[Donyoppa]

Chickidity check yourselves, Top Yop coming in with a fresh clean battle report straight from tha' underground.

Anyway, we're currently play-testing for an 1850pt tournament with ETC-style missions and FAQ.

We decided to try out 2 nasty armies against each other, my mate chose a FLG Frankie-esque Tau list with 3 tides and 2 surges whereas I went for a Baronial Court list.

Here are the lists!

Baronial Court & Mates - 1850pts

Baronial Court (1210pts)

Knight Crusader (460pts)
Rapid-fire Battle Cannon (5pts), Ironstorm Missle Pod (30pts), Warlord/Lord Baron
Knight Paladin (375pts)
Knight Paladin (375pts)

++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment) (640pts) ++
Chapter Tactics * [White Scars]
Librarian (85pts)
Master Level 1, Force Axe, The Hunter’s Eye (20pts)
Scout Squad (55pts)
Boltguns
Scout Squad (55pts)
Boltguns
Drop Pod (35pts)
Centurion Devastator Squad (250pts)
3 Grav-cannons (75pts), 3 Hurricane Bolters (0pts), Omniscope (10pts)
Relic Whirlwind Scorpius (160pts)
Battle of Keylek (35pts)

Riptide Wing Tau - 1850pts

(One Imperial Knight used as a Stormsurge proxy)

Riptide Wing
3x Riptides with Early Warning, Stimulant Injectors, Missiles and Ion Accelerators

Tau CAD

Commander
Iridium, Drone Controller, Warlord

2x 5 Firewarriors

8x Marker Drones

2x Stormsurges
1 with Pulse Driver, 1 With Blastcannon, Early Warnings, Shield Generators

The Mission

The mission was essentially Purge The Alien as per rulebook with 6 tactical objectives on the board and each player drew up to 6 tactical objectives each turn. Any number of objectives could be scored each turn.

No First Blood but Warlord and Linebreaker as per usual. Each 3 hull points/wounds to a super-heavy or gargantuan resulted in a further point.

We proceeded to roll up pre-game tingz and had the following:

Tau warlord trait: +1 to Seize and re-roll reserve rolls

Knights warlord trait: Master-crafted weapon >:E

Librarian psychic power: Prescience, Perfect Timing

Knights won the roll to go first after deployment, which looked like so:

The 3 knights deployed at the edge of the hammer and anvil deployment in a rough line, staying within 6 inches of each other to ensure dem ion shieldwall saves.
The scorpius hunkered down in a ruin and on top of objective 3.

The Tau deployed with the Riptide Wing in close proximity behind a ruin and on top of an objective whereas the Surges and Marker Drone-star hunkered in the opposite ruin ready to take fire.



Tau attempt to seize the initiative...... AND THEY DID!

TURN ONE TAU

All riptides nova charge their shields to 3++, and succeed.

Marker drones fire at the closest knight, scoring 6 hits.

The stormsurges fire off 4 D-missiles using markerlights at BS5 and score... double 6s... one imperial knight gone!!

Tau score 1 maelstrom, 1 kill point and 2 VPs for 6 HPs off a super-heavy.

TAU 4 - Knights 0

TURN ONE KNIGHTS

Tough start for the knights! One knight down and got seized on...
I knew I had to get rid of the marker drones to prevent more BS5 D-missiles coming at the other two knights.

The centurions and librarian drop in danger-close to the stormsurges and marker drones... staying one inch away.

Warlord knight shuffles back to claim OBJ1. Other knight moves forward to claim OBJ6.

I only lose 1 centurion to early warning from stormsurges due to their placement.

Combined shooting from the knights and centurions kills all the marker drones and the warlord commander.

I score 3 OBJs, ascendancy, warlord and behind enemy lines for a total of 7 VPs.

TAU 4 - KNIGHTS 7

TURN TWO TAU

5-man fire team shuffles on, looking at the centurions.

Stormsurges plant anchors. All riptides pass nova charge on their guns.

Fire warriors take shots at centurions, failing to wound.

Stormsurges shoot D at the centurions but wiff miserably.

It takes all 3 riptides to take out the gone-to-ground centurions, along with the drop pod.

Tau score 3 kill points and 1 maelstrom.

TAU 8 - KNIGHTS 7

KNIGHTS TURN TWO

Knights move up like so.

5 scouts shuffle on right flank and claim OBJ.

5 scouts shuffle on left flank.

Ironstorm rockets take out 3 firewarriors.


Combined fire from most of the army (battle cannons, gatling cannons, scorpius missiles) - brings the front stormsurge down to 1 wound. (The gatling cannon did 7 wounds and he saved 7 of them...)

Front-most knight fails his charge.

I score 2 objectives and supremacy.

TAU 8 - KNIGHTS 11

TAU TURN 3

Stormsurges retract anchors and shuffle forward, needing to get in the fight.

Riptides pass all nova charges for 3++ again.

Front stormsurge blows up Scorpius.

Riptides spend the turn shooting at scouts to no avail... and only kill 2. Miserable.

Tau score 3 points.

TAU 11 - KNIGHTS 11

KNIGHTS TURN THREE

Front knight moves up to challenge the riptide wing. I'm comfortably racking up maelstrom points but Tau are ahead in terms of killage.

Warlord knight moves left and opens up on the stormsurges... killing the front beast. Ironstorm rockets finish off the firewarriors.

Front knight makes his charge into a riptide and D-slaps the mother-brother to hell, before consolidating onto OBJ1 for points.

Warlord knight fails the long charge into the lonely stormsurge.

Knights score big with 3 points for killing a gargantuan, OBJ1, overwhelming firepower and killing a unit in the assault phase for 6 points overall.

TAU 11 - KNIGHTS 17

TAU TURN FOUR

Fire warriors shuffle on hoping to score OBJ1.

Riptides nova charge guns and rapid hailfire, hoping to get lucky on the rapidly approaching knight crusader who killed their friend.

Stormsurge shoots small guns at the scouts and then shoots the S10 gun at the warlord knight... it hits... it penetrates... knight fails the save... A 6 IS ROLLED! and.... ANOTHER 6 IS ROLLED!!! 4 HULL POINTS AND THE WARLORD IS GONE!!!!

At this point I felt like the game had taken a huge turn... despite pulling ahead on maelstrom I only had a single imperial knight and some scouts left to do the dirty...

Riptides proceed to double-shoot the other imperial knight but wiff hugely... they do one hull-point of damage and proceed to scatter onto the fire warriors who lose 2 men and then run off the board!!!

Tau score kingslayer, kill a unit and OBJ3.

TAU 14 - KNIGHTS 17

KNIGHTS TURN FOUR

Scouts move up to claim OBJ and strip a wound from the big chicken.

The last remaining heroic imperial knight wiffs with shooting but makes the charge into a riptide, he only hits once but does 3 wounds. The riptide hits back and smashes a hullpoint off. I then roll 3 stomps!! But proceed to fail with triple 1s... Boo.

Another big scoring turn for knights with ascendancy, OBJ3, OBJ2 and behind enemy lines for a total of 5 points.

TAU 14 - KNIGHTS 22

TAU TURN FIVE

Both riptides nova charge. The one in combat boosts his save to a 3++ and the other boosts his jump to 4D6.

Stormsurge moves up to the brave scouts... and murders them all. I'm left to a single imperial knight and that's it!!!

My heroic knight wiffs in combat but stomps out the riptide with a 6! And then consolidates after the second riptide, hungry for revenge.

I score a kill point while Tau score 3 for killing a unit in the assault phase and 2 OBJs.

TAU 17 - KNIGHTS 22

KNIGHTS TURN FIVE

Could be the last turn! And I have a single knight... but I'm far ahead on maelstrom. This game taught me that Knights have no problem keeping up in the maelstrom game.

Knight moves towards the last riptide and charges.

I proceed to wiff with his attacks again! But we roll the stomps... one stomp... 6!! The final riptide goes down to the heroic knight's smelly boot. Tau are down to a single stormsurge vs. a single knight!

Knights score blood and guts and a kill point.

At this point, Knights have won, but we roll to see if the game goes on (if the stormsurge kills the knight, Tau win with a massacre)... and it does.

TAU 17 - KNIGHTS 24

TAU TURN SIX

Stormsurge shoots, he hits, but I finally make an ion shield save!

KNIGHTS TURN SIX

Now we pretty much know that Knights have won... somehow pulling off a victory with a single knight after losing both the warlord and another early game.

The hero of the day moves up to face the chickenlord. They exchange a few pleasantries before the inevitable charge!

4 hits.... double sixes!! The chicken-king goes down!!

Tau are wiped out! And Knights down to a model!

FINAL SCORE TAU 17 - KNIGHTS 27

What a game, what a game. This is what happens when you play 40k with big toys.
I was surprised with the knights ability to keep up with maelstrom and obviously there was a big advantage with kill points.
The game also shows how silly 40k can get with the new rules and models... 2 gargantuans with 3 monstrous creatures facing up to 3 super-heavies...
Despite being seized on and having a knight D-slapped on turn one, I managed to turn the game around nicely. I knew I had to get rid of the marker drones early and then basically get in his face.

Please comment and let us know what to do better in future or other armies you'd like to see.

Microphone chickidy check and peace out my Gs xxoxx

 

[DaisyDuke]

Awesome battle report dude. Keep them coming.