Evolution Games 1500 pt Tournament

Iron hands
Space Marines
Take Revenge!!!

I drove out to Lansing two weeks ago for their 1500 pt 40K Tournament.  It was the week after Marmalade Dog in Kalamazoo and I almost didn't go.  In fact I had made up my mind to skip it till I realized Jen was having a bunch of ladies over that day to discuss wedding plans.. Suddenly driving and hour to lose 3 games of 40K seemed like a pretty good idea. :)

For my list I decided to try something new (bad idea, never take an un-tested list to a tournament), so I ran a Farsight enclave with out any bodyguard.  I know, I know, why take Farsight without the huge bodyguard you wonder?  Points.. The Farsight bomb is a points hog, so I thought I'd try attaching he and a Shas'O along with Eldrad to a unit of Broadsides.  Everyone attacks them as soon as they can anyway, so I thought they could be the bait, and Farsight could be the hook..  My list looked like this: (sorry bout the lengthy format, I haven't figure a good way to get all the details out of arm builder without heavy manual editing)

1500 Pts - Tau Empire Roster
Total Roster Cost: 1498

HQ: Commander Shas'o (1#, 175 pts)
   1 Commander Shas'o, 175 pts = (base cost 75 + Ejection System 15 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Iridium Armour 20 + Stimulant Injector 10 + Missile Pod 12 + Plasma Rifle 20 + Vectored Retro-thrusters 10)

HQ: Commander Farsight (1#, 170 pts)
   1 Commander Farsight, 170 pts

HQ: Eldrad Ulthran (1#, 210 pts)
   1 Eldrad Ulthran (HQ) [EL], 210 pts

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (1#, 53 pts)
   1 Crisis Battlesuit, 53 pts = (base cost 25 + Twin Linked Fusion Blaster 18 + Targeting Array 10)

Troops: Fire Warrior (9#, 90 pts)
   9 Fire Warrior, 90 pts = 9 * 10

Troops: Fire Warrior (9#, 90 pts)
   9 Fire Warrior, 90 pts = 9 * 10

Troops: Pathfinders (Rangers) (5#, 120 pts)
   5 Pathfinders (Rangers) (Troops) [EL], 120 pts = 5 * 24 (base cost 19 + Pathfinders 5)

Heavy Support: Dark Reapers (5#, 197 pts)
   4 Dark Reapers (Heavy) [EL], 140 pts = 4 * 35
      1 Dark Reaper Exarch [EL], 57 pts = (base cost 47 +  Crack Shot  10)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 308 pts)
   1 Broadside Battlesuit, 108 pts = (base cost 70 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Twin Linked Plasma Rifle 10 + Targeting Array 10 + Team Leader 5)
      1 Broadside Battlesuit, 85 pts = (base cost 70 + Twin Linked Plasma Rifle 10 + Multi-Tracker 5)
      1 Broadside Battlesuit, 85 pts = (base cost 70 + Twin Linked Plasma Rifle 10 + Target Lock 5)
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

: Aegis Defence Lines (2#, 85 pts)
   1 Aegis Defence Lines, 50 pts
      1 Gun Emplacement, 35 pts = (base cost 0 + Icarus Lascannon 35)

Game One:

The tournament was 3 games as usual, and on turn one I was paired off against a Grey Knights Player.  After Marmalade Dog I was not looking forward to playing another Dread Knight army, but at least this time I was prepared as I knew what they were capable of.  Fortunately my opponent turned out to be a very nice guy and we had a great game unlike my prior experience. 

He ran a list that included Coteaz and 2 Dread Knights, a Storm Eagle, 2 grey knight squads that split into 4 squads on deployment, a Dreadnaught, and a bunch of henchmen.

I won the roll off for deployment which was dawn of war, and we had 5 objectives.  I deployed behind the Aegis line with my command blob initially, along with the Dark Reapers, the Ranger pathfinders infiltrated, and I held my 2 firewarrior teams in reserve and the Monat Crisis suit was in reserve deepstriking.

He deployed the Dreadnaught, Coteaz and one henchman team into an ice formation with a LOS blocking hill between they and my Command/Broadsides team, the other henchmen went behind a wall to my right, and the Dread Knights, Storm Eagle, and Grey Knight Squads were reserved deepstriking and the Storm Eagle flew on.

I used Eldrads diviniation ability to move the command team to the left to get LOS to his command team/dreadnaught.

Turn one: Eldrad cast perfect timing on the command squad.  The pathfinders shot some henchman who were attached to Coteaz, and the Broadsides targeted the Dreadnaught while the Shas'o fired his missle pods at Coteaz as well.  The broadsides exploded the dread which also killed 4 or so henchman, Coteaz roled box cars and he and his unit fell off the board.  First Blood, and slay the warlord for me.

With nothing but some henchman left on the board, my opponent kept their heads down and waited for reserves:

Turn Two:  My crisis suit came in, but sadly I was running him with TL-Fusion + Targeting array instead of the usual FB + TL-Flamer.. With only one shot, and no ability to assault, I played it safe and placed him near the ice formation coteaz had been in rather than throwing him away on the henchman.  With nothing else on the board, I moved then ran my command squad to get them in the open.  They have good saves, and I didn't want his reserves being able to claim cover saves in case my "perfect timing" didn't go off..   I moved the rangers around just in case.

.

His reserves showed up on turn 2 except for the Dread Knights thank goodness.  I fired interceptor fire at the Storm Eagle I believe, but failed to glance even with the Icarus str 9.  He put a lot of shooting into my command squad, but only managed to kill a shield drone and 1 broadside.  The henchman hid.









Turn Three: My firearriors both showed up, and I came on too focus fire on the nearest GK squad.  Eldrad used misfortune(?) on the two right GK squads causing them to re-roll successfull saves.  The firewarriors both shot the right most squad wiping out all but one man, the Dark Reapers having fired interceptor fire with the icarus all focused on the next GK squad taking them down too two men I believe, and the command squad split fire all over the place like jackholes.  It worked alright, and when I was done I had killed all but 4 GK's, but unfortuneatly came up short on my assault distance, meaning I'd be open to shooting from the Storm Eagle, and the Dread Knights if they arrived.

One of the Dread Knights arrived on turn three,
and the Storm Eagle moved up.  The GK's maneuvered around and the henchman hid guarding their objective.  The storm eagle unloaded with a barrage of fire including a psychic missile of some kind which Eldrad made the save against, then proceeded to die to generic weapons fire.  To bad as I could of used his staff in the following turn.  The Dread Knight did what Dread Knights do and fired his flamer wiping out most of a firewarrior team, and some Dark Reapers.


Turn 4:  Thinking that with Farsights blade ignoring armor that I could take out the dread knight I split fire to take care of some more GK's then assaulted the dread knight..  Oops.. Turns out that Str 5 vs T6 means I only wound on 5's.. and with even WS's that equates to about 1 wound even on the charge.

Game:  With my command squad tied in assault he flew over and wiped out the pathfinders, his other DK came in and wiped out most of the other firewarriors etc.. etc..  I lost..  I don't recall the score but I doubt it was pretty.  It was a good game though and I voted him my favorite opponent of the day due to his managing to play GK's without being a tool.  OK, other than the GK's, he was a nice guy all around.

Game 2:

I was matched up against a Tyranids player whom I had met previously in Battle Creek (of course I can't remember his name).  He had previously played Tau, and was relatively new to nidz so his army was still unpainted.

Deployment was Vanguard Strike, and the mission was kill points..  At least it wouldn't matter if my firewarriors died as there were no objectives for them to hold.

I won the role off and chose to go first and deployed to the right behind the "Taugis" defense line again.  I deployed everything but the firewarriors this time as there was no reason to go to the nidz as I knew they were coming my way.  The scouts would infiltrate. 

He deployed and I had bubkiss for LOS from the big guns.  He had a squad of genesteelers deployed foreward, and while I did not wanting them getting in an assault, I chose to infiltrate to the right, then move my command squad to the center so I could shoot at a Tervigon turn one

Turn One:  I shot at the Tervigon with the command blob and at a tyranofex with the quad gun.  I generated a couple wounds but nothing to speak of.

He moved up the genesteelers, and spawned some gaunts, then moved everything up.

He declared a charge with the steelers and I shot them in the face a lot such that he failed his distance roll..

Turn 2:  I forgot to take pictures at the top of it, one firewarrior squad came in, and I wiped out all but one genesteeler, killed a Tervigon and a bunch of termagaunts from backlash, gained first blood. And that was about it.. At this point I was winning pretty well though with something like 4 victory points due to the broodlord, tervigon, some termigaunts and first blood.  This is pretty much were the game went south and my dice abandoned me.

His Tyranofex?  Came in right by my command squad, he moved up his flyrant, spawned more gaunts and moved everything else towards my lines.  His flyrant/warlord was packing some crazy shooty thing with like 24 shots or something and pretty much tore up my rangers.  They went to ground.  Some shooting occured over by my defense line, don't recall what went down, but not a lot.

Turn 3:  I got my other firewarriors and stupidly placed them near his warlord.  I was hoping that with a torrent of fire I could bring it down.. Not so much..  I shot a bunch to little effect.

He shot up my firewarriors, assaulted my dark reapers and moved up to assault my command squad with his tervigon.

Game:  It went on for a turn or two more, but in the end much as before the toughness of the MC's meant I was unable to do any significant wounds and he could crush me with AP2 smash attacks..  I don't recall score but I believe it ended up a tie.

Game 3:

 For game 3 I was matched up against Brian and his Iron Hands Space Marines.  I'd played Brian once before at GVSU and have a report up about that game.  We had rolled the Relic and combined with some unfortunate terrain and some lucky/unlucky dice depending on the side of the table you were on, I had beat him pretty handily.  This day Brian would have his revenge (it also makes a catchy title and sounds better than "The Tau lose again").

The deployment was hammer and anvil, which usually favors my army, we had 5 objectives, and I again deployed first.  Wanting to ensure first blood, I infiltrated the rangers into his deployment zone so I could get a clear shot at a razorback then used Eldrads divination to move the command blob over for a good shot at his predator.  It was a good plan until he seized the initiative.

Turn 1:  Brian shot the heck out of my rangers with his assault squad and razorback, wiping them out and earning first blood.  Elsewhere his drop pod and dreadnaught dropped in for a visit.

I moved forward with farsight and my shas'o contemplating breaking off to cross the board, but my difficult terrain roll stunk so I stayed with the team.  I wrecked a Razorback but failed to destroy the predator.

Turn 2: His warlord arrived with a squad of assault terminators and he started moving forward with the right razorback and assault marines.   The dreadnaught chased stuff.

Unfortunately I forgot about my camera at this point due to the intensity of the game and thus I failed to get any more pictures.  My firewarriors showed up and my crisis suit deep struck in behind the predator to no effect.  I moved over with the command blob and shot up the terminators and challenged his warlord I think.  Eventually I beat the remaining terminators and killed his warlord but that would be the only VP I would gain this game.  He quickly dispatched my Monat crisis suit and claimed all three objectives on his end.  Due to the dreadnaught I was pretty well stuck in my deployment zone and while I eventually popped it with a railgun, the damage was done.  His assault squad closed in and contested my objective and he won easily.

Good Game Brian, sorry I wasn't more of a challenge.

In summation, the Farsight gambit sort of worked, but at the same time failed miserably.  Lacking the strength to deal with T6 he was outclassed in two out of 3 assaults.  The broadsides are lousy in assault themselves but they did provide some good armor saves as did Eldrads 3++ invuln save and his own 4++..  If I had drawn the ork player it might have been nice with the prefered enemy, but for the points I should probably have dumbed down the command squad and taken 2 more broadsides, or something more aggressive like some warp spiders.