I am feeling chuffed! I've just tried out a new army list (which has sod-all to do with the Terminators and Assault Marines AND Sanguinary Priests whose pretty pics I've been posting, but oh, well... ) and it performed gloriously in a game yesterday against CK's Tau. Anyway, my list as it stands:
HQ - 100pts
Librarian with Shield and Lance
Troops - 780pts
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Lascannon + Twin-linked Plasmagun
5-man Assault Squad
- Meltagun
- Sgt Infernus Pistol
- Sgt Power Weapon
- Razorback w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon
Fast Attack - 470pts
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Baal Predator w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons
2 Land Speeder Typhoons
Heavy Support - 400pts
5-man Devastator Squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Predator w/ Autocannon + Lascannon sponsons
Total - 1750pts
Tau Army (This is from memory, and I'm not that familiar with the Tau codex, so I'm assuming that this is about 1750pts)
HQ
Shas'O w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, ? and 2 Shield Drones
Elites
3 Crisis Suits with Plasma Rifle and Missle Pod
3 Crisis Suits with Twin-linked Missile Pods
6 Stealthsuits, all with Burst Cannons
Troops
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
8 Firewarriors
Fast Attack
8 Pathfinders w/ Devilfish
Heavy Support
Hammerhead w/ big honkin' Railgun
Skyray
3 Broadside Battlesuits
Terrain - Mostly open terrain, with a few buildings/ruins near the edges of the board and a ruin around the middle.
Mission - Sieze ground, 3 objectives. numbered as follows:
1 - On my left, about 18' from the left table edge and 4' closer to my side from the center.
2 - On my right, about 20' from the right table edge and 15' from his table edge.
3 - On my right, about 28' from the right table edge and 15' from my table edge.
Deployment - Dawn of War, Tau go first.
Tau Deployment
Shas'O and 2 teams of Firewarriors hunkered down in a building near objective 2. Stealthsuits outflank.
Blood Angel Deployment
Librarian in a Razorback with an assault squad hid in a ruin about a foot to my right from objective 1. Baal Predators outflank. There were no outbreaks of Red Thirst.
Turn 1
His army moved on the the table, all clustered around his Shas'O and ready to shred anything that came near objective 2, with the Crisis teams poised behind a ruin near the centre set to jump out next turn and lay down some gunishment. One Crisis team pushed further ahead with its jet packs, looking to use a crater to cover its advance, but took a wound in the process.
I moved up with my Librarian in his Razorback, and the other 3 Razorbacks surged up behind. The two combi-preds moved up on my right to take up firing positions, with the Devastators running into a ruin near my center. The Landspeeders turbo-boosted along my left table edge.
On seeing the layout of the board at this point, my strategy was clear in my mind:
1) The Razorbacks would surge towards objective 2, using the ruins, smoke, and the Librarian's Shield of Sanguinius as cover , then disembark and brutalize those Tau pansies with some chainsword love.
2) The combi-preds and Devastators would provide covering fire, hopefully hurting some of the Tau vehicles.
3) The Landspeeders would lend supporting fire to the Razorback advance in 1).
4) The rearmost Razorback's squad would disembark, claiming objective 1. Any spare Razorbacks from the advance in 1) would double back near the game's end to take objective 3.
5) The Baal Preds, when they came in, would lend harass the flanks as opportunity arose.
Because I'm too lazy to give a turn by turn account, I'm going to look at how the game went in relation to my Grand Planne laid out above:
1) Razorback advance - This went as planned, with the Razorback guns inflicting some casualties on the Crisis suits as they advanced. 1 squad disembarked to meltagun a Devilfish that tried to get in the way then went back to claim objective 1. The Librarian's squad was forced to disembark as their Razorback was wrecked about 3 inches from the the Tau positions. The Librarian's Shield proved invaluable on several occassions, and really made a big difference in making sure my Assault Squads reached the Tau lines. He also managed to skewer a couple of Crisis suits with his Lance, which was fun. Another squad hopped out to contest objective 2 and beat up some Firewarriors sitting on it. This squad was then assaulted by the Shas'O and another squad of Firewarriors, whom they beat in combat and sweeping advanced to death (huzzah!), leaving 3 survivors to sit comfortably on objective 2.
2) The 2 combi-preds were marked for much ranged brutality by the Broadsides, the Skyray and the Hammerhead, and were predictably shredded by turn 2. This being my first time playing Devastators, I stupidly forgot to move them in turn 2, pretty much wasting a whole round of shooting. In turn 4, they managed to fire a salvo of frag missiles into a squad of Firewarriors, killing 4, but achieved nothing else. Though it doesn't look like they did much, the combi-preds did perform an extremely important function: distract the Tau big guns so my assault squads could do their dirty work.
3) The Landspeeders managed to let loose 1 salvo with Heavy Bolters and Krak missiles into a Crisis team. It did NOTHING. Stupid cover saves. Then 6 Stealthsuits outflanked right behind them and shredded them in turn 3.
4) See 1). That squad which headed back for objective 1 didn't have any Stealthsuit trouble from 3). Why? See 5)...
5) Both Baals chose to pop up on Turn 3, on the same side of the board as the Stealthsuits. Retribution! Or so I thought. I left 1 to maul the Stealthsuits and 1 puttered along, lending some dakka to the all-important Razorback advance. What happened in the subsequent turns made me facepalm... Turn 3 - 3 Stealthsuits killed at point-blank range. Turn 4 - Stealthsuits rally, then shoot the supporting Baal in the side, stunning it. I maul them, with the remaining Baal some more, reducing them to 1 lonely Stealthsuit, who keeps his nerve and continues the fight. Turn 5 - The Lone Stealthsuit hops behind my supporting Baal and wrecks it. I am not pleased. The other Baal terminates him with extreme prejudice, but the damage is done. 6 Stealthsuits have destroyed 2 Landspeeders, a Baal Predator and tied up another. My Fast Attack section has disappointed me greatly...
So, by the end of turn 5, all 3 objectives were mine. The game went on to Turn 6, but by the end of Tau Turn 6, it was very clear the Tau had no chance of winning, and I was rushing to finish the game in time for dinner with a nice lass, we shook hands and called it a day.
Afterthoughts
I am pleased. This game marked something of a departure from my usual way of playing my army. Usually I tend to keep my distance and pick at the enemy with my vehicles, which included 2 Stormravens. Here, I've swapped out the Stormravens in favour of 2 Landspeeder Typhoons, 1 Devastator Squad and a combi-pred, and was much more in-your-face with the Assault Squads. The newly-painted Librarian performed beautifully, and didn't blat himself with Perils of the Warp even once! All-in-all, the game went according to plan, and I am pleased.
That having been said, there were some clear errors on my opponent's part. Strategically, bunching up all 3 of his Troops in one place in an objectives game was a bad idea. Even if he had managed to get lucky and horribly maul my army with shooting, he'd never have been able to stop me from grabbing at least objectives 1 and 3 while all 3 of his troops choices sat on objective 2. Tactically, there was a point when he stuck a Devilfish in the face of my Razorbacks, hoping to block my advance. Unfortunately, all it did was give me cover from his shooting. But then again, I don't think he expected me to make quite as many 5+ cover saves as I did.
Anyway, in case I haven't mentioned it enough, I am pleased with how my Angels performed. Except for the Fast Attack section. And the Heavy Support, I suppose. But enough of this, my landspeeders need paint, because as we all know, nice paintjobs make the dice gods smile on you...
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