Game 1 vs Mech Eldar is here, and Game 2 vs Tyranids is here. 

Something weird happened to my camera between Games 2 and 3 – banding appears in all the photos   It’s not so noticeable in the reduced-size pics, but it looks like it’s time for a new camera.  One with exposure control would be nice.  Any recommendations? 

Game 3 

I was on Table 3, which I had to let sink in a bit.  Table 3?  So this is what not losing feels like?  

I was drawn against Chris Murfitt and his all-foot Sisters of Battle.  It is a little disconcerting to see what, at first glance, looks like an army made up of 60 identical models!  No offense to Chris, who did a great job painting them, but they were lined up in such perfect ranks they might have been a box of chocolates.  I prayed they were all soft centres, and we headed off to sample the delights of Game 3. 

Mission: Seize Ground (5 objectives), Spearhead. 

Chris’ army was (from memory):- 

• 1 x Canoness w/ Eviscerators, Litanies of Faith and Book of St Lucius with a Celestian retinue , including a Veteran Superior with Eviscerator, one Heavy Flamer and one Melta;
• 1 x Canoness w/ Blessed Weapon, Litanies of Faith and Book of St Lucius with a Celestian retinue , including a Veteran Superior with Eviscerator, one Heavy Flamer and one Melta;
• 2 x squads of 10 Sisters of Battle including a Veteran Superior with Eviscerator, one Heavy Flamer and one Melta;
• 4 x squads of 10 Sisters of Battle including a Veteran Superior with Eviscerator, one Flamer and one Melta;
• 1 squad of 6 Seraphim, including Veteran Superior with Eviscerator.

That’s a lot of power armour.  He’s also got six Troops choices to my two, and there are five objectives in this game!  How the heck am I going to win this? 

Fortunately, I had thought about that before coming to the tournament.  I would try and claim two, and contest the third, hoping the game ended on Turn 5.  Not much of a plan, and it gives me a draw, not a win, but with only two Troops it was the best I could hope for. 

This game also had some special rules.  For each piece of area terrain (and ours was all area terrain again) randomly determine if the terrain is on fire, or just a smoking ruin.  Terrain on fire counts as dangerous, while smoking terrain adds +1 to your cover save.  Both types of terrain completely block line of sight as per old 4^th edition area terrain rules. 

Jump, shoot, jump is back again, baby!  

Cotton wool marks smoking terrain.  All other terrain is on fire. 

Chris won the roll and elected to let me go first – sensible move.  We alternate placing the objectives – ending up with four in a line from one corner to the other, and the fifth just off that central axis. 

I pick a corner with all flaming terrain (to discourage assaults on me – I don’t really need the +1 to cover save, as my opponent has literally no ranged firepower beyond 12″) and deploy everything bar the Fire Warriors and the fusion suits.  I don’t have any specific targets for the Fusion suits, but I reckon I can find a use for them. 

Tau deployment. Objectives in the shot are shown with a red square

Devilfish are kept well back so that my Fire Warriors can embark into them when they come on.  I will need that mobility and protection if I am to get anything out of this. 

Chris deploys everything, leaving only the Seraphim in reserve.  I assume they have some kind of melta-threat, but I forget now.  It doesn’t matter, as you’ll see later. 

Sisters deployment. Objectives in the shot are shown with a red square. Memorise their location - there will be a quiz later

Turn 1 

Tau 

The Broadsides move back a bit to get better line of sight. 

The Pathfinders light up the nearest unit of normal Sisters, and the Farsight squad unloads on them.  They take more than 50% casualties and fall back, leaving the table on Turn 2 or 3.  Good start. 

The other two Crisis Squads (twin linked missile pods and missile pod/ plasma rifles) jump out and lay into another unit, causing a few casualties. 

The suits jump back behind terrain, out of line of sight.  Not that the Sisters have any weapons that could reach them on this Turn   I should have stayed forward. 

Sisters 

The falling back unit cannot rally and runs away some more.  One squad stays back on the Sister’s ‘home’ objective – they won’t move all game.  The other six squads(!) head out, moving and then running to close the distance.  They split up around the tree-lined pool (which has an objective in it), three going to my left and two going to my right.  The sixth doesn’t go far. 

No shooting. 

Turn 2 

Tau 

I bring on my Fusion suits using the Positional Relay, but without any armour to knock out I decide to keep them close to home.  I deep strike them on the opposite side of the table, so they can threaten the advancing squads and perhaps draw one of them away.  They scatter, but not much. 

I jump out again and do some more shooting, wiping out another squad of battle sisters.  I hit the Celestian unit in cover, but they trigger some pesky auto-Faith power and get their invulnerable saves off.  I kill three, but they make their morale check. 

My suits don’t jump back very far, hoping to get off some rapid-firing next Turn. 

Sisters 

The Seraphim decline to appear, citing unspecified nail-painting activities.  Their Sisters understand. 

The squads continue their advance.  There are two squads sitting at home, two moving for the objective just the other side of the blazing terrain feature my Broadsides are behind (one Celestian and one normal squad) and two moving around the tree-lined pool (again, one Celestian and one normal squad). 

Shooting?  No.  Running?  Yes. 

Turn 3 

Tau 

I bring on some Fire Warriors and run them into the waiting Fish.  Sit tight, little dudes, and try not to die. 

I move my Pathfinders and vehicle Gun Drones to screen the Broadsides. 

I shoot up the Canoness/ Celestian squad, as well as the Sisters sheltered beside that lovely, tree-lined pool.  It looked much nicer in the holiday brochure, that pool, before it was set on fire. 

Here is where I go a little mad.  Not much, but definitely enough to qualify for some care in the community.  Regular tournament players won’t comprehend this, but casual players might.  Satisfied with my results in Games 1 and 2, I decide to forgo jumping out, shooting and jumping back again (boring), and decide to throw caution to the wind and charge the Farsight squad and my Fireknives into combat.  Against a Celestian squad  

How did I fare?  Epically well – Farsight hit with all his attacks and slaughtered five Celestians himself, before… 

No. 

As little Jimmy Osmond (or was it Abraham Lincoln?  I get them mixed up) said – “I cannot tell a lie.”  It did not go well  

(It was Abraham Lincoln, wasn’t it?  I got an E for English at school, but I can always remember a Charles Dickens character.  He was the one who asked for more porridge, I think, but I digress.) 

The Celestian squad got off its automatic invulnerable faith power, but failed to get the S8 power.  Farsight failed to kill anyone, although with the mass of other attacks I did kill everyone bar the Canoness and the Veteran Superior and won combat.  The Eviscerators hurt, but that is what drones are for.  The Sisters were about to run screaming, but then the Canoness stopped to read from the good Book of St Lucius and they all reconsidered.  What book could possibly be so fascinating that the Sisters would stick around?  Must be something by Gok Wan.  I am not one for burning books, but I might make an exception in this case. 

And for anything by Dan Brown. 

Sisters 

The Seraphim are waving their fingernails frantically, but they just won’t dry in time, and they sit out this Turn as well.  Phew! 

The other Celestian/ Canoness squad hears the cries of their Sisters (more like laughter than cries, really) and plunge into the Farsight combat.  So does the unit of Sisters sheltering behind the tree-lined pool. 

Farsight loses combat by 4, fails Ld on a 6 and is destroyed by Sweeping Advance.  This is where that Failsafe Detonator would have come in very handy! 

Anyway, I got what I wanted – I charged Commander Farsight and did not (immediately) die   Good game. 

What, there’s more?  Two Turns more?  Oh, alright, then. 

That is pretty much game, and I am expecting to get pegged back to a single objective now, but that’s not quite what happens. 

The Fireknives were wiped out, too, also by Sweeping Advance.  Should probably mention that. 

The Canoness/ Celestian squad that charged in are largely unharmed, but of the squad Farsight charged only the wounded Canoness remains.  They both consolidate 1″, clearly laughing too hard to move any further.  The other Sisters squad consolidates back into cover – almost. 

Elsewhere in this Turn, the Sisters squad moves around the terrain piece to threaten my Broadsides.  I realise that, incredibly, my opponent is now short on squads and if I can pull them into an assault, I might get them away from that tall, Tau objective on Turn 5, leaving it unclaimed. 

Hmm. 

Turn 4 

Tau 

The second squad of Fire Warriors come on and run into the other Devilfish.  I now have two mobile scoring units, and two objectives close at hand.  I move one to within 3″ (keeping out of terrain), and move the other 6″ towards the second objective. 

My missile pod and suicide fusion crisis suits advance on the tree-lined pool, blasting away.

They kill the lone Canoness and make their assault moves forward.  I am not particularly hopeful of contesting this objective, as Chris has another Sisters squad sitting deeper in his deployment zone, and he will undoubtedly move them up to assist the wounded one already on it. 

That means I only have one other objective where I can make a difference – the one near the Broadsides.  I move the two pathfinders and the gun drones up to block them.

Sisters 

The Seraphim arrive! 

And mishap! 

And I get to place them! 

In the furthest corner of the table! 

Nice nails, girls. 

The two Sisters squads in the middle of the table throng about the tree-lined pool.  I am not getting that objective.  They shoot at the fusion suits, and kill one.  The other one fails morale and runs 10″ towards my long table edge. 

The Canoness/ Celestian squad makes mincemeat of my Pathfinders and consolidates towards the nearest Devilfish.

The Sisters squad nearest my Broadsides heavy flamers my Pathfinders and Gun Drones, killing two of the former and one of the latter.  The Pathfinders run away, but the Gun Drone sticks it out.  

Turn 5 

Tau 

The fusion suit fails to rally and runs right off the table. 

I move the Devilfish to within 3″ of the second objective, again able to keep out of terrain thanks to objective placement. 

My missile pod suits shoot up the Sisters By The Pool and try and assault, but fall short.  The other vehicle gun drones make it into assault, but due to assaulting into terrain they go at I1 and are killed before getting to strike.  The Sisters By The Pool consolidate back to claim their objective (although the other squad was already claiming it). 

I assault the Sisters squad nearest my Broadside with a single Gun Drone.  It does nothing to the Sisters, but it does pull them away from the objective.  Predictably, they kill it with their attacks back, and- 

Actually, they don’t   I make four 4+ armour saves and the plucky Drone lives!  The Veteran Superior with the Eviscerator was lingering beside the objective and even with her Defenders React move, could not get engaged with the drone.  Combat is drawn.  The Sisters make a pile in move, getting even further from that objective. 

Sisters 

The Canoness/ Celestian squad move up and melta the Devilfish nearest them.  It explodes.  I take four casualties, but pass my pinning check.  Since I get to place my models anywhere the destroyed vehicle was, I place them within 3″ of the objective. 

Since my two Fire Warriors are now in difficult terrain (check the rulebook) my opponent has to assault them through cover, and he only gets 3″ on 2D6, failing to reach them!  He is also more than 3″ away from the objective. 

The other combat resolves with the Gun Drone dying heroically, and the Sisters get a measly 2″ consolidation. 

Chris rolls, and the game ends on a 2. 

Result: I claim two objectives, and Chris claims two, with the fifth one being unclaimed by either side.  Draw.  I lose quite a lot of VP, though. 

Commentary:  I had set myself up to lose this game when I decided to have some fun and charge Farsight in, so getting away with a draw felt like a win in the circumstances.  Chris was another amazingly sporting and generous opponent, knowledgeable about his army and always willing to explain things, and I hope the game was as much fun for him as it was for me.

Farsight fends off the ravening hordes of the Hive Mind

Game 1 is here, along with details of my list, but you’re not here for boring old Game 1 (although it wasn’t boring in the least)!  You want Game 2 – the one where I killed Deathleaper three times

Game 2

I have played new codex Tyranids exactly once, and that was in a Battle Missions scenario with a Shadowsun list.  This was a full 1750 points of new Nids, but I felt good about this game.

Why?

Because of the Special Rule “War Without End”, which lets you place any destroyed, non-vehicle unit back into reserve.   This screws over mech forces, of course, who lose their tanks and transports, while the soft contents have to walk back on the table.  I have only two vehicles (the Devilfish) and my nifty piece of Tau wargear that lets me bring in any one unit in reserve on a 2+.  Lose the Broadsides?  Never mind – they’ll be back next Turn!

Of course, the only army I would fear to face in this mission would be one loaded with Monstrous Creatures.   Like, say, a Tyranid army.

Eek!

Tim’s army was:-

• Tyranid Prime with shooty weapon
• 24 Termagants w/ Spinefists
• 4 Warriors with shooty weapons, inc one venom cannon
• 5 Genestealers
• 3 Zoanthropes
• 2 Hive Guard
• Deathleaper
• 6 Ravenors
• 10 Gargoyles
• Old One Eye
• Trygon Prime

Tim's Tyranids.

 Fortunately for me, only a couple of MCs that would recycle.

Mission:  Annihilation, Dawn of War

We chatted about the terrain, agreeing it was all area terrain with a 4+ cover save.  Oddly enough, this was the only table I played on today where my army was not perfectly camouflaged by the prevailing colour scheme.  That means – nothing, really, but there it is.  We rolled and Tim won the roll-off, choosing to go first.  Now I think about it, I didn’t win the roll for first Turn all day.  That, too, means exactly nothing.

Tim deployed the unit of Termagants, the Warriors and the Tyranid Prime, all on the 24″ line.  He keeps the Trygon, Genestealers, Deathleaper, Ravenors and Gargoyles in reserve, opting to deep strike with them all except for the Genestealers, who will outflank.

The warriors are just behind those pipes.

There they are. That's all area terrain, by the way.

I deployed nothing, since all I would do is give him something to shoot at and an area of my deployment zone to aim his advance towards.  As in Game 1, I kept the two units of Fire Warriors and the Fusion suits in reserve, opting to deepstrike the latter.

Deathleaper reduces Farsight’s Ld by 1, to 9.

Turn 1

Tyranids

The Gants and Warriors advance into my half of the table.  The Hive Guard, Zoanthropes and Old One Eye walk on and run.

Nothing to shoot at.

Tau

Old One Eye is in the middle, but the Hive Guard are out on the left and the Zoanthropes are on the right.  Do I fear 4 S8 24″ range shots that ignore cover more than I fear 3 S10 18″ range shots?  I decide that fewer shots at lesser range is the best one to face, and opt to deploy on the right, with the option to swing left if I need to.  It means if I do swing left I will abandon the Broadsides, but they are a good lure, only a single KP and I get them back anyway!

I decide to deploy the two Devilfish in the middle of the table, to guard my left flank.  I need them to block the Gants, and their flechette dischargers just happen to come up in conversation!

Everything of mine not in reserve walks on, everyone makes their Night Fight tests and blasts away at the Warrior/ Prime squad, killing them all.

Assault and running moves ensure that the Broadsides are camped in a corner with the Pathfinders in front of them, and that Farsight is surrounded by the two other Crisis Suit squads.

Turn 2

Tyranids

Only Deathleaper and the Trygon turn up from reserves.  Deathleaper pops up in the area terrain just ahead of me, while the Trygon aims for my right flank and scatters almost to the short edge of the table.

This is great for me, as he has taken the lure of the Broadsides.  His tunnel will be at the extreme right of the table, meaning I can now move left, away from his reserves.  He will be chasing me along my long table edge, so my own reserves can come on and shoot immediately.

The Gants make their Ld check and move then run towards my two Devilfish.

The Trygon shoots at the Broadsides and Deathleaper shoots at Farsight, both doing nothing.

The Zoanthropes move up and take a shot at my Farsight unit, but do no damage/ I lose a single gun drone – cannot recall exactly.

Tau

I bring the Fusion suits in, opting to place them near the Trygon to help kill it.  Sadly, despite the Devilfish’s reroll, they scatter into the Trygon and mishap.  Tim places them on his long table edge.

I tank shock with both Devilfish, pushing the Gants 12″ backwards, and blocking them between two pieces of area terrain.  They are now in range of synapse, so no morale check.

The gun drones detach to form blocking units, although given this is a KP mission I should have kept them safe.

Shooting (and markerlights) are focused on the Trygon and wipes it out.  Then I take out Deathleaper.

In assault moves, I shift left, but nowhere near as much as I had intended to.  Not sure why.  I certainly didn’t fear Old One Eye, as I was confident I could take him out whenever he became a threat.

Turn 3

Tyranids

Tyranid reserve rolls are poor.  The Tyranid Prime and his Warriors come on, opting to use the Trygon’s tunnel (although now I think about it, only one unit per Turn can use the tunnel).

Deathleaper pops back up in the same piece of terrain.  Is there no killing this guy?  Yes, yes there is   (We later agreed that based on the scenario rules, Deathleaper should have walked on rather than deep striking, but no matter)

Old One Eye moves up.

The Zoanthropes move up and wreck the Devilfish on the right.

The Warrior/ Prime unit wipes out my missile pod suits with shooting.

Tau

I bring my missile pod suits back on 2+ with the positional relay.  My Fire Warriors remain safe in reserve.

I shuffle left, keeping within rapid fire range of the warriors, although leaving my Broadsides and Pathfinders to their fate.  I let fly.  I do a lot of wounds, but the dice are agin me this Turn and I leave the Prime and two warriors alive, although on 1 or 2 wounds each.

I decide not to spend all my shooting on them, and kill Deathleaper again

Assault moves see all my crisis suits moving left with gun drones and the non-Farsight crisis suits screening Farsight.

Turn 4

Tyranids

The ground trembles and the Trygon Prime’s twin brother appears out of the same hole his dead sibling left.  The Genestealers also come on, outflanking on my right, although they have to pass behind the Trygon.

The Gants move into the terrain to the left of the Devilfish.

The Raveners deepstrike, scattering into the wrecked Devilfish.  Dangerous terrain takes one wound off one of them.

Having discussed the mission-specific War Without End rule, Deathleaper walks on, and then promptly uses his special rule to jump back into reserve, allowing him to deepstrike on Turn 5.

Yes, the Hive Guard have done nothing yet.  Not sure why, as Tim has been moving them up and they have been in range for two Turns.

In shooting, it turns out the Raveners have guns!  Ouch.  They don’t do much, though.

The Trygon shoots at my Broadsides, killing a shield drone. The Zoanthropes shoot up the other Devilfish, and it explodes.  The blast only goes 1″, killing a single Gant.  Boo!  The Warriors and Genestealers line up assaults on the Pathfinders.

The Warriors and Genestealers charge the Pathfinders, but the Trygon cannot get past to reach the Broadsides – the rulebook reminding us that “Defenders React” moves are made after all charge moves have been made.  If you run screening units in your army, this rule is golden!

Incredibly, two Pathfinders survive and make morale checks on a 4!  Now, if you don’t play Tau, you will think this is good.  If you do play Tau, you will know that the Pathfinder’s job was to die, so that I could shoot at the assaulting units in my Turn.  Farsight clearly instils too great a sense of epic heroism in his men

Tau

I opt not to use the Positional Relay, and get both units of Fire Warriors on.  I move them up 6″ to the left of all my crisis suits, forming a line ahead of the Gants.  Yes – another assault screen!

I move left, behind the screen, keeping my missile pod suits as a screen to my right for when the genestealers and warriors are done with my brave Pathfinders.

In shooting, I take out Old One Eye, who was getting too close for comfort.  The Trygon is no longer a threat, other than to my Broadsides, who are dead anyway.

Farsight’s unit lets fly on the Gants, although their cover saves keep them from dying.  I won’t get that KP without another full Turn of shooting.  They do wind up pinned, though.

Assault moves see me go left, again.  The Pathfinders fall and the Genestealers and Warriors consolidate in my general direction.

Turn 5

The clock is ticking, and we agree that we can only fit in a Turn 5 and then the game will be up.  It could still go either way at this point.

Tyranids

Old One Eye pops out of the Trygon’s magic tunnel, the Gargoyles deepstrike way off to the left, past my lefthandmost unit of Fire Warriors.

Deathleaper pops up yet again in that same damned piece of terrain!

It’s great playing Tau, I remark at this point, as all the action ends up happening on the Tau side of the table.  I never have to get off my lazy arse and walk round to the other side!

The Hive Guard and Zoanthropes move up.

The Ravenors move down off the wrecked Devilfish (taking another wound in the process).

They shoot into my Fire Warriors and then assault them and a unit of gun drones, wiping both out.  They consolidate back into the wrecked Devilfish.

The Gargoyles shoot up my other squad of Fire Warriors, but only one fails his save.

Deathleaper yet again fails to do anything.  He knows what’s coming.  The weight of his doom settles on his insectile mind…

The Genestealers assault into my missile pod suits, killing two.

The remaining suit holds, protecting the KP.  The warriors and Trygon shoot and assault into the Broadsides, killing them.

Tau

I cannot remember when, but either the Zoanthropes or the Hive Guard killed my fusion team.  I get them back, along with the Broadsides, Pathfinders and Fire Warriors.  The gun drones do not recycle, according to the mission rules, as they were part of a vehicle at deployment.

I go for the easy KPs, knowing that the game is ending here.  I kill the wounded Warriors and the Prime again, and I make a concerted effort to kill Deathleaper again, blasting him to dust and ashes for the third time   I nearly claim the Hive Guard, but poor dice rolls let one of them live on.

The game ends, and we are both grinning like idiots!

Result: 9KP each, although I had double his VP.  Draw.

Commentary:  With the War Without End rule, this mission was an absolute hoot.  Neither of us cared much about losing units since we just got them back.  Sure, this distracted me from the KP mission but when you’re having this much fun it’s excusable.  What’s that Mr Farsight?  It’s not excusable?  Right.  Sorry.  Of course.

Other than not protecting my weakest KPs (gun drones, pathfinders and Fire Warriors), I didn’t make any real mistakes here.  Deployment and target priority were sound.  If I had let Farsight get assaulted in Turn 5 by the Ravenors, he would almost certainly have run off the table and come right back on to shoot again, saving me at least one KP.  Running a legal list(!) with only 1 Pathfinder unit would also have saved me a KP!  See, kids, cheats don’t prosper

After this game it was a short break and then straight into Game 3.  60+ power armoured models – a horde Sisters army packed with meltas, flamers and faith points.  Coming right up

Shots of all the armies at Counter Attack 2010.  Let me know if any of these are yours and I will stick your name up.

WMV video of Jamie’s Space Wolves (right click link and choose “Save As”):-

Space_Wolves_Counter_Attack_2010

Just got back from the Counter Attack tournament in Edinburgh.  My most successful tournament so far, in that I didn’t lose a single game.  Didn’t win one either

Short version:  Three great games against great, smart and very sporting opponents.  Farsight got to charge into glorious combat and slap some Sisters of Battle around with his impressive Dawn Blade – and didn’t immediately die.

Long Version:  yeah, it’s long.

The Event

1750 points, 3 games and some special rules to liven up the competition.

I was at this event last year with a different list, and you can see my batreps here and here.

My Army

I took my Farsight list.  Why Farsight?  Well, I have done a regular Tau army and a Shadowsun army and I wanted to try the only other Independant Character in the Tau codex.  What’s that?  Aun’va?  I can’t hear you. Aun who? La, la, la, I can’t hear you.

It gave me a great opportunity to model and paint Farsight himself, and I was pretty pleased with the result (even though it meant staying up to 1.30am on a work night to get him finished).  My philosophy in making the list was to make it as competitive as I could, while keeping it true to the Farsight ideal of Crisis Suits in a Crisis Suit sauce with a side helping of Crisis Suits.

Just to be clear, I know this is not the best list Tau can field, but that is not my aim as a gamer today.  I just wanted the best Farsight list.

The full list is here (Word doc), and the simple version is:-

• Farsight, with a 5 Crisis Suit retinue, 4 plasma rifles, 4 missile pods, fusion blaster, AFP, 5 gun drones, 2 shield drones, a couple of target locks and a positional relay.
• Squad of 3 Fireknives (plasma and missile pods)
• Squad of 3 Deathrains (twin linked missile pods and flamers)
• Squad of 2 Sunforges (twin linked fusion blasters)
• 2 x squads of 6 Fire Warriors
• 2 x squads of 4 Pathfinders with Devilfish, disruption pods and flechette dischargers
• 3 x Broadsides with stabilisation systems and 2 shield drones

Commentary: too many suits, not enough Troops or screening units, no Piranhas and not enough rail guns.  Everything was sacrificed for more crisis suits

I also made some changes for the missions.  I will discuss those as the missions come up.  The positional relay is there to keep my Fire Warriors in reserve and out of harm’s way, and also to allow me to manipulate when my deep striking fusion blaster teams comes in – I can bring them in on Turns 2-4, my choice, and always on a 2+.

There were around 14 other players there, and I will stick up a post with photos of all their armies.

The only soft score was 5 points for a painted army, and nil for an army with any unpainted models.  You couldn’t get anything in between – it was all or nothing, so it didn’t affect the overall results if you didn’t let it (ie. if you bothered to paint your army).  Good mechanic.

Game 1

Mission:  Capture and Control, Pitched Battle

I was drawn against James and his Eldar.  His list was:-

• Farseer withSpear, Runes, Doom and Fortune;
• 2 x Dire Avengers w/ Exarch, Defend and Bladestorm;
• 1 x Dire Avengers w/ Exarch, Defend and Bladestorm in a Wave Serpent;
• Banshees w/ Exarch, War Shout in a Wave Serpent;
• Fire Dragons w/ Exarch in a Wave Serpent
• Fire Dragons w/ Exarch
• Falcon w/ Engines, Holo Fields and Shuriken Cannon

We discussed terrain and each other’s lists, and he won the roll, letting me go first. I placed my objective behind a building to my right (mistake #1) and James put his in a building in the centre of his deployment.

I deployed everything bar the deep striking fusion suits and the Fire Warriors.

Farsight deploys his forces, squaring off against the deadly Eldar Dice Avengers. Sorry - Dire Avengers.

James deployed his two foot units of Dire Avengers behind the building with his objective in, and out of line of sight.  Everything else stayed in reserve.

The Eldar, hiding.

I scouted my Pathfinders forward into some marshy terrain, giving them some cover.

Turn 1

Tau

I stayed where I was.

Eldar

He stayed where he was.  Exciting, huh?

Turn 2

Tau

I used the positional relay to bring in a unit of Fire Warriors, who walked on and moved behind a building near my objective.  I should have put them in a Devilfish, which was the plan.  Mistake #2.

Eldar

Nothing came on!  He stayed where he was.

Turn 3

Tau

I used the positional relay to bring the second unit of Fire Warriors on, as this let me keep the deep striking fusion unit in reserve for when the Eldar skimmers turned up.  They joined the other Fire Warriors near my objective, although I did remember to run them to put them in the Devilfish.

My crisis suits moved up to the centre of the table, with one of Farsight’s retinue taking a wound from jumping into terrain.  This is where my mistake with objective placement became obvious, as moving up in this way meant that there was lots of cover on my right flank that anyone approaching my objective could use to hide in.  If the objective had been in the middle of my deployment at the back, the Eldar would have had no cover and a longer way to go to reach it.

Eldar

Only one reserve unit came on(!), the Falcon with the Fire Dragons in it.  It zoomed 36″ straight across the table, hiding near my objective behind the buildings.

Turn 4

Tau

I used the pos relay to bring the crisis suit fusion squad down behind the Falcon, although I had to use the Devilfish’s ability to re-roll their deep strike – handy.  With no Holo Fields at the rear of Eldar vehicles I hit twice and penetrated twice, immobilising and stunning the Falcon.

Crisis missile team on the left. One squad of Fire Warriors on foot, and the other inside that Devilfish.

Then my missile pod suits jumped out, shot the pulse laser off, and jumped back into hiding.

The Devilfish on the left moves up 12″.  Why I didn’t put a squad of Fire Warriors in it I don’t know – opening game jitters probably.

That Devilfish on the left should have some Fire Warriors in it.

Eldar

All the remaining reserves come on, zooming up after the crippled Falcon.

The Fire Dragons disembark the Falcon and kill the fusion crisis squad (as expected).

Turn 5

Tau

The Devilfish advances on the enemy objective.  A squad of vehicle gun drones and my Fireknives also advance on the Dire Avengers hiding in the back.

"Shas'la! Pay no attention to the giant Eldar Finger of Doom!"

Time to see what I can do to these Eldar skimmers!

Farsight’s squad shuffles around, getting plasma and missile pods near the skimmers on my right, and advancing the AFP-wielder towards the Eldar objective.  He drops his large template on both squads, causing several casualties.  Farsight takes a wound leaving difficult terrain.

The broadsides start moving over to my objective.

Shooting is pretty good.  Despite the tricksy Eldar wargear (Energy Field) reducing my railguns to S8, I explode the Wave Serpents with the Dire Avengers and with the Farseer/ Howling Banshees in them, then shoot at the remnants, causing more casualties.  In fact, the Dire Avengers are reduce to four, and all the Banshees bar the Exarch are wiped out.  No-one fails morale or is pinned, though, but you can see why the Eldar stayed off table for so long!

KA-BOOOM! The Dire Avengers and the Farseer/ Banshee Exarch are left in the ruins of their transports. Eldar wargear? I've heard it can be pretty good

And that is without Pathfinders (they couldn’t get line of sight), although James couldn’t make a cover save for trying.

The Fire Warriors on foot shoot at the Fire Dragons, killing one.

A shot from the Eldar side of the table. You can see a lone crisis suit from Farsight's retinue has got too close to those Dire Avengers at the left. The Devilfish, gun drones and Fireknives should be blocking the assault.

Eldar

The Farseer Dooms Farsight and Fortunes the Banshees.

The last remaining Wave Serpent jumps up on top of the building near my objective and the Fire Dragons pile out.

The Farseer and Exarch are just hiding behind that building on the right. You can just see a bit of banshee poking out. Here comes the shooting...

They explode my Devilfish, killing four of the Fire Warriors inside.

The Dire Avengers from the exploded Wave Serpent scale a building and bladestorm my missile pod Crisis Suits, but fail to kill any.

The Farseer and Banshees round the other building and assault into my squad of Fire Warriors that just shot up the Fire Dragons.  All the Fire Warriors die and the Farseer and Banshees consolidate back out of line of sight.

The Fire Dragons from the immobilised Falcon advance and shoot up the Broadsides, killing a drone.   You can see how valuable drones on Broadside squads are – five meltas and a supa-melta from the Autarch, and afterwards there is no reduction in firepower for the Broadside squad

At the other side of the table, the large squad of Dire Avengers bladestorms the Doomed Farsight squad, killing the AFP suit and a few drones.

Here come the Dire Avengers.

They assault.  Doom works its magic and despite Farsight killing two of the Eldar, he loses combat by two and fails his Leadership roll.  The sweeping advance cuts him and his squad down, and the Dire Avengers consolidate a few inches back towards their objective.

All gone. 638 points, just like that! Lesson learned.

Not a very glorious first blooding for Farsight, but at least he took a couple of them with him!  In all seriousness, although Dire Avengers are not a specialist close combat squad, the combination of Doom, Bladestorm, Defend and a mass charge did tip the balance.  I should have protected Farsight from assault with the drones and Fireknives – a lesson I remembered for Game 2.

We roll, and the game continues.

Turn 6

Tau

The Pathfinders finally have a target and they light up the last remaining Wave Serpent.  Why?  Because the entire squad of disembarked Fire Dragons is within 1″ of the hull   The Broadsides hit with all three shots and explode it, killing a few of the Fire Dragons, although not many.

Stupidly, I ignore the four Dire Avengers, forgetting that they are the only enemy Troops near my objective!  For some reason, I had thought Banshees and Fire Dragons were Troops   Mistake #301.

The missile pod suits fire at the other Fire Dragon squad (the one on the ground) and try to assault, but fall short.

The gun drones behind the building assault the Dire Avengers, and kill one before dying themselves.  This turns out to be a critical move on my part – only three DAs left.

Only two Fire Warriors left, but the Fire Dragons are contesting. You can see the Dire Avengers hiding behind the building on the left, pulled back by the Gun Drones' assault. Hey - where did that Wave Serpent on top of the other building go?

At the other end of the table, the Devilfish scoots up onto the building with the Eldar objective in it – I am now contesting.  The Fish makes its dangerous terrain roll.  My gun drones jump up next to the objective, and I lose one to a dangerous terrain roll – Farsight needs to reprogram their AI!  My Fireknives shoot up the Dire Avengers who killed Farsight, forcing them to fall back.  They fall back 9″, but remain within assault range.  For some reason I assault them.  I cannot remember why, as I am sure they were below half strength, and would have run off the table.  Stupid.  I win, but the DAs hold.  Mistake # bazillion-ty one.

See that lone gun drone? He's tough, that one.

Eldar

The Dire Avengers move up into the building near my objective, while the Fire Dragons in the same building move forward.  The Fire Dragons on the ground move up.

Everything shoots at either my missile pod suits or my last two Fire Warriors, killing the latter and forcing the former to fail morale and run off the table in one go.  I was hoping they would ignore my broadsides, since if anyone is tough enough to hold the objective, it is them, and they are within 3″ of it to contest.

Watch those three Dire Avengers closely. I am about to make them disappear, too. With large rods of superdense metal propelled at a fraction of light speed. To the head.

At the Eldar objective, the last Dire Avenger squad charges into the ongoing combat, also multicharging the gun drone in the building.  I take some wounds and do some back, and although I lose by two, both squads make their morale checks and hold.  The gun drone survives the charge!

Told you he was tough!

We get a Turn 7.

Turn 7

Tau

It is at this point my  opponent demonstrates true sportsmanship.  He points out that his three Dire Avengers are the only Troops near my objective.  What a gent!   Both squads of Pathfinders light up the Dire Avengers, stripping their cover save and boosting the Broadside’s BS.  I go for railguns – three shots and I need three kills.  I roll, and don’t roll any ones, and the three DAs are vaporised (along with a large chunk of the building, I imagine).

Man, I love Broadsides

At the enemy objective the Devilfish tries to move around to get its rear end away from the DA weapons (should they win the combat), but fails its dangerous terrain roll and is immobilised.  It is no longer contesting…  My squads hold in combat, taking more wounds on the crisis suits, but staying in there and slowly whittling the DAs down.  The gun drone makes all its saves, and even kills a DA!

Eldar

The action at my objective is moot now, as no-one can claim it.  Everything shoots at the Broadsides.  The Farseer and building Fire Dragons try to assault, but fail.  The Banshee Exarch and foot Dragons assault, but the Broadsides hold.

At the Eldar objective the combat continues, but ends in a draw.  My heroic gun drone survives yet again (did I shout “For The Greater Good!”?  Of course I did ), and the game ends.

Result: As neither side claimed any objectives,  the game was a draw.  The Eldar won 1500 VPs and I took 950.

My mistakes should have cost me the game, but some lucky rolls and some decent moves towards the end helped.  James’ very sporting reminder that only DAs were Troops also made a massive difference.

Commentary:  Here’s what I should have done.  The objective placement wasn’t bad – if I had known what to do with it – as it tempted the Eldar to overwhelm it with their own forces.  I remember reading one of Old Shatter Hands’ batreps where he does exactly this, and I found myself – around Turn 4 – wishing I had remembered it earlier.  If I had kept my Fire Warriors mobile and nearer the centre of the table, I could have waited for the Eldar assault, destroyed their mobility and their lone DA squad, stopping them claiming my home objective while I scooted up the table and claimed the lightly defended Eldar objective.  I should also have protected Farsight’s squad from assault.

Opening game jitters always make me make mistakes.  I doubt regular players get them, but I don’t play anywhere near enough 40k to get comfortable with what I need to do, and it is usually only by Game 2 that I am up and running.

Batreps for Games 2 & 3 later today, along with some thoughts on ther tournament itself.

Apologies for the shoddy cameraphone image, although you can click to embiggenate. You can see the Eldar Striking Scorpions and the remnants of the Swooping Hawks in the lower left hand corner. They assaulted into the pinned Deathrain unit and wiped it out - I had forgotten about the outflanking Scorpions; rookie mistake.

Eldar Turn 3 of my test game with my tweaked Farsight army.  We didn’t get to finish the game, but it wasn’t looking good for the Eldar.

This is the list I plan to run with at the [ELG] tournament on the something-th of August.  It is not competitive, but I have tried to make the best of a bad lot, as well as make it themed around battlesuits.

The main reason it is not competitive is Farsight who, as my HQ, stops me taking Kroot, or more than one of Piranhas, Hammerheads or Broadsides.  Oh, look – I just named four of the five good units in the Tau Codex

So I am left with beaucoup battlesuits (the fifth good unit, in case you were wondering) as an only option and thus as a theme.

Farsight is my Deathstar unit/ distraction force and will always start on the table.  With six battlesuits and seven drones in a single unit, it will be pretty big on the table, pump out massive firepower (which can be split), take on literally anything in the game and leverage the most benefit from markerlight hits.

It will thus be the focus of my opponents’ fire and they will be falling over themselves to lock it in combat and stop it shooting at them.  I want them to shoot at it, since I can take 15 unsaved wounds before I lose a single battlesuit, and every shot at Farsight is one less shot at my Troops, but I don’t want to get locked in assault.

I need screening and, without Kroot, that job falls to two Devilfish. I give them flechette dischargers to make opponents think twice before assaulting them (Dark Gods of the Dice, please send me some incurious ork players who don’t ask about wargear…) but they are unlikely to last too long.  Fair enough – if I cannot shoot the assaulters to death or uselessness by Turn 2/3 I am done for anyway.

Shooting starts with the pathfinders, who light up the most important target – probably a transport.  Then the broadsides shoot it.

More shooting is provided by three units of Crisis Suits.  The plasma/ missile unit is second only to the Farsight one in terms of firepower, and can make short work of anything.  The twin-linked missile unit is there to put down transports and MCs, with flamers there simply as the cheapest compulsory third choice (I don’t expect to use them).  The third unit is a two-man deepstriking unit.  With only three railguns on the table, if someone brings landraiders I am toast.  Crispy, Tau toast.  Close-range melta guns are my only other option.  I can get that with a Piranha, which is also good for blocking enemy advances, but I am going with battlesuits as a theme.  That sound is the sound of my inner fluff-bunny clapping with delight  That means fusion blasters on crisis suits, which these two guys have, twin-linked since they will get one shot before they both die and I want them to hit what they aim at.  Using the positional relay in the Farsight squad I can keep these two guys in reserve and bring them in on a 2+ on Turn 2.  Of course, I will roll a 1, but let’s pretend I don’t. The pathfinder’s Devilfish (if it is still around) grants me a re-roll on their deepstrike, helping put them both in the right place.  The target lock lets the two-man unit fire at two separate targets if need be, and hopefully I can blow me up some heavy armour on Turn 2.

Lastly, I have some Fire Warriors.  The positional relay lets me keep them safe in reserve, bringing one in on Turn 3 on a 2+ and the other in on Turn 4 on a 2+.  Hopefully by Turn 3 I have eliminated anything that might scare my Fire Warriors too badly.  If I am really lucky, they will be running onto the board and straight into waiting Devilfish.

And that’s it.  If it goes well, it might just work, but there are many ways in which I can be completely overrun on Turn 2 and wiped off the table.  It’s fun being Tau

Any thoughts?

Farsight Army 1750pts

HQ

Farsight (170)

Bodyguard:

Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), HW Multi Tracker (5), Black Sun Filter (3), HWDC (0), 1 Gun Drone (10),Positional Relay (15)

Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Gun Drone (10)

Crisis Suit (35), Airbursting Fragmentation Projector (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Shield Drone (15), 1 Gun Drone (10), Target Lock (5)

Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Shield Drone (15), 1 Gun Drone (10)

Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Fusion Blaster (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Gun Drone (10), Target Lock (5)

Total: 638

ELITES

3 Crisis Suits (25), TL Missile Pods (18), Flamer (4)

   Total: 141

3 Crisis Suits (25), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pods (12), Multitracker (5)

   Total: 186

2 Crisis Suits (25)

TL Fusion Blasters (18), Flamer (4)

TL Fusion Blasters (18), Target Lock (5)

   Total: 95

TROOPS
6 Fire Warriors (10)

   Total: 60

6 Fire Warriors (10)

Devilfish (80), Disruption Pod (5), Flechette Dischargers (10)

   Total: 155

FAST ATTACK

8 Pathfinders (12)

Devilfish (80), Disruption Pod (5), Flechette Dischargers (10)

   Total: 191

HEAVY SUPPORT

3 Broadsides (70) w/ Advanced Stabilisation Systems (10)

Team Leader (5), with HW Drone Controller (0), 2 Shield Drones (30) and HW Target Lock (5) and HW Black Sun Filter (3)

   Total: 283

Total: 1749pts

In the game vs Eldar, (Seize Ground, 3 Objectives, Dawn of War), I won the roll and went second, deploying nothing.  With the aid of the BS Filters and Acute Senses, I walked on and managed to kill the Avatar on Turn 1.  After that the units performed as I expected them to, reacting to the enemy’s offensive in Turn 2 (deepstriking and outflanking units came on, and I shot them up) and then going on the offensive myself in Turn 3, with Farsight leading the way.

The deepstriking Fusion Squad (you can see them in the photo above, taken just before I started my Turn 3) came in, scattered safely and wiped out two Vypers with their fusion guns.  I can see me needing these for the third [ELG] mission, where area terrain completely blocks LOS.  Indirect fire vehicles hiding behind these will the primary target for the Fusion squad, and rushing Land Raiders or backfield armour will be the target in other missions.

ASS on the Broadsides came in very useful, as against the Eldar list their Smart Missile Systems were more effective than their Railguns, and I had to move to close the range.

I need to finish painting Farsight as well as his bodyguard.  I will do Farsight in his traditional red, with highlights of my main army colours (Vallejo Charred Brown, Earth and White).  I will do his bodyguards in my main army colours, but with strong highlights of the Farsight red, to tie them in.  I will also give them names on their bases, and then add those names to the bases of their drones.  This ensures that if I lose a battlesuit, I can remove the correct drone(s) from the unit.  Plus, it’s cool

Bad attitude? No...bad assitude!

Words cannot express how poor I find the official GW Farsight model, or at least not unless I intervene and put them in the right order, which would go something like this:  a static, lifeless, uninspiring lump of metal as boxy as a boxer in a box.  We will not speak of it again.

So, I made this fella.

The model is based on Shas’o R’myr, aka the finest Tau battlesuit ever made, but I had to do a bit of chopping and changing.

First up, I headed over to Tau of War.  Old Shatter Hands has been in my blogroll for a long time, and he is overdue a shout out, so here’s a shout out for just one of the things that make Tau of War one of the great Tau blogs – the amazing crisis suit conversions he creates.  Specifically, I took a long look at this post, “Secrets of the Fio’la” and, in particular, what OSH had done with the hands.  Suitably inspired, I ordered some bits and started playing about with the pieces of R’myr.

His original right arm comes with twin plasma rifles, but Farsight only has one (poor lad), so I had to ditch that piece and find a replacement.  In my bits box.  You know you’ve been buying too much Forgeworld when your bits box has loads of resin in it, and I happened to have a resin plasma rifle.  I had to decide whether to attach it to his left or right arm.  That brought up the question of which arm to put his sword on.

You see, Farsight gets a sword.  Not just any sword, but one that counts as being wielded by a Monstrous Creature in close combat.  So Farsight isn’t bothered about his measly little single plasma rifle, because while all the other Tau battlesuits get wee bonding knives, he gets a sword nearly as tall as he is.  This cat is the William Wallace of the Tau Empire*

One option was to put the plasma rifle on his right arm and stick the sword in his shield (left) arm.  The GW model (No! Must not speak of it!  Will to live…draining…) takes this option, but you lose a lot of potential for interesting and dynamic posing by combining sword and shield in the same arm.  If you put some blades on the shield, that might work, and I thought about that, but then I remembered Inquisitor Hector Rex from Forgeworld, and how much I loved his pose and knew that I had found my inspiration.

Now I needed a sword, and I quickly settled on the Wraithlord’s weapon as the one to use, but I couldn’t get a hold of the piece from any of the bits sites.  I bit the bullet, ordered a Wraithlord hand and scratchbuilt the sword from plasticard.

Click to embiggen

I printed out a photo of the sword from one of the bits sites at various scales, picked the one I wanted, glued it to some 2mm plasticard and cut it out.

For the handle, I used the chain from a Chaos defiler close combat weapon.

His hand is from the Wraithlord kit.

I couldn’t use the forearm that came with R’myr, as it had the twin plasma rifles attached, so I carefully trimmed a normal XV8 forearm off, sliced the elbow joint in half and drilled a hole for the resin piece to slot into.

Click to make his sword grow larger

The metal Tau symbol on the sword came from my bits box, but I have no idea which model it comes from.  It had some antennae attached, so might have been a commander bit or an XV88 bit.

To ensure the necessary strength in the sword, I drilled a 0.5mm hole in the top and bottom of the hand, and corresponding holes in the sword and handle, pinning them with some brass rod through the hand.

On the reverse of the sword, I needed something to cover up the weapon slot in the forearm, so took fuel cells from two fusion blasters and connected them with more of the 0.5mm brass rod.

Adding the plasma rifle to his left (shield) arm was simplicity itself, as it fits in snugly just in front of his hand.  I considered using the left hand from a Wraithlord, but after blutac-ing it in place decided it didn’t really look right.  A piece clipped from a pulse carbine covers the join between plasma rifle and hand.

I need to do a tiny amount of greenstuffing at some joins, and smooth out the blade of the sword, although with all the dings and notches I will be adding to it, I might not need to.

This model will be my HQ for the upcoming [ELG] Counter Attack tournament, and I hope to take many power-armoured heads on the 21st August!

As for painting, I will get to that once I have finished my ork Combat Patrol, but I am very excited about the new Vallejo Liquid Mask I have been using on my Killa Kans, and the simply amazing chipped paint effects it allows.  Given Farsight’s background, expect to see some serious weathering on his armour, along with some notes on how I went about it.

(*Yes, Scottish historical references and Tau conversions in the same post.  Ain’t no-one else gonna treat ya this good, baby!)

For details on the Counter Attack tournament, see this post.

I got a reply from Andy at [ELG] confirming that an errata will be issued in mid-July, but that specifically:-

1. Mission 2: Victor should score 15 if they get “>2x”, not less than.
2. Mission 2: Gun Drones that detached from a vehicle do not return if destroyed.  My Devilfish love this rule
3. Mission 3:  units within the Burning or Smoking terrain can draw line of sight out of the terrain, and likewise have line of sight drawn to them.  Line of sight is only blocked if the terrain lies fully between them and the other unit.

My Broadsides love Mission 3 as they get a 3+ cover save and can start in Dangerous Terrain, protecting them from assault somewhat, but it makes me rethink Pathfinders for the competition.  If they cannot see the enemy,because the enemy are hiding behind 4th edition terrain, they are useless.  They are also not great in Mission 2, since if they come back from reserve they cannot shoot until the next Turn.  Hmm – can I run this list without pathfinders?  Where would I get markerlight hits from?  Marker Drones are stupidly expensive (3 of them buys me 8 Pathfinders, by Odin’s beard!), and the other options are less than ideal.  Sniper drones? Hmm.

I wonder if I should take a Pos Relay for Mission 2…

Lastly, my Shas’o R’myr arrived, and I have some cool plans for his paint scheme.

On the 21st of August, Edinburgh League of Gamers hosts their annual Counter Attack 40k tournament.  I attended last year, and it was my first solo tournament experience.  I will be returning this year, bringing the awesome firepower of the Tau once again.

The missions this year are a little different.  You can see the PDF here.  Game 2 brings back the Meatgrinder rule from 4th edition, letting you recycle destroyed non-vehicle units into reserve.  Daemons and Tyranids rejoice, although the fact that it is Annihilation tempers this a little.  Game 3 treats all area terrain as either on fire (Dangerous Terrain) or smoking (+1 cover save).  In both cases, the terrain blocks line of sight across, letting even vehicles hide completely out of LoS.

Thoughts.

Infantry will do well in Game 2, provided they are not cheap KPs, so things like Gun Drones on vehicles should be avoided.  SMS on vehicles is best.  In Game 2, a Positional Relay would be handy to manage the recycling of killed units in reserve – get your Broadsides back on a 2+ every time?  If they don’t have ASS, however, they won’t be shooting until the Turn after.

With large LoS blocking terrain in Game 3, anything that can indirect fire will be hidden out of sight and left to get on with it.  Need some way of winkling those units out.  SMS and AFP would do the job, as would a suicide Crisis squad – although I am opposed to them on principle.  ASS on Broadsides will also be essential to let them reposition to get LoS.

That’s all well and good, but it wouldn’t be if I didn’t make it harder for myself  so here is my proposed Farsight list:

Farsight (170)
Bodyguard:
    Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), HW Multi Tracker (5), Black Sun Filter (3), HWDC (0), 2 Gun Drones (20)
    Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Gun Drone (10), Target Lock (5)
    Crisis Suit (35), Airbursting Fragmentation Projector (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Shield Drone (15), 1 Gun Drone (10)
    Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Shield Drone (15), 1 Gun Drone (10), Target Lock (5)
    Crisis Suit (35), Plasma Rifle (20), Missile Pod (12), Multi Tracker (5), HWDC (0), 1 Gun Drones (10)
    Total: 633
 
3 Crisis Suits (25), TL Missile Pods (18), Flamer (4)
    Total: 141
 
3 Crisis Suits (25), TL Missile Pods (18), Flamer (4)
    Total: 141
 
3 Crisis Suits (25), TL Missile Pods (18), Flamer (4)
    Total: 141
 
6 Fire Warriors (10)
    Total: 60
 
6 Fire Warriors (10)
    Total: 60
 
6 Fire Warriors (10)
    Devilfish (80), Disruption Pod (5)
    Total: 145
 
6 Pathfinders (12)
    Devilfish (80), Disruption Pod (5)
    Total: 157
 
3 Broadsides (70) w/ Advanced Stabilisation Systems (10)
    Team Leader (5), with HW Drone Controller (0), 2 Gun Drones (20) and HW Target Lock (5)
    Total: 270
 
Total: 1748

Initial thoughts on how it will work.  This army starts on the table and shoots one thing at a time until it is dead.  Without Kroot and Piranha I have no blocking units, which means that fast enemy assaulters and transports will be in my face on Turn 1/2.  I can let them eat Fire Warriors/ Devilfish, but I need the firepower to wipe them out before they can assault into my suits.  The Pathfinders will support either the Broadsides or the Farsight unit, depending on what it is I want dead that Turn.  3 Broadsides aren’t really enough without fusion Piranhas to threaten AV13/14, so I will see in some test games whether or not I need some fusion in the Crisis Teams.

With ML support, the Farsight unit has enough plasma to disassemble most 3+ armies, which means I can go with cheaper missile pod Crisis Teams.  Twin linking is better (and cheaper) than a Targeting Array, and the flamer is there just to be cheap, not as a viable option.  Although, if I go up against a horde hiding in 3+ cover, they might come in handy.

No SMS on the vehicles, but I cannot afford it.  I will see in the test games if I still need it, but hopefully the Broadside SMS and the AFP will suffice.

I greatly dislike the GW Farsight model, so I have ordered another Shas’o R’myr from Forgeworld.  My current one is built in the normal fashion, but I intend to convert the new one to be Farsight.  The model comes with all the normal FW right arm options, so I can put a single plasma rifle on him to replace R’myr’s double rifle and, for the Dawn Blade, I quite like the idea of a pair of brutal blades attached to the end of the shield.  Either that or put the plasma rifle on the shield arm along with the shield and give him an enormous sword in his right arm (a Wraith Sword perhaps).  We’ll see

I got everything checked and packed and then checked again the night before, persuaded my dodgy GPS to show me the way to the venue and not attempt to convince me I was still in Cornwall (long story, even longer drive) and arrived on time and really looking forward to a day’s gaming.

The sun was, of course, splitting the sky. It does that when I play all-day tournaments. It is the Sun God’s way of telling us to spend even more time indoors, since otherwise think of all the UV light we’d be exposed to! Pale, pasty and safe from malignant melanomas for another 24 hours, fourteen gamers gathered and got ready to roll some serious dice in search of everlasting glory.

I took my Tau, and decided to try a version of one of Stelek’s lists. It was very close to what I usually play (the five-man Crisis unit army I mention here) so I figured I wouldn’t have much problem adapting.

Here it is:-

1750 points of Tau-mageddon

Shas’el with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
3 x Crisis Suits with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
3 x Crisis Suits with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
2 x Crisis Suits with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
6 x Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles
10 Kroot with 6 Hounds
10 Kroot with 5 Hounds
8 Pathfinders; Devilfish with SMS, targeting array, multitracker, disruption pod
Piranha with fusion blaster, targeting array and disruption pod
Piranha with fusion blaster, targeting array and disruption pod
Hammerhead with burst cannons, targeting array, multitracker, disruption pod
Hammerhead with burst cannons, targeting array, multitracker, disruption pod and black sun filter
2 x Broadsides with targeting array; team leader with 2 shield drones and target lock

Got my crisis suit and pathfinders based, and applied some slight weathering to the crisis suit (dust and some mud on his feet – MIG pigments in both cases). Used some Woodland Scenics acrylic water on the lenses to make them shine.

I also magnetised the crisis suit weapons for the other eight crisis suits, so they all get the clicky instead of the sticky (aka blutac), and put a basic paint job on some shield drones – black and white with bronze innards.

All packed and ready to go Pics, batreps and (maybe) vid to follow after the games tomorrow.