First game with Farsight Enclaves in 9th: mini batrep

[Dosjetka]

As it says on the tin, I had my first game of 9th with T'au last night. This was also my first game using all of the rules from this new edition.

 

My list was:

Farsight (Warlord)

Coldstar w/ quad fusion, Enclave Talisman (24" DTW and 5++), and "Through Boldness, Victory" trait

Cadre Fireblade

 

4x 5 Fire Warriors

 

5 XV8 Crisis w/ burst cannons, 1x drone controller, 1 Iridium armour, 9x Gun Drones, Veteran strat & gatling burst cannons relic

5 XV8 Crisis w/ burst cannons, 1x drone controller, 1 Iridium armour, 9x Gun Drones

2x 1 Firesight Marksman

Ghostkeel w/ fusion collider, 2x burst cannon, shield generator, early warning override

 

6 Pathfinders w/ two rail rifles

 

My opponent's list was:

Ghaz

Makari

Big Mek w/ KFF

Weirdboy

 

2x 30 Boyz

2x 11 Gretchin

 

10 Mega Nobz

 

+++

 

We played the Retrieval Mission (one objective in the middle of each deployment zone, four objectives in no-man's land, two on each side of the table) in which if you hold 1+ objectives, you score 5 points; if you hold 2+ objectives, you score and extra 5 points; if you hold more objectives than your opponent, you score an extra 5 points.

 

Secondary-wise, I chose Assassinate (Ghaz was never going to die so I figured I could eliminate the other three characters), First Strike (I gambled that he would want first turn and if I won the roll-off that I would let him go first, therefore he would be in range of my guns during my T1 despite their short range), and Linebreaker (given that I had a Coldstar, at least one unit of deepstriking XV8's+Drones and the Ghostkeel, I figured I could score this fairly easily for a couple of turns at least).

My opponent chose Slay the Warlord, Attirition (scores points for killing more units of mine than I kill of his in a battle round), and the mission-specific secondary which relies on his army surviving with as many units as possible.

 

I deployed across the whole front of my deployment zone, trying to block a T1 Da Jump in my back lines while still having forward positions which would bring the Orks in range T1. I put one of the Crisis units in reserves (the one without the Veteran strat and relic burst cannons) and the rest of my units were on the table.

One Strike Squad on the left flank in cover close to the objective there, with the XV8 unit next to it. The Coldstar Commander was behind these, denying DS in my rear left corner. One Strike Squad held my own objective along with a Firesight Marksman in terrain (2+ save!). In front of them, another Strike Squad set out in front of Farsight. On the right, Strike Squad, Firesight Marksman and Cadre Fireblade in a ruin next to the objective there with the Pathfinders on the extreme edge of my flank. Infiltrating in on the right flank, close to the objective there was my Ghostkeel and the two Stealth Drones.

 

Orks deployed in the centre of their DZ, with Boyz front back in/behind a ruin, Ghaz, Big Mek, Makari, Weirdboy, and one unit of Gretchin sandwiched between the two units of Boyz. The second unit of Gretchin and the Mega Nobz were at the front of the DZ, on my left, ready to move forward to take objectives and move up in case Da Jump wasn't manifested.

 

T1 saw the Orks surge forward with the Gretching taking the objective on the left flank on the Orks' side the Boyz moving up the centre in or behind cover, characters moving up, and Mega Nobz getting Da Jump'd towards my Ghostkeel on the right flank. Mega Nobz charged and killed the Ghostkeel (I'd forgotten I had a 4++ save...) but didn't manage to target the Stealth Drones this turn.

In my T1, I move my Strike Squads onto the various objectives, shift Farsight and Coldstar to my right flank to help deal with the Mega Nobz, and shuffle the Gun Drones and XV8s up towards the Gretchin. Stealth Drones fall back from their combat with the Mega Nobz and make a mini-screen to hamper their movement. During the Shooting phase, the Gretchin get removed and I manage to kill quite a few Boyz in the foremost unit, both with the Drones + XV8s. Mega Nobz get shot at by the Coldstar, Pathfinders, two units of Fire Warriors and Farsight, losing five of their number.

 

T2, the Orks in the middle move up and get ready to charge into the XV8s and Drones on my left side, as does Ghaz. Mega Nobz manoeuvre around the Stealth Drones and line up for the charge into the Farsight+Fire Warrior+Pathfinder bundle on my right. What little shooting there is focuses on the Fire Warrior Squad screening Farsight: only one remains. The Boyz in the centre fail their charge into my Crisis suits and Drones, and get wiped from the Overwatch. Ghaz just about manages to charge into the Drones, taking no damage in Overwatch from them. On the right, the Mega Nobz charge into a lone Fire Warrior and Farsight; Overwatch does very little this time. They pile in and manage to lock everyone except the Pathfinders into combat thanks to the new rule that allows the vertical engagement range to be 5" if you're directly below the model. Farsight gets killed by the Mega Nobz and Ghaz kills all but one of the Drones. Consolidation with Ghaz allows him to just about tag the Crisis suits and Fire Warriors behind the Drones. On the other side of the board, the Mega Nobz consolidate further into my units there.

 

During my T2, I fall back with everything that was locked in combat: on Ghaz's side, I try to wrap him with my unit of Fire Warriors and sole surviving Drone while the XV8s fall back towards the middle of the board, trying to get away from Ghaz. On the Mega Nobz's side, I also try and wrap my Fire Warriors around the Nobz while keeping my Firesight Marksman and Fireblade away. The Pathfinders join the wrapping effort while the Coldstar shoots across the board to approximately where the Ghostkeel was in T1, close to an objective and out of danger. The second unit of Crisis suits comes down not far from the Coldstar, in my opponent's DZ with the Gretching holding the objective behind a ruin in full view, but also within range of the second unit of 30 Boyz in the centre.The Shooting phase goes well and sees both the Gretchin and the 30 Boyz removed from the table, leaving only the five Mega Nobz, Ghaz, the Weirdboy, the Big Mek, and little Makari. In the charge phase, I charge with my Pathfinders into the Mega Nobz to try and lock them into combat to stop them from going after the XV8s fleeing from Ghaz or chasing after the Coldstar Commander. Unfortunately, they all die to the Ork Kill saws.

 

T3 sees Ghaz move away from the wrapping Fire Warriors and into a position where he can charge both the Fire Warriors and XV8s in the middle. Makari runs to the far left objective that his Gretchin friends tried to hold in the first turn. The Big Mek advances into the central ruin, keen to try and get into range of the Warboss' advance+charge aura which would allow him to also charge into the XV8s. Weirdboy positions himself to Smite the Coldstar and the Mega Nobz move (and advance) out from the encircling Fire Warriors to try and charge the Coldstar but crucially are also far out of range of Ghaz and his advance+charge aura. My opponent realises this so tries to get Ghaz closer to them with the charge move. However, he declares a charge against both the Fire Warriors that tried to wrap him and the XV8s. The closest FW is 1.5" away and the Crisis suits are roughly 3.5" away. His charge roll is a 9 but since he cannot finish his charge move outside of Engagement Range of all the units he declared a charge against, he cannot move to the other side of the Crisis unit, within range of the Mega Nobz for them to be in his advance+charge aura (believe you me, we had a very heated argument about this as it was a clutch moment). Because of this, the Mega Nobz cannot charge the Coldstar and are stuck in the open. To add insult to injury, the Big Mek is also just out of range of the advance+charge aura so cannot charge the XV8s either. Ghaz runs in and kills all of the XV8s and two Fire Warriors but, crucially, one stays alive and passes morale, claiming the objective he is standing on.

Oh, and the Weirdboy tries to Smite the Coldstar, gets denied, and the Da Jumps himself to the rear left of my DZ to avoid getting killed (netting me more VP for Assassinate and to try and contest my DZ objective held by a lone FW). He tries to charge the lone FW guarding the rear objective but fails and gets photon grenade thrown at him for his troubles.

 

In my T3, the Coldstar moves onto the objective just in front of him and I make sure he is within less than 9" to get that juicy Melta rule bonus when I shoot at the Mega Nobz. The rest of the army moves into position to remove both the remaining five Mega Nobz and the Big Mek in the central ruins. The Stealth Drones, who have been scoring me Linebreaker along with the deepstriking XV8s and Drones, stay where they are.

The Shooting phase sees the Mega Nobz severely mauled thanks to being lit up with five Markerlights (one survivor who then flees) and the Big Mek is killed under a hail of burst cannon (laser?) bolts.

 

At this point, I'm at 66 points to my opponents' 22 and he calls the game.

 

+++

 

Lots of mistakes made during the course of the game, both in tactical terms and rules, but all in all we learned a lot and had fun. This was the first time I fielded such a large T'au force (1.5k) and I really enjoyed playing them. The firepower and mobility of my army really compensated for the lack of psychic powers and close-combat threats. I also realised who crucial it is to put a Drone Controller on a XV8 Shas'vre when running a large number of Gun Drones (that +1 to hit can make all the difference for a measly 5 points).

 

Looking forward to playing more games of 9th in the near future.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Dosjetka

[Panzer]

Two units of BC Crisis against Orks with basically just infantry is harsh. :sweat:

[Dosjetka]

Yeah, I realised as much once the dust had settled and we counted the losses. Besides, against a list with more vehicles, I would have struggled so I'll move away from so much anti-infantry going forward. Edited July 16, 2020 by Dosjetka

[MithrilForge]

well done on your win, the 2 units of BC crisis is a double edged sword cause honestly why wouldn't you take em?, do you want to handicap your game 

also some of the charges or Da jump's could've worked due to you misplacing units by accident or oversight ...the game could have gone a whole lot different if that had happened,

It wasn't like you brought triple riptides or some such shenanigans... you brought the right weapon for a horde of Orks( unfortunately for them )

Thanks for the Bat rep  

 

Cheers, Mithril

 

p.s. I thought it was a good read cause I like both armies personally so it was like... yeah! well done Tau   then... oh yeah! the mega Nobs are Ard  boyz