Listen to the Music
I headed over to Discordia to try to _actually_ get in a game with Matt. Previously we had agreed to 1000pts, but he ended up having to play in a tournament the store was running, so I got in 1 turn with him and then Thomas took over. This time he was able to play the game (though we kept getting interrupted by calls from his wife asking where he was, which was rather annoying.) This time we actually played 1000pts, and he brought out his cool, converted Slaaneshi Chaos force. It was definitely an elite force. In fact, if you count drones, I actually had more models than he did! Slaaneshi Noise Marines are kind of cool, but they are very pricey to make up for the fact that they are fearless and their instruments (weapons) are move and shoot.

Game: Last Man Standing. 1000pts

I forgot to take a picture of the terrain before we began placing, so I snapped a quick pic of most of the board here for your edification. Note the trees on a hill in the upper right corner of the picture. This is where Matt deployed his army and he ended up removing the trees so that he could more readily move his models. They still counted as trees however.

Lists

My Best guess at Matt’s List…

155 Chaos Lord Mark of Slaanesh, Bike, Daemonic Visage, Combat Drugs, Spiky Bitz, Powerweapon

90 6xDaemonettes
90 6xDaemonettes

154 3xChaos Space Marine Biker Furious Charge, Mark of Slaanesh, Aspiring Champion with Powerfist

222 6xChaos Space Marine: Havocs Mark of Slaanesh, 4xBlastmaster, 2xSonic Blaster?
222 6xChaos Space Marine Havocs: Mark of Slaanesh, 4xBlastmaster, 2xSonic Blaster?

933pts (Note: I realize that the Havoc Squads don’t add up to 222, but when I took one below ½ strength on turn 1, I asked him how many VPs I got, and he said ½ VPs would be 111pts. I’m not sure what he did with the extra points, but there must’ve been something else in there!) For the record, I’m guessing there were a few other things on the Lord and the Bikers as well (probably not much, but I don’t think he was actually playing with a 933pt list, I think he was closer to 1000pts, I just don't know what else was there.)

Tau List:

100 Shas’El Commander w/CIB, Plasma Rifle, Target Array, HWMT
97 Shas’El Commander w/Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Target Array, HWMT

73 Shas’Ui Team Leader w/Plasma Rifle, Burst Cannon, Target Array, HWMT
73 Shas’Ui Team Leader w/Plasma Rifle, Burst Cannon, Target Array, HWMT
161 Crisis Team: 2xShas’Ui w/PR, BC, MT. Team Leader w/PR, BC, TA, HWMT, HWDC+2Shield Drones

80 6xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles. Team Leader has Markerlight
80 6xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Team Leader has Markerlight

70 Piranha: Fusion Blaster, Target Array
70 Piranha: Fusion Blaster, Target Array

80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization

964pts

The big Crisis team was included for two reasons. First, I had 5 Crisis suits to split into 3 groups, and second I wanted something with decent resilience in case I didn't have enough cover or I needed to move such that I was out of cover for a turn. The larger team would also benefit more from any Markerlight hits from the FireWarriors.

Setup

We both played hard refused flank, basically ignoring the center and far side of the board and placing all our units within inches of each other, behind one terrain piece on either side. Even though we were using a 4x6 board, we effectively made it 4x2 or so! (This was probably a pretty bad idea on my part, as my Railguns had far better range than anything of his. Although he had more long-range firepower, I easily had him at extreme range (anything beyond 36”) and Short to Medium range (12-24”) then he had me at assault range. Deploying further away, or using some of my Crisis suits to have an evaporating flank might have softened his punch a bit. Interestingly, this didn’t occur to me until I was writing about our setup. Using a smaller board is a big advantage for an assault-based army. Hmm. I’ll have to give that some more thought.)

Turn 1: (I got first turn, but decided to let Matt go first, given that we were both pretty well hidden. Again, I was hoping that he'd make the first mistake :) Looking back, however, going first would have let me have more time to shoot before the Daemons arrived. I couldn't have known that they'd all show up on turn 2, but I may have to modify my choices when I see Daemons or Deepstrikers in a list from now on.)

Slaanesh: Bikes move behind a big tree toward the center of the board. Havoc squad Blastmasters take down 3 FireWarriors from team 2 in the ruined Chapel, but they make their Leadership check and hold the line. More Blastmaster fire batters the large Crisis team, but their armor holds firm.

Tau: FireWarriors kill 2 Havocs, the various Crisis Suits and Broadsides kill 5 more. Piranha zip forward 24” to flank the tree attempting to block the movement of the bikers.

Tau: 111VP
Chaos: 0VP

Minor Victory for Tau

(One Havoc squad down to one, the other left with 4. I really need to pay a little closer attention and kill off one unit at a time. Note also that I maybe could have made MUCH better use of both Piranha by moving them only 12” but deploying their drones to the sides so that they blocked a much wider area closer to my lines.)

Turn 2

Slaanesh: Both sets of Daemonettes (it even rhymes!) arrive. The Havocs, using their 18” range weaponry manage to target a very surprised Helios ‘El. (“You can’t see me, you can’t…ouch!”) 7 Wounds only manage to get 1 failed armor save, however. The Daemonettes charge Piranha 1 and rip off the Fusion Blaster. Bikers and Lord charge the other Piranha and the Lord swipes it from the sky with a blow from his fist. They then consolidate into the Drones.

Tau: Drones from Piranha 1 kill a Daemonette. FireWarriors kill 2 more. Broadside SMS fire kills 2 more and the various Crisis suits and teams account for 5 more, leaving 2 units of 1 each. (This was actually intentional. I was figuring that they’d suffer from instability on either this turn or at the beginning of the next turn (last man standing) and they’d fade away.) The Gun Drones from Piranha 1 charge one of the Daemonettes, but are ripped to shreds by it for no return. The Chaos Lord kills the 2 Drones from Piranha 2 before the rest of the Bikers can even blink.

Tau: 201VP
Chaos: 153.5VP

Draw

Turn 3

Slaanesh: I don’t have any record of the Havocs doing anything this turn. Perhaps Matt didn’t shoot them to make sure he got his charges in, or maybe they just didn’t do much. The Bikes go around the remains of Piranha 1 and move toward the FireWarriors in the ruined Chapel. They hit the FireWarriors while the Lord hits independent Crisis Shas’Ui 1, ending his life before anyone can react. 3 FireWarriors of the team die, which removes the team from contact before the Aspiring champion with his powerfist can strike. The Champion can only scream as the team runs away out of contact. (smart use of casualty removal if I do say so myself! I’m rather proud of this, as I believe it’s the first time I’ve actually used that rule to my benefit.) Unfortunately, they don’t get very far in the difficult terrain and the squad and Lord consolidate into them. The remaining Daemonette from the lead unit heads toward the ruins, then sneaks around and just manages to tag the CIB Commander, who ignores it’s attacks and swiftly smashes it under the heavy fists of his battlesuit. The other Daemonette charges the big Crisis team, but is also smashed quickly for no return.

Tau: The Big Crisis Team kills 4 Havocs while the CIB ‘El kills the remaining one. The Lord smashes the remainder of FireWarrior team 1 and gets a 5” massacre move! At this point, all my Crisis suits move forward toward Matt’s corner, allowing my flank to essentially evaporate.

Tau: 624VP
Chaos: 306.5VP

Solid Victory for Tau

Turn 4

Slaanesh: The Lord leaves the biker squad and charges the remaining independent Shas’Ui Team Leader, killing him immediately, then getting a great massacre roll and barreling straight into both the CIB ‘El and the Big Crisis Team. Meanwhile the Bikers hit both FireWarrior Team 2 and Broadside 1, killing them all, but stopping just short of hitting the other Broadside.

Tau: The Broadside shifts for a better angle and shatters one biker with it’s Railgun. The Helios attempts to add to the damage, but causes no Wounds! The Big Crisis Team loses 1 and a Wound and runs from combat.

Tau: 624VP
Chaos: 539.5VP

Draw

Turn 5

Unfortunately, there are no pictures after this point in the battle. Everything was moving pretty quickly and I got excited and just forgot. On the other hand, with so few units left, you don't necessarily need a picture to understand the action.

Slaanesh: The Bikers kill a drone with shooting and assault the Big Crisis Team, killing a Drone and another suit, then finishing the rest with a sweeping advance into the final Broadside. Since the Broadside had moved into cover, the bikers had to risk difficult terrain, and one of them succumbed, leaving only the Aspiring Champion. The Slaaneshi Lord kills the CIB Commander and comes face to face with the Helios Commander.

Tau: The Helios Commander blasts the Slaaneshi Lord into oblivion as the Aspiring Champion kills Broadside 2.

Tau: 856VP
Chaos: 880.5 VP

Draw

Turn 6

The Aspiring Champion charges into the Helios Commander and kills him. He cannot catch the Piranha, but it cannot damage him in return. Final Score: Tau: 856VP Chaos: 929VP Draw

Lessons Learned
Interestingly, my first feeling at the end of this game was that I'd lost, until I realized that Matt's army was down to a single model as well! My Tau have never taken that much damage before, but they managed to give as well as they got. I think I made a number of mistakes in this battle, and I still managed to pull out a draw. I'm planning on doing some Armchair General-type analysis of this battle and our forces, but I'll have to save that for next week, I think.

The first part of the analysis is now up, and you can check it out here.

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