Looking Back
Okay, it's time for the Armchair General to have a look at my last game and see what it was that went so wrong and what I could have done better.

First off, let me just say that I was tactically outflanked in deployment, with my castling allowing his infiltrating Scouts to set up in such a way as to negate all of my cover from that direction.

The two things that really hurt me in the game were the Dreadnaught (since I had little that could deal with AV12, which was rather dumb of me) and the Scouts. Scouts usually aren't a big deal. These had Sniper Rifles and a Rocket Launcher. Again, not usually a big deal. The Scouts Infiltrated. Again, not a big deal.

They Infiltrated about 30-33 inches away from my firebase. That meant that the Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launcher had range to almost everything that I had, but that nothing of mine had range in return. They were up on a rocky outcropping so they could see over intervening terrain and they had a great field of fire.

Different Options
First answer: use a different list. If I'd used Deathrain Crisis Suits, those Twin-Linked Missile Pods would have made a mockery of the Scouts and the Dreadnaught. (S7 AP4 would take care of all of my issues this game.) In addition to the firepower, the range of the Missile Pods equals that of the Sniper Rifles, but I can still move and shoot. I could have moved out of their range and still bombarded them. That range would have been huge in this game.

Second answer: Modify your list. If I use Deathrains, the list has a totally different feel to it and I plan everything differently. On the other hand, simply using Fireknives instead of the Bladestorms that I've got would've made a massive difference. Substituting the 36" range Missile Pod for an 18" Burst Cannon is a huge deal and only costs me 4 points per suit. I easily had that extra room this game. The main trouble, of course, is that I've got the Burst Cannons, but I don't have the Missile Pods. I'll be rectifying that soon, but I'd like to find another way to deal with this without changing my list. I want to do something with tactics to find the way.

Okay, tactics it is.
First off, what are you doing castling up into a single Firebase like that?

Well, my original plan was to negate his large Tactical Squad and Commander with my placement. I'd be able to JSJ them to my heart's content and wipe them out within a few rounds, leaving pretty much my entire list against just his Scouts and Dreadnaught. I did totally negate them with my placement, unfortunately, I hadn't counted on how much damage the Scouts and Dreadnaught could do.

When I originally planned out my army, it was partly based around the concept of Split Deployment or Empty Center, with 2 firebases and a mobile center that would support whichever side needed it.

Had I used this deployment strategy, it would have kept him from Infiltrating those Scouts so far away from me. I would have been able to have a unit or two that could be in range of them within the first turn or so. A few Plasma shots and maybe some Pulse Rifles from my FireWarriors would have settled their hash nicely.

Now, technically that is deployment, rather than in-game tactics. Next up, even with my weird castling deployment, is there anything that I could have done differently to make my game better? The answer is definitely yes.

Tactical Options
First off, after the first turn of getting pounded by the Scouts (Not only were those Sniper Rifles Wounding more often than they should, my armor saves were absolute crap!) I decided I was going to focus on the Scouts. I moved several of my Crisis Battle Suits toward the Scouts, as well as shuffling my Fire Warriors over as well. Unfortunately, I decided that since I'd be out of range of the Scouts this turn, I'd try to get in a shot or two at the Tactical Squad and hide from the Scouts behind some terrain. There were two problems with this. The first was that by moving up to toss a couple of shots at the Tactical Squad, I lost some distance that I could have been moving toward the Scouts. The movement also brought me closer to the Dreadnaught, which became very important later. The second part was that hiding behind the terrain didn't help, because the Scouts could see over it. (Which I should have known from before, but I conveniently forgot. D'oh!)

Let's explore how things might have gone if I'd followed my original idea of ignoring the Scouts and Dread for as long as possible and simply tried to hammer the Tactical Squad. (In both of these exercises, I'll use my knowledge of the tactics and reactions that Donovan had during the game and mathematical averages to determine damage and changes in movement.

Turn 1: Same for Space Marines, but this time all my remaining Crisis suits jump forward toward the Tactical squad, each of them getting in range of their Plasma Rifles. Even with the Tactical squad being in 4+ cover, that's one dead Space Marine. (Almost two, but that's how averages work out.) The Crisis Suits move back to cover, but not as far back as their original position. (Planning to move closer the next turn.)

0vps each, draw.

Turn 2: Space Marine turn is the same and still causes 1 dead Crisis suit and 2 dead FireWarriors and the FireWarrior team runs off the board. This time the remaining Crisis Suits are within Burst Cannon range and cause 2 casualties to the Space Marines before retiring to the far side of the stony ridge to get away from the approaching Dreadnaught and the Sniper Scouts. The remaining FireWarriors move up behind the ridge to get away from the Scouts.

191vps Space Marines to 0vps Tau. Solid Victory for Space Marines.

Turn 3: At this point, the Crisis Suits are out of range of the Sniper Rifles, can hide from the Rocket Launcher and the Tactical Squad and the Dreadnaught. They move forward and unload with all their weaponry. The FireWarriors move up again, getting behind the edge of the ridge while the Crisis Suits pull back behind them. 2 more dead Space Marines.

191vps Space Marines to 0vps Tau. Solid Victory for Space Marines

Turn 4: The Dreadnaught moves down toward the bottom of the ridge, trying to get around toward my forces. The FireWarrior team moves up and Rapid-Fires into the rest of the Tactical squad, adding their fire to the Crisis Suits. This results in 4 dead Space Marines, leaving but 1 plus the Librarian.

191vps Space Marines to 98vps Tau. Still Solid Victory for Space Marines.

Turn 5: The Dreadnaught comes around the bottom of the rock formation and instant kills a Crisis Suit. In turn, the FireWarriors and Crisis suits kill off the remaining member of the Tactical squad and put a Wound on the Librarian.

264vps Space Marines to 296vps Tau. Draw

Turn 6: The Dreadnaught trundles forward and kills a single FireWarrior. The rest of the FireWarriors move up and, combined with the remaining Crisis Suits, kill the Librarian. The Crisis Suits then move across the top of the ridge toward the central objective, but would merely contest it for distance.

264vps Space Marines to 396vps Tau. Solid Victory Tau.

My Tau in action against another opponent

Okay, that's definitely an improvement. Now let's explore what might have happened if I'd gone totally with my first turn instinct to turn and nail the Scouts.

Turn 1: The Space Marine half of the turn is identical, but this time the Tau forces move straight toward the Scouts, with the Crisis Suits using their Assault phase movement to boost even farther forward.

0vps Space Marines to 0vps Tau. Draw

Turn 2: The Scout Missile Launcher kills a second Crisis Suit, but the Dreadnaught is out of Line of Sight due to the large Crater in the center of the board. FireWarrior Team 1 and remaining Crisis Suits kill 2 of the Scouts.

131vps Space Marines to 0vps Tau. Solid Victory Space Marines

Turn 3: Scouts kill a 3rd Crisis Suit while the Dreadnaught moves through the Crater, but is still behind the Crater wall. The FireWarriors and the 2 remaining Crisis Suits pour their fire into the Scouts, killing off the last 3.

131vps Space Marines to 95vps Tau. Draw

Turn 4: The Dreadnaught comes out of the Crater and instakills the last Elite Crisis suit. The Shas 'El fires at the front of the Dreadnaught to no effect, but the FireWarriors advance and Rapid-Fire into the back of the Dreadnaught, blowing it up.

204vps Space Marines to 210vps Tau. Draw

Turn 5: FireWarriors and Shas 'El move toward objective at center of the board.

204vps Space Marines to 210vps Tau. Draw

Turn 6: Space Marine Tactical squad and Librarian move toward central objective, but are too far away. Tau forces move onto objective.

204vps Space Marines to 210vps Tau. Draw on Victory Points, but Tau hold the objective. We didn't discuss the value of the central objective before the game, but it should be good for at least a Solid Victory.

Scattering from the Sniper fire and losing my focus.