This is very, very long. I appologize but anyone who reads through this can at least feel accomplished.
Alright this battle saw my Or'es Shi cadre allied with my Brothers (currently) Biel Tan Eldar against Space Marines and
Witch Hunters. This was at my local hobby shop which is holding its own campaign (not medusa v) where we are all fighting
over a massive city using cities of death rules. The campaign maps have gotten better at the place each campaign. What was
at first a piece of graphing paper with marked out areas. Now is a very detailed, printed map of a massive Imperial City.
The situation had it that my cadre hadnt gained a foothold yet for my own forces and was deploying through other Tau cadres
zones and the Eldar werent even on the map yet. The mission was Firesweep.
Now the board was 5 feet by 6 feet and contained no less than 15 full fledged buildings. More than half as tall as 3
storeys, one 4 storeys. There were also a number of smaller ruins and impassible terrain that did not count as buildings including
a rather large bridge. The layout had a spindly looking tower in the lower left followed by two larger buildings north of
it and another one to its right with a long trench running down the low edge of the board. Another building was above the
right side of the trencth and to its right sat a ruined water purification plant that was rather small and again another larger
building to the right of it (getting confused yet?). In the center of the board was a giant 4 storey building and to its right
was another two buildings with yet another in the lower right of the board. The upper edge contained a small tower structure,
the bridge and another 4 buildings I think. There turned out to be 15 total.
The armies were thus:
Or'es Shi:
Shas'O, Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Shield Gennerator, HW MT
Shas'el, Plasma Rifle,
Cyclic Ion Blaster, Targeting Array, HW MT
Crisis Team
-Shas'ui Team leader, plasma rifle, missil pod, targeting array,
hw mt
-Shas'ui (2), twin linked missil pods, targeting array
Crisis Team
-Shas'ui Team leader, plasma rifle, missil
pod, targeting array, hw met
-Shas'ui, twin linked missil pods, targeting array
Stealth Team (6)
Firewarrior Team
(10), shas'ui, bonding knife
Firewarrior Team (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
Firewarrior Team (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
Hammerhead,
Railgun, SMS, Target Lock, Decoy Launchers, Multi Tracker
Yes I know only one tank. I decided to massively alter my normal list which generally includes as many as 9 skimmers,
7 of which are tanks. Thus this is a massive change and greatly threw off my opponents who obviously expecting heavy amounts
of armor took a great number of melta weapons which then found themselves with very little to shoot at. Rather a satisfying
turn of events.
Biel Tan Eldar
Farseer, ghost helm, witchblade, shuriken pistol, fortune, guide, spirit stones
Guardian
Defenders (11)
Guardian Defenders (5)
Storm Guardians (8), warlock, 2 flamers, haywire, krak and plasma grenades
Warp
Spiders (5), Exarch, power blades
Howling Banshees (5), Exarch, power blades
Fire Dragons (5), Exarch, firepike
Vyper,
star cannon, CTM
Vyper, star cannon, CTM
Guardian Jetbikes (3), shuriken cannon
Fire Dragons didnt end up doing much but thanks to the confused decision and heated debate over the method of deployment
and zones I didnt think reapers would have had much to shoot at. As it turned out they would have been gold but the difference
didnt turn out to be much.
Space Marines
Captain, artificer armor, power weapon, bolt pistol
Dreadnaught, venerable, DCCW,
assault cannon, drop pod
Terminators (5), assault cannon (2), sergeant w/ power sword and storm bolter
Tactical Squad
(5), sergeant w/ power weapon & plasma pistol, meltagun
Tactical Squad (5), sergeant w/ CC weapon & plasma pistol,
meltagun
Tactical Squad (5), sergeant w/ cc weapon & plasma pistol, meltagun
Scout Squad (5), rocket launcher, ccws
and bolt pistols
Scout Squad (5), rocket launcher, ccws and bolt pitols
Scout Squad (5), Sniper Rifles (4), rocket launcher
Somehow doesnt look like 1250 to me but he was probably under pointed and the sisters took the rest they used allied
guard.
Witch Hunters
Cannoness, artificer armor, master crafted power weapon, inferno pistol, adamantine
cloak, jump pack
Inquisitor w/ flamer person... and thats it...
Callidus Assasine
Death Cult Assasin
Death Cult
Assasin
Celestians (10), heavy flamer, sister superior with power weapon & bolt pistol
Celestians (10), multi melta,
sister superior with power weapon & bolt pistol
Battle Sister Squad (10), melta guns (2), sister superior with power
weapon & bp
Battle Sister Squad (10), melta guns (2), sister superior with power weapon & bp
Seraphim (10),
sister superior with power weapon & bolt pistol
Imperial Guard (10) rocket launcher, plasma gun
Imperial Guard (10)
lascannon
Imperial Guard (5), flamers (2), commisar with power weapon & bolt pistol
Yea deffinetly looks to have taken leftover points from the Space Marines. Im not surprised but oh well one kind
of power armor goes down just as well as another.
Strategems
Xenos (2 per player)
Demolition (the large center building on turn 6)
Preliminary bombardment
Razor Wire
Booby
Traps (5 of them)
Oddly enough not one of these made any difference in the slightest to the course of the game, blast it all.
Imperial (again 2 per player)
Sewer Rats
Preliminary Bombardment
Infiltrate
Combat Engineers
Deployment:
Xenos
5 Man guardian squad went in the spindly tower to the lower left with a Firewarrior squad in
each of the two buildings north of it. The last Firewarrior squad went into the building above the trench. The Shas'O and
Shas'el went above the left of the trench with the 3 man suite team in the right end of the trench and the other two went
in a small building betwen the tower and the trench. The Farseer sat behind the 2 man crisis team and the other guardian squad,
banshees and fire dragons went between the trench and the building above its right side. The Hammerhead parked between the
two buildings north of the tower and a vyper was behind it. The other vyper went to the right of the banshees and dragons.
The Stealth suits and warp spiders went behind the trench.
Imperial
One celestian squad went into the small building north of the massive center one and one
battle sister squad went in a building in the north right with the seraphim in the building above it. One guard squad sat
in the building in the upper left of their table quarter above the center building and the other sat in the building to the
right of the big center structure. Other Celestians and battle sister squad used sewer rats as did the 5 man guard and inquisitor.
Death Cultists infiltrated above the building in the upper left of my deployment held by a squad of Firewarriors. One SM scout
squad infiltrated to the small tower in the upper left of the table and the other in the small ruin in the lower right. One
SM squad was joined by the commander and infiltrated to the middle building. The sniper scouts went on the top floor of the
center building by infiltration and the dread was in the drop pod. The Terminators sat between some buildings in the center
of the enemies deployment quarter. Last tactical squad went in the building just right of the trench. Storm guardians were
left of the large group of aspects and the vyper.
I think thats everything.
Now onto strategems. Preliminary bombardment killed a Guardian from the 5 man team and killed a stealth suite. The xeno
bombardment of the Imperials did absolutely nothing.
Word in your ear forced the shas'el to move forward 6".
Turn 1:
Imperial
SM commander and attatched squad moved forward into their ruin
and up a floor. Rockets and Missils all tried to down various vehicles failing miserably. Other than that not much happened
save another Stealth suite dying and 2 Firewarriors from the building north of the trench.
Xeno
Firewarriors in upper left building moved forward and gunned down a death cultist. SMS wounded
the other and the sub munition killed a celestian. 2 Man battlesuite squad jumped north and shot down 2 of the scouts in the
northern tower. Stealths moved right with the warp spiders and gunned down all but one of the 5 man marine squad in there.
Scouts on the right also lost 2 from the 3 man suite team and the vypers accounted for a loss to the marines with the commander
and 2 terminators biting the dust. Firewarrior squad in the building north of the trench fired on the scouts in the center
building killing all of them. The large guardian squad, fire dragons and howling banshees moved toward the center building.
Storm guardians stormed to the right along the trench. The warp spiders used their jump move to go right 11 inches.
Turn 1 Cassualties
Xeno
2 Stealth Suits, 1 Guardian Defender and 2 Firewarriors.
Imperial
7 Scouts, 5 Marines, 1 Sister, 2 Terminators, 1 Death Cult Assasin
Turn 2
Imperial
Callidus Assasine arrived and the 5 man guard squad. The 5 man squad joined the lone sergeant
in the lower right building. Callidus dropped behind the Farseer and flamed him stunning the Vyper but failing to wound him.
Hammerhead was stunned and a warp spider was shot down aswell as a single howling banshee. Callidus charged the Farseer and
surviving death cultist charged the Firewarriors dropping 3 and the Farseer was wounded once. Commander assaulted large guardian
squad and the squad he was with assaulted the banshees losing 2 and killing none.
Xeno
5 Man guardian squad (now 4) moved out to join the Farseers battle. Stealths gunned down the
entirety of the guardsmen squad that had appeared with the sergeant and the shas'el toasted the remaining serg. The crisis
team then fired on the 5 man squad in the purification plant killing 2. The warp spiders gunned down another after having
fallen back to the left some. Stealths advanced. Banshees finished off the last 2 squad members consolidating away from the
combat with the commander as he butchered the poor guardians. Terminators were now out of sight so the Starcannon fixed on
the marines left in the purification plant killing them the last of them. Guardians smacked a wound off the callidus as she
wiffed against the ole seer. Storm guardians got into the purification plant and stealths and spiders managed to get into
the building now vacant from marines and guard on the right. 2 more buildings claimed.
Turn 2 Cassualties
Xeno
1 Warp spider, 5 Guardians, 3 Firewarriors.
Imperial
8 Marines, 5 Guardsmen, Callidus Assasin
Turn 3
Imperial
Callidus was killed by the Farseer after downing only 1 guardian. Death cultist killed the
rest of the Firewarriors running them down and raced out toward the Farseer. Rockets and lascannon wiffed their shots. Last
marine against the banshees fell. Celestians and sister squad came out from reserves and dread drop podded right outside the
purification plant. The jetbikes and crisis suits forcing it over some. The dread got out into the plant. Cannoness charged
the storm guardians who lost 2 of their number. Warp spiders lost another man to scout shooting. Other two sisters squads
started to move forward and seraphim were moving along the northern edge. Sisters squad appeared next to the aspects and flamed
down two banshees and all 5 fire dragons. Death cultist charged the Farseer ignoring the Guardians. Celestians gunned down
the jetbikes.
Xeno
Stealthsuits sent the Dreadnaught to meet the emperor, combined fire from the Shas'el and warp
spiders gunned down the celestians and the sisters that had downed the aspects were slaughtered by combined fire from the
left vyper, a nearby Firewarrior team, 2 crisis suits and the hammerhead. The second remaining FW team got 3 hits against
the 3 remaining scouts, all wounded and all were failed killing the squad. Spiders and Stealths jumped out of their building
right on the edge of the next one prepared to take it next turn. Banshee exarch attacked the commander but died in the attempt
and the Farseer continued to show excelent form (Eldrad Ulthran's model oh yea!) and killed the death cultist.
Turn 3 Cassualties
Xeno
2 Guardians, 3 Jetbikes, 2 Storm Guardians, 5 Fire Dragons 5 Howling Banshees.
Imperial
10 Sisters of Battle, 10 Celestians, Dreadnaught, Death Cult Assasin
Now this whole thing had begun at roughly 12:15 and it was now 5:15. It had taken so long primarily because the Witch
Hunters player was truely one of the worst rules lawyers I have ever had the misfortune of seeing and arguments encompased
a good half of all of this. After turn one I began to totally forget accepting his knowledge of his army and questioning everything.
If he was going to be picky then so was I. The annoying thing was he was wrong about more than half of the things he complained
about and while I knew he was right on most of the things I argued it was simply a way of getting back and giving him a taste
of his own medecine. Now he pulled it out again saying that the turns took too long and the game should be called. Currently
the Imperials had 8 buildings and Xeno 7 but there was an empty building in the lower right with the stealths and spiders
(both still scoring) literally on its doorstep and even with snake eyes on the difficult terrain role it was ours. That would
have made it 8 Xeno and 7 Imperial and he had no surviving units that could possibly take anything from us. Warhammer has
a lot of variables but one constant is movement. The sisters on the left couldnt move more than 6" and were farther than that
away from the nearest Xeno building and the Seraphim were even farther away and even with 12" move they couldnt get their
either. The squad on the right was equally far away and so were any remaining guard squads. Which meant victory was assured
as the previous turn my brother and the Witch hunter player with the marine and my agreement shook hands that the game would
be ended on turn 4.
This was a pathetic, wormy way to try and pull a win not to mention completely unsportsmanlike. I argued against it but
for some reason the store manager called it a Tie and awarding all players victory on the campaign map. Now this simply outrages
me. With the game ending on turn 4 there was absolutely no doubt that the Xeno would have had 8 buildings and the Imperial
7 meaning a solid win for the Tau and Eldar. Calling the game before that and whining to get a Tie was one of the most sickening
examples of poor sportsmanship Ive ever seen.
However Im calling this one a Victory for the Tau and Eldar as that was exactly what it was. Only by the intervention
of the stores employee did the witch hunter player manage to have it declared a tie for the campaign. At least the SM and
WH managed to claim nothing important on the city where the Tau and Eldar both grabbed important and valuable districts, my
Or'es Shi claiming an arbites precinct stronghold and the Eldar taking a fortification of massive guns on the cities northern
side.
Moral and Physical victory for the Xenos!
Personal Comments
Tau
This game would have been very fun and a great time if it were not for the generally atrocious
sportsmanship of the Witch Hunter player who time and again pulled such rediculous rulings on poorly written rules it was
abominable. Although I dod managed to mitigate the impact of nearly all of the rulings. Fairness won in the end it would seem.
All in all the battle was a grand success, by the end of turn 3 the Space Marines had been nearly annihilated having only
2 scouts, a drop pod and the commander left oh yea and one terminator. The sisters had also suffered greatly losing around
half of their army points wise by the end of turn 3. With the Tau barely damaged (2 stealths and 12 Firewarriors dead) and
the Eldar still quite powerful despite a number of losses the sisters had an uphill fight. Now it was simply a hold battle
and with the sisters forces stretched so thin and mobility against them victory was near certain even should all 6 turns have
been played.
Tactically the Imperials moved too fast grabbing buildings but spreading too thin and leaving themselves wide open.
The Eldar push to the center drew the enemy forward and although they took losses the Imperials suffered worse. On the right
flank the push of our combined might slaughtered everything over there while taking rather light losses overall and doing
an immense amount of damage aswell as securing 3 buildings fairly solidly that the enemy would take turns to even contest
let alone take from us. On the left the situation wasnt bad either with the Shas'O, farseer, 2 crisis suits, the Hammerhead,
3 guardians (still scoring) and 10 Firewarriors a solid bullwark was laid against the incoming two squads of sisters. While
they might have killed the Firewarriors and temporarily taken the one building by the end of turn 6 (Xeno having the bottom
of the turns) it could have easily been retaken and with the warp spiders insane mobility on the right another one or two
buildings could have been captured aswell by that time.
All in all the tactics worked well. Simply put my brother and I used the distinct strengths of each of our armies
to cover the weaknesses of the other and stayed close enough to make sure that our armies could cover each other and both
flanks could support the other where the Imperials lauched forward in an all or nothing gamble. They were met by a rock hard
wall of defences and the serious dakka power of Tau at close range and crumpled before it failing to reach my weaker squads
for the most part thanks to the banshees and firedragons sacrifice the firepower of the Firewarriors was able to level whatever
came before it. Despite this however I am most certainly refusing to play the Witch Hunter player ever again and might simply
withdraw from the campaign. I play this game to have fun and a challenge and while extremely annoying the WH player had next
to no tactics what so ever trusting on the complex special rules and sheer numbers of power armored sisters to achieve the
objective and win. Neither of the reasons I play are fulfilled by playing this cretin. An otherwise great afternoon soured
badly. Ah well I can be confident that my army works well and is effective even when its not making use of all my shiny tanks.
I like my tanks but do not depend on them. Something my opponents learned to their detriment. My star player was my shas'el
having killed quite a few enemies and my Stealth suits who simply obliterated everything their burst cannons pointed at.
Eldar
As a younger brother and a like minded person i generaly agree with Vash, if in their shoes i would take exactly
one more than half of the buildings and hold them with a knitted front line. unfortunatly (for them) they relied on reserves
to hold certain areas but forgot that on arrival they were the only thing to shoot and thus became prime targets. for me the
star players where vyper (killed termies) and the Warp spiders. only the dreaded spideys could move over such terrific distances
in only 3 turns.that includes a whole turn of nearstationary hit-fade tactic. And the Farseer who near singlehandedly slew
two assasines. A force of mobile infantry is far more effective than the extreme of mobile warfare (mech) or of footslogging.
Finaly as a person surrounded by freinds with blatent flaws i am used to taking such in stride, but not when the person in
question has no redeeming quality. P.S i hope mr.witchhunter chokes on a pretzel.
Lastly I have to say it was most enjoyable to play beside my brother. The two of us spent most of the time during our
turns bickering in a most amusing fashion. However it was just for show simply to throw off our opponets. We were familiar
with each others armies and styles enough to know exactly what the other was going to do long before it was actually done
and all our rambling was simply the two of us trying to enjoy ourselves and ignore our rather irritating opponets. It seemed
to work like a charm causing them to rush through their turn. Not exactly the most sportsmanlike but given our opponents it
was a grand way to get back at them and have fun besides. A warning to all of you brothers can be fiercly good at team work.
