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League Battle versus Crimson Fists Space Marines
Since I'm in the league, I checked in at the Tacoma GW to get in a game and try to advance. Jared, a very good player, has two armies on the league board, and his Crimson Fists were on a low enough tier to challenge my Tau, so we got in a game.
Game: 750pts. Seize Ground. Pitched Battle.
Lists
Crimson Fists
Commander with Stormbolter. (Might have had other things, but only used the SB.)
Scout Squad (6?) with Sniper Rifles
Tactical Squad (10) with Lascannon and Plasmagun, Sergeant with Powerfist.
Tactical Squad (10) with Lascannon and Plasmagun, Sergeant with Powerfist.
Assault Squad (6) with Sergeant with Powerfist.
Approximately 750pts
Tau List:
97 Shas’El Commander w/Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Target Array, HWMT
139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.
735pts
I've tangled with Jared's Crimson Fists before (my only loss in the Combat Patrol tournament) and I knew both that he was a sharp player and that his Assault Marines would do nasty things to me if I let them get in contact with me.
Setup
Crimson Fists: He won the roll to go first, so he began setup on the trench side of the board. He put Tactical Squad 1 and the Commander in and around the trench itself, while Tactical Squad 2 and the Assault squad on the opposite side of his Deployment Zone in with the Capillary Towers there. His Scout squad decided to Outflank.
Tau: After watching his deployment, I pondered my setup options. Given the potential impact of his Assault Squad, I decided to go with a split deployment. That would potentially give me more than a turn to respond if his assault squad hits me. Given that, I put a FireWarrior team, a Broadside and a Crisis team on each side, with my Commander on the same side as the Assault Squad. He asked if I wanted to roll the die to "seize the initiative" and attempt to take 1st turn. I started to, then I decided I'd rather have the last turn in an objective game, so I said no. He was startled and said he'd never run into that before. (I often like to take second turn, sometimes to throw off an opponent, sometimes to have the last turn and sometimes to see what the opponent will do. In addition, I find that many armies will move toward me in their 1st turn, which may not only bring them out of cover, but will bring them closer to the range of my better weapons.)
Turn 1
Crimson Fists: The Assault Marines adjusted forward behind their cover and the Lascannon from Tactical Squad 1 took down one of my Broadsides.
Tau: I moved all of my Crisis Teams up to get shots off. I managed to take down 3 of the Assault Marines with all of the units that could see them. The remaining units put a few shots into Tactical squad 2, killing 2 Marines. Note here that for the entire game, almost all of my shooting was sub-par, hitting less often than would be expected. On the other hand, Jared's armor saves were also sub-par. So, while I didn't hit or wound as often as normal, he died more often, so it pretty well evened out.
Turn 2
Crimson Fists: The Lascannon from Tactical Squad 1 managed a shot against my Commander and took him out. In the meantime, the remainder of the Assault Squad huddled further into terrain, hiding behind the spore chimney.
Tau: I don't have any record of doing damage this turn. I'm not sure if I just didn't record him losing a couple of Tactical Marines, or if I actually managed to do no damage.
Turn 3
Crimson Fists: A bolter round from Tactical Squad 2 caused a Wound on my nearside Crisis Team (the one closest to the Assault Marines) and they were then assaulted by the Outflanking Scout Squad. The Assault Marines move up to seal the deal, but the terrain keeps them out of the combat. (Got a 5 on Difficult terrain, a 6 would have gotten them in.) The Scouts manage a whopping number of hits, but only kill the already-Wounded Crisis suit. The Crisis Team leader managed to kill 1 Scout and the battle continued.
Tau: Realizing how bad it would be to have the Assault Marines hit combat, the nearside FireWarriors move up and Rapidfire them, taking out 2 of them, while the Broadside takes down the Sergeant. The Scouts fail to damage the Crisis Team leader, and he manages to kill one Scout. The Scouts run, and the Crisis leader consolidates closer to them, preventing them from rallying. (I'm very proud of this move. My typical response would be to have my Crisis leader move further away to take advantage of cover and hopefully prevent a future assault. Instead, I managed to keep in cover, but force the Scouts further away.) My farside FireWarrior team moves up on top of the Spore Chimney to get better line of sight while still staying in cover.
Turn 4
Crimson Fists: The Scouts run further away. I think that Tactical Squad 2 managed some shots at the Crisis Team Leader, but his armor and the cover saved him. Tactical Squad 1 fired into my farside FireWarrior team, killing a couple that had just poked their heads out.
Tau: I put a few more shots into Tactical Squad 2, and I think I probably killed a couple of them. (That's the handy thing about Missile Pods, with 36" range, you can coordinate fire on a single target from most of the way across the board.) The Farside FireWarriors put some shots into Tactical Squad 1, but don't do much damage.
Turn 5
Crimson Fists: Tactical Squad 1 kills a few more FireWarriors from the farside team. Tactical squad 1 is down to 2-3 members now and does no damage.
Tau: The farside FireWarrior team decides that discretion is the better part of valor and moves back behind the Spore Chimney, trying to escape Tactical Squad 1's withering firepower.
Turn 6-7
Here my notes have completely broken down, but basically we are at a standoff. I try to damage as much of Tactical Squad 1 as possible and he shoots down my farside FireWarrior team. The game continues on for a couple of extra turns. He manages to kill my farside FireWarrior team, but I keep my nearside team safe and don't manage to do enough damage to kill off a Tactical Squad in cover. At game end, I had a FireWarrior team claiming 1 objective, and Jared had his Tactical squad claiming another. With us being tied on objectives, and the league requiring a clear win condition, we went to Victory Points. We tallied up our scores and I received 330pts. Jared managed to get 347pts, so he squeaked out a win by a mere 17 points.
Final Notes
I had a great time playing against Jared and it definitely taught me a few things. First, I need to read a few of the rules more closely. (Had some confusion about cover and about jump jets moving through terrain, so I need to make sure I'm completely clear on them. Second, I really don't need to freak out as much about small Assault Squads. Now that we are in 5th edition, they cannot consolidate into a new squad after they finish a combat. This should give me plenty of time to take them down with concentrated firepower. If I'd deployed in a smaller wedge, I might have done more damage, more quickly and not taken quite as much in return. Third, something I've been noticing recently is that I need to be more proactive about objectives. I used to be able to wait until the last turn to claim an objective, but now I need to think more about how I'm going to be able to claim them (since it's just my Troops units) and also think more about how I'm going to keep the enemy from getting the objectives. For example, if I had kept my farside Firewarrior team further behind cover, they might have survived the game and given me 2 objectives to Jared's 1. Alternately, if I'd been more aggressive with my Crisis Teams or maybe my Broadside at the end, I might have managed to kill off Tactical Squad 1 and sew up a victory that way. In any case, it was a nail-biter of a game and I look forward to playing against Jared again.
If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know
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