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[BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:47 am 
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Well, had a friend unexpectedly drop in with his Space Marines so I whipped together a proxy Tau force I had been thinking about and we had ourselves a game!

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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:57 am 
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Rules Used

All experimental rules
Tau 4.4
Vindicators 30cm movement

Tau Forward Crisis Force - 2500 points

Battlesuit Cadre
Shas'O
Crisis Upgrade

Battlesuit Cadre 2 - (BTS goal)
Shas'El
Stealth Suits
Tetras

Battlesuit Cadre 3
Stealth Suits
Tetras

Arnoured Mobile Hunter Cadre
All Railheads (forgot to write down 2 Ion Cannons when making the list)
Networked Drones

Scorpionfish

Piranhas 1

Piranhas 2

Markerlight Sentry Contingent 1

Markerlight Sentry Contingent 2


Space Marine Heavy Recon - 2500 points

Devastator Detachment
Librarian
4 Razorbacks (Lascannons)

Whirlwind Detachment
Hunter

Scout Detachment 1
Captain

Scout Detachment 2
Captain

Land Speeder Detachment 1

Land Speeder Detachment 2

Predator Detachment
Vindicator
Librarian

Warhound Titans - (BTS goal)
2 Warhounds




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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:17 am 
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Setup

4x4 table
Marines chose edge deployment.

Garrisons and Deployment

Tau kept both Markerlight Sentry Contingents in reserve.

Marines garrisoned a detachment of Scouts and a detachment of Land Speeders on each of their forward Objectives.

Tau garrisoned Crisis Cadres 2 and 3, into ruins, one off of each of their forward Objectives.

The rest of deployment is displayed below:


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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:33 am 
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Turn 1

Tau dropped Markerlight Sentry Contingent 1 directly into the heart of the Marines, receiving no blast markers and suffering no casualties for appearing in ruins. ?The majority of the Marine units were marked.



Strategy roll: Marines

The Devestators moved forward to engage Markerlight Contingent 1 and wiped out all the drones with no losses.

The Whirlwinds try to acquire targets, but the concern of more drone drops befuddles them and they regroup instead.

The Shas'O takes his Cadre and Piranha Contingent 1 on a co-ordinated fire mission against the distant Predators. ?The Crisis Cadre doubles, laying a blast marker and the Piranhas advance, popping up to tag one of the Predators.

Feeling brave, Crisis Cadre 2 leaps forward to engage the co-mingled Marine formations, consisting of Scout 1, Speeders 1, and the recently shot at Predators! ?(That damn scout ZoC co-mingling strikes again!) ?The Marines have a hard time bringing much to bear and the Tau strike down 3 Scout units and their 2 Rhinos, with the help of support fire from Crisis Cadre 1, and narrowly push back the rest of the Marines (Tau, with +5 to resolution, won by 1!).

Speeder Detachment 2 doubles to the danger zone and fires on Crisis Cadre 1, melting away 1 Team.

Crisis 3 leaps to the aid of the Shas'O and doubles on Speeder 2, blasting 4 of the hovering craft out of the sky.

Scout Detachment 2 mounts up, and doubles down the flank. ?Deploying into the nearby ruins, they fire on Piranha Contingent 2, laying a blast marker.

The Dragonfish then sustains fire on the pesky Scouts, unleashing a hail of Submunitions Missiles and kills all 4 Scouts, breaking the formation.

The Warhounds advance resolutely on Crisis Cadre 3 and blast apart 1 Tetra, 1 Stealth Team, and 1 Crisis Team.

Piranha 2 takes to the air to fire on the Warhounds, dropping a single Void Shield.

The Armoured Cadre then doubles towards the Titans, popping up to strip away all their Void Shields.

End of Turn: Land Speeder 1 and the Titans rally for Marines and only Piranha 2 fails to rally for the Tau.






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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:46 am 
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Turn 2

No teleports.

Strategy roll: Marines

The Whirlwinds sustain fire on Crisis Cadres 1 and 2; the Shas'O's formation suffers a blast marker, while the Shas'El's loses a Crisis Team.

The Devastators attempt to sustain fire on Crisis Cadre 2, but can't get a good lock on them and fire normally, taking out a Stealth Team and another XV8.

Crisis Cadre 2 doubles towards the Devastators, positioning the Tetras to mark the Titans and Whirlwinds. ?Their fire takes out 2 Razorbacks and a Devastator squad.

The Armoured Cadre is momentarily confused as to which enemy to target, but the Shas'O orders them to advance on the marked Titans: they pop-up and rain death on the Imperial war machines. ?All the Titans' Void Shields are stripped and Warhound 1 suffers 2DC of damage.

Suffering under the onslaught, the Titans marshall, firing on Crisis Cadre 2, killing 1 Tetra, 1 Stealth Team, and another Crisis Team while regenerating all their Void Shields!

Able to get a direct line of sight on the now unmarked Titans, Piranha Contingent 2 sustains fire and drops 2 Void Shields from Warhound 2.

The Shas'O is still so impressed by the results of Crisis 2's assault that he fails to do anything other than regroup.

Speeder Detachment prepares to race towards Crisis 2, but holds its ground and regroups instead. (Who'd've thought Space Marines would need a Supreme Commander!)

The Dragonfish advances to pop-up and hammer the Titans with Seeker Missiles dealing 1DC damage to the unshielded Warhound 2 and breaking the formation!

Piranha Contingent 2 fails to advance and snaps off some missiles at the Devastators and manages to disable a Razorback.

End of Turn: Land Speeder 1 and the Devastators rally for Marines and Piranha 2 again fails to rally for the Tau.


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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:58 am 
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Turn 3

No teleports.

Strategy roll: Tau

Buoyed by the earlier success of their battle brothers, Crisis Cadre 3 engages the Devastators and the co-mingled Speeders 2 and broken Predators. ?All the Marines but the Land Speeders are wiped out for the cost of a single Crisis Team? who says Tau can't fight the Good fight?

The Armoured Cadre advances to fire on the now marked Whirlwind Detachment taking out 2 Whirlwinds and the Hunter, breaking the Marine artillery.

The lone survivor of Speeder Detachment 1 marches down the flank to grab the Tau Blitz.

Crisis Cadre 1 double to the Marine Blitz and fire on the broken Land Speeder Detachment 2 wrecking two of the Speeders.

Crisis Cadre 2 doubles towards the Titans and Marine Objective 2, but they are just out of range of the Crisis Suits weapons, but the Tetras are able to mark them.

Piranha Contingent 2 advances to fire on the marked Titans, stripping all their Void Shields again.

The Dragonfish sustains fire with its barely in range Tracer Missiles and strikes down one of the Warhound Titans, but is unable to finish off the other.

Meanwhile, the drones of Markerlight Contingent 2 just beep and boop quietly to each other?

End of Turn: Marines 1 (Blitz) vs Tau 2 (Blitz, T-n-H)


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clausewitz
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:23 pm 
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Hey Chroma, another great report. ?Very impressive result for the Tau (even if it was against marines). ?Another lesson meated out on your opponents Chroma, "beware co-mingling of scouts". ?The Predators took no real part in the assault, became broken and didn't rally the whole game!

Very clever use of upgrades to garrison the crisis cadres. ?Reduces impact of shorter ranged weapons and adds MLs and co-fire.

What did your opponent think of the game (seemed like he got a bit of a tanking)? ?Does he know the Tau list well? ?It just seemed like the game was won in your very first phase of activations (where you broke three formations for apparently very little loss on your part).
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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:54 pm 
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Quote (clausewitz @ 06 April 2006 (14:23))
What did your opponent think of the game (seemed like he got a bit of a tanking)? ?Does he know the Tau list well? ?It just seemed like the game was won in your very first phase of activations (where you broke three formations for apparently very little loss on your part).

Thanks clausewitz!

Actually, the guy I was playing against was the guy who was fielding the Tau as a test on the weekend, so he knew the list relatively well.

His first response: "Oh, so *that's* how to play Tau!"  *laugh* The after session spit-balling was mainly on what problems the Marines have, not much about the Tau.

Garrisoning the Crisis Suits was something that just came to me after the weekend, and it really gets the jump on enemies and it can survive a bit of punishment.

After the fight he realized he'd been totally baited into attacking the Markerlight Sentries, and should've probably taken them on with his Scout 1 detachment... which would've prevented the whole co-mingling thing as well.

It was a good fight and we had a lot of fun.  If his Preds had rallied it might have been a closer game. (I could've easily had Tau force a 4th turn and, probably, gotten all the Victory Conditions... just wanted to let him get 1 as a Boobie Prize.  *laugh*)

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Tactica
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:46 pm 
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1 to 2 doesn't look like a slaughter, but I agree with Cw - the game looked like it was doomed for the marines straight away.

Poor E:A marines. I've said it before, the Marines need a face lift. They are the heart of the 40K franchise and fictional universe - The army champions should endeavor to get this list fixed first and quick.

Presently, they seem to be a perfect opponent for a good game of "kick the baby."

Chroma, I love the pics.

I read the response to Cw and understand what the situation was. Glad to hear the Tau felt right, even if boobie prizes were bing awarded! LOL

Memorable moment in reading:
"Piranha 2 takes to the air to fire on the Warhounds, dropping a single Void Shield."

Can you imagine the FW driving those things receiving that order!? LOL...

Regarding the game,

1) the Stealths + Tetras to get all the scout in the crisis cadres was a shock to me. It looked to be used in the non teleport but main garrison role. I've not done this yet and found that tactic to be a very aggressive use of the formation. Not only did you turn them into a garrison/ forward action formation, they also became a marking element and they were used for some minor engagments, some OK, some not so OK - but still, it was options I had not considered previously.

Historically, they have had a problem of staying alive long enough to get to where they needed if they were going on the forward advancement role. On the other hand, these were pretty costly formations.

I'd like to see more battle reports where you do this against other armies. The marines are the 'runts' of E:A unfortunately. i'm interested to see if these formations have the potential for 'main stream' tourny play, or if they work well when the opponents list is ... well, marines. :)

Very interesting configuration. I applaud the out of the box thinking here.

I note that one of the piranha formations were broken for the 3 turn game after breaking in turn 1 - never rallying.

I note that the scorpionfish played their part well enough. It *looked* like they were supporting the battle as intended - from afar. What was your take here?

I note that the Devistators took no time engaging and wiping out the first drone sentry drop.

I also note that in the first turn, the whirlwinds regrouped after failing to activate... with the ATSKNF rule, it suprises me that they didn't aquire another target and fire regularly vs. regroup - if they had another target in range anyway.

Final thought, marines without drop pods, tacticals, thunderhawks, or a landing craft seem like they are not playing to their advantages. Did you feel like this was one of the stronger 2500 point marine armies that could be taken in general? It seems like the general pick-up game for marines would have more 'rapid strike' elements to it. Tau have a history of 'not loving' the rapid strike elements of E:A.

Thanks for another great report. As always, another good read Chroma!

Cheers,

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clausewitz
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:35 pm 
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After the fight he realized he'd been totally baited into attacking the Markerlight Sentries, and should've probably taken them on with his Scout 1 detachment... which would've prevented the whole co-mingling thing as well.

Indeed, it was not the optimum move.  From looking at the map I think I might have had the Predators activate first, double and shoot Crisis 2 from FF range.  Then have the Scout Captain lead Scout1 and Speeder1 in a combined assault on Crisis2.  With BM advantage, out numbering and Predator support fire I can't think that the Tau could have survived that.  Also it would bunch up those formations to prevent the clipping assault (no BP to worry about).

Of course I can't measure from the map and that might not have been possible.

Regards the Marine list, I actually thought it was a fairly decent ground SM list.  Can't argue with Tactica that THawks etc are probably the percentage choice, but I think this list had a decent chance against the Tau list.  But the SM list is going to be really difficult to win with if you are the less experienced player, which I think is clearly shown in this battle (no offence intended to your opponent, but from the weekends batreps its clear that you are the more experienced player).  In this game if the SMs had managed a move like I described above and then managed a similar move again the the turn (using the Warhounds in place of the Preds on the other side), then it could have been quite difficult as the SMs could have achieved a decent activation advantage.

I look forward to seeing your opponents marines take the field again.  Maybe it because I'm somewhat "old school" but I always like to hear the SMs win :)

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HecklerMD
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:19 am 
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Wow, seeing the variety of ways the ScF was put to use in just 3 turns gets me so excited to put it to use myself.

Turn 1:  Infantry Supression
Turn 2:  Void Shield Removal
Turn 3:  Titan Pimp-Slapping :p

All three munitions types were used wheee!

Ahem.

I must admit thinking "WTF" when I saw the LV Tetras in your INF Battlesuit Cadres, but good job noticing that [i]scout[/] angle.

Thanks for the BatRep!
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Honda
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:38 am 
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Turn 1:  Infantry Supression
Turn 2:  Void Shield Removal
Turn 3:  Titan Pimp-Slapping  

All three munitions types were used wheee!


In both games where I have fielded them, I've made extensive use of the variable munitions. I really, really like how this unit operates, even if it "tests" you to get the higher percentage shots by placing ML. It's a skill play and I'm guessing that the SM really didn't have any long range shots to give them a hard time, so it was safe to leave them out in the open at an arms reach.

Still, I think this thing is operating as designed and used wisely will pay out big dividends.

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Steele
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:15 am 
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Indeed nice Report. But the end is/was foreseeable. Marines loose at 98% in my games against Tau, unless they use the Air Assault extensively.

Cheers!
Steele

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The_Real_Chris
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:34 am 
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I have a little chart telling me when best to fire each type :)

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Chroma
 Post subject: [BatRep] Tau vs Marines - 2500 points
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:27 pm 
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Quote (Steele @ 07 April 2006 (08:15))
Indeed nice Report. But the end is/was foreseeable. Marines loose at 98% in my games against Tau, unless they use the Air Assault extensively.

Honestly, I thought it was a pretty strong Marine ground-pounder army.  If my opponent hadn't "panicked" because of the Markerlight Sentries, I think the game would've been much closer.

Theoretically, he could've eliminated my Shas'O at the get go, and things would've gone down hill for the Tau from there.

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