T'au be or not T'au be? Death Guard & Purge vs T'au

"Commander? The Death Guard force we've been tracking have returned. I'm afraid it looks like they do know about the data cache: they're moving right towards it."

"Prepare to embark. We will destroy the chaos filth and remove the substrates. They must not find out what we've discovered about their former prisoner."

It's a grudge match as Kasfunatu's T'au venture out onto the road for an actual face-to-face rematch against Pootle's Second Law.

The Second Law (Death Guard and Purge)

Back in May my Death Guard managed to beat Kasfunatu’s T’au on VPs despite nearly running out of bodies on the field. As a newbie I had also asked Kas to not bring his scary Y’vahra, but as I’ve now played (and won) a few games, I thought it was time for my comeuppance, so I asked him to bring a bigger army that included the Y'Vahra.

Last time we played I had very little long-range firepower, but I’ve now tested out using The Purge as fire support. I’m also encouraged by seeing Stylus play Purge in some of his games, though I’m a bit jealous of his painting as always, particularly as I’m both not as good and much slower to boot!

I’d really like to avoid adopting the tactics I used against the T’au (albeit successfully) at Woffboot that were reminiscent of the Somme: plodding forwards under a barrage of fire and trying to use piles of my own dead troops as cover. I may not have much of a choice however, but my basic plan is to take more daemon engines. Lots more daemon engines! Oh, and cut down on close combat-oriented troops. Yes, I'm going to try to out-shoot the T'au.

The Purge's signature ability is that as long as someone causes damage to a unit, the whole detachment will be able to reroll misses on that target for the rest of the turn. Led by a Sorcerer, I picked a unit of Havocs, two Obliterators and a Venomcrawler. The Venomcrawler is essentially a distraction Carnifex; it’s easier to kill than a Bloatdrone so I don’t expect that it’ll last long, however it is longer-lasting than an Obliterator and can kick out a passable amount of firepower (also, I bought the sprue from Shadowspear with all of them on, and the models are great). Assuming I’ve unlocked the reroll to hit for the Purge, hitting on a re-rollable 4+ will make it a lot more effective. I took the Obliterators as two separate units because I’m not able to benefit from Slaaneshi shooting-twice stratagems or Veterans of the Long War, so I’d rather try to ensure more average rolling on their flesh-metal guns. As long as one causes damage, then the other can reroll all hits. I also have the option of teleporting them in to different parts of the battlefield if necessary.

In the Death Guard battalion, my troops comprise a unit of Cultists, a squad of Plague Marines with three plasma guns and a 7-man Marine squad who will accompany the Biologus Putrifier and the Foul Blightspawn in the Rhino. I plan to head towards the Y’vahra and subject it to a Blight Bombardment if the opportunity arises. The problem here is the limited threat range of the blight grenades and the T’au’s ability to simply delete multiple units, so this plan is opportunistic rather than core. For it to come off however, I do need multiple other units for the T'au to shoot at. This will be provided by four disgustingly resilient daemon engines: two Foetid Bloatdrones and two Plagueburst Crawlers.

I took a plasma-armed Chaos Lord to allow my plasma marines to overcharge. These guys will probably hang back to defend the Havocs and shoot back against T’au encroachers.

Lastly, I'll summon in a Poxbringer with Fleshy Abundance to heal up my daemon engines.

Battalion (Death Guard):

·         HQ – Chaos Lord (Chain Axe, Combi-Plasma)

·         HQ – Malignant Plaguecaster (Miasma of Pestilence, Putrescent Vitality)

·         Troops – Cultists (Heavy Stubber)

·         Troops – 6 Plague Marines (2x Plasma Gun, Champion with Plasma Gun)

·         Troops – 7 Plague Marines (Blight Launcher, Flail of Corruption)

·         Elite – Biologus Putrifier (Warlord: Arch-contaminator, Fugaris’ Helm)

·         Elite – Foul Blightspawn

·         Fast Attack – Chaos Spawn

·         Fast Attack – Foetid Bloat-drone (Plaguespitters)

·         Fast Attack – Foetid Bloat-drone (Plaguespitters)

·         Heavy Support – Plagueburst Crawler (Plaguespitters, Heavy Slugger)

·         Heavy Support – Plagueburst Crawler (Entropy Cannons, Heavy Slugger)

·         Transport – Rhino

Spearhead (The Purge):

·         HQ – Sorcerer (Combi-bolter, Force Sword, Infernal Gaze, Warptime)

·         Heavy Support – Havocs (2x Autocannon, 2x Missile Launchers)

·         Heavy Support – Obliterator

·         Heavy Support – Obliterator

·         Heavy Support – Venomcrawler

Reinforcements:

·         HQ – Poxbringer (Fleshy Abundance)

Points: 2000 | Battalion + Spearhead: 9 CPs

T'au

Challenge accepted!

After some consideration over whether to squeeze in the Barracuda (which I think has only ever seen one battle) or pair the Y'vahra up with his forgeworld brethren in R'varna; I settled on three variants of the list and gave Pootle the final choice.

Since the boot, I had tweaked my list to all be Borkan (simpler for remember drone sept compatibility) but this meant I lost Darkstrider. 

Pootle opted for inclusion of Broadsides instead of Barracuda and so the below army was formed. My T'au research indicated that Broadsides are generally reckoned to be one of the best T'au units so I opted to face the list that included that (as well as the Riptide and Y'Vahra) - I wanted a challenge, though was somewhat nervous when I could actually see all the models in front of me.

The plan was going to be similar: castle all the troops around the pulse accelerator and use the guardian for a bit of extra protection, and try and plink away with multiple markerlight and multiple shots with their now: Rapid 3 42" guns.

With three commanders, two broadsides and two versions of riptides I hoped I had the firepower to handle the resilient Death Guard.

Battalion (T'au Borkan):
·         HQ – XV85 Commander (4 x Missile pod) + gun  drone + marker drone

·         HQ – Cadre Fireblade

·         Troops – 5 Breachers (champion with Markerlight)

·         Troops – 6 Firewarriors (champion with Markerlight) + guardian drone + marker drone

·         Troops – 5 Firewarriors (champion with Markerlight)

·         Fast Attack – XV109 Y'vahra (Shield generator, Advanced targeting system) + 2 Mk52 shield drones

·         Flyer – DX6 Remora (2 seeker missles)

·         Flyer – DX6 Remora (1 seeker missile)

Outrider (T'au Borkan):

·         HQ – XV85 Commander (2 x cyclic ion blaster, plasma accelerator rifle (relic), advanced targeting system; Warlord trait: Through Unity, Devastation ) + shield drone + gun drone

·         Fast Attack – 5 Pathfinders (champion) + pulse accelerator drone

·         Fast Attack – 4 drones (3 shield, 1 gun)

·         Fast Attack – 5 drones (2 shield, 2 gun, 1 markerlight)
·         Heavy Support – 2 Broadsides (heavy rail rifle, smart missile, seeker missile; 1 drone controller) + 2 Mv8 missile drones

Vanguard (T'au Borkan):

·         HQ – XV86 Coldstar (2 x fusion blaster, 1 x missile pod, shield generator )

·         Elite – 2 x DX-4 Tech drones 

·         Elite – Farsight Marksman

·         Elite – Xv104 Riptide (heavy burst cannon, smart missiles, advanced targeting system, target lock) + 2 Mv84 shielded missile drones

Points: 1998 | Battalion + Outrider + Vanguard: 10 CPs

Mission and terrain

We decided to try a variant on the Schemes of War Maelstrom mission published in White Dwarf over the summer. Prior to the game we each discarded 12 objectives from our decks (not 18 per WD as initial play-testing with my son showed that we chewed through all the objectives fairly easily, which removed a bit too much of the element of chance). In the first turn we draw five cards (which can be swapped for four new ones if we don’t like the initial draw) and from that choose three to put into play, up to one of which could be concealed from the opponent. After putting the cards into play, new cards are drawn so that there are five in our hand. At the end of each turn impossible objectives (either in play or in our hand) can be discarded as can any in-play objective. We decided to not use the various stratagems from WD to further enhance the deck-building, principally because we’ve already removed a large chunk of chance from the game so further tinkering with the deck seems over the top.

I think this worked really well as a mechanic. Made for an enjoyable game that had some additional strategy with card laying and openness; and took some of the normal randomness out by both card removal and choice of what was in play.

I decided to ditch Spread contagion (I didn’t want to have to keep an objective live until the end of the game), Blood and guts (I don’t plan to charge T’au), Witch hunter, Domination, Advance, Psychological warfare, Big game hunter, Mission critical objective, Priority orders received and Defend objectives 4-6 (I will know that I’ve got defend objectives 1-3 in my deck so will hopefully be able to position accordingly, though we will be placing objectives on the table without knowing what number they are).

I ditched anything to do with psychic phase, close combat or morale phases; also dropped the priority orders and dominance cards and some of the tabletop movement tactics. 

Deployment

I won the roll-off to choose deployment and picked Dawn of War. I decided to start at the bottom of the map as the hill with objective 2 had a good field of fire.

Gah, this means that we are playing on the long edges - I think I would have preferred the other. Yup, I knew that you'd prefer Hammer and Anvil! At least it means I get to have first turn. Which is a boon for the shooty T'au. Indeed - I would much rather have lost that roll and gone first with your choice of battlefield. With that, I opt to put the Y'vhara into deepstrike, along with a unit of drones and the warlord. Going second, I would have started the Y'vahra on the board. 

With the wide deployment zone, I decided that splitting my forces would be best. 

On my right flank a meagre force: the missile-commander and a team of breachers. They could get to obj6 relatively easily and potential hug the flank to threaten obj2. The firesight marksman climbed to the top of the large tower, where he could draw a bead with his laser pointer to a lot of the field.

I opted to place the Riptide on obj1. He would take a bit of shifting. He was supported by his own drones, and the tech drones to help with repairs. This meant that the Broadsides would also be nearby to share drone happiness. They took up position with an unrestricted opening ahead of them to the enemy lines.

On the left flank, I placed my infantry castle. All the pathfinders (with the PAC drone) and then both units of firewarriors (with their drones) and Fireblade with his bubble of extra shots (and reliable laser pointer shot) and some more drones for good measure.

Also nearby (although wouldn't be for long) was the Coldstar and the nippy Remora drones.

I left the Y'vahra on the Manta, along with the warlord, and some additional drones. 

I put the seven-man unit of Plague Marines into the Rhino, along with the Biologus Putrifier, Foul Blightspawn and Malignant Plaguecaster. The other squad of Plague Marines, accompanied by the Chaos Lord, started in cover near objective 4, intending to move forwards to occupy the building and get some plasma fire down on nearby Battlesuits. On the left I put the Havocs and Cultists behind the hill with objective 2 on it, so they were out of immediate line of sight and hopefully safe for a turn. Most of the Daemon Engines started in the centre behind hill, with the Venomcrawler on the extreme right, aiming to run around the flank.

I knew that I had Defend Objectives 1-3 in my deck somewhere. Defending 2 shouldn't be hard, but 1 and 3 were under the T'au castle, so my basic plan was to pile forwards on the right and take out the troops holding those objectives. Hopefully the orders to defend those objectives won't come up too early in the game. The Havocs and left-hand PBC (which was armed with Entropy Cannon) would sit tight and shoot at whatever targets came up, starting with the Broadsides, which I was particularly concerned by. 

I could really do with stealing the initiative and my eight-year old son was keen to roll the die for me and he...

...duly rolled a six.

Oh....

Death Guard - turn 1

My first five objectives drawn were Kingslayer, Behind Enemy Lines, Secure Objective 6 (in no-man's land and well out of reach of any of my troops this turn), Assassinate and Secure Objective 1 (underneath the Riptide). None of those were going to happen! Fortunately the mission allowed me to put all five of these cards to the bottom of my deck (I put Kingslayer on the top as I wanted that one to come up first if I made it all the way through the deck) and draw another four.

The new batch were Hold the Line, Secure Objective 5, Secure Objective 2 and Secure Objective 4. This was a much better draw. I left Hold the Line in my hand and put the other three into play, with Secure 5 hidden, just in case I fluffed advances.

The Malignant Plaguecaster got out of the Rhino and ran forwards up the hill (I wanted his Miasma of Pestilence on the board now). The troops on the left and right moved forwards to occupy cover and get LoS where they could (the plasma-armed Plague Marines were mostly blocked by the building). The left-hand PBC sat still as it had a good view of the Broadsides. The other PBC moved forwards up the hill, with the Chaos Sorcerer advancing alongside it ready to Warptime it forwards again. Both Foetid Bloatdrones got good advances (one of them securing objective 5), but neither were in shooting range yet. I decided to tuck the Rhino behind the hill so it was out of most LoS and ready to react to whatever countermoves Kas played.

In the psychic phase the Malignant Plaguecaster cast Miasma of Pestilence on the Rhino: I wanted to save its smoke for later, but didn't want its occupants exposed just yet. The Sorcerer cast Prescience on the Plagueburst Crawler with Entropy Cannons so it could shoot up the Broadsides with maximum efficiency (it was at this point that I remembered that at one point I'd planned to put the Chaos Lord near this PBC, but never mind). Most importantly the Sorcerer Warptimed the other PBC further forward and within Plaguespitter range of a number of targets. I considered advancing it so that if it was destroyed then the explosion would hurt a large number of T'au units, but I figured that they could always retreat out of the 6" range and in the meantime lobbing a few mortar shots could be helpful.

Now for the real business. Shooting! I can't remember exactly what shot whom, but I took out the missile drones next to the Broadsides, followed by one of the Broadsides itself (with my son rolling another six for damage after spending a CP to reroll a one). On the other side of the table the PBC's Plaguespitters took out an entire squad of drones on the edge of the ruins for First Strike, and the Venomcrawler shot down one of the Stealth drones next to the Coldstar. Someone also killed the Pulse Accelerator drone in the middle of the T'au castle, which seemed like a good idea after Kas helpfully explained quite how dangerous it was making all the (many) pulse rifles nearby. Kas admitted that it hadn't occurred to him that as it wasn't a character then it could be selected as a target as normal. I suspect he'll hide it behind a wall next time.

I decided against charging the PBC into the guns of the T'au castle (though I did briefly consider it as I thought there was a chance it would survive), so my turn ended with me collecting 4VPs.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 8, T'au 10
Objectives scored: Secure objectives 2, 4 & 5; First Strike
VPs: 4-0 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 1

Wow. That I did not expect. That hurt. 

Even though there was a lot of high power muscle left on the board; having that many ablative drones shot away was a problem; as as the loss of a Remora and a Broadside. 

It was fair to say, I was nervous.  I'd seen from the 'boot how hard it was to shift the Daemon engines, and I now had three in my face. 

I go to draw cards: Defend 1 (feeling okay with this one, at it is under my riptide); Scour the skies (I was planning on taking out a drone); Behind enemy lines (I reckoned I could get there - but might be suicide). Then keeping in hand Secure 4 (it was a little too open) and Assassinate (which I thought was a little premature to play).

I was very nervous about the entropy cannons and knew I had to deal with. The remora had to move and so shot over to join the remaining broadside (it could be a saviour, and also would benefit from the drone controller piece of wargear). The Coldstar scooted behind the castle (staying in range of drones) and planned to fusion something.

The right hand flank starts to take out the Havocs with missile shots; my line of sight ambivalent smart missiles target the lone Chaos Spawn (I need first-strike) and the rest of the army eyes up drones and crawlers. 

The marker lights go first. The PBC is outlined in a red glow (maximum level) and one of the drones is also lit to enable missiles, if I manage to take out the crawler.

I am methodical with my shots. But that thing is tough. I don't even threaten the Bloatdrone: everything has to be thrown at the Crawler. I get it down to 1 wound rolling a 2 for damage so opt for a command point reroll on the missile to take it out; I need anything but a 1 I say... You know what you should never say...

Well that could have been better. Now I have to weather another round of all of those entropy cannons before my reinforcements would arrive. Gulp. This could be a quick game.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 8, T'au 9
Objectives scored: First Strike
VPs: 4-1 to the Second Law

Death Guard - turn 2

I drew four new objectives, Area Denial, Master the Warp, Overwhelming Firepower and Grandfather's Gift (kill something with a plague weapon). I still had Hold the Line in my hand from last turn, and definitely wanted to put that into play before T'au manta strikers arrived. Area Denial was great as there was nothing within 12" of the centre of the table, and Master the Warp should be easy enough. Overall a really good set of objectives to capitalise on my advantage from turn 1. I would hold onto Overwhelming Firepower and Grandfather's Gift for later turns.

My daemon engines on the right all pushed forwards along with the Rhino, thinking that I might need some troops to sit on Objective 3 next turn. The plasma-armed Plague Marines climbed up on the upper level of the house they were in to get a good line of fire. The Sorcerer climbed the hill to sit next to Objective 5. At the end of the movement phase the Malignant Plaguecaster summoned a Poxbringer to stand next to the Sorcerer.

I decided to delay the arrival of the Obliterators as my troops were well placed to cause plenty of damage and I thought that reacting to the arrival of the Y'Vahra next turn could be useful. Clearly it wouldn't have been a terrible idea to have teleported them onto the hill and shot up either (or both of) the Riptide or the Coldstar, but a major factor was that I wanted an exciting, close game and killing off those guys in turn 2 after already having a VP and material lead wouldn't help that.

For that I thank you; very sporting. I think this is really important - tactically the best decision would definitely have been to press my advantage, shoot up more units and give you even more of a headache about what to shoot at next turn, but having a good game was what we both wanted.

In the psychic phase the newly arrived Nurgle daemon cast Fleshy Abundance on the damaged PBC, healing 3 wounds. The Sorcerer put Prescience on the Entropy-cannon armed PBC again, and smote a Fire Warrior away. The Plaguecaster failed to put a Miasma on the injured PBC and also failed to Smite, however I had cast three powers, so that was fine.

One the left the Bloatdrone sprayed the Broadside with corrosive filth, reducing it to one wound. To the North-East the three daemon engines murdered a number of Fire Warriors, Pathfinders and drones. The two remaining Havocs tried to shoot the Riptide (taking some tactical advice from my son here, who thought that the Riptide was more dangerous and it was better to take that out than finish off the Broadside), but I failed to cause any damage (I think it may have passed off damage to a Technical drone).

The Bloatdrone charged the Broadside to try to finish it off, but managed to whiff all its attacks. Still, at least it was now tied up and won't be shooting next turn. The FBD and Venomcrawler both tried to charge the surviving infantry on the hill around objective 3 but neither made it in as I'd killed too many troops (that's a high quality problem).

CPs remaining: Death Guard 8, T'au 9

Objectives scored: Area Denial (1), Master the Warp (2), Hold the Line (1); T'au: Defend objective 1 (2)
VPs: 8-3 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 2

Time to move out. All those not in Mech suits: sorry; can you just hold these things up!! Don't worry they are not Frogstar tanks. No, these ones are green, but everyone knows Frogstar tanks are black. What did you say those drones were armed with again?

I still had scour the skies in play, and added the sure fire 'Behind enemy lines' and (I think) Witch Hunter (either that or Overwhelming firepower; spoilers: I have the other one in turn 3).

I needed three units in the back zone, and with the Manta above this was going to be possible. I drop the Y'vahra and his drones, the Warlord and his drones behind the building in the back field. I fly the Coldstar over there to join the group and advance the Riptide off his home trying to reach some protective cover of drones - he fails to reach it. 

A unit of fire warriors retreat into cover and hope for best. The broadside is resigned to retreating from combat. 

The remaining Remora heads off with the Breachers and the missile commander to deal with the last of the Havocs. I was ready to split fire, but Pootle's advisors (children) tell me I would regret it. So I pile in all the shots. They were right, splitting fire and it would survived.

My 8-year-old's tactical advice isn't to be sniffed at - he's come up with some pretty good ideas against me, although his statistical analysis is still somewhat limited.

New castle created in the enemy zone; and this one had a Y'vahra. Oh...good...

The Y'vahra unloads its plasma flamer at the plasma squad to show them what real plasma looks like.  And killed them all in one go. Yikes, I know that the plasma flamer is pretty much built for killing the likes of Plague Marines, but I thought that with them in cover maybe one or two would survive!

CPs remaining: Death Guard 7, T'au 6

Objectives scored: Behind enemy lines (d3), Witch hunter (1)
VPs: 8-7 to the Second Law

Death Guard - turn 3

My new objectives were No Prisoners and Defend objectives 2 and 3. I put No Prisoners and Overwhelming Firepower into play along with Defend 3 (although my Cultists were also sitting on top of 2), which I kept hidden. I kept Grandfather's Gift in my hand alongside Defend 2.

The Venomcrawler moved round to get within 3" of Objective 3; all I had to do now was kill the Cadre Fireblade and Fire Warrior left alive and I could start defending it.

Not something that you should have a challenge with! That thing is pretty vicious.

Trusting the Venomcrawler to do that alone, the FBD nearby dropped back to start taking wounds off the Riptide. I thought about disembarking the Plague Marines from the Rhino and subjecting the Riptide to a Blight Bombardment, but I decided I'd rather target the Y'Vahra, so tucked the Rhino in between the two of them. To the North-West, the FBD circled round behind the Broadside ready to shoot and then charge to hopefully finish it off. The Cultists edged forwards to get everyone within rapid fire range of the Stealth drone and Breacher team. The two Obliterators teleported down onto the central hill, ready to take down some of the big Battlesuits.

The Poxbringer successfully cast Fleshy Abundance once more and pushed the PBC back up to its top bracket by adding two more wounds back, taking it up to seven.

That seeker missile reroll is hurting more and more. You know I'd probably have rolled four or five Disgustingly Resilient rolls ;-)

However the shooting phase was pretty poor. The Venomcrawler completely fluffed its shots against the infantry on objective 3 whilst the PBC only managed to kill two Fire Warriors skulking on the edge of the ruins in front of it. The Bloatdrone and Entropy Cannon-armed PBC did put a few wounds onto the Riptide (I don't remember exactly how many), and the Chaos Lord killed a couple of drones next to the Y'Vahra. What I really wanted to focus on was the two Obliterators against the Y'Vahra. The random flesh-metal guns were reasonably good (I don't remember exactly what I rolled but fairly average), but they only managed to knock a few wounds off the Y'Vahra and didn't come close to killing it.

The second FBD failed to kill the Broadside (though did cause some damage), and the Cultists killed the Stealth Drone but failed to kill any Breachers (I split their fire with enough to ensure that the drone was killed).

The Venomcrawler charged the troops on objective 3 and again somehow failed to kill them, which meant that I couldn't start to defend the objective. At least it was hidden so Kas didn't know that's what I was after. Similarly the FBD in the North East failed to kill the Broadside in close combat, but tied it up once more.

I am sensing a theme here. At least it means that the FBD is not off torching other things.

Overall that was a pretty poor turn. I had hoped that I'd be able to kill three units to unlock 2D3 VPs from Overwhelming Firepower and No Prisoners, but somehow I'd only killed one unit. Although I still had a VP lead and would hopefully be able to get another couple for defending objective 3 soon, the Riptide, Y'Vahra and three commanders were all active and likely to cause me some trouble next turn.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 6, T'au 4
Objectives scored: No Prisoners (1), Overwhelming Firepower (1)
VPs: 10-7 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 3

I had discarded Scour the Skies in turn 2 (deciding that's not where my focus was) and so drew multiple cards. In play goes Supremacy, Assassinate, Overwhelming Firepower.

My firewarriors ran from the Venomcrawler to claim Obj1; not knowing that Pootle was defending obj3 and it would have been in my interest to stay there and use ObjSec to claim that one instead. But then I stood no chance of surviving afterwards. 

The Riptide marched up to camp on the objective on the hill (he'd have to knock a character off... but he also had the assassinate in play).  A drone was sent up to protect him.

The Breachers and missile-commander moved to obj5 and also potential to free the Broadside up from the FBD. 

Whilst the Y'vahra and warlord jumped to the other side of the building to take on the PBC.

The extra units of drone drop down next to the two commanders for additional shield support.

The Riptide was hurting, but did its job on the hill and took out the enemy covering the objective and the Y'vhara unloaded high powered ion gun at the tank, knocking off four wounds.

The Breachers and Missile commander try to take out the Bloatdrone and Obliterators. 

CPs remaining: Death Guard ?, T'au 3
Objectives scored: Supremacy, Assassinate, Overwhelming firepower
VPs: 10-10

Death Guard - turn 4

I appeared to have thrown away a VP lead and still hadn't destroyed most of Kasfunatu's dangerous units. I could see things slipping away if I didn't have a decisive turn now. I drew two new objectives, Symbol of the Fly Lord (control exactly three objectives) and Secure Objective 3. I put Symbol of the Fly Lord, Defend Objective 2 into play along with Defend 3 that would now be achieved at the end of my turn, leaving Grandfather's Gift and Secure 3 in my hand. I was tempted to Secure 3 now as I was on it, but I wanted to try for 2 VPs for defending, particularly as I doubted that Kasfunatu would bother killing Cultists (I revealed my intent to defend 3 and concealed the defence of 2).

The Cultists walked further up the hill, intending to target the Breacher team as well as defend the objective. The Plagueburst Crawler fell back from the Y'Vahra and the squad of Plague Marines disembarked from the Rhino and climbed the hill to get as many as possible within grenade range of the Riptide. The Biologus Putrifier and Chaos Lord followed whilst the Foul Blightspawn ran round the corner of the building to draw a bead on the T'au warlord. One of the FBDs flew across to kill the drones who were preventing the Blightspawn targeting the commander.

The shooting phase went almost perfectly, with the Bloatdrone and Cultists shooting up all the Breachers and the Riptide melting under a Blight Bombardment. 

The Chaos Lord and Rhino killed last last two drones near the Enforcer and Y'Vahra, and the Obliterator caused a bit more damage on the Y'Vahra. The Foul Blightspawn unleashed his horrible plague sprayer and melted the Enforcer commander, but a re-rolled save kept him alive until the Bloatdrone finished him off.

Nicely done. I think you had to use the reroll really - it's your warlord and it forced me to commit the Bloatdrone to shooting him: the Y'Vahra didn't have many wounds left by this point so it's conceivable the FBD could've killed that if the warlord was already dead.

The Venomcrawler finally killed the last troops near Objective 3 and the FBD in the North East charged and finally got rid of the last Broadside.

He had survived far too long on 1 wound to be fair.

At the end of the turn I scored 2VP for defending 3 and 1 for Slay the Warlord. I only rolled 1 for Symbol of the Fly Lord, but my VP lead was restored.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 2, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Symbol of the Fly Lord (1), Defend 3 (2), Slay the Warlord (1)
VPs: 14-10 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 4

I had big game hunter, and defend 2 (sorry cultists) and another card I forget (and I took the photo with the card hidden!!)

2 lone firewarriors hid behind the wall keeping Obj1; the marksman surveyed the field and occasionally popped up to light people up (well actually he didn't... he was have a spectacular run of 1s to hit).... which is probably why he was left alive! 

Everyone else flew/jump/romped up to near obj2: time for another castle.

The Y'vahra powered up it's anti-tank gun: doing 15 wounds to the PBC (more than enough to finish it off) and then flamed the remaining cultists. 

The Missile commander and Coldstar added firepower and took out the final Obliterator.

Now this is the way the setup should have been if I had chosen deployment zones.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 2, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Big Game Hunter
VPs: 14-11 to the Second Law

Death Guard - turn 5

My two new objectives were Scour the Skies and Disgusting Devotions (make 7 Disgustingly Resilient saves). I still had the now-rather-tricky-looking-but-at-least-still-concealed Defend 2 on the table and put Scour the Skies and Secure 3 down alongside it.

The Plagueburst Crawler moved forwards to spray the Fire Warriors lurking in the ruins to the North. All the marines between 4 and 5 embarked into the Rhino, which trundled forwards towards towards the third T'au castle to have formed.

I'd never seen anyone do that... obvious when you think about it. Smart; will remember for next time.

Both Bloatdrones converged on the same target but I think their spitters were both out of range to do anything.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to kill anything during the turn.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 2, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Secure objective 3 (1), T'au: Defend 2
VPs: 15-13 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 5

I had one of secure/defend obj4 in my hand, and drew the other. My Coldstar is going to make a break for it and hope it can survive alone for a turn.

The Y'Vahra, commander and remaining drones move behind the hill in an effort to take out the Rhino and it's crew.

Turns are getting quicker. Much - we're both running low on units now! Which is good 'cos I think it was about 1am by this point. I'm not sure that the booze sped us up much either... However despite the hour and the fact that I was winning by 1VP, I didn't want the battle to end yet - I wanted to kill that Y'Vahra. I duly rolled and the game went on to turn 6.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 2, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Secure 4
VPs: 15-14 to the Second Law

Death Guard - turn 6

My new objective was Death March (get three infantry units into the opponent's half of the board). I put Disgusting Devotions down alongside Scour the Skies and Defend 2, just in case I managed to roll a load of Disgustingly Resilient rolls, though that seemed unlikely this late in the game), but my real target this turn was killing the Y'Vahra, which could fly of course, so that would achieve Scour the Skies.

To this end the Plague Marines moved forwards whilst the Foul Blightspawn ran backwards towards the Coldstar Commander. Unfortunately his advance roll wasn't quite sufficient to get within range so I had to use a command reroll to get him there. One of the Bloatdrones moved onto Objective 2 and secretly started defending it.

I only had one CP left so put Veterans of the Long War on the Plague Marine squad to maximise their firepower. The Bloatdrones removed the nearby drones first before the marines finally destroyed the Y'Vahra. In the ruins around objective 1 the Venomcrawler finally killed the remaining Fire Warriors. However I was now without any CPs for the Foul Blightspawn's random plague sprayer, and true to form the dice gods deserted me: although the sprayer would be strength 6, there would only be one shot so the Coldstar survived.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 0, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Scour the Skies (1)
VPs: 16-14 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 6

This was a short turn: your Coldstar jumped onto Objective 5 (which you had to secure) and roasted the Foul Blightspawn. The other commander took down a solitary Plague Marine, and that was basically it for the turn. I don't remember what your objectives were this turn (apart from securing 5) but, dramatically, the turn ended with us level on VPs.

Neither of us wanted the game to end on a turn 6 draw...Kas rolled and we went to the final round, like two punch-drunk boxers. Well, I think it was more the booze than punching.

CPs remaining: Death Guard 0, T'au 1
Objectives scored: Secure objective 5; Death Guard: Defend 2 (2)
VPs: 18-18

Death Guard - turn 7

My final objectives drawn were Supremacy and Death Begets Life (1 VP for each 7 enemy models killed, which would be tricky to achieve with only 2 commanders on the field). Supremacy needed a bit of work but might just give me enough VPs to draw clear of the T'au. I also needed to kill at least one of the two Commanders to prevent Linebreaker and limit whatever objectives the T'au would get in the last turn of the game.

I wanted to use the firepower from the Plagueburst Crawler and Venomcrawler to target the Coldstar, but I need them to respectively move and advance to get onto objectives 1 and 3, which gave both a -1 to hit later on. Unfortunately that penalty was telling later on and they failed to cause any damage. 

Neither Bloatdrone rolled a good enough advance to get onto objective 6 and their shooting was ineffectual against the Enforcer commander. The remaining infantry moved towards the Coldstar and put as much fire into it as possible, also to no avail.

Fortunately I rolled the maximum 3VPs for Supremacy, putting me 3VPs up with the T'au's last turn to go. But then Kas told me that the Coldstar had not only secured objective 5, but had now defended it as well. I was only 1VP up now: could the two commanders pull a win out of the bag at the last minute?

CPs remaining: Death Guard 0, T'au 1

Objectives scored: Supremacy (3) T'au: Defend5
VPs: 21-20 to the Second Law

T'au - turn 7

I had drawn Secure 6 - an easy run for the Coldstar. To secure the win, I had to kill one unit and achieve No Prisoners. 

The missile commander plonked himself next to the Chaos Lord and unloaded point blank missiles into him. Job done. Sorry, I didn't mark that on the map above as I'd taken my pic at the wrong time. If I'd only screened him a bit better with the marines that might have gone differently!

Objectives scored: Linebreaker for both sides, Secure Obj6, No Prisoners,  
Final score: 23-22 to the T'au

Locker room

That was great fun! Just like our last game, the army with hardly any bodies on the ground managed to win on the VP count. We were both pretty tired by the end (it was 2am!) but I was so glad it went to the wire. My turns 2 and 4 were both pretty good, but balanced by poor turns 3, 5 and 7 (I couldn't seem to kill anything in those odd numbered turns). I also couldn't seem to score many VPs in the latter part of the game (though maximum points for Supremacy kept me in the game at the end).

Yes, and like the the last game, I think with another turn: you would have won. 

small part of me regrets not bringing in the Obliterators a turn earlier, but as I said above, we wanted a close game and got one, so I definitely made the right decision. I enjoyed playing against the Y'Vahra: it was just as scary as I thought it would be, deleting units at will - particularly impressive was taking out an (admittedly slightly wounded) Plagueburst Crawler in one go after having deleted a full unit of Plague Marines in cover. However I think that the Coldstar was even more important for you racing around the board securing one objective after another.

Y'vahra is scary, especially as Borkan with the extra range. I do like the Coldstar. It's a shame you can only have one. The late game manoeuvrability is fantastic for objective nabbing. I also have some more unpainted Remora to give it a bit more of a shield. 

My MVP was probably the Plagueburst Crawler, which drew a lot of attention when it was warptimed forwards. It absorbed an entire turn's worth of T'au shooting (no mean feat) and then recovered to its top wound bracket to continue causing trouble and securing objectives later on.

Yes, I am not surprised. I knew it was going to be tough; but wow. 

At least you did actually kill one this time though - Stylus will be very jealous ;-)

As Kas said earlier, the new mission worked really well, preventing too much randomness intruding but I think that our modifications were probably a good thing - we'll review this, but let us know what you think about that.