1k T'au "Double-Feature" - Battle Report(s)

[Berzul]

Hi everyone!!

 

I had two battles, back to back, against my usual T'au friend. We wanted to try some new terrain, as we try to move from cardboard temporary buildings towards better and/or official GW terrain, to up the quality of the boards we use. So, we set up an urban battleground, clattered with ruins everywhere, and decided to pit two 1000 point armies against each other, taking the time to try some Eternal War missions from Chapter Approved (since we usually play Maelstrom of War, and wanted a change of pace).

 

I brought in the same list for both battles. A Vanguard Detachment composed of two 5-man Terminator Squads (with Assault Cannons on each), two regular Apothecaries, a Ravenwing Darkshroud with Assault Cannon, a Ravenwing Darktalon, a Master with Heavenfall Blade and Storm Bolter, and a Lieutenant with Power Sword and Master Crafted Boltgun.

 

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The idea was to play the entire army close together as a tight formation, 2+ saves, -1 to be hit, 2 wounds a piece, and dedicated Apothecaries, were meant to give me a resilient army to face off against the onslaught of T'au fire; with a Dark Talon to clear infantry and harrass his side of the board.

 

The board itself was set up with a tall building in the middle, a lot of scatter terrain and ruined walls everywhere, and objectives placed evenly across the board, as follows:

 

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Due to the time it takes to write this down and add the images, I will only be able to post one battle today. I'll try and add the second one as an edit to this post, once I have the time to write that one too.

 

 

 

FIRST BATTLE

 

For the first battle my opponent brought in 3 firewarrior teams, 2 cadre fire blades, Darkstrider, a Ghostkeel, 2 stealth suit teams, a drone port, and pathfinders with rail rifles, as well as a lot of shield drones.

 

We got the second scenario of the book, the one where at turn 3 you have to discard 4 objectives off the board, and the two remaining are worth 3 points each. Deployment was Hammer an Anvil, with my army getting to deploy first. On the roll off, First Turn went to my army.

 

I decided to deploy my Terminators on either side of the main building, with the Darkshroud behind it and the HQs inside for cover. The Dark Talon went behind my army to try and speed up past the enemy defenses.

 

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My opponent made the best use he could of the ruins, placing down his gunline, with a Cadre controlling the Drones from the Drone Port, his Ghostkeel up front, and his Stealth Suits down my sides.

 

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First Turn

 

On the first turn, I moved up my army, slowly but surely, picking shots at the Stealth Suits with my Storm Bolters, and the Ghostkeel with my Assault Cannons. It was a tough round of shooting, as the penalizations to my attacks caused me to miss most my attacks. Still, I was pressing the board against the T'au and that was good enough for a first turn.

 

The only unit that did cause some damage was the Dark Talon, which stayed close but on flying mode, to get both Supersonic and the Icon of old Caliban on, for safety.

 

The T'au quickly retalliated with almost the entire army firing at my Dark Talon, and managing 4 wounds in total. Not bad, I thought, all things considered. The presence of the Flyer had helped me keep the rest of the army off of my opponent's radar for a turn, and even with 5 marker lights on, it still took minimal damage after 1000 points of shots focused on it.

 

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Second Turn

 

On the second turn, I started spreading out to catch the stealth suits. Held the Darkshroud in place for better ballistic skill, but zoomed the Dark Talon past the T'au gunline to take care of the Pathfinders and their rifles. My terminators finished engaging the Stealth Suits, getting one squad down and forcing the rest, and the Ghostkeel, to start pulling back.

 

The T'au regrouped on their side and started to focus now on my infantry, managing minimal wounds in all, as their weapons failed to reach me or pass my armor saves.

 

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Third Turn

 

At the start of my turn, two objectives went away, leaving only 1 on the T'au side, the center objective, and the 2 on my side of the board.

 

I then continued, as I had the turn before, to press on, pushing the army forward by regouping around the HQs and the Darkshroud, while the Dark Talon pivoted to do a firing run across the T'au backline, managing a lot of wounds. The army had suffered a couple of loses by this point, but the Apothecaries worked hard in bringing the fallen Deathwing Terminators back.

 

The T'au then discarded two more objectives, leaving one on my side of the board, on the opposite corner from theirs. Seeing that my forces were marching without stopping, and that his objective would most likely be claimed before the battle was out, my opponent tried to concentrate even more his infantry, and started advancing his remaining stealth suits down the side of the board to try and claim my objective -as I would be unable to return to it before the battle was over.

 

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Fourth Turn

 

By turn four, almost no infantry was left on the T'au side. I managed to push him off of the objective he held, and he was forced to try and reposition his HQs and his Ghostkeel to try and stay out of charge range from my now almost-on-top-of-him Deathwing Terminators. Also, although my Dark Talon had taken almost enough hits to go down, it still remained in the air on its last wound by this point.

 

His Stealth Suits, then, started their dash for my deployment zone, to try and claim the objective and line breaker, while my army pressed on the advance against the T'aus remaining heroes.

 

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Fifth Turn

 

At the fifth turn, my opponent could no longer stay away from my forces. My left squad got into combat with his Ghostkeel, while my right squad moved in against Darkstrider and the Cadre Fireblades, with my Dark Talon, still on its last wound, stood hovering in the way to prevent my characters to get shot in case my charges failed.

 

His Ghostkeel did not go down in one round of combat, though, and quickly jumped back on his turn to try and reposition over the objective, with intentions of shooting me down before I could manage a second charge.

 

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Then the roll came for a new turn, as my Terminators still stood after the Ghostkeels agonizing final shots... The dice was rolled, and by virtue of a 4, we got into turn six.

 

Sixth Turn

 

The sixth turn was the last, and it was swift and bloody. My Terminators charged into the Ghostkeel, with the Apothecary taking in the overwatch fire first. Then, my HQs and remaining Terminators cought the remaining characters on the board, while my Darkshroud and Dark Talon made a desperate run back to try and shoot the Stealth Suits down before they got their objective.

 

In the and, after the dust settled, the Sealth Suits remained, right on top of my objective. Saddly, with me holding the T'au objective, plus Warlord Kill, First Blood, and Line Breaker, the score was still for the Dark Angels.

 

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Thus, the battle was won for the Dark Angels, with the T'au almost entirely wiped out off of the battlefield. A great battle, hard won, against an opponent that showed me no mercy.

 

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But, that was not the only fight... on the same board, and against the same Deathwing force, my opponent regrouped and forged a new army; to deal with my unbreakable Terminators.

 

But, I'll have to post that battle, later.

[Wrath of Bruinen]

Great bat rep as always Berzul, and I'm pleased that your dark talon did well (and survived!) - they are fast becoming my favourite unit in the codex

[Berzul]

Yeah. My Dark Talon is always a priority target for my enemies. Serves a two-fold purpose, due to this. Acts as an amazing infantry killer, as well as a damage sponge and threat generator, keeping my army safe.

[Darkangeldentist]

Very good battle report, thanks for taking the time to write it and include all those photos. I look forward to the next one.