Yeah, I just battled a friend... here's the outcomes...
Tau Forces (him)
-Etherial (50pts.)
-x2 12 Fire Warriors
--Pulse Rifles
-x4 10 Kroot Warriors
-HammerHead
--Smart Missile System
--Railgun
Space Marine Detachment (me)
-Chapter master
--Bolt Pistol
--Power Weapon
-Dreadnought
--Auto Cannon
--Power Fist
-5 Space Marines
--Rocket Launcher
-5 Space Marines
--Sergeant
-3 Attack bikes
-Land Raider
--Sponson-mounted Storm Bolter
--Auto Cannon
Pre-game: We decided to play a simple mission. We chose Meat Grinder. He was the attacker, and I was the defender. This would be a tough battle for the Marine detachment, and I must command them well!
Turn one:
--Tau—
The Tau were deployed all across his side of the board, and he was planning to come in from both sides and flank me. My forces were split evenly, and I thought I could take him. He moved the Hammerhead so it had line of sight on one of my Tactical Squads. He rolled to hit, and he MISSED. He also fired the smart missile system at my bikes, and the shot was shunned off by them. At this point, he had little chance for anything else.
--Space Marines—
I moved up the Tactical Marines he shot at in his turn over, closer to the bikes. He didn’t have the smart missile system anymore, or I didn’t think he did… I also moved up the Dreadnought, and he was able to shoot at the kroot squad (barely) and killed only one with his assault cannon. Obviously not much action in the first turn for the marines, but they hadn’t lost everything, and they had killed several kroot!
Tau deaths: 2 kroot
SM deaths: none
Turn two:
--Tau—
He began to move the kroot on the left flank up, and they were faced by the Space Marine bikes and one of the Tactical Squads. He also moved over the fire warriors, but were unable to get range to the bikes or the Marines. He moved the Hammer head over, so it could see the Dreadnought. Chances are, he would get it and disarm or immobilize it. I would have to reinforce the flank. Meanwhile, the right flank started getting interesting. He moved up the Kroot and started to advance on that flank. He shot at the Dreadnought, and didn’t hit it. Geez, that Dreadnought is lucky!
--SM—
I moved up the bikes to attack the Fire Warriors squad and the Tactical squad up to attack the kroot. Shooting killed 2 Kroot and the assult killed 4. The Kroot also managed to kill one marine in the fray, boosting the marine fatalities to 1 marine. The Fire warriors were lucky, as they only lost 1 in shooting and 3 in the assult. That ends the second turn…
Tau deaths: 6 Kroot, 4 Fire Warriors
SM deaths: 1 Tactical marine
Turn 3:
--Tau—
The Kroot on the left flank shot at my force commander. He lost 2 wounds. Only one left… Knowing that the entire left flank was going to die, the Tau started frantically running. The hammerhead runs from the fray, and the rest of the kroot squad (2) were killed. The Fire Warrior squad lost 3 to the assult, and there were only 5 left…
--SM—
I killed 3 Kroot on the right flank, as well as 3 on the left side. Now, his forces were limited to the mass in the middle, and the mass included the hammerhead…
Assault on the fire warriors on the left caused 3 Fire warriors, leaving only 2 alive. That was it for my turn 3, and the game was starting to look like the Space Marines were going to be able to pull it out!
Turn 4:
--Tau—
Not much moving, shot at the commander and the Tactical squad on the right flank. He killed the commander, who only had one wound left, and one of the Tac. Members. Fire warriors attack bikes and do nothing.
--SM—
I moved the tactical squad into the assault with the fire warriors. They were going to win, and then they could move with consolidation. I also moved up the Dreadnought, trying to flank him out of the middle… I hoped it would work. I also killed all the kroot on the right flank with the ML squad.
Tau death: 10 Kroot
SM death: 1 marine and the commander
Turn 5:
--Tau—
In a last ditch effort, he moved his hammerhead up and tried to kill the landraider. However, he only rolled a 1, and missed the monstrous tank. This concluded his turn, and pretty much the entire game.
--SM—
I shot at the hammerhead, and annihilated it, and it caused 12 wounds to the Kroot and FW surrounding it. Well, I think that was kinda lucky. The 2 Fire Warriors in the assault with the bikes were killed, and the bikes consolidated towards the only living unit of the Tau, more FW.
Turn 6:
--Tau—
With nothing left to do, he simply passed, knowing that the LandRaider and the Tactical squad on the right were going to simply wipe out his army.
--SM—
I moved up the LR and killed all of the fire warriors, and the Tac squad shot it’s missile launcher at the only remaining kroot and killed 3 of them with a frag grenade. At this point he conceded.
Debriefing:
Over all a good game. I think that I played excellently and it’s amazing that I only lost 3 models the entire game even though I played an offensive defense.
What do you all think? I was going to add pics, but we forgot to take them after turn 3. We have a pic of us and our armies though, I’ll try to post them up here sometime…
