TAU versus Dark Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Secure and control
Level: Omega
1st turn: Dark Eldar
Points: 1500
Location: Nomolos, Sub Sector 6, Skolarii sector
Background: The following is an anecdotal account of an engagement between those Xenos aliens Tau and Dark Eldar. It was reported to rogue trader Cortez during his lengthy negotiations with a Tau member of the water caste, upon the hell-hole that is Mangalore. If this story is true then Tau have indeed infiltrated into the Skolarii sector and the Inquisition must be contacted at once. What is certain is that Imperial shipping has been disrupted in sub sector six and a number of ships have gone missing in recent months. Perhaps these Dark Eldar are involved. Navy commanders must be alerted.

The Tau mining world of Nomolos, in sub sector 6 of the Skolarii sector, has been subject to piratical attacks from Dark Eldar raiders. Supply convoys have been harassed to such an extent that less than 25% of all ships sent get through to Nomolos. Although regular sorties were made the Eldar specialised in hit and run tactics and were never caught in action. The Tau needed to stop the Dark Eldar at source and find their hidden base.

In despair, and to protect the lives of his starving workers, Colony Commander Varn'ko lured the Dark Eldar fleet into a trap. The Dark Eldar bit and attacked the lone ship, quickly overcoming its drone crew and fleeing back to their hidden base with their booty. Tracking devices had been secreted within the ship however, and a messenger drone escaped from the Dark Eldar base carrying vital co-ordinates. Eventually the drone made planetfall on Nomolos and Varn'ko led his cadre to recover it. But as they arrived the Dark Eldar suddenly appeared.

The hunter had become the hunted.

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Varn'ko
• Shas’O with plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator, hard-wired multi tracker, Shas’Vre with plasma rifle, missile pod, multitracker, bonded
• Aun’El’Tau’M’yen - Ethereal
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits, bonded, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker, Shas’ui with flamer, missile pod, target lock
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Vemlock - Shas’ui with twin-linked plasma rifle, missile pod
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits, bonded
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 10 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, bonded, Shas’ui with markerlight and hard-wired blacksun filter
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 12 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles,bonded, Shas'ui with markerlight
• Murabla - 16 Kroot, Shaper
• Shas’La’Tau’Tam’La’Mo’Town - 6 Pathfinders, photon grenades, bonded, Devilfish with decoy launchers and two seeker missiles
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - 2 Broadside battlesuits, bonded, Shas’Ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator, Shas’Ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and target lock
• Kaikown - Krootox
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Railgun, smart missile system, multitracker, blacksun filter, decoy launchers, seeker missile

Dark Eldar

• Archon with shadow field, agoniser, splinter pistol, hell mask, combat drugs, 6 incubi, master, raider
• 14 wyches, 2 shredders, wych weapons, succubus with agoniser
• 9 wyches, 2 blasters, wych weapons, succubus with agoniser
• 5 mandrakes
• 10 warriors, 2 dark lances
• 10 warriors, 2 dark lances
• 10 warriors, 2 splinter cannons
• 5 reaver jetbikes, succubus with poisoned blades
• 1 ravager with 1 dark lance, 2 disintegrators, night shield
• Talos
  

Deployment and terrain

Six possible locations had been designated for the messenger drone, spread across the entire battlefield

The Dark Eldar warriors spring the trap. The two units with dark lances set up in each corner to create a deadly crossfire in the centre of the battlefield, while the squad with splinter cannons are ready to dash for the marker on the hill

The view from the other flank. Note the single purple figures. These are the enigmatic mandrakes, sneaking toward the Tau lines.

Meanwhile the Tau deploy in force in the centre with two squads of Fire Warriors on foot and a large unit of Kroot. In the foreground is the Devilfish containing a small Pathfinder squad.


The Pathfinders skim forward, before the game proper, toward a possible drone crash site.

Turn 1

Dark lances train on the Pathfinders Devilfish but they cannot shoot it from the sky


The Devilfish emerges unscathed from the Warrior firing

Turn 2

The first reserves arrive for the Dark Eldar in the shape of Reaver jetbikes. They use the cover of the rock formations well to avoid Tau shooting. In the centre the Warrior squad has uncovered one possible crash site and finding nothing they push forward into weapon range.

On the other flank a Warrior squad looks on as the Archon, and Incubi swoop in on their Raider. They find the drone immediately. Game on! The Talos has also arrived and drifts up behind the Warrior squad to the top right.

The view from the Dark Eldar lines. The mandrake continues its stealthy advance forward.

The Pathfinders have bailed out of their Devilfish after it was smashed out of the sky by dark lances. They race for the cover of the stream.

In the centre the Kroot enter the clinger vines, wary of the Warrior squad ahead. Shaper Murabla has encountered splinter cannons before and knows to give them proper respect. The nose of the lead reaver jetbike is visible, poking out from the rock on the left.

Turn 3

The Archon and retinue have had their Raider destroyed but retain control of the objective. The Archon lost her shadow field as she leapt clear of the wreckage. The Talos continues its advance alongside the warp beast pack which have just raced onto the battlefield. Wyches are just visible beyond them (top left).


The jetbikes break from cover to engage the Fire Warrior squad, peppering them with splinter rifle fire


The Dark Eldar mount a formidable defence. The Mandrakes are revealed and shield the Incubi squad from incoming fire, while the Archon and squad retreat toward safety. Another Wych squad displays their fleet of foot and race toward the drone. At a more stately pace the Ravager moves onto the battlefield to provide covering fire.


Contact! The jetbikes slice the Fire Warriors up in the assault while the Broadside team move onto the field of battle. Will they be next?

Turn 4

A Fire Warrior's eye view of the action. How can they prevail against such a well co-ordinated defence of the objective. Note the Warrior squad with splinter cannons to the right. They have already decimated one Fire Warrior squad and now turn their attention to the Kroot. The Kroot too are ripped apart and fall back under the hail of splinters.


Against all the odds the Fire Warriors fight off the Reaver assault (the jetbikes failed a moral high ground roll and the subsequent morale check). The Reavers fall back toward their own lines.


The Stealth team had advanced down the extreme right flank in the cover of a refinery building. They finally break cover and gun down a large Wych squad, reducing it to a quarter of its original size. The Hammerhead had moved up between the storage towers and targeted the Warrior squad with bright lances, smashing them apart with its sub munitions round. The shattered survivors fall back off the table. With a sizeable chunk of the Dark Eldar army destroyed maybe the Tau have a chance.


The Talos watches as the Tau Crisis suits jet toward the Dark Eldar. The Warp beasts are driven on to hold up the Tau advance. The Ravager has been shot down by the Tau Broadside team.

Turn 5

The Stealth team were assaulted by the remaining Wyches and won through, killing them all. They made a 15" sweeping advance that took them into the heart of the Dark Eldar position.


While the Reavers continue to fall back the Dark Eldar consolidate their position. The Wyches hold the centre along with the two survivors of the splinter cannon Warrior squad. The Archon and retinue (in white armour) can just be made out behind a rocky outcrop. The only worry for the Dark Eldar is the Stealth Team in their midst, but surely the Talos should be able to finish them off?


The Warp beasts finish off one Crisis suit team in assault and then sweep into the remaining team, Shas'o and all.


The Hammerhead angles for a shot at the Talos. Even with help from the Broadside team they could only wound it once. The Stealth Team ahead moved up into point blank range of the Archon and retinue and unloaded everything they had into them. When the dust cleared only one Incubi lay dead. Had the Tau blown it?

Turn 6

In the foreground a lone battlesuit picks off a single Incubi visible near the rock formation. The Talos had charged the Stealth Team, killing four and driving the last man off. Note the two splinter cannon Warriors who survived a sub munitions blast from the Hammerhead on the last turn!

Victory! The Archon has the objective well under control and so the whereabouts of the Dark Eldar pirate base is safe.

Result: Loss

Aftermath
So the Dark Eldar are victorious and the position of their hidden base remains a mystery to the Tau. Tau supply convoys into Nomolos continue to be disrupted and the future of the mining colony itself is threatened.

Learning points

• This sort of smash and grab raid suited the Dark Eldar down to the ground. They won the rolls to choose board edge and starting turn and made the right decision in both. Their supporting units such as the Warrior squads with bright lances and the Ravager had commanding fields of fire and they denied such positions for the Tau. Taking the first turn meant that the Eldar got reserves before the Tau, and using their famous speed they quickly uncovered three markers and discovered the messenger drone. Their incredible speed, through jet bikes and fleet of foot, also allowed the Dark Eldar to quickly redeploy their forces into the area where the drone was found. Of course, landing an awesome close combat unit in the Archon with Incubi squad on the objective helped too!
• Still, the Tau can inflict heavy damage at a distance and many of their troops could move up to 12" per turn, so the Dark Eldar could not afford to be too bullish. Sensibly the Archon retreated with her prize and used the units of mandrakes, wyches, jet bikes and warp beasts to absorb incoming fire and to disrupt the Tau advance. Men of the match in this regard were the ten man warrior squad with two splinter cannons. They advanced into the centre of the Tau army, took out half of a twelve man fire warrior squad then caused so many casualties on the kroot that they routed! They then survived a battering from the Tau in the shooting phase but passed all of their morale checks and laid down another barrage of splinter shots into a crisis suit unit, softening them up for the warp beasts to finish them off. Finally they survived a point blank shot from a railgun sub munitions shot! All this from a 100 point(ish) unit.
• The Tau are always at a disadvantage when the mission involves a lot of movement, especially when the Dark Eldar are the opposition. In this rescue mission the Tau were hoping to get the objective first and force the Eldar to come to come to them. But it was not to be and the Tau faced a stiff fight to catch the speedy foe. The Tau lost a lot of shooting effectiveness in trying to move up to the Eldar lines and were harried relentlessly by spoiling attacks from the likes of warp beasts and jet bikes. The only real ray of hope for the Tau were the Stealth suits who advanced on the far flank of the battlefield, safe from enemy fire, and suddenly emerged to all but wipe out a large wych squad. They finished the job in the Dark Eldar assault phase and then swept 15" forward, moved a further 6" in their own movement phase and had the Archon and Incubi in their sights. Their luck only ran out when they only killed a single enemy and were destroyed in turn by the Talos.
• In the end the stealth team and the Hammerhead were the only Tau units to get into the Dark Eldar lines and this seriously hampered their efforts to recapture the messenger drone. The Tau should have been more ruthless in advancing forward, taking the inevitable casualties, and hoping that an extra two or three models could have swung it for them in the last turn. Perhaps a unit of fire warriors in a devilfish would have been effective in this scenario.
• All in all though, a very enjoyable battle, hard fought and very bloody. We haven't seen the last of these Dark Eldar I wager...

DAEMONHUNTERS versus Tau

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Colin
Campaign: Vogen campaign game 9
Mission: Hostage Situation
1st turn: Daemonhunters
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Severus, Daemonhammer, Bolt pistol, Psychic Hood, Icon of the Just, 2x Acolytes, Power Armour, Bolt Pistols and Close Combat Weapons, 1x Acolyte with Close Combat weapon and las pistol, 3xCombat Servitor, 3x Mystics, Rhino with Smoke Launchers, Hunter Killer missile, Searchlight
• Inquisitor Kurven, Psycannon, Power Armour, Emperor's Tarot, Purity Seals, Gun Servitor, Plasma Cannon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Imperial Guard Veteran, Plasma Gun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Targeter, 2x Sage, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Hierophant, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol
• Daemonhost
• Eversor Assassin
• Squad Matoso, 7 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, Rhino, Smoke launchers, Extra Armour, Hunter Killer Missile
• Squad Godirtho, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 plasma guns
• Squad Seralvo, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 Grenade Launchers
• Squad Vargas, 5 Stormtroopers, 2 Flamers
• Squad Devaux, 5 Stormtroopers

Tau

• Shas'o
• 2 Crisis suits
• 3 Broadsides
• 2 large Firewarrior Squads
• Large Drone Squad
• Large Stealth team
• Hammerhead with Railgun

Vogen Campaign
I knew this was to be my last game in the campaign and I wanted to go out with a win, particularly as this was the last game I would be using my Daemonhunters in for a long time. I knew I had no chance to win the campaign, but I wanted to maintain my decent record and at least finish in the top half.

Terrain and Deployment
This game was played on the same table, with the same layout, as my last game against Gary. It was 6'x4' with a large hill and two woods in the middle. Other terrain was very sparse. The mission has an Ethereal set up in the middle of the board, and whoever has an unbroken unit above half strength closest to him would win the game.

The Tau player had to deep strike his entire army before the game begins, and then I had to roll randomly for which table edge to arrive from. Unfortunately for him, he got a double one for his Hammerhead and it didn't appear in the game (obviously got burned up on re-entry). The rest of his army arrived fairly centrally on the hill in a formidable firebase with lots of interlocking fields of fire. I rolled one of the long edges, and the game began when some of my units arrived from reserve.

The Game
Squads Matoso, Devaux, and Godirtho, and the Daemonhost all turned up on turn 1. Although I could have charged Squad Matoso straight into a Firewarrior squad I instead advanced them toward a forest, out of sight of most of the Tau army. Gary was watching this game and thought I was crazy not to assault straight off, but I felt that the Stormtroopers would have been isolated even if they had won the combat, and they would have been shot down as they left combat.

The Daemonhost scattered out from behind the forest, right into the open. As the only thing targettable, the entire Tau army shot at him. It is a testament to his toughness, wounds and my ability to roll saves that only the very last shot killed him (after being hit with plasma rifles, burst cannon, missile pods and railguns he was destroyed by a carbine shot).

My second wave of reserves included the Eversor assassin, Squad Seralvo and Inquisitor Kurven. I brought all of them on behind my original units who had all advanced again behind the woods. I took out a Crisis suit with a Hunter Killer missile and the remaining suit fell back off the board.

I wasn't totally clear of Tau shooting, though, as the Broadside's Smart Missile shot up and over the forest at my men, killing several Stormtroopers. The Tau gun drones also edged out around the wood to pop off some shots.

Turn 3 brought on the rest of my army, including Lord Severus himself. It was now I chose to launch a decisive attack. Severus zoomed onto the table and ploughed straight into a Firewarrior squad, completely annihilating them. As they swept they came under heavy fire but still managed to contact and kill a Broadside. That was on my left, but nearer the centre Squad Matoso deployed from their rhino and instantly killed the Shas'o with their meltaguns, then they charged the remaining Firewarrior squad.

To my shame the Stormtroopers were beaten off by the Tau after a couple of turns, but that allowed Severus to sweep into them from behind and he finished the job off. The Stealth Team were in this area and also in sight of Seralvo's and Kurven's guns. Two good sighting rolls meant the Tau infiltrators were sitting targets and they melted under the hail of fire.

Out on my right, the Eversor assaulted the Gun drones, killed them all and then swept around the wood to hit the Broadsides. By the time Squad Devaux had pushed through the woods onto the hill the entire Tau army had been destroyed.

Result: Win

Campaign effect: None

Campaign results: Played 9, Won 7, Lost 2

Learning points

• The tough choice here was whether to pile straight in or to wait and try to mount a co-ordinated attack. I think I picked right because anything piling in on the left would have been left out in the open, in range of all the Tau guns. Then I would have been left with all the other units arriving in drips and drabs.
• My opponent was unlucky to have his Hammerhead disappear before the game began. We actually had a bit of discussion as to whether it should be removed or not, because we were working out deployment and it wasn't actually an in game move. Fair play to the Tau player who played on without it. At least my Daemonhost made it to the table!
  

DAEMONHUNTERS versus Tau

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Jamie
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Tau
Points: 1000

Daemonhunters

• Inquisitor Lord Severus, Daemonhammer, Bolt pistol, Holocaust, Icon of the Just, 2xAcolytes, Power Armour, Bolt Pistols and Close Combat Weapons, Combat Servitor, 2xMystics, Rhino with Smoke Launchers
• 3 x Death Cult Assassin
• 2 x Daemonhosts
• Squad Matoso, 9 Stormtroopers, 2xFlamers, Veteran Sergeant with Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon and Krak Grenades, Rhino, Smoke launchers and Extra Armour
• Squad Vargas, 7 Stormtroopers, 2xPlasma Guns, Veteran Sergeant with Plasma pistol, Auspex and Krak Grenades
• Squad Godirtho, 6 Storm troopers, 2 x meltaguns
  

Tau

• 4 pathfinders in devilfish with 4 seeker missiles
• 12 fire warriors
• 8 fire warriors
• Ethereal
• Commander with twin fusion blasters and 2 shield drones
• 2x 5 man stealth teams
• Crisis suit with burst cannon and plasma rifle
• Broadside with plasma rifles

The game
We played a recon mission but due to the small table size and the heavy terrain we were relaxed about the set up rules - and therefore the troops ended up nearer to each other than the infiltrators could manage! The Tau won first turn and my lead rhino was destroyed immediately along with a flamer stormtrooper. Other casualties were light however and the squad took their revenge on the pathfinders by flaming two of them and assaulting the rest.

The Inquisitor dashed forward in his rhino and took out a crisis suit in close combat. On the left I advanced toward the broadside with my meltaguns, taking out a fire warrior squad on the way. Those fire warriors did manage to take out a death cult assassin in close combat though!

My Daemonhosts teleported in, got ineffective powers and were shot to pieces. The stealth teams did for the Inquisitor too as he disappeared under a hail of burst cannon shots.

A win for the Tau.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• Stealth teams were awesome in the heavy terrain and I never got a clean shot at them.
• Daemonhosts were lost cheaply as they rolled useless powers and I couldn't pass a single invulnerable save.
• With a WS edge in close combat I expected the storm troopers to beat the fire warriors but I was consistently beaten in every combat. Even the death cult assassin went down in the assault.
• The pathfinders devilfish was unharmed during the entire game due to my lack of long range firepower.

TAU versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Seek and Destroy
Mission level: Alpha
1st turn: Chaos Space Marines
Points: 1000
Location: Rabux
Background: The Tau inadvertently stumble across a secret Chaos stockpile of weapons and supplies as they continue their conquest of Rabux. Khornate Berzerkers rush out to spill the blood of the interlopers.
Imperial Control: Unchanged

Tau

• Aun’El’Tau’M’yenEthereal
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Coar'Mal - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar- 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 8 Fire warriors, pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 8 Fire warriors, pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Murabla - 15 Kroot
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - 2 Broadsides with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and Multi-trackers, 1 hard wired drone controller and 2 gundrones
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Hammerhead with Ion Cannon, smart missile system, multitracker, decoy launchers, seeker missile
  

Chaos Space Marines

• Glaive Lieutenant
• 8 Bloodletters
• 8 Fleshounds
• 8 Khorne Berzerkers, Aspiring champion with powerfist
• 8 Khorne Berzerkers, Aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons
• Defiler with mutated Hull

Background
This was our very first game of 40k 4th edition using the new rulebook. I actually picked it up from the Post Office on the way to the store so we were really unsure on the rules, frequently working them out on the fly as queries arose. This meant we made many mistakes during the game, but hey ho, what better way to learn?

We chose to play an alpha level mission so that we wouldn't have to use a whole raft of scenario rules on top of the new game rules. Gary rolled the die and it came up Seek and Destroy. After a bit of flipping through the book we deduced that the Tau had 7 scoring units and that the Chaos army had 5.

Terrain and Deployment
We played on a 6x4 table with moderate terrain; mostly woods with a couple of low ruined buildings. I set my Broadsides up on the centre right, covering the edge of a building behind which the Defiler was hiding. I had a Fire Warrior squad on a low hill in the centre with the Ethereal attached to make them fearless. They had a Berzerker squad in their sights. The Hammerhead went behind a wood on my left in which the Kroot were deployed. My Stealth teams secured each flank.

The Game
Gary won first turn and raced forward, both Berzeker units failing (or is that passing?) their rage tests, putting them within assault range on the second turn, and giving the Daemons a good summoning position. His Defiler rounded the building and hit a Fire Warrior squad with it's ordnance shell. I had anticipated this (in fact that squad were bait) so the squad was well spaced and I only lost 3 Tau.

My Hammerhead and Broadsides had the Defiler in their sights. I rolled for the 'head first and destroyed the Chaos vehicle with my first dice roll of the game. Get in!

This meant my Broadsides could target the Berzerkers who were dangerously close to them, and they killed several. The Fire Warriors with Ethereal thinned them out some more, then finally the Stealth team peppered the Khorne troops with burst cannon fire. I wiped out the squad, meaning the Daemons could only arrived on my left flank.

Gary diverted his Glaive Lieutenant from my left to the centre, and the Fire Warriors and Ethereal on the hill, but he was just out of assault range. The Bloodletters arrived and rolled excellent difficult terrain tests to contact the Kroot in the woods. In almost an exact copy of our last game the Bloodletters killed the Kroot but took many casualties, they then caught up with the Stealth team and wiped them out too, although they were reduced to just one model.

Meanwhile, towards the middle, my reduced Fire Warrior squad moved up to unload rapid fire shots into the Berzerker squad and killed a couple. In return they were assaulted and failed their morale check, subsequently being run down due to their low initiative. The Berzerkers then summoned the Fleshounds who turned the game back into Gary's favour.

The Glaive Lieutenant was taken out with another railgun shot from the Hammerhead, leaving my Ethereal and company safe on the hill for another turn, but then the Fleshounds came steaming in. The Tau were all wiped out and the morale checks forced by the death of my Ethereal meant that my surviving Stealth team routed off the board. The 'hounds then swept on toward the Broadsides and eventually tore them down.

In the last turn Gary had two scoring units; the Berzerker squad and the Fleshounds (although both units were heavily mauled), and I had one; the Hammerhead. I hit the 'hounds with a submunition shot and a hail of smart missile shots and obliterated them, tying the game.

Result: Draw

Learning points

• A lively and exciting game with the new rules. I was pretty pleased with the way in which we kept the game flowing without having to stop and consult the rules too much. Of course we made mistakes (the Bloodletters shouldn't have made combat because difficult terrain checks are subtly different now, we constantly forgot about fire superiority) but it will take a bit of time to get things 100% right.
• The return of wipeouts after combat is nasty, especially with my low initiative Tau. My Kroot, Fire Warriors and Broadsides were all killed due to this rule. We later discovered that models have to be in base contact to utilise this rule so that may reduce it's impact somewhat, but it's certainly a rule to look out for.
• My Hammerhead was awesome in this game! Two shots, two kills, worth well over 200 points, and then it got me a draw by killing those pesky Fleshounds. Nice.

TAU versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition (with 4th edition trial rules)
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Meatgrinder
Location: Rabux
Background: The Tau continue their expansion into the sub-sector, landing on Rabux. Unfortunately for them, the planet is not as uninhabited as they thought, and they are attacked by frenzied Khornate Space Marines
Imperial Control: Unchanged
1st turn: Tau
Points: 1500

Tau

• Aun’El’Tau’M’yenEthereal
• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’Shi Shas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator, Crisisbattle suit with twin-linked plasma rifles and missile pod
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Coar'Mal - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 9 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 9 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui, Devilfish with Multi-tracker
• Murabla - 16 Kroot
• Shas’La’Tau’Tam’La’Mo’Town - 6 Pathfinders, Devilfish with decoy launchers, multi-tracker and two seeker missiles
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - 2 Broadsides with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and Multi-trackers
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Hammerhead with Ion Cannon, smart missile system, multitracker, blacksun filter, decoy launchers, seeker missile
  

Chaos Space Marines

• Glaive Lieutenant
• 8 Marines with Bolt pistols and Close Combat Weapons, aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons, rhino
  
• 8 Marines with Bolt pistols and Close Combat Weapons, aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons, rhino
• 5 Havocs with 4 missile launchers
• 8 Bloodletters
• 8 Fleshounds
• 8 Khorne Berzerkers, Aspiring champion with powerfist, Defiler with mutated Hull

Background
We played this game using the old 3rd edition rules with the addition of the 4th edition notes, allowing, amongst other things, my Tau jet packs to move 12", my Firewarriors to rapid fire Pulse rifles on the move, and units to be pinned if their Rhinos are destroyed.

Terrain and Deployment
We fought this game on a six foot table packed with terrain. Gary had two woods, a hill and several buildings in his deployment zone, while I had a large hill and a wood on my left, a big building on my right and small scattered pieces in between.

I was more than happy to take this side as I knew the Chaos units would have to come out of the cover into the open to try and engage me in an assault - especially when we rolled the Meatgrinder mission with the Chaos as attackers. Gary had a stiff test ahead of him.

From left to right I had my Pathfinders on the hill, facing Gary's newly painted Defiler, my Kroot in the wood with the Broadsides and a Stealth team behind, the three Fire Warrior squads, the Ethereal, a Stealth team, and the Demlock Crisis suits across the middle, facing the Chaos Rhino rush, and the Hammerhead and Shas'O behind the building on my right, opposite Gary's Havocs.

The Game
I won first turn and took it. I pushed my Crisis suits and Stealth team forward, skirting the edges of the forests which the Chaos Rhinos were lurking behind, and they destroyed both transports, pinning the units as they tried to escape the wreckage. The suits then withdrew safely away. On the left my Pathfinders shot their Markerlights at the Defiler and put three Seeker missiles on it, exploding the beast. An excellent first turn.

Gary was really on the back foot and both Marine Squads in the centre never advanced past the wood, as they rolled poor difficult terrain checks and tried to hide from the main Tau firepower.

His attack on the left was more successful as the Berzerkers used the large building to advance upon the Shas'o and they summoned the Fleshounds. Although the Berzerkers were eventually wiped out, along with the 'hounds, they did kill the Shas'o and a Fire Warrior squad.

The Bloodletters arrived on the left with a kind scatter, putting them within assault range of the Kroot. Under the old rules the Bloodletters would have slaughtered the Kroot but the fight was now more even, as the 16 Kroot, including the back rank, got all of their attacks. Nevertheless, the 'letters prevailed, but the longer combat had allowed the Broadsides to retreat out of consolidation range. The Stealth team should have killed off the remaining couple of Daemons but they fluffed their rolls and were charged and wiped out.

At that point the game ended and I had won, having survived with the Hammerhead, two Fire Warrior squads, a Crisis Team and a Stealth team.

Result: Win

Learning points

• The new rules made the Tau very powerful in this game, particularly the Jetpacks, allowing me to pop the rhinos on turn one, and then keep all of my suits away from the Chaos forces.
• Gary made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes in this game, partly I think due to the mission, which is very hard for the attacker to win. He had all but given up before we began, then I popped the rhinos and he gave up altogether.

TAU versus Necrons

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Steve
Mission: Pitched battle
1st turn: Tau
Points: 1500

Tau

• Aun’El’Tau’M’yenEthereal
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Hemlock - 2 Crisisbattle suits, one with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker, the other with twin-linked plasma rifles and missile pod
  
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan- 9 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 9 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui, Devilfish with Multi-tracker
• Murabla - 16 Kroot
• Shas’La’Tau’Tam’La’Mo’Town - 6 Pathfinders, Devilfish with decoy launchers, multi-tracker and two seeker missiles
• Kor’Vesa - 4 Gun drones
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - 2 Broadsides with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and Multi-trackers
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Hammerhead with Ion Cannon, smart missile system, multitracker, blacksun filter, decoy launchers, seeker missile
  

Necrons

• Tooled up Lord with Resurrection Orb
• 12 Necron Warriors
• 12 Necron Warriors
• Monolith
• 2 Heavy Destroyers
• 3 Destroyers
• 10 Flayed Ones
• 6 Immortals
• 2 Wraiths

Background
I was eager to try out my Tau army again, now that the Battle Bunker is established and we have 6 foot tables to play on. I had constantly moaned about playing on 4 foot boards with my Tau, so it was time to put up and shut up!

I pretty much included everything I had to take my army up to 1500 points. I would have loved to include more Broadsides and more Firewarriors but I haven't painted them yet. Instead I had a sturdy, quite mobile list with a Hammerhead and two Devilfish, and lots of 'suits and drones.

In particular, I wanted to use the pathfinders as I was playing a larger game and their long range with the markerlights would come into play.

Terrain and Deployment
The board was quite sparse with a tall ruined building on my right, a stone circle in my centre and a ruined building on my left. There was a largish wood in the centre of the board, near the Necron deployment zone where I suspected most of the Necrons would hide behind.

I placed the Hammerhead front and forward to push back the Necron deployment and then put the Broadsides and Firewarriors in the centre, behind the rocks. It wasn't an ideal vantage point as we had already said that we couldn't shoot over or right through the stones but I controlled two long fire corridors to the left and right diagonals.

My Pathfinders deployed on my right and rushed forward to take the tall building. They wouldn't be in position until turn 2 even with their free move, but they would be in cover with excellent vantage points and be virtually guaranteed to be away from enemy assaults. The devilfish hung around behind the building, waiting for a chance to fire the seeker missiles. Crisis squad Demlock also hid behind the building.

The Necrons basically refused this flank, with only the Immortals able to threaten it. The bulk of the Necrons were behind the woods as I suspected, but Steve surprised me by putting both Warrior units out wide on my left flank. I hid the empty Devilfish from Squad Mull’Kin’Tyr, Crisis squad Hemlock and the Stealth team behind the ruined building to oppose them.

Kroot squad Murabla infiltrated forward, beyond the stone circle and near the wood. Finally, the drone squad Kor'vesa was to deep strike.

The Game
I won first turn and zoomed back with the Hammerhead, out of range of most of the Necron weapons. My objective on this flank was to kill the Immortals but after some poor rolls I only killed two, and one of those got back up. In the next turn Crisis squad Demlock, deep striking drone squad Kor'vesa and the Pathfinders joined in, and the result was the Immortals were wiped out.

The Monolith was the next closest model to my forces turning this flank and they couldn't hurt it. None of the Necrons dared move out to the flank so I had effectively captured these two table quarters by turn two.

My Kroot ran forward into the forest, close to the Monolith. I was completely unprepared for the charge by the Flayed Ones who teleported from miles behind the Monolith and straight out of the door to charge at the Kroot. The Necron Lord was leading the unit and the Kroot were duly butchered. Everyone swept forward into my Firewarrior squad Mull’Kin’Tyr, who I had cunningly placed proud of the firebase to receive charges.

Over the next two turns I shot everything I had at the Flayed Ones and killed them all. Unfortunately for me the Lord survived and killed Firewarrior squad Mull’Kin’Tyr, Firewarrior squad Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr, and the Broadsides. It took him a while to chew through everything though, and by then the game was over.

My Broadsides did poorly in this game. On turn one I missed with both shots, despite being twin-linked. On turn two I hit twice but rolled 2 ones to wound. On turn three I hit the Monolith twice as it pushed through the Stone Circle and immobilised it, but Steve had already rolled a one for difficult terrain so it was already immobilised. Finally they were assaulted by the Necron Lord and killed. Ho, hum.

I had one woozy moment with the Broadsides as the Monolith laid it's Ordnance blast on them. I leapt around like an idiot when it scattered 5" only to find it clip the Hammerhead and destroy it on a lucky 6. D'oh!

I was facing most of the Necron army on my left. The destroyers flitted around shooting at the Firewarrior screens until I nailed them with Crisis squad Hemlock. The heavy Destroyers ended up chasing the empty 'fish around the board and taking random pot-shots at Tau models. The Devilfish was still going at the end (minus its gun) and so were the Heavy Destroyers so they cancelled each other out.

One Necron Warrior squad made it into combat on turn six against Crisis squad Hemlock and the Stealth team but only the Stealth team ran, so that was another drawn table quarter. The other Necron squad poured through the portal but couldn't quite make it into the adjacent quarter.

Totting up the victory points the Necrons had 685 points remaining and the Tau had 600. However my units on the right had secured two table quarters for a bonus 400 points to give me an outright win.

Result: Win

Learning points

• A good, exciting game with a Tau army I hadn't played in a while. The 6 foot table makes all the difference and my Pathfinders survived the whole game unscathed.
• More Broadsides are definitely needed for a game this size. Fortunately I could use my manoeuvrability to win the game rather than just brute killing power.
• More Firewarriors would also be needed to screen more Broadsides as my screen disintegrated under fairly light and sporadic firepower. In fact my entire firebase was wiped out by the end of the game.
  

TAU versus Dark Eldar Wych Cult

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Patrol
1st turn: Dark Eldar
Points: 1000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’ShiShas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock Crisis battlesuit - Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Hemlock Crisisbattle suit - Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan- 12 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 6 Fire warriors, 5 with pulse rifles, one with pulse carbine
• Murabla - 10 Kroot
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang Shas’ui Broadside - twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Tzun’Dau Shas’ui Broadside - twin linked railguns, smart missile system and multi-tracker
  

Dark Eldar

• Wych drachite with agoniser and combat drugs
• 9 wyches with wych weapons, succubus with agoniser, 2 blasters, Raider
• 9 wyches with wych weapons, succubus with agoniser
• 4 warp beasts
• 5 reaver jet bikes
• Ravager with night shield
• 10 warriors with 2 splinter cannons
• 6 mandrakes

The game
My large fire warrior squad started on the table and were quickly mauled by the wych squad in the raider. My reserves got revenge though, and the wyches were completely wiped out.

The Dark Eldar bikes and warp beasts hove into view but were quickly destroyed by the Tau massed fire. The kroot were shot up and destroyed by the ravager.

One broadside came on at my far right in a calculated gamble. It was charged by the drachite and mandrakes and died - but it was all for the greater good. The Dark Eldar swept on into the teeth of the Tau guns.

The mandrakes fell to the guns of the battlesuits and fire warrior squad. Only the drachite remained. But I had a surprise in store. My final fire warrior squad came on from reserve right next to the drachite and peppered her with shots. Unluckily for the Tau she only lost one wound so I had to charge her with the fire warriors. She killed one warrior but fell to the charge. Hurrah!

The only threat now was the large wych squad to my left but the stealth squad and broadside smart missiles devastated the squad and they routed off the board. In the closing stages the stealth team also took down the ravager and the Dark Eldar warriors.

Result: Win

Learning points

• A superb game with an army I haven't played in a while. It looked over by the second turn when the wych squad was right in my deployment zone but my reserves did well and pulled me back into the game. It could have gone either way in the early stages.
• I loved the move with the broadside to pull the Dark Eldar away from my main lines and then ambush them with my reserves. The gambit worked a treat.
• The reason I won this game was because the Dark Eldar couldn't mount a concentrated attack. The army came in on distinct waves - the raider mounted wyches, the dogs and bikes, then the mandrakes, drachite and wyches on foot. By concentrating my fire to completely destroy each element in turn, I won the game. The only downside to this was that I could never target the ravager and it did for half a dozen fire warriors and all the kroot.

TAU and SPACE WOLVES versus Chaos Space Marines and Dark Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Ally: Maurice
Opponents: Gary and Hugh
Mission: Recon
1st turn: Tau and Space Wolves
Points: 2000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’Shi Shas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator, Hard wired multitracker
• 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’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 12 Fire warriors, 10 with pulse rifles, two with pulse carbine, Shas’ui, bonded
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 12 Fire warriors, 10 with pulse rifles, two with pulse carbine, Shas’ui, bonded
• Murabla - 11 Kroot
• Kor’Vesa - 6 Gun drones
• Kor’Vesa - 6 Gun drones
• Kor’Vesa - 6 Gun drones
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang’u’Tang - Shas’ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and target lock
  

Space Wolves

• Large blood claw pack in land raider crusader
• 6 blood claws with jump packs
• Venerable dreadnought
• Rune priest

Chaos Space Marines

• 5 Raptors
• Squad with lascannon
• Squad with lascannon
• Close assault squad in rhino
• Lieutenant and squad in rhino
• Dread with twin linked lascannons

Dark Eldar

• Ravager
• Drachon and six Incubi in Raider
• 4 warp beasts
• Large Wych squad
• 10 man warrior squad with two dark lances
• 10 man warrior squad with two dark lances
• 10 man warrior squad with two splinter cannons
• Talos

Terrain and deployment
4000pt battle on a 4x4 table. Yikes!

Also it was the Necron table which is heavily converted with hills, monuments and crystals. Looks great but is a devil to play on. Difficult terrain all over the place.

The game
We won first turn and only inflicted one wound on the Talos despite the majority of our armies shooting at it.

Fortunately the Dark Eldar did no better than us and we picked up in the second turn killing the Talos, stunning the Ravager, stunning the Dreadnought, immobilising a rhino, wiping out half of a warrior squad and a full marine squad.

The Crusader was first immobilised and then destroyed.

A massive close combat erupted between the wyches, Raptors, lieutenant and henchmen and the two blood claw units with the rune priest. In the centre the Incubi sped forward, had their Raider shot out from under them then assaulted the Tau firebase along with the Warp beasts.

On the right the Venerable dreadnought soaked up three turns of heavy fire and destroyed the second assault squad in the rhino. With the game in the balance, time ran out and we had to pack up.

Result: Draw (ran out of time)

Learning points

• This was a Tau army designed for pinning playing against two armies capable of being pinned and despite forcing numerous tests not one enemy unit was pinned. Aaaaarggghhhh!
• Splinter cannons did for the kroot again.
• Playing as a team is very difficult; I only targeted the Talos because my ally was frightened of it and he committed a few tactical errors. Ho hum.
• Fire warrior squads did very nicely against the DE warriors.
  

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.

TAU versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Hugh
Mission: Take and Hold
Campaign: Winter War
1st turn: Chaos Space Marines
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
• Murabla - 10 Kroot
• 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

Chaos Space Marines

• 5 bikers
• 2 Squads with lascannons
• Close assault squad in rhino
• Lieutenant and squad in rhino
• Dread with twin linked lascannons

The game
Take and hold with Tau as the attacker – gulp!

The Kroot infiltrated on the left but were up against the dread and got wiped out. Fire Warriors and Crisis suits took out the squad holding the objective (a two storey ruined building) and raced toward it.

The Hammerhead zoomed up the right blowing up a rhino behind the objective, but was taken out by a lascannon.

On the fourth turn I had four suits on the objective but the game didn’t end and they were all killed in one turn.

My entire army was wiped out by turn six.

Result: Lost

Learning points

• No chance in the mission; objective tough for most Tau anyway but the building shielded most squads from fire.
• Clarify terrain before the game. In this one I didn’t and my opponent ‘changed’ interpretation halfway through the game.
• Even against a non-fearless army with no leadership re-rolls I didn’t get a single pin result. Drop this tactic.
• Dithered with the drones. Drop them and buy a stealth team instead.
  

TAU versus Tyranids

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Marc
Mission: Cleanse
Campaign: Winter War
1st turn: Tyranids
Points: 850

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
• Shas’La’Tau’Tam’La’Mo’Town - 6 Pathfinders, bonded, Shas’ui, photon grenades, Devilfish with decoy launchers and two seeker missiles
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
  

Tyranids

• Hive Tyrant with venom Cannon
• Termagants
• Hormagaunts
• 3 Ravagers
• 3 Warriors (each a separate unit)
• 3 Zoanthropes (each a separate unit)

The game
On the left the Hormagaunts wiped out the Pathfinders in a first turn charge. They were halved in number in the sweeping assault but passed their Leadership check on a 4 and destroyed a Fire Warrior squad. None survived the subsequent sweeping advance.

Over on the right flank the Shas’o and the crisis suits took out the Tyranid Warriors. The Fire Warriors thinned out the Termagaunts who nevertheless contacted the Broadside. The combat was still raging at the end of the game.

The Zoanthropes wiped out two squads of Fire Warriors and advance line abreast, shielding the Hive Tyrant and Ravagers. The game ended on turn 3 as we ran out of time, and a draw seemed a fair call.

Result: Draw (ran out of time)

Learning points

• Pathfinders caught out again. Dropping them and taking a Hammerhead might work better.
• Don’t bunch up Fire Warriors against blast weapons.
• The Zoanthropes were tough to take down with their 2+ save. Needed more railguns.
• The ‘Nids used my trick of fielding single man units to split fire and frustrate the enemy!
  

TAU versus Space Wolves

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Maurice
Mission: Cleanse
1st turn: Tau
Points: 1000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’ShiShas’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
• Murabla - 10 Kroot
• Shas’La’Tau’Tam’La’Mo’Town - 6 Pathfinders, bonded, Shas’ui, photon grenades, Devilfish with decoy launchers and two seeker missiles
• Kor’Vesa - 7 Gun drones
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator

Space Wolves

• Venerable Dread - twin-linked heavy bolter, heavy flamer, power fist
• Dreadnought - assault cannon
• Blood claws
• Grey hunters
• Scouts
• Terminators with assault cannon
• Psyker in terminator armour

The game
The Tau dominated the shooting early on, killing the regular Dread and wiping out the Blood Claws.

The Pathfinders were destroyed by the Venerable Dread while the Broadside succumbed to bolter fire from the Grey Hunters (oh, the shame).

The Scouts arrived from reserve and attacked a Crisis suit deep in my own deployment zone. They took it down but were counter charged and wiped out by the Kroot. The Drone squadron sneaked up behind the Venerable Dread and immobilised it but were caught by the Heavy flamer and Heavy bolter and were driven off.

The Terminators advanced straight down the centre of the table, away from the crisis suits, and only lost two members in the whole game. In return they killed a Crisis suit, a Fire Warrior squad and half the Kroot by shooting and another Fire Warrior squad in assault. They could have tied the game by killing another Crisis suit but he made all of his saves.

That Crisis suit contested a quarter with the Grey Hunters, the Terminators contested another with the final Fire Warrior squad and the Pathfinder's Devilfish controlled the quarter with the immobilised Venerable Dread.

Result: A (very) narrow win.

Learning points

• The Pathfinders are very fragile, especially racing toward the enemy on a small board, but in contrast the Devilfish is very durable and won me the game.
• The pinning tactic doesn’t work!
• Space Wolf scouts can come on from reserve from any board edge - the Kroot prove their worth yet again.
• Numerous small units make cleanse easier to achieve.
  

TAU versus Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Kevin
Mission: Cleanse
1st turn: Marines
Points: 1300

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’ShiShas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits, bonded, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod, multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Hemlock - Crisis battle suit, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 8 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, bonded, Shas’Ui with markerlight, Devilfish with decoy launchers and two seeker missiles
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui with markerlight, Devilfish with decoy launchers and sensor spines
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 8 Fire warriors, all with pulserifles, Shas’ui with markerlight
• Murabla - 12 Kroot
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Hammerhead with Railgun, smart missile system, multitracker, decoy launchers, seeker missile
• Krootox
  

Space Marines

• Chaplain and 8 man tactical squad in rhino
• 8 man tactical squad
  
• 5 man scout squad
• Devastator squad (2x missile launchers, heavy bolter)
• Land speeder with heavy bolter
• 5 man terminator squad with heavy flamer and assault cannon
• 5 man assault squad
• Predator annihilator with heavy bolters

Terrain and deployment
I had a large army on a small board with lots of scenery and I felt the Marines had the upper hand.

The game
The Marines went first; land speeder and rhino to my right, predator and terminators down the centre, scouts to the left. Squad Han’dan dismounted from the devilfish on the right as bait with all the battle suits nearby.

The tactical squad on foot were shot at from all sides and halved in strength. The hammerhead faced off against the annihilator and missed, while the stealth team moved to intercept the scouts.

Squad Han’dan were wiped out by the chaplain and squad assaulting from the rhino and were themselves reduced to below half strength by the battlesuits in return. They moved back into the rhino which was then promptly immobilized.

Squad Kin’tyr used a markerlight to burn a seeker missile which destroyed the predator. They were then decimated in the shooting phase by the terminators. The hammerhead had its rail gun blown off by a shot from the devastators.

The kroot charged the tactical squad on foot and wiped them out but were killed by the terminators. The stealth team performed badly and were routed by the scouts who were reduced to two models.

On the right the battlesuits did for the land speeder and assault squad, killing them all. Two suits were killed by shots from the terminators, and the surviving suits killed three terminators, reducing them to below 50%.

Squad Mont’yr, who did nothing for the whole game except float around in the devilfish claimed my starting quarter, while the Hammerhead claimed another. Only the devastator squad were over half strength and could claim a quarter for the marines.

Result: Win

Learning points

• Difficult to move largish army around on small table with lots of terrain. Suits are easier to deploy than devilfish.
• Hard to use fire warriors in devilfish, markerlights especially. Deploy them on foot as a firebase. (Although one ‘fish might be advisable to capture table quarters. Switch out the marker light for a couple of carbines and some gun drones).
• Need more than one railgun!
• Suits rocked in this game. They killed 4 tactical marines, 5 assault marines, 3 terminators, a land speeder, and immobilized a rhino.
  

TAU and SPACE WOLVES versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Colin and Gary
Allies: Marc (commanding all the fire warriors, both crisis suits) and Steve with Space Wolves
Mission: Recon
1st turn: ?
Points: 2000

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’Kais’Mal’Coar - 3 stealth suits
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 7 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui with markerlight
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’ui with markerlight
• Shas’La’Tau’Mull’Kin’Tyr - 6 Fire warriors, all with pulserifles, Shas’ui with markerlight
• Murabla - 11 Kroot
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Tzun’Dau - Shas’ui Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and multi-tracker
• Shas’La’Tau’Or’Es’Mont’Ka - Ion cannon, smart missile system, multitracker, decoy launchers, seeker missile

Space Wolves

• Leader with power fist
  
• Blood claw unit in rhino
• Blood claw unit in rhino
• Grey hunter squad
• Vindicator
• Attack bike with multi melta

Chaos Space Marines (Emperors Children)

• Tooled up Daemon prince
• Lieutenant with retinue in rhino
• Dread with plasma cannon
• Dread with plasma cannon
• Havoc squad with blastmasters
• Marine squad in rhino
• Marine squad
• Marine squad
• Marine squad
• Marine squad
• Daemonette unit
• Daemonette unit
• Predator

Terrain and deployment
We played over a six foot table (yay!) and rolled the recon mission. Our plan was to sit back and shoot with our armies until the inevitable charge and then counter charge with the blood claws and Kroot.

The game
The Emperors children attacked piecemeal, which should have helped us greatly, but we rolled poorly for shooting early in the game.

One surprise was a house rule in the shop that a unit dumped out of a destroyed rhino can’t be shot at for the rest of the turn. This left the Chaos Lieutenant and his unit right in the centre of our fire base unmolested.

Both Daemonette units summoned from this unit and the subsequent charge wiped out the vindicator, a unit of fire warriors, and the attack bike. But thanks to the old assault rules we could shoot up the Chaos victors, and then counter charge with the Kroot.

Our centre held with some firepower left and then we charged the blood claws forward, one squad on each flank. The squad on our left wiped out an enemy squad but was then wiped out to a man by the daemon prince. Hey ho, but they held him up for 3 turns. On the right the blood claws and grey hunters wiped out three squads and ended up in the enemy deployment zone, along with a crisis battle suit and the stealth team.

The chaos army only had the daemon prince and half of the havoc squad surviving at the end of the game.

Result: Win

Learning points

• Tau + Space Wolves = ouch time
• Marker lights worked superbly with the crisis suits and hammerhead
• House rules re: destroyed transports almost lost us the game – no wonder rhino rush armies rule in this store! Maybe devilfish might be more usable for my Tau though
• Countercharging works
• Larger table is miles better for Tau.

TAU versus Tau

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Colin
Mission: Hostage situation
1st turn: Dark Tau
Points: 1000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’ShiShas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator, hard-wired multi-tracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits, bonded, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod, multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Hemlock- Crisis battle suit, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 4 stealth suits, bonded
• 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
• Murabla - 10 Kroot
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’Rang - Shas’ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator, Shas’ui with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and target lock
  

Dark Tau

• Shas’o (painted like Darth Vader and with a toy Vader helmet!)
• 2 crisis suits
• Hammerhead with Railgun
• 20 Kroot with hounds and shaper
• 8 drones
• 5 stealth suits
• 6 man fire warrior team
• 6 man fire warrior team

Terrain and deployment
I was the defender so deployed every squad by deep strike (this is very tricky with a decent sized kroot squad). Colin attacked on a random board edge which was one of the short edges. It was probably the worst edge for the attacker because a large ruined building screened the ethereal which was his objective.

The game
His Hammerhead entered and killed four fire warriors. The drone unit, fire warriors and Kroot all arrived but were out of shooting range. I fusion blastered the Hammerhead with my Shas’o at close range and stopped it from shooting in the next turn, while my crisis suits whittled the drones down to three models. My Broadside relocated onto the hill, spying the Hammerhead.

Despite rolling on a 3+ only Colin's Stealth team arrived along with a single suit. His Hammerhead flew behind the building, away from the Railguns but my Shas’o shot it in the rear and blew it up. The drones were wiped out and his kroot were reduced by six models by the Crisis suits. I failed all night vision rolls to shoot at the stealth team who promptly shot up a fire warrior squad.

Now rolling on a 2+ not one extra unit arrived. On the upside his Kroot passed difficult terrain tests on sixes to enter the ruined building and assaulted my kroot, driving them off. His fire warrior team also took out a Crisis suit. Everything in my army targeted his kroot and killed all but the shaper and a single hound. I assaulted his stealth team but lost the combat and they remained in combat.

Finally his Shas’o and last suit arrived but it was too late – I rolled a 1 to end the game.

Result: Win

Learning points

• You can’t lose if the dice are with you. I actually rolled poorly but my opponent rolled worse!
• Multi tracker for the Shas’o worked very well.
• We actually played on a six foot table. Damn I wish I had brought pathfinders.
• His Kroot performed well, able to withstand numerous casualties. Might try that tactic out myself.
• I didn’t succumb to the Dark side!

TAU versus Dark Angels

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Andrew
Mission: Cleanse
1st turn: Tau
Points: 1000

Tau

• Shas’O’Tau’Ko’Vash’Ch’ien’ShiShas’O - plasma rifle, fusion blaster, shield generator
  
• Aun’El’Tau’M’yen Ethereal
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Ho’Lu’Demlock - 2 Crisis battlesuits, bonded, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod and multitracker, Shas’ui with plasma rifle, missile pod, multitracker
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Kais’Mal’Coar - 5 stealthsuits, bonded
• Shas’La’Tau’Han’Dan - 8 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, bonded, Shas’Ui with markerlight and hard-wired blacksun filter
• Shas’La’Tau’Mont’Yr - 12 Fire warriors, all with pulse rifles, Shas’Ui
• Shas’La’Tau’Mesme - 8 Fire warriors, 4 pulse rifles, 4 pulse carbines, EMP grenades, bonded, Shas’Ui with hard-wired drone controller and two gundrones
• Murabla - 10 Kroot
• Shas’Ui’Tau’Yu’RangShas’Ui - Broadside with twin linked railguns, smart missile system and shield generator
  

Dark Angels

• Chaplain
• Dreadnought with assault cannon + ccw
• Whirlwind
• 5 man assault squad
• Tactical squad
• Tactical squad
  
• 3 attack bikes with heavy bolters

Background
This was my first ever battle report (played back in 2002) and my first game in a Games Workshop store. No-one fancied playing Gary's Khorne army but everyone perked up when I said I was playing Tau.

Terrain and deployment
We played on a 4x4 table (the standard size for the tiny store) with 3 large buildings and a river running down the middle with one bridge. I won choice of table edge, deployment and first turn, but it went downhill from there.

The game
I killed a single model in the first two turns. Andrew's whirlwind hit my firewarriors three turns running – ouch. The Kroot were hosed with fire and routed. My stealth suits were caught by the bikes and wiped out. My Crisis suits took out the bikes in return.

I shot at the dreadnought for five turns with the suits and only blew the assault cannon off. In the final turn it killed Chien’Shi in close combat. Andrew's chaplain used the dread as cover to advance throughout the game and wiped out a fire warrior squad in close combat when he finally reached my lines.

Fire warrior squad Han’Dan and battlesuit Yu’Rang beat the assault marines in close combat and routed them, though!

It wasn't enough. By the end Andrew controlled three table quarters and contested one.

Result: Loss

Learning points

• Not enough weapons to take out vehicles. Take more in future.
• Ordnance vs fire warriors is devastating because they are static. Take out the ordnance early or keep the Tau moving.
• Kroot were wiped out easily on the frontline. If they are intended for counter charge, keep them back.
• Not enough ap 3 weapons to take out marines. Take more in future.
• Indecisive with stealth team. Make a plan and stick to it.
• Battlesuits are pretty good in close combat.