Battle Report: Xenos Armor

Scenario:
Shas'O Ximoro'An and the Or'es Shi cadre have recieved a distress signal from a small refueling and repair station on the outskirts of a small Tau colony. The Firewarriors have come under attack by a group of Eldar Rangers and although the attackers had been dispatched a larger Eldar force was clearly on its way even if it was not in sight yet. Mounting up the first cadre O'An raced to reach the outpost before the Eldar strike force arrived in force.

Terrain:
On the left of my deployment zone was a nice 3 level building, just right of center was the outpost structure, a long bunker structure with a small second level. Infront of the ruined building was a sensor array and stretching across the field on the right was a crashed Imperial Ship (from the BFM box). In the Eldar deployment zone on the left was some ruined baracades and bunkers on the left and to the right was another building slightly bigger than the one in my deployment zone.

Eldar:
Seer Council, 2 Farseers, 3 Warlocks, witchblades, guide and other powers (goes in a Falcon)
Guardian Defender Squad (10)
-Wave Serpent, twin linked missil launchers
Guardian Defender Squad (10)
-Wave Serpent, twin linked bright lance
Vyper (1), Bright Lance
Vyper (1), Bright Lance
Eldar Jetbikes (3), shuriken cannon
Dark Reapers (5) Exarch, fast shot, eldar missil launcher
Falcon, Missil Launcher, CTM
Falcon, Missil Launcher, CTM

Tau:
Shas'O Ximoro'An, FB, PR, SG, HWMT
Shas'el Ren'va, CIB, PR, TA, HWMT
Crisis Monat leader, PR, MP, TA, HWMT
Crisis Monat, team leader, PR, MP, TA, HWMT
Crisis Team (3), TL MP, BC
Firewarrior Team Alpha (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
-Devilfish APC, MT, TA, DL
Firewarrior Team Beta (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
-Devilfish APC, MT, TA, DL
Firewarrior Team Gamma (10), shas'ui, bonding knife
Gun Drone Squadron (8)
Hammerhead Gunship Alpha, Railgun, BC, MT, TL, DL
Hammerhead Gunship Beta, Railgun, BC, MT, TL, DL
Hammerhead Gunship, Gamma, Ion Cannon, BC, MT, TL, DL

Deployment:
Shas'O, Shas'el and both monats went behind the ruined building on my left, the Ionhead and beta railhead went behind the outpost building, FW team gamma went in the outpost, drones went center, crisis team went behind the outpost between the two tanks. FW team alpha in their fish went left of outpost, other team went right.

Ok so the game, again as I said in fluff format because trying to make sense of the actual details is nuts so Ill simplify. Oh and just to remind all of you there are 9, yes NINE skimmer tanks on the field, 2 additional skimmer vehicles and 3 jetbikes. Thats a lot of armor.

Shas'O Ximoro'An pushed his jetpack to its limit racing along the empty plane towards the ruined structures ahead. The buildings were growing ever larger as he sped forward the signs of combat still showing as smoke steadily rose from what appeared to be the outposts Devilfish transport. He could just barely see the Eldar army in the distance, a row of floating tanks approaching far too fast for his liking.

++Teams Alpha and Beta deploy on either side of the outpost, Deathrains behind, Monats to the left in that ruined Gue'la structure Ren'va and I will join you. Drones down center, Rail Alpha left, Beta and Gamma right. Prepare to form up fire support we need to help our comrades++

A series of affirmatives clicked over the radio. They were getting close now. He could see the surviving Firewarriors. The team that had been stationed there had obviously suffered losses. The technicians were apparant in their emmergency armor standing beside the fully armored warriors. The maintanence drones were smoking wrecks and the Devilfish appeared to have suffered critical hits on its engines causing it to crash as it tried to take off. It vented thick smoke into the air.

O'An turned his head from the scene as he approached the building, Ren'va and the two Monats forming up around him. The four of them killed their jets and landed easily in the ruins. Before them they could see the Eldar Tanks closing quickly. One of the tanks dropped off a team of vicious looking warriors into another ruined building across the small town square. The first shots let rip as the sinister Eldar aspect warriors loosed a volley from their strange guns. The outpost defenders dived for cover. Despite their attempts to gain security every trooper on the right balcony were torn to shreds by the eldar fire, the rest ducked as the leader of the warriors fired a pair of grenades at them. They cleared their defences in time diving to the back side of the building for cover. Luckily the shas'ui managed to regain control and crouched defencively the Firewarriors returned to their shooting.

The Eldar tanks were not idle however a pair of what the fio had classed as Wave Serpents were approaching quickly on the left flank right towards him while the main battle tanks presumably called Falcons raced down the center with several Jetbikes of various sizes around them. The Eldar vehicles opened fire first as the Tau force closed to their positions. Luck was with them however as the shots all either missed or bounced harmlessly off the vehicles armor. O'An whispered a meditation of thanks as the Or'es Shi responded in kind. The Battlesuits bouncing from perch to perch in the ruins and over the outpost let forth a rain of missils and plasma fire. The Eldar tanks were not as lucky in recieving fire and their shields quickly began to be breached missils impacting ever more frequently.

The Eldar jetbikes tried to approach the right flank but team Deathrain stopped them short. The gunners chairs on both of the larger jetbikes were blown clear off their gunners shreded in the explosions. One of the bikes cought a missil in its undercarriage blowing its secondary gun off leaving the pair almost weaponless. With their primary target mostly harmless team Deathrain turned its fire on the foremost Falcon stopping it in its tracks as the vehicle tried desperately to compensate under the intensive fire.

Over on the left flank O'An lead the way his plasma rifle slipping past the frontmost Wave Serpents shield and blasting into its engine. Tilting dangerously the vehicle tried to adjust itself but the Monats were not letting that happen. Their combined salvo of missils broke through the vehicles armor blasting its cockpit to pieces and bringing it crashing to the ground. As the vehicle exploded from the inside a handful of its occupants leapt free only to be hosed down by Ren'va as he enjoyed his prototype Cyclic Ion Blaster. It was deffinetly a worthy weapon O'An noted as every last one of the survivors was cut down by the shockingly intense stream of ion fire.

The Eldar were not doing so well. The second Wave Serpent seeing the demise of its comrade changed course zipping around the other side of the sensor array and unloading its contents of troops. Firewarrior Team Alpha was already on it approaching fast its Devilfish took a glancing hit blowing off its primary weapon but still moving the Team reached position and leapt out guns blazing. The lightly armored Eldar warriors were cut down ruthlessly. On the right Team Beta unloaded from their fish on the right infront of the strange and deadly Eldar aspect warriors. As foreboding as they appeared the Eldar threat fell before the storm of fire from the brave Firewarriors and their transport. The Jetbikes and Falcons tried desperately to stave off defeat. The bikers blew apart most of the drone squadron but the fio built them strong and the pair of survivors stayed firm and returned fire.

The Falcon tanks faired better their main guns blasting into Hammerhead Alpha the tank's pilot tried to alter course and evade the fire but to no avail. Guided by the strange Eldar Farseers a shot from the bright lance on the rear tank ripped through the Hammerhead's engine, blasting into its interior causing critical damage to its systems the tank exploded brilliantly crashing to the ground in a massive fireball. O'An growled and returned fire directing his comrades to depart their cover and make for the Falcon tanks.

O'An and the battlesuits with him never got a chance to get their revenge... team deathrain did it for them. Firing off co-ordinated salvos of fire from their missil pods the team broke through the foremost Falcons defences ripping into its hull blowing it from the sky it crashed to the ground adding to the wrecks around it.

The second Falcon pulled up trying to get a clear shot but its fire bounced harmlessly off the hulls of the Tau vehicles as they closed on it. Any last Heroics by the Farseer were cut short as the turret on the Falcon was blown clear off by one of the Monat battlesuits. Visibly twisting in its course the tank spun around and boosting its engines roared off at amazing speeds. The remaining Wave Serpent guned its engines and followed. As the bikes tried to turn the burst cannons on Hammerhead Beta flared with power ripping through the fragile Eldar constructs bringing them crashing to their doom.

In truth O'An was just as curious but it had said in the report that the place had been a research station before the Damocles Crusade and had been rebuilt as a repair station. Who knew what was burried in the ruins of the past. He didnt know and something told him not to go looking.

Turning O'An activated his jet pack and began heading back to base camp barking orders to the rest of the cadre to follow when ready. The Monats fell in with him escorting their commander. Another day, another battle and thankfully another victory for the greater good.

All told the only surviving eldar units were the Farseer, a Falcon and a Wave Serpent which isnt bad given how many points those 3 things cost. There were a total of 5 downed vehicles at the end of the battle, less than half of the total number that had started. I was hoping to see more carnage but my bro didnt seem to into it, oh well. The Ionhead performed very well today getting 3 weapon destroyed results on the Vypers making them all but useless. Finally I get to see what it can do.

Tactically this battle isnt a surprise, I was able to pack far more weapons into my army that were good at hurting his tanks than he could. His reapers could barely scratch the front armor of the Devilfish and the only other anti tank weapons he had were on his vehicles. It was a great asset to have the Deathrains fielded (I normally dont) as those extra 6 twin linked missil shots relieved the pressure from my tanks to deal with enemy armor. My brother had to concentrate his anti tank fire to damage my forces but I was able to effectively spread out my shots keeping many of his tanks stunned or shaken and destroying them over time. Normally I wouldnt advocate splitting fire but here it worked thanks to the limited number of targets available I was able to build effective support fire bases from my battlesuits and my tanks were able to close the nuse and close ranged fire from the burst cannons really did do some damage. The AV on the Eldar tanks just couldnt cut it and all told my tanks were just able to take the fire more than his could.