Tau Vs Imperial Guard 1750

Lastnight I played my second league match at the 1750 point level vs Josh's Imperial Guard.  I've played Josh countless times in the past and had a pretty good idea what to expect, and had developed my list with him in mind as my other 1750 opponent was running Chaos Marines whom I've never played against, and thus I was just hoping that my list would also work against them.

My list consisted of the following:

Initial Deployment, thats my aegis defense line wrapped around a piece of area terrain in the center.

 1750 Pts - Tau Empire Roster - Tau League 1750 Warfish Special

Total Roster Cost: 1747

HQ: Commander Shas'o (2#, 188 pts)
   1 Commander Shas'o, 173 pts = (base cost 75 + Airbursting Fragmentation Projector 20 + Cyclic Ion Blaster 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

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (4#, 278 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, 80 pts = (base cost 70 + Targeting Array 10)
      1 Broadside Battlesuit, 75 pts = (base cost 70 + Target Lock 5)
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (4#, 278 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, 80 pts = (base cost 70 + Targeting Array 10)
      1 Broadside Battlesuit, 75 pts = (base cost 70 + Target Lock 5)
      1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 195 pts)
   1 Hammerhead Gunship, 195 pts = (base cost 90 + Railgun 50 + Two Burst Cannons 10 + Disruption Pod 5 + Flechette Discharger 10 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Blacksun Filter 5 + Sensor Spines 10 + Target Lock 5

Troops: Fire Warrior (7#, 180 pts)
   6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts = 6 * 10
      1 Devilfish, 120 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10 + Smart Missile System 20) + Targeting Array 5

Troops: Fire Warrior (7#, 180 pts)
   6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts = 6 * 10
      1 Devilfish, 120 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10 + Smart Missile System 20) + Targeting Array 5

Troops: Fire Warrior (7#, 180 pts)
   6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts = 6 * 10
      1 Devilfish, 120 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10 + Smart Missile System 20) + Targeting Array 5

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (5#, 168 pts)
   4 Pathfinder, 48 pts = 4 * 12
      1 Devilfish, 120 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10 + Smart Missile System 20) + Targeting Array 5

: Aegis Defence Lines (2#, 100 pts)
   1 Aegis Defence Lines, 50 pts
      1 Gun Emplacement, 50 pts = (base cost 0 + Quad-gun 50)




Josh ran something like this: (I'm not sure on the exact load out of his units)

There's a Manticore in the building the the back left.  Plus he had 3  Vendetta's with 2 vet squads and a command squad.

Commisar
30 man blob squad with 3 autocannons
Manticore
Leman Russ x2
Vendetta x2 with vet squad x2
Vendetta with command platoon with flamers x4 and a commander of some sort
Allies: Rune Priest
Drop Pod with 10 grey hunters
Aegis Defense line with quad gun.



Josh won the roll off to go first, we rolled night fighting for turn one, and he deployed as seen above, I deployed second as shown at the top and failed to sieze.


My entire army list had been designed around the plan to use my 4 warfish with Smart Missile systems to move up to 24" from Josh's defense line and to hammer his blob squad denying him the cover from the defense line and to wipe out his blob and thus his Warlord.  Unfortunately, we rolled hammer and anvil, and since I was going second I chose to hide all my warfish behind the ruin at that back of my deployment zone (big mistake).  This meant there was no way to get them in range of the defense line in one turn.  We also rolled the scouring as the mission type, and with 2 objectives at the back of my deployment I didn't want to move my troops all the way out to his end.  The end result of this was that I never threatened his blob squad for the entire game.  I shot 3 broadsides at the quad gun once, hit twice, wounded twice, and he made the 4+ cover save on both.  After that I just ignored the quad gun.  My other mistake was that I had planned to place my Shas'O on the quad gun, but at the last minute attached him to 4 pathfinders hoping to outflank and attack his Manticore on turn 2.  As always, my dice failed me and even with Acute senses rerolling the side I came in on, I rolled the wrong table edge.  As such I brought them in on turn 2 in my deployment zone as they stood no chance against the 30 man blob.  In the end this just meant my Shas'O ate 3 twin linked lascannon shots and died having served no purpose.

On turn one he deepstruck the Grey Hunters in between my defense line and a ruin, and disembarked into the ruin to try to take out my hammer head.  He failed to do any damage, and on the bottom of turn one I fired all 6  broadsides at the drop pod to score first blood.  I focused everything I could at wiping out the grey hunters for the following 2 turns to remove them as a line break threat.  This was a mistake as he had 3 vendetta's with troops in them, and all 3 would eventually deploy into my zone anyway.  I should have focused the broadsides on removing the 2 leman russ as threats as the battle cannons were a huge distraction and kept me bottled up in my deployment zone.

Top of turn 2.  Hammerhead is already dead, Pathfinder Warfish is Dead, and I am boxed in where I'd remain the rest of the game.  My Shas'O would enter right in front of the near Vendetta bottom of turn 2, only to eat a lascannon top of turn 3.

 The rest of the game was unremarkable until the bottom of turn 5.  At the bottom of turn 5 I was in position to win the game.  I had scored first blood, and had a team of firwarriors on the 3 point objective.  He scored Slay the Warlord, had linebreaker, and was sitting on a 1 point objective.  If the game had ended there I would have won 4 to 3.  He rolled to see if the game continued and it did.  Sad Face.  He focused all his fire between my broadsides and the 6 man firewarriors on the objective top of turn 6.  He managed to kill 1 broadside, leaving me 2 and a drone (25% loss) and he killed 2 out of 6 firewarriors (requiring another moral check).  He also moved the command squad onto the 2 point objective the broadsides were contesting.  End of the shooting phase, my broadsides failed their ldr 8 moral check and fell back 11 inches! and off the board giving him control of 2 more points.  My firewarriors who had gone to ground still held.  Bottom of turn 6 my 1 remaining broadside put 2 hits on the 3 remaining models in his command squad but he made both saves as he was behind MY defense line.  The firewarriors had 2 models that could see the command squad but having gone to ground both failed to hit.

That was the end of the game.  Josh controlled 3 points of objectives, had line breaker, and slay the warlord for a total of 5 points.  I had 3 points of objectives and had first blood for 4 points.

All in all it was a good game, but the Tau are, ironically enough, horribly out gunned by the Imperial Guard. A vendetta costs less than half what 3 broadsides cost for the same firepower plus the added utility of being a flyer and a troop transport..  I have no ordinance and no heavy weapons for my troops.  It's just a poor match-up at best

At this point, I rely am just playing for the experience in hopes that a new Tau Codex is just around the corner and it will do something to level the playing field a bit vs all the newer codecies out there.

Till next time, good gaming.