Battle Report: Cyan Snow

Well this was my first battle with my Tau in far longer than I wish to remember and sadly my luck was just as bad as it has been for again far longer than I dare think about. I think I need new dice and I need to finish my painting projects. In any case if my memory serves me correctly tihs was a 1500pt battle with my Or'es Shi cadre vs a bunch of Speed freaks. The lists were as follows:

Or'es Shi
Shas'O Ximoro'An, FB, PR, SG, HWMT
Shas'el Ren'va, PR, CIB, TA, HWMT
Shas'ui team leader, PR, MP, TA, HWMT
Shas'ui Team leader, PR, MP, TA, HWMT
Firewarrior Team Alpha (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
-Devilfish Alpha, multi tracker, targeting array, decoy launchers
Firewarrior Team Beta (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
-Devilfish Beta, multi tracker, targeting array, decoy launchers
Piranha Alpha, targeting array, decoy launchers, fusion blasters
Piranha Beta, targeting array, decoy launchers, fusion blasters
Hammerhead Alpha, Railgun, BC, MT, DL
Hammerhead Beta, Railgun, BC, MT, DL
Hammerhead Gamma, Ioncannon, BC, MT, DL

Speed Freaks
Warboss on Bike
Big Mek
Trukk Boyz, 10, big shootas of some number
-Trukk with extra armor
Scarboyz, 20
-Battlewagon with extra armor and guns
Trukk Boyz, 10, big shootas
Looted Leman Russ
Wartrakk x2
Wartrakk x2
Wartrakk
Tankbustas 10
-trukk with extra aromr

Like I said I really am not good with the Ork rules I have fought them 3 times now in a very limited sense I havent seen much of what they have to offer so I dont have much experience with them especially not shooty speed freaks. Lots of dakka in the list that I dont know the rules and numbers for so Ill just leave it to what I know.

The table was an ice field with hills of snow and ice to mark the battlefield. Deployment put the russ behind an ice hill on the left with three trakks and the warboss to its left with the battlewagon and a trukk to its right. The other trukk and last two trakks went farther to the right with the trakks shielding the looted rhino trukk.

I placed one Railhead on the left the other on the right with the Ionhead. Shas'O and Shas'el were to the left with one Devilfish of Firewarriors and Both Piranhas and the last Devilfish sat roughly center with the two Shas'ui crisis suits between the fish and the pair of Hammerheads.

Shas'O Ximoro'An surveyed the ice fields before him. The silver and blue forms of the Or'es Shi cadre's armored might flitted around the terrain moving into position to meet the Orks. The Green tide was coming and the Or'es Shi would stop them. Evacuating the mining world of Yel'iel was taking too long and the Orks were not waiting. The black smoke of the foul murderers could already be seen fast approaching heralding the coming of the green menace as they raced forward on their makeshift constructs. Still makeshift or not the Orks were dangerous and O'An would not underestimate them.

Turn 1:
Tau- Remarkably I did win first turn and tried to make use of it. Both Crisis suits sihfted to get sight down the right hand fire lane and took aim at the trakks and downed one. The Ionhead and Railhead shifted forward on the right, the Railhead and both Piranha moved forward on the left and the Devilfish maneuvered a bit forward but still held back some conserving their cargo for the right opportunity. Sadly though the majority of my shooting was largely innefectual, the dice gods were not with me it seems.

Orks- The Orks were not so unlucky and to my horror both of my Railheads crashed and burned hard, almost 400pts of my army fell out of the sky as the orks roared forward and let rip with their guns. Tons of dakka most of it missing but what did hit its mark did its damage in the burning wrecks of my poor tanks.

Turn 2:
Tau- Well the fight wasnt over this was certainly not good but it wasnt too terrible either. One ork Trakk was down and the other was damaged. With the Ork Warboss staring me in the face I couldnt resist and Shas'O Ximoro'An took aim and fired. This was perhaps the only lucky shot I had in the game as the fusion blaster shot fried the Warboss good and proper. The rest of my shooting was largely innefectual and thats perhaps an overstatement. My army shifted forward more bringing its guns fully into range.

Orks- The painted Piranha went down in flames to Ork shooting after its failed attempt to take out the Battlewagon and the Orks began to spill out firing at the Devilfish trying to bring them down.

Turn 3:
Tau- Once again shooting did very little. The remaining Piranha failed to down the Looted Russ and the other shooting was equally poor. The Trukk on the right went down and a few of its passengers but not many. The Battlesuits continued to try and bring down the enemy vehicles but largely failed. A few immobolization results that would not last long. The Firewarriors dropped out of their transports to fire on the Orks and tore up a mob of trukk boyz but it was a little victory. A couple of the trakks finally went down to massed fire.

Orks- Most of the immobolized vehicles were patched back into working order and the Orks resumed shooting at my tanks. Several Firewarriors fell and one of the Devilfish was knocked out of the air. Orks piled out of their vehicles and prepared to assault the Firewarriors. The Ionhead lost its cannon to tankbustas.

Turn 4:
Tau- The Firewarriors tried mostly in vain to drop the mass of 30 or so Orks that had jumped out and killed a few but far, far too few to make much of a dent. Piranha once again failed to down the Russ and O'An got closer to try and support it. Finally the Battlewagon goes down to the battlesuits shooting.

Orks- A single battle cannon blast shreds the second Piranha and slams O'An into the dirt. The Firewarriors are cought and only 2 survive. The Ionhead finally gets shot down.

Turn 5:
Tau- Battlesuits shoot down more boys but still far too few to stop them. The last trukk boyz go down but the skarboyz keep coming. Ren'va shoots down as many as he can while beeting a swift backpedal away from the Orks.

Tie by very little. Both sides torn up good with only the Russ, a couple Trukks and two below half mops of Orks left active at the end of the fight but the Tau with even less, just not enough less to ensure a win for the Orks.

So basically although my luck was terrible I still managed to inflict some good hurt on the Orks it was just too little too late to keep my own forces alive. My luck in rolling throughout the game proved just plain terrible. Nothing worked right save the one shot that downed the warboss. Everything else just consistently failed whether it was close ranged fusion blaster shots or simple volleys of pulse fire the results were far from gratifying and even the armor save roles left scant survivors. For some reason my luck has been dreadful for quite some time, maybe new dice would help.

In any case for my first battle against the Orks with my Tau it wasnt as bad as it could have been. I lost most of my heavy hitters spectacularly whether it was both Railheads crashing on turn one or my Shas'O and second Piranha getting cut down in one shot it was just plain bad luck. Stratigically Im not sure what I could have done differently to produce better results if anything.

Well from what I can tell I bet Ive sounded very pessimistic but after a long test and presentation preparation putting up this battle report hasnt proven that enjoyable. However one thing I find entirely satisfying and quite enough to make up for the dismall luck in the fight was that I can at least now add a Warboss to my Shas'O's kill tally. Too bad it couldnt have gone better but oh well it was good enough.