League Battle Report: Space Wolves V’s Tau (Again!!)

Life seems to be throwing constant barriers in my way to get these done in a prompt fashion but I’ve finally managed to get this done.
As described in my previous post I found myself facing off against Brad's Space Wolves again for the first 1500 point league game. The forces assembled were as follows:

1500 Point Space Wolf List

Space Wolves: Task Force Jorgmundr

Ulf the Horrible, Rune Priest

5 Wolf Guard:
3 Combi Melta and Powerfist
(Each of these is attached to a Grey Hunter unit)
1 Frost Weapon (attached to scouts)
1 in Terminator Armour with Cyclone Missile Launcher (attached to long fangs)

Wolf Scouts Pack
5 x Wolf Scouts

Grey Hunters Pack:
9 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
9 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

Land Speeder Squadron:
1 Landspeeder Heavy Bolter and Typhoon Missile Launcher

Land Speeder Squadron:
1 Landspeeder Heavy Bolter and Typhoon Missile Launcher

Predator:
Twin Linked Lascannon and Las Cannon Sponsons


1500 Point Tau List

HQ
Crisis Suit Commander in Fireknife config with 2 x Shield Drones

Troops
6 x Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Multitracker, Disruption Pods and Gun Drones.
6 x Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Multitracker, Disruption Pods and Gun Drones.
6 x Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Multitracker, Disruption Pods and Gun Drones.

Elites
3 x Crisis Suits in Fireknife Config
3 x Crisis Suits in Deathtrain Config
3 x Stealthsuits, Team Leader with Markerlight, Drone Controller and 2 x Marker Drones

Heavy
2 x Broadside Suits with ASS, 2 x Shield Drones
1 x Hammerhead with Railgun, Multitracker, and Disruption Pods

Mission

We were playing Annihilation with Spearhead deployment. We rolled off and Brad got the choice of first turn.

Brad deployed his Long Fangs in a tower towards the far corner of his deployment to give them a commanding view of the battle field; his Rhinos were positioned as close to the centre of the table and his Predator was along his table edge close to his left flank. He announced he was holding 2 Landspeeders and his Wolf Scouts in reserve




I opted for a very similar deployment; my Broadsides were positioned in a crater towards the far corner of my deployment with the Commander attached to the Fireknife suits in cover towards the centre of the table with the Deathtrain suits hugging the edge of the cover at the opposite side to the commanders team. My Hammerhead was deployed on my table edge towards my left flank. I infiltrated the Steathsuits into the building that all of the crisis suits were using for cover to get an elevated position (the other units could not as it was too close to the centre point of the table for normal deployment).





Turn 1

After yet again failing to seize the initiative it was down to Brad to take the first turn. 2 of his Rhinos rumbled forwards and popped smoke to cover Ulf’s Rhino at the Rear whilst the Predator moved into the cover now vacated by the Rhinos.



Ulf summoned the Jaws of the World Wolf which proceeded to see my Cadre ‘s commander disappear along with his shield drones into a chasm that promptly sealed itself back up….not a great start for me!
The long fangs unleashed a hail of missiles against the Hammerhead and although most of the shots were avoided thanks to the Disruption pods 1 did glance the engine nacelle immobilising the tank.

My turn kicked off with no small amount of panic, I’d already lost 1 kill point in the form of my commander and the Hammerhead was now a sitting duck if the Wolves manage to close with it.
I started by walking the Fireknife suits to the edge of the cover to allow them to maximise their fire and I jumped the Deathtrain suits into the open.



I started the firing by laying down some Marker lights on one of the smoke covered Rhino’s scoring 3 hits, the Deathtrain suits make use of the Marker support and are able to wreck the Rhino. The Hammerhead unloads a submuition round into the Spacewolves staggering out of the wreck managing to eliminate 1.



The Broadsides launched several Railgun rounds at the second Rhino that had popped smoke immobilising it, unfortunately the Fireknife suits were still badly shaken from the loss of their commander and were unable to capitalise on this and finish it off.



The Stealthsuits, Fireknifes and Deathtrains then attempted to put a little distance between themselves and the rapidly approaching marines by jumping away (even though I had 5 to roll a total of 8 dangerous terrain checks for the jump I passed the lot!!! Practically unheard of!)



Kill Points: Space Wolves 1, Tau 1

Turn 2

Moving into turn 2 things were running at an even keel, although a commander for a Rhino is a pretty unbalanced exchange it did at least mean I had a kill point and the Greyhunters that had staggered out last turn were pinned currently so I wouldn’t have to worry about them so much for a turn.
Brad rolled for his reserves and managed to bring on the lot, so 2 Landspeeders screamed in on his left flank and the scouts snuck onto the battlefield within spitting distance of my Broadsides!




Ulfs rhino advanced to the cover of the ruin in which my suits were hiding in and the predator rumbled out to get a line on the Hammerhead.



Although the Predator was able to lay down a ferocious barrage of fire against the Hammerhead the AI controlling the Disruption pods was able to turn all of the Predators fire away….it did however mean it didn’t notice the missile barrage coming in from the Long Fangs which managed to finish the job they started last turn and turned the Hammerhead into decorative scenery.



Both of the Landspeeders unleashed a ferocious torrent of fire against the Fireknife suits but they managed to avoid injury thanks to hiding behind a wall!
With a howl that chilled the blood of the assembled Tau the Scouts bounded into the cover the Broadsides were in and launched a ferocious assault. The Shield Drones flew across into the horde and were torn apart without even managing to make the Scouts break their stride. The scouts then hit the remaining Broadsides like a hurricane, killing 1 before he could even take a swing at his attackers and injuring the other, the surviving Broadside suit tried in vain to fight his way clear but was run down by the howling pack before he’d gone more than a few steps!



Back round to my turn again and things were looking a bit grim. I rolled for reserves and got 1 of the Fire Warrior squads coming on. I brought their devilfish in on my left flank to try and lay down some fire on the Grey Hunters which failed to shift any more of the pack.



The Stealthsuits drop 2 Markerlights onto Ulf’s Rhino and manage to destroy the Storm bolter on it. The Fireknifes open up on the other Rhino and manage to result in the crew being shaken.



The Deathtrains swoop in against the Scouts hoping to avenge their fallen comrades and unleash several waves of prometheuim and although they managed to engulf the entire unit in flames the entire pack emerged slightly singed but otherwise fine!



The Stealthsuits moved back into cover losing 1 of their number to a misjudged landing and were joined by the Fireknifes, the deathtrains moved to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Scouts.



Kill Points: Space Wolves 3, Tau 1

Turn 3

Muttering litanies to the Omnissiah taught to them by the adepts of Mars the crew of the immobilised Rhino struggled and finally managed to fire the engines back into life to the howls of appreciation from the Grey Hunter pack riding in the rear!
The Predator opened up on the Devilfish, the fire was mostly ineffective due to the disruption pods but the crew were shaken. The Grey hunter pack, having now recovered from being pinned against the wreck of the Rhino sprinted through the cover to get close enough to the Devilfish to negate the benefit of the disruption pods, combined fire from their Combimelta and Meltagun manage to Stun the crew but the Devilfish remained intact…mostly.



Ulf’s Rhino roared around the side of the cover and with a howl to the Allfather he led the pack of Grey Hunters out to finally get to grips with the enemy! Again calling on the Jaws of the World Wolf he managed to eliminate 2 of the Deathtrain suits, the lone survivor then faced the full fury of the Grey Hunters and disappeared under a storm of Bolter Rounds!



The Landspeeders opened up on the Fireknife suits, their combined fire managing to kill one.



The Longfangs opened up on the Devilfish but their missiles bounced off the hull.

So again I was left smarting from the mauling I’d taken during my turn, I managed to get another Devilfish onto the table and moved it into support the first one. The Fire Warriors in the stunned Devilfish charged out and put some fire into the Grey Hunters managing to kill one.



The Stealthsuits and Fireknife’s move up to get some shots at the now mobile Rhino but only manage to shake the crew.



The Fireknifes attempt to jump back into cover but due to a disastrous roll on my part (snake eyes baby!) ended up with one dead and the last suit pilot injured.



Kill Points: Space Wolves 4, Tau 1

Turn 4

Continuing with the aggressive push on my position the Landspeeders swept forwards attempting to eliminate one of my Devilfish but their fire was less than effective. The Scouts burst out of cover heading for my last Fireknife, several bolter shells hit their target but the Crisis Suit managed to maintain integrity.



The Predator swung around and opened up on the other Devilfish, most of the hits glanced off but one penetrated the hull and set off a chain reaction within the fuel store! Four of the Fire Warriors inside managed to scramble clear before their transport tore itself apart.



Ulf and his Greyhunter pack had now closed with the Stealthuits rendering their Stealth Fields useless, the ensuing fire saw another suit fall.



The Longfangs split their fire sending 2 missiles at the still smouldering squad of Fire Warriors killing one of them and another 5 into the other Devilfish wrecking it.
With a howl the assembled mass of Space Wolves surged forwards eager to finish things. The scouts leapt into cover and hacked the Fireknife down and Ulf lead the charge into the Stealth Suit and Marker Drones. With a sickening crack heard across the battle field the pilot of the Stealthsuits skull was smashed to cinders courtesy of one of the Grey Hunters Powerfist.



The remaining Grey Hunter pack swept forwards into one of the remaining Fire Warrior Squads and the Gun Drones that had managed to survive the Deveilfish being wrecked. The fight was short and brutal, as one expects with the Sons of Russ! First the Gun Drones were smashed apart and then they turned their attentions onto the Fire Warriors, cutting all bar one of them down before they even managed to raise a hand in self defence. The last Fire Warrior attempted to make a break for freedom but the wolves ran him down!



At this stage I had 1 under strength unit of Fire Warriors left on the table and the last Fire Warrior unit and their Devil Fish sat in reserve…..I felt this would probably not be a strong enough force to grab the 10 kill points I would need for a draw so I opted to concede the game at this point!

Final Kill Points: Space Wolves 10, Tau 1

Conclusions

Well as per usual I had fun but still got a thorough kicking. Looking back I made 2 key mistakes that cost me badly:

1) Holding the Devilfish in reserve – not too sure what I was thinking here, in Kill Point games it really is key when playing Tau that you bring as much fire down as possible to thin your enemy out before they close with you, holding the Devil Fish in reserve meant I was short 18 Pulse Rifles, 3 Burst Cannons and 6 Twin Linked Plasma Carbines at the beginning of the game.

2) Getting pinned in my deployment zone – essentially I should have started moving everything out of my deployment zone as soon as the game started to keep Brads forces at distance, as things went I stood there like a pudding and let him roll me up.

Now I don’t want to take anything away from my opponent as Brad is a very good player and he knows his Space Wolves inside and out but he would have probably had a bit of a rougher time if I hadn’t made those mistakes….this was proven by the game we had last night that ended much closer (although I still lost it was a much more satisfying loss!) – the battle report for that should be appearing on Space Wolves Grey at some point in the next week so keep an eye on it for a slightly more pleasing result!