Battle Report: Fourth Fort Massacre

Shas'O Ximoro'An watched the Space Marines come into view through the mist and smoke filling the city. Sector 57.5 Alpha North, otherwise known as Fourth Fort, was a burnt out ruin, just like all the other sectors in the massive Imperial city. Just another in the many he had come through on his way to this point. These Space Marines had come to the aid of the Grey Knights, determined to stop him from reaching the cathedral that loomed mighty and dominant in the distance.

Alright this was my first 1500 point engagement and my first use of my new 1500 point list, I am very happe in how it performed, very, very happy. The campaign had me either attacking yet another space port or continueing my beeline toward the Inquisitional cathedral. Here are the lists:

Tau
Shas'O, Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Shield Gennerator, Hard Wired Multi Tracker
Crisis Team (2), shas'vre, missil pod, burst cannon, multi tracker
Monat Battlesuite, missil pod, burst cannon, multi tracker
Stealth Team (6) shas'vre
Firewarrior Team Irregulars (10), x2 Carbines, bonded, shas'ui, photon grenades, Devilfish APC with the usual kit
Firewarrior Team Alpha, (12), bonded, shas'ui
Firwarrior Team Beta, (12), bonded, shas'ui
Gun Drone Squadron (7)
Hammerhead Gunship, Railgun, Smart Missils, MT, Decoy, Pair of Drones
Hammerhead Gunship, Railgun, Burst Cannon, MT, Decoy

Space Marines
Commander, power sword, bolt pistol, iron halo, terminator honours.
Assault Marines (5), sergeant
Tactical Squad (10)
Tactical Squad (10)
Tactical Squad (7)
Devastator Squad (5) sergeant, x2 Missil Launchers, lascannon, multi melta
Dreadnaught, twin lascannon, missils, venerable

Ok well the board was pretty densly terrained. There were two large buildings on the left, a small one in the middle and another large one on the right of my deployment zone. There was one 3 story building left of center in my opponents deploy zone and a cathedral in the center of the board. The rest of the terrain didnt matter.

The mission was take and hold, the central cathedral was the objective. Deployment had Firewarrior squad alpha just behind the building on the right, burst cannon Hammerhead next to them. Firewarrior squad beta went into the small building, stealth team infiltrated right behind the cathedral. Crisis suits and Shas'O sat just to the left of the small building next to the mounted Irregulars squad. Smart Missil Hammerhead went behind the farthest left building. Gun Drones sat to the right of the crisis suits. Devastators went into the 3 story building, dread on far left, 2 10 man tactical squads on the right with the captain attatched to one, the 7 man one went on the left. Assault squad was on the far right.

Turn 1:
Space Marines... well duh.
Assaults ran up, tacticals ran up, dread popped my Devilfish, killing 2 drones and 2 Firewarriors, *sigh*. Devastators moved farther up in the building.

Tau
SMS Hammerhead popped the Dread, crisis suits killed 2 devastators, Hammerhead killed 2 Assault Marines, Aplha squad moved into the building, beta squad moved further in theirs. Stealths kill another devastator. So end of turn 1, 5 marines dead, 4 Tau dead and one vehicle each dead. Pretty even so far... ok maybe not.

Tau
OPEN FIRE! Alpha squad moved further up into their building. Stealths move up and shoot, crisis open fire, hammerheads let er rip, assault marines dead, 1 devastator left, 5 other marines downed.

Turn 3:
Space Marines
Charge? Yea they kept on coming, the devastator failed moral and legged it, rest of the army ran forward some more, got off a couple shots, failed to do any damage.

Tau
You know the drill boys. Kill em all. 9 more marines killed. Shas'O got one, drones from the Hammerhead with him got one, Irregulars continued moving forward, stealths killed one, Hammerheads killed 2 each.

Turn 5:
Space Marines
Why arent we fleeing? Yea, they kept on coming, remnants of the remaining 10 man squad get into the cathedral, Commander to their right. They managed to finish off the wounded shas'ui.

Tau
Poor marine boys. Last tactical squad destroyed, commander wounded. The Irregulars had finally come forward enough and fired the finishing shots into the tactical squad, HAH they did something, the Irregulars never let me down.

None of my scoring units were destroyed or even reduced to below half, I am happy. This was an awesome battle, the Railgun Submunitions killed numerous marines and the solid shot claimed the dread. This was a very good battle, with only 5 cassualties and a tank destroyed I lost less than 200 points out of my 1500 point army. Not bad, not bad at all. This victory was also very nice as there were many more people around than usual, after this none of them wanted to get anywhere near my guns. I played in a for fun 4 way 500 point battle. I sat in the corner laughing the whole time as they skirted my army by well over 40". Nobody wanted to get anywhere near me. I found that very funny.

Anyway I decided not to claim the Star Port, instead I would continue heading toward the Inquisitional Cathedral. I can come back and take the Space Port latter. I want to get rid of the Inquisition in my area. There are only two cathedrals on the map, and a handfull of star ports. I have 2 star ports in my control. If I can take the fortress and then sieze the star port after that, the campaign is litterally in the bag. The Imperials are being battered to no end. Today was a good day, a victorious day, oh yea.

O'An surveyed the masacre before him, space marines bodies littered the field. He turned to regard the smoking wreck of the Deviflish and the three stretchers that were being taken away to the med facilities.

He walked over to the body of the Space Marine commander he had killed. Looking down at it he smilled, it was time to add another mark of honor, another mighty kill had been added to his record, yes it had been a very good day. There was nothing standing in his way to the door step of the Cathedral. Chuckling he strode away from the battlefield, a spring in his step.