Putting them through their paces
I got my Tau out for another game this weekend. It was originally to be a 1000pt game against Jake, but he couldn't make it until too late, so I got in a short game with Neil, another regular at Discordia. He'd been working with a 2000pt Imperial Guard army that looked pretty interesting, but I didn't have nearly enough points to play that. We settled on 500pts. He hacked out large chunks of his list, but I think he missed a few things when he put it together. He said it came out a little over 500pts, but tallying it up after the fact, I come up with a bit more than that. That's alright, though, it's easy to miss something like that when you toss a list together quickly.

Experiment, part II
Just like last time, I went back after the game and tallied up the Victory Points each side had earned for every turn, to see what information that gave me. This time, I'm also tracking which of my units did the most for me, to see if there are any surprises.

Game: Last Man Standing. 500pts. Standard Force Organization Chart

Lists

General Neil McC's 1st Blood Cadian Regiment: (This is from some notes and memory, but it should be close)
81 Command Section: General Neil McC. w/Master-Crafted power weapon, Bolt Pistol, Refractor Field, 4xguard, Vox-Caster
95 Support Squad 3xAC
80 Command Section: Jr. Officer, 2xplasmagun, 2xMelta
30 remnant squad: 5xLasgun
151 Armoured Fist Squad:8xLasgun, Flamer, Sgt w/pistol and CCW, Vox-Caster. Chimera w/Multilaser
155 LR w/3xHB

Tau:
83 Shas'El PR, BC, MT
73 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT
73 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT
60 6xFire Warrior
60 6xFire Warrior
70 Piranha: Fusion Blaster, TA
80 Broadside: Advanced Stabilization System
499pts

(Note the unusual configuration of the 'El. He would normally have a Hard-Wired Multitracker, but this would require him to fill another Hardpoint. That in turn would normally be a Targeting Array, but I didn't have the points for it.)

Setup

Imperial Guard:General McC. put his Armoured Fist Chimera and Squad behind a rock outcropping, with both of the command sections in and behind some woods nearby on my left flank. He positioned his Leman Russ on my far right flank, partially obscured by more rocks. The Autocannon Support squad setup in the lee of some rocks also on that flank, with the Remnant squad in front of them.

Tau: My two Shas'Ui Team Leaders in Crisis Suits went on my left flank in some rocks, supported by my sole Broadside. Closer to center, my Shas'El deployed behind FireWarrior Team 1 that had set up in rocky cover with a good view of the battlefield. Just the other side of center, the second FireWarrior team had set up mostly behind some rocks that would eventually give them a good field of fire. Finally, the Piranha took my far right flank, hiding behind some rocks, but obviously ready to silence the Leman Russ Tank.

Turn 1 I won the roll for going first, but I chose to go second. General McC. said that always worried him.

Imperial Guard: Leman Russ Moves forward and shoots a Heavy Bolter at the Piranha but merely scratches the paint. The Armoured Fist squad rolls forward in it's Chimera, intent on the cluster of Battlesuits behind the rocky outcropping.

Tau: Fire Warrior Team 1 stuns the Chimera crew (forgot about this later and let him move next turn. Oops.) The Crisis Team Leaders and Broadside fire at the Chimera for absolutely no effect, while the Piranha achieves similar results from a head-on attack on the Leman Russ Tank. Fire Warrior Team 2 moves up into the rocks for a better vantage point. The Shas'El moves up to some rocks in the center of the battlefield.

Turn Score: 0VP Imperial Guard to 0VP Tau (Draw)

Turn 2

Imperial Guard: The Armoured Fist Chimera moves up and the squad inside disembarks. They fire everything they've got into the Broadside, but have no effect. The Autocannon Support Squad fires at Fire Warrior Team 2, but does no damage. The Leman Russ brings all three Heavy Bolters to bear on the Piranha, but the gunners seem to be so rattled by it's head-on approach that they fail to damage it.

Tau: The Broadside moves through the rocks and knocks the turret multilaser off the Chimera, while the Crisis Suit Team Leaders shift around the rock and wipe out 6 of the Armoured Fist squad, while FireWarrior team 1, firing in support of them, do absolutely nothing. The Shas'El kills 3 of the Junior Officer's Command section, and the other two promptly run away. FireWarrior team 2 fires on the Remnant squad, killing 4 of them and leaving the last member fleeing.

Turn Score: 0VP Imperial Guard to 145.5VP Tau (Solid Victory for Tau)
Shas'El: 80 Crisis Leaders: 35.5
FireWarriors: 30

Turn 3

Imperial Guard: The General's command section makes a tactical withdrawal from the woods they had been in to keep away from my Shas'El. The Autocannon Support Squad picks out one of the Team Leaders halfway across the board and manages to Wound him. The Armoured Fist squad moves into cover, hits the Broadside with their flamer and charges in, only to find out that Broadsides are tougher in close combat than they expected. The Broadside manages to kill 1 of the squad and take no damage in turn. Then the squad panics and runs and the Broadside chases them down.

Tau: The Broadside, fresh from running down the Armoured Fist squad, moves out of the rocks to train it's Railgun on the Leman Russ on the other side of the battlefield, immobilizing it. The Shas'El combines with FireWarrior team 2 and the Piranha's drones to kill off 2 of the Autocannons in the Support Squad. (I mistakenly added an extra Wound here from the Shas'El, forgetting that the Autocannon gunner and loader are two separate models, instead of a single, 2-Wound model. Instant Kill should not have applied.) The Crisis Team Leaders combine to blast the Chimera into burning chunks.

Turn Score: 0VP Imperial Guard to 386VP Tau (Crushing Victory for Tau)
Shas'El: 103.75* Crisis Leaders: 115.5
FireWarriors: 53.75*
Broadside: 113
*(half points each for sharing the AC squad damage)

Turn 4

Imperial Guard: The desperate Autocannon Gunner wheels his gun around and shakes the Piranha, preventing it from firing next turn. The Leman Russ fires across the battlefield and scores a direct hit on a Crisis Team leader, but the round fails to detonate (rolled a 1 for the Wound roll. Never say "Anything but a 1!")

Tau: The Broadside fires at the Leman Russ again, but fails to effect it. The Crisis Team Leaders manage to only kill 1 Guardsman in cover from General McC's command section. The FireWarrior teams stay in place and cover open areas. The Shas'El kills off the remaining Autocannon gunner and begins to maneuver toward the Leman Russ.

Turn Score: 0VP Imperial Guard to 433.5VP Tau (Certainly should have been 73pts for that Crisis Team Leader, but sometimes you get really lucky.)
Shas'El: 151.25* Crisis Leaders: 115.5
FireWarriors: 53.75*
Broadside: 113
*(half points each for sharing the AC squad damage)

Turn 5

Imperial Guard: The Leman Russ fires at FireWarrior Team 2 in the rocks, but misses the target. General McC leads the charge against the Broadside, Wounding it with his power weapon, then running it down as it attempts to flee.

Tau: The Crisis Suit Team Leaders pour all their fire into General McC. and his command section, wiping them out. The Piranha moves behind the now-immobile Tank, as do the Gun-Drones. The Drones fire into the back of the tank, but do no real damage. The Shas'El continues to make his way toward the Leman Russ, but is very careful to stay out of Line of Sight.

Turn Score: 80VP Imperial Guard to 514.5VP Tau (Victorious Slaughter for Tau)
Shas'El: 151.25* Crisis Leaders: 196.5
FireWarriors: 53.75*
Broadside: 113
*(half points each for sharing the AC squad damage)

Turn 6

Imperial Guard: The Leman Russ took a chance and fired it's main gun at the Piranha at very close range, but the round went wide and hit nothing.

Tau: The Shas'El continued moving around the rocks near the tank, trying to work his way around back where his weaponry could have some effect, while the rest of the cadre sat in suspense and the Piranha took one more shot. This time the Fusion torch burned through the back armor and ignited the ammunition, blowing the turret off and ending the battle.

Final Score: 80VP Imperial Guard to 592VP Tau (Victorious Slaughter for Tau)
Shas'El: 151.25* Crisis Leaders: 196.5
FireWarriors: 53.75*
Broadside: 113
Piranha: 77.5
*(half points each for sharing the AC squad damage)

Lessons Learned
Well, I definitely kept my FireWarriors safer this Battle. I put them in cover with a decent view of the battlefield and basically just held them back and let them plink at things. With S5 weapons, they can do a number on infantry and can even threaten the back armor of vehicles. With 30" range, they can also do these things over a wide area of the board. Obviously, from my experimental results, the FireWarriors didn't do a lot of damage, but they did some damage and didn't give up any Victory Points, which is pretty much the point, so it definitely worked out. I was disappointed with my Piranha in this game. If I had managed to get it closer to the Leman Russ on the first turn (which I think I could have,) it might've killed that tank much more quickly, but I was just outside of that 6" extra-penetration range. I think the lesson for me this time is to watch the charge range on enemy units, even if you don't think they're a threat. Even if the General's command section hadn't included a power weapon, it would still have tied up my Broadside in close combat for a turn or two, which is not where I want my battle suits to be! As a secondary note, I also need to remember the Smart Missile System that Broadsides come with, as those 4 S5 shots would have been pretty useful a couple of times in this battle.

Experimental Results
Well, I didn't keep track of VPs on a turn-by-turn basis during this game, but looking at the points afterward shows me a couple of things. One thing it shows me is that the game was more lopsided than it seemed during the action. During most of the game, I knew I was ahead, but it seemed much closer than the VPs indicate until the end of turn 4 when I realized it was just the command section and the Leman Russ left. My experiment with assigning points to the specific units that earned them showed me that the Battle Suits are the ones that did the most damage (both the Crisis Suits and the Broadside) which is pretty much what I'd expected. While the Shas'El did the most damage, that was partly due to luck of his positioning letting him take on higher value targets. The FireWarriors did the least damage here, but that was kind of what I wanted. I like the idea of a commander that values his soldier's lives, so I put the least-armored ones (the FireWarriors) in cover and used them defensively. Though, one final bit of analysis sort of backs up that idea. Note that the FireWarriors gained me 53.75 points and lost me none, while the Broadside gained me 113 points but lost me 80. That means that the FireWarriors gained 53.75 points and the Broadside effectively only gained me 33pts. While this is partly the luck of the draw, it shows the effectiveness of a defensive strategy. I think it'll be important to keep that in mind with this army.

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