Tau takes 1st place for the greater good!

Game 1
Opponent: Luna Wolves
Mission: Cleanse

This was my first tournament game in this hobby. I went against Jesse’s pre-heresy marines. Our game lasted for only 4 turns since we were still fooling around while the other tables were already deploying. I guess this was because of us being excited and very eager since it was our first time playing in a tournament. Anyway, our mission was to control table quarters and the map had a forest in the middle with some ruins scattered around the table. The 1^st turn had very minimal casualties from both sides. The battle officially started in the 2^nd turn when Jesse’s terminators and tac-squads pounded my kroots and my battlesuits. But my battlesuits were able to retaliate by killing some of his termies since they were in rapid fire range from my plasma rifles. All the battlesuits did was get into rapid fire range, give the marines hell, and jump back into safety. The slow advance of the marines and close support of the land-raider caught my battlesuits. I then gave up on this side of the table and focused my tactics on the other half of my hunter cadre which was doing better. My other half of battlesuits and pathfinders on the other side were doing great. XV-8’s were able to kill lots of marines with markerlight support from my pathfinders deployed in a level 3 ruin. The pathfinders had a great vantage point and they were able to “light up” high priority targets. One of the highlights of this game was when a lone heavy weapons marine was marked by the pathfinders, 3 XV-8’s unleashed a variety of ap2/1 weapons on the poor marine and to our surprise, I rolled a lot of 1’s and 2’s thus a lot of my shots missed. 3 low ap shots were on target but this marine made all his 5+ cover saves (what a lucky bastard). My broadsides weren’t that effective in tank hunting in this game, they didn’t have clear LOS on Jesse’s land raider and predator. But on the brighter side, my broadsides took pot shots on the steadily advancing termies thus removing their “scoring unit” status.

Game ends on the 4^th turn. The Game ended with a draw with me and Jesse controlling 1 table quarter each. Good Game!

Marty's(the guy with the cap) first game match against Jesse. Salubri on the left... and is that Naj's hand grabbing the DA codex? lol

Game 2
Opponent: Dark Angels
Mission: Hold at all costs

My 2^nd tournament game had me defending an objective in the middle of the table. I had a bad feeling at the start of the game. I should have chose to attack instead of defend the objective since the marines I am facing is more assault oriented. The Dark Angels had an assault squad with a scary looking chaplain. If these marines were to assault my units, it will surely be a massacre. What I did was use my mobility, long range weaponry and superior fire power to my advantage. I picked-off marine units slowly one by one. This tactic gave my hunter cadre minimal losses and saved lots of precious tau lives. Towards the end of the game, I left the objective unguarded and used it to lure the other Dark Angels scoring units to grab and secure it. Once the bait was taken and 3 DA scoring units went in to grab the objective, I mobilized all my forces from the right flank and half of my forces from the left flank to the center and unleashed tau firepower. The combined vehicle and battlesuit attack killed enough marines to rend them of their scoring status. At the end of the attack, my battlesuits, jumped to secure the objective but the vehicles were the most an inch short of being within 6” from the objective.

I committed a big mistake when I forgot to roll for my commander coming from reserves. I learned a lesson to not to be too excited when all my plans were coming into play since I tend to forget some things and become too careless. But in this case, I was lucky since my opponent played my game and tried to shoot it out with the tau. Another good game!

Game ends with two scoring units securing the central objective. A victory for the “Greater Good”!

Game 3
Opponent: Ultramarines
Mission: Secure and Control

My last game for this tournament was against my good friend Mike. This is actually our first official game even though we got into the hobby the same time. What made this game fun was all the trash talking (with special participation from john) and fooling around by both players.

Our mission was secure and control 5 loot counters. The table was filled with buildings, bunkers and ruins. I really like this setting since I can use the terrain to my advantage. The buildings and ruins provided my units a lot of cover and hiding places. Mike deployed first and what I did was counter his deployment. Every time he deployed a tank, I deployed a unit with tank busting capabilities. And as for his infantry, I countered them with battlesuits and firewarriors. I was actually surprised with Mike’s tactics because he opted to slug it out with my army. He played a static game in a map filled with lots of potential hiding places for my fire caste. Since he set up a fire base along his deployment edge, I opted to attack aggressively using cover which was readily available to advance. I did not use the classic tau maneuver which was jump, shoot and hide back in the original position. What I did was jump out, shoot and jump again but this time closing in on the marine firebase but still hiding in cover. Mike’s psycher was really annoying because of the FOTA ability. This attack, pinned my broadsides for two turns and the tank hunters weren’t able to anything besides hide in cover. The good thing was my deathrain battlesuits (twin-linked missile pods) were able to step up and destroy 3 tanks and weapon destroyed/immobilize a dreadnaught. My aggressive tactics forced my units to move forward into his firebase and killed enough marines to rend them of their scoring status. The only scoring unit left for the Ultramarines was the pinned tac-squad.

One highlight and game turning event of the game was when a squad of terminators deep-striked near my firewarriors and battlesuits. If these terminators were to assault my units and cause havoc within my lines, Mike would certainly gain the upper hand. The good thing was one f my commanders was near the area and was able to kill 4 terminators all by himself.
Game ended with me controlling 4 loot counters and scoring big in victory points.

Good game!

Final match between two shooty armies. Mike and his Ultramarines on the Left vs. Marty and his Tau Army.