Over the top with T'au

   My last post was about the fear that I feel every time my son threatens to pull out his Death Guard.  The terror that strikes into my tactical heart is disconcerting (obviously) and I have to build armies that specifically consider the opponent.  For someone who builds "take on all comers (TAAC)" lists, this is a pain.  

  But the laws of the pendulum apply and I have the opposite feeling with one of my armies- the T'au!  These upstart aliens seem to be DOMINATING the battlefields right now both in the tournie scene and casual corners.  If you look at the BCP app or follow the results-tracking blogsites, you'll know that this new codex popped up only a few weeks ago and has already generated more trophies and musings than any codex I can remember.  

  Here's the crazy part- this army was TERRIBLE in the last edition!  I've mentioned it before, but it's insane the flip in this case.  I was reminded of this in two ways recently.  The first is when I played a game against my son's Dark Angels.  It was only my third game with this new book and he built a list that was more focused on infantry and big guns to take down my big robots.  I got the first turn and annihilated his force immediately.  The second is a video that was posted illustrating how good a particular T'au unit is.  Let's discuss.

  In the game, the T'au were lucky enough to take the first turn.  The Dark Angels had a ton of bolters and happened to include Eradicators, Hellblasters, Devastators, some Inceptors, Suppressors, a couple of lascannon squads, a Venerable Dreadnought and a Strike Speeder all full of big guns.  This was a list that could alpha strike just as well as mine could.  But I aimed my Hammerhead at the Dreadnought at one-shotted it.  I aimed my Broadsides at the speeder and one-shotted it.  I aimed my Pathfinders and a unit of Fire Warriors at the Eradicators and destroyed them.  My Fireblade focused a couple of Fire Warrior squads at some Intercessors and destroyed them.  By the end of the first turn, more than half the Dark Angels had been removed from the board.  It wasn't fun, it was oppressive.

  I tend to build my armies to the fluff and always include 'a little of this and a little of that'.  I have this 'display cabinet' mentality from my days in the service of the Emprah.  This tends to hamstring my armies and force some of my friends to balk at the ridiculous choices that I make.  The T'au are no different in army build, but they wildly outperform my typical outcomes.  This edition seems to be set on 11 in a power scale to 10.  

  This morning, a video was posted by a very prolific creator that illustrated how powerful the Broadsides are.  This matters to me because I was, for a very long time, the only T'au player that used Broadsides with their rail rifles.  I always liked the Macross-themed robots with shoulder-mounted cannons, but they were never anywhere near as effective as the missile-spam bot.  This is still true when firing against basic Space Marines, but everything else now explodes when the rail weapons smack them.  Everthing.  The ability to add mortal wounds to everything, plus playing the T'au sept to get the reroll, Mont'ka to move-and-shoot without penalty, and Pathfinders nearby improving their ability to hit...  oppressive.  

  This video triggered me to write this post because I'm benefitting greatly while my opponents aren't.  After the recent performances, I think I need to retire this army until GW comes out the nerf bat and hits some home runs on this codex.  Have you had the same experience, from one side or the other?  Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Gaming!    

More Xenos!

   I've played a few games over the last couple of weeks using the new stuff.  The Custodes got a couple of battles against the T-sons and came out massacring everything that questions the Emprah's authority.  That army is retired until the painting spree begins again.  

  With my "Year of the Xenos" still going (much longer than a year now), the T'au got a new codex and I had to bust it all out.  It used to be that the T'au were utterly broken-powerful in they heydays of 6th and 7th editions (mostly due to the 'ol 'Tidewing', meaning multiple Riptides that could slag anything they targeted and then not die).  Then, they became hot garbage in 8th.  Like baaaad.  I tried to play them a few times and I was left with no choice but to cheeze out the army and then still only barely win games against less-skilled opponents.  

  Now it's the new book in 9th edition (9.5, if you consider the radical changes to objectives and some of the unit-balancing rules introduced already), and the T'au have gotten quite a boost.  Their weapons are super powerful, especially if they have 'rail' in the weapon name- get ready for some mortal wounds!  The upgrades available to suits and characters are often overly-useful and, worse yet, are free most of the time!  Finally, the army can move (tons of scouting and infiltrating) AND score objectives (mostly about killing).  But they have some significant weaknesses still.  They still only hit half the time (but it counts) and they aren't the most resilient (on the 'obsec' guys, anyway).  And they're expensive (by points), meaning you can't spam everything.  

  My first list with the new army was apparently cheezed out again.  I'd guess old habits stick around.  I took the minimum three squads of Fire Warriors and their attendant Fireblade for all the buffs.  I took ten Pathfinders with rail rifles for those markerlights and mortal wounds.  I took a Hammerhead for the big gun and I took a Ghostkeel for the fusion collider and three Stealth Suits for holding objectives low-key (it didn't work as they always died first).  And then I took suits.  Lots of suits.

  A Riptide with the Ion super-cannon led the charge and it turns out they aren't the tarpit trap they used to be.  And I'm still trying to determine the best weapon loadout (more on that later).  There were three Broadsides, along for the move-and-shoot railguns that toss out mortal wounds.  I took an Enforcer commander with a missile pod and a couple of plasma rifles (not too bad so far).  But he was there simply to buff the THREE units of Crisis suits, all manta-striking to take advantage of that Mont'ka range bonus.     

  This is where the deliberations come in- the weapon loadouts for all the suits.  Every one of the weapon systems for the suits are awesome.  You can ignore line-of-sight, reach out at long range, blast those hordes, slag vehicles, and mow down mobs.  There doesn't seem to be any obvious options anymore as in previous editions.  My Riptide may need the plasma rifles replacing the fusion- I used to novacharge my shield for the 3+ invulnerable save and tarpit enemies, so being up close was my tactic.  But that changes this edition and I may want to consider range again.  My battlesuits are all armed similarly but with slight specialties.  All of them come with shield generators, flamer, and missile pod.  But one unit specializes in anti-tank with fusion blasters, one specializes against hordes with burst cannons, and the last specializes in killing characters with plasma rifles.  This gave me the chance to test most of the weapons and...  I still haven't figured it out!

From CGTrader

  That's a kudos for the internal balance of at least the options in the codex- great job designers!  This new version of the codex is much more fun to plan and play than the last (8th edition), and that's cool.  Oh, and those games I played- I tabled my enemies in three or four turns!  This book doesn't suck.  I need to un-cheeze my list somehow.  And we know there's another Xenos book on the way...

Happy Gaming!

It's the 'little things'

Well, I've finally done it.  I've finally decided to jump on the Tau bandwagon.  I got a Riptide and suddenly felt like I had everything I wanted for my Tau army.  Of course I want more stuff, but now I have everything I need to bring the army into the 'modern times'.  And I have realized some things while making my army lists.

You see, this army is definitely a 'meta-breaker' for the current edition.  Tau make the flyer-heavy armies weep a bit, bring horde armies to their knees as a matter of course, and even pretty much destroy the concept of close combat for those opponents so inclined.  Some of the most veteran of gamers have found the Tau difficult to manage with their 'normal' armies.  But that doesn't make the Tau unbeatable.  In fact, the Tau have some very distinct weaknesses that a smart opponent can take full advantage of.  It just takes a little bit of thought beforehand and understanding that the armies seen on the battlefields for the last couple of years are exactly what the Tau are designed to take on.

Conversely, Tau players have to be smart about what they take.  The army is not necessarily a 'finesse' army like the Eldars, but they aren't made for the mindless general either.  Funny enough, the most effective Tau army lists are the most 'generic' and basic versions out there.  The army isn't like Eldar or Marines, which both require a modicum (or more) of specialization to be effective.  The Tau army is already specialized (they shoot, and then they shoot some more.  And then they finish off by shooting), and can't really 'stretch' out of that theme.  So the fun with the army comes with making the army lists themselves and enjoying the options.

As I write my army lists, I find all these small details that can really be troublesome (or helpful).  And since I enjoy writing army lists so much already, this particular aspect makes it even more enjoyable.  Needless to say, I have been a happy camper for the last few days.  And hence the point of this blog!  So what are those little things?

Well, let's begin.  I want to start with one that was pointed out to me in an attempt to clarify a rule.  Tau vehicles have the option to carry a Point Defense Targeting Relay.  The upgrade allows the vehicle to fire Overwatch with all weapons of Strength 5 or less, and bestows the 'Supporting Fire' rule upon the tank.  Seems simple, right?  But what about the Drones?  Piranhas and Devilfish have a Burst Cannon attached to the vehicle and so this upgrade is useful.  But a Hammerhead or Skyray, or even the Devilfish if the option is taken, has Drones that are armed with twin-linked Burst Cannons or Pulse Carbines.  Does this upgrade help that?  No, and here's why.  In the 'Drones' section of the codex, it states that Drones are treated as 'embarked passengers'.  The main rulebook states that embarked passengers are allowed to fire at any unit charging the transport they're inside of.  My Tau buddy, who asked me the original question, and I agreed that this upgrade didn't really help those units.  There is a positive effect even for this instance, and that's the 'Supporting Fire' rule.  But it bears noting that most Tau vehicles will have few weapons to take advantage of that rule, and the Drone rules make this upgrade not necessary most of the time.  So save some points!  Spend them on more Fire Warriors...

Let's keep on the Drones.  Notice how there's more Drones?  I'm very happy about that.  I'm surprised that the Heavy Gun Drones didn't make it over from Forgeworld, but the variety is good nonetheless.  Better yet, the Drones became better in two main ways- 1. Gun Drones are now armed with the more effective Pulse Carbine.  The Pulse Carbine is no longer one shot, which a Drone fires at twin-linked BS 2; it's two shots!  That's double the firepower with an 18" gun of goodness.  And, 2. All Drones (of the normal types) are Toughness 4.  This matters hugely for a few reasons.  Atop that list of reasons is that it makes Drone Squadrons actually valuable units.  For arguably too-many points, a unit of Gun Drones or even Shield Drones can be dropped onto the battlefield and irritate Space Marine players everywhere.  After all, Bolters needing '4's' to wound anything that's not a battlesuit can be rather frustrating.  And frustrating the opponent is what any good general likes to do.

But there's something else to consider with that Toughness aspect- the Majority Toughness rule can make things a bit difficult for the Tau player.  You see, adding a couple Drones to a Fire Warrior squad means that those Drones suddenly count as Toughness 3.  Way to pay points for that extra Toughness that you'll rarely get to use!  If you add these 'normal' Drones to a Riptide battlesuit, you'll be limited to only ever taking one Drone.  Otherwise, that awesome 230-point monster is suddenly Toughness 4!  Which means that you'll almost never want to take anything other than the Shielded Missile Drones for the Riptide, since they're Toughness 6 as well.  Hmmm.  But what if you purchase Drones for the Iridium Armour-wearing Commander?  That +1 Toughness suddenly drops again back to Toughness 4!  Again, way to pay 25 points for a 2+ armour save and nothing else.  The moral of all this- Crisis suits and Broadsides are meant to take Drones, everything else will create some conflicts.  Curse you, Majority Toughness rule!

Speaking of the Iridium Amour- want to take a bodyguard squad?  Want to join the Commander to a Crisis team?  Thinking of taking those Drone upgrades?  Please remember that you'll be losing half of the benefit of the Iridium Armour upgrade.  The good thing is that the bodyguard unit has the 'Sworn Protector' rule, which means auto-passing 'Look out, sir!' rolls.  But when that 180-point HQ unit is only Toughness 4 (by majority rule) and can suddenly be insta-gibbed, that almost becomes necessary.  My Commander is seriously thinking of bestriding the battlefield alone and leaving the Drones at home.  In fact, I'm now convinced that a Shield Generator is almost required if I'm going to take the Iridium Armor.  And there goes 50 points...

Speaking of wargear, how about that 'Velocity Tracker' upgrade?  For not too many points at all, a unit of suits can be given the 'Skyfire' rule.  Here's the thing, though:  They get to CHOOSE whether they use Skyfire or not each time they shoot.  This is HUGE since anything with that rule is limited to snap-shooting at ground targets (ahem, Hydra!).  Flakk missiles be damned, the Tau actually mean it when they want to shoot at flyers.  I know this one may be a bit obvious and even taken advantage of, but it's worth mentioning anyway.  Target Lock comes in real handy here, too.

Now what about upgrades to suits again?  Since the release of the Tau way back in October of '01, Crisis Suits have been pretty commonly armed with Plasma Rifle/Missile Pods.  I, of course, followed this trend.  I even built a squad with Plasma Rifle/Burst Cannon, just to get that anti-infantry shooting to the max.  What did you almost never see on a suit's weapon-slots?  Well, the Flamer was super-rare, and the Fusion Gun was close behind.  Out of the five weapons that a Crisis suit had the option to take, it turns out that only three (and really only two) mattered to anyone.  And then the new codex gave a couple of buffs.  Burst Cannons got an extra shot, bringing them up to the level of the Plasma Rifles and Missile Pods.  On top of that, Fusion Guns received a boost in range, up to 18".  WHAT!!!  This is not a 'hidden gem' of the codex, but it made me have to redo one of my units of Crisis Suits.  I was willing to cut the well-glued weapons off my almost 10-year-old models just for that.  Now I have a unit rocking the Missile Pods and Fusion Guns, because...  just wow.  That's all there is to that.

Speaking of suit-weapons and Fusion Guns- what about those Stealth teams?  I have five of the old XV-15 suits (which I admittedly like better anyway), which meant that I never took advantage of the Fusion Gun upgrade.  But I sat back and did a little math-hammer (which you all know I hate) and here's the result:  By new rules, 5 Burst Cannons base should kill almost three Marines a turn (20 shots, 10 hits, 7 wounds, 2+ fails).  Replacing one Burst Cannon with a Fusion Blaster should kill the same amount (16 BC shots, 8 hits, 6 wounds, 2 fails; 1/2 FG hit, 1 wound, 1 dead).  And so I brought the almighty bone-saw out again and chopped one of the models up to slap a Fusion Gun on there.  My thinking is that I don't lose a measurable amount of infantry-killing power (assuming MEQ, of course), but I gain the ability to knock out a tank if needed.  I must admit that I'm a huge fan of the Fusion Guns these days...

I'm actually a bit sad about my Pathfinders.  Yes, I know I just jumped topics on you, but I was done, so keep up!  Anyway, here's the deal:  I bought a unit of Pathfinders (finally) back in '07 and made sure to add the three Rail Rifles.  Back then, Rail Rifles were Str 6, AP 3, and were heavy weapons.  Better, they all came with Target Locks.  So it gave my unit the ability to rock the Markerlights in one direction, and drop at least a marine in another.  Now- well, it's very different.  Rail Rifles are Str 6, AP 1 (!!!), and they're Rapid Fire.  That means the Rail Rifle is a great weapon now, and should scare the pants off those Terminators that sneak up (because that's what Terminators do, they sneak).  However, notice I didn't say anything about 'Target Lock'.  That's right, now the Rail Rifles MUST fire at the same target as the rest of the Pathfinders.  It's not a big thing, but it was one of my go-to tactics that I have to forget about now.  And that makes Jay a little sad.  But, admittedly, only a little.

I was also sad about my Kroot.  I swear that, for years, I was the only Tau player that actually liked Kroot.  I thought they were a fantastic counter-charge unit, as well as a very convenient ambush-from-the-treeline squad.  Plus, their Kroot Rifles gave them basically a Bolter to shoot, as well as an additional Str 4 attack in close combat.  For a unit with no armor and a low toughness, this was important.  But the new book took away the Kroot Rifle's blades, and dropped Kroot to being only Strength 3.  And all this only yielded a 1-point drop in cost.  Boooooo!  And then I kept reading.  And I read that Kroot may be armed with 'Sniper Rounds'.  Wait, so my Kroot can wound monsters, kill characters, and would cost the same as before?  In addition to that, I still have the option to outflank (even better if I have a Hound or five in with the squad) and use the Rapid Fire version?  Yes, please!  It also bears saying that there's nothing in the codex that indicates that Kroot can't take advantage of the Markerlights.  This plus Sniper plus Overwatch goodness, and I'm simply not seeing an issue.  Just remember, though, Kroot are NOT close-combat troops.

I could go into so many more things with this codex.  The wargear options are almost all totally useful, and the amount of options that every unit comes with is crazy when compared with most of the other armies in the game.  Hell, the good weapons in the book have options on how they can fire, even!  I enjoy the mental exercise that is making army lists.  I'm not trying to make the most broken combinations or find the list that works the best, I'm just seeing what kind of fun is to be had with some creative reading.  And, in the process, noticing some traps that someone else may not have noticed.  And for this, I have to thank GW for giving us a great book.  I haven't had this much fun in a while.

And now the Eldar are on the shelves...  Dammit, GW, let me catchup!  Let me know what kind of things you've noticed in the Tau codex yourselves.  Sharing is caring, after all.  :-)

Happy Gaming!

Die, Cow-things, Die!!!

I finally got to play my first game against the Tau codex this week, and I felt it would be nice to talk about it. So today, I'm going to go on about the battle and my impressions of the new book, plus any lessons I learned.  Don't get me wrong, there's not going to be a long-drawn out battle report of pictures like I normally do.  I just wasn't thinking about it at the time.  But I'm not going to let that stop me from espousing my thoughts.

First off, let me say how happy I am NOT to be painting Word Bearers right now.  I love my Chaos marines, but after these last many weeks of doing that all day, every day, I'm happy to take a break.  The fact that my buddy was willing to come over and roll some dice with me was a very welcome happenstance, and one that I hope to be wholly focused on for the next few weeks.  Let's hope real-life keeps its ugly head away long enough for that to happen.


Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about the armies.  My buddy brought his Tau and wanted to give it a good go.  It's a rather bog-standard list, taken wholly from the 'old days' but using the new rules just to see how it worked.  Here's what he brought:

HQ- Fireblade, (aka, the 'Warlord')
HQ- Ethereal, plus a shield drone
Troop- 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui rocking a Markerlight, a couple of gun drones
Troop- 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui rocking a Markerlight, a couple of gun drones
Troop- 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui rocking a Markerlight, a couple of gun drones
Troop- 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui rocking a Markerlight, a couple of gun drones, half Pulse Carbines
  mounted in a Devilfish
Troops- a bunch of Kroot with Sniper rounds
Elite- 3 Crisis suits with Plasma guns and Missile Pods, a couple of gun drones
Elite- 8 Stealth suits
Fast Attack- a bunch of gun drones
Heavy- 2 Broadside suits with Railguns and Smart missiles, plus some gun drones
Heavy- Hammerhead with Railgun
Heavy- Hammerhead with Ion Cannon

To face them, I brought a red army, but loyalist this time.  My buddy hates Blood Angels, and we wanted to test the 'ol 'assault vs. shooting' concept.  Plus, this gives him the chance to take his hatred out on my army and make us all happy.  Here's what I brought:

HQ- Captain with Thunderhammer and Infernus pistol, plus Jump Pack (also aka, the 'Warlord')
Troop- 10 Assault Marines with jump packs, Power Axe and Plasma pistol, Meltagun, Flamer
Troop-  10 Assault Marines with jump packs, Thunder Hammer, Meltagun, Flamer
Troop- 12 Death Company with jump packs, 2 Power Fists, 3 Power Swords
  joined by Lemartes
Elite-  Furioso with Blood Claws and extra armor
  mounted in a Drop Pod
Elite-  Sanguinary Priest with jump pack and Power Axe
Fast Attack- Baal Predator with Flamestorm cannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons, and Storm Bolter
Heavy- Predator Destructor with Heavy Bolter sponsons and Storm Bolter
Heavy- Vindicator

Hmmmm, I'm not seeing a comparable number here...  Please note that I didn't write his army list, so I don't exactly know what all he had on everything, but I do know that I wasn't terribly confident going into this battle.  So what happened?

We rolled up the deployment and scenario, and rolled our least favorite for both- 'Hammer and Anvil' and 'Relic.'  My buddy hates Relic with a vengeance, and you can understand how Tau would not enjoy that objective.  I, meanwhile, hate having to pay against a shooty army (and Tau are the definition of that, for sure) with so much ground between us.  This was not starting well.

We then rolled for deployment and first turn, and I won that roll-off.  Yay!  That would help a bit.  Night Fight?  Not today.  Booooo.  You win some, you lose some, I guess.  The Relic was deployed dead-center (of course), not that either of our armies were terribly worried about it.

 I deployed my forces on my 'side', placing the Predator in the middle and flanking it with each Assault Squad.  I attached the Captain to the squad hiding behind the Shrine of the Aquila and attached the Sanguinary Priest to the other and hiding behind a crystal forest.  My Vindicator was deployed on the far side of the Shrine, and with that my army was deployed.  The Furioso and his Drop Pod would arrive in Turn 1 (no choice in the matter there), while the Death Company would arrive by Deep Strike themselves.

My buddy deployed his Tau everywhere on the other side of the battlefield.  The Railgun-armed Hammerhead deployed on the far side of some ruins, while the Ion-cannon-armed one deployed opposite (therefore facing my Assault Squad and the Crystal Forest).  The ruins near the first Hammerhead were populated with a squad of Fire Warriors and the Ethereal, then another squad in the middle, with the Broadsides behind them for the screen.  In front of all that was the unit of Drones, screening everything.  The third squad of Fire Warriors was deployed between the Ion-cannoned Hammerhead, and the fourth stayed in their Devilfish and crept up behind a small building towards the middle.  His Stealth suits and Kroot both decided to stay behind and outflank me later.  Everything he deployed was so far back that I counted at least three turns before I'd be able to make contact.  That didn't bode well.  And that's not even considering the massive amount of outnumbering that I was witnessing.  Hmmm...

A roll to 'seize the initiative' and a failure, which led to a sigh of relief from me.  You see, our game group seems to have a habit of seizing, and it's actually rather surprising when it doesn't happen.  But I got to keep my first turn, and I planned on using that to the best of my ability.

I dropped the Furioso and his Drop Pod in the far back corner, right beside the Railgun-Hammerhead.  Shooting at the side armor with the underslung Meltagun, I cheated and hit (it's in the rulebook that melta-weapons always miss), penetrated easily, and blew the vehicle to bits.  That was a great start.  The actual turn started off with me rushing the Vindicator forward and 'popping smoke.'.  The Destructor rumbled up 6", preparing to shoot every weapon.  My buddy was a bit annoyed by the fact that I had a ton of fast vehicles. But it's what we do.  Letting loose at the closest Drones in the squadron, I dropped half the squad with Autocannon and Heavy Bolter shells.  Both units of Assault Marines leapt forward and then ran, but neither understood that running is supposed to be fast.  They each only moved 2".  And with that, my turn was over.

The Tau answered by scooting the Ion Cannon into line of sight of my now-visible Assault Marines, fired, and killed a whole one.  The Crisis team jumped foward and fired and killed one more.  'Feel no Pain' is a helluva rule!  The rest of the Tau turned out to be too far away, and only the Drones could shoot and drop an Assault Marine.  That may have been a tactical mistake on my buddy's part, but it was one I was willing to accept.  After all, a free turn to rush forward, unmolested by massive firepower?  Yes, please!  The Furioso, now screened by a crater and some ruins, was shot by a bunch of markerlights and then the Broadsides.  But the shells weren't primed and they simply bounced off his armour.  My buddy was getting even more annoyed, and I apologized about the codex being good.  His hatred, I'm sure, isn't abating anytime soon.  Meanwhile, the Fire Warriors nearby and the ones in the ruins moved as far as they could to get away from the armoured behemoth stomping in their direction.  Some jump-jet moves and the Crisis team and Drone squad were backed up into the rest of the army.  It wasn't as bad a start as I expected.

Then my 'autowin' happened- the Death Company arrived (and that's without my reserve reroll) right behind the Crisis unit and Devilfish and shot their bolt pistols at the Crisis squad.  Some great accuracy was equaled out by some terrible wounding, and his good armour saves saw only one wound being suffered.  Oh well, that's not what Death Company are for.  The Baal Predator refused to show up.  No problem, the Death Company have this.  My Destructor rushed foward another 6", ready to shoot some drones but instead shooting some Fire Warriors that happened to be in the open and killing some.  The Vindicator rushed forward and took a 'hull-down' position behind a hill on the far side, and launched the massive shell right into the Tau lines.  A poor scatter on my part saw the template fall away from the Crisis squad, and the Devilfish, and the Fire Warriors near that, and finally settle on some Drones.  Two died.  That's right.  An anti-siege shell the size of a marine shoots and kills... two Drones.  Bad Vindie, bad!  The Furioso stomped into the Fire Warriors in front of the ruins, more than confident that he could wipe the unit out.  My buddy predicted five dead.  I rolled, got one hit and killed one (crushing the puny xenos in my claw), and rolled for the next only to miss.  Um, bad Furioso, bad!?  No worries, the Ethereal hadn't made his troops stubborn this round and the squad fled from combat.  The Furioso happily cosolidated through the ruins and stood menacingly behind another unit of Fire Warriors and the Ethereal...  Meanwhile, the Assault Squads rush up some more, do a little running, and are now wholly visible and still a turn from assaulting.  I'm not worried.  In fact, I have the look of 'smug' all over my face now.  After all, how are Tau supposed to compete with Death Company?

 His Kroot are stuck at the same Starbucks as my Baal Predator, so fail to show up in Turn 2.  But the Stealth team is on-point and arrive on my side and position themselves to shoot up my Predator's side armour.  Some unlucky dice and my buddy only succeeded in stripping away a single hull-point.  The Destructor's TC probably chuckled to himself as he had no plans at all of staying.  "Forward for the Emperor!" isn't just a warcry for the Angels of Baal...  The Broadsides tried to shoot the Dreadnought, only to find nothing good for it.  A unit of Fire Warriors surrounded the Furioso and then charged, hoping to plant some grenades.  But they forgot the EMP grenades at home and then watched as the Furioso literally shredded the entire unit (there were 9 by this point, and I killed 18 after the dice stopped rolling.  It easily made up for last turn).  The other unit, with the Fireblade and Ethereal, shot at the onrushing Assault Squad led by the Captain and wiped half the enemy out, then ran as far away as they could, now seeing that the armoured behemoth wasn't something they could handle.  The Devilfish disgorged the fourth unit of Fire Warriors and, teaming up with the Crisis team and nearby Drones, shot the other unit of Assault Marines until none were left standing except the Sanguinary Priest.  Uh oh, now I'm starting to get a little worried.  No problem, I still have the Death Company.  Until a shrill 'whine' was raised across the battlefield as the surviving Hammerhead's Ion Cannon overcharged and a massive blast exploded right on top of my newly-arrived black-armoured unit.  Not a single '1' rolled, and 'Feel no Pain' no good against instant death, I watched as all except Lemartes himself were vaporized.  And Lemartes was finished off with some simple shots from Drones.  The whole unit, gone.  Now I have a big problem.

My third turn started off with less than half a squad of Assault Marines and a bunch of tanks standing.  Rolling for my Baal, it seemed that he still didn't want to show up.  Curse you, Baal!  So what little I had left would have to do. And I had very little left.  With my 'autowin' dead, I figured I was on the road to 'auto-lose'.  My buddy was less confident of his victory as well, considering that I'd effectively killed half his army with a model that he couldn't handle, and was rushing a couple more tanks at him with the same armour value.  I didn't think about that.  But the game was only half over, so on to the action.  My Destructor continued to trundle forward and shot most of the Fire Warriors from the Fireblade and Ethereal's ad-hoc bodyguard.  The Vindicator crested the hill and fired his Demolisher cannon, killing more Fire Warriors and even splattering both Broadsides.  The Furioso fired his weapons at the Fire Warriors trying to position themselves away, only to find that the Shas'ui was the closest target.  It may not have been a big kill, but it was a kill nonetheless.  A failed charge roll, and the Dreadnought stood there, biding his time.  The remaining Assault Marines, now joined by the Sanguinary Priest, jumped over the building and stared menacingly at the Crisis team and un-assed Fire Warriors.  Shooting their pistols and then charging both units, it turned out to be a terrible idea.  My buddy rolled horrible for his overwatch and supporting fire and everything made it into combat.  My character-laden unit accounted for two dead Fire Warriors, a single dead Drone, and no Crisis suits even scratched.  In return, he killed a single marine and wounded the Captain, leaving two marines and the two characters alive.  The results may have been in my favour, but it still seemed that I lost a combat against Tau.  Really?  I mean, really?  Stupid defensive grenades.  That's okay, the Fire Warriors ran away and my squad was safely stuck in combat against the Crisis suits.

His third turn saw the Kroot arrive and sneak behind the Shrine of the Aquila, probably thinking to take the relic when the time came.  I noted that, but also noted that I couldn't see the unit to shoot at them.  His Stealth suits moved to shoot the rear armour of my advancing Destructor, failing to do anything.  The dice were in my favour so far.  The fleeing Fire Warriors (the ones that escaped destruction at the hands of the Furioso) rallied and snuck foward, ready to take advantage of some support fire in case my squad made it that far.  And his bodyguard Fire Warriors snuck back a little further, trying to stay out of range of the advancing tanks and flanking Dreadnought.  Some shooting and few results, and it all came down to the combat.  The remaining Drones and a couple more (from the Devilfish) dove into combat to save their Crisis Commanders, but they died and even the Crisis suits went down.  In the process, one of the final two marines was dispatched.  Only the Shas'el remained to face down a marine, a Sergeant with a Thunderhammer, a Sanguinary Priest, and the Captain, locking my unit down for another turn.  It was great timing for my buddy, but the end-result was more than a little predictable.  The game was definitely in my favour now.

My turn, and finally the Baal arrives.  It rolls onto the field behind the rallied Fire Warriors and wipes out all but three of them with the Flamestorm cannon and bolter-weaponry.  Glorious fire!  And with that, the xenos fled again.  Of course, I would have too under that much firepower.  The Destructor fired at the remaining unit of Fire Warriors and killed all but the Fireblade and Ethereal, while the Dreadnought stomped forward and fired, killing the Fireblade.  I had now taken the 'Slay the Warlord' objective.  A great charge roll into the Ethereal and his Shield Drone, and it was done.  I had now gotten the extra objective point from that.  The Vindicator shifted its attention to the Stealth team and rolled towards the Shrine to shoot at them, and felled two.  It wasn't enough, but it was something.  Finally, the Captain and his unit finished off the Crisis Commander and consolidated backwards.  The Sanguinary Priest and Sergeant  had the plan to split off and start flying toward the Shrine themselves, while the Captain would run over to attack the remaining Hammerhead.  There were no Tau left in his deployment zone (other than the two survivors fleeing and the Hammerhead), and the Blood Angels owned the battlefield by now.  The game was now a matter of 'moral victories' for the Tau, and wipe-out of the xenos by the Imperials.

My buddy, now having to make some great calculations and try to pull it out, realized that the best he could get was a 'draw.'  He started by ramming his Devilfish into the front armour of the Baal Predator, which actually damaged the Devilfish and left the marine tank unharmed.  Now we know how that rule works...  The Stealth team fired at the rear armor of the Destructor and finally felled it, leaving the relic in the middle completely unguarded.  The Hammerhead turned his attention to the last few Assault Marines (a couple of characters and a dood), and again overcharged the Ion Cannon to let loose a massive explosion right in their ranks.  Some Smart Missiles flew their way as well, but unfortunately the consolidate move had spread the unit far enough apart that only the Sergeant fell, leaving three models now.  The fleeing Fire Warriors were tired of the mayhem and slaughter and simply fled from the battlefield, leaving little hope for the xenos.  4 objective points for the Blood Angels (Slay the Warlord, First Blood, Ethereal, and Line-breaker) and only 1 for the Tau (Line-breaker), the last hope was to grab the relic at the end of the game.

The Furioso turned and began the long trek back to the Shrine of the Aquila, following the Sanguinary Priest and his marine escort.  The Vindicator rushed up and tried to shoot the Stealth team again, killing none as the xenos had advantage of the ruins AND the suits they wore.  The Baal rushed over as well, hoping to eventually get close enough to fry some aliens, but not this round.  Finally, the Captain jumped towards the Hammerhead, where he loosed a melta shot into it and stunned it, just in time to hit it with his Thunderhammer and smash it out of the sky.  Another explosion and another wound (and no 'Feel no Pain'), leaving the Captain bloody and nearly spent himself.  But nothing had changed so far.

His Devilfish rammed the exposed rear armor of the Baal and caused no damage at all.  The Stealth suits fired into the side armour and stripped a hull-point from the Vindicator, and the team joined as the Kroot jumped out and charged the vehicles, hoping to get the extra move and even get lucky and kill a tank, but it wasn't enough.  All hope was lost.  The Blood Angels were closing in and there was nothing left to do but quit the battlefield.

The game ended with the Blood Angels winning 4-0, since the Kroot had quit the deployment zone to try and grab the objective.  But the game was a great one.  It was certainly a win, but it didn't feel like it until the last two 'lucky' turns.  Until that point, I didn't think I had a chance.  Especially after the Death Company were killed very easily.  But it worked out, so I'll take it.  This game was less about winning and more about 'trying stuff out', so let's talk about what we learned:


First, I was reminded that no game is over until the game is over.  I'm a good sport in good games, but it depends more on the opponent than the game.  Luckily, my buddy is an oooooold friend and I enjoy playing him.  This game was the opposite of the last time we played, where he monkey-stomped me without breaking a sweat. This one went my way, and was still a great time.

Secondly, we determined that the Blood Angel codex doesn't suck.  The Tau may be the 'new era of cheeze', but the Blood Angels haven't disappeared for the 'scene'.  The Tau codex is very good as an entire army, but the BA have just as much cheese, only focused more in individual units.


We also learned that Tau don't have the ability to deal with heavy armour.  The fact that I had 4 AV13 models on the field, and killed the ONE true Railgun in the army, meant that he couldn't take that stuff down. The Tau need the EMP grenades and multiple Hammerheads with Railguns.  Otherwise, it's all a risk of having to get just the right angle with just the right weapons at just the right times.  And we all know about the Tau's 'missile-spam', but that means little to heavy armour.


We learned that deep-striking armies have a major advantage.  There's the whole idea of the Tau's long-range, high strength, multiple-shot firepower.  But jumping right into their face mitigates a ton of that, and forces them to have to deal with the threat RIGHT NOW or die.  Anyone trying to play the 'footslog' or 'long-range' game will find themselves outclassed quickly.

My buddy also got to witness some rather interesting tactical decisions on my part.  Anyone playing against the Tau need to choose their targets wisely, and use firing angles to mitigate the chance of supporting fire.  Despite his poor dice-rolls, it still hurt every time I tried to assault anything.  Some smart shooting and great placement of templates can ruin the whole aspect of the supporting fire rule and make the Tau far less scary.  I also got to witness some interesting decisions of the opposite nature on his part.  With jump-jets and good movement, he was able to keep his support fire lanes together rather well.  It should be noted here, on a side note, that the 'countermeasures' upgrade can be really valuable.  I'm happy I didn't have to face that on Plasma gun-armed Crisis suits this time.

And finally, we learned that the Tau are a real hassle to play against.  There were no real upgrades, no Riptides, and no Pathfinders from the new codex that I had to worry too much about in this game.  The next time we play, he may have the Riptide and Pathfinder-spam that I'm so worried about.  I may have won this battle this time, but I was playing against modified 'old and busted', with the 'new hotness' still to be seen.  Oh man.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this rather long and un-illustrated battle report.  Let me know your experience against the new Tau.

Happy Gaming!