The Amazing Tau: Tournament Edition

During this weekend just past I played in my first tournament of my Warhammer 40k 'career' and, to ruin the suspense in the first sentence of the post, I won Best Individual General.

Prior to the tournament I felt that, for no particular reason, I may do well however after my first game in which I scraped together a minor victory thanks to a convenient Planetstrike stratagem I felt that things may become a little tough.
Alas, the day moved on and I faced off against Dave, an Eldar player in another 'special game' in which I chose the role of attacker with 1,200 points and he played the defender with 1,000 points. The catch was that I had to end with more units within 12 inches of his table edge than he had. In my favour the terrain was fairly open and he had brought no vehicles though he did field a Wrathlord and the mighty Avatar. Against 2 Broadsides, 2 Hammerheads and a wealth of missile pods however he never really found his way into the fight and by turn 5 his army had been destroyed with me losing just two shield drones.

Following this I engaged in a small 1,000 point battle with 'Big Red' and his IG army. Due to mission rules I was only allowed to start with my troops and heavy support deployed and he was only allowed his troops and fast attack. Given that he had no fast attack and I had brought two hammerheads his two plucky little Chimeras were in for a harrowing first turn. With one entire squad annihilated his two Leman Russ Tanks arrived and proceed to either miss or be 'disruption podded' by my two Hammerheads then, as an indicator to how the remainder of the game would play out were both glanced by my Hammerheads and with me rolling two sixes, were both wrecked. The game continued on to turn six when he was wiped out with me taking no casualties.

My first game of day two was an Apocalypse game in which my IG team mate, Leo and I would face down a team of Sisters of Battle and their loyal Space Wolf lapdogs. Deploying corner to corner we fully expected to be attacked by our MeQ opponents with great vigour. Consisting of a Basilisk, two Hammerheads, two Broadsides, two Hydras and one Leman Russ our deployment zone was by no metric short of long-range firepower. Alas, by turn two our opponents had shown no interest in pushing up and seemed content to hide in cover trying to minimise the damage potential of the railguns. The only incursion we really experienced was a Penitent Engine, a group of Seraphim and a squad of meltabomb armed scouts using a stratagem to appear behind us and destroy a Hammerhead and a Hydra. Fortunately they died, we pushed up and despite not being able to kill a Landraider after no less than four unsaved penetrating hits, three of which were AP1, we claimed a major victory. Their general, the accursed Living Saint lived up to her name and refused to stay dead despite apparently dying three times.

My final game of the tournament was a simple 1,750 point annihilation mission against Taras Sisters of Battle army. I managed to stay mobile and make good use of both railguns and missile pods throughout the battle and by turn six the ladys had been shattered and their general slain. I managed to end the battle with nine killpoints to zero having taken no wounds or vehicle damage. In her defence though Tara had fielded an entirely close range army whos vehicle support had been wiped off the field mercilessly in the first turn.

I ended the tournament with four major victories and one minor victory plus four generals killed, one short of the skull-taker award thanks to the foul Living Saint. It was a good tournament, I had fun and for my efforts I won myself a Skyray. Unfortunately out team did not win overall due to a deafening lack of paint which was nobodys fault, Micro.

What I have learned:
Tau really do need to stay mobile. They do not outshoot the IG and they do not out assault anything but they can combine movement and fire-power very well thanks to the humble vehicle multi-tracker and the more surly Crisis suit.

Of man and rat

This weekend the mighty forces of the Rat Tau will join with the last remains of an Imperial Guard scout fleet and renegade group of Goblins that have equipped themselves for battle and smashed their way into the mercenary trade.

In other words, I am entering a tournament in which I will team up with two Imperial Guard armies to play through a series of games over two days including one Apocalypse game featuring Derikari and myself with Micros lads (those left alive after a Cities of Death game) as strategic reserves. Overall it should be an entertaining and educational tournament but enough of that, onto the details.

Under the instruction of Imperial Star Commander Deri Ka-Ri I will be fielding no less than five tank hulls within my 1'750 point list. As an overview my list for the tournament will consist of;
Many Crisis Suits
Mech Infantry
Hammerheads
Broadsides

A simple list reminiscent of a simpler time. I have, over the past weeks experimented with pathfinders and piranhas, drone teams and stealth suits. I even had a brief affair with the beautiful and deadly Commander Shadowsun but none of these could fulfil me the way that railguns and a torrent of S5 AP5 fire can. Plasma and fusion be damned! When the final skimmer has come crashing to the dirt and the last crisis has fallen to its knees I will stand tall and say that I did it my way with not an ethereal to be seen... That said I have still taken two plasma rifles in the list.

The plan is simple. Move and shoot. The broadsides will remain generally static though for an army to attack them directly they will have to run the gauntlet first. As always, I will be vulnerable to outflanking and possibly to deep striking TeQs though I have faced both and found that dealing with them was was a pinch so long as you are ready for it and the crisis suits stay within range to support the broadsides up until they are definitely lost.

What I have learned:
It's difficult to rate Broadsides highly enough. They may not last the whole game but then, they may not need to.

Sorry looking maggots...

Through this, my first month or so as Imperial Battle Lord, Commander of the Winds and Prince of the LaserRat I have enjoyed and endured battles both hard fought and hard won. However, it has only been within the last two weeks of so that I have felt like my plans in a game have actually come together. Previously I had been winning but how I won wasn't how I had planned to win and it seemed that I had simply stood my fearless rat-warriors in one spot, fired the guns and watched everything disappear (both mine and theirs depending on the game). Recently however, with many thanks to the likes of Micro and Deri "Would you like some army with your Kroot" Kari, I have felt that through the Tao of the Mech Tau and the "M-m-m-m-m-mobility!!!" doctrine I have been able to put together a plan with a specific outcome in mind and actually realise that outcome. I'm even brave enough now to take on Terminator Squads without running away and hiding in the bathrooms. Then I ran into Mega Armoured Nobz but that's another story.

Furthermore, I have finished my Broadside and Farsight conversions. When I can get some decent, non-blurry photos of them I will share with all haste.

What I have learned:
Be the wind, not the tree.