Hena's second game in charge of Tau see's him taking on some Guard.
Rules Used
Core rules with 2008 errata/faq.
Tau 5.1
Armies.
Tau
Battlesuit Cadre + Shas'O
Battlesuit Cadre
Firewarrior Cadre + Devilfish + Pathfinders
AMHC + Skyray (BTS)
Broadsides
Pathfinders
Kroot
Stingrays
Stingrays
Scorpionfish
Barracuda
Guard
Regimental HQ + Hydra
Leman Russ company + Hydra
Infantry Company
Shadowsword
Shadowsword
Manticores
Basilisk
Sentinels
Warhound
Warhound
Deployment.
For one everything bar the barracuda's will be on the board to start!
Tau Garrison the Broadsides and kroot of the eastern objective, both on
overwatch.
Guard place the Infantry company in the ruins in the centre of the
table. The Sentinels string out between the objectives, both on overwatch.
Remaining setup shown below
Turn One.
Initiative - Guard
With relish the General calls for an alpha strike from his artillery. The manticores all fire, and a massive salvo of missiles descend on the AMHC, with the Crisis suits caught in the beaten zone too. 3 tanks and 2
crisis suits are hit. Hena now proceeds to roll 5 1's for saves! Both formations are broken.
The basilisks are ordered to sustain fire but require confirmation from the general (SC reroll). They target Stingray-1, only hit once but it's enough to destroy the tank (hena threw yet another 1 for the save!).
The kroot are ordered to engage and they move into cover, bring one sentinel into range. The overwatch fire can only place a blast marker and the sentinel is destroyed with no damage to the kroot. They win by two leaving one sentinel to break into the woods, needing its walker reroll to survive the trees!
The broadsides decide that the shadowsword looking straight at them has
to go. They sustain fire, hitting it 5 times causing 1 DC damage that
does not go critical.
Shadowsword one decides to marshal, but the crew can't co-ordinate and
break themselves! The tank moves forward.
The Pathfinders double forward (complaining all the time about how slow
their transports are!). They light up shadowsword one and launch
missiles. 1 hit is followed by snake eyes on the save roll. The second
point of DC done again does not go critical (yes, another 1 rolled!).
Knowing that leaving the shadowsword lit is a bad plan Warhound-1 is
ordered to double forward and take the pathfinders with all its weapons.
The MW is shot at units in the open while the mega bolters hit the
infantry. 2 pathfinders and both devilfish are destroyed and the
pathfinders break into the nearby ruins.
With vengeance in mind the Shas'O doubles forward and opens up on the
warhound. As the dust settles they crisis suits realise they have
missed. They jump back a little into some buildings.
Shadowsword-2 advances and uses it titan killing volcano cannon to fry
some kroot.
Stingray-1 marshal, move forward a little and remove all the blast markers.
The order for the russes to sustain fire causes confusion. In the end 8
tanks fire their battle cannons at the kroot but the lone hit scored is
saved.
The firewarriors double forward to the middle of the battlefield, ready
for next turn.
The infantry company dig in a little deeper and return to overwatch.
The scorpionfish is ordered onto overwatch, but misunderstands and just
removes blast marker.
Warhound-2 advances down the road and fires all its weapons at the
firewarriors. 2 firewarriors and 1 pathfinder are destroyed.
The Barracuda's enter the field of battle to hit the lit warhound-2. 2
hits strip the titan's shields.
The regimental HQ doubles forward to face off the firewarriors. after 24
dice are thrown, 2 hits are scored and one firewarrior dies!
Stingrays-2 sustains fire at the marked Reg HQ! 4 hits kill 3 guardsmen
and 1 chimera.
End Phase.
The barracuda's exit over the Reg HQ hydra, one hit is not enough as the
plane jinks to avoid the damage.
Rallying
Tau
Pass - AMHC, Crisis, Pathfinder, Kroot, Firewarriors
Fail -
Guard
Pass - Reg HQ, Warhound-2, Leman Russ, Warhound-1
Fail - Sentinel, Shadowsword-1
Turn Two
Initiative - Tau
Stingray-2 sustains fire at the Reg HQ. 5 hits kill one chimera and 3
guardsmen.
Shas'O retains to sustain fire at Warhound-1. 3 AT and 4 MW hits see the
scout titan fall to the ground destroyed.
The basilisk are ordered to sustain fire and target the kroot. 4 are
hit, including the master shaper. But the buildings shelter them and
only one unit is killed.
The firewarriors are ordered to advance. They move to unmask the
devilfish and open up on the Reg HQ. All the remaining infantry are
killed, leaving the Supreme Commander and commissar to break to the
guard baseline.
Shadowsword-2 advances and uses its titan killing weapon to destroy a
pathfinder. The broken pathfinder fleas into cover.
The broadsides hold place and open fire at the Russes. 6 tanks are hit
but only one tank and the hydra are destroyed.
Warhound-2 sustains at the firewarriors. 3 hits kill 3 blue skins
leaving them one bm short of breaking.
The crisis formation march to get into a position for turn 3.
The leman russes shuffle forward a little and lob battle cannon shells
at the kroot killing one more.
The kroot are told to marshal but don't understand, the Shas'O has a
word and confusion ensues! The formation removes all blast markers.
The infantry company double forward and take two shots at the
firewarriors. One more unit is killed and the formation broken.
The AMHC double forward. The rail cannons sparked and high velocity
penetrators fly at Warhound-2 who's only void shield is dropped.
The manticores heavy bolter gunners go on overwatch while the missile
crews reload.
Stingray-1 double forward and target Shadowsword-1, but all the
missiles miss the tank!
The scorpionfish is ordered to sustain fire but it refuses. Shoots MW
missiles anyway at Shadowwsord-1. The single hit can't penetrate the war
engines thick hide.
The barracuda's stand down and the turn is done.
End Phase
No planes to exit!
Rallying
Tau
Pass - Firewarriors, Crisis, Scorpionfish, AMHC
Fail - Pathfinders
Guard
Pass - Warhound-2, Reg HQ, Leman Russ
Fail - SS-1, Sentinel
Turn Three
Initiative - Tau
Stingray-1 double forward to light up the manticores. They hold their
overwatch. The missiles fly but all miss.
The broadsides again open up on the russes. 4 are hit, but none are killed!
The manticores are ordered to sustain fire but the proximity of the
enemy confuses them and the supreme commander can't get them to fire.
They remove bm.
AMHC advances after some encouragement from the Shas'O. They fire at
Warhound-2. 3 hits take down a shield and do 2 points of dc!. The broken
war engine runs away.
Another set of orders goes wrong as the infantry company fails to
double. They shoot ineffectively at the crisis team.
The electrical storm overhead is making orders impossible to relay and
the scorpionfish misses its order to double. It advances instead.
Finally an order is received and Shadowsword-2 doubles forward and fires
all its weapons at the Shas'O. One crisis suit unit is killed.
The Shas'O now moves forward to attack Shadowsword-2. The fusion blaster
hits in crossfire doing one damage point and breaking the war engine. It
moves deeper into enemy territory.
The Reg HQ is ordered to double but fail! BM's are removed.
The barracudas move in to hit the manticores. One hit kills one
artillery piece and breaks them.
The basilisk fail to sustain fire and remove bm.
The firewarriors fail in sympathy and remove 1 bm!
The leman russes fail to sustain fire, but blaze away at the kroot
anyway. 3 hits fail to kill any.
The guard are out of activations.
The kroot march to take the guard blitz.
The crisis try to advance but break themselves!
Stingray-2 are ordered to advance, fail, but they move anyway. They
conga out to try and hold 2 objectives. They pass their terrain test and
hold both objectives.
End Phase
Barracudas leave free.
Rallying
The only rallying that matters is the Shadowsword deep in enemy
territory. It rallies!
Score
Tau 2 (Blitz, Hold the line) - Guard 0.
