Tau vs Guard 1500 League Rematch

P.S.  This is the BOMB!

Farsight Drops
the Bomb!

Tonight I had the opportunity to replay one of my 2 1500 pt league matches after a rules snafu by my opponent had invalidated the original result.  We both ran the same lists per the league rules, and convienantly, we rolled the same mission (the relic) and deployment (Vanguard Strike) as we had played in the first game.

IGWarlord won the rolloff to deploy terrain first (per league rules, all terrain is placed, then there is a roll off to choose sides/deploy first, at which time fortifications can be placed).  The terrain was laid out with me ensuring that no corner of the board had total LOS blocking terrain in it for him to hide his two Colossus Artillery tanks in.  Once the terrain was placed, we rolled off and I won the chance to deploy/choose sides first.  Given that one corner had almost no terrain in it, I did the obligatory douchebag thing and stuck him with that corner, and I took the other (hey, he was the one that put the two pieces of lousy terrain in that corner in the first place..)  We also rolled for night fighting on turn one.

I deployed my troops, consisting of the following:

Total Roster Cost: 1496

HQ: Commander Shas'o (3#, 218 pts)
   1 Commander Shas'o, 188 pts = (base cost 75 + Airbursting Fragmentation Projector 20 + Cyclic Ion Blaster 15 + Ejection System 15 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Iridium Armour 20 + Stimulant Injector 10 + Shield Generator 20)
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

HQ: Commander Farsight (10#, 661 pts)
   1 Commander Farsight, 170 pts
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 59 pts = (base cost 35 + Burst Cannon 8 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Twin Linked Flamer 6)
         1 Shield Drone, 15 pts
         1 Shield Drone, 15 pts
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 75 pts = (base cost 35 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Missile Pod 12 + Twin Linked Fusion Blaster 18)
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 59 pts = (base cost 35 + Burst Cannon 8 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Twin Linked Flamer 6)
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 75 pts = (base cost 35 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Missile Pod 12 + Twin Linked Fusion Blaster 18)
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 59 pts = (base cost 35 + Burst Cannon 8 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Twin Linked Flamer 6)
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 59 pts = (base cost 35 + Burst Cannon 8 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Twin Linked Flamer 6)
      1 Crisis Bodyguard, 75 pts = (base cost 35 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Missile Pod 12 + Twin Linked Fusion Blaster 18)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (7#, 143 pts)
   4 Pathfinder, 48 pts = 4 * 12
      1 Devilfish, 95 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10)

Troops: Fire Warrior (9#, 155 pts)
   6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts = 6 * 10
      1 Devilfish, 95 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10)

Troops: Fire Warrior (6#, 60 pts)
   6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts = 6 * 10

Elite: Crisis Shas'vre (1#, 71 pts)
   1 Crisis Shas'vre, 71 pts = (base cost 25 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Twin Linked Missile Pod 18 + Positional Relay 15 + Team Leader 5 + Shas'vre Upgrade 5)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (3#, 188 pts)
   1 Broadside Battlesuit, 93 pts = (base cost 70 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Targeting Array 10 + Team Leader 5)
      1 Broadside Battlesuit, 80 pts = (base cost 70 + Targeting Array 10)
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

IG Warlord mid deployment.

I placed the 2 devilfish, a firewarrior team, the broadsides, and the monat crisis suit on the board as pictured (the crisis suit was in the building under the broadsides).  I reserved the pathfinders, firewarriors, and attached the shas'o to Farsights team deepstriking.

My opponent deployed his forces consisting of something like:

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard Roster - IG 1500 1750?

Total Roster Cost: 1765

HQ: Company Command Squad (5#, 210 pts)
   2 Company Command Squad, 64 pts = 2 * 6 (base cost 6) + Camo Cloak 20 + Carapace Armour 20 + Flamer x1 5 + Grenade Launcher x1 5 + w/Lascannon 32
      1 Veteran Heavy Weapon Team, 30 pts = (base cost 10 + Lascannon 20)
      1 Lord Castellan Creed, 116 pts

HQ: Company Command Squad (6#, 165 pts)
   4 Company Command Squad, 84 pts = 4 * 6 (base cost 6) + Plasma gun x4 60
      1 Company Commander, 26 pts
      1 Chimera, 55 pts

Troops: Infantry Platoon (36#, 260 pts)
   1 Infantry Platoon, 0 pts
      2 Platoon Command Squad, 14 pts = 2 * 6 (base cost 6) + w/Missile Launcher 27
         1 Heavy Weapons Team, 25 pts = (base cost 10 + Missile Launcher 15)
         1 Platoon Commander, 6 pts
      7 Infantry Squad, 35 pts = 7 * 5
         1 Heavy Weapons Team, 20 pts = (base cost 10 + Autocannon 10)
         1 Commissar, 35 pts
         1 Sergeant, 5 pts
      7 Infantry Squad, 35 pts = 7 * 5
         1 Heavy Weapons Team, 20 pts = (base cost 10 + Autocannon 10)
         1 Sergeant, 5 pts
      7 Infantry Squad, 35 pts = 7 * 5
         1 Heavy Weapons Team, 20 pts = (base cost 10 + Autocannon 10)
         1 Sergeant, 5 pts

Troops: Veteran Squad (10#, 120 pts)
   9 Veteran Squad, 113 pts = 9 * 7 (base cost 7) + Meltagun x2 20 + Grenadiers 30
      1 Veteran Sergeant, 7 pts

Troops: Veteran Squad (10#, 120 pts)
   9 Veteran Squad, 113 pts = 9 * 7 (base cost 7) + Meltagun x2 20 + Grenadiers 30
      1 Veteran Sergeant, 7 pts

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Squadron (1#, 220 pts)
   1 Leman Russ Squadron, 0 pts
      1 Leman Russ Exterminator, 170 pts = (base cost 150 + Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2 20)
         1 Knight Commander Pask, 50 pts

Heavy Support: Ordnance Battery (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Ordnance Battery, 0 pts
      1 Colossus, 140 pts

Heavy Support: Ordnance Battery (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Ordnance Battery, 0 pts
      1 Colossus, 140 pts

Fast Attack: Vendetta Gunship Squadron (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Vendetta Gunship Squadron, 0 pts
      1 Vendetta, 140 pts = (base cost 130) + Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2 10

Fast Attack: Vendetta Gunship Squadron (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Vendetta Gunship Squadron, 0 pts
      1 Vendetta, 140 pts = (base cost 130) + Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2 10

: Imperial Bastion (2#, 110 pts)
   1 Imperial Bastion, 75 pts
      1 Gun Emplacement, 35 pts = (base cost 0 + Icarus Lascannon 35)


Looking back at the pictures, I'm pretty sure that his list included all of the above at least (Edit 1: any reference to a mystery squad later is because I hadn't realized I could add an extra squad to the guard in army builder, I went back and added them into this list so hey are there now, but weren't when I did the write up.  Edit 2: I also recalled his commenting he'd forgot his vetrans had carapace which is a 30pt times 2 squad upgrade bumping the points overrun up further).. I'm not sure how that's possible as the list above is 200+ points over the 1500 limit, and I may have skipped some special wpns/wargear even then..  I'll see if I can get him to comment with his actual list..  But assigning the units above to the units in the picture, I'm a bit confused.

So army lists aside, he failed to seize the initiative so I went first.

IGwarlord moving bottom turn 1

Turn 1:  I moved my devilfish around, my broadsides split fire on the bastion and a colassus.  Failed to pen the bastion, exploded the collassus (first blood to me)



He moved his blob squad, and the mystery squad that isn't listed above toward the ruin that was just outside his deployment zone.  He then ordered the blob to "move move move" and they did, his weapons fire was inefective due to night fighting giving my devilfish 2+ cover saves.


Turn 2:  All my reserves came on.  Firewarriors embarked in the pathfinder fish, pathfinders hid in the far corner behind a ruil, farsight bomb missed the initial deepstrike roll, but re-rolling due to the pathfinder fish they scattered 2" into an ideal landing zone.  I moved the devil fish around a bit, then went on to shooting.  Farsight's team split fire with 4 twin linked flamers causing 19 hits/17 wounds plus a couple more from burst cannons on the blob squad reducing it too 1 model remaining, Farsight and a twin linked fusion/MP suit took 2 hull points off the Leman Russ and imobilized it.  A fusion suit target the bastion and destroyed a gun emplacement.  Shas'O dropped a barrage shot onto the battlements killing the lascannon team, 1 guardsman and put 1 wound on the Warlord.  The other Fusion suit exploded the remaining Colossus.

The Bomb.

After the bomb.

He got 1 out of 2 vendetta out of reserves on his turn 2.  He managed to imobilize his second HQ's chimera and further shifted part of mystery squad into the ruins second floor.  The vendetta killed a shield drone and 1 broadside but the remaining one made it's moral.  Warlords squad killed a drone and a suit that controlled 2 other drones, causing a moral check which I passed.

Turn 3:   I moved up 2 dfish to the Relic (my ethereal), one went flat out, the other went 6 and deployed 6 firewarriors into contact with the relic.  Monat suit moved up towards center board, and farsight's team spread out a bit to fire at the single guardsman, the tank, the bastion the chimera, and the platoon command squad in the green ruin.  The tank died, the icarus and a heavy bolter were destroyed in the bastion, the chimera lived, but the missle team and 2 other models died in the green ruin from the Shas'o's AFP+Cyclic Ion shots.

His other vendetta came on, and he dropped off a vet squad near the broadside.  He also moved is warlords remaing squad inside the bastion.  His vendetta exploded the flat-out DFish killing 2 guys inside, and one from the team with the relic. but not much else happend.

Turn 4:  I circled around the bastion to put shots into it, the chimera and the remaining guys in the green ruin area.  I moved my firewarriors into the ruin and the other team onto the ruins base.  The DFish I moved back to get a rear arc shot on a vendetta, but instead chose to flat out, and imobilized myself on a piece of terrain.  I destroyed the Bunker, killing everyone inside (after another rules snafu where my opponent read the book and declared that it said one thing, but a bystander later in the turn read the same section to discover it said something entirely different and that you take 2d6 str 6 wounds, not each model takes a 2D6 str wound when you get a 6 on the chart.  Big diff when you only have 2 models remaining).  I missed the dudes by the green ruin again.

He moved a vendetta over to attack Farsight, moved the other over the ruins my firewarriors were in and dropped more veterans..  He moved his first vets over to fire on the remaining devil fish.  He killed two TLFL/BC suits with one vendetta, and his vets killed 3 out of 4 firewarriors in one squad and 1 inside the ruin from a flamer hit.

Mid 4th turn move.

End of top of 5 shooting.

Turn 5:  I moved farsights team around, moved the firewarrirs out with the relic to shoot at the guardsmen, detached the drones from my fish and advanced towards his deployment zone.  Farsights team got a lucky hit with a fusion blaster and exploded a vendetta, the Shas'O dropped his AFP shot on the vets and along with firewarrior shooting they were reduced to 4 models and failed their moral falling back.

Alas, I forgot to take pictures after this.  Bottom of Turn 5 movement phase.

Bottom of turn 5 he put his remaining vendetta into hover and moved over to fire on my firewarriors.  Somehow his 4 vets, regrouped and managed to move 6 inches (or far enough to get past the base of the ruin, and they, the other vets,  and the vendetta killed all but 2 firewarrios in the squad with the relic.  They then assaulted and wiped out the firewarriors consolidating onto the relic.  The mystery squad killed my two drones, and the 3 models in the vicinity of the green ruin shot ineffectually at Farsights team.

We rolled for turn 6 but the game ended.  I had scored first blood, slay the warlord, and had linebreaker.  He was a couple inches from linebreaker with the vets that dropped near the broadside, but in the end had no secondary points.  As he did not get into base with the relic in the move phase, he could not claim it and so I won 3 points to none.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I try to get a game in weekly if not 2.. I'm trying to be better about making reports and keeping the blog lively, so check back often.