Graviton Weapons and Vehicle Cover Saves

A Treatise on Graviton Weapons and Vehicle Cover Saves.

Spoiler "..units in cover get a saving throw regardless of what's firing at them."

This includes Vehicles.

With the introduction of Graviton weapons in the new Space Marine Codex there seems to be much confusion regarding the resolution of graviton hits vs obscured vehicles.  Specifically, people want to argue that:

"Vehicles do not get cover saves versus gravity guns because gravity guns do not roll for armor penetration and vehicles are only allowed to take cover saves versus glancing or penetrating hits."  

Now, to understand why this is patently incorrect, we must first know what the rule actually says.  In regards to resolving hits versus vehicles, the "Graviton" special rules states:

"Graviton: ...(this part is about non vehicle models) When resolving a hit against a vehicle, roll
a D6 for each hit instead of rolling for armour penetration as normal. On a 1-5 nothing happens, but on a 6, the target suffers an immobilised result and loses a single Hull Point."

Now the wording here is actually quite important, in that, read correctly, the entire false argument resolves itself.  The rule actually states in it's own verbiage, that you are rolling for armor penetration.  Notice, it says:
"roll a D6 for each hit instead of rolling for armour penetration as normal" 
The key words in this sentence are "as normal"..  The graviton special rule does not state that you do not roll for armor penetration.  It says you do not roll for it as normal.  Instead it gives you an alternative method of determining penetrating hits.  On a 0-5 you do not.  On a 6, you do with an immobilized result.   Can a glance cause an immobilized result normally?  No.  Can a failed penetration roll take off a hull point and immobilize a vehicle?  No.  The only result that can do so is a penetrating hit which is what you get when you roll a 6.  You simply rolled a d6 instead of rolling for penetration as normal.  You have still rolled for penetration, but the only result is a penetrating hit or a misss with this alternative method.  Hence, as the result is in fact a penetrating hit, the arguement fails.

EDIT - I just realized there is precedence for my argument here since people have already tried to argue that the "as normal" verbiage doesn't actually mean you are rolling for penetrationg still.  It does in fact mean exactly that, and as evidence I give you the Haywire rule:

"HAYWIRE
Haywire weapons send out powerful electromagnetic pulses that disable electrical wiring and all kinds of mechanical systems.  When a weapon with this special rule hits a vehicle, roll a D6 to  determine the effect rather than rolling Armour Penetration normally:"
D6         Result
1            No effect
2-5        Glancing hit
6           Penetrating hit"

As you can see, GW has used this same basic wording in the past to imply an alternative method for rolling penetration is used.  Granted the results table actually says Penetrating hit, but the important thing is that when they say to do something one way, rather than doing it normally, they are in fact saying it is an alternative method of accomplishing the given task as I stated above.

Also, as I can't find anyplace else to include Tims point below, the fact that an imobilized vehicle loses an additional hull point for an imobilized result, is only included on the Vehicle Damage Table in the Basic Rule Book which is only rolled on for Penetrating hits when resolving them normally.  If we were to conclude that Graviton weapons do not cause pentetrating hits, than we also can't imply that they lose 2 hull points for the second imobilized result, as that table, and that result are only used for resolving penetrating hits normally, the Graviton weapon has a different table that doesn't mention an extra hull point.. Hence, you don't get to combine the two different tables.

However, none of that actually matters, because units get a cover save (refer to spoiler above):

"regardless of what's firing at them." BRB. Page 18, first paragraph.  In case you don't have your book handy, that paragraph reads in it's entirety:

"COVERSAVES
Often, you'll find enemy models are partially hidden or obscured by terrain, also known as being in cover.  Cover shields troops against flying debris and enemy shots, enabling them to get their heads down or crawl amongst the ruins and (hopefully) avoid harm. Where this is the case, the model will be entitled to a cover save. Cover saving throws are not affected by the AP value of an attacking weapon, so units in cover get a saving throw regardless of what's firing at them."
Now, this entire page is important.  Page 18 lays down all of the basic rules for getting cover saves.  It breaks out those rules into specific sections, most importantly:

Determining Cover Saves:

Types of Cover Saves:

And in it's own breakout box is the most important entry to this discussion, the rules for:

Going to Ground

Now, why is this important?  Because the rules for vehicles cover saves are based on the rules on page 18 but they are further clarified on BRB Page 74-75.  These clarifications are prefaced by the following entry:

"VEHICLES AND COVER - OBSCURED TARGETS
Vehicles do not benefit from cover in the same way as Infantry - their sheer size and bulk mean they can not take advantage of cover as well as smaller, more agile troops.  They can, however, position themselves in such a way as to make it harder for the enemy to hit them in a vulnerable location. The difference from the way cover works for other models is represented by the following exceptions to the normal rules for cover:"

Now, this paragraph sets the stage for the true failing in the proposed argument above.  This paragraph stipulates that a vehicle follows the basic rules for taking cover saves modified by:
"the following exception to the normal rules for cover."

Now what does an exception to a rule mean?  Well, first it means we have to have an existing rule to follow, and that we then have a situation where we change that existing rule (in this case when the unit taking a cover save is a vehicle).

So, we already know that our existing rules for cover are explained on page 18.  Now we have listed on page 74 and 75 exactly 3, THREE exceptions to those rules listed in the form of bullet points.  See the quote above where it says "the following exceptions to the normal rules for cover"?  Well these 3 bullet points are those exceptions.  Lets see what rules we are making exception for:

"• Atleast25% of the facing of the vehicle that is being targeted (its front, side or rear) needs to be hidden by intervening terrain or models from the point of view of the firer for the vehicle to be in cover. If this is the case, the vehicle is obscured (or hull down'). If a unit is firing at a vehicle, the vehicle is obscured only if it is 25% hidden from the majority of the firing models that are able to damage the vehicle.. (truncated for brevity) "

So our first exception seems to deal with the rules from page 18 that fall under:

Determining Cover Saves:

What has actually changed here?  What is the exception?  Well in short were an infantry model gets a cover save if it is 25% obscured from view to a single model in the firing unit, a vehicle has to be 25% obscured in a given facing from the MAJORITY of all models firing at that facing that are able to damage it.  So one model having an obscured view isn't enough to get cover, a vehicle needs a majority of models in a given facing that are able to damage it to have obscured views before it gets cover.  So, the exception works similar to the base rule, with a minor caveat that does not affect a graviton weapon in any way. 

Next Exception:

"• Vehicles are not obscured simply for being inside area terrain. The 25% rule given above takes precedence."

Alright, looks like our second exception is going to cover the next sub-heading in the cover save rules:

Types of Cover

Specifically area terrain which is listed in the chart at the top right of page 18, then mentioned in the break out box on the bottom of 19 but is specifically explained on page 91 as follows:

"Area terrain is always difficult terrain. Models in area terrain receive a 5+ cover save, regardless of whether or not they are 25% obscured. Models that Go to Ground in area terrain receive +2 to their cover save, rather than +1."

What is the difference in our exception to the types of cover rule?  That vehicles do not get a cover save simply by being in area terrain.  They must still be 25% obscured as described in the previous exception.  That's it.  The entire rest of the "Types of cover" entry on page 18 also applies to vehicles with that one exception.  Vehicles get the same cover save depending on terrain types that other models get, be it a 6+ from razor wire (admitidly that would have to be some very thick razor wire) to a 3+ for being obscured by a fortification.  Still nothing in these exceptions that denies a vehicle a cover save. 

What is our third and final exception then?

"• Obviously, vehicles cannot Goto Ground, voluntarily or otherwise. If the target is obscured and suffers a glancing or penetrating hit, it must take a cover save against it, exactly like a non-vehicle model would do against a Wound (for example, a save of 5+for a wood and so on). If the save is passed, the hit is discarded, no Hull Points are lost and no roll is made on the Vehicle Damage table. If a special rule or a piece of wargear makes a vehicle obscured even if in the open, this is a 5+ cover save,unless specified otherwise in the codex."

Now, as you are all aware, this is the entry that everyone has been mistakenly quoting as the reason vehicles don't get a cover save against graviton weapons, but I ask you this:

What rule is this exception too?

We've already addressed the first two sub-headings of the Cover Save rules, IN ORDER mind you.  So we've addressed  "Determining Cover saves"..  We've addressed "Tpes of terrain".. The final sub-heading under the basic cover save rules that we need to make an exception for is:

GOING TO GROUND

"What?" you might ask.. These exception aren't just a collection of random new rules, but are actually exceptions to specific existing rules, listed in the same order they are presented on page 18?.. YES!!  That is exactly what I'm telling you.   The third exception, starts out specifically addressing the issue of GOING TO GROUND.  That is all that is covered in the third exception.  The rules as they pertain to vehicles GOING TO GROUND. 

What does it say about a vehicle going to ground?  IT CAN'T.  Honest, go re-read it right now, I'll wait for you to catch up.  

Done?  Good.  If you honestly read the third exception, you see that it explains that a vehicle can't go to ground.  It states that if a vehicle is already obscured that it MUST take a save versus glancing and penetrating hits just like an infantry model would against a wound using the same cover save the infantry model would get for the terrain in question, but without the benefit of going to ground, so no +1 or +2 if in area terrain, it just gets it's normal cover save.  Since the vehicle can't go to ground, if it does not currently have a cover save, it can't gain one like infantry can for going to ground in the open.. BUT, it can get one from any wargear that would make it obscured..  Great. 

So, after reading the third exception, which specifically addresses the topic of vehicles going to ground, we discover the verbiage that everyone has latched onto out of context to make the argument that Vehicles don't get cover saves.   The fact that it mentions glancing and penetrating hits.. Only it doesn't matter because the rule that is being clarified is weather or not the vehicle can go to ground.   It can't..  Furthermore the reference to glancing and penetrating hits is meaningless anyway.

Why?  Because the rules are permissive.  You can't do something unless they say you can right?  Well, when do the rules say we can take a cover save?  We've already determined that the cover save rules for vehicles are not in and of themselves the entire rule, but rather they are exceptions which simply change part of the existing rules for cover saves listed on page 18.

What is the first and most important rule established on rule 18 as they relate to this discussion?  It's the closing sentence of that first paragraph:

"units in cover get a saving throw regardless of what's firing at them." 

This is the permission portion of the cover rules that we are interested in.  We are hereby granted permission to take cover saves no matter what weapon shoots at us.

Lets take a look at the three exception listed above.  I'm not going to relist them, just take a moment to consider them on your own.  Each of the three exceptions addresses one of the first 3 sections of rules for cover saves, and thus, apparently, are the only rules that are changed for vehicles.  You'll notice that further down on page 18 and 19 there are some other sub-headings.. Focus Fire, maximum save and so on, yet none of our exceptions address those.. Apparently they don't change.  If we look at the sections that the exceptions DO change, they all come after the opening paragraph, and not a single one of them PROHIBITS us from taking cover saves regardless of what is firing at our vehicle.

The first addresses how a vehicle determines weather or not it gets a cover save.

The second describes briefly that vehicles aren't automatically obscured in area terrain, but doesn't touch the rest of that section at all.  All the cover values remain untouched and unmentioned in the vehicle cover rules themselves, we have to use the basic cover save rules in their entirety, and then simply modifiy them as required

And the Third and final exception simply covers weather or not a vehicle can go to ground. 

What did we decide needed to exist in order for their to be an exception?  An existing rule to change.  What rule does the third bullet point then change?  It says vehicles can't go to ground. 

Do any of these rules say a vehicle CANT take a cover save against any weapon regardless of what it is?  NO.  That is a permission established at the head of the cover save section, and not changed by any of the exceptions.  Even taken out of context, bullet point 3 simply states you HAVE TO take the cover save versus glancing and penetrating hits.. No where does it say you can't take other saves that are allowed.   Perhaps in their infinite wisdom, GW forsaw that they would eventually introduce weapons that didn't specifically cause glancing or penetrating hits, and in that infinite wisdom granted us permission to take cover saves against them without having to mention them by name?

Honestly, if the graviton weapons were meant to deny a cover save to vehicles, rather than rely on a poorly worded and confusing section of the basic rule book, taken out of context which doesn't even apply to normal cover saves, just going to ground, why wouldn't GW have simply stated:

"This weapon has the "Ignores cover" special rule versus Vehicles." ?

There is already an existing USR that would do in one sentence, undeniably, irrefutably, exactly what people are relying on multiple pages of the BRB to exploit out of it.. 

Also, I've heard it suggested that it ignores cover because it's a gravity well and the vehicle is so much heavier than infantry.. Yet, it has NO EFFECT on buildings.. How could it be that it's unreasonable strength is based on the weight of the vehicle and yet it doesn't completely annihilate a building based on it's mass?  And why does it not affect MC by denying cover saves based on their mass?.. No I'm sorry but that just doesn't cut it either.

I really feel at this point that I am flogging a dead horse.  I hope, that you have read this treatise with an open mind, and considered my points objectively and based on their merits and set aside any preconceived notions you had when you started reading it.  Hey, I have a white scars army just like everyone else, but honestly, Gravity guns are already powerful enough, we don't need to cheat the rules to make them even better.

Please, if you still disagree with my position in this regard after reading my thoughts on the matter, leave me a comment and explain your position.  I'm really at a loss as to how anyone can honestly believe this ridiculous argument.

Given that I've quoted a portion of the BRB I feel obligated to point out that all the rules outlined above, are the property of Games Workshop.  I feel that I have used them under the guidelines of Fair use, that I have not infringed on any copy right according to those guidelines.

Test of Khaine Photo Dump:

So I don't have time for a proper post, but wanted to share some images from Test of Khaine last week.  I scored a Major Victory vs Tau, Resigned after 2 turns vs MC Nidz list, and got a minor victory vs Orks.  I found the orks game particuliarly amusing in that my 1000 + pt command blob didn't really score any points, but my 2 suits and a drone crisis team took out a whole unit of Lootas and maybe a team of grots?.. Don't recall who won that scrum.. Maybe the grots did..   Anyway, enjoy the pics, I'll try to add some more meaningful comments later.

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.

Tau/Eldar Vs. Iron Hands Space Marines 1850

The Relic:

An Unexpected Result 

In preperation for the Marmalade Dog Tournament on the 9th of February, I schedule a practice game today with Brian, whom I've never played.  He had posted looking for a game on a facebook group I follow, and so we arranged to meet up, originally at 1500pts, but then I discovered I'd got my dates confused and that M.D. was 1850 not 1500, so we upped the limit so I could try out a new list.

We rolled "the relic" and "hammer and anvil" as mission/deployment.

I brought my Tau with Eldar allies utilizing some much maligned units as the M.D. tournament has some judging based on painting and modeling, and so I wanted to get in some of my better looking, or more heavily modified models.  This is what my list consisted of:

Total Roster Cost: 1848

HQ:  1 Commander Shadowsun, 175 pts

HQ:  1 Ethereal, 50 pts (yes I really put him on the board, and no he didn't die)

Troops: Fire Warrior (12#, 136 pts)
   11 Fire Warrior, 110 pts = 11 * 10
      1 Shas'ui, 26 pts = (base cost 20 + EMP Grenade 3 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3)

Heavy Support: Broadside Shas'vre (4#, 298 pts)
   1 Broadside Shas'vre, 113 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 + Shas'vre 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 + Multi-Tracker 5)
      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)

Troops: Kroot Carnivore Squad (11#, 76 pts)
   10 Kroot Carnivore Squad, 70 pts = 10 * 7
      1 Kroot Hounds, 6 pts

HQ: Eldrad Ulthran (1#, 210 pts)

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#, 217 pts)
   4 Dark Reapers (Heavy) [EL], 140 pts = 4 * 35
      1 Dark Reaper Exarch [EL], 77 pts = (base cost 47 +  Crack Shot  10 +  Fast Shot  20)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 145 pts)
   1 Hammerhead Gunship, 145 pts = (base cost 90 + Ion Cannon 15 + Two Burst Cannons 10 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Blacksun Filter 5 + Sensor Spines 10

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 145 pts)
   1 Hammerhead Gunship, 145 pts = (base cost 90 + Ion Cannon 15 + Two Burst Cannons 10 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Blacksun Filter 5 + Sensor Spines 10

Fast Attack: Vespid Stingwing (8#, 134 pts) (yup, Vespid, also didn't die)
   7 Vespid Stingwing, 112 pts = 7 * 16
      1 Strain Leader, 22 pts

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (1#, 57 pts)
   1 Crisis Battlesuit, 57 pts = (base cost 25 + Flamer 4 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Twin Linked Fusion Blaster 18 + Team Leader 5)

Brian fielded a list I'm not certain of, I will summarize with my best guess: (I came up 135 points short.. without his input I've no idea what I missed)

1850 Pts - Codex: Space Marines Roster - Space Marine, Iron Hands 1850

Total Roster Cost: 1715

HQ: Captain Darnath Lysander (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Captain Darnath Lysander, 200 pts

HQ: Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour (1#, 125 pts)
   1 Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour, 125 pts = (base cost 100 + Jump Pack 25)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 200 pts)
   4 Terminator Assault Squad, 160 pts = 4 * 40
      1 Sergeant, 40 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 235 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad, 147 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Sergeant 51
      1 Sergeant, 48 pts = (base cost 23) + Power Fist x1 25
      1 Razorback, 40 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 225 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad, 147 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Sergeant 41
      1 Sergeant, 38 pts = (base cost 23) + Plasma Pistol x1 15
      1 Razorback, 40 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 145 pts)
   4 Tactical Squad, 67 pts = 4 * 16 (base cost 16) + Sergeant 41
      1 Sergeant, 38 pts = (base cost 23) + Plasma Pistol x1 15
      1 Razorback, 40 pts

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Predator, 85 pts = (base cost 60 + Heavy Bolter (each side) 25)

Fast Attack: Storm Talon Gunship (1#, 130 pts)
   1 Storm Talon Gunship, 130 pts

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

Fast Attack: Assault Squad (5#, 100 pts)
   4 Assault Squad, 72 pts = 4 * 18
      1 Sergeant, 28 pts

Elite: Ironclad Dreadnought (2#, 170 pts)
   1 Ironclad Dreadnought, 135 pts
      1 Drop Pod, 35 pts


Brian won the roll off to choose sides, and we deployed our fortifications, he then set up a narrative terrain board while I was digging my models out of my army bag/boxes..  After we rolled Warlord traits (he got a scoring HQ, I got move through cover then promptly forgot about it all game) and psychic powers (don't recall what his librarian used, I got preciance, perfect timing, psychic shreak, and dominate) we rolled for night fighting (not on turn 1) and for deployment.  He won the rolloff and chose to go first.



He held the dreadnaught/dropod, Warlord attached to Terminators, and Stormtalon in reserve.  He combat squaded the two large tactical squads, placing the hvy wpns portions behind the defense line, while putting the 3 non heavy weapon teams into the Razorbacks.  The assault team with librarian attached, and the predator also deployed behind the defense line.

I in turn deployed with Eldrad and my Ethereal attached to the broadside team with Eldrad touching the Icarus Lascannon.  Shadowsun deployed also in contact of the Lascannon.  The firewarriors deployed against my defense line, with the Vespid behind them (the first time I've started a game with them not in reserve) and the Kroot encircled Shadowsun and Eldrad to give cover and prevent assaults.  The Darkreapers deployed in a piece of terrain in the back right corner, while the Pathfinder/rangers infiltrated in terrain in the DMZ.  The Ion-Heads deployed with their backs to the board edge to avoid easy back armor shots (I give up first blood quite often by forgetting to do this) and I reserved the Monat Crisis suit.

I then rolled to sieze, and for the first time in ages, did so.  I then forgot to ask how Brian handled Psychic powers, weather they occur at the start of the players movement phase, or the beginning of the Psychers movement phase as indicated in the brb under the description for blessings.  I also forgot that Eldrad can move D3+1 units prior to Scout moves.. as I deployed second, that was less important, but I then also forgot my scout moves.. I'll have to make a note for the tournament, those two things could cost me a game.



Turn 1, Top: Lacking any psychic activity, I moved the Ion-heads forward (totally blocking half of the Dark reapers LOS in the process) and they each fired at a seperate Razorback, but scored one hit and a glance I believe.  The broadsides who would have normally fired on the Quadgun and Predator chose instead to fire on the Razorback to the left of the defense line (from my perspective) because he had reinforced the defense line to a 3+ cover save, and two of the broadsides had a clear shot on the razorback.  I also fired the icarus at said razorback as part of that squads fire.  This was enough to explode it (1") and gave me first blood.  Not sure what I shot the other units at this turn.



Turn 1, bottom:  He deepstruck in his Dreadnaught near an ion-head after it scattered away from my Warlord (I put a glancing hit on it with interceptor fire from the icarus).  He moved his remaining Razorbacks forward, and followed the one on the right with his assault squad.  That razorback also popped smoke.  The dreadnaught scored a hit on the Ion-Head and it exploded (thank goodness I had siezed and already had first blood).  I believe he also killed the shield drone from my broadsides, and a firewarrior that turn.


Turn 2, Top:  My Monat Crisis suit arrived and landed on target, is subsequently scored a penetrating hit but only managed to destroy the main gun on the Predator, and got one hit on the squad on the other side of it with it's flamer.   Shadowsun jumped towards the dreadnaught and split-fire on it and the drop pod with her fusion blasters.  She exploded the pod, but immobilized the dreadnaught leaving it with one hull point.  razorback and destroying the gun.



The Dark Reapers (3) in it's rear arc fired on it scoring one glancing hit and wrecked it.  My remaining Ion-head advanced and shot at the left razorback immobilizing it.  The broadsides with prescience split fire at the right razorback and the quad gun exploding the I think the pathfinders fired on either the assault squad, or the marines in the crater of the recently exploded razorback.  Shadowsun moved back into contact with the Icarus

Turn 2, Bottom:  This is the point where the game took a bad turn for Brian.  His Warlord and assault terminators attempted to deepstrike in behind my broadside team.  Instead they scattered onto the kroot and mishapped.  He rolled a 3, and I got to place them.  Normally this would mean they landed in the far corner never to be seen again.  However, it being his warlord, I wanted him where I could shoot at him, so I placed him in the center of the board between the relic and the ruin in his zone. 

Had I remembered at the time that his warlord was scoring, I may have put him in the corner anyway, but I forgot, and it worked out to my favor in the end.  His Stormtalon also arrived from reserves, zoomed in to the center of the board, and was promptly shot and exploded by the Icarus interceptor fire.  I felt bad about that one as it was just pure bad luck on his part that I got a lucky hit, and he never even got to fire his weapons on the thing..  He ran his terminators towards the relic, shot his missile launchers, moved his Assault squad and Librarian towards my defense line, disembarked from the imobilized and only remaining Razorback,  and shot at, then assaulted my Monat Crisis suit.  I scored 3 hits with the flamer, and a hit with the Fusion Blaster in overwatch and killed two marines.  He had put a wound on my in shooting, but I saved all the assault wounds, and failed to inflict any, we remained locked in combat.

Turn 3, Top: I believe it was this turn that I technically screwed up on my Psychic phase.. Eldrad is allowed to cast 3 powers a turn, so I put prescience on both the Vespid, and the Firewarriors, then, as I planned to fire on the terminators with my broadsides, I also cast it on the broadsides instead of perfect timing, as they would grant no cover to them anyway, and the terminators were out of range of my psychic screach which I have yet to use..  Problem with this is that Eldrad can only cast the same power twice a turn (due to his staff), and had already used Prescience twice.. Ultimately it had no impact on the game as the Icarus couldn't fire having fired interceptor fire on turn 2, and all the rest of my weapons are already twin linked.. But it annoys me to forget that sort of thing even if it was my 4th game ever using psychers.. Another place for a note to be written so I don't forget apparently.  The vespid moved up 6" on the ground so they could use their jump move to Hammer of Wrath the assault marines (which are behind that piece of terrain with the columns), however, between their now twin-linked Str 5 AP3 shooting, and the Dark Reapers Str 5 Ap3 shooting, the assault squad was wiped out, so no assault was required. The firewarriors shot at the 2 marines in the Razorback crater to the right killing one.  The broadsides, the Ion-Head and what kroot could fired at his Warlord killing three Terminators.  Again, I've no idea where the Pathfinders fired, but I think it was at the terminators.

Turn 3, Bottom:  He moved the terminators/warlord into contact with the Relic.  Moved the tac squad to the left up to the ruins.  I think the missile launchers may have fired on the Icarus this turn but failed to kill it causing 1 wound.  The assault continued but no unsaved wounds were inflicted.  The heavy bolters on the predator fired at and killed one pathfinder.

 Turn 4, Top:  I moved the vespid up the right flank.  Moved the Ion-head up around towards the terminators/relic, while moving my firewarriors and Kroot towards the Relic.  Shadowsun followed suit and moved up to engage the terminators with her 12" fusion blasters (heaven forbid the Tau figure out the 24" multi-melta technology), and everyone else remained in place.  The vespid shot and killed the seargent in the razorback crater, and everyone else fired at the Terminators eventually killing them.  The assault continued to no effect.

Turn 4, Bottom:  Brian conceded the game at this point.  I was up 2 points to none, and there was no chance he could score linebreaker.  With all his transports out of commission he'd have had to foot slog the two missile launcher Tac squads up 16 or so inches to reach the relic meaning he could only get there at best bottom of turn 5, and with the majority of my army still in play that just wasn't going to happen.

The final board condition after turn 4

 

I think this game could have gone vastly differently if not for the lack of terrain.  Having the relic in the middle of a no-mans land with no cover, and nothing blocking my shooting to his defense line really made it tough to get near the relic, and tougher still to survive when exposed to that much shooting.  Brian chose the narrative terrain as he felt it would be faster, and I'm not sure how much more terrain he had on hand, but I still feel the alternating terrain gives a better result and lets you place some terrain to your advantage rather than feeling obligated to make it "fair".. It's war, I don't think it should be fair if you can help it..  When I was in the marines they always liked to say "Be prepared to die for your country, but make the other guy die for his".. I'm not sure how that applies here, but I'm going to claim that "gaming it" by placing terrain to your advantage, is a step toward that goal. 

Thanks for the Game Brian, and I'll look forward to a rematch, perhaps at the tournament in Lansing on the 16th?

Eldar Allies Part 2.

Eldar Allies W.I.P.

So I spent part of last weak painting some of my new Eldar allies.

They are playable as is, but need some detail work and some basing done on them still.  Either way I thought I'd throw them up here to see what people thought of them.

Eldrad has about 2 hours of painting in currently.. I rushed a bit on the other models, especially the Dark Reapers.  All of the models are old OOP Metal models, so I had to cut the pointy heads off the dark reapers to make them look more like the newer ones, and to make the "Exarch" stand out as I don't have a special weapon for him.

The color scheme is based off of the Ulthwe colors for eldrad, mixed with some greens to tie them into my Tau, and the purplish color that the Dark Reaper guns are often portrayed as.  So far I'm pretty pretty happy with the way they look.

Vanguard Strike Deployment

Why is this not in the BRB?

So, after playing numerous games, and watching numerous games played with people trying to measure out the stupid deployment zones for Vanguard Strike in 6th Edition, I drew up this quick diagram in 3ds Max to determine what the measurements along the board edges were for said deployment to avoid the fiasco of measuring corner to corner then measuring perpendicular to that to find 12" from the center blah blah blah...  So, with out further ado, here is the chart: (I'd been using 48" and 33" so I was slightly off, but I don't think it made a huge impact on my games)

This is my counts as Quad gun. 

Custom Tau Defense Line

 I'm participating in a 40K escalation league at Big Kidz Games here in Grand Rapids.  I joined half way through, so I won't be winning by any means, but I thought it would be an opportunity to get in some games with people I don't usually get to play. 

The league has just moved from 1500 to 1750 though the organizer is letting me make up my 1500 pt games during the 1750 period due to my late entry.  At 1500 the league opened up to allowing fortifications, and at 1750 began to allow allies.  I don't need allies as I have way over 2500 pts of Tau, but lacking anything with Skyfire, and knowing I'd be facing a number of Vendetta's, a helldrake, strom eagle etc.. I decided I'd really like to have an Aegis Defense Line, and a quadgun (I'm actually torn between the quad and the Icarus Lascannon as str 7 from the quad is barely effective up to AV12)..  Anyway, as a Tau player I didn't want to field the standard Aegis, not to mention they being hard to get a hold of, so I decided to make my own.   |



I made the whole thing out of plasticard, some bottle-caps off of Nero Drink bottles, and a couple spare bits from my Tau.  This was a quick and dirty effort, it took me 2.5 hours beginning to end this morning prior to one of my 2 1750 match ups, so it's not beautiful, but it works and hopefully will give someone an idea how to build their own defense line.  The process involved outlining a standard defense line onto the plasticard, cutting the bottle caps in half then grinding them down (you could cut them instead) in height to match the Aegis, then super gluing the caps onto the plasticard.  After that I used an exacto blade attachment on my soldering iron to trim the plasticard around the cap shapes, while maintaining the fence like section in between.  After that I used my dremel to grind the excess plasticard off and clean up the bottom of the caps a bit.  I'll probably go back and fill some gaps with liquid greenstuff, and maybe add another layer to the details on the fence area as they are a bit to flat.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

 Here you can see the original Nero bottle cap before I split them and shortened them to match the height of the original Aegis Defense Line.

Add caption

In this shot you can see the symmetry of the pieces which allows an unlikely arrangement to lessen the footprint of the defense line.  Why you'd want to do this.. I'm not sure, maybe to fit it between two ruins or something..  What ever the purpose, I think it's interesting that the arrangement causes the line to look more like the quad-gun base, and vaguely like the Forgeworld gun turrets.  Perhaps when I rework this I'll add the little outrigger legs that they have.

 Last minute edit for Tim's edification I'm adding this shot of the defense line as I deployed it in my first game with it vs Jeff's Chaos Space Marines.  As you can see it's not quite as good for troops as the official defense line, but I seldom put troops on the field, and it works great for crisis suits and broadsides.  Skimmers unfortunately tend to hover above it and get no cover.

After a brief Hiatus from gaming, I have recently gotten back into playing 40K and have been working on painting my army again. I've even joined a local escalation league at the midway point (1250), and have thus far been relatively successful.

For my two league games at the 1250 level (both ringer games as my opponents already had their league games in) I first played Aaron and his Ultra Marines. We rolled the Relic, and Hammer and anvil.

My list was composed as follows:

1250 Pts - Tau Empire Roster - 1250 League v6

HQ: Commander Shas'el (2#, 97 pts)
1 Commander Shas'el, 97 pts
1 Shield Drone (Automatic Unit Type; Shield Generator)

Troops: Fire Warrior (12#, 255 pts)
10 Fire Warrior,
1 Shas'ui (Markerlight target lock)
1 Devilfish (warfish)

Troops: Fire Warrior (12#, 255 pts)
10 Fire Warrior,
1 Shas'ui (Markerlight target lock)
1 Devilfish (warfish)


Fast Attack: Pathfinder (9#, 216 pts)
8 Pathfinder,
1 Devilfish (Warfish)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (3#, 178 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Team Leader, SMS, HWMT, HWTL, HWDC, BSF)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (SMS, MT)
1 Shield Drone (Automatic Unit Type; Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (3#, 178 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Team Leader, SMS, HWMT, HWTL, HWDC, BSF)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (SMS, MT)
1 Shield Drone (Automatic Unit Type; Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 190 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship, (Railgun, + all options)


Aarons Ultra marines were something to this effect (I'm missing some wargear options as this doesn't add up to 1250):

Captain in artificer armor (Warlord) with plasma pistol and ? attached to 10 sternguard with a combi melta and two plasma guns in a drop pod
2 5 man tac squads in rhinos
1 devastator squad with 2 las, 2 missile, and like 5 or 6 extra models with bolters to absorb shots (there was some character or something attached I think, that may account for the missing points)
Scout squad with cloaks of 5 including tellion
1 Vindicator

Since I didn't take any pictures, I'll just summarize the game. Aaron won the roll-off and chose to go first. He scored first blood top of turn one, after deepstriking the HQ and sternguard in behind my hammerhead and glancing it to death (I think it's BS that I don't get a Jink on my skimmers if I haven't taken a turn yet to move them, it's not like they've been sitting there immobilized prior to this battle starting). This also set him up to score line breaker later as he had 1 sternguard left at the end of the game that I just couldn't kill. In return, I eventually killed his Warlord with massed fire, and managed to snag the relic at the bottom of turn 7 by jumping my 2nd firewarrior team out of a devil fish I'd been using to block his tac squads from getting near it. Amusingly I had a second devil fish there to aid in the denial, which was eventually imobilized, but with some luck DPod rolls it managed to survive till the end of the game.

Final score, Tau 4, Ultra marines 2.



My 2nd match was against Josh's Imperial Guard. I ran the same list as it was a league, and you had to run the same list for both games at a given point level. We rolled vanguard strike and the relic (2nd game in a row). Josh ran something like:

Lord Commisar
Platoon command squad
Large Blob squad with HQ attached
Aegis Defense Line with Quad Gun (fired by Commisar)
Leman Russ x 2 with standard battle cannon
Manticore (buried in a ruin in the back corner with no LOS in or out)
Vetsquad with 10 men and 2 plasmaguns in
Vendetta x 2

Again I failed to take any pictures, mostly because my phone service is off so I haven't been carrying it around.. Josh won the roll off and went first. We rolled and got night fighting for turn one He illuminated a devilfish with a leman russ's spotlight, then since it was "illuminated", could target it with his Manticore which was outside of 36" which is the cut off for targeting when nightfight is active. I realize the rules can't account for every circumstance, but how is it that a vehicle with no line of site to a target, can then shoot at it beyond the targeting range just because there is a spotlight on it? No idea, but suffice it to say that his Str 10 ap 1 large blast exploded one devilfish, and immobilized the one next to it while also killing 4 firewarriors and a pathfinder that were nearby, giving him first blood, and severely limiting my tactical options as far as getting near the relic. I deepstruck my Shas'el in behind the manticore on turn 2, hoping to neutralize it even though I expected it would cost me a vp for slay the warlord.. Of course he scattered out from behind the Ruin and only had a shot at a Leman russ that my broadsides had taken a hull point off from. He glanced that to death, then managed to jump back into the ruin on his thrust move. He never did kill the damn manticore, but wittled down a good chunk of the command blob squad and scored me Line breaker at the end of the game. I did manage to shoot down a zooming vendetta with my broadsides, killing 8 of 10 guys inside. This would have left them in position to get linebreaker, but I eventually killed one and the other was falling back at the end of the game. The final tally left us with no one in possession of the relic, Josh had first blood, and I had line breaker.

Tau 1, Imperial Guard 1 for a tie.


In preparation for the 1500 point level starting in a week, I thought I'd try something different and got in a practice game at Battlefront vs Jakes Imperial guard list Saturday. We initially rolled vanguard strike and the scouring, but we both hate that mission with the 6 random pt objectives, so we rerolled and got... THE RELIC!.. That was better than the scouring, so we went with it for the 3rd time in a row. I ran the following:

1500 Pts - Tau Empire Roster - Tau 1500 league V2

Total Roster Cost: 1499

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

Troops: Fire Warrior (7#, 216 pts)
5 Fire Warrior, 50 pts = 5 * 10
1 Shas'ui, 46 pts = (base cost 20 + Markerlight 10 + EMP Grenade 3 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5)
1 Devilfish, 120 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10 + Smart Missile System 20) + Targeting Array 5

Troops: Fire Warrior (10#, 136 pts)
9 Fire Warrior, 90 pts = 9 * 10
1 Shas'ui, 46 pts = (base cost 20 + Markerlight 10 + EMP Grenade 3 + Hard-wired Blacksun Filter 3 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (9#, 172 pts)
6 Pathfinder, 72 pts = 6 * 12
1 Devilfish, 100 pts = (base cost 80 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Targeting Array 5

Heavy Support: Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship (1#, 170 pts)
1 Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship, 170 pts = (base cost 125 + Smart Missile System 20 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Blacksun Filter 5 + Targeting Array 5

Heavy Support: Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship (1#, 170 pts)
1 Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship, 170 pts = (base cost 125 + Smart Missile System 20 + Disruption Pod 5 + Multi-Tracker 10) + Blacksun Filter 5 + Targeting Array 5

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (4#, 200 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 90 pts = (base cost 70 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Advanced Stabilisation System 10 + Team Leader 5)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 80 pts = (base cost 70 + Advanced Stabilisation System 10)
1 Shield Drone, 15 pts
1 Shield Drone, 15 pts

Elite: Stealthsuits (3#, 152 pts)
1 Stealthsuits, 40 pts = (base cost 30 + Targeting Array 10)
1 Stealthsuits, 40 pts = (base cost 30 + Targeting Array 10)
1 Stealthsuit Shas'vre, 72 pts = (base cost 35 + Targeting Array 10 + Hard-wired Multi-tracker 5 + Hard-wired Target Lock 5 + Markerlight 10 + Shas'vre Upgrade 5) + Fusion Blaster 2

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (3#, 95 pts)
1 Piranha Light Skimmer, 95 pts = (base cost 60 + Disruption Pod 5) + Fusion Blaster x1 5 + Seeker Missile x2 20 + Targeting Array x1 5



Jake ran something like:

Lord Commissar with small command squad in a chimera
30 man blob squad with some grenade launchers and a commisar?
Platoon command squad with heavy bolter and a standard of some sort
Vet squad in a chimera
heavy wpn team x 3 missle launchers
heavy wpn team x 3 lascannons
Basilisk
Leman Russ x 2 with standard battle cannon
Aegis defense line but no gun emplacement


He won the roll off to go first, and I failed to seize. My warlord got the ability to make it nightfighting turn 1, so I did so as every unit I had had Blacksun Filters. He failed to kill any units on turn one, and through significant use of markerlights, I managed to destroy his vets chimera with seeker missiles hitting from the side from my piranha which had moved flat out all the way to his board edge and from the front from the two skyrays, and put a hull point on the command chimera, first blood to me. After turn one, the Skyrays were really pretty worthless as far as the seaker missles were concerned. Strength 8 ap 3 is just not enough to reliably put glancing hits on av 13-14.. The sms systems on them helped by ignoring cover and taking out most of the missle launchers, but all things considered, they seemed to have wasted 2 heavy slots while performing no better than a warfish. I'd rather have had 2 Ionheads, or 2 2 man broadside teams in their place. The 3 man stealth team payed for themselves easily. They contributed a markerlight hit toward killing the chimera turn one, they wiped out the lascannon squad (all but one wound to which I donated a railgun shot in order to finish them off on turn 2). They drew fire from the basilisk turn 3 saving my firewarriors from getting pancaked. They wiped out most of his Warlords unit on turns 4 and 5 which let me finish off his warlord with a railgun shot on turn five. And they scored me line breaker as the game ended after 5. In the final tally, no one was on the relic, though I had 6 firewarriors an inch from it. I'd scored first blood, slay the warlord and linebreaker. Jake had no points.

Tau 3, IG 0 for a win.


So, in summary, out of the 3 games I've played most recently, I would have to say that the return of Target Locks to my infantry, and the improvements to Disruption Pods have really helped make the Tau feel somewhat competative. My vehicles and stealth suits are so much more survivable now it is just huge. Much as I want to like the Skyray, it just under performs dreadfully. If the seekers had some missle options, or weren't limited to 6 per vehicle, or if the skyray had skyfire as it should, it might be a different story, but as it is, they will be going back on the shelf till a tau codex or an errata comes out to fix them.

If you made it this far. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my post. I'll make sure to include some pictures from now on.