TAU versus Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Ken
Mission: Recon
Campaign: Winter War
1st turn: Eldar
Points: 1000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’Shi Shas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - Crisis battle suit, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Hemlock - Crisis battle suit, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Vemlock - Crisis battle suit, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 6 Fire warriors, 5 with pulse rifles, one with pulse carbine
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 6 Fire warriors, 5 with pulse rifles, one with pulse carbine
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 6 Fire warriors, 5 with pulse rifles, one with pulse carbine
• Shas’La’Tau’Tan’Klyr - 6 Fire warriors, 5 with pulse rifles, one with pulse carbine
• Kor’Vesa - 7 Gun drones
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Hammerhead Railgun, smart missile system, multitracker, decoy launchers, seeker missile
  

Eldar

• Farseer with guide
• 4 Dark Reapers
• Wraithlord with star cannon
• 3 Vypers (2x star cannons, 1 bright lance)
• 10 scorpions with infiltrate
• 10 banshees
• Vibro cannon
• 10 guardians with star cannon

The game
Ken set up against my left flank, and me against his right, to give a lop-sided set up. On my left he moved his banshees and scorpions through a ruined building and assaulted the Fire Warriors beyond and swept into the Kroot.

In the centre Ken's Wraithlord went down to missile pod fire by turn 2 as did his Reapers, but before they went they took out a Fire Warrior Squad and two Crisis suits.

On the right the Hammerhead duelled with the Vypers for the entire game and took two of them out only to go down to the bright lance shot in the last turn.

I managed to wipe out the banshees, but the guardians moved into my deployment zone.

If the Hammerhead had survived that last bright lance shot I would have won the game.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• Check the terrain before the game. This time my opponent moved straight through without rolling for difficult terrain, leading to the loss of my left flank.
• Both armies excelled in the shooting phase, each army tending to remove entire squads two or three at a time.
• Mobility was key here. The Hammerhead and Crisis suits did better than the Fire Warriors.
• The Crisis suits could have really done with drones in this game. It is the first time I have felt I really needed them.
• Check the victory conditions and stick to them! I should have deployed the Shas’o in the centre and the other suits out wide to win the mission.