hyv3mynd @ DaBoyz GT ~ Game #2

After a strong victory in game #1, I looked up my next pairing on Torrent of Fire and headed off to game #2.  Dan P. (15th overall) was my second opponent with Taudar.  Dan introduced himself as a blog follower of many years from back when it was synaps3 and just me and my bugs.  I felt disadvantaged going into this game as my opponent has read my blog and should be familiar with my army, and I had never faced the new Tau in a 1 on 1 game a this point.


* A note on my battle reports * I realize and accept that fact that not everyone designs optimized competitive lists.  I realize not everyone plays a tactically perfect game.  The main purpose of my reports is self reflection and improvement based on the situations at hand.  Out of respect to my opponents, I prefer comments to be based on my own list or performance and avoid overly critical comments on my opponent.  This will be a standard disclaimer for every game *

Dan's list (approx):
Aun'Va (space pope)
Tau Commander (pen chip, c&c, msss, etc.)
Farseer + bike (prescience, guide, perfect timing)
Crisis Suits x3 + t/l plasma, fusion, some drones
Riptide + IA, EWO 
Riptide + IA, EWO
Fire Warriors x12
Fire Warriors x12
Jetbikes x3
Jetbikes x3
Pathfinders x8
Broadsides x2 + HYMP, SMS
Sniper Team 3 spotters, 9 drones
Aegis Defense Line

Here's my list with psy. powers for game #2 (1850):
Farseer + spirit stone of anath'lan, shard of anaris (game #2 -  Fortune, Invisibility, Prescience)
Spirit Seer (game #1 - Conceal, shriek)
Baron Sathonyx
Wraithguard x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Dire Avengers x5
Wave Serpent + scatter lasers, holofields, ghostwalk matrix
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Windrider Jetbikes x3 + cannon
Kabalite Warriors x5
Venom + extra cannon, grisly trophies
Beastmasters x4 + khymerae x12, razorwings x2
Wraithknight
Vaul's Wrath Support Battery x3 shadow weavers
War Walkers x3 + scatter lasers

Game #2 featured The Relic as the primary (20 battle points) and Emperor's Will 2 objectives as secondary (10 battle points) with the standard bonus points (1 battle point each) for a possible max of 33 battle points.  Deployment was Vanguard Strike and we had night fight. I won the roll off and decided to go first to get my psychic powers off and take an aggressive stance over the relic.  Thanks to fortune, invis, and conceal, I would have an opportunity to rock the 2+ rerollable cover save, but Dan's army had plenty of marker lights and commander helpful to negate some of that.

We were playing on the infamous "Dark Eldar Table" which while very cinematic, was a true pain in the ass for movement and checking LoS.  We called everything ruins for this game.  I placed my EW objective under the walkway in my DZ and Dan placed his deep in his DZ under an overhang and protected by the space pope.

Here's my deployment.  The beast pack is central with all 3 characters attached and both psykers in trophy range of the venom.  Walkers and WK were on the left flank and both serpents on the right (WG in the more central one).  Artillery were on a raised platform.  Both of my bike units were reserved.

Here's Dan's deployment.  The sniper team is up against the ADL with stealth and commander helpful attached.  Farseer is attached to the 3 crisis suits on the left.  Fire warriors and pathfinders formed a big blob in the middle with everything in range of the space pope who was under and behind the big platform.  Broadsides held the right and both bike squads were reserved.  I think Dan tried to seize but failed and we were off.

Turn 1:

WK gets invis, beasts get conceal and fortune.  Walkers and WK move up the left.

Everything else pushed up the middle and right.  My WK actually lands a distortion wound on the leftmost riptide but he makes his cover save.  All of the infantry units I fire at go to ground behind the aegis for 2+, but serpents are able to drop 4 sniper drones.  War walkers are able to take out some pathfinders.  Everyone passes morale thanks to Aun'Va.

Dan uses his warlord trait to stand up all the units that went to ground last turn.  The farseer fails 2/3 of his psychic tests.  Commander helpful joins the crisis suits who advance.  The riptides bounce around in the backfield.  The riptide shots scatter or bounce of cover saves.  Everything else shoots beasts or the WK but my cover and invuln saves are pretty hot and I don't lose much despite all the markerlights, psychic buff, and commander helpful.  The broadsides however land 3 damage results on the dire avenger serpent and I fail all 3 cover saves and give up first blood.

Turn 2:

Like I said earlier, this was my first 1 on 1 vs the new Tau and between asking lots of questions, pre-measuring, and the challenging terrain, we had already used up 90 minutes between deployment and turn 1.  To make things faster, we marked the perimeter of the main building and removed it from the table.

Beasts get fortune and conceal again.  My bikes arrive and try to hide but one riptide lets loose a interceptor shot and takes one bike out.  The rest pass morale and they turbo boost around.  My beasts and WK move up to try and assault.  Artillery and walkers take out a bunch of the backfield infantry.  My beasts make their assault move but the WK doesn't.  I think I lost a few models and wound on the WK to supporting fire.  Beasts landed a disordered charge on sniper drones and fire warriors, killing a bunch but Aun'Va made everything stubborn so we locked which is even better for me.

Dan's bikes arrive in his back right corner.

Riptides and crisis suits bounce up to help out.  Between monster hunter, ignoring cover, and t/l everything, my WK goes down.  Broadsides take out my second wave serpent with another round of botched cover saves.  One riptide assaults my beasts, I finish off the drones and fire warriors, and hit-and-run out.

Turn 3:

We're down to about 30 minutes left at this point.  All the fortuned saves, supporting fire, rerolled tau shooting, and multiple initiative step assault phases really ate up a lot of time.

Invis and fortune on the beasts who wrap around the riptide and crisis suits.

I plant one unit of bikes on my EW objective and send the others after his bikes.  The Wraithguard grab the relic and venom turns to face bikes.  Venom, bikes, and dire avengers combine to take out one of his bike units and cause casualties on the second.  My beasts assault his crisis suits and one riptide but my damage rolls are poor and we lock.

This was the last pic due to time.  In order to score any points, we need to complete at least 4 turns so we're really speed playing at this point.  His free riptide moves up towards my wraithguard.  His surviving bike moves to contest my EW objective.  The free riptide lands a large blast on my wraithguard, but I pass many saves due to the big walkway in front of the riptide's head.  He then makes his assault and both sides wiff.  My beasts cause a few wounds and then hit-and-run out.

Turn 4:

My beasts with their H&R move and normal move sweep around and wipe out his last scoring unit.  War walkers assault the crisis suits to tie them up.  My backfield units take out his last bike.  Wraithguard vs riptide in assault remain a stalemate.

During Dan's last turn, he only has Aun'Va, broadsides, and one riptide free.  My walkers are holding up the crisis suits and wraithguard are locked with the other riptide.  My relic holder survives combat and my scoring bikes survive the free riptide's shots due to cover.

We're out of time so we call the game at the end of turn 4.  I've got the relic and my EW objective as well as linebreaker for a 31-1 victory.  It sucks that we couldn't play more, but I think due to ongoing assaults and my beasts running rampant in his backfield that the results would have been the same.  This was the only game during the GT that did not end on a dice roll, but I feel on a different set of terrain we would have finished.  The real deciding factor here was getting fortune.  Dan's army had so much shooting that my beasts wouldn't have been able to cross the field without it.  Despite this loss, Dan was able to continue on and place 15th overall out of ~112.  It was also really cool to meet and play a long time blog follower.