Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to this Warhammer 40k battle-report. Sorry for the delay on this one - i was a bit busy, so i was unable to play any games previous week. But lets jump straight to this battle we have here.
Today we have a battle between Tau and Daemons(my army, obviously). For start lets take a look at the armies, deployment and mission.Both armies are 1850 worth(as you may have already understood, this is the most popular point amount in my local gaming club). For this battle i brought in a sort of balanced army list, with a bit too much in terms of tank-hunting. My army list is like this:2 squads of Bloodletters, 2 Soul Grinders(both with the "Tongue" upgrade(Str10 AP1 24")), Fateweaver, Bloodthirster(Unholy Might(+1 Str), Blessing of the Blood God), Plaguebearers(Icon of Chaos, Instrument of Chaos), Bloodcrushers(Fury of Khorne(rending), Icon of Chaos, Instrument of Chaos), Pink Horrors(Changeling, Bolt of Tzeentch(Str8 AP1 24"), Screamers. The Tau brought in a competitive list, pretty much the only army list in Tau army that is decent and can stand up against other competitive armies. Let's take a look at the Tau army:3 squads of Fire-warriors(marker drones), Kroot Carnivore squad, 2 Hammerheads(both with the Rail-guns), 2 squads of Crisis-suits, HQ in a Crisis suit with body-guards, Broadside squad. While the daemons seems to lack any thought in their list-making(and they lack a good commander so far), Tau are combined pretty well, capable of dealing with most of the combat situations. The mission objective is annihilation(kill-points), deployment type is table-quarters.
Deployment. Nothing too special. If you ever seen tau deploy once, then you saw them all. Tau just sits in his nice little corner there, surrounded with kroots and fire-warriors. A good, clumped up army. It's a shame i didn't bring any units with blast templates. As always i do not deploy, and just wait for my first turn to get on the table. I won the roll-off and gave the Tau player the first turn in this promising game.
Turn #1 - Tau
For obvious reasons, Tau decided to completely skip through their turn without doing anything. And, realy, he doesn't have to do anything until I'm on the board, as he is already in a position he wants to be.
Turn #1 - Daemons
Let the game begin! Or, probably, let the fail begin. You must really enjoy reading about my failures, otherwise i doubt anyone would waste his time with this at all. Anyway, let's get to the point - i rolled poorly for my Daemonic Assault, so my second wave (that is a lot of squishy infantry) drops in on turn one, while my good units are stuck in reserves, and will ,without a doubt, be deployed in one by one, just to be shot to pieces. But let's not go ahead of our-self's here, anything can happen, maybe i still stand a chance, we'll see. For now i tried to appear close to him. There is no sense in hiding or deploying on the other side of the table, as he still has the advantage of range on his ridiculous guns.
As i can not charge him in turn 1, i had to run most of my units, to get closer for the next turn. Also, since there are no objectives on the table, i'm using my Plaguebearers to provide cover for my other, more deadly daemons. I really hope that rolling 4+ cover instead of 5+ Inv. will benefit me in the next turns.
Turn #2 - Tau
Here it comes. Tau seem not to like the presence of my daemons so close to them, so i guess we will go straight to the shooting phase, as the only movement that happened this turn was a bit of positioning of the Crisis suit teams. Well, the Tau seem to do pretty well when there are not much targets to shoot at. To say the least - the shooting was DEVASTATING. I lost a whole unit of Bloodletters, a half of the other unit, and all but one Pink Horror. It does seem that i will be taken apart through out this game, as when there not many targets on the field, Tau does seem to perform well. Also, fun fact, the Kroot's shooting was far more deadly then that of a Fire Warriors.No assaults from him though. But there is no surprise here, as his army is just not designed to do such a thing.
Turn #2 - Daemons
Let's bring in some heavy guns! One Soul Grinder and a Bloodthirster came out of the Warp to eat some delicious Tau. I positioned both of them so that the Soul Grinder was screening my Big Bad Daemon of Khorne. I am worried about those Rail Guns though, but for now this is all i could do. The Soul Grinder tried to kill one of the Hammerheads, but failed, because they had some system that granted them 4+ cover saves almost all the time. The lonely Horror attempted to shoot his Bolt of Tzeentch at another Hammerhead, but failed to hit it. now it's time for the bog cleanup. Both the surviving Bloodletters and Plaguebearers charged down the Kroot squad. Sadly, the pitiful Kroots were not a challenge, and my daemons ripped them apart in a single phase of combat. This is a tactical miss-read on my part, as i wanted to tie my squads in combet to avoid that nasty shooting.
Turn #3 - Tau
Bring it on! While all the Kroots are long gone, the most dangerous squads are still fine and well, ready to unleash their deadly weapons up against my forces. Tau Crisis suits move from the defensive circle of Fire Warriors to get a clean shot at my daemons. Other then that, all the other forces are standing still. While the moving phase takes a couple of minutes, the shooting is much more action-filled. at the ned of the shooting i was shocked. My losses were enormous. I managed to lose my entire squad of Bloodletters, half of the Plaguebearers, the Bloodthirster, and the Soul Grinder also lost a weapon, and is immobilized. I just couldn't believe my own eyes, as my army melted almost completely in a matter of one turn. While i still had some power in my reserves, i knew that this goes the wrong way for me. The only unit unit that actually managed to get out of this massacre without any harm are my Screamers. But at this point i knew for sure, that the only thing i can do right now it try to get as much points as possible, to at least make this loss less shameful.
Turn #3 - Daemons
Good Gods! Why me? Why am loosing to the bloody Tau?! It seems like no one is listening. Oh well, it's my own fault that my initial army list was far from perfection, and that i'm not even an middle-skilled player yet. But i'll get there, i promise! OK, back to the battle. All of my reserves came on the table this turn. Yay! I still stand a chance.... or do i? The last Soul Grinder has scattered far away from intended position of deep-strike, and landed on the first 'Grinder. I rolled for mishap result and got a 2. It means that , without a chance to do any damage, the red Soul Grinder is remover as a casualty. As for the other units, i dropped my Fateweaver and Bloodcrushers close enough to each other, in order to ensure that the 'Crushers for re-rolls of the failed saves.Movement and Shooting phases were pretty fast. With the Soul Grinder immobilized and both the Hammerheads surrounded by protective ring of Fire Warriors, the only units who could move to attack position was the unit of Plaguebeares. in the shooting phase i sacrificed the Fateweaver's shooting to get him and the Bloodcrushers closer. I thought that i first need to keep them close, and then go towards my enemy. The only assault this turn was from my Plaguebearers. Knowing that the Fire Warriors are not a close-combat unit at all, i thought that this wasn't such a bad idea, because this actually allowed my to tie them in combat, and prevent any shooting from at least this squad. Without severe losses from both sides, this small combat continues, making it one less shooting squad for the next turn.
Turn #4 - Tau
The Tau player seems to have a good fell of the battlefield, as he seems to know my army's key elements, and tries to take them down one at a time. After a bot of maneuvering from the Crisis squads, the shooting begins, shoving me what my opponent is really afraid of. He concentrated his fire on my Bloodcrushers and the Fateweaver. He completely ignores the half-destroyed Soul Grinder and a unit of Screamers in the open field. But, i think, that this is what he was doing the entire game, as he continues to do now. With the fact that my good units came in pretty much one at a time, he had an easy time so far, as my key units appeared on the field he concentrated his fire-power on them, bringing them down in a matter of a turn, ready to face new threats in the next turns. This time it wasn't different. With the amount of incoming fire, even the Fateweaver's re-rolls didn't save all the wounds, as i managed to lose one of the 'Crushers and a wound from the Fateweaver himself. After all the firing and dieing, we return to a fairly slow-paced combat, where Fire Warriors still engage the Plaguebearers, with no side getting a good advantage over the other.
Turn #4 - Daemons
Move move move! As there is no point in standing still waiting for something to happen, i move up all the squads i have remaining. While the Fateweaver has no problem in moving around with his wings, the 'Crushers got stuck on the terrain, rolling poorly on both their move through terrain and run rolls. It seems that i will be forced to engage Tau in close combat, at least to keep my units safe for a while, and to deal as much damage as possible. For now, the Fateweaver unleashes his entire arsenal of spells at the closest units. For some inexplicable reason the damage was minimum, so i will be force to charge them, just for the sake of battle. Well, at this point there is no way for me to win, so i might as well do some damage, instead of holding back and standing like a practicing target. I've even managed to keep him 6" from my Bloodcrushers, i hope that they will survive until next turn to get to the enemy. The Plaguebearers, with some help from Screamers, have managed to finally kill the Fire Warrior squad, consolidating towards the Fateweaver. While it is a small victory, the worst thing is that these two squads are noe out in the open, in the sight of the enemies guns.
Turn #5 and the game ending.
Oh Tau, you're shooting is amazing. If only it wasn't aimed at me! I just .... i can't describe my emotions. It is all wrong. I lost all the units but the Fateweaver in one round of shooting. This battle-report could go on further, telling about the epic failure of both sides in the close combat of Tau VS Fateweaver, but this would take up a lot of unnecessary time. At turn 6 i shook my opponents hand and congratulated him on his victory. From the start this game did not go well for me. But as long as there's fun involved, there is a point to play.
Thank you for you're attention. Usually in this segment i ask for you're comments and suggestions. But after this much failure, i believe there is no way to give me simple tips on how i could've turned this game around. I got so much advise from people in the club that i know what composition i will be going for, as well as tactics i should use. I will probably post these suggestions on this blog. Leave your comment, about what was you biggest failure in Warhammer 40k, and did you actually had fun that time, because, i can say for sure, i had a lot of great time and a lot of laughter during this game. For now, thank you for your attention, I'm Ursa06, and good luck to you.
Today we have a battle between Tau and Daemons(my army, obviously). For start lets take a look at the armies, deployment and mission.Both armies are 1850 worth(as you may have already understood, this is the most popular point amount in my local gaming club). For this battle i brought in a sort of balanced army list, with a bit too much in terms of tank-hunting. My army list is like this:2 squads of Bloodletters, 2 Soul Grinders(both with the "Tongue" upgrade(Str10 AP1 24")), Fateweaver, Bloodthirster(Unholy Might(+1 Str), Blessing of the Blood God), Plaguebearers(Icon of Chaos, Instrument of Chaos), Bloodcrushers(Fury of Khorne(rending), Icon of Chaos, Instrument of Chaos), Pink Horrors(Changeling, Bolt of Tzeentch(Str8 AP1 24"), Screamers. The Tau brought in a competitive list, pretty much the only army list in Tau army that is decent and can stand up against other competitive armies. Let's take a look at the Tau army:3 squads of Fire-warriors(marker drones), Kroot Carnivore squad, 2 Hammerheads(both with the Rail-guns), 2 squads of Crisis-suits, HQ in a Crisis suit with body-guards, Broadside squad. While the daemons seems to lack any thought in their list-making(and they lack a good commander so far), Tau are combined pretty well, capable of dealing with most of the combat situations. The mission objective is annihilation(kill-points), deployment type is table-quarters.
Deployment. Nothing too special. If you ever seen tau deploy once, then you saw them all. Tau just sits in his nice little corner there, surrounded with kroots and fire-warriors. A good, clumped up army. It's a shame i didn't bring any units with blast templates. As always i do not deploy, and just wait for my first turn to get on the table. I won the roll-off and gave the Tau player the first turn in this promising game.
Turn #1 - Tau
For obvious reasons, Tau decided to completely skip through their turn without doing anything. And, realy, he doesn't have to do anything until I'm on the board, as he is already in a position he wants to be.
Let the game begin! Or, probably, let the fail begin. You must really enjoy reading about my failures, otherwise i doubt anyone would waste his time with this at all. Anyway, let's get to the point - i rolled poorly for my Daemonic Assault, so my second wave (that is a lot of squishy infantry) drops in on turn one, while my good units are stuck in reserves, and will ,without a doubt, be deployed in one by one, just to be shot to pieces. But let's not go ahead of our-self's here, anything can happen, maybe i still stand a chance, we'll see. For now i tried to appear close to him. There is no sense in hiding or deploying on the other side of the table, as he still has the advantage of range on his ridiculous guns.
As i can not charge him in turn 1, i had to run most of my units, to get closer for the next turn. Also, since there are no objectives on the table, i'm using my Plaguebearers to provide cover for my other, more deadly daemons. I really hope that rolling 4+ cover instead of 5+ Inv. will benefit me in the next turns.
Turn #2 - Tau
Here it comes. Tau seem not to like the presence of my daemons so close to them, so i guess we will go straight to the shooting phase, as the only movement that happened this turn was a bit of positioning of the Crisis suit teams. Well, the Tau seem to do pretty well when there are not much targets to shoot at. To say the least - the shooting was DEVASTATING. I lost a whole unit of Bloodletters, a half of the other unit, and all but one Pink Horror. It does seem that i will be taken apart through out this game, as when there not many targets on the field, Tau does seem to perform well. Also, fun fact, the Kroot's shooting was far more deadly then that of a Fire Warriors.No assaults from him though. But there is no surprise here, as his army is just not designed to do such a thing.
Turn #2 - Daemons
Let's bring in some heavy guns! One Soul Grinder and a Bloodthirster came out of the Warp to eat some delicious Tau. I positioned both of them so that the Soul Grinder was screening my Big Bad Daemon of Khorne. I am worried about those Rail Guns though, but for now this is all i could do. The Soul Grinder tried to kill one of the Hammerheads, but failed, because they had some system that granted them 4+ cover saves almost all the time. The lonely Horror attempted to shoot his Bolt of Tzeentch at another Hammerhead, but failed to hit it. now it's time for the bog cleanup. Both the surviving Bloodletters and Plaguebearers charged down the Kroot squad. Sadly, the pitiful Kroots were not a challenge, and my daemons ripped them apart in a single phase of combat. This is a tactical miss-read on my part, as i wanted to tie my squads in combet to avoid that nasty shooting.
Turn #3 - Tau
Bring it on! While all the Kroots are long gone, the most dangerous squads are still fine and well, ready to unleash their deadly weapons up against my forces. Tau Crisis suits move from the defensive circle of Fire Warriors to get a clean shot at my daemons. Other then that, all the other forces are standing still. While the moving phase takes a couple of minutes, the shooting is much more action-filled. at the ned of the shooting i was shocked. My losses were enormous. I managed to lose my entire squad of Bloodletters, half of the Plaguebearers, the Bloodthirster, and the Soul Grinder also lost a weapon, and is immobilized. I just couldn't believe my own eyes, as my army melted almost completely in a matter of one turn. While i still had some power in my reserves, i knew that this goes the wrong way for me. The only unit unit that actually managed to get out of this massacre without any harm are my Screamers. But at this point i knew for sure, that the only thing i can do right now it try to get as much points as possible, to at least make this loss less shameful.
Turn #3 - Daemons
Good Gods! Why me? Why am loosing to the bloody Tau?! It seems like no one is listening. Oh well, it's my own fault that my initial army list was far from perfection, and that i'm not even an middle-skilled player yet. But i'll get there, i promise! OK, back to the battle. All of my reserves came on the table this turn. Yay! I still stand a chance.... or do i? The last Soul Grinder has scattered far away from intended position of deep-strike, and landed on the first 'Grinder. I rolled for mishap result and got a 2. It means that , without a chance to do any damage, the red Soul Grinder is remover as a casualty. As for the other units, i dropped my Fateweaver and Bloodcrushers close enough to each other, in order to ensure that the 'Crushers for re-rolls of the failed saves.Movement and Shooting phases were pretty fast. With the Soul Grinder immobilized and both the Hammerheads surrounded by protective ring of Fire Warriors, the only units who could move to attack position was the unit of Plaguebeares. in the shooting phase i sacrificed the Fateweaver's shooting to get him and the Bloodcrushers closer. I thought that i first need to keep them close, and then go towards my enemy. The only assault this turn was from my Plaguebearers. Knowing that the Fire Warriors are not a close-combat unit at all, i thought that this wasn't such a bad idea, because this actually allowed my to tie them in combat, and prevent any shooting from at least this squad. Without severe losses from both sides, this small combat continues, making it one less shooting squad for the next turn.
Turn #4 - Tau
The Tau player seems to have a good fell of the battlefield, as he seems to know my army's key elements, and tries to take them down one at a time. After a bot of maneuvering from the Crisis squads, the shooting begins, shoving me what my opponent is really afraid of. He concentrated his fire on my Bloodcrushers and the Fateweaver. He completely ignores the half-destroyed Soul Grinder and a unit of Screamers in the open field. But, i think, that this is what he was doing the entire game, as he continues to do now. With the fact that my good units came in pretty much one at a time, he had an easy time so far, as my key units appeared on the field he concentrated his fire-power on them, bringing them down in a matter of a turn, ready to face new threats in the next turns. This time it wasn't different. With the amount of incoming fire, even the Fateweaver's re-rolls didn't save all the wounds, as i managed to lose one of the 'Crushers and a wound from the Fateweaver himself. After all the firing and dieing, we return to a fairly slow-paced combat, where Fire Warriors still engage the Plaguebearers, with no side getting a good advantage over the other.
Turn #4 - Daemons
Move move move! As there is no point in standing still waiting for something to happen, i move up all the squads i have remaining. While the Fateweaver has no problem in moving around with his wings, the 'Crushers got stuck on the terrain, rolling poorly on both their move through terrain and run rolls. It seems that i will be forced to engage Tau in close combat, at least to keep my units safe for a while, and to deal as much damage as possible. For now, the Fateweaver unleashes his entire arsenal of spells at the closest units. For some inexplicable reason the damage was minimum, so i will be force to charge them, just for the sake of battle. Well, at this point there is no way for me to win, so i might as well do some damage, instead of holding back and standing like a practicing target. I've even managed to keep him 6" from my Bloodcrushers, i hope that they will survive until next turn to get to the enemy. The Plaguebearers, with some help from Screamers, have managed to finally kill the Fire Warrior squad, consolidating towards the Fateweaver. While it is a small victory, the worst thing is that these two squads are noe out in the open, in the sight of the enemies guns.
Turn #5 and the game ending.
Oh Tau, you're shooting is amazing. If only it wasn't aimed at me! I just .... i can't describe my emotions. It is all wrong. I lost all the units but the Fateweaver in one round of shooting. This battle-report could go on further, telling about the epic failure of both sides in the close combat of Tau VS Fateweaver, but this would take up a lot of unnecessary time. At turn 6 i shook my opponents hand and congratulated him on his victory. From the start this game did not go well for me. But as long as there's fun involved, there is a point to play.
Thank you for you're attention. Usually in this segment i ask for you're comments and suggestions. But after this much failure, i believe there is no way to give me simple tips on how i could've turned this game around. I got so much advise from people in the club that i know what composition i will be going for, as well as tactics i should use. I will probably post these suggestions on this blog. Leave your comment, about what was you biggest failure in Warhammer 40k, and did you actually had fun that time, because, i can say for sure, i had a lot of great time and a lot of laughter during this game. For now, thank you for your attention, I'm Ursa06, and good luck to you.
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