1K Pts (LEL G1) - Angry Goats (Iron Hands) vs T'au

[Goat Rider]

Part 1 of the ongoing Saga of the Lord Emperor Campaign, a 1K Point League at my FLGS. 

 

My Army List and other games I've played in the campaign can be found here:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/341428-angry-goats-iron-hands-battle-reports-1k-league/?p=4933654

 

 

My opponent's list was roughly the following:
1x Longstrike w/Railgun and Smart Missile Systems

1x Hammerhead w/Railgun and Smart Missile Systems

2x Devilfish w/Burst Cannons

1x Cadre Fireblade w/Markerlight and Pulse Rifle

1x Ethereal

4x Strike Teams - Each 5-6 members w/Pulse Rifles

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Scout Squad Kiko had been on a routine patrol when they discovered signs of an enemy force.  After spending a restless night tracking them down, an encampment had been discovered in the ruins of an Imperial town.  These foul Xenos, now able to be identified as a mechanized force of the T’au Empire, had been discovered as they stopped to refuel.  Though these T’au had been able to cover ground quickly, they had sacrificed any semblance of stealth to do so.  With the Xenos temporarily vulnerable, Squad Kiko called in for reinforcements. 

 

Chaplain Valdosta had recently been interred in a Dreadnought Sarcophagus following his heroic sacrifice during the campaign known as Karn’s Winter.   He and his task force had spent the last few weeks securing the Eastern flank of the main body’s advance.  Though he and his fellow Ancients had held the line through multiple skirmishes, he felt that he had not contributed enough to the war efforts this far from the front.  As a result, an emotion sub-routine resembling “boredom” had creeped into his system.  So, when the call for reinforcements came from Squad Kiko, nothing short of a direct order from the Chapter Master would have stopped him form responding in all haste.

 

Though Dreadnoughts are tireless and unrelenting in their advance, speed is not their greatest asset.  So, by the time Task Force Valdosta arrived, the T’au had finished their refueling and were preparing to depart.  Wasting no time, Valdosta sent out a burst of machine code.  The four other Ancient Dreadnoughts with him, each a veteran of centuries of battle, fell into a flying wedge formation with instinctual ease as they charged ahead.  The T’au sensors had little difficulty in detecting their hasty approach, however.  And as the Dreadnoughts crested the ridge, the foul Xenos opened fire.

 

Ancient Saanen, an honored brother of countless campaigns, was the sole target of the initial volley.  Though the defenses built into his Contemptor-pattern body was able to deflect the worst of the damage, the Railgun rounds were enough to slow his advance.  Seeing his charge stagger, the Techmarine Surati ran forward and began to repair the damage while Squad Kiko provided limited supporting fire. 

 

With the initial volley proving less effective than they had hoped, the T’au forces began to spread out in preparation of a drawn-out engagement.  Their scouting Piranha moved along Northern ridge in an attempt to outflank the Dreadnoughts, while the Devilfish transports flew forward to provide physical cover as their occupants disembarked.  Ancient Pyrenean, also housed in a Contemptor-pattern body, wasted no time and ran towards the Xenos lines as fast as his body would take him with Chaplain Valdosta close behind.  As he passed by the Piranha, he raked it with fire from his Kheres Assault Cannon which caused more than a few smoking holes to form.  Seeing the primary threat to be the Hammerhead Gunships lining up for another shot, Ancient Repartida sent a volley of Lascannon and Autocannon shots into the lead tank.  The shots from his Venerable Castraferrum-pattern body caused the gunship to real backwards.  This provided all the opening that his counterpart, Ancient Orobica needed.  Armed in the same fashion, the Venerable Dreadnought sent his own Lascannon and Autocannon shots into the stricken Hammerhead and put the foul Xenos machine out of commission.

 

With a hiss of static, Techmarine Surati watched in frustration as the remaining Hammerhead sent more fire into Ancient Saanen.  With Surati’s earlier repairs being all that stood between the Ancient and catastrophic damage, the Techmarine set to work fixing this new affront to the machine spirit.  Under the cover of these shots, the Devilfish moved to the flanks of the approaching Dreadnoughts and poured fire into them.  Unlike the Railguns, however, this fire proved ineffective.  The recently disembarked Fire Warriors, seeing Ancient Pyrenean barreling towards them, quickly formed firing lines and sent every shot they could into him.  Despite their best efforts, his armor held strong and the damage suffered was of no consequence.  He was in amongst them, crushing their relatively frail bodies with his massive power fist, before they could do anything else to react.

 

The T’au forces recognized the main source of the continued Dreadnought threat was Techmarine Surati.  And while the remaining Hammerhead attempted to penetrate Ancient Saanen’s quickly recovering defenses, the two Devilfish converged on the Angry Goat lines and concentrated their fire into Surati.  But the Techmarine’s armor, nearly as old and venerated as the Dreadnoughts around him, held under the onslaught.  Saanen and Valdosta, enraged by the attack on their brother, charged into the two Devilfish and rent massive holes in their hulls with their power fists.  Combined with the supporting fire of Orobica, both of the Devilfish exploded under the onslaught.  Meanwhile, Ancient Repartida saw the approaching Piranha finally finish its flanking run.  With a calm precision born of centuries of experience, he sent fire at both the Piranha and the Hammerhead, destroying them both.  With every other threat eliminated, all five Dreadnoughts combined their firepower and sent an inescapable volley steaming into the remaining Fire Warriors, killing them to the last.

 

With the Xenos forces righteously purged, any traces of the boredom sub-routine had been replaced by righteous joy.  Chaplain Valdosta, his oration skills not dimmed in the slightest by his interment into the Venerable Dreadnought sarcophagus, led his brothers in celebration of their victory.  A simple, but powerful chant boomed from his ancient speakers:

 

My Armor is Contempt!

My Shield is Disgust!

My Sword is Hatred!

In the Emperor’s Name,

LET NONE SURVIVE!

 

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Edited November 20, 2017 by Goat Rider

[Goat Rider]

And now, the long overdue technical Battle Report!

This is the first time I'm posting something like this. So any feedback is greatly appreciated!

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This is a match during my FLGS's current "Lord Emperor League". The Lord Emperor League is a "King of the Hill" style league. There are 3 tiers, the current Champion on top, the Veterans in the Middle, and the Experienced at the bottom. The Experienced players have to challenge the Veterans in order to move up. If the Experienced players win, they take the Vet's place. If the Veteran wins, they get a "challenge token" and can then take on the Champion. When a Veteran challenges the current Champ and wins, he becomes the new Champ. If the Champion wins 3 successive challenges, they win the series and the tournament restarts.

For this match, I will be defending my spot in the Veteran Tier.

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The Armies:

The Tau:

1x Longstrike - Railgun and Smart Missile Systems

1x Hammerhead - Railgun and Smart Missile Systems

2x Devilfish w/Burst Cannons

1x Cadre Fireblade w/Markerlight and Pulse Rifle

1x Ethereal

4x Strike Teams - Each 5-6 members w/Pulse Rifles

The Angry Goats:

Iron Hands Chapter Tactics

1x Chaplain Dreadnought - Assault Cannon, DCCW, Storm Bolter

2x Contemptor Dreadnought - Kheres Assault Cannon, DCCW, Combi-Bolter

2x Venerable Dreadnought - Twin Lascannon, Twin Autocannon

1x Techmarine - Bolter, Chainsword, Servo Arm

1x Scout Squad - 5x Sniper Rifles

Deployment Type and Mission:

As the person being Challenged, I get the first pick of 3 random missions and 3 random deployments.

Since the other two missions were objective based, I knew I'd have some issues against all of his objective secured troops. So I picked the one "Kill things" mission. My opponent picked the table-quarters deployment zone, and chose the top right corner (largely because he was already standing on that side).

Deployment:

He starts the deployment and castles in the far corner. Hammerheads in the rear, and Devilfish in the front. All of his Infantry and characters are split among the Devilfish.

I put my 2 Contemptors and Chaplain Dread as close as I can in the center. The Venerable Dreadnoughts go into flanking positions on either edge in case of a break out attempt. My Scouts infiltrate in to the bottom right corner, to provide distractions and possibly get shots on any characters that eventually pop out.

The Tau win the roll to go first, and I fail to Seize.

Tau Turn 1

· The Hammerhead moved to get better line of sight. Would still hit on 3+ thanks to the Longstrike aura.

· Piranha, hoping to prevent me from getting some points (and because it didn’t have a fusion gun) went along the top edge to try and hide. Didn’t quite get out of LOS on turn 1.

· Two Transports moved up, turned sideways, and presented a wall between me and the Hammerheads

· Shooting: the Smart Missile Systems (SMS) on the Hammerheads went into the Scouts, and killed 3

· Both Railguns went into Contemptor 2 and brought it down to 5 wounds

Angry Goats Turn 1

· My 3 Dreads and Techmarine move up, using the “Wisdom of the Ancients” Stratagem since the 3 are within 6 of center Dread. Contemptor 1 moves a full 9”, Contemptor 2 only moves 6” due to damage.

· Techmarine heals it up to 7 to bring it back to full firing capacity.

· Sniper Fire does nothing to the Piranha

· All Lascannons and Autocannons go into Long Strike. Their combined firepower kills the Tank Ace.

· 1 Kheres, The Techmarine Bolter, and some Storm Bolter shots go into the Piranha and knock it down to 2 Wounds.

· The remaining Kheres goes into Devilfish 1 and knock 2 wounds off

Tau Turn 2

· Piranha finds some LOS blocking terrain to hide behind

· All Infantry disembark and fall back towards their corner away from the Dread Wall

· Devilfish move around to flank the Dread-Wall

· SMS are fired at scouts but it is saved

· Hammerhead fires on Contemptor 2 and bring it down to 2 wounds

· Devilfish shots bounce off the Dreadnoughts

[No Photo]

Angry Goats Turn 2

· North Venerable moves towards the LOS blocking terrain to go after the Piranha, uses the “Machine Empathy” Stratagem

· Techmarine moves up, Heals Contemptor 2 up to 4 Wounds

· Contemptor 1 moves 9” towards Fire Warriors

· Contemptor 2 and Chaplain Dread move up

· Both Venerables send everything into remaining Hammerhead. Several shots miss or the wounds are saved, but he does take 4 damage.

· All Kheres, Assault Cannon, and Storm Bolter fire go into various Fire Warriors killing several.

· Scout Sniper wiffs on Ethereal

· Contemptor 1 makes the charge after a reroll, kills 2-3 Fire Warriors, but loses 1 wound to Overwatch.

· Fire Warriors cause no wounds in Melee

Tau Turn 3

· Hammerhead and Piranha stay still

· Devilfish move around to flank the Dread and to try to get shots on the Techmarine

· Fire Warriors fall back from Contemptor 1 slightly

· Railgun shots fail to damage Contemptor 2

· SMS are fired at scouts and kill all but 1

· Devilfish shots bounce off of the Techmarine

· Pule Rifles bounce off Contemptor 1

Angry Goats Turn 3

· North Venerable moves to get LOS on Piranha

· Other Dreads don’t move, to prepare to charge the Devilfish

· Techmarine moves up, heals Contemptor 2 up to 6 Wounds

· North Venerable Kills Piranha with Autocannons, damages Hammerhead with Lascannon hits.

· South Venerable throws everything else into Hammerhead and takes it down

· Lone Sniper Scout wiffs.

· Kheres/Assault Cannon/Storm Bolter fire goes into Fire Warriors and kill several more.

· Contemptor 1 charges Fire Warriors again and kills a couple more.

· Chaplain Dread and Contemptor 2 Charge. Brings Transport 1 down to 4 wounds, Transport 2 down to 1 wound.

[No Photo]

Tau Turn 4

· Devilfish Fall Back from Chaplain Dread and Contemptor 2

· Everyone Falls back from Contemptor 1

· Remaining Infantry throw Pule Rile shots at Contemptor 1, but it all bounces off from regular saves or FNP

· Devilfish throw Shots into the Dreads for no damage

Angry Goats Turn 4

· Chaplain and Contemptor 2 move up.

· Techmarine moves ups and Heals Contemptor 2 to 8 Wounds.

· Contemptor 1 Moves as close to Ethereal as he can.

· South Venerable knocks the last few wounds from both transports with his Lascannons and Autocannons. Transport explodes and causes a Mortal Wound on the Techmarine and Contemptor 2. Contemptor 2 saved with FNP.

· Shooting from everyone else kills off some more Fire Warriors, and clears a path towards the Ethereal

· Contemptor 1 charges basically everyone, but sends his melee attacks into the Ethereal and kills him

· Fire Warriors fail to wound Contemptor 1 in melee

[No Photo]

Tau Turn 5

· Fire Warirors and Fireblade Wiff on Contemptor

· Contemptor Kills 2 Fire Warriors and Wounds Fireblade

[No Photo]

Angry Goats Turn 5

· Chaplain and Contemptor 2 move up

· Contemptor 1 Falls back out of Combat

· Techmarine Moves up, Heals Contemptor 2 to 10 Wounds (full)

· Kheres, Assault Cannon, and Storm Bolters kill all remaining Fire Warriors

· Lascannon and Autocannon from Ven 1 kills Fireblade

[No Photo]

Final Thoughts:

First, I apologize for only taking like half of the pictures that I wanted to. I got pretty caught up in rolling dice.

Second, I thought the game went rather well. I ended up tabling my opponent, which far surpassed any hopes I had going into the match. I hadn't used this list, or anything really like it, before. And while I thought it looked good on paper, I was excited to see it actually perform once it hit the table.

So with this match ending in a Victory, I can now challenge the current Champion! I'll be playing against an Alpha Legion force in the near future. Stay Tuned!

Edited November 20, 2017 by Goat Rider