inthe theme of using recycled figures to build the army)... Then I will have the revised 1K lists 100% and you will get you wish.

Somewhere in that report I forgot to mention that when the Gun Drones detatched from the Speared Fish, they actually killed 2 Storm Guardians; Stormies made thier Pin test though. I also forgot to mention that the Farseer did take a wound in all the CC action (but I can't remember exactly when, but I think it came from a FW no less).

Once again, thanks for the comments.

Cheers

[Critically_Hit]

Great read, nice pictures - and what a wonderful battle to read about. I think i've seen pictures of your opponents Tau before and I second your opinion - they're coming together nicely!

It is especially good to see someone use normal jetbikes for a change!

[moc065]

In retorspect, if I happened to have more JB's with me I would have ditched that Serpent and squad... the Stormies did their job (don't get me wrong - as that unit is rock solid) but the Serpent killed 1 FW the entire game, and provided some mobile terrain (which I could have done without)... for the 275pts investment I could have had the points left for another 7 pack.... which would have been nice.... and points left over for whatever...

(125) 1 Farseer on JB, Runes of Whitness, Fortune.
(140) 1 Autarch on JB, Mand, LL, and FG.
(365) 7 Warlocks on JBs, 2 embolden, 2 enhance, 1 destructor.
(205) 6+1 GJB's; 2 cannons, lock has Embolden and spear.
(210) 6+1 GJB's; 1 cannon, lock has Destructor and Spear.
(210) 6+1 GJB's; 1 cannon, lock has Destructor and Spear.
(237) 5 Shining Spears; Ex has Starlance, Skilled Rider and Withdraw.

1492, so I would have had points to spare as well... Full JB list (35 figures)... And this is probably the route I will be taking for an actual 1750pts JB List.... Right now though, I have 5 Shining Spears to get painted.... Woooh

Cheers

[Irisado]

A very good report with impressive pictures too.

I liked the board, but how big was it?  It looks smaller than a standard six foot by four foot table to me, but photos can give a misleading representation in that respect.

I think your Warlocks were incredibly lucky only to suffer one casualty in the face of all that firepower, but nevertheless your strategy of picking units off worked very well, and you certainly managed to get the Shining Spears to work well.  You seem to have a natural affinity with using them effectively  .

[moc065]

The Board was a standard 6 X 4 with a 2 x 4 section on the end to place figures, dice, etc.... Its actually a GW Table (the ones that come with 8 - 2 x 2 interchangable sections)... They just did a new one (Dessert) so maybe we will try that one out next time.

That round of shooting was weird in some ways... the XV9's couldn't get LOS (as I moved accordingly) so they were lining up at the Fortress to get the advantage for the next turn. His Broadsides faced the same delema and thus used their shooting to test the Serpents Energy Field... thus Greg had his FW's and Fish to work with.
• First 12 FW's unload with 24 shots, get about 12-13 hits (average) and score 10 wounds (I think as I do remember only having one extra wound to disperse)... but my 3+ saves were excellent as I think I only failed 1, and the re-roll covered it off. The Fish did about the same thing.
     I fully expected to have lost 1-2 Warlocks in that volley; but I was glad to have the full squad still. Greg and I were both amazed at my Jetbike saves.

• His Carbine squad went next and they actually killed a Warlock. (saved the pin, test for the end of the shooting event)...
     I expected this as well, so in most games I would have been down 2-3 Warlocks at least...

• After that the other FW squad went off, again scoring about 10 wounds... but again I saved incredibly with only the Autarch taking a wound.... We then did the Pin test and I passed that with ease (re-rollable with embolden and LD=10 does help though).
     Again I fully expected to lose 1-2 more bikes at this stage.... and if the shootng had of gone as expected I would have been down 3-5 wounds on average... instead of the 2 I suffered (1 kill - 1 wound)...

The JB Council was actually possitioned to take the heat off the Spears (as they can't take much punishment)... so my tactic worked incredibly well. had the shooting gone As per the Norm, I would have a much smaller JB Council to work with... probably still would have mowed through his Carbine FW's, but I would have lost the momemtum before I crashed into his Large FW Squad with the Etheral.....  In short, it would have been a different game... then again, had my Serpent managed to Insta-Gib a Broadside, or down a fish, or anything better than killing a single FW -- it would have been a different game as well.

I never noticed how the Spears actually manage to work for me, as they have almost always done well for me.... but I do tend to baby them a little (avoiding enemy fire, etc) and they certainly can dish it out... I wasnot impressed when Greg removed 5 attacks from them with his Tau Photon Grenades..... that is a sick little trinket vs certain things, and where the Spears only have 1 base attack, it coul dhave hurt me a lot.... luckily, the 6 attacks I still had got the job done, as I have found that my Spears do not fair so well to return attacks.

Cheers

[Khain Mor (/kharandhil)]

Wow one of the coolest reports I've ever read, great detailed description, lots of pictures, cool models, cool battlefield.
List doesn't look too bad either, when you play a game like this I frankly don't care whether you win or lose, just watching the battle must have been so cool, I always play on crappy battlefields : (.

[moc065]

Thank you very much for the complimentary words...

I love to read decent BatRep's so I do try to return the favour and have some content in mine... pictures alwasy help... and having painted figures is a bonus in my mind.... the fact that GW Halifax has awesome tables is another bonus; but it is the Best GW Store in the world (that I have gone to so far - about 20 now, and counting)... And they actually re-do terrain on a very regular basis, and they ask gamers what they are interested in, so you often see some unique and fun tables.

They just finished re-doing the Desert table, so I will be trying to get a game on that one in the not so distant future...

Once again, thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated, as any Batrep can eat up a fair bit of time to do up.

Cheers