Can't we all just get along?
I've been working a lot lately, so I haven't had much chance to get in games. I want to continue expanding my knowledge of how my DeathWing army works against a wide variety of opponents, though. I have previously gone up against my old Genestealer list, so I wanted to go the opposite direction and take on a totally shooty opponent in the form of my Tau. From the outset, this is going to be tough. There's no way DeathWing will be able to outshoot this list. Even if had the sheer firepower to do so, the Tau list is designed to prevent them from having good targets. In addition, while my 2 LandRaiders are very, very tough, there are 6 s10 Railguns that can do massive damage to them, and there's 11 Plasma Rifles that can tear apart my Terminators. Ouch.

Mission: Annihilation

Deployment: Pitched Battle

Tau List:

100 Shas'El Commander w/Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma, TA, HWMT
97 Shas’El Commander w/Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Target Array, HWMT

201 3x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
201 3x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
201 3x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA

80 6xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
80 6xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.

180 2xBroadside, Advanced Stabilization. Tm Ldr w/HWDC and 1 Shield Drone
180 2xBroadside, Advanced Stabilization. Tm Ldr w/HWDC and 1 Shield Drone
180 2xBroadside, Advanced Stabilization. Tm Ldr w/HWDC and 1 Shield Drone

1500pts

Deathwing Strike Force
130 Belial, Master of the Deathwing

160 Venerable Dreadnaught: Assault Cannon, SB/DCCW, Extra Armor
160 Venerable Dreadnaught: Assault Cannon, SB/DCCW, Extra Armor

250 5x Deathwing Terminator 1xSgt w/Stormbolter/PowerSword, 1xAssault Cannon/Powerfist, 2xStormbolter/Powerfist, 1xStormbolter/Chainfist
245 5x Deathwing Terminator 1xSgt w/Stormbolter/PowerSword, 1xAssault Cannon/Powerfist, 3xStormbolter/Powerfist

265 LandRaider, Extra Armor
265 LandRaider, Extra Armor

1475pts

Deployment
Tau won the roll to go first, and they immediately set up in a split deployment. It's a fantastic way to keep an assault-based enemy at arms-length. (It often means sacrificing half of your army, but if it means you can wipe out all of their army, it pays off.)

In response to the split deployment of the Tau, DeathWing decided to use a trident formation. The LandRaiders and squads went on the far sides, while the slower Dreadnaughts and Belial went in the middle, with the idea of being able to move to support whichever side needs it.

Turn 1
T: With no clear line of sight, the Broadside units all moved sideways for a better angle. Broadside unit 2 fired through cover at my far left LandRaider, penetrating it and wrecking the vehicle! The squad stumbles out of the wreckage and is pinned.

DW: The mobile LandRaider dashes forward 12" and pops smoke, while the machine spirit fired a TL-Lascannon into Broadside unit 3, killing the shield drone. The Dreadnaughts move forward and break into a run, as does Belial. (1", 4" and 3", respectively)

commentary: A really rough start for the boys in bone. I'm hoping that the running of the Dreadnaughts will put some pressure on the Tau, but I'm afraid it won't be near enough.

Turn 2
T: The mobile LandRaider is the clear target, so the Tau turn starts with it. Broadside unit 3 manages to penetrate the LandRaider, but only manages to shake it. Broadside unit 1 fires into it as well, but the smoke obscures the target. Broadside unit 2, with no line of sight to the mobile LandRaider, fires into the rightmost Dreadnaught, blowing off it's Claw.

DW: The LandRaider careens forward and unleashes it's cargo. The squad fans out and, despite trouble with the terrain, manages to clip both Broadside Team 3 and FireWarrior Team 2, killing 1 Broadside and 5 FW for no losses. Both units break and run away (2 and 4 inches, respectively.) The other squad gets up from it's pinned position and begins running forward, barely breaking through the shrubbery. The undamaged Dreadnaught and Belial continue running forward (gaining 3 and 1 inches, respectively) While the damaged Dreadnaught pauses long enough to fire into Crisis Team 2, but doesn't cause any damage.

commentary: Well, that assault result was a wonderful change, but the DeathWing is about to feel some pain in return. Hopefully the cover will help them.

Turn 3
T: Both broken Tau units run off the board edge. Crisis Teams 2 and 3 both move away from contact and fire into the DeathWing squad, wiping it out even through the cover. Broadside Team 2, breathing a sigh of relief, fires into the undamaged Dreadnaught, immobilizing it and shaking it. Broadside Team 1 fires into the other Dreadnaught, tearing off it's Assault Cannon. The Commander with the Fusion Blaster moves up toward the same Dreadnaught and fires, but only manages to shake it.

DW: The LandRaider, forgotten in all the excitement, fires into Crisis Team 3, killing 2 of them while the 3rd flies off the back of the board edge. Belial rushes past the immobilized Dreadnaught and piles into Broadside Team 2, smashing aside the shield drone and killing one Broadside outright and sending the other one running off the board edge. The damaged Dreadnaught brushes aside the Fusion Commander and charges into Broadside Team 1, but causes them no real damage. After advancing, the remaining DeathWing squad opens up on the Fusion Commander, but does no damage.

commentary: It doesn't take much of a combat ability to make Tau run, and when their back is to the board edge, they don't stick around for long. Both armies have sustained heavy damage at this point, but it can easily go either way.

Turn 4
T: The Ion Commander and Crisis Team 2 both fire into Belial, but only cause him a single Wound before moving further away from that corner. The Fusion Commander jumps over to the Immobilized Dreadnaught and fires into it's rear armor to no effect. FireWarrior Team 1 moves out from behind their rock for better line of sight at the DeathWing squad next turn. Crisis Team 1 also moves for better sight lines, but causes no damage and moves back behind the rock. Broadside Team 1 continues to struggle to escape the Dreadnaught, but no one is injured.

DW: The LandRaider fires into the Ion Commander, killing him. Belial runs after the fleeing Crisis Team 2, catching and killing them, while taking a single wound in return. The DeathWing squad moves forward again and fires past the FireWarriors and into Crisis Team 1. The Team Leader takes a Wound and one of the squad falls to the firepower. The immobilized Dreadnaught fires into the Fusion Commander, shredding him. The Dreadnaught continues flailing inneffectively against the remaining Broadside Team, but they cannot cause it any damage, either.

commentary: Talk about a comeback! The boys in bone are definitely shining here, but they've still got their work cut out for them. By tying up the Broadsides and killing the Fusion commander, the Tau now have nothing that can touch the LandRaider and almost nothing that can damage the Dreadnaughts. (Of course, that means the DeathWing squad and Belial will be taking the brunt of the damage...)

Turn 5
T: FireWarrior Team 1, seeing the incoming Terminators, kneels and takes aim. The Markerlight misses, but some of the fire strikes true, killing the sergeant and 1 Terminator. Crisis Team 1 moves up to unload on the squad (and to get further from Belial) but causes no damage. The laughable combat between the Dreadnaught and the Broadside Team continues with no casualties.

DW: The LandRaider has no line of sight and moves further around the back corner toward the center. The immobilized Dreadnaught fires into Crisis Team 1, killing the Team Leader and causing a wound to the remaining Shas'ui. His resolve is strong, however and he remains in the fight. Belial runs past the close combat (which continues with no damage) and fires his Storm Bolter into Crisis Team 1, hitting them but causing no wounds. The DeathWing squad advances and fires into the FireWarrior team, killing 3. The remainder of the squad flees before the fury of the DeathWing. They flee only 4 inches, but it is just enough to keep from being assaulted by the DeathWing squad. The Dreadnaught continues unsuccessfully against the Broadsides.

commentary: Both armies are basically gutted, but the DeathWing definitely has the upper hand now.

At this point, I rolled a 2 for the end of the game. Time to total up the kills. Tau killed 1 LandRaider and 1 DeathWing Squad. Despite the fact that they nearly neutered the Dreadnaughts, they didn't manage to destroy them, and they only killed 2 of the remaining DeathWing squad. Tau KP:2. DeathWing killed both Commanders, Crisis 2, Crisis 3, Broadside 2, Broadside 3 and FireWarrior 2. FireWarrior 1 was fleeing, but not destroyed, Crisis 1 was down to one shas'ui, but not destroyed, and Broadside 1 was untouched, despite the sloppy attempted mauling by the Dreadnaught. DeathWing KP: 7. Final Score: 7-2 in favor of DeathWing.

Observations
Despite the final tally, that was a very close game. A few more damage results on my vehicles or a few more missed armor saves and it would have been over. One thing I learned is to not count the DeathWing out. Even a few models can really make things happen, especially if close combat is a possibility. Being able to move, shoot and assault with nearly all of my units made a big difference. I was also rather proud of myself once I realized that I could kill or tie up all the big vehicle threats and keep my vehicles alive to wreak havoc. I usually think of these things in terms of keeping the troops alive, but in this scenario, having vehicles running around to shoot things with impunity was just as effective. Even if I had lost the remaining DeathWing squad, I would have still had a LandRaider and the Assault Cannon turret (immobilized Dreadnaught) plus the (poor but effective) unarmed Dreadnaught to do damage and the Tau wouldn't have been able to do anything but run away. (S6 plasma is almost ineffective against Dreadnaughts, particularly Venerable ones.) I'll admit that I agonized over that early decision about running the Dreadnaughts. Ultimately, I'm glad I did, though. By running, they reached assault range a turn earlier, which put more pressure on the Tau shooting and ultimately put me in a place where I could make things happen. If I had fired them, I probably wouldn't have caused enough damage to be worthwhile (their primary targets would have been Broadsides, and with a shield drone and 2+saves, they weren't likely to take much damage.)

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