Wolves/Guard vs New Tau/Necrons - 1850

[Arguleon-veq]

I had my first game against new Tau the other week but it was a list I had made a friend to take to the UK Throne of Skulls based on only the models he had so it was Fire Warrior heavy with Fireblades and RR Broadsides, as it was a Throne of Skulls list it was at 1500 and it beat my cut down Wolves/Guard build thanks to some terrible rolling such as Grey Hunters losing to Fire Warriors in combat.

After the game I gave my 1850 list some serious thought so i tried to make my list competative against Tau without losing its power against Necrons or making any changes that radically alter my list. This is what I come up with;

Rune Priest; Jaws, Lightning
Rune Priest; Lvl2, Melta Bombs
9 Grey Hunters; Banner, Melta
Drop Pod;
5 Grey Hunters; Plasma Gun
5 Long Fangs; 4 Missiles
5 Long Fangs; 4 Missiles
5 Long Fangs; 4 Missiles
+
Primaris;
Platoon Command;
50 Guardsmen; 4 Autocannons, 4 Power Axes
Manticore;
2 Vendettas; Heavy Bolters
+
Defense Line; Quadgun

The thought behind the list is simply staying out of range of missile broadsides. Simple as that really, then I have the option of putting jaws of the world wolf in a pod to take out multiple broadsides if they are deployed in a line and thanks to the fact that I will usually opt to go second will mean those broadsides will be right on the edge of their depo zone so that they can get into range of me ASAP, and if they are all on the depo zone edge, they are in a lovely line for jaws.

I was up againt a Tau/Necron alliance, this guy usually runs Crons/CSM but wanted to try out the new Tau, here is what he took;

Commander; 2xFusion, Drone Controller, 2+ Save
Commander; 2xFusion, Drone Controller
7 Marker Drones;
7 Marker Drones;
10 Kroot; 1 Hound
10 Kroot; 1 Hound
2 Missile Broadsides; 4 Missile Drones
2 Missile Broadsides; 4 Missile Drones
2 Missile Broadsides; 4 Missile Drones
+
Destroyer Lord; Weave, Mindschackle Scarabs
6 Wraiths;
Night Scythe;
5 Warriors;
Night Scythe;
5 Warriors;

His thinking for his list was that hes already beat new Tau with his Wraithspam Crons and its because hes getting just enough into combat, this list gives him a very powerful anti assault unit in the form of lord and wraiths and some better scoring in the form of warriors in scythes.

Deployment; Hammer and Anvil
Mission; Big Guns Never Tire [3 Obj]
Night Fight; On

Librarian Harrakan opened his eyes as Lt James entered the command post.

'Report lieutenant'

'The local PDF have been all but obliterated by the Tau invasion force, an isolated mining world like this was an easy target for their expanding empire, it was pure chance that we come across the distress call when we did but even we are outmatched. They are using a new model of heavy battlesuit equipped with multiple missile launchers that have crushed our transports and their Kroot allies are all but impossible to flush out in these thick forests. Your arrival was sorely needed, they have us on the back foot and are massing for a final assault.'

'The Tau did not bring us to this world lieutenant, or even your calls for aid. My scrying revealed to me a much graver threat that the fighting on this world has disturbed. This ancient threat is rising and the Warhounds have been at the forefront of the fight against it across scores of forgotten and frontier worlds. You will not have heard of them but these new enemies are called Nerons and the Tau in their foolishness have struck an alliance with the faction that have risen on this world. They will be betrayed and culled when they have served their purpose but the technology of the Tau could help to awaken far more of this dormant race and that is something we must stop.'

[Arguleon-veq]

Deployment; There were only 3 objectives and so we placed them right down the middile of the table, one in the middile of one depo zone one in the middle on another and one dead centre. This helped me a little as it meant his Kroot would be useless for outflanking as they would then have to slog it over some open ground for a turn.

I won the roll to go first but let him take first turn as I wanted to deploy after him.

He set up as far forward as he could across his side with his broadsides to try and get them into range of me ASAP with his marker drones with commanders and his destroyer lord with wraiths taking up positions behind each squad.

I set up right back against my own table edge behind my defenseline so it would take him 2 turns or at least a good run move turn 1 to even get his high yield missiles into range. The fangs deployed just in front of the defenseline whilst the 5 grey hunters and command squad went in reserve, the manticore went on my left flank behind a little bunker.

Turn 1:

I didnt manage to steal and so he started to stomp his broadsides towards me, the central unit and the one on my right flank both got a 6 to run which was the only result that would have them in range for next turn,  . The squad on my left flank only get a 2 so would at least have to move again next turn.

+++

In my turn 1 I drop my pod into the gap left in his front line made by the leftmost broadsides running slower than the others. I get a hit with the pod and so my jaws priest jumps out with a clear line across the 4 broadsides that got a 6 to run. It goes off and I drop 3 of the 4 under the line whilst my autocannons and missile finished the last one. My manticore wasnt in range of anything but I had first blood and 2 more VP's for 2 HS kills.

Turn 2:

He was pretty gutted by the jaws trick, I would say its only something you could do once against somebody [which wont matter at a tourney] but I dont really think it is as broadside bases are so big and there are only so many places they can go when you have 6-9 on the table.

He gets both kroot units on who run on to his objective backfield and both flyers come on who only have the pod squad in range, they kill a marine each.

His broadsides on my left flank now have to walk around my drop pod squad whilst the destroyers and lord move in ready to kill them. His marker drones and commanders move up and light up my fang squad thats in range of his broadsides, 9 markerlight hits means that even snap shotting he is hitting me on 2's re rolled but its only 16 shots at the end of the day and I lose 3 long fangs.

His destroyer lord and wraiths swoop into combat with my hunters and priest but ive made sure he cant get base to base with my priest so he cant mindshackle me so he gets it off on a normal guy instead who does no damage. My overwatch did take a wound off his lord and after mind shackles he throws out a challenge which I take with the priest. My grey hunter attacks fail despite my wolf banner and I do nothing at all. His lord then fluffs his 4 attacks on my priest as he needs 4's to hit and the priest turns around and chops him down with his force axe. The wraiths do then butcher every single grey hunter and the priest runs but isnt caught, leaving me free to jaws again next turn! and the lord fails to get back up which is nice.

++++

My vendettas come on and blow a scythe out of the sky. My horde move up and gun down 4 wraiths. He denies the witch from my jaws on the broadsides/wraiths so I put my missiles into the broadsids to kill them off.

This leaves him with 2 wraiths, marker drones with nothing they can markerlight for, 1 flyer which will be shot at by a quadgun and 6 twin linked lascannons next turn and some kroot on 1 objective that will die if they go for any others and my manticore have still yet to fire on the ones who didnt quite make it into cover.

Knowing he will only probably last till turn 4 at best, he conceedes.

Result; Warhounds Win!

Post Game Thoughts;

Well it went pretty much to plan and it was a nice bonus having my priest kill his lord in combat. I was pretty worried turn 1 as i failed to get my 4+ ward power off on my horde but thannkfully jaws in a pod saved me from some serious firepower. What is nice when facing tau is that all those points on markerlights are pretty much wasted once you take out their firepower, at least pathfinders can do damage of their own if the rest of the tau army starts to take serious damage.

Harrakan could not help but smile as he watched the blazing comet crash to earth in front of the enemy lines, they had no idea what was about to be unleashed upon them, even he would not like to face Librarian Kal-Set on the field.

Kal-Set was freeing his harness and jumping to his feet a fraction of a second after landing. One of the landing doors failed to fall open as his brothers lept into action around him, he blasted the jammed door clear of the drop pod with little more than a thought. As his brothers unleashed their bolters into the hovering missile drones around their landing site he unleashed a psychic blast of phenomenal power into the towering battlesuits of the enemy, a bolt of focussed wrath that no amount of armour could stand against. Only one survived by pure chance, the xenos having slowed his advance to step over fallen trees on the forest floor.

Two of his brothers fell around him as enemy flyers raked his squad but one was soon plummeting into the canopy, lascannons from Imperial Guard vendettas almost tearing it in half. He grinned his feral grin, no xenos could stand against the might of mankind, be it Tau or Necron.

Sleek bodied wraiths appeared through the ruined walls of the mining buildings around his squad, taking his brothers by suprise and cutting most of them down before they could react. Amongst them he could see their leader, a foul lord urging his warriors on with a glowing scythe. Spinning away from the thrust of a wicked talon lashed at him by a wraith he powered forwards and in a few short strides was face to face with the enemy lord. It struck out at him with a hatred that almost matched his own but he ducked under the blow and buried his axe deep into the body of its hover unit. It turned to look down at him as he began to laugh and raised its scythe high to take his head off but before he could Kal-Set urged his will through the psychic conductors in his axe, blowing apart its hover unit and then finishing the crippled thing by severing its spine.

The wraiths closed in on him, eager for revenge, he acted quickly, sprinting for cover as he called on his brothers amongst the Imperial Guard lines to open fire. Missiles streaked into the wraiths, too many even for their ethereal nature to stand.

With that the guardsmen began to advance, gunning down the rest with lasguns and forcing the Tau back, within minutes the enemy force was in complete dissaray, its commanders urging a retreat. He had broken the back of the enemy force, his allies would flush the xenos from this world in a matter of days whilst he and his brothers would travel into the dark heart of the world to destroy the necron threat before it could fully wake. Anticipation coursed through him. He grinned again.

[Saulus]

Trying to find any battlefield exp of Tau, looks like this one is pretty forceful! The Tau however seemed to put too much stock in heavy hitters, and not a whole lot of meat. The JotWW, I am not familiar (luckily by the sounds of it), is it a line of damage? Did the missile drones not 'soak' up some of the wounds, or does it not follow that style of wound allocation?

I mean i somewhat see what he was going for, Crons take the hits Tau deal the damage, but also why was he moving them up/did not protect them? Felt as though they were nigh invulnerable?

[BigToof]

Jaws is really looking like a Tau killer, as the low I across the board means that the Greyskins keep falling into holes all the time.

I can see the Wolves making a small comeback, although if the Eldar surge back then...  Well, that'll be a good day for all.

Loved the rep, hope to see more!

Best,
-BT

[Arguleon-veq]

Jaws is simply a straight line, everything under it takes an initiative test, if they fail, they die. He had to move the broadsides up to get into range but they have no defense against Jaws.

I got in a game at 1500 against the guy I played against in my first game against new Tau. He was running;

36 FW,
2 Fireblades,
Eldrad,
Bikes,
Defenseline with Quadgun,
Hammerhead,
HRR Broadsides,
Lone Melta XV8,
Kroot,
Pathfinders.

I was running;

Guard Horde,
Defenseline with Quad,
2 Priests,
Primaris,
Command,
1 Long Fang Unit,
Drop Pod Hunters,
Penal Legion,
Vendetta,
2 Manticores.

I thought the Manticores would really help me out but him going first and night fighting being on resulted in both manticores dead by turn 2 without doing any damage thanks to t hat hammerhead, I also couldnt kill anything and it was kill points, he passed 3 initiative tests on his fireblade warlord from jaws and every time I made a unit panic it would rally an inch from the board edge and be out of LOS behind bunkers. In the end I had a pretty much untouched horde and almost all of his units were depleted but hiding out of LOS so I had very few kill points.

[BigToof]

Sadly enough, I'm just not that impressed with Manticores this edition.
I recently fought against one, but managed to destroy it turn 1.
It seems too easy to shut down and at AP4, it's not reliable enough to destroy tanks.  Against Tau it might be more effective, but it's kind of mediocre otherwise...

Best,
-BT

[Arguleon-veq]

They have been very up and down for me, they usually do fantastic against Necrons, blasting apart whole units of Wraiths and they have always been great at anti-tank for me, just glancing enemy armour to death as you should be looking at a couple of damage results a turn from a manticore. Its also been great for blasting apart huge swathes of daemons and its handy for instant killing big gribblies when paired with enfeeble from the Primaris Psyker, i think what it needs to be able to shine though is LOS blocking terrain. From behind terrain like that it can rain death for 4 turns with impunity, without it, they are 160pts that are very easy to take out.

I think i need to keep at least one though now that I have lost meltas in those drop pods so that I can deal with bastions and land raiders.

[Arguleon-veq]

Another 1850 game today against Tau, I used the list in my original post and was facing;

Eldrad;
4 Jetbikes;
3 Jetbikes;
10 Kroot; 1 Hound
10 Kroot; 1 Hound
12 Fire Warriors;
12 Fire Warriors;
Fireblade;
7 Pathfinders;
7 Pathfinders;
7 Pathfinders;
3 XV8; 2 Missile Pods each
3 XV8; 2 Missile Pods each
3 Broadsides; HYMP, 6 Missile Drones
3 Broadsides; HYMP, 6 Missile Drones

Mission; Emperors Will
Deployment; Hammer and Anvil
Night Fight; On

With that mission and deployment type it was essentially all on who got first blood. With night fight on this would make it very difficult for me even with me going first so it was all about my Pod Squad with Jaws.

I dropped them in and got jaws off on an XV8 squad, getting all 3, he fails to deny the witch, he then passes 2 of the 3 initiative tests! I still have a melta and 16 bolter shots though, the melta misses! and the 4 wounds the bolters do he passes every save and then passes his panic so doesnt run off the table.

That was pretty much game, he obliterates my squad in his turn, the rest of the game is about me trying to pick off his warlord. The manticore has a chance but the shot it gets off scatters wide, he then brings his Kroot on who manage to get 3 6's from 10 hits to wreck my manticore denying me that way back into the game.

My vendettas have a few turns to pound the fireblades squad, I kill about half of them but he passes his panic tests to keep him on the table, with my vendettas eventually dying and nothing else able to get LOS on his fireblades squad its just about what I can kill.

I do kill off most of his XV8's, I kill all of his broadsides and his kroot the game ends of turn 5 with me only having lost my vendettas, pod squad and manticore but he takes the game 4-3 thanks to that all important first blood.

Result; Loss, 4-3 to the Tau

That leaves me at a pretty poor 1-3 against Tau so far since the new book.

[BigToof]

Ouch bad luck with that Drop.  I thought that Jaws would really clean him out if you had gotten a little lucky.
Emperor's Will though, is a hard game to fight against, especially if you're down first blood and he has a good fire base.
Did you have any chance to get an assault off?

Best,
-BT

[Arguleon-veq]

It was all on the jaws really, it only has about a 50 percent chance of going off against runes of warding but when it did it should have been game over, it should down 2 and 16 bolt shots and a melta to kill the last one.

We knew it was over as soon as those XV8's didnt die, we were tempted to just re-set and play another game but we both had armies with a lot of bodies on the table so it would have taken just as long to start another game so we just played on for fun and to see if anything crazy happened.

Not a single assault all game, im finding that more and more common this edition, although I guess thats how futuristic warfare should be really! regardless of what 40k fluff actually says.

[Chicop76]

It was all on the jaws really, it only has about a 50 percent chance of going off against runes of warding but when it did it should have been game over, it should down 2 and 16 bolt shots and a melta to kill the last one.

We knew it was over as soon as those XV8's didnt die, we were tempted to just re-set and play another game but we both had armies with a lot of bodies on the table so it would have taken just as long to start another game so we just played on for fun and to see if anything crazy happened.

Not a single assault all game, im finding that more and more common this edition, although I guess thats how futuristic warfare should be really! regardless of what 40k fluff actually says.

Out of all my games with the new Tau I only been assaulted once. Trygon Prime vs +3 invul save Riptide. The tides Invul Save and Smash attacks almost gave it equal footing against the Prime. The Prime would had won, but due to me destroying the other nids the nid player quit.

However I am thinking of taking intercepter now for the rune priest. Also if I take a farseer it will also help cut down on the jaws.

Also I now have to watch my formation. Hopefully in the new codex that power will get axed.