The Greater Good meets the Big Bad - T'au versus Black Legion!
Get the Fish To Bite!
I, Stylus, will be taking on the T'au for the first time in 8th Edition. I'll also be eschewing the Thousand Sons for a more conventional form of heresy - the Black Legion will take to the field!
After a recent casual-tournament I had the basis of a T'au army ready to go, but welcomed the extra points to knock it up to 1500pts. I'll warn now, my rebuttals/comments may be a little sketchy as the fight was a couple of weeks ago.
Most of Stylus army appears to not be on the board, and so I opt for a strong centre with the Riptide variant on one flank and the Hammerhead variant on the other.
The plan was simple. Fly forward with Coldstar and his Stealth drone support (not really sure why they have that name; apart from being harder to hit, and that's because a "flyer", they don't really convey stealth... bigger, tougher, and more dakka than another drone... not that I am complaining) and try and take out one of the Rhinos and its contents.
Let the Y'vahra stomp forward and take down the other one, and leave the central troop block camping on their objective and benefiting from auras of the Pulse Accelerator Drone. Longstrike has a bead on the Rhinos too and so skipped straight over psychic phase the T'au unleash pulsar hell.
I am tempted to try and take out the cultists on the objective (which would probably have been smarter with the anti-infantry stealth drones) but went in for the kill on the Rhinos. On the closest to camera the two drones, Longstrike and fusion commander manage to take it out and a team of possessed are unleashed.
On the other flank missile commander and Y'vahra line up the Helbrute and mortally wound him.
In the Assault phase... who am I kidding, I don't want an assault phase.
Well, I guess that could have been worse - at least all my combat units are disembarked!
My objective cards are to take Objective 1 (unlikely to get that from the Drones), Objective 2 (where the ruins of my third Cultist squad lie) and destroy an enemy unit (I ought to be able to manage that).
You could have taken it if you'd made it (we knew that as you were troop and more numerous) but also as they were flyers not just drones with fly I was not event contesting.
My two units of Cultists advance (the central ones falling short of Objective 1). The Berzerkers, Exalted Champion and Helbrute move towards the Y’vahra. The Possessed and Dark Apostle veer off in the other direction, focused on the Commander.
Shooting is something of a bust: the left-flank Cultists pick off one Strike Team, and all the other pistols fail against the battlesuits armour.
In the Assault Phase, the Helbrute goes first against Y’vahra, hoping to soak the Overwatch. He's more successful than anticipated - and gets blown apart (the last mortal wound for being a vehicle does for him). That leaves the Berzerkers to go in unprepared, and just two of them make it into combat alive.
An nova-empowered phased plasma flaming can be devastating; with the Borkan Sept upping it to a 14" range, and the Advanced Targeting System increase the AP to -3 the 3d6 auto hits can be quite devastating. Stylus was unlucky as it was a real hit from the Discharge Cannon which has the extra mortal wound on vehicles on a 6.
The Possessed and Dark Apostle have better luck, wrapping around the Commander for the loss of a single wound.
T'au don't like combat, but Commanders are not completely useless, and at least I can escape if I survive and this one does have a shield generator. It is always after the fact I remember the Signature System deployed: Vectored Manoeuvring would allow him to move after shooting (potentially making the charge less of a given). But I forgot. Spoiler alert: I fail to use it in next turn and the two other games that I have also taken him in (one of which may get a write-up).
In combat, I use Veterans of the Long War to get the most bang from my truncated Berzerkers. The champion with the power fist does well in landing hits, but that all fail against shield drones or the invulnerable save. I even spend 3CP for another round of combat with Fury of Khorne, but by the time I'm finished, the Y’vahra is still happily on nine wounds remaining.
It might have been 9 down (given our difference in dice); I remember being a little scared for him and so pulling back to heal with tech drones.
The Possessed don't lack numbers, but don't have the strength to make enough hits tell against the Commander's armour and he comes off unscathed.
So that's all my combat power spent, and it was something of a bust. I'm on no objectives, I haven't killed anything and Kasfunatu claims Objective 1 from me. Hmmm.
The Y'vahra backs up to gain some protection and screening from other drones, and to be in range of the tech drones restorative capabilities.
The cold star and remaining support jump to the far flank to mop up remaining troops. This combined with other onboard firepower removes the remaining Possessed and it down to a handful of cultists holding the board (that is until reinforcements can arrive).
Still no assault.
I'll be honest - I'm not going to win this one. My deepstrikers (who must be wondering what's been going on in their absence) are just going to have to do as much damage as possible before the end.
I move the left-flank Cultists towards the Strike Team, and the other unit backs towards Objective 6. The Raptors jump down to shoot the Commander, the Warp Talons, Chaos Lord and Obliterators all come down on the Y’vahra.
The Raptors go for broke, overcharging their plasma guns. This kills the plasma gun operator and the champion with the plasma pistol (smooth work guys). Although one bolt pistol manages to sneak a wound through.
Unlucky rolling.
The Cultists prove to be better shots, picking off three Strike Team and a Drone.
Yep, that flank is yours.
The Chaos Lord scores a wound with his melta gun, which fails on the Y’vahra's invulnerable save. The Obliterators crank up some promising D3 shots, but they nearly all fail against invulnerable save, or get passed off on nearby drones.
I spend my last CP on Endless Cacophony to have another go with the Obliterators. The Y’vahra is still left on five wounds, so it looks like it will have to be finished in melee.
The Warp Talons charge in first, since they can deny Overwatch - and of course they fail miserably. The Obliterators are successful in their charge, but don't survive the Overwatch. At this point, the Chaos Lord is sunk either way, so he charges in, hoping his Sigil of Corruption will spare him. It doesn't.
I hadn't upped the flamer this time (worried about wounds) but the 2d6 auto hits can still be troublesome.
At this point, what remains of the Cultists decide to yield the field to the T'au, hoping they won't have to explain this one to Abbadon.
It was a rather decisive result.
In retrospect, putting so much of my army into reserve may have been a miscalculation. I'm not saying it was over when I failed to win first turn, but it was certainly an uphill struggle to weather two whole rounds of T'au shooting.
Although, if I'd had a better first turn, I could have made a good fight of it. I didn't mind losing the Rhinos - they'd done their job of keeping my squishy units safe - but having the Helbrute gunned down really hurt me. Without that, I've had a Helbrute, plus a full unit of Berzerkers whaling away at the Y’vahra, and I don't think it would have survived that.
Agreed; I had no idea how good the Berzerkers were, or how devastating that would have been without a chance to overwatch. I must remember that for any future battles.
My deepstrikers could then have picked more choice targets rather than banging their head against a brick wall. That really is one nasty battlesuit.
Elsewhere, I'm not sure what else I would have done. The Possessed failed miserably, but I don't mind running them as more-durable Berzerkers (the ideal would be to just replace them with more Berzerkers, but it's nice to have a bit of variety). I would certainly drop the Warp Talons, probably for something like Havocs that could add some shooting to my own backline.
Longstrike was a nice addition, for some extra no-line-of-sight shots and a reliable seeker missile delivery system. I still like the Coldstar and his supporting Stealth Drones. I might find a third from somewhere, as I keep having one destroyed leaving the Commander a little vulnerable; and they are the one thing that can keep up.
Get the Fish To Bite!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!
I, Stylus, will be taking on the T'au for the first time in 8th Edition. I'll also be eschewing the Thousand Sons for a more conventional form of heresy - the Black Legion will take to the field!
After a recent casual-tournament I had the basis of a T'au army ready to go, but welcomed the extra points to knock it up to 1500pts. I'll warn now, my rebuttals/comments may be a little sketchy as the fight was a couple of weeks ago.
The Obsidian Cull: Black Legion
I'm expecting to face a lot of guns, so I opt for a lot of deepstriking units - Terminator Lord, Raptors, Obliterators - to stay out of range until I can drop them in. I also bring a unit of Warp Talons - I don't especially rate them, but they ability to avoid Overwatch could be crucial with all that Greater Good going on.
On the ground, I take a couple of particularly smashy melee units - Berzerkers and Possessed - with a Dark Apostle and Exalted Champion to make them even more reliable. They get a couple of Rhinos to ride around in (or, more likely, keep them alive for the first round of shooting), and three units of Cultists gives me something cheap to take objectives with. I also have enough left over for a Helbrute, who will hopefully draw fire away from my more vulnerable units.
A simple enough plan: get into them quick and keep the pressure on.
- Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (HQ)
Combi-melta, Power sword
Warlord: Unholy Fortitude
Relic: The Eye of Night - Dark Apostle (HQ)
Bolt pistol, Power maul - Exalted Champion (HQ)
Plasma pistol, Power axe - 10 x Chaos Cultists
Autoguns - 10 x Chaos Cultists
Autoguns - 10 x Chaos Cultists
Brutal assault weapon and Autopistol - Helbrute
2 x Helbrute fist, Heavy flamer - 8 x Khorne Berzerkers
7 x Chainsword and Chainaxe, Chainsword and Power fist (champion), Icon of Wrath - 7 x Possessed
Icon of Wrath - 5 x Raptors
Chainswords, Bolt Pistols, 1 x Plasma gun, Plasma pistol (champion), - 5 x Warp Talons
Lightning Claws (pair) - 3 x Obliterators
Mark of Slaanesh - Chaos Rhino
Combi-bolter, Combi-melta - Chaos Rhino
Combi-bolter, Combi-melta
Armies
T'Pau Sept: T'au
- Commander in XV85 Battlesuit:
4 x missile pods - Commander in XV86 Battlesuit:
3 x Fusion blasters, Shield Generator
Warlord: Academy Luminary
Signature: Vectored Maneuvering Thrusters - Longstrike
2 x Smart Missile Systems, Ion Cannon - 5 x Breacher Squad
Pulse Blasters - 5 x Strike Squad
Pulse Rifles, Markerlight (champion) - 5 x Strike Squad
Pulse Rifles, Markerlight (champion) - 7 x Pathfinder Squad
Pulse Carbines and Markerlights - XV109 Y’vahra Battlesuit
Advanced Targeting System
Target Lock - Drones (allocated across multiple units)5 x Gun Drones
5 x Marker Drones
2 x Mk4 Shield Drones
2 x Mk52 Shield Drones
1 x Pulse Accelerator Drone
2 x Technical Drones
2 x Remora Stealth Drone
Mission and Battlefield
Most of Stylus army appears to not be on the board, and so I opt for a strong centre with the Riptide variant on one flank and the Hammerhead variant on the other.
T'au - Turn 1
The plan was simple. Fly forward with Coldstar and his Stealth drone support (not really sure why they have that name; apart from being harder to hit, and that's because a "flyer", they don't really convey stealth... bigger, tougher, and more dakka than another drone... not that I am complaining) and try and take out one of the Rhinos and its contents.
Let the Y'vahra stomp forward and take down the other one, and leave the central troop block camping on their objective and benefiting from auras of the Pulse Accelerator Drone. Longstrike has a bead on the Rhinos too and so skipped straight over psychic phase the T'au unleash pulsar hell.
I am tempted to try and take out the cultists on the objective (which would probably have been smarter with the anti-infantry stealth drones) but went in for the kill on the Rhinos. On the closest to camera the two drones, Longstrike and fusion commander manage to take it out and a team of possessed are unleashed.
On the other flank missile commander and Y'vahra line up the Helbrute and mortally wound him.
In the Assault phase... who am I kidding, I don't want an assault phase.
Black Legion - Turn 1
Well, I guess that could have been worse - at least all my combat units are disembarked!
My objective cards are to take Objective 1 (unlikely to get that from the Drones), Objective 2 (where the ruins of my third Cultist squad lie) and destroy an enemy unit (I ought to be able to manage that).
You could have taken it if you'd made it (we knew that as you were troop and more numerous) but also as they were flyers not just drones with fly I was not event contesting.
My two units of Cultists advance (the central ones falling short of Objective 1). The Berzerkers, Exalted Champion and Helbrute move towards the Y’vahra. The Possessed and Dark Apostle veer off in the other direction, focused on the Commander.
Shooting is something of a bust: the left-flank Cultists pick off one Strike Team, and all the other pistols fail against the battlesuits armour.
In the Assault Phase, the Helbrute goes first against Y’vahra, hoping to soak the Overwatch. He's more successful than anticipated - and gets blown apart (the last mortal wound for being a vehicle does for him). That leaves the Berzerkers to go in unprepared, and just two of them make it into combat alive.
An nova-empowered phased plasma flaming can be devastating; with the Borkan Sept upping it to a 14" range, and the Advanced Targeting System increase the AP to -3 the 3d6 auto hits can be quite devastating. Stylus was unlucky as it was a real hit from the Discharge Cannon which has the extra mortal wound on vehicles on a 6.
The Possessed and Dark Apostle have better luck, wrapping around the Commander for the loss of a single wound.
T'au don't like combat, but Commanders are not completely useless, and at least I can escape if I survive and this one does have a shield generator. It is always after the fact I remember the Signature System deployed: Vectored Manoeuvring would allow him to move after shooting (potentially making the charge less of a given). But I forgot. Spoiler alert: I fail to use it in next turn and the two other games that I have also taken him in (one of which may get a write-up).
In combat, I use Veterans of the Long War to get the most bang from my truncated Berzerkers. The champion with the power fist does well in landing hits, but that all fail against shield drones or the invulnerable save. I even spend 3CP for another round of combat with Fury of Khorne, but by the time I'm finished, the Y’vahra is still happily on nine wounds remaining.
It might have been 9 down (given our difference in dice); I remember being a little scared for him and so pulling back to heal with tech drones.
The Possessed don't lack numbers, but don't have the strength to make enough hits tell against the Commander's armour and he comes off unscathed.
So that's all my combat power spent, and it was something of a bust. I'm on no objectives, I haven't killed anything and Kasfunatu claims Objective 1 from me. Hmmm.
T'au - Turn 2
The Y'vahra backs up to gain some protection and screening from other drones, and to be in range of the tech drones restorative capabilities.
The cold star and remaining support jump to the far flank to mop up remaining troops. This combined with other onboard firepower removes the remaining Possessed and it down to a handful of cultists holding the board (that is until reinforcements can arrive).
Still no assault.
Black Legion - Turn 2
I'll be honest - I'm not going to win this one. My deepstrikers (who must be wondering what's been going on in their absence) are just going to have to do as much damage as possible before the end.
I move the left-flank Cultists towards the Strike Team, and the other unit backs towards Objective 6. The Raptors jump down to shoot the Commander, the Warp Talons, Chaos Lord and Obliterators all come down on the Y’vahra.
The Raptors go for broke, overcharging their plasma guns. This kills the plasma gun operator and the champion with the plasma pistol (smooth work guys). Although one bolt pistol manages to sneak a wound through.
Unlucky rolling.
The Cultists prove to be better shots, picking off three Strike Team and a Drone.
Yep, that flank is yours.
The Chaos Lord scores a wound with his melta gun, which fails on the Y’vahra's invulnerable save. The Obliterators crank up some promising D3 shots, but they nearly all fail against invulnerable save, or get passed off on nearby drones.
I spend my last CP on Endless Cacophony to have another go with the Obliterators. The Y’vahra is still left on five wounds, so it looks like it will have to be finished in melee.
The Warp Talons charge in first, since they can deny Overwatch - and of course they fail miserably. The Obliterators are successful in their charge, but don't survive the Overwatch. At this point, the Chaos Lord is sunk either way, so he charges in, hoping his Sigil of Corruption will spare him. It doesn't.
I hadn't upped the flamer this time (worried about wounds) but the 2d6 auto hits can still be troublesome.
At this point, what remains of the Cultists decide to yield the field to the T'au, hoping they won't have to explain this one to Abbadon.
Result: T'au 6 : Black Legion 1 (and conceded)
Back in the Locker Room
Ouch. Not quite a tabling (although it was only Turn 2), but I'm certainly maintaining my spotless record of thumpings against Kasfunatu in 8th.It was a rather decisive result.
In retrospect, putting so much of my army into reserve may have been a miscalculation. I'm not saying it was over when I failed to win first turn, but it was certainly an uphill struggle to weather two whole rounds of T'au shooting.
Although, if I'd had a better first turn, I could have made a good fight of it. I didn't mind losing the Rhinos - they'd done their job of keeping my squishy units safe - but having the Helbrute gunned down really hurt me. Without that, I've had a Helbrute, plus a full unit of Berzerkers whaling away at the Y’vahra, and I don't think it would have survived that.
Agreed; I had no idea how good the Berzerkers were, or how devastating that would have been without a chance to overwatch. I must remember that for any future battles.
My deepstrikers could then have picked more choice targets rather than banging their head against a brick wall. That really is one nasty battlesuit.
Elsewhere, I'm not sure what else I would have done. The Possessed failed miserably, but I don't mind running them as more-durable Berzerkers (the ideal would be to just replace them with more Berzerkers, but it's nice to have a bit of variety). I would certainly drop the Warp Talons, probably for something like Havocs that could add some shooting to my own backline.
Longstrike was a nice addition, for some extra no-line-of-sight shots and a reliable seeker missile delivery system. I still like the Coldstar and his supporting Stealth Drones. I might find a third from somewhere, as I keep having one destroyed leaving the Commander a little vulnerable; and they are the one thing that can keep up.
I'd relish a chance to achieve the same result with Tyranids against Tau sometime. A fast close combat army against the guns of doom is always a tough call, and that big suit is very nasty!
ReplyDeleteI'd enjoy watching that battle. Mostly because it wouldn't be my army getting shot to pieces or nom-nom-nomed for a change.
DeleteInteresting report, shame it was over so quickly. The overwatch from the T'au can be devastating, it was very unlucky for the Hellbrute to go down and allow you to slaughter the Berzerkers, before they could get to combat.
ReplyDeleteThanks - yes, it could have been a very different battle if the Helbrute hadn't lost that last wound, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Given the other guns still on the table, I would probably still have taken a shellacking.
Delete