Getting in a quick game of paintball
I headed over to Discordia to get in a game with Matt. We had agreed on 1000pts, but when I got there, he'd been roped into playing in a Magic: The Gathering Tournament. (He's an employee there, and they couldn't have had the tournament without another player.) Matt was quite rusty at M:TG and lost the first round pretty quick. At that point, we hatched a plan that after he lost on the 3rd round (we thought there were only 3 rounds) we'd have time for a short game. We redid lists for a 400pt Combat Patrol, since that's a nice and quick game. So, after he lost in the third round, we set up the game and got started. Then we found out there was a 4th round! Fortunately, another 40k player had stopped in and agreed to take over for Matt. So, thanks to the combination of Matt and Thomas, I managed to actually get my game on!

More Numbers
Again, I (after the game) kept track of our point totals from turn to turn, and also counted up the points that each unit earned, where possible. This isn't terribly difficult to do, and it allows me to better evaluate my force.

Game: Last Man Standing. 400pts. Combat Patrol restrictions

Lists

Matt's Tau: (This is from some notes and memory, but it should be close)
77 Shas'Ui Crisis Suit (FireKnife configuration) PR, MP, TA, HWMT, Team Leader upgrade
90 3xStealth Suit
90 3xStealth Suit
135 11xShas'La FireWarrior with Pulse Rifle. Shas'Ui Team Leader with Pulse Rifle and Bonding Knife
392pts

My Tau:
88 Shas'Vre PR, CIB, TA, HWMT, HWBSF
76 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT, HWBSF
76 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT, HWBSF
80 5xShas'La Fire Warrior w/Pulse Rifle. Shas'Ui Team Leader with Pulse Rifle and Markerlight
75 Piranha: Fusion Blaster, TA
395pts

(The Black Sun Filters were added on since I didn't have enough points for another model. In hindsight, had I dropped them _and_ dropped the Team Leader Upgrades/Target Arrays on the two Shas'Uis and the Markerlight from the FireWarriors, I would have had 9+30+20=59pts, just enough for another standard Bladestorm Crisis Suit. Interestingly, 3 BS4 Crisis Suits are pretty much identical in terms of potential damage to 4 BS3 Crisis Suits. Think of it as 3x 2/3 vs. 4x 1/2 and you'll see what I mean. On the other hand, the extra one would also give me 2 extra T4, 3+ Save Wounds, which can be pretty darn useful.)

Setup

Matt/Thomas: The full team of Firewarriors setup partially within the wooded hill on his right flank. Stealth Suit Team 1 setup to the inside of that hill, while the Fireknife setup to the outside. (Farther out on his flank, but still behind the hill) Stealth Suit Team 2 Setup behind the woods on his left flank.

Me: My Firewarrior team setup behind the ruined chapel on my left flank (opposite his FireWarriors) with most of my army surrounding them. Shas'Ui 1 is on the outside (the far edge of my flank) while the Shas'Vre is on the inside, but both are still hidden by the terrain piece. Shas'Ui 2 is behind the wooded hill on my right flank (opposite Stealth Team 2) and the Piranha sets up behind the FireWarriors. Both sides are definitely set up for a game of cat and mouse!

Turn 1: (I got first turn, but decided to let Matt go first, given that we were both pretty well hidden. Basically, I was hoping that he'd make the first mistake :) )

Matt/Thomas: The Fireknife hops out of cover and can see my Shas'Ui 2. The Fireknife realizes that it's out of range and jumps back into cover.

Me: I noticed that about half of Matt's FireWarrior team was more than 6" deep in the wooded hill, meaning that few of them could fire on me. I decided to take the risk and move my FireWarrior team up into the Ruined Chapel. (I figured they'd be fired on, but that between the limited amount of fire and their cover saves, it would be worth it.) The Piranha moves up to just behind the cover, preparatory to a strike on the next turn. Shas'Ui 1 hops out and kills a FireWarrior with his Plasma Rifle. The Shas'Vre hops out on the other side of the cover and misses another FireWarrior. Shas'Ui 2 moves around the outside of the woods and kills 1 from Stealth Team 2. Then all the Crisis Suits move back into hiding.

Turn Score: No Points yet. No units under 50% Result: Draw.

Turn 2

Matt/Thomas: Stealth Suit Team 1 moves up along the edge of the Wooded hill and shoots into my FireWarriors, killing 2. The Fireknife jumps out, manages an angle on Shas'Ui 1 and wounds him with the Plasma Rifle. Then the Stealth Team and the Fireknife fire their thrusters and get back out of sight.

Me: The Piranha jumps out from behind the ruined chapel, disembarking it's drones and incinerating a FireWarrior with it's Fusion Blaster. One of the Drones brings down another Firewarrior as well. Shas'Ui 1 and the Shas'Vre both jump out and focus their fire on the FireWarriors (the only visible target) taking down 3 between them. The Firewarriors Panic at the loss of half their number and promptly run back off the table. (My FireWarriors could have fired here initially, but after the 5 enemy FireWarriors were removed, there were no more in sight for them to shoot!) Then my Shas'Vre and Shas'Ui move back into hiding. Shas'Ui 2 attempts to walk into the woods in front of him, but is entangled in some heavy brush (only moves 1"!)

Turn Score: 135 to 0. Solid Victory for Me!
Shas'Vre: 45 (splitting points for the FW)
Shas'Ui 1: 45
Shas'Ui 2: 0
FireWarriors: 0
Piranha: 45

Turn 3

Matt/Thomas: The Fireknife confidently jumps out and shoots the Piranha, and is dumbfounded when it survives. Stealth Team 2 moves out and joins in the fire, finally rupturing a fuel tank and destroying it (I forgot to use my decoy launcher here, though it probably wouldn't have mattered. It will certainly _never_ work if I forget to use it, though!) Stealth Team 1 moves up into the woods on the hill and fires on my FireWarriors. 2 die and the last two run away. With my FireWarriors gone, the Fireknife joins Stealth Team 1 in the Woods.

Me: Shas'Ui 2 moves further into the Woods this turn, but has no targets to fire on. (I don't have notes of either my Shas'Vre or Shas'Ui 1 doing anything this turn, but I'm pretty sure I moved and shot with them and then moved back. Looking back at the pictures, there's two Stealth Suits from Team 1 missing, so that must have been their contribution. Apparently I need to take better notes!) The drones zip forward in front of the woods and fire into the Fireknife, causing a Wound. Then they boldly charge into the terrain and engage him in close combat! (My plan was to have them tie him up in CC for a turn while my Crisis suits concentrated on his Stealth Teams, then I could engage him at a severe advantage afterward.) The Fireknife is suprised, and flails at them ineffectively (c'mon, this is Tau we're talking about, you didn't expect him to gracefully chop them to the ground, did you?) In return, one of them runs straight into his helmet, killing him! The drones (they don't have programming that would allow them to be surprised) buzz a little closer to Stealth Team 1, who is now eyeing them with a healthy respect.

Turn Score: 257 vs 155 still a Solid Victory for Me (though it's MUCH closer now)
Shas'Vre: 67.5
Shas'Ui 1: 67.5
Shas'Ui 2: 0
FireWarriors: 0
Piranha: 122

Turn 4

Matt/Thomas: Stealth Team 2 moves up into the woods and fires on Shas'Ui 2, but his armor shrugs off the rounds. The remaining member of Stealth team 1 guns down a drone then charges the other and shreds it in hth.

Me: My Shas'Vre hops out from behind the Chapel again and kills the last member of Stealth Team 1. Shas'Ui 1 moves out and attempts to shoot Stealth Team 2, but cannot make them out due to their Stealth Fields. Shas'Ui 2 moves forward to ensure that he can see Stealth Team 2 and get within Rapid Fire Range for his Plasma Rifle. With that much firepower coming their way, both Stealth Suits go down.

Final Score: 392 vs 155. A Crushing Victory for Me!
Shas'Vre: 112.5
Shas'Ui 1: 67.5
Shas'Ui 2: 90
FireWarriors: 0
Piranha:122

Lessons Learned
Well, one thing that this battle confirmed for me is why the FireKnife configuration is superior in most games. Since we were playing a bit of cat and mouse (or a chess match, as Thomas called it) it was sometimes difficult to get my Crisis Battlesuits within range to use their Burst Cannons (or CIB for that matter.) With 2 weapons with 24" or greater range, the Fireknife can be quite effective at long range. (The weapon effectiveness is also very good for a tournament style, Take-All-Comers list, but the extra antivehicle effectiveness would be useless to me in the final version of my army, since I'll have 9 Broadsides to take care of vehicles, plus up to 6 Piranhas with Fusion Blasters to bat clean-up for me. On the other hand, the Burst Cannons will be very helpful to give me more firepower to throw against horde-style armies.) I don't plan on switching over to Fireknife, but this game did very effectively demonstrate that range superiority to me. Okay, Lesson two: Hide those FireWarriors. I should have realized that they would be easy casualties, and thus easy Victory Points. If I had simply left them hidden all game, they would have saved me 80 Victory Points and wouldn't have cost me any. At all. (I didn't realize how little they had done until after the game, but aside from one turn where they might have been able to get a Markerlight hit, there really wasn't much for them to do against an opponent that had about as much tactical mobility as I do. I'll have to keep this in mind as I play them in the future. Against an opponent like this where they'll have few targets, my best bet will probably be to keep them hidden, only bringing them out if they can ambush a unit with Rapid Fire. Lesson 3: Stealth Suits are cool, but they just don't cut it compared to Crisis Suits. Stealth Suits have a little advantage at range, since they can be hard to see. On the other hand, 21" is the average roll for sight-distance, which is only 3" inside the maximum range they can jump forward and fire their Burst Cannons. With most Crisis suits featuring weapons with at least that range and often longer, Stealths have a hard time keeping up. (To be fair, they are far more effective against lightly armored opponents, whereas most Crisis Suits have some sort of anti-armor weapon such as the Plasma Rifle.)

Unit Results
I expected my Crisis Suits to clean up here, and they pretty much did. Shas'Ui 1 didn't quite "make his points back" but he didn't die, either, and the others made up for it. What surprised me was the FireWarriors and the Piranha. The FireWarriors didn't really get a chance to contribute, due to the mobility Matt/Thomas' force had, which I hadn't taken into consideration. The Piranha, on the other hand, contributed some good firepower in the one turn it was in play, and the drones got lucky against the Fireknife. Even if they hadn't, however, simply tying up the Fireknife would have given me a similar result, as it would let me have a significant advantage over the rest of the army for a turn before the Fireknife could get back into the game. I've heard people raving about the Gundrones from Piranhas before, and now I understand it!

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