"This could get shooty"
After a few week hiatus, I went back to the Tacoma Games-Workshop store to see if I could get in a game. They had been having a "late" gaming night on Wednesdays, staying open until 9 instead of their usual 8, so I thought I had plenty of time. Unfortunately, it seems that no one had been using the late hours, so they cut back. That left me with only an hour to play. I had originally planned a 1500pt list, so I pretty much cut it by 1/3 and prepared to get my game on. There was a good player there by the name of Ben Kiesel (Hi Ben!) who also had Tau, so we set up for a quick game of paintball. :) Another player, watching us set up our forces said, "This could get shooty!" I liked it so much, I decided to keep the quote.

The Usual 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: Table Quarters. 1000pts. Standard Force Organization Chart.

Lists

Ben's Tau: (This is from some notes and memory, but it should be close)
100 Shas'El Crisis Suit Centurion PR, CIB, TA, HWMT

245 Shas'Ui and 11 FW in a Devilfish w/SMS, MT, Decoy Launchers.

245 Shas'Ui and 11 FW in a Devilfish w/SMS


50 Piranha w/Burst Cannon
75 Piranha w/Fusion Blaster, TA, Decoy Launchers
75 Piranha w/Fusion Blaster, TA, Decoy Launchers

175 Hammerhead Gunship, TA, MT, Railgun, SMS

965pts

My Tau:
100 Shas'El Crisis Suit Centurion PR, CIB, TA, HWMT

73 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT
73 Shas'Ui PR,BC,TA,Tm Ldr,HWMT

80 5xShas'La Fire Warrior w/Pulse Rifle. Shas'Ui Team Leader with Pulse Rifle and Markerlight
80 5xShas'La Fire Warrior w/Pulse Rifle. Shas'Ui Team Leader with Pulse Rifle and Markerlight

280 3xBroadside with Advanced Stabilization. 1 is Team Leader w/HWTL, HWDC and 2 Shield Drones
280 3xBroadside with Advanced Stabilization. 1 is Team Leader w/HWTL, HWDC and 2 Shield Drones

966pts

I decided to experiment with the Mobile Infantry concept this game. My initial idea was to separate roughly into two teams, but fairly close together to support one another. Each team would have a unit of Broadsides, a unit of Firewarriors and a Crisis Suit. The Broadsides would provide heavy firepower and hard armor, the Crisis suit and Firewarriors would supplement the firepower and be used to provide a skirmish screen for the Broadsides to keep them from being assaulted. The Commander would be placed roughly between the two groups, using his mobility to lend firepower to whichever side needed it the most.

Terrain: There was a table with some terrain already on it, but we both wanted to add more terrain, so we did. We ended up with a large, line of sight-blocking hill in the middle, and ruins on both sides with lots of forested terrain as well.

Setup

Ben: Ben won the roll for table quarter choice and picked the corner with the large ruins. He placed both Devilfish behind the ruins. His Hammerhead was hidden behind a forest on his right flank along with 2 of his Piranhas. The final Piranha (his painted one, which looked extremely good!) was placed back in his corner behind more trees. He used his terrain very effectively and managed to get everything but the Devilfish out of line of sight. (And those were obscured.)

Me: I initially put Broadside Team 1 into the tower of the ruins in my corner, until I realized how little line of sight they had (being blocked by the central hill.) I decided to put them on the ground, giving them the opportunity to move around the hill. Broadside Team 2 started behind a large forest on my right, with an eye toward moving out and targeting the Devilfish. Due to the open nature of the terrain on my left flank, I didn't feel good about placing the Firewarriors there, so both sets setup near Broadside Team 2, along with all my Crisis Suits, anticipating a rush from his Firewarriors in their Devilfish.

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

Ben: The Piranhas start to flank me, moving forward on Ben's right, but trying to stay mostly covered by trees. His other skimmers shifted around but stayed as covered as possible. His only firing was the Hammerhead firing off some SMS shots over the hill at one of my Crisis Suits. 4 shots. 1 hit. No Wound. (Lawn darts!)

Me: Broadside team 1 moved to their left, trying to draw a bead on both the lead Piranha and a Devilfish, while Broadside team 2 moved forward on my right, drawing line of sight to both Devilfish. Firewarrior team 1 also moves forward, getting further into the forest. The Broadside Teams fired, with the Team Leaders using their target locks to fire at separate targets. With 6 Twin-linked Railguns firing at 4 separate targets, you would expect some serious damage. You'd be wrong. The decoy launchers really paid off this turn, with a Piranha and a Devilfish both turning immobilization results into Shaken. The other Devilfish also ended up shaken.

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

Turn 2

Ben: His Piranhas move out in front of Broadside Team one, deploying their Gun Drones, while the Hammerhead moves into firing position. It fires a submunition round at Firewarrior team 1, but fails to hit, while it's SMS again targets a Crisis Suit, this time causing one Wound. The Gun Drones and 2 Piranhas fire into Broadside Team 2 to no effect, then 4 Gun Drones assualt Broadside Team one. 8 attacks. 8 Hits! 2 Wounds. No damage. The Broadsides fail to damage the Drones in response and are tied up in combat. Toward the end of this turn, we realize the store will be closing soon, so this will have to be our final turn.

Me: Since Broadside Team 2 is tied up by the Drones, and recognizing the danger of leaving the Piranhas, I focus everything on them. A Firewarrior team brings down 1, while my two Crisis suits each take down another (one with plasma and one with a Burst Cannon that I almost forgot to shoot.) I don't have any notes about Broadside team 1, so I must have missed or failed to further damage the Devilfish on my right. At that point the game was called and we started packing up.

Turn Score: 200? to 0. Solid Victory for Me.

Final Score: Well, the dead Piranhas made a huge difference here, being the only score in the game. Looking at the quarters, we each held our own quarter and contested both the side quarters.

Lessons Learned
This was an interesting matchup between a Mobile Infantry style of Tau force and a Mechanized Tau force. (Or as was pointed out once, a Tau Armored Company and a Tau Devastator Company. Tanks versus Antitank.) The lessons this time focused on Tau Skimmers. The first lesson was how hard it is to hurt them. Between being Skimmers moving fast and Decoy Launchers, they can be very resilient. Simply look at my first turn shooting and you can see the results. The second one pointed up their vulnerabilities against multishot weapons. 6 Firewarriors took down a Piranha that a Broadside couldn't take down the turn before. The Crisis Suits tossed their shots into the other Piranhas with multiple attacks, tearing them out of the sky.

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