Kraken here. Been a while since I played T'au! Good looking army, I've always thought, but they feel like one of the villains of 40K to me.
Tsk, they are not the bad guys, maybe misunderstood. Ah, I see your aversion to Tau ochre must be diminishing, I expected you to abhor the sight of that colour for a little while longer. Good to know! :)
Their reputation for fearsome gunline play is well-deserved. So what better to put them up against than one of 8th Ed's other big bogeymen, Imperial Knights?
Sounds like a good idea. My knights have not seen too much battle in their own right. Whilst they have been included as LoW in other armies, and were included in the large epic battle at last year's Woffboot, they have only had one battle (which was more onesided than I was expecting).
InT'au the Valley of Death
It was.
I did draft my own, an unbound one of all his largest and meanest suits to try and match the Imperials for weight, but that's a story for another day.
So what this is is a tiny dribble of infantry padding out a row of very mean shooty mechs. A Coldstar, two standard Commanders, the much-feared Y'vahra and a pair of Broadsides, plus all the shield drones they could ever want! They're all for B'orkan, a sept that gets an extra 6" of range for all their guns.
And a Breacher Team, who will clearly win the match at the last minute after everyone else forgets they're there.
Cheap troop tax and in a game where you are against 6 models having annoying 40pt units that can ObjSec objectives can be a good use.
B'orkan Sept Battalion Detachment
- HQ - Commander in XV85 Enforcer Suit - 4 x Missile Pods, MV7 Marker Drone
- HQ - Cadre Fireblade - Markerlight and Pulse Rifle
- Troops - 5 x Breacher Team, Markerlight for the Shas'ui
- Troops - 5 x Strike Team, Markerlight for the Shas'ui
- Troops - 5 x Strike Team, Markerlight for the Shas'ui
- Flyers - 2 x Remora Stealth Drones, twin Long-Barrelled Burst Cannon and Seeker Missile
B'orkan Outrider Detachment
- HQ - Commander in XV85 Enforcer Suit - Warlord with Through Devastation, Unity trait, Plasma Accelerator Rifle relic, twin Cyclic Ion Blasters, 2 x Shield Drones, Advanced Targeting System
- Fast Attack - 5 x Pathfinders, Pulse Accelerator Drone
- Fast Attack - 4 x Shield Drones
- Fast Attack - Y'vahra Battlesuit, 2 x MV52 Shield Drones, Advanced Targeting Systems
- Heavy Support - 2 x Broadside Battlesuits, each with 2 x Smart Missile Systems and a Heavy Rail Rifle, Advanced Targeting Systems, 4 Shield Drones
B'orkan Auxiliary Support Detachment (-2 CPs)
- HQ - Coldstar Commander with Emergency Dispensation strat and Cross-linked Stabiliser Jets relic, 2 x Fusion Blasters, Missile Pod and Shield Generator
Rode the Six
Not much to say about these guys. They're big, they're bold, they're metal knights of old. Don't get underfoot!
House Raven Super-Heavy Detachment
- 1 x Armiger Helverin w. twin Armiger Autocannons and Heavy Stubber
- 1 x Armiger Warglaive w. Reaper Chaincleaver, Thermal Lance and Meltagun
- 1 x Knight Errant, Mark of the Omnissiah, Reaper Chainsword, Thermal Cannon, Stormspear Rocket Pod and Warlord with the Ion Bulwark trait
House Raven Super-Heavy Detachment and Exalted Court strat (-1 CP)
- 1 x Armiger Moirax w. Lightning Lock and Volkite Veuglaire
- 1 x Armiger Warglaive w. Reaper Chaincleaver, Thermal Spear and Heavy Stubber
- 1 x Knight Warden w. Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Skyshield relic, Thunderstrike Gauntlet and the Landstrider trait
Mission and Terrain
Our mission is a slightly homebrewed version of a Schemes of War game. Draw up to three cards a turn, but if you choose to you can burn two for a new one. And if you achieve that new one this turn or your opponent's next: it's worth one extra point (This was after I had played something very similar against Pootle as he suggested, but then could not find officially and adapted to our own variant). Domination and Priority Orders Received have been ditched, and anything you could never have achieved is auto-mulliganed.
The objectives go out as seen above, and Kas wins the roll-off to choose who is Attacker and who is Defender.
With defender choosing sides but likely going second, I figured that it was more beneficial to ensure I had a long edge and could close quicker.
Deployment
So the Coldstar and the Y'vahra go on the north edge, along with a nervous Fireblade and Strike team. The Pathfinders take a tall tower at the back, the other Strike team take the south edge ready to run for Objective 2 and the Breachers hide in the wood on Objective 5. Rear and centre are the Broadsides with their shield drones.
This leaves everyone else in Deep Strike, ready to drop in and ambush whatever seems to be the best target later on.
Through use of stratagems and detachments, I had made four of my six knights characters, so wanted to ensure the remaining two were up front to protect characters. Kraken reminded me as we started that this screening did not help 10 (or even 20)+ wound models... It was not the only time I needed to be reminded!
With the reasonable range of the Helverin, I opted for camping on the gantry near an objective; with an armiger at ground level nearby. An Armiger in the center to "protect" the big knights; and the new moirax behind the castle (I'd never tried him, and did not want him one shot off in an alpha strike).
T'au Turn 1
Off we go! My opening draw is entirely reasonable - Secure Objective 1, Supremacy and Area Denial. I can't score the last this turn, but I don't want to ditch either of the others to try for something else.
Coldstar Dude leaps into the safety of the castle courtyard where Objective 1 stands. The Fire Teams cluster round whatever their nearest objectives are and the Breachers hide under a pile of leaves. That's four objectives, so I can get Supremacy too.
The Y'vahra probably can't kill a target this round, so I'm trying to hide it behind the castle. Alas, I move it before the drones, and have to pull back a bit after they fail to keep up with the advance, so it's not as hidden as it could be.
Shooting (wow! What a speedy game this is with no psychic phase!) sees the Pathfinders light up the Knight Warden before I land a single Rail hit on it with the Broadsides. Rolling 1 for damage bugs me enough to spend a reroll, and along with missile pod work, I take 6 wounds off the big guy. That's a decent start, I'd say.
Knights Turn 1
Drawn - Defend Objective 4 (redrawn and worth an extra point), No Prisoners. Discarding Supremacy and Secure 5.
With only six models and two objectives in reach , I ditched Supremacy and Objective 5 went with it. I was certain to be able to kill things, probably three especially with the Tau pushing wounds off on to squidgy, low model count drone units. Defend 4 was a nice bonus card. (against Pootle the bonus card had been 'double' but had to be done before a time constraint. We debated if it was by your next turn, in which case defend could be worth 4 or if by the end of your current turn, in which case it would never get a bonus. When we could not find a rule, we both agreed to play +1 if achieved by your next turn).
With plan determined, the Helverin perched on Obj 4, the warglaive turned on its thrusters and advanced to the tempting looking 5 man strike team on Obj 2. (being raven they could advance and shoot). The four others also all advanced hoping to move to into closer, and potentially subsequent charge range.
The Warden did not roll quite high enough to get a bead on the coldstar in the castle. I might have been able to just see the tiniest speck of model; but deemed I was clutching at straws. It was next round I realised that he had longstrider and should have had an extra 2" move. Must pay more attention.
The warglaive (despite how appears on above) did manage to get a bead through the castle door to see the coldstar however. And the Moirax and Errant stomped to the centre of the board to take on broadsides.
Shooting was spectacular:
The helverin unloaded on the broadsides with the net outcome of causing a single wound.
The errant threw 12 gatling cannon shots and 6 missiles at the Y'vhara; also netting a single wound.
The warden fails to wound, and the moirax chips a drone off the Y'vahra.
One warglaive gets a hit on the Y'vahra, knocking 3 wounds off, and the other melts 2 of the strike team.
At this point, I have not killed a unit, and although a drone might run away, I decided the remaining three man strike team was squidgy; so I dropped two command points and hit full tilt on the warglaive that allowed him to charge even if advanced. I make it but even armed with a chainsword twice the size of the Tau, only one fails to dodge. Worse the two remaining strike down stare the big robot and carry on fighting.
Thankfully a drone runs away making a unit destroyed and first strike.
I must admit, I expected more from my guns.
T'au Turn 2
The new draw for me is Secure 2 and Defend 2. Well, those two plucky Fire Warriors have 2 secured, somehow, even if it's also underneath an Armiger. Something tells me defending it is... optimistic? So I ditch that along with Area Denial (also a tall order right now) and get Big Game Hunter as the bonus redraw. Excellent! This is a Big Game Reserve right now!
However, I also need to stop that Helverin on Objective 4, so that's where the deep strikers arrive. The Coldstar and Y'vahra move to target the Warden, and the Broadsides advance so I can either help this attack or snipe off the Helverin, depending on how all the other shooting goes.
'Quite well' turns out to be the answer to that. First, the Enforcer Commander with the Plasma relic manages to almost one-shot the Helverin, leaving it on a lone wound.
The Warden in the centre gets lit up by the Pathfinders for 3 markerlights. This invites a Nova-boosted Ion blast from the Y'vahra plus fusion cannoning from the Coldstar, although it's hanging on with six wounds or so after all that, so I also throw the Broadsides into it, but they fumble a bit and it's still on three wounds left.
So the Remoras, from the other side of the field, use their Seeker missiles. One sneaks past the shields and the Warden goes down, even as the Remoras also take out the Helverin with burst cannon strafing.
Score! I roll low for Big Game Hunter, but I get an extra point as it's my bonus objective. Kas decides not to go out quietly, however, and spends CPs on Valiant Last Stand. Yikes! Amazingly, the Coldstar Commander somehow staggers through a full round of close range shooting, but sheds half its wounds in the process.
You say 'Yikes!' but seems to be pretty ineffectual. (and with 20:20 hindsight, I am glad this is the case. Turns out I could not use this strategem, it was Imperialis only and I was Mechanicus). But also meant I did not have CPs that I wanted later, so I don't think my mistake was game breaking.
Objectives scored: Big Game Hunter (2), Secure Objective 2 (1)
Knights Turn 2
Okay, going to need a new plan. I opt for regrouping and settle back on Obj 6 and encircling the newly arrived commanders.
My warglaive is determined to wipe out the pesky strike team.
In shooting, I manage to destroy all the commanders' drones (2 units) and drop both to half wounds (that will teach me to split fire!) and the warglaive has to resort to combat after shooting to finally stomp the strike team. Thankfully that makes three units destroyed.
I opt for my big knight to make the charge into the commanders, I was going to suffer a little to greater good, but I felt could withstand. It was a 7 inch charge (it was at this point I find the other knight had the +2 to advance/charge gah). I roll a 5 (which makes that a bit more irksome) and drop my last command point on a reroll to try and complete the charge. Hello 1.
At this point, I look at the casualties. I have killed a 40pt strike team, and 62 points of drones (plus assorted wounds to mechs). On the hand I have a big and small knight taken out. That's 100pts of casualties vs 600 points of casualties. Eep.
Objectives scored: Secure 6 (1), No Prisoners (2)
T'au Turn 3
More new objectives - Secure 6 and Defend 1, which are both doable with a bit of luck, then a T'au specific one called The Lure. Which is to kill a unit that made a successful charge last turn! Sneaky, I like it.
Sneaky. And rubbing it in that my close ranged armiger needed two charged to finish and 5 man basic squad; and my big knight could not even make a charge even with a reroll.
Alas, that one charger last turn is out of sight, and I'm not feeling certain enough that the guys who could get there would take it down in one turn. Even if Coldstar is one of them, I reckon he's too swingy to rely on. Instead, he buys some Automatic Repair and regrows three lost wounds - expensive for a strat, but tasty.
So instead I pile as much as I can on Objective 6 and trust in my big guns to clear the Knights. The lone Plasma Accelerator drone heads for Objective 1 but doesn't advance enough to reach it, and everyone else either stays still or shuffles about to where their Markerlights can be played.
Except the Y'vahra, who taps the reactor again and takes to the sky, ready to redeploy next turn. Again, it's too far out to get the range for its guns, and I don't want to leave it exposed to an Errant counterstrike.
Once more, the T'au gunplay is exceptional. With ruthless efficiency, both the Moirax and Warglaive get shredded by the Commanders and Broadsides. The latter take out the Moirax by themselves, although I do spend a point on Aerial Targeting to get a free Markerlight to help them there. This leaves me bossing Objective 6, although I don't score otherwise.
Knights Turn 3
Turns are getting quicker. Two warframes left.
Two of the cards I draw are for objectives I am on or close to, and so camp out on both and shoot from there.
I have to take out the remora first (which I do from warglaive on obj2) and the daddy knight spreads his fire between the two wounded commanders (they are both down to half wounds, they have no drones). I take one out; but thankfully it was the warlord.
Looking at the board, I am in trouble, but VP are matched. There are a lot of dead drones and out of place strike teams. It's going to be tough, especially with the Coldstar and his meltyguns.... then I hear the swoosh and lookup to the see 400pts of mech that I could not see on the board as the Y'vahra and his mega flamer arrive a little too close.
Objectives scored:Secure 2 (1), Secure 4 (2), Slay the Warlord (1)
T'au Turn 4
T'au High Command is clearly more generous and reasonable than the High Commands I usually serve. The first ones I draw aren't good, so I swap them out and get Psychological Warfare. But I couldn't ever have achieved that in this game, so redraw and get Behind Enemy Lines, which is about as perfect as I could wish for.
I hear the crack of guilt in Kraken's voice after he justified that there was no way that he could have forced a pysch test and hence his free redraw. But that was the draw as far I was concerned, so it stood.
I certainly did feel bad! Serves me right.
As Kas said, the Y'vahra slams down next to the Knight Errant, so the Commanders rally towards it. Coldstar gets as close as he can, screened by the remaining Remora on the far side. I advance the accelerator drone up top to start defending Objective 1 as well.
The Pathfinders are sadly out of range! So the only Markerlight I have is from the Breacher Shas'ui, who has crept through the wood for this moment of glory. Rolling a 6, he lights up the Knight! Which lets me slap all my remaining CPs on Networked Markerlights and Aerial Targetting, and that gets me the full 5 red dots. I knew they'd turn out to be key players!
As you'd expect, the shooting is not kind. Even so, it's only just enough, and it takes all I have. The Knight Errant finally dies to the last Seeker Missile from the Broadsides. Glad I saved them!
Knights Turn 4
I am 2 points behind, I had two cards that potentially would allow me to get 2vp, but even then it was not a given. I decided for a hail mary and throw a card away to try and get a new card that I can achieve. The draw is unkind.
I did have kill a flyer and make a charge as viable cards, I now have kill a flyer and defend an objective on the other side of the board.
I shoot halfheartedly before hitting autodestruct and conceding, mainly models behind, VPs behind and coming up to midnight for Kraken. Kraken draws his cards to verify it would have been even more forgone, and then remembers linebreaker and slay the warlord to give final tally.
Objectives scored: Defend Objective 1 (2, T'au)
I did have kill a flyer and make a charge as viable cards, I now have kill a flyer and defend an objective on the other side of the board.
I shoot halfheartedly before hitting autodestruct and conceding, mainly models behind, VPs behind and coming up to midnight for Kraken. Kraken draws his cards to verify it would have been even more forgone, and then remembers linebreaker and slay the warlord to give final tally.
Objectives scored: Defend Objective 1 (2, T'au)
Result: 12:8 to the T'pau Sept!
Locker Room
Greater Good Grief, that was devastating! Knights always make me nervous, I'm too used to seeing all my shots splash off their shields. After my last engagement, I must admit I thought this would see a similar result, with the Knights focussing fire to take out the key threats before mopping up the footsloggers with aplomb.
That was kind of how I expected knights to fail, losing one a turn (or more) as everything focussed to its eventual demise.
That was kind of how I expected knights to fail, losing one a turn (or more) as everything focussed to its eventual demise.
But no! The T'au always seemed to have just enough mobility and firepower to hit what they wanted to when they wanted to, and wipe it off the board. Kas had some miserable luck in his first turns, his armour saves were depressing in the extreme. and the attacks too. And I had some great luck with mine, which just compounds the misery of fighting T'au. All your early shooting just bleeds out the drones, which is grisly to face.
Fun game anyway. It does leave me wanting to try the super-heavy suits against pure Knights another time - I reckon it probably plays to the Knights strengths more than this engagement, but it should be fun to find out!
Apart from playing the game which was fun, one other aspect was testing roll20 as an online shared diceroller as a tool to speed up and give record of events. I think it works very well (once even those playing their first game conclude that it is no-slower, and that's without familiarity).
Yeah, I'd second that. I expected it to slow things down, which it didn't (after a slightly slow start - I can tell the greater-than and less-than symbols apart, it seems). I miss the joy of physical dice rolls, but otherwise this is a great tool.
I may work on some macros and extra base commands to make more efficient, although I think the base functionality works well for Skypeboots (or Zoomboots as I have been using). The only depressing thing is that you can also scroll back and relive how bad your 'rolling' was.
Game on for the rematch against the unbound list.
Well done Kraken! And shame on me for not writing up the battle I fought against Kas the day before yours!! It's coming...
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