Tournament Report: Battle Bunker Crash

I've just got back from a four round, 1500 point tournament - a long and intense day, as each game was 1 hour 50 minutes. I had a great time playing against four challenging opponents and learnt a few new things about Tau in the process. For a first time tournament it was very well run, I had no complaints. Well done Josh and Matt, I want to thank you for an enjoyable day.

The crash was a bit different to other tournaments in Melbourne. Firstly there were no soft scores to determine the winner - there was however a painting score that went towards a separate prize. So I could be a dickhead without having to worry about sports scores, yay! Even more innovatively, we all got to vote on the missions we wanted from a selection of 10 in the days before the tournament. So Boone could complain about the missions, and I didn't hear any complaints.

Here's the list I took:

Shas'el - MP, Plasma, MT, TA, black-sun filter, gun drone, shield drone 125
2 Crisis - MP, Plasma, 1 MT, 1 TA 129
2 Crisis - MP, Plasma, 1 MT, 1 TA 129
2 Crisis - MP, Plasma, 1 MT, 1 TA 129
10 Kroot, 3 Hounds 88
10 Kroot 70
6 Fire Warriors 60
5 Pathfinders 60
Devilfish - MT, 1 pod 95
2 Piranha - fusion, 1 pod 125
Hammerhead - MT, pod, burst cannons 165
Hammerhead - MT, pod, burst cannons 165
2 Broadsides 160
1 target lock, 1 shield drone

My first opponent was Scott (one of three!) playing Chaos Marines with two squads of Bezerkers, two squads of Plague Marines, a Land Raider, 2 flying Daemon Princes and a couple of Oblits. The mission was actually very clever: 4 objectives, you earn points at the start of your turn for each one you hold, and it's night fighting the whole game, except when within 6" of the objectives. And you can destroy any objective in close combat as if it was Artillery.

I started well, infiltrating my Kroot onto two objectives and getting first turn and 3 points immediately. Then my first headpalm for the day - I  killed the objective with Kroot on his side, but on mine I tried to hold it for another round instead of blowing it up and heading back to screen the castle. This cost me 4 points over the next 4 turns, and eventually he game. I did manage to destroy both daemon princes, and blocked the land raider with piranhas. The thirteen Kroot who didn't pop that objective redeemed themselves by killing a Khorn Daemon prince in CC after it charged them! Scott did well to win in a hard matchup for his army I think.

Next up was the appropriately named Marshall running mech Black Templar. Just think Rhinos, Razorbacks, auto-las Preds and Land Speeders and you have it. The mission was kill points with a minor twist - scoring units could earn extra kill points by killing stuff - if they survived. It was another spearhead deployment (there were three altogether - must be popular?) which suits me just fine as a Tau player.

I set up very precisely with two rows of Kroot protecting the broadsides. The pathfinders infiltrated on to a roof with a great view of the board. They survived the whole game and made a contribution at times. In this game most things went very well for me. I took out two transports turn one and his vehicles had a hard time getting around as they were a little too boxed in. I wiped out a squad before they reached my lines despite righteous zeal, and managed to overpower the Emperor's Champion squad after loosing two Kroot squads - my only killpoints lost. One hammerhead survived three short range multimelta shots and my suits made so many cover saves against Strength 8 that it was not funny. It ended up being a decisive 7-2 victory, and for me a textbook display of tactics that I can be proud of - and a redemption after my turn 1 mistakes.

We had a barbie for lunch, and chatted as you do about the games so far. Thanks to Purn for coming into the club and running the BBQ for us all, a real nice thing to do.

Next up was a victory points pitched battle game. Except that there were three gun objectives in the table center that you could fire if you held the objective. My opponent Mo had brought Necrons to a non-comp tournament, so respect there. 9 Wraiths, a Monolith, Deceiver, Lord and 20 warriors.  

Somehow I deployed as though I had first turn, and then Mo is like "do you want to steal the initiative?" and it's headpalm number two. I loose a squad of Kroot and two suits on turn one because of  this. But then I turn around and wipe out a squad of warriors in one turn thanks to markerlights. 4 wraiths assault my broadsides and I win the combat with two kills! He stays but my gun drones counterassault and I wipe them all! Unbelievable. He struggles to kill my tanks moving 12" and I phase him out with my suits charging the other warrior squad at the bottom end of the final turn - phew! A great opponent full of good Necron tactics and a great challenge. The result reflects the weakness of that grandfather codex more than talent on my part methinks!

By the time of my final game I was too tired to remember to write down my opponent's name, so I'm forced to refer to him as the guy with blonde dreads. This guy was rocking a 5 Leman Russ list that I felt was definitely the rock to my scissors. This was actually great for me because I had been thinking about a 1500 point Tank Company and I got to see how it plays on the field. And yes, I liked what I saw. The final mission was kill points, but each objective held was worth 2 killpoints at the end of the game.

I played this defensively and I never had a hope of winning. I survived well but had nothing to strike back with effectively. In the whole game I killed three ratling snipers. I know now what I should of done - put everything as close as possible and assaulted all those tanks with my Kroot and suits. He would hav been forced to shoot at my suits, leaving the heavy support free to do he damage required. Little chance of victory I suspect, but better than nothing. It was a valuable lesson and one that will definitely help me to play Tau better in the future.

Well the it was awards time and I won twice. First was a raffle ticket that scored me 5 40mm custom bases. Secondly I won the "most incredible story" award, for my Kroot's defeat of that Daemon Prince, and walked away with a $40 voucher. I'm going to use it to purchase a battle bunker tshirt.

Well that's the day and now I am exhausted, and back to work tomorrow morning. Ciao.