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Hi Folks,
This is my first post in ages. I used to post on the previous forums but when my regular opponent moved away I couldn't get any games and interest went elsewhere (wfb).
But now I have a new opponent. We have played a bunch of games with the original armies (SM,IG and Orks) and now I finally got the chance to proxy the Tau for a game.
Tau (3k)
FW Cadre w/Devilfish
+4 FW w/Devilfish
+Etheral
+Skyray
Scorpionfish
+SC
Stealth Contingent
AMHC
+Swordfish
Scorpionfish
Tetra Support Group
Battlesuit Cadre
Broadside Support Group
Moray Assault Ship (RC)
Tigershark Strike Craft
Space Marines (3k)
Tactical Detachment
SC
Razorback(AT)
Hunter
Tactical Detachment
Chaplain
Devastator Detachment
Assault Detachment
Bike Detachment
Landspeeder Detachment
Terminator Detachment
Scout Detachment
3x Warhound Titans
We were a little pushed for time, so I couldn't make notes but I will try to summarise.
SM Blitz - middle of SM side, behind some buildings.
SM Objectives - spread wide, 30cm from Tau edge.
Tau Blitz - middle right of Tau side, behind woods.
Tau Objectives - mirror of SM, 30cm from SM edge.
Turn 1
Terminators teleport in beside mixed Scorpionfish(SC) and crisis.
Stealth counter by teleporting in beside the crisis.
Strategy- SM
Terminators decide that the battlesuits look too menacing so engage the tetras that are just in range, one tetra limps away broken.
The early exchanges of fire were not terribly damaging. The worst hit were the SC tacticals that lost all their transport to the AMHC's railguns and the terminators that were broken by the stealths.
The FW cadre held off a reasonably well supported assault launched by the landspeeders, thanks to a luck in the roll off (Tau were down by 2 before the roll).
Turn 2
Strategy - SM
Bikes and devastarors destroy AMHC in assault.
Second assault on FW by speeders fails.
FW Retaliate and break nearby tacticals.
Assault marines stalled an engage when the crisis suits jump back (his first game versus Tau, he knew, but he forgot).
With few assault threats left the marines had to weather a storm of fire from the Tau (and now it was all in markerlight range). Scouts, assault marines and speeders are all broken with the odd unit remaining in each. SC Tacs and Devs are also attacked, with the Tigershark finally breaking the devs.
Turn 3
Strategy - SM
In a final throw of the dice a warhound doubled over to break the crisis. Then the bikes engaged the nearby stealths, but again the Jet Packs saved the day, allowing the stealths to hop out of support fire range and force FF with the bikes, two kills from first strike and the bikes loose and break.
After the Moray finally connected with both rail cannons (so many 1's) a warhound was destroyed.
This left the SM with only small (1-2 units) formations most with BMs. He tried to cover objectives, but the Tau had enough left to move in and break them through shooting.
Game ended 4-0 to the Tau (DTF, TSNP, Blitz, T&H)
Tau losses:
9 FWs, 1 Devilfish
AMHC (All)
3 Crisis
2 Broadside
5 Tetras
SM losses:
SC Tacticals: 4 tacs (inc SC), 3 rhinos, razorback, hunter
Tacticals (All)
Devastators: 3 devs, 1 rhino
Assault Detachment (All)
Bike Detachment: 4 bikes
Landspeeder Detachment (All)
Terminator Detachment: 2 terminators
Scout Detachment: 2 scouts, 2 rhinos
1x Warhound Titans
Thoughts:
Warhounds are still good, even at 275 each. Hard to kill them before they break, and they have the speed to run away to safety and right back again next turn when they rally.
Scorpionfish worked really well for me. Not the soft target that stingrays seem to be, and when the markerlights allow sustain fire they can gut infantry with the submunitions. Turn 3 they glided forward to hold the objectives in my half.
In that respect the markerlight formations were very important. With the tetras getting knocked out right at the start this meant that the others were even more important. Thus the FW cadre was invaluable, the fearless wasn't used but it did give me the confidence to advance them to where their firepower could be used.
The top unit for me was the stealth contingent. They saved my SC from the terminators, broke the terminators, helped break the marine SC (via shots and ML), held off the bikes and finally took the blitz and finished off the speeders.
The broadsides stayed near my blitz and took pot shots at warhounds, but I don't think they ever did more than down shields. They did hold up under some fire, so I was quite happy with them.
The Tigershark stayed away from the one hunter, so never came under fire. Turn 1 it did no damage to assault marines, turn 2 it killed one devastator with the tracer missile and broke them, turn 3 it killed the last remaining rhino that contested the SM blitz. It did roughly what I would have expected thunderbolts to do, so its points seem ok so far.
The battlesuit cadre didn't achieve much. It failed to rally and remove blast markers twice, which left it with no firepower and easily breakable. I pretty much knew this would be the case with a 4 unit formation, I ran out of points to do anything about it though.
The AMHC got isolated by SM moves late in turn 1, so never got much chance to do much. But knocking out the transports of the SC tacticals was very useful in the long run. Not sure that I need the swordfish upgrades, but its only 25 points.
It didn't matter in this game, as my opponent didn't have any aircraft, but it seemed that I got a lot of AA without really intending to. It certainly would be tough to challenge the Tau air superiority.
It was certainly fun to have another go with the Tau.
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