ElectricPaladin
05-15-2013, 12:25 PM
Last night, at Endgame Oakland's Xenos-Only Kill Team, I swept away the competition, netting three wins and zero losses. Here is the battle report. The names have no been changed to protect anyone, because there's no protection against the righteous zeal of the Greater Good!
My List (200 Points)
• 10 Fire Warriors w/Pulse Rifles
• 4 Pathfinders (3 Rail Rifles), Shas'ui (also my Leader and a Specialist: Relentless)
Game One
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Deploy in quarters, 12'' from the center
• Roll for night fighting (yes!)
• Any non-vehicle model in a forest can roll a d6 instead of shooting - on a six, it uncovers a shard of green crystal (the backstory is that we have all been kidnapped by the Chaos gods and are being forced to fight over and horde the strange green crystals for their amusement). A model can carry one crystal, as per the Relic rules, though the model can move normally (the crystals are smaller and more durable than the Relic). At the 15 minute mark, anyone holding the crystal is flooded with terrible power and gains Preferred Enemy: Everything!
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists, forcing Break Tests, and having crystals at the end of the game.
Opponent's Dark Eldar (200 pts)
• Succubus (Leader)
• Venom
• 2 Trueborn w/Dark Lances (one of them Specialist: Relentless)
This one ended up being tragically easy for me. My opponent moved the venom around a little and killed two dudes with splinter cannon/dark lance fire. When I returned fire, my rail rifles made short work of the venom - in a Kill Team environment, 6/1 shooting is as good as a lascannon! - forcing his people to hoof it. I then closed in, wiping out all but the Succubus with combined shooting. In the meantime, I was able to dig up a single crystal. Altogether, it was a decisive victory for the Tau! The Dark Eldar failed their break test and fled the field.
The game was weirded somewhat by the fact that we thought that forests blocked line of sight when you shot through them, rather than simply granting cover. Fortunately, I think the misconception applied equally (my opponent may not have agreed - he disappeared and did not participate in later rounds). Additionally, he was firing dark lance shots at full BS when the venom moved, which I didn't catch until later... either way, I had a good time.
I was very surprised by how effective a walking gunline of fire warriors and pathfinders could be in a Kill Team environment. I would have expected more specialized troops, each bringing some special skill, to be more effective... something more like what I'd bring to an Infinity game. This surprise was to continue throughout the evening...
Game Two
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Deploy in quarters, 12'' from the center
• Roll for night fighting (no!)
• Any non-vehicle model in a forest can roll a d6 instead of shooting - on a six, it uncovers a shard of green crystal (the backstory is that we have all been kidnapped by the Chaos gods and are being forced to fight over and horde the strange green crystals for their amusement). A model can carry one crystal, as per the Relic rules, though the model can move normally (the crystals are smaller and more durable than the Relic). At the 15 minute mark, anyone holding the crystal is flooded with terrible power and gains Preferred Enemy: Everything!
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists, forcing Break Tests, and having crystals at the end of the game.
Oponent's Necrons
• 10 Deathmarks (three of them were specialists, but that didn't end up mattering much).
Oh, man... this was a meat grinder of a game. My opponent marched his deathmarks towards me, having marked my entire front line with 2+ wounds. The Necrons marched towards me... and died. The superior range of my pulse rifles and rail rifles meant that I could shoot him when he couldn't shoot back, and I was in double-tap range when he was still in single shot range. Once my opponent saw that advancing and shooting wasn't going to work as long as I could retreat and shoot, he tried some clever maneuvering - bringing half his deathmarks around a LOS-blocking mesa to try to force a 12'' shootout - but I saw it coming and advanced just enough that the shootout went in my favor.
In the end, we timed out. My opponent was down to three models, but thanks to high Necron Ld, he kept on passing his break tests. My Tau had only taken... I think it was three casualties? Anyway, it was a horribly lopsided game. My opponent was relatively new to the game and was clearly pretty frustrated by the side-effects of my long range.
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Roll for night fighting (no!)
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists and forcing Break Tests
• One player is the defender - he must deploy within 6'' of the center, though he can place up to one model in each quarter as a sentry. The defender can also rearrange the scenery however he wants. The defender must deploy first.
• The other player is the attacker - he can choose to either advance or ambush.
• If the attacker ambushes, he gets to place his models anywhere he wants at least 18'' away from the center of the table... but who goes first is determined by an Initiative roll-off.
•*If the attacker advances, he must deploy within 6'' of the board edge in one quarter (chosen when he deploys). He has the initiative. Initiative is stolen, however, on a 1 or 2 (1 to 3 if the defender deployed at least one sentry).
• Infiltrate (usually banned in Kill Team games) is allowed!
Opponent's Eldar
• Vyper w/Scatter Laser
• 8 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/Pistol and Power Weapon
This mission was going to favor me almost no matter what. If I got assigned to be the defender, well, I could clear out all the terrain (except for a forest to give my pathfinders cover), create a circular gunline, and shoot the bejeesus out of anything coming at me from anywhere. It would be rough if my opponent decided to infiltrate, but they'd almost automatically be within 15'' of me, which would hurt them badly, especially if I somehow managed to keep the initiative.
As it turned out, I was the attacker. I chose to advance. My pathfinders infiltrated behind various blocking terrain and the rest of my army hid behind a hill in the corner. My opponent tried - and failed - to seize the initiative, and we were off.
It was glorious. My fire warriors came screaming over the hill, firing a withering hail of plasma projectiles into the waiting Eldar. Pathfinders came out of nowhere and glanced the Vyper to death, immediately, removing the only thing I was really afraid of. The two-pronged assault also forced my opponent - with his relatively short-range dire avenger shuriken catapaults - to split his forces. While half his force backed up to deal with those dangerous AP 1 rifles, the rest of my army got comfortably into knife-fighting range (where Strength 5 doubletaps are infinitely better than his Strength 4 shots). And then... well, it was just a matter of his dire avengers throwing themselves at me in two waves (thanks to the aforementioned split) and being ground to paste at the foot of the Tau war machine.
Final Thoughts
Man... Tau gunlines are nasty. I'm glad I own a cadre fireblade, and I may have to look into making a Tau-flavored aegis, because that was really pretty incredibly powerful. The range of the basic Tau gun really came into its own on such small tables. I could easily hang back and retreat as I shot, putting a significant dent in my enemy's forces before they could return fire.
I'm looking forward to next month, and the third night of Xenos Kill Team!
My List (200 Points)
• 10 Fire Warriors w/Pulse Rifles
• 4 Pathfinders (3 Rail Rifles), Shas'ui (also my Leader and a Specialist: Relentless)
Game One
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Deploy in quarters, 12'' from the center
• Roll for night fighting (yes!)
• Any non-vehicle model in a forest can roll a d6 instead of shooting - on a six, it uncovers a shard of green crystal (the backstory is that we have all been kidnapped by the Chaos gods and are being forced to fight over and horde the strange green crystals for their amusement). A model can carry one crystal, as per the Relic rules, though the model can move normally (the crystals are smaller and more durable than the Relic). At the 15 minute mark, anyone holding the crystal is flooded with terrible power and gains Preferred Enemy: Everything!
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists, forcing Break Tests, and having crystals at the end of the game.
Opponent's Dark Eldar (200 pts)
• Succubus (Leader)
• Venom
• 2 Trueborn w/Dark Lances (one of them Specialist: Relentless)
This one ended up being tragically easy for me. My opponent moved the venom around a little and killed two dudes with splinter cannon/dark lance fire. When I returned fire, my rail rifles made short work of the venom - in a Kill Team environment, 6/1 shooting is as good as a lascannon! - forcing his people to hoof it. I then closed in, wiping out all but the Succubus with combined shooting. In the meantime, I was able to dig up a single crystal. Altogether, it was a decisive victory for the Tau! The Dark Eldar failed their break test and fled the field.
The game was weirded somewhat by the fact that we thought that forests blocked line of sight when you shot through them, rather than simply granting cover. Fortunately, I think the misconception applied equally (my opponent may not have agreed - he disappeared and did not participate in later rounds). Additionally, he was firing dark lance shots at full BS when the venom moved, which I didn't catch until later... either way, I had a good time.
I was very surprised by how effective a walking gunline of fire warriors and pathfinders could be in a Kill Team environment. I would have expected more specialized troops, each bringing some special skill, to be more effective... something more like what I'd bring to an Infinity game. This surprise was to continue throughout the evening...
Game Two
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Deploy in quarters, 12'' from the center
• Roll for night fighting (no!)
• Any non-vehicle model in a forest can roll a d6 instead of shooting - on a six, it uncovers a shard of green crystal (the backstory is that we have all been kidnapped by the Chaos gods and are being forced to fight over and horde the strange green crystals for their amusement). A model can carry one crystal, as per the Relic rules, though the model can move normally (the crystals are smaller and more durable than the Relic). At the 15 minute mark, anyone holding the crystal is flooded with terrible power and gains Preferred Enemy: Everything!
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists, forcing Break Tests, and having crystals at the end of the game.
Oponent's Necrons
• 10 Deathmarks (three of them were specialists, but that didn't end up mattering much).
Oh, man... this was a meat grinder of a game. My opponent marched his deathmarks towards me, having marked my entire front line with 2+ wounds. The Necrons marched towards me... and died. The superior range of my pulse rifles and rail rifles meant that I could shoot him when he couldn't shoot back, and I was in double-tap range when he was still in single shot range. Once my opponent saw that advancing and shooting wasn't going to work as long as I could retreat and shoot, he tried some clever maneuvering - bringing half his deathmarks around a LOS-blocking mesa to try to force a 12'' shootout - but I saw it coming and advanced just enough that the shootout went in my favor.
In the end, we timed out. My opponent was down to three models, but thanks to high Necron Ld, he kept on passing his break tests. My Tau had only taken... I think it was three casualties? Anyway, it was a horribly lopsided game. My opponent was relatively new to the game and was clearly pretty frustrated by the side-effects of my long range.
Mission
• 2' x 2' board, lots of forest terrain, as well as some blocking terrain
• Roll for night fighting (no!)
• VPs for killing enemy leaders and specialists and forcing Break Tests
• One player is the defender - he must deploy within 6'' of the center, though he can place up to one model in each quarter as a sentry. The defender can also rearrange the scenery however he wants. The defender must deploy first.
• The other player is the attacker - he can choose to either advance or ambush.
• If the attacker ambushes, he gets to place his models anywhere he wants at least 18'' away from the center of the table... but who goes first is determined by an Initiative roll-off.
•*If the attacker advances, he must deploy within 6'' of the board edge in one quarter (chosen when he deploys). He has the initiative. Initiative is stolen, however, on a 1 or 2 (1 to 3 if the defender deployed at least one sentry).
• Infiltrate (usually banned in Kill Team games) is allowed!
Opponent's Eldar
• Vyper w/Scatter Laser
• 8 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/Pistol and Power Weapon
This mission was going to favor me almost no matter what. If I got assigned to be the defender, well, I could clear out all the terrain (except for a forest to give my pathfinders cover), create a circular gunline, and shoot the bejeesus out of anything coming at me from anywhere. It would be rough if my opponent decided to infiltrate, but they'd almost automatically be within 15'' of me, which would hurt them badly, especially if I somehow managed to keep the initiative.
As it turned out, I was the attacker. I chose to advance. My pathfinders infiltrated behind various blocking terrain and the rest of my army hid behind a hill in the corner. My opponent tried - and failed - to seize the initiative, and we were off.
It was glorious. My fire warriors came screaming over the hill, firing a withering hail of plasma projectiles into the waiting Eldar. Pathfinders came out of nowhere and glanced the Vyper to death, immediately, removing the only thing I was really afraid of. The two-pronged assault also forced my opponent - with his relatively short-range dire avenger shuriken catapaults - to split his forces. While half his force backed up to deal with those dangerous AP 1 rifles, the rest of my army got comfortably into knife-fighting range (where Strength 5 doubletaps are infinitely better than his Strength 4 shots). And then... well, it was just a matter of his dire avengers throwing themselves at me in two waves (thanks to the aforementioned split) and being ground to paste at the foot of the Tau war machine.
Final Thoughts
Man... Tau gunlines are nasty. I'm glad I own a cadre fireblade, and I may have to look into making a Tau-flavored aegis, because that was really pretty incredibly powerful. The range of the basic Tau gun really came into its own on such small tables. I could easily hang back and retreat as I shot, putting a significant dent in my enemy's forces before they could return fire.
I'm looking forward to next month, and the third night of Xenos Kill Team!