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BATREP: Tau vs. SH Eldar, 1500 pts
Honda	Post subject: BATREP: Tau vs. SH Eldar, 1500 pts Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:28 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:44 pm Posts: 1891 Location: Katy, Republic of Texas	I noticed on the Eldar forum that there has been some discussion of this game and general SH tactics. ?Something that caught my eye was that someone said that Eldar tanks beat Tau tanks most times. ?This struck me as strange as the Hammerhead can out-range the falcon and the Moray can certainly give any EOV a run for its money. So Honda, do you think a Hammerhead contingent could have matched up against the Falcon formations? Well, I was going to let that little misperception continue until our next game, but he'll probably read this eventually. So... His perception about Eldar tank superiority was based on a Falcon vs. Stingray match up. I didn't field any "real" tanks this game, so he'll find out what that's like later. And to answer some of Tac's questions about why the Eldar player did this or that, please keep in mind that this was John's first game with a system that he's never played and a list that he's never seen anyone else field. In those kinds of situations, I prefer to use lower points so that the new person can get a feel for how a few of their units behave. Then when they are a little more confident, we bump things up to 2700 pts and see how the list changes behavior. This game was not about either of us winning. It was an opportunity to teach. I even pointed out choices so that he could get a feel for some of the decisions he will be faced with as he gets more experience with the rules and his list. For the most part though, he worked through the issues on his own. So, when questions regarding missed opportunities come up, please keep in mind that this game wasn't for the Super Bowl and neither of us had anything to prove. As it turned out, the game was very fast paced, we really enjoyed ourselves, and he's chomping at the bit to get another game in. In my book, that is the real victory. _________________ Honda "Remember Taros? We do" - 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

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Honda

Post subject: BATREP: Tau vs. SH Eldar, 1500 pts Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:57 pm

Brood Brother Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:44 pm Posts: 1891 Location: Katy, Republic of Texas

1) who set up terrain? 2) how did you go about picking table sides? 3) I'm assuming this was a 4x6 table - correct? 1. We just threw stuff on the table 2. We rolled for it 3. Yes I find it interesting that you both put your blitzgrieg objectives opposite on corners. I'm assuming you both felt like with limited formations and relatively light and fast formations, you both would be able to challenge the blitz objectives regardless of where they were put.

You are assuming way too high a level of analysis on this. We just put stuff down and played the game.




I also notice that the tau force is very centralized on the table with a heavy consentration of forces behind the center wood, but at least two formations basically within easy first turn shooting LOF for the enemy should he opt to advance on your position. It would seem that a double to a near side building or left of center wood (tau perspective) would be an optimal play for the Eldar and challenge the tau to get even closer to make any counter action.

The natural table edge and dual buildings to the left seem to be an interesting posision that was not capitalized on. Perhaps I have a distorted representation of various angles, but it seems that there's at least room for one formation over on the left which would be very hard for the enemy to see, even with a double. (I'm assuming you were using the defacto skimming experimental/revised rules though).

Just curious on the decision to bulk up center.


Probably my guiding thoughts at the time were to prevent the SH from engaging my forces in exchanges where their bikes could take advantage of my vehicles. So, I placed things centrally, because I didn't want him to start to value my left. I was going to need that channel to get to the Blitzkrieg and I didn't want to be in a situation where I had to contest it. I was expecting to double/triple mid-game to get to the blitz and in order to make that work, I had to keep him focused on the center and my right.




Critique 2: you used real names on the map, but you used fluffy names on the batrep. Batrep came a day or so after the inital force list, so I had to go between map, inital post (forgot that the forces had merged formations) and then the page three bat report to fully grasp what all happened. Not a problem for me personally as I love batreps and will do my part to digest them. However, some feedback may be lost by viewers with short attention spans and an unwillingness to go between three documents to digest the batrep.


I'll pass your complaints on to the editor. ?




OK, now why not use those tetras and piranhas for marks first? The stingrays are brutal against the infantry and LVs if the target is marked. Would have seemed logical to me to move a tetra / pirana formation up to mark - throw what they can, then pull the stingrays forward for that 'special' kinda love only they can dish out.


Because I was fairly certain that if I got them close to the Windriders then they'd get hosed. I needed them as a reserve and flanking force to get unscathed into the upper left side.


Perhaps it was impossible to double the tetra/piranhas into position. With 30cm ML plus double their movement, seems like you should've had an opportunity though.


I did double and triple them up the side, but when I wanted to. If I had done it earlier, then he would have slid over to keep me away from the Blitz and then I'd be fighting two units to two, in a situation where I wouldn't have had an advantage. By executing the way I did, I was able to destroy the first WR and place BM's on the second. This caused them to remain immobile so that my two Piranha squadrons could then gang up on them using two sustain orders and wipe them out.

Then the only two units that could influence the battle had to decide as to either kill more stuff or grab objectives.




OK - this is exactly what I'm talking about. The Eldar player should have hit and run with that formation or atleast re positioned it to cover. Allowing them to sit in the open was just wasteful of that formation IMHO


Other facts that didn't get into the story. His WR hosts didn't make many activations. Between failed rallies and a couple BM's here and there, they ended up not doing a whole lot. The WR behind the building fired once and dinged up a Stingray unit, but besides that, they never got untracked.


Question: seems like the falcons could have sprinted to your blitz objective and ignored the one of the stingrays. Seems like he could have also focused on your BTS condition a bit more. The stingrays weren't all that important of a threat against his falcons. Interesting after math and final choice of events.



He could have. Since we were just learning, he wanted to see what the Falcons can do. Later after the game, we ran one of the WR hosts against a FW cadre so that he could see how assaults worked.


The big surprise is the turn 2 and turn 3 Tau initiative first. That's huge against the eldar as tau just don't get that kind of luck against high strategy armies but once in the game in their lucky!

In my mind, this was huge. I didn't really expect this to happen and I'm glad I was positioned to capitalize on it when it did.

As it stands, getting the initiative on Turns 2 & 3 is the only thing that let me pull this game out.