Campaign so far

The Ambush Scenario from 4th edition (Raids) is an interesting one. It basically represents one force managing to catch another while it is on the move. The objective of the trapped force is to break free and keep as much of their army intact as possible. The trapping force, then, is attempting to destroy the enemy army and keep them from moving to their new position. Josh (my opponent in the Kill Team scenario as well) and I set up a fair amount of the refinery terrain, along with a road down the middle leading off the short board edge. As per the scenario rules, I set up counters representing my units around the board, then rolled to see which half of my army actually started on the board, and which one would be in reserve. I tried to split my forces evenly, getting some anti-vehicle and anti-troop in each portion. (Each one got a Firestorm squad, 1 team got the Centurion and Bodyguards and the Broadsides, while the other got the Fireknife 'El and bodyguard and the Fireknife team. Random roll determined that I got the side with the Centurion first. I had the two teams split between the sides, so that one side wouldn't be left uncovered. Looking back on this, I'm not sure if that was a good plan or not.) While counters that were reserve units could turn into minefields, I didn't place anything on the road in front of the Orks. While a minefield might have been handy, I didn't want to risk giving the Orks charge movement to help them get off the board edge.

Turn:1
Tau: The Broadsides open up on the Killer Kanz, scoring 3 penetrating hits. 2 are saved by cover and one is turned into a stunned result by the armor of the Kan. Very disappointing. My Centurion Commander and his bodyguard join with the Firestorm and pour fire into the Grots (to reduce later cover saves for the Ork Boyz behind them. In hindsight, this was a poor choice) they manage to kill only 4, due to cover saves.

Orks: The other two Killer Kanz fire into the Broadsides, killing one, and the Broadsides run off the board. The Grot Bom launches and makes a bee-line for the Centurion's team, splashing down on top of one of the Centurion Commander's Bodyguards, killing him instantly. The large mob of Flash Gitz opens up on the Firestorm team, killing 1 and wounding and team leader.

Turn:2
Tau: No reserves come in yet. The Centurion commander and his remaining Bodyguard open up on the Grots, but the Commander completely whiffs his shots. The Bodygard keeps up his end of the deal by killing 3. The Firestorm team manages to kill 1 Flash Git. (2W, Sv4+, Feel No Pain. Ouch. That's hard to kill.)

Orks: The Flash Gitz return fire on the Firestorm team, wiping them out.

Turn:3
Tau: The Fireknife Commander and his Bodyguard come in on the Orks' Right flank (opposite the Firestorm team that just died) and they kill 4 Boyz from the main mob (the one that has the inquisitor)

Orks: The Grotz shoot, then charge the Centurion and his remaining Bodyguard. The Centurion manages to kill 4 Grotz. The Tankbusta mob crosses through the main mob of Boyz and unleashes 13 Rokkits into the FireKnife Commander and his bodyguard, killing both easily.

Turn:4
Tau: Both the Firestorm team and the Fireknife team show up. With an unrestricted sightline on the Tankbustas, they both open up on them. The Firestorm team kills 7, while the Fireknife team kills 5 and the Nob, wiping them out completely. The Centurion and his Bodyguard kill a few more Grotz, but the Grotz manage to drag down the Centurion.

Orks: Most of the Ork line continues to move forward while the Grotz tie up the Bodyguard. The FlashGitz fire into the Fireknife Commander and his bodyguard, killing them. The Weirdboy manages to channel the Orky energy cascading through his brain into a curse that turns the remaining Bodyguard into a squig, which the Grots immediately pummel into the ground. They then consolidate into the minefield, using their special ability to clear it, killing themselves in the process.

Turn:5
Tau: The Firestorm team moves up to harry the main mob, killing 6 Boyz. They then move closer to the Orks, planning on Assaulting the tail of the mob next turn to force them to close in around the combat and drag them away from the board edge.

Orks: The Weirdboy separates from the main mob and charges the Firestorm team, they manage to Wound him, but he keeps them tied up.

Turn:6
Tau: The combat between the Crisis Suits and the Weirdboy continues, with no real result.

Orks: The main mob walks off the board with the Inquisitor, ending the game.

What Happened?I had a couple of challenges this time. The first challenge was that my army came in piecemeal, meaning I couldn't do very much damage and had to contend with the bulk of his army with small parts of mine. I don't like blaming things on the dice, but there really isn't anything I could have done about this. The other challenge for me was not being able to do much damage. I needed to do a lot of damage to his army, but there were so many cover saves that I just wasn't able to get the job done. I'm in favor of using lots of terrain, and there was a good amount on the board today. Unfortunately, that cut the damage that I was able to do by almost half. There are two things that I can do about this. The first is to use more Firestorm-type Crisis Suits. These rely on weight of fire, rather than armor penetration. A Plasma gun rips straight through even Terminator armor, but it's effectiveness is cut in half if that Terminator is standing in a forest or is behind another unit. While the Firestorm doesn't cut through their armor, it's effectiveness is unchanged by intervening terrain, and it has more shots. The other thing that I can do about the cover saves is to make better use of my jetpack movement. The times when I was able to maneuver around cover, I did _way_ more damage. The difficulty is getting around the cover and back under cover again. Using a line of friendly troops can make that way easier. (An example of this would be using the Mobile Infantry concept of Tau. Have a line of FireWarriors or Broadsides with Shield Drones and jump back and forth over the line.)

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