Tau Ultramarine Battle Turn 3

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Ben Jackson

The Tau received their remaining reserves at the start of turn 3 in the form of the Commander and Crisis team. The movement phase was more a case of repositioning than moving.

In the tau shooting phase a heavy toll was taken by the Space Marine Command and his assault squad, killing 5 of their number, including the flamer.

The bike squad also fell to the combine fire power of the Tau right flank, although their toughness of 5 meant this required all the tau had to offer. This also gave the Tau player 1st blood and therefore 2 victory points.

The Ultramarines looking more like a divided force than a pincer movement. At this point in the game it was 2-1 to the Tau but I already felt beat. Determined not to get down cast I decided to advanced as fast I could towards the Tau’r right flank and try and overwhelm them with the what I had left on their weaker side (hoping the faster forces on the left flank wouldn’t be able to close the gap too quickly. The Forward Tactical squad moved up to the cover of more ruins. The tactical squad deployed with the Quad gun moved up to the large ruined building in the centre of the board, where the scouts had been reduced to one man. The Scout Sargent took up position on the Quad gun. While the tactical squad from the Drop pod took up position behind the Agsis defence line with the devastators The Land Speeder moved to 11″ from the Hammer head which was now down to 1 hull point thanks to the bike squads suicide attack. The Storm Raven chases the Rip tide into the Tau line. Having shoot most of the Broad side squad last turn 2 wasn’t going to waste all it’s fire power on a single broad side.

The Ultramarine shooting phase went fairly well. The Land speader blew up the Hamerhead in the 3″ cloud of melta and shrapnel. Most of the rest of my firepower made very little of a dent in the tau force. I was concentrating every thing with a heavy weapon on the larger Tau suits, tying up most of my fire power. The Storm Raven took 3 wounds off the Rip Tide.

The assault squad took a single drone away form the crisis team. And then promptly assaulted them. This turned out to be a big mistake. The combined Over watch of the Broad side, who where with in 6 inches of the Crisis team and the Crisis team itself, which was hitting on 5 due to some lovely Tau upgrade, cut down 3 more assault marines! To put the final nail in the coffin, I then proceeded to roll a 4, instead of the 7 they needed for their charge range (having used their jump packs in movement phase to get make sure I wasn’t too far away that I wouldn’t fail my charge. This was not looking Good.

End of turn 3 Victory points Tau 2(inc 1st blood) Marines 2(inc line breaker).

Tau Ultramarine Battle Turn 2

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Ben Jackson

Reserves. Turn one is always a bit of a non event in games which have a lot of the forces held back. Turn two is when it get a bit more exciting.

Unfortunately for me the Tau did rather well on their reserve rolls. Suddenly the game looked very one sided. The other pathfinders team, both Fire warriors teams and a Hammerhead arrived on the battle field. At least there would be no shortage of targets for my guns.

The Tau wasted no time in letting rip. The bile squad and scouts took the brunt of the the Tau Fire. Two more bikes were lost including the Sargent in Mk6 power armour. The Rip tide was a big contributor to the bikes demise. This left only the melta gun and multi melta (due to some careful placement in turn one). Two more scouts were killed leaving only the scout Sargent remaining. I was on the edge of my seat fully expecting one more failed save to result in 1st blood. If all the Tau fire-power had been directed at the scouts I’m sure this would have been the case.

The Marine reserves did go quite as well. While all but 1 assault squad arrived, where things arrived caused more drama. I rolled deep strike for the assault squad 1st. Having never fought the “Tau empire” before I though a flank assault would be the best way to cripple them. Picking off the big guns with assault troops is the never a bad move. The Assault squad scattered almost off the table. The Storm Raven(which looks like a Storm Eagle) re-enforced the flank and eye up the biggest target on the board.

However the drop pod (forgotten on turn 1) did scatter off the table. If I had read it’s scatter rules before placing it I would have put it closer to the buildings. As it was the Tau player got to place it

right at the back of my deployment zone.

To make up for the Drop pods off target landing I pushed the other two tactical squads towards the Tau. As not to give away two victory points, the sole scout sergeant retreated towards the safety of the Tactical Squad and agais line.

The Storm Raven targets the Riptide.
The shooting turn faired somewhat better, but not much. The Assault squad let rip at the Riptide taking off 1 wound. The Storm Raven elected not to shoot the Rip tide, as 4 shots were very unlikly to remove it’s remainging 4 wounds, even with added it’s 4 Strength 8+ attacks. This judgement proved to be right as I inflicted 2 unsaved wounds on the Broadside team in the ruins, which due to instant death rules got me first Blood. Due to some very bad dice rolls the the bike squad and land speeder, and marines with heavy weapons only managed to remove 1 hull point from the Hammerhead.

Victory points: Tau = 0 Marines 3 including line breaker

Update later in the shooting phase my opponent realised he’d forgotten to deploy his drones with his Broad sides. Being of good sport I let him put a broadside back on the board.

Updated score: Tau = 0 Marines 1 including line breaker

Turn 3

Tau Ultramarine Battle Turn 1

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Ben Jackson

With lots of units in reserve turn 1 was brief. The Tau laid down a hail of fire. The Rip tide removed two tactical marines.

The rest of the tau killed two scouts and took a hull point from the Land Speeder.

The Marines responded as best they could. As most of the force was out of range many units had to move towards the Tau making use of available cover. The Devastator squad advanced from the top of the Titan to try and get better range. The Scouts managed to removed a couple of Fire warriors with supporting fire.

Turn 2

Tau Ultramarine Battle

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Ben Jackson

I managed to get in a game against Tau at the weekend. Rather than write a full battle report I’m going to post a few pictures with some explanation every day this week. So here goes.

We rolled a diagonal deployment and Mission 2: Kill points. Each enemy unit killed awards 1 victory point. There are also victory points for first blood, kill the warlord and line breaker.

Ultramarine Deployment: I made a defensive line using my Devastators, armed with 2 las cannons and 2 missile launchers and a Tactical squad armed with a las cannon. The tactical squad would also be firing the Quad gun. I placed a tactical squad armed with a multi melta and a flamer on the flank. Behind the tactical squad I placed a bike squad armed with a Multi-melta and Melta gun and a Landspeeder armed with a Multi Melta and flamer. My scouts armed with a heavy bolter use infiltrate to advance to the ruins.

My plan was to advance towards the Tau using the bikes speeder and tactical squad. I held a Storm Raven, Tactical squad in drop pod, Captain with jump pack and two assault squad in reserve. Intending to reinforce the flank attack.

Tau Deployment: A firewarrior and path finder squad deployed in the centre of the Board. The Tau Riptide deployed behind the trees and two broad side teams deployed around the ruins. The rest of the Tau force, a path finders team, 2 fire warrior teams, a Crisis team and a Hamerhead were placed in reserve to re-enforce the line where required.

Click for turn 1