Got in a second game of EPIC this week... had been wanting to take my new Tau out for a spin... but I also wanted to try out an "extreme" Tau list... so I put together a "Horde of Hammerheads" army, using a lot of proxies.

My opponent brought an Ork list... with a lot of models... *laugh*

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Rules Used

Epic Update 2008
NetEA Recommendations
Tau v5.0

Armies Used

WAAAAGH this!!! – 3000 points

Big Warband
Warboss
4 Nobz
12 Boyz
4 Grotz

Stompamob
3 Stompas
1 Supa-Stompa
3 Soopaguns
3 Power Fields

Stormboyz Warhorde
6 Stormboyz
2 Skorchas

’Uge Kult of Speed - BTS Goal
8 Warbikes
8 Warbuggies
8 Skorchas
2 Extra Warbuggies

Big Blitz Brigade 1
4 Deth Koptas
2 Gunwagonz
2 Flakwagonz
2 Oddboyz
2 Soopa Gunz

Blitz Brigade 2
6 Gunwagonz
2 Flakwagonz
2 Oddboyz
2 Supazapp Gunz

Fighta-Bommerz 1
5 F-Bs

Fighta-Bommerz 2
5 F-Bs

Landa
1 Landa


Ham’mer Ti’me Sept – 2975 points

Armoured Cadre Command - BTS Goal
6 Hammerheads (Railguns)
2 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Armoured Cadre Secondary
6 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Armoured Support Silver
4 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Armoured Support Green
4 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Armoured Support Yellow
4 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Armoured Support Red
4 Hammerheads (Railguns)
Networked Drones
1 Skyray

Barracuda Squadron Alpha
2 Barracuda

Barracuda Squadron Beta
2 Barracuda

Hero Orbital Support

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Battlefield:

4x6; Roll off, and Orks chose edge deployment

Deployment:

Tau indicates that their spacecraft is scheduled to arrive Turn 1.

Orks keep the Stormboyz with Skorchas in reserve in the Landa. (I think my opponent has been reading the forums!)

Orks garrison the Warband off their Blitz and put them on overwatch.

Tau have no garrisons.

Remaining deployment as shown:

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Turn 1

Nobody has any teleports.

Strategy Roll: Tau

Awaiting the approach of the enemy, Barracuda Squadron Alpha goes on CAP.

Blitz Brigade 1 double up the hill and just gets AMHC 2 in range… (We’ve learned that you have to place extra templates so they hit as many of the target formation as possible instead of freely hitting multiple formations or this would’ve been *REALLY* bad.)



…and place a single Blast marker… WOOT!

AMHC 2 feels obliged to respond and advances over the ruins to partially markerlight Blitz Brigade 2 and lets fly!  They score 3 Guided Missile hits, 2 Smart Missile hits, and 6 Railgun hits… and here’s where my opponent gets tricky:  He assigns the regular AT hits first… then the Smart Missile AP hits, to the already allocated Deth Koptas… and then the Guided Missile hits to the Death Koptas which are the only things marked!  So, even with 11 hits, *two* units in the Blitz Brigade aren’t even touched!  Still, all that kunning means only the two Flakwagonz and a single Deth Kopta survive as the Tau flip the bird… or fish? at them.

Blitz Brigade 2 replies in kind, doubling forward and zapping 2 of AMHC 2’s Hammerheads out of the sky.

Wanting to get in on the fun, the Stompamob doubles forward, moving from cover to cover, before also opening fire on AMHC 2… dropping another 2 Hammerheads, including the Networked Drones, breaking the formation.

Hammerheads Yellow advance to pop-up and fire on the Supa-Stompa, stripping 3 Powerfields.

Hammerheads Red advance, popping up to hammer Blitz Brigade 2… trashing a single Gunwagon.

Fighta-Bommer Sqwadron 1 dives down to Hammerhead Silver.  A flurry of anti-air missiles only place a single Blast marker as the Flyboyz take out 1 Hammerheads, breaking the support cadre.

Bright light drills down from heaven as the Hero Cruiser arrives overhead, targeting the Supa-Stompa… one shot misses (Dang that cover!) while the other does 3DC of damage.

The Warlord’s Warband doesn’t need any encouragement to march forward into the thick of things.

Barracuda Squadron 2 intercepts Sqwadron 1, taking out 1 Fighta-Bomma.

Hammerheads Green advances on Blitz Brigade 2 and takes out 2 more Gunwagons, breaking the Orks.

Sqwadron 2 easily braves a lot of missiles and strafe Hammerheads Green… taking out the Skyray and the command Hammerhead!  D’OH!

AMHC HQ attempts to advance… and fails!  So they take the patient hunter route and regroup.

The Kult of Speed revs its engines… and *MARCHES* all the way across the board towards the AMHC HQ!

And then, with a sound like thunda, the Landa tears through the clouds to perform a ground assault on the AMHC!  Hunter Missiles… do nothing… CAPing Barracudas… do nothing…



The Orks land and come boiling out to attack.



Two Stormboyz are gunned down as a Hammerhead and the Skyray are taken out… and, it’s a tie!  



Two more Stormboyz fall, two Hammerheads, including the command tank, are trashed and this time…  the Tau manage to win by “3â€Â

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Turn 2

Still no teleports.

Strategy Roll: Orks, on a tie!

There can be only one way to start the turn… the Kult of Speed races in to *massacre* the AMHC HQ… it’s no contest as only two Warbikes go down, while all the Tau tanks are knocked to the ground.



Snickering to himself, the Ork Warlord has to yell twice to get the Warband to go onto overwatch.

Mourning the loss of their compatriots, AMHC 2 advances, lights up, and fires on the dangerous Kult of Speed… taking out a single Warbike as a lot of 5+ saves are made…

Barracuda Squadron 2 buzzes down to hit the Kult of Speed… and only eliminates a Warbuggy… as a lot more 5+ saves are made!

Fighta-Bommaz 1 stands down.

Hammerheads Yellow advance and fire on the Kult of Speed… taking out 2 Buggies… those infernal Skorchas JUST WON’T DIE!

Hammerheads Red also advances and fires on the Kult of Speed, taking out 3 more Buggies… and leaving the formation with *14* Blast markers… but unbroken!

Blitz Brigade 2 marshals, moving to a new position and clearing all their Blast markers.

The Stompamob then doubles forward to try and take on AMHC 2… but the Kapitan has to decide between getting in range or getting line of sight… and can’t manage both, so shoot futilely in the air.

Barracuda Squadron 1 then ground attacks the Supa-Stompa, doing 1 DC damage and takes it out, breaking the three remaining Stompas.

F-B Sqwadron 2… also stands down…

End of Turn:

Blitz Brigade 1 and the Stormboyz again fail for the Orks.

Only Hammerhead Silver fails for the Tau.

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Turn 3

Yep, no teleports.

Strategy Roll: Tau!

Hammerheads Yellow sustain fire on the marked Kult of Speed and finally get their targets, taking out 2 Warbikes, 2 Warbuggies, and *4* Skorchas… the broken Kult races away from the now deadly Tau.

Barracudas 2 ground attacks Blitz Brigade 2, taking out 1 Flakwagon and 1 Soopa-gunwagon.

Fighta-Bomma Sqwadron 1 loses a plane on the way in, but still manages to nail Hammerheads Red, taking out 2 Hammerheads, including the one with Networked Drones, breaking the formation.

Sqwadron 2 dives down on the remains of AMHC 2.  One Fighta-Bomma gets swatted down, but the remaining Boyz take out a Hammerhead, which breaks the cadre.

Barracudas 1 strafes the Stompamob, taking out a Stompa and breaking the remaining two.

My opponent realizes there’s no Orks on the Tau side, and doubles the Warband forward to spread over the nearby objective and deep into Tau territory.

And here’s where I realize that there are no Tau on the Ork side... and I can’t make it with a double, so Hammerheads Green attempt to march… and fail… moving tentatively, but ineffectively, forward…


End of Turn:

*NO* Ork formations rally… which means the Warband is the only “on boardâ€Â

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So, kind of a disappointing loss... "Anything but a '1'" in that last activation, and the Tau would've handily had the game in Turn 4 as the Orks only had the Warband and two beat up aircraft formations to use.

Still, it was a lot of fun, and my opponent was nervous the entire time because of the mass amout of fire those Hammerheads can throw out!  Even without a lot of "deep field" markerlights, the Tau can still do a lot of damage.

Was just a little disappointed in my Hunter Missle performance... so many flying around, for not a lot of damage.  *laugh*

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Nice report Chroma,

How did you feel the newly revised Barracudas did?

Very interesting Chroma. A couple of observations/questions:

1. I am assuming that you were able to have overlapping AA fields with all those Skyrays? And yeah, sometimes that +5 on the Hunters just doesn't come in.

2. I was very surprised that the air assault didn't wipe out the AHMC, but that is how the dice go sometimes.

3. As I read your report, I suddenly picked up on T2 that you didn't have anyone on his side of the board. Did he leave anything to guard his Blitz after the set up?

4. I am just a little surprised that he took so few boyz. That would have negated some of your fire effectiveness given the paucity of AP shots in an all HH force. If he had taken more infantry, how do you think you would have done?

5. Are you planning on taking your all HH Tea party to an IG neighborhood sometime soon? Those smallish HH formations look a little brittle to me . I'm also thinking some of your Eldar lists with effective FF would like to tangle with them.

6. Looks like you didn't have too much trouble with his Stompas, though they did get in the first lick.

Thank you for sharing.

Cheers,

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

Well, when I mentioned "playtesting", the assumption might have been "Tyranids"... *laugh*  I love to "trick" the playtesters.

5. Are you planning on taking your all HH Tea party to an IG neighborhood sometime soon? Those smallish HH formations look a little brittle to me . I'm also thinking some of your Eldar lists with effective FF would like to tangle with them.

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It was a lot of 6+ fire fight vs 4+ armour... I was surprised it went to two rounds!  *laugh*

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

It's a pity you didnt choose more of a broader range of Tau formations Chroma as I can't really perceive how any of 5.0 works together and it looks just like a proposed All Armoured Tau army list.... It sort of leaves this Batrep as a bit null and void for my liking as all-the-same-unit style armies always have that "good in one situation, not good in another" feel without any solid reporting on the other formations available and their interaction. An SC (which Tau really do need IMO) may have helped somewhat with rolls when needed (lack of one seems to have hamstrung you when you needed to them). Also lack of any major AP formations (even the Ion HH) seems sort of unusual. I've always felt that when you play a tournament-style game you take a broad range of formation types.

What was your reasoning behind taking an all armoured force? Did you know what your opponent was bringing?

I had no idea what I was going to be facing when I put the army together... and I think this army could've handled almost any type of "Tournament Style" list, other than the dreaded Cultist-Army-of-Doom.  *laugh*

I took all Hammerheads to see if it was viable... and it was!  Throwing in a couple Pathfinder formations instead of Hammerheads would've made it even more powerful, but I wanted to try out the "All skimmer Tau" army.

It also showed me that, with the current options in the v5.0 list, there's absolutely no need for a "Grav-head Army List" for Tau... which, I feel, is a shame... and a problem with the lack of focus in the list.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Thanks for the report Chroma, this helps to show that all skimmer AV Tau are not as bad as could be, but it doesn't feel 'Fluffy'. Would interested to see how they get on against a slightly higher activation count.

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