2nd game of the new Apoc

[Da-Rock]

150 PL per side..... Tau vs. Imperium

 

Tau side had:

2 Riptides w/ drones and an Enforcer Commander

Stormsurge w/ short range gun

Ghostkheel and 6 stealth suits

9 Crisis suits with an Enforcer Commander

2 Broadsides, some sniper drones and a couple of infantry squads

 

Imperium had:

 

Baneblade and Shadowswords with full add ons

Land Raider Achilles

Helios tank and a las predator

Hellblasters

Whirlwind

Warmaster Huron

3 squads of Intercessors

couple of squads of Astra infantry

 

Overview of the builds:

I was surpised to see that the army size wasn't as different in size as I would have suspected.  The change in playstyle for Tau was big as the drones interact very different than 40k.

 

This battle was just a run through to see how everything interacted.  6 Objectives and extra victory points for fully destroyed detachments.  (side note....the Imperium won initiative very single turn!)

 

1st Turn:

9 Crisis suits landed and then moved 3" away from the front lines of the Baneblade and all 30 of the infantry models, (in hindsight, they should have gone after the far less defended Shadowsword).  They dropped enough blast markers on the infantry to take them down to one full strength squad and 3 wounds remaining on the baneblade which used Divine intervention to make an auto save on one wound to keep it from being critically injured.

 

One Riptide was concentrated on, but lived.  The Baneblade and Shadowsword whiffed pretty badly on the big stuff, but added enough blast markers on the 9 Crisis suits to make them go away........20 shots from Twin Heavy Bolters did work.  My Vanguard Vets deep struck next to the unguarded Broadsides and took one out.  The Intercessors all added blast markers across the board.  (I had them split into 3 units of 5 on Objectives).

 

2nd Turn:

I quickly discovered that the 30" gun on the Stormsurge was a mistake with a 6x6 board.  It walked every turn, but didn't get that gun into range until turn 3.  The rockets are awesome though.  The Riptides took out the Las Predator, but whiffed on trying to take out Huron.  

 

Baneblade and Shadowsword took some wounds off the Stormsurge and Ghostkheel.  (Damn Stealth suits and Ghostkheel negative to hit sucked for me roles!)  I used "Go to Ground" to keep a 5 man squad of Intercessors alive lonb enough to get some victory points.  

 

3rd Turn:

It was here that you could see the Tau weakness of not blowing up the Baneblade after turn one and not having a unit to tie down the other in melee.  The Stormsurge finally hit the Baneblade with the big gun and made it critical, but it survived.  The Riptides needed a different setup and I think should have been in separate Auxiliary detachments.  Ghostkheel lived waaay longer than it should for how much shot at it, but it never laid a blast marker on anything!

 

Aiming is awesome for units that always suffered at BS 4 or higher.  The marines were really effective and after seeing them add blast markers and take positions, I know I want twice as many for next time.  The marine tanks are a lot safer with Advance as an order compared to my Big boys who needed AIM every turn.

 

4th Turn:

Big fail for two detachments trying to take down Huron and the intercessors.  After losing a Riptide and Ghostkheel the turn before made this turn short and not sweet.

 

Big toys dropped 9 markers on the Stormsurge.

 

Game over, but surprisingly it was only a 10 to 14 win for the Imperium.

 

Notes:

The cards are awesome as there were a max of 4 drawn per turn on each side.  The Imperium's card draw was much better than the Tau.  Divine Intervention is a must in every deck.  I love Orbital Strikes and such....even though I roll for piss a lot!  :-)

 

I didn't see any of the Order changing cards that I like this time around.  Pretty straight forward.

 

Detachment design and tactics is very important.  It seems to get easier with each game.  Having two Main Detachments and 3 specialized ones under each is nice for spreading out better.  

 

Shooting is still the big dog, but Assaulting with cheap units to slow down big shooters is really important.  Tau will need to see if Crisis suits work enough at 10 point per 3.  Not sure what else can be used effectively for them.

 

Total time:  3 hours because its still new and I have to look up every stat line!  :-(

[Kilofix]

Did you have Crisis firing 3+ shots per Unit of 3 Suits?

 

Edit - As in number of shots not BS I mean.

[Da-Rock]

Yes, I think that is what happen...except with the squad of Burst cannon suits that are 3 each.

 

Is that correct or off?

[Panzer]

Yes, I think that is what happen...except with the squad of Burst cannon suits that are 3 each.

 

Is that correct or off?

 

A unit of 3 suits has 3 shots total, or 6 if they are equipped with Burst Cannons/CIBs as those have A2.

[Da-Rock]

Hmm, its so hard to remember.  I looked at the sheet so I assume it says "User for the weapon and x3 for the cannon.  I'll have to look when home.  Good info.

[Panzer]

A unit of 3 Crisis Suits gets 3 of a weapon of your choice. All those weapons have A1 except for Burst Cannons and CIBs who have A2. 3 x A2 = 6. ;)

[Kilofix]

The way I remember it is:

 

The number of attacks for Default weapons are for the entire Unit.

 

The number of attacks for Special weapons are per Model.

[Panzer]

The way I remember it is:

 

The number of attacks for Default weapons are for the entire Unit.

 

The number of attacks for Special weapons are per Model.

 

Technically right, though it's not a core rule or something like that. It's in the wording.

 

 

Examples:

 

The Strike Team datasheet says the unit is equipped with "Pulse Rifles". "Pulse Rifles" doesn't exist as singular and always describes the profile for the whole unit. Hence why it refers to the number of attacks of the unit itself with A:User.

A unit of 10 models is equipped with "Pulse Rifles" which have A: User. The user, aka the Strike Team with 10 models, has A2. So the unit has 2 shots with the "Pulse Rifles" profile.

 

 

The Crisis Suit datasheet says the unit is equipped with 3 weapons of a type of your choice (if it contains 3 models). Those weapons don't refer to the number of attacks of the unit itself. Instead they have their own number of attacks (A1 and A2 in this case). And since you have 3 of those instead of a summary as single weapon profile you take that number of attacks times 3.

A unit of 3 Crisis Suits is equipped with 3x "Burst Cannon" which have A2. So the unit has 3x2=6 shots with the "Burst Cannon" profile.

 

 

The Stealth Suits datasheet says the unit is equipped with "Burst Cannons" (plural). On the Stealth Suits datasheet the "Burst Cannons" have Ax3 unlike the "Burst Cannon" with A2 from the Crisis Suits datasheet. So for those you have to check the number of attacks of the unit itself again.

A unit of 3 Stealth Suits is equipped with "Burst Cannons" which have Ax3. The user, aka the Stealth Suits with 3 models, has A1. So the unit has 3x1=3 shots with the "Burst Cannons" profile.