Short Tau Batreps using Tau Empire

[Lord Hanaur]

EDIT:  Note that I dropped a Ghostkeel for this matchup because he wanted to play 1850.

 

His Grey Knights, replete with a pair of Dreadknights AND a big honking Imperial Knight, plus Inquisitor and a couple Purifier squads in Rhinos showed up.  two Shunting Interceptor squads were in the rear, babysitting objectives and preparing to strike.

 

 

I let him go first after placing my perfunctory Fortification (a Gunrig) on the left flank.  Vanguard deployment and Big guns Never Tire was the mission.  Line breaker, Warlord and Ground Control were the tertiaries.

 

I deployed a Piranha and nothing else.  I did not try to seize.  

 

So in turn one he decided, despite ample opportunity, not to shoot my Piranha.  he shunted over and ported in to try on the left flank to kill the offending Gunrig that was devoid of any occupants at that point, but cover and Night Fighting protected it.  His fear was that he didn't want to trigger my Formation ability to bring in reserves.  He failed to get his melstrom objective because he just couldn't get enough going on the Gunrig in turn one.

 

In my Turn, my Piranha moved and took a maelstrom point.

 

Turn two rolled around and he again moved and fired his stuff at the Gun Rig.  His purifiers were in the center of the board in Rhinos while his DreadKnight on the left near the unit that had dropped in.  The second Dreadknight trailed behind the Purifiers midboard, vigilant against enemy activity.  The Imperial Knight moved over to join in the barrage to kill the Gunrig.  Again, cover saved it.  Again he did not kill the Piranha (on purpose).

 

My enter army minus a 3 man Stealth Squad and some fire warriors came in on turn two, deep striking everywhere.  The force laced into his Librarian Warlord and his deep striking buddies near the gun rig, along with outflanking Pathfinders.  Stealthsuits used precision shots to kill the Incinerator and help kill the Warlord.  The DreadKnight on the left was vaporized by Riptie and Stealthsuit fire as well as a Gunrig shot.  The Imperial Knight took four hull Points from the Wall of Mirrors laid down by the Ghostkels who had come in.  Seeing danger, they all faded back to avoid being charged.  Dreadknight in the middle took a wound.  I forget how.

 

The Purifiers Psychic Shrieked some Stealth suits and sent them running.  The rest of the army turned to deal damage to the Riptides and ended up doing 3 Hit points to him.  Other elements shifted around and the Dreadknight in the middle shunted to klll fire Warriors in order to accomplish both of its Maelstrom objectives while stopping me from scoring one.  A wise choice.  Interceptors ventured forward but an incinerator got tangled up in terrain and died.

 

My Stealthsuits regrouped and the army fired full on, dropping the 3 Stealthsuits that had mishap'd earlier and were now behind the Imperial Knight and killing it.  The exploion didnt do anything to anyone though.  The second DreadKnight got its face blown off.  The Rhino the nearest Purifiers were in got blown up.

 

The purifiers marched forward and fired at the target right in front of them, the Ghostkeels after killing four more Stealthsuits with Psychic Shriek (that power mowed me) but thanks to the Holophoton Countermeasures, they weathered it.  Obviously as the Purifiers had been blown out of their Rhino last turn, they couldn't charge.

 

My Ghostkeels and Stealthsuits which hadn't been destroyd by Psychic Shrieks (there weren't many left) as well as the Riptides were ready to tear the Inquisitor and his unit to ribbons on my turn.

 

With essentially the Purifiers in a Rhino and a couple Interceptor Squads left, the jig was up and we ended the game there.

 

This was my list:

 

Total Roster Cost: 1993

 

Formation: Optimized Stealth Cadre (19#, 788 pts)

5 Stealth Shas'ui (Bonding Knife Ritual+ Advanced Targeting System)

5 Stealth Shas'ui (Bonding Knife Ritual+ Advanced Targeting System)     

 

1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 141 pts (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster + Bonding Knife Ritual 

1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 141 pts (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster + Bonding Knife Ritual

1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 166 pts (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster+ Bonding Knife Ritual+ Target Lock + Velocity Tracker)

 

: Combined Arms Detachment (14#, 720 pts)

   1 Commander, 165 pts (Command and Control Node+ XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit + Target Lock+ Stimulant Injector+ Velocity Tracker)

 

      5 Fire Warriors, 45 pts

 

      5 Fire Warriors, 45 pts

 

      1 Riptide Shas'vre, 190 pts (Ion Accelerator+ Early Warning Override)

 

   

      1 Riptide Shas'vre, 190 pts (Ion Accelerator+ Early Warning Override

 

   1 Tidewall Gunrig, 85 pts

 

Formation: Infiltration Cadre (27#, 485 pts)

         6 Pathfinders, 66

         6 Pathfinders, 66 pts 

         6 Pathfinders, 111 pts (Rail Rifle x3)

    

 

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 33 pts (Advanced Targeting System)

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 33 pts (Advanced Targeting System)

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 35 pts (Fusion Blaster)

 

 

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 33 pts (Advanced Targeting System)

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 33 pts (Advanced Targeting System)

         1 Stealth Shas'ui, 35 pts (Fusion Blaster)

 

 

         1 TX4 Piranha, 40 pts

[Lord Hanaur]

I have analyzed as best I can what happened in this game and the following optimaizations seem like obvious things to do.

 

First I am changing the Optimaized Stealth Cadre into a Farsight one.  I already had paid for the Bonding Ritual which I learned through painful experience i a good idea on that Formation.  Why not gain the extra benefit of Preferred Enemy:  Orks.  Seemed a no brainer there after pondering it.

 

Second, i am going to spend the points to get the Combined Arms Detachment as a Farsight Enclave as well.  The reason for this is Psyker defense.  I need/want the added Psyker defense the Talisman can give me and while it is far from a perfect answer, i got eaten BADLY by Psychic Shriek and its not as if that's a rare power to see.  I am unfortunate not to have thee  points for a Culexus in the list (and that is just damn unfluffy anyways) but this will be the next best thing.

 

Third change is that I need to make the Piranha a bigger threat.  I don't want someone doing what he did and deciding NOT to kill the Piranha.  So by giving it more teeth, my hope is the fear of First Blood or just the damage it might cause in general will be enough to motivate the enemy.  

 

So my Pathfinders lost their 3 Rail Rifles as a cost for this but they didn't entirely since the increased number of Markerlights will result in the likelihood of at least one more missile strike per turn from their orbital support.  It's a give and take.

 

So the versin i came up with after this initial maiden voyage is this:

 

Total Roster Cost: 2000

 

Farsight Enclave Optimized Stealth Cadre (19#, 788 pts)

            5 Stealth Shas'ui (Bonding Knife Ritual+ Advanced Targeting System)

            5 Stealth Shas'ui (Bonding Knife Ritual+ Advanced Targeting System)    

 

            1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 141 pts (Fusion Collider, Twin Linked Fusion Blaster + Bonding Knife Ritual +2 MV5 Stealth Drones

            1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 141 pts (Fusion Collider, Twin Linked Fusion Blaster + Bonding Knife Ritual+ 2 MV5 Stealth Drones

            1 Ghostkeel Shas'vre, 166 pts (Ion Raker, Twin Linked Fusion Blaster+ Bonding Knife Ritual+ Target Lock + Velocity Tracker + 2 MV5 Stealth Drones)

 

: Farsight Enclave Combined Arms Detachment (14#, 749 pts)

   1 Commander, 182 pts (Neuroweb System Jammer, Talisman of Athas Moloch, Onager Gauntlet, XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit + Target Lock+ Stimulant Injector+ Velocity Tracker+ Bonding Knife Ritual)

 

      5 Fire Warriors, 50 pts (Bonding Knife Ritual)

 

      5 Fire Warriors, 50 pts(Bonding Knife Ritual)

 

      1 Riptide Shas'vre, 191 pts (Ion Accelerator+ Early Warning Override +Bonding Knife Ritual)

 

         1 Riptide Shas'vre, 191 pts (Ion Accelerator+ Early Warning Override +Bonding Knife Ritual)

 

   1 Tidewall Gunrig, 85 pts

 

Formation: Infiltration Cadre (27#, 463 pts)

         6 Pathfinders, 66 pts

         6 Pathfinders, 66 pts

         6 Pathfinders, 66 pts   

 

         3 Stealth Shas'ui, 98 pts (Advanced Targeting Systemx1, Fusion x 1)

 

         3 Stealth Shas'ui, 101 pts (Advanced Targeting Systemx2, Fusion x 1)

 

 

         1 TX4 Piranha, 66 pts (Fusion Blaster, 2 x Seeker Missiles)

[splinx]

Sounds like a respray of red on your army now then! LOL 

 

- To make it even more competitive you could drop one of the ghost keels and the Gunrig and run the riptide wing formation. From playing it it seems really strong currently alongside the OSC. 

 

- Im guessing the table had plenty of terrain to warrant the Pathfinders? Did the pathfinders do a job for you or would you consider swapping them out for some a formation of Markerlight drones instead for the +4 constant jink? In maelstrom i have found that being more effective and mobile to maneuver the enemy around a bit better if if they can't actually score.   

[IW Raptors]

That is a very unique Tau list! Yeah shriek is really scary to Tau as we don't have psykers to help deny the witch or great leadership across the board. The most straightforward solution I've heard is the void shield generator. Doesn't help if you're in the midfield though, where Ghostkeels and stealth suits tend to hang out :/.

 

I've honestly not used the FSE signature system as in my mind, vs a psychic heavy army, it's a band aid at best, it won't stop units buffing themselves with invisibility and they can still probably force powers like shriek through if they throw enough dice at it. Still like I said, haven't tried it myself, so I could be wrong.

 

My current solution is shoot them dead before they cast. So not too optimal a strategy either!

[Lord Hanaur]

Sounds like a respray of red on your army now then! LOL 

 

- To make it even more competitive you could drop one of the ghost keels and the Gunrig and run the riptide wing formation. From playing it it seems really strong currently alongside the OSC. 

 

- Im guessing the table had plenty of terrain to warrant the Pathfinders? Did the pathfinders do a job for you or would you consider swapping them out for some a formation of Markerlight drones instead for the +4 constant jink? In maelstrom i have found that being more effective and mobile to maneuver the enemy around a bit better if if they can't actually score.   

On your first point, the Riptide Wing is low hanging fruit.  Players who are new or players who just want something that requires them to do little more than throw dice at people will gravitate to the Riptide Wing because it can be, if allowed, quite powerful.  I am absolutely in your camp as far as the power of the Riptide Wing.  You have to silence it in melee.  So many people undervalue assault units in 40K these days (though the Wulfen have certainly been an eye popping development that is changing that I think) that it's not a shock to me that the Riptide Wing got popular and fast.  No one has the correct answer to it as a part of their thinking usually, which is fast Assault (again this is changing with the advent of the new Psyker powers also).  Even when they do, they may not be able to deliver it in time in the case of the flying deployment options.  Outshooting Riptides should not be an option a Tau enemy seriously considers.  Lol.  Not to mention that the model in my opinion is just damn sexy so people taking them makes sense from that perspective too.  And let's face it, that counts for something!

 

I do own the Riptides to do the Riptide Wing (kind of on accident actually).  My question is always the same withthings like that:  is it necessary?  The two i use put out plenty of firepower as it is and it frees me up to be a little more flexible in my army.  So assuming one doesn't NEED the Riptide to win, why not consider giving a little in that department to gain a lot in another. Plan A is great but you still need a plan B when the first plan goes sideways on you.  Don't forget that Tertiary objectives often win the game and so the ability to Line Break or seek Ground Control are very real considerations in list building also.

 

 

On your second point:

I am not sure I understand.  to warrant them?  I had them in my list, so warranted or not, they were coming.  Lol.  I have never tailored a list so it was what it was.  There was no LOS blocker in the center on this table like one would normally see.  We had a pretty normal amount of forest and low ruins (kind of an overgrown dead city theme going on).  There was nothing tall on the table really.  I let opponents set the table up 100% of the time pretty much and have for a long time so I mean...  warranted or not they were coming along.  =)

 

The Pathfinders do two things in that formation.  first they can call in Missile fire.  It's kind of like getting a heavy weapon in the unit.  if you hit with three markerlights, you inflict an auto-hit with a STR 8 AP 3 Seeker Missile.  Second, which probably goes without saying, they can pin a unit or they can Markerlight a unit.  So that's cool.  In my game, i outflanked them.  This makes terrain a LOT easier to find and hide in.  I also had Railrifles in one unit, though I am going to drop them in order to make a few changes to the list, as you can see.

[Lord Hanaur]

That is a very unique Tau list! Yeah shriek is really scary to Tau as we don't have psykers to help deny the witch or great leadership across the board. The most straightforward solution I've heard is the void shield generator. Doesn't help if you're in the midfield though, where Ghostkeels and stealth suits tend to hang out :/.

 

I've honestly not used the FSE signature system as in my mind, vs a psychic heavy army, it's a band aid at best, it won't stop units buffing themselves with invisibility and they can still probably force powers like shriek through if they throw enough dice at it. Still like I said, haven't tried it myself, so I could be wrong.

 

My current solution is shoot them dead before they cast. So not too optimal a strategy either!

Thank you!

 

The Talisman is esssentially going to let me bounce powers aimed AT me on a 4 instead of a 6.  That's a pretty big deal.  He killed a very large portion of my Stealthsuits with that one power.  It mattered.  So just stopping the ONE power in a turn is all I'm aiming at.  It made a SIGNIFICANT dent in my firepower.  I needed a solution and when you see a hole like that in the army and you have the points, why not fix it right?  A 12" aura of "neener neener" when the enemy gives you 4-6 dice to work with is pretty cool.  It's no Culexus but then...  that's why there are Culexus right?  Lol.

 

As for invisibility:  Tau have an answer for that so i don't worry about invisible units.  We're already DEAD MEAT if we are forced into melee.  So it hardly matters what we face there.  But in shooting, the 18 Markerlights should allow a unit to make a mess out of an invisible unit with at least one of ours.  So as much as i fear that power, I look at it from a practical viewpoint:  I ALREADY. can't do anything about it.  The thing I can control is the offensive powers aimed my way and to that end, i want an answer.  I lost 9 Stealthsuits to that  power, so it was kind of a big deal.  

[IW Raptors]

That is one advantage of so many markerlights! Currently running quite a bit less markers at 1850 as the OSC doesn't really need markers or a unit with buffmander. I was trying to figure a way of fitting in a culexus myself, but without a transport I thought he might lack the mobility to stop those nasty magic casters.

[Lord Hanaur]

Had a rematch. He altered his list. Added a bunch more Psychic Shriek throwers from henchmen in rhinos instead of his interceptors. He had a couple objective grabbing strike squads, two sreads, two dreadknights and tried the force weapon shooting gun to take out my riptides with. So very much more tailored to kill me.

THIS time it was Hammer and Anvil, The Scouring. I opted to go second again. I deployed my (now) more fearsome Piranha near his objective 3 and in range of all three. I placed the perfunctory gunrig way back and to the center. Time to go.

He swooshed forwad in rhinos to take objectives. He had to kill two units. His Dreadknight shunted to kill the Gunrig(one of his objectives). His Dreadnought tried to kill the piranha (for another) but managed to blow only a seeker missile off of it. On my turn I immobikized his Rhino w the piranha.

Turn two his strike squad jumped in to help with killing the Gunrig. They got it done. Pirahna also died.

My entire army showed up on the left flank save for Fire Warriors which took residence in the Gunrig while the others pushed towards his objective three where once my Piranha had been. I killed the rhino and henchman on objective 2 midboard, his Dreadknight, his offending Strike Squad and waited for his retibution.

Turn 3 the Dreadknight tried to kill the Riptide with Force shots, but failed despite hitting well due to prescience. The dreads fired on me as well. The psykers tried to gate in on me but I bounced their power. The rest moved up at maximum speed and prepared.

On my turn i blew up the dreadknight, his midfield rhinos and the guys inside of both. At this stage at end of round 3 he had his psyker unit, a rhino on my objective three, dread and command group on one and his psychic shrieks were going to be minimally effective given JSJ. Seeing that his next round would be little more than moving at maximum speed into a meat grinder, he conceded. There simply was no Grey Knight victory today.

My observations here is that the plan was very scary to me and he had the opportunity to consume the middle of the board in rounds one and 2. His lack of surety as to where I might end up was a critical thing. I felt that dominating the center and launching from there would have allowed the grey knights to better handle me. Most games I have played AS a Grey Knight have had, first and foremost, the goal of massing power midfield and unleashing it like the Wave Motion Gun from Star Blazers.

Anywho, we talked afterwards and he may have a bit meaner list yet in store for our next encounter.

[fluger]

I look forward to facing this list with my orks.  :D

[Lord Hanaur]

I faced Flugers orks and tied them as we discussed in his thread so i wont take up a lot of space here other than to refer you to his orky adventures thread around page 10 for that commentary.  It was a pretty good game.  he took Primary, I took maelstromas and we tied on Secondaries (one Hull Point away from ultimate victory for the Tau Empire but a Tie isn't nothing).

 

I then followed up with a game against a triple blob Astra Militarum list, that featured three Manticores and Space Marine Allies with Psyker goodness to buff the invaders.

 

Round one was basically him firing three Manticores into my lone Piranha and his Drop Pod slamming into the earth on my left deployment zone to try and help with the task.  An unfortunate scatter did leave him a bit farther to my left than he intended but still close enough to try and kill the poor Piranha.  the Piranha lived.  Mixed blessing perhaps.  He killed the gunrig gun with two heavy Bolter hits from his Speeder which was running up to take his Objective 2.  Lol.  So on his turn no points.  On my turn i jetted to Objective two to secure it.  

 

On turn two, his marines in cover started a very slow turtle-like trek east.  His Manticores laced into me along with the two Lascannons from a blob that could now see me.  None of it killed the Piranha BUT the Marines managed to kill the two Drones I dropped off before taking objective two.  This triggered my entire army to come in on turn two.

 

My deep Strikes were somewhat haphazard, and a Riptide had to go back into rserve but the rest at least landed o nthe board somewhere approximating a firing position.  The Ghostkeels and their attendent Stealthsuits plus Commander dropped to the right, while the Riptide that made it safely dropped on the left along with the Infiltration Cadre Stealthsuits.  From the board edge came the Fire Warriors and the Pathfinders.  FireWarriors clambered onto the Gunrig.  what followed was a blood bath.  The rightmost blob was reduced to near nothing because my drops had placed me outside the range of my real targets, the Manticores.  One manticore did however get shot by a Ghostkeel and lost a couple Hull points.  On the other side a similarly carnage filled turn saw the left most blob reduced to nigh nothing with Riptide fire and Stealthsuit loving.  A stealthsuit used his Advanced Targeting Array to kill the Thunderfire Cannon guy with a Melta shot.  Pathfinders Snap fired into the Speeder and killed it with an orbital missile strike which was a Hail Mary thing that paid off.

 

He responded moving up as much as he could and firing into the massed threat in front of him, and his manticores tried to bomb the Infiltration Cadre Stealthsuits on the left, but this produced little in the way of results.  They did however bomb the Pathfinders but good, killing an entire unit of them at once and his brave Guardsmen managed to put a few wounds on the board as well with First Rank Fire!  Second Rank Fire! orders going on.

 

On my third turn i blitzkrieg'd, killing the Manticores, the blob on the right, the blob on the left and shooting up the blob in the center a little bit (not much) as my errant Riptide returned to action (but his Nova failed and then weapon got hot, so minimally involved, hehehe).

 

It was essentially over at this point.  We played another round just for fun, but we stopped before i had to table him.  No point in carrying it that far.

 

The Stealthsuits with a Commander dropping in with them were substantially more deadly and more hearty with his 2+ save and 4 wounds to protect them.  The Riptides continue to draw fire for me and although the Pathfinders having to snap fire when they come is a bummer, it is more of an asset in the end, as it forces yet more target priority questions for the enemy.  Kill the markerlights oooooor...  The immediate and deadly source of your pain.

i felt this was a very friendly IG list so i won't read anything into the victory really.  i think what he was going for in this list required a sturdy element to kind of project his frontage out more safely.  As it was his Obsec troops had to struggle mightily to get to objectives as his normal means (The Drop Pod, Speeder and in the back his Thunderfire Cannon) were simply not enough resistence to force priority issues for me.  All three served only as opportunity targets, and not true ones.

[Lord Hanaur]

Just played my first game agains the new flyer formation.  Dawn of War, Crusade Mission.

 

He brought an inquisitor with servo skulls, a Crusader, a Lancer and a Paladin I beleivel.  He had four of the new AV 12 fighters in two squadrons. 

 

I deplyed the Stormsurge (I replaced the two Riptides w it), the gunrig manned by the commander and his Pathfinders to the right, Pathfinders to the center and left and Piranha behind a central building.

 

He forced me to go first, and so I did, firing down on his guys in cover.  I caused two hull Points to the Paladin and two to the Lancer. Some of that damage came from Pathfinder missiles.  

 

On his turn the Lancer charged forth towards the gunrig and pathfinders to the right side, speeding effortlessly forward as Lancers do.  he WOULD be there turn two.

 

His cannonade went off and he took a Hull point off the Piranha, killed both of its drones and all six Pathfinders on the left.  Nothing but my Stormsurge left over there.  

 

2

the rest of my army came in and together the Ghostkels and the Gunrig killed the Lancer with an assist fom the Pathfinder missiles again.  Stealth Teams dropped in behind the Paladin and failed, while the Stormsurge did not fail, shooting the Paladin to within two HP of its life wit hthe small blast from its shotgun.  I repeatedly forgot that it fires twice.  ugh!  the whole game was like that.  I remembered at the end of the game but my lack of familiarity with it cost me the chance to finish things earlier.

 

My Crisis team and the other stealth suits dropped in for objective taking and line breaking.  

 

Two planes came in and focused in on the Stormsurge along with the Paladin.  it took two wounds and couldn't use Early Warning Override because the front AV is just too high on those birds.  The Cruader blistered the Ghostkeels with fire but their cover held and they took only minimal damage but he did tag a wound on a crisis suit that had dropped in. he also shot the Piranha dead and then the paladin and Crusader charged the stealthsuits that tried to assassinate them and wiped them from the earth.  

 

3.

The Paladin was down to it.  The Stormsurge TRIED to kill the paladin but cover conspired against it.  It HAD moved however to get side arcs on the flyer and so one of them was forced to Jink.  The Ghostkeels moved up full bore as well as did their stealth suit buddies and the Pathfinders.  So not much shooting from my end as i struggled to make up the distances with Jetpacks and runs.

 

On his turn the Jinking flyer went off the board and the Paladin wiped the Pathfinders that were with my Commander plus put a wound on the gunrig.  Ouch.  His Crusader continued to pursue and harass the Ghostkeels and Stealthsuits that were approaching it but cover held.  He did however kill the wounded Crisis suit that had struggled to move towards the Inquisitor and objective one. At this point I was down to just one three man Pathfinder unit, a lonely Drone floating around hiding, a three man Stealthsuit unit and a Crisis suit together.  The Ghostkeels and their Stealth buddies were coming up the middle.  and the Surge was ready for action.

 

4.

Surge finally killed the Paladin, and the Ghostkeels shot the flyer and made it jink.  The Crusader was down to a couple hull points after getting nailed with Meltas and at the end of the day, It was basically up to his flyers to do something cool and the wounded Crusader.  

 

Thy came on, and the Early Warning Overrides burried both birds in the ground, one from the Gunrig shot fired by my Commander who was about to get eaten by it, and the other by the Ghostkeel.

 

At this stage, he conceded, seeing that his Crusader would fire, and his flyer would leave the table or snap fire, but nothing could stop the inevitability of being tabled at this stage.  There was just too much pain on the table next round.

 

This was one of the few games I have played with Knights like that and the first wit hthe new flyer rules.  So it was an interesting game to say the least.  Imperial Knights pack a seriou punch and they deleted units at times.  i was just glad I could hide the better targets and bring them in where they would do the most good.  A whiffed a few times and paid for it but overall it was a solid effort.

[Lord Hanaur]

Vanguard deployment, ITC mission with a center objective and two Emperors Will Objectives.

 

My opponent got a rematch, same list.  He outflanked his Lancer and so he essentially had an inquisitor in the far corner away from me, two Knights and four flyers in the wings.

 

He decided to go first this time and his formation makes me a -2 to reserved for some bizarre reason so I decided to deploy everything but the Stealthsuits, Pirahna to the fore, pathfinders in circles hanging back and spread out in cover, Gunrig manned by the Commander and Pathfinders to the rear and behind a building, Stormsurge to the eastern board edge and so it began.

 

1

He focused most of his fire on a Pathfinder squad and the Stormsurge with his terrifying guns.  Luckily I deployed far enough away to avoid his 12 shot crazy-pants weapon so it was just ordinance mainly that hit.  My shielding prevailed for the most part but i took a wound.  The Pathfinders went to ground and lost 2/3 of their unit, but survived in place.

 

On my turn, i chose not to fire the StormSurge, moving further northeast and away from my other forces.  My Pathfinders and Pirahna fired though, and released their missiles, doing damage and the Gunrig did more damage.  The Ghostkeels unleashed hell as well.  At the end of the day, his paladin was down to a single Hull Point and his Crusader was slightly scratched.

 

2

The Lancer and all his planes came on to the board.  He brought the lancer behind my commander and his Gunrig buddies to the southeast, his Paladin pressed towards the Ghostkeels to the south and the Crusader moved up to try and add to the firepower on the Stormsurge.  I used my Interceptor to put a hull Point on the Lancer and to kill one of the planes.  At the end of the day, the Pathfinders who were previously damaged, died, the Lancer shot the Gunrig borne unit and caused 3 wounds to the Commander almost killing him, and the planes absolutely filled the grid square containing my Stormsurge with fire as did the Crusader.  Witha Pathfinder unit gone, Pirahna dead, stormsurge down to about two wounds and the Commander clinging to life, his wounded Paladin charged into the Ghostkeels.  the Ghostkeels swung, attempting to SMASH the offending Paladin and did, exploding it.  the Explosion drifted onto some Stealth Drones and some pathfinders, killing some of both.

 

On the bottom of turn two, the Ghostkeels moved forward, meltinating the Crusader down two more hull points and jumped ot a safe distance.  3 StealthSuits dropped in to murder the Inquisitor and the rest alighted to start shooting planes.  My Commander and his group, wounded and unable to do much looked into the face of their attacker and hoped the Stormsurge could finish the Lancer.  He did, finally launching his missiles into it and exploding it.

 

At this point, with essentially the Crusader limping around, we didn't finish the round to see if the Stealthsuits could kill any planes.  The Planes even if they survived the Stealthsuits, couldn't leave the airspace for fear that in the next round, the Crusader would be killed by the bottom of three (and it certainly would have been).  The game was over.  

 

Tau Empire victory.

[Guest]

Hmmm...sounds like a counter-meta netlist...

 

Do I have the lingo right, AP?

[Lord Hanaur]

Hmmm...sounds like a counter-meta netlist...

 

Do I have the lingo right, AP?

Hilarity.

 

BTW, i used one less ghostkeel in this list because it was 1850 and also made some changes to slip the Stormsurge in place of the Riptides, as before.  I should probably update the Original post to reflect the changes.

[AbusePuppy]

Hmmm...sounds like a counter-meta netlist...

 

Do I have the lingo right, AP?

 

Almost, but be sure to mention how the army is "very skill-based" and talk about how, even though it was a very bad matchup and the other player was one of the strongest 40K players in the entire universe, you still tabled him at the top of turn 1.

 

It also wouldn't hurt to say something disparaging about the other guy's list as well, preferably implying that by playing (insert any given faction in the game) they are basically the most unoriginal P.O.S. ever and are just abusing broken units.

[Lord Hanaur]

This is crossing into way too many threads fellas.  

 

Whatever the beef, I don't want in the middle of it and i feel like I'm getting drawn into it for no reason.  Suffice it is to say, the game didn't go well for him either time and he is making changes.  Already he is considering two alternate builds.  Still three knights but possible with some white scars added in.  We shall see what he comes up with.

 

This player also took 3rd place with his list at the last tournament, it's worth noting which was part of my motivation for wanting to get a game in with him.  I am sure his opponents felt free to underestimate him before the matches started.  They probably didn't feel that way afterwards.  So the list has done well in a tournament, but like all lists, there is always room for improvement and tweaking.  He'll be fine.

[Lord Hanaur]

Matt, this is the thread i was talking about.