1000 point Tau Vs Orks, Big Guns Never TireThe six Fire Caste warriors knelt, their legs tucked neatly beneath them, on the reed mats surrounding Aun'vre Toshiya. The mediation space was open and airy, unadorned with glyph or symbol. Out, beyond the domed roof, the vast parade grounds of the Fire Cast Training center stretched to the flat horizon. There was no sound save the faint breath of wind that played across the floor, tousling their top-knots.
"A parable." The Aun raised one hand. "A Commander of the Kauyon who dives boldly into battle," he raised another hand, "and the Commander of the Mont'ka, who exercises caution."
The warriors pondered in silence. At last, one spoke, "This is a paradox, wise one. The Kauyon calls for caution, the Mont'ka for boldness. This parable cannot be."
The Aun shook his head. "Too often do the castes forget that they are not the final arbiters of what is and is not. The world is full of paradox; as part of the world, war is the same. Is this not true?"
The one who spoke hung her head in shame. Another raised her head. "If this is true, then I would say the Kauyon who is bold is wisest."
"Tell us the rest of the parable, teacher." A third warrior asked, bowing his head.
"There was a battle with two commanders, each rivals for the honor of their caste. One was known for boldness, leading her soldiers from the front into the very teeth of the enemy. The other fought alone, patiently waiting for targets to present themselves. And yet, though the one was bold, she was protected on all sides by her loyal shas'la and, though the other was patient, he traveled with out protection, exposing himself to the most violence from the enemy. In this way, did they go into battle."
"Who survived?" One of the warriors asked.
The eldest of the six warriors glared at the speaker until he hung his head. "Forgive him, teacher--he is of the Mont'ka already, as you can see."
Aun'vre Toshiya nodded. "Attend, my warriors, and I will explain what happened for you to ponder."Tau Battalion and OutridersOutrider HQCommander w/Cyclic Ion Blaster, 2 x Missile Pod, Drone Controller (Warlord: Tenacious Survivor)
Outrider Fast Attack6 Gun Drones
6 Gun Drones
6 Pathfinders w/2x Rail Rifles
Battalion HQCommander w/2x Fusion Blasters, 2x Flamers
Cadre Fireblade
Battalion TroopsStrike Team (10) w/Pulse Rifles
--in Devilfish w/Gun Drones
Strike Team (10) w/Pulse Rifles
--in Devilfish w/Gun Drones
Strike Team (9) w/Pulse Rifles, 1x Markerlight
Ork SpearheadHQBoss Zagstruck
Weirdboy (Da Jump)
Troops30 Shoota Boyz w/ 3x Big Shootas, Nob w/Big Choppa
Elites10 Tankbustas
--in Trukk w/Big Shoota
Fast Attack15 Stormboyz w/ Nob (Klaw)
Heavy Support1 Lobba
1 Lobba
1 Lobba
FlyerBurna Bomba
Mission, Terrain, and DeploymentThe terrain was loosely themed as a Tau outpost on a grassland. The west edge of the board had a forest in the north down to about board center. The east end had a series of Tau buildings and domes. In between was a lot of hills, rocks, and ridges to provide sparse but present cover. Essentially, the east side had a lot of LOS blocking stuff and the west edge had more usable cover.
The mission was Big Guns Never Tire. Objectives went in the forest, along a ridge in the SW quadrant, beside a building in the NE, and beside a comms tower in the SE.
My opponent got to choose where to deploy first. We wound up with Hammer and Anvil deployment and he chose the east edge, hoping to hide his Lobbas from enemy fire behind the various buildings. Accordingly, this is where his Lobbas went--behind a silo in the north, in a small emplacement just south of that, and behind the Comms Tower in the SE. The Stormboyz (with Zagstruck just behind) deployed in one thin line all along the front of his southern DZ. The Trukk full of Tankbustas deployed a little further back north of that line. The 30 Shoota Boyz clustered behind a building at the back of his DZ with the Weirdboy nearby ready to warp him away. Finally, the Burna Bomber deployed in the NE, ready to fly a loose rectangular pattern around the board.
I deployed the Pathfinders in the forest (though I scouted them forward before the first turn) and had the two Devilfish (full of two strike teams and the Fireblade) angled in the northern end of my DZ to prevent any mobs of Orks from Jumping into my backfield. The missile pod Commander deployed in the southern half of my DZ, accompanied by a lot of drones, and the foot Strike Team took cover behind a thin ridge. The second commander--the fusion commander--would make a Manta Strike when the time was right.
I had one fewer deployment, which meant I got to go first. This was surprising to me, as I had *planned* on going second. The Ork MSU approach to their artillery pieces was a bit unusual.
Deployment
The Tau LinesThe Ork DZ (and, in the background, the sorry state of my workbench)From the northThese freaking guys...Turn 1The orks fail to seize the initiative, even with a CP. My turn. So, my
initial plan (when I assumed I'd be going second) was to stay in my transports and let the orks ping bullets off my Devilfish to then disembark and blast them away. This turn, however, I have the Stormboyz exposed and only one trukk to worry about--very tempting prizes that I felt reasonably confident I could take out. My Warlord declares Mont'ka, so that the Drones can advance into range of the stormboyz and fire without penalty. Both Strike Teams in the Devilfish disembark along with the Cadre Fireblade and everybody moves to get into range of the Stormboyz. The Fusion Commander Drops in extreme range of the Trukk, near the northern edge of the board.
Shooting opens up. I roll well, but my opponent rolls even better, averaging about 40% of his 6+ saves for his Stormboyz (grumble, grumble). I still knock the unit down to just 3 guys. Zagstruck keeps them in line, though. Against the Trukk, I get an unlucky break--the Fusion commander only scores 2 lousy wounds on the trukk (and I'd already spent my CP that phase on the markerlights to get one hit on both the Stormies and the Trukk). The rest of my shooting (from the other commander and some firewarriors) knock the Trukk down to 1 wound, but dammit, even just a modestly better roll for the Fusion blasters would have blown the thing sky-high!
My two Devilfish move to box out the Shoota Boyz from jumping behind me. One team of Devilfish Drones advances to give cover to the Fusion Commander.
I wind up the turn having done a lot of damage, but not quite as much as I might have if I had slightly better luck. The question is how well I weather those thrice-damned shoota boyz about to drop in my face.
Top of Turn 1
The Tau advance as one! Stormboyz DecimatedIn the ork turn, the Burna Bomba drops a bomb on the northernmost firewarriors and shoots dead half the pathfinders. The Trukk trundles forward at low speed and the tankbustas fail to kill the drones screening the Fusion Commander. Zagstruck and the remaining Stormboyz charge and slaughter the southernmost drones. The big hurt, though, is that damned 30-mob of shoota boyz, who drop right into my crossfire without a care in the world and start slinging lead. They kill all but 3 of the nothernmost FWs, all of the central FWs, and one or two of the southern ones. They then charge the northermost drones and wipe them out (though they lost about 5-6 guys to overwatch). They then consolidate into the only partially intact Strike Team. I spend for Insane Courage to keep the northernmost team around.
Turn 1 ends with what seems like most of my army in shambles.
Bottom of Turn 1
It takes guts to be an ork...Before the guns started firingAfter the smoke cleared...Turn 2Well, pretty much everything is dead now, so that's freaking great. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. The firewarriors fall back from the orks in combat and jump into the nearest Devilfish. The remaining firewarriors and the fireblade do the same for the northern Devilfish. The Devilfish then zoom up and pumps all the bullets they got into the 30-boy mob, knocking them down to 18 boys or so (with the help of the Missile Pod Commander). I then charge the boyz with one devilfish and the stormboyz with the other in an effort to tie them up for a little bit so I can regroup. To my surprise, they actually do okay in combat--one shoota boy is sucked through an engine intake and killed. One stormboy is killed and the nob is reduced to 1 wound by the devilfish ramming them--sweet! In response, the stormboyz nob with his power klaw does 2 wounds to that Devilfish and the collected might of the 18 boyz + big choppa does 5 wounds to the other one (rolled kinda badly on armor saves there, but it was a LOT of attacks).
Elsewhere, the Pathfinders blow away the Trukk with a rail rifle hit, forcing the tankbustas to tumble out. None of them die in the wreck, but the gun drones nearby kill two. The fusion commander nukes the closest big gun and, with his other fusion blaster, takes 3 wounds off the Burna Bomba by shooting it in the tail fin. The plan is then to charge the grot gunners of the destroyed gun, but despite needing only a 7" charge, I screw it up. I get a 1 and a 4. CP to the rescue! I re-roll the 1.
I get another 1. Figures.
So, in an act of desperation, I charge the Gun Drones at the Tankbustas, hoping for enough luck to keep them alive for one round and save my Fusion Commander a charge. No such luck--the Gun Drones are smashed in short order. I probably should have left them in place as a diversion.
Top of Turn 2
The skimmers join the fray!You know things are going poorly when the Tau are assaulting.Ramming Speed!In the bottom of 2, the shoota boyz swarm all over the devilfish and take off another 4 wounds--it's got only 3 left! Zagstruck charges in to help the stormboyz, but after he takes off 2 wounds, I spend my CP for a counter assault and kill the nob before he can strike (W00t!). The Burna Bomba guns down two Pathfinders as it banks towards the south. The weirdboy tries to hustle into Smite range for my Fusion Commander, but fails. After failing their shooting rolls, the Tankbustas charge the commander (who proceeds to totally CHOKE on his giant flamer overwatch), doing a wound, but losing two more of their own.
Bottom of Turn 2
Trying to get into tanks is hard.There he is, boyz! Get im!Things look bad for this tankTurn 3It's payback time! I withdraw from all combats. The largely undamaged Devilfish swings behind the shoota boy mob and the heavily damaged on *only just* manages to fall back (going back through the rules, it turns out I mistakenly *advanced* while Falling Back--which you'd think I'd have noticed as being stupid--however I only fell back one additional inch. I think, with a bit of creative pivoting, I would still have been able to get out of combat. Feel free to check the photo below). All firewarriors disembark and surround the shoota boyz and, with a giant fusillade of Fireblade-assisted pule rounds, the remaining shoota boyz are wiped out.
The missile commander shoots Zagstruck, taking off 4 wounds (and would have taken him out entirely, if not for that damned cybork body) and then charges him along with the bigger firewarrior squad. I do another wound to him, but his Vulcha's Klaws almost kill my Commander outright--he was saved by some pretty amazing Tenacious Survivor rolls (I made 3 out of 6!).
My Fusion Commander flies away from the Tankbustas and uses his fusion blasters to blow away another Lobba and his flamers to barbecue the Tankbustas, knocking the unit down to 3-4 models. Finally, the last pathfinder (with his rail rifle) falls back to claim an objective.
Top of Turn 3
"We gotz 'em right where we want 'em, Right Boss?"We've *almost* got ZagstruckIn the Ork turn, my opponent confesses that he doesn't see how he's going to get enough VPs to win the game at this point and resolves to concede at the end of the turn. Zagstruck kills the Commander and a few Fire Warriors in the strike team, while the Tankbustas blow up the damaged Devilfish and the ensuing explosion kills all 3 from the smaller strike team and puts 3 wounds on the Fireblade. Finally, the Tankbustas charge the Fusion Commander, who loses 2 wounds but also knocks the squad down to only one wounded nob. The weirdboy tried to Smite the commander, too, but failed his psychic test.
Bottom of Turn 3
These guys just won't stay off his back!Final ScoreTau: 7 (2 objectives, Linebreaker)
Orks: 3 (First Blood, Linebreaker, Warlord)
Post-MortemIn my next turn, Zagstruck was as good as dead (a railrifle and pulse rifle *and* some burst cannons only needing 1 more wound? Got it.), the Weirdboy and the Tankbustas were gone, and I'd have another two drones popping off a Devilfish to claim another objective. There wasn't much I could do about the Bomba at that point, but it also wasn't going to be claiming enough objectives to win, either. Especially not once I killed those annoying grots who had been manning the guns (that would be 2 more points right there). Yeah, against all odds I somehow pulled this one off.
The key move was falling back into the transports and making the transports tie up the orks for a turn. For that reason alone, I've seen for myself what a lot of people have been saying: transports are *awesome.* The Devilfish saved the day, and no mistake. I'm also impressed by the commander suits and firewarriors are about as good as they've always been. That said, I just think the Tau units I like the best (Crisis Suits) have been so nerfed as to make the whole army rather lackluster for me. I mean, I could take a crapton of commander suits (which are great), but that feels like I'm being a cheeky git, so I won't.
As for the Orks, that 30-boy mob of shoota boyz dropping into my face turn 1 HURTS. Da Jump is a craaazy good power. I need to come up with a way to hard counter that amphetamine parrot and *right now* or I'm in trouble. Given what happened in this game, I'm saying the answer is probably "transports," but we'll see what else I come up with.
This was a crazy game which I'm very surprised I won. I hope you enjoyed the report and thanks, as always, to my opponent!
