HQ:
Cadre Fireblade
Troops:
7 Breachers with EMP Grenades in a Devilfish with Smart Missiles and Disruption Pods
10 Fire Warriors with a DX8 Tactical Turret (SMS)
Elite:
Riptide with an Ion Accelerator
3 Crisis Suits with 2 Plasma Rifles each
3 Crisis Suits with 2 Cyclic Ion Blasters each
Fast Attack:
6 Pathfinders
Heavy Support:
Broadside with High Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override and two marker drones
The significant changes from the list from a previous post were adding some marker drones to the Broadside as extra pinpoints as well as ablative wounds for the surprisingly fragile suit, and swapping out burst cannons for Ion Blasters on the second crisis team. Wow, Ion Blasters! These guns are unbelievable, and the same price as all other premium Crisis weapon options. For 30pts a suit (bringing the total cost to 52ppm), they can dish out 6 S7 AP4 shots a turn, or can choose to overheat the gun to make it S8 AP4 small blast. I had great success (for the most part) deep striking these guys and dumping 18 S7 shots into the soft rear armour of a tank, wrecking it with impunity!
The unique and fantastic thing about the tournament was the stipulation that all models in each army must be painted. This meant that on the day, there were twelve gorgeous armies playing games on 6 exceptionally painted tables! The organisers went above and beyond what was expected of then, and hosted a truly memorable event.
Now, I will preface the following by apologising for lack of photos. I was so focused on the games and not stuffing up rules with a new codex that it wasn't until half way through game two that I realised I hadn't taken a single snap. I will however, give you very quick run-downs of each battle, and include photos of my opponents' armies thanks to the TO!
My first game was against a fellow rocking an infantry-heavy Space Wolf list. While a lot of points were poured into gearing his list toward combat, the mobility and superior firepower offered by Tau, particularly the Riptide, caused no end of problems for my opponent. This was only amplified when my two Crisis teams arrived via Deep Strike, landed perfectly, and unloaded their potent arsenal with devastating effects. The Ion suits tore through the rear armour of a looming dreadnaught with ease, while the Plasma team obliterated a unit of Long Fangs who found themselves isolated from the rest of their aggressive force. After several turns, I managed to neutralise all units but a drop pod, and held four out of the five objectives on the board and securing a Major Victory.
The second game was against a good friend of mine, who was running a mechanised Ultramarine list. The army was exceptionally well painted, weathered and based, and is a credit to my opponent's hobbying skills. The scenario was Maelstrom of War, which typically focuses on objectives over slaughter, but this was by far the bloodiest game of the day. I got through the first few turns relatively unscathed, and did horrific damage in return. I crippled several of his vehicles early in the piece and was optimistic about gaining control of the board. Things seemed to sway further in my favour, when my plasma suits killed four Sternguard and left his Captain on a single wound. Then all hell broke loose. Thanks to some well timed doctrines, clever moves and three battered marines taking their combat blades to three unfortunate suits, the spine of my force was shattered, leaving both players with a handful of battle-weary models at the end of the game, only having five points to each of our names, and suitably enough finishing in a Draw.
Then came the interesting part. Thanks to the Draw, myself and my Game Two opponent managed to keep ourselves in the top half of the pool, without reaching the top table. This meant that I ended up facing the gentleman below me on the ladder, who was sporting a pretty scary Ork list, in a straight Kill Points mission. The photo is pretty self-explanatory. His army also looked fantastic on the board, with highly detailed swamp bases, great weathering and a terrifying and monstrous Ork Warboss on a trike! I knew I had to shut down the battery of Mega-Kannons if I had any hope of victory, but it wasn't until after deployment that I realised that his Bikers were in fact Nob Bikers, accompanied by his aforementioned Warboss and a cheeky Painboy! Now I had a fight on my hands...
I opened the scoring by easily disposing of four Deffkoptas and managing to hide pretty successfully from the guns on the other side of the board. The dense ruins in the centre of the table offered great protection, but in turn gave the hulking Bike unit an unimpeded course across the field. Things got real when I failed my Nova Reactor test on the Riptide to boost his Invulnerable save the same turn that he found himself on the wrong end of four Power Klaws. I spent the next two turns trying to gun down as many bikers as I could, as well as dropping my Ion suits next to the Mek Guns and failing to cause an impossibly difficult leadership check on the cowardly crew! The crew subsequently turn their guns on the newly arrived battlesuits and blew the unit off the board in a single salvo. My plasma suits managed to scrounge a few kill points (in combat, mind you) before getting shanked by Gretchin wielding broken glass and screwdrivers. My army was being torn apart, and while I couldn't take down the guns, I did manage to pour an obscene amount of fire into the bike unit, leaving the Warboss alone and on a single wound, and leaving me one kill point behind my opponent.
In a stroke of sheer, undeniable luck, I was gifted with a turn six, in which my four remaining models (three fire warriors and the Fireblade) did the unthinkable and gunned down the Warboss with the final shot! In return, only one Mek gun could see my now-exposed Warlord, but the dice had their way, and the blast scattered wide. The Warboss gifted me with another Kill Point and Slay the Warlord, pushing me one point ahead and handing me a Minor Victory!
This was enough to just scrape in at 3rd place! A very satisfying result from a great day!
Next week, I'll be publishing a Horus Heresy Battle Report between my Salamanders Legion and the bloodthirsty World Eaters! Keep your eyes peeled; it's going to be a great game!
As always, thanks for reading and for your continued support...
Gabriel
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