Late 2015 Battle Image Collection

Pics from the last battles of 2015, when the new rules for Tau and Raven Guard were rolling out.  These were games with Ike and Nathaniel.  I won some, I lost some, I had a good time.

Rynkelyh rockin' out on his Command Barge, moments before the Solitaire killed him with a HoW hit, of all things.

Nathaniel's almost-successful Dark Eldar "leadership bomb" arrives via Webway portal.

Nathaniel's Scourges see the battlefield for the first time.

The leadership bomb, while deadly, really should have picked a foe that didn't have army-wide Ld10. 

Nathaniel's Tau, making maximum use of their new rules. 

Two gunlines go at it.

Ike fights my Destroyer Decurion, with the assistance of the special Whirlwind squadron.

Ike's Dreadnought, seeing the battle is lost, cuts losses and makes off with a valuable objective.

Nathaniel's new and deadly toys. 

Hammer and Anvil deployment against Tau is not fun, not at all.

Immortals suicide-charge to try and lock down the Crisis suit deathstar.

Byrahn-Zoht's first game painted up.

I realize here how badly a gunline counters (proxied) Raven Guard. 

Shadow Captain Shrike strikes again.

Battle Report #20: Lahkers vs Tau Battlesuit Spearhead, Jan '16 League

Third game of the FLGS casual league, my opponent was Tyler and his nothing-but-suits Tau list.  Crisis suits, Crisis suits everywhere.  And a few Riptides, in the Riptide Wing formation.

Me and Byrahn had learned from the past two league games, and this time we'd brought the list that fought Ike's CSM/Orks.  I expected great things from them, or even mediocre (mediocre would have been welcome at the previous two games that I got steamrolled).

Tau Battlesuit Spearhead
XV86 Coldstar Commander/high-output burst cannon, shield generator, stimulant injector
4x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x burst cannon, multi-tracker
3x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x burst cannon, multi-tracker
3x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x burst cannon, multi-tracker
4x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x missile pod, multi-tracker
4x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x plasma rifle, multi-tracker
3x XV8 Crisis suits w/2x plasma rifle, multi-tracker
Riptide Wing
3x XV104 Riptide suits w/ion accelerator, TL smart missile system, multi-tracker (all separate units in 1 formation)

Mission was Maelstrom #3, Tactical Escalation–tactical objectives equal to turn number.  Deployment was Hammer & Anvil.  We placed objectives as shown below, and I won the deployment roll.

Since Tyler could deep-strike his entire army if he wanted, I set up in a loose formation to have as much lines of fire as I could, and put my Praetorians, Lychguard, and Ghost Ark at the front, so as to rush out and capture objectives.  The Heavy Destroyers squatted on Objective 5.  I held the Tomb Blades, Destroyer Lord, and two Destroyer squads in reserve.

Tyler set up his Riptides in his back line, taking advantages of that 72" range, put a couple squads of suits behind the buildings (out of my LOS and range), and put his special Coldstar-Commander-who-flew-like-a-flying-MC-but-wasn't-an-MC to the right side of his deployment zone.  He failed to steal the initiative, and the game went ahead.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1 - Me

I got #64 for my first Objective, Assassinate, which seem incredibly unlikely, as I had no Skyfire and his only character acted like a Flying MC.  I moved my army up, keeping the Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers by Objectives 4 and 5.

Turn 1 - Tyler

Tyler got #35, Secure Objective 5, for his first Objective.  He had his Crisis suits pop out to take shots at my guys.  The Riptides sat still so they could, in Shooting, use their Riptide Hailfire ability to fire twice in Shooting.  The Riptides, in all, shooting their weapons 4 times each, killed a grand total of 4 Immortals, 1 Lychgaurd, 1 Destroyer and 1 Heavy Destroyer.  It was a harbinger of what would come in future turns.  The Riptides fired at the Ghost Ark too, but it successfully jinked the shots.  The Crisis suits killed 2 Praetorians, and then jet-pack-moved back into cover.

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2 - Me

I still had #64, and rolled #34 (secure Objective 4).  One squad of Destroyers arrived from reserves.  I plopped them down near Objective 3.  Byrahn used the Veil of Darkness, and boldly deep-struck into the heart of the Tau army.  The newly arrived Destroyers killed 1 Crisis suit and wounded another.  That was it for shooting, except for my Heavy Destroyers (gone to ground because of the Riptides) taking a few idle shots at the Coldstar Commander.  With two snap-shots, they got a six to hit, and then wounded him.  He failed his invuln save, and the S9 AP2 heavy gauss cannon instakilled him.

I felt proud of my Heavy Destroyers and guilty that I'd killed Tyler's warlord with a, and I directly quote, "random-ass lucky potshot".  He deserved a better death than that.

I achieved #34, as I was camping on Objective 4 with my Destroyers, and got Assassinate from the insane snap-shot warlord kill.

Turn 2 - Tyler

Tyler had #35, and rolled the Tau "Patient Hunter" objective (kill enemy unit in his deployment zone).  He got two three-suit squads in, one with burst cannons, one with plasma.  The burst-cannon suits went down by the Lychguard, the plasma suits by the Destroyers near Objective 3.  The suits shuffled around a bit and opened fire.  The Riptides overcharged and fired at the Ark, and Tyler's dice continued to rebel: one Riptide got too hot and took a wound, the second whiffed on the scatter roll, and the third hit but whiffed on armor penetration.  Basically ALL the Crisis suits fired at the Lychguard, and a total of 3 missile suits, 4 plasma suits, and 7 burst-cannon suits (56 shots from them alone) killed 4 Lychguard.  The plasma suits by Objective 3 killed 1 Destroyer.  Tyler's dice cut him a raw deal, he was 1 Lychguard short of achieving Patient Hunter.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3 - Me

I rolled #33, #35, #31 (secure Objectives 1, 3, and 5).  The rest of my reserves arrived.  I deep-struck the Destroyer Lord down by Byrahn and his one Lychguard, I deep-struck the last Destroyers down by the bastion and Ark, and the Tomb Blades with their hot new trendy color scheme!!! cruised on waaaaay on the other side of the board, able to do absolutely nothing.  The Ark unloaded the Warriors, who scrambled into the big ruins to claim Objective 1, and the Praetorians leaped out of the same ruins to head for Objective 3.  Combined shooting killed 3 Crisis suits, and the Destroyer Lord hit the nearest Riptide and Blinded it with the Solar Staff.  In assault, Byrahn charged the Riptide, and the Praetorians charged the plasma suits (the latter whiffing their charge and losing a model to overwatch).  Combined overwatch killed the last Lychguard and one Praetorian.  Byrahn took 1 wound from the Riptide, it flailed around and did nothing to him.  I scored Objectives 1 and 5.

Turn 3 - Tyler

Tyler's dice continued their insurrection, his last squad of suits refused to arrive from reserve.  His suits mostly stood their ground and fired, with one Riptide moving towards the Riptide-Byrahn combat.  Massed fire killed the Destroyer Lord, and wounded the Destroyers near Objective 3 (the last one failed his morale test and ran).  He jet-pack-moved his suits towards his left corner of the board, and the Riptide joined the fight with Byrahn.  Byrahn turned his attention to it, wounded it once, and the Riptide failed its morale check and ran off the table.  It was a painful sight made more painful by the retroactive realization that Byrahn had not made the necessary Fear checks, fighting MCs as he was.  I failed to record what objectives Tyler got, I know he scored 3VP from them (at least 1 of those VP from Patient Hunter, I think.)

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4 - Me

I had #33, and rolled #23, #22, and #61 (Secure Objectives 3 and 2 and Kingslayer).  Kingslayer was the important one, it gives d3 VP (I got 2VP) for having killed his warlord (it applies even if the enemy's warlord has been killed in a past turn).  I belatedly moved my Immortals towards Objective 2, and got the Tomb Blades in range of some Crisis suits.  Combined fire wounded a few suits and killed 2 for certain.  The Praetorians re-assaulted, got in, and killed the last plasma suit, and consolidated towards Objective 3.  The Riptide and Byrahn combat remained inconclusive.  I achieved Kingslayer as stated above, but not the other two.

Turn 4 - Tyler

Tyler had #35, and got #66, #51, and #15 (Big Game Hunter, Overwhelming Firepower, and the Tau Feigned Withdrawal: kill 1 enemy unit that started within 9" of a friendly unit).  The last squad of suits was forced to arrive by the rules, and came down by Objective 5.  Still Tyler's dice would not cut him a break, and scattered them away from the objective.  In shooting, Tyler wounded many of my models, but only killed for good my single retreating Destroyer.  We finally remembered that Byrahn was supposed to be making Fear checks, rolled for it, and he not only failed the Fear check, but lost 2 of his 3 wounds, and the assault.  We were both I2, we had an equal chance for a sweeping advance or not...Tyler rolled a 5, I got a 6.  The dice be fickle.  At least that one Riptide pilot can tell the tale of forcing a Necron Overlord to run like a wuss.

We called the game at the end of Turn 4.  Tyler had 3VP from Tactical Objectives scored, 1VP from Line Breaker, and we agreed he got 1VP from Slay the Warlord (because Byrahn was falling back at the time the game ended), for a total of 5VP for Tyler.  I had 6VP from Tactical Objectives scored, and 3VP from First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Line Breaker, for a total of 9VP.  Lahker victory!

Summary: the dice screwed Ty, the 'crons refused to die.  I'm glad I won; I'm not glad I won not so much by my own skill as by Tyler's dice actively rebelling against him over the whole game.  Hopefully a rematch can be arranged in the future, for a fully honorable duel when the dice aren't being so ornery.

Extra Pics:

Going to ground from Riptide fire.

Unrelated Wraithknight on the next table.

Byrahn realizes fighting two MCs just might be a bad idea.

New Tomb Blade color scheme!...not that they did much this game...

Battle Report #15: Lahkers & Tau vs Red Marauders

The Lahkers and the Tau couldn't agree on many things, but the need to teach those uppity, Dreadnought-spamming Red Marauders a lesson was one of those things two xenos races could concur on.

This was another Not-Apoc game, 4,000 points, from late summer, with me and Nathaniel teamed up against Ike.  We knew what each other were bringing, Ike with a special Iron Hands Dreadnought/Ork team-up, Nathaniel with his anti-tank Tau, and me with with an early iteration of the Lahkers' Destroyer Cult, along with my first try at fielding a Deathbringer Flight consisting of my Doom Scythe and my B-2 stealth bomber model.

Deployment was Dawn of War, mission was good old kill points.

My list. Destroyer Lord is the Warlord.

Nathaniel's Galactic Empire-themed Tau.

Ike's list (4000pts total)

Red Marauders Space Marines (Iron Hands Chapter Tactics)
Librarian w/Auspex, Digital Weapons, Mastery Level 2, Force Sword, Jump Pack
2x Techmarines (one with bolt pistol, boltgun, servo arm, other with auspex, boltgun, servo arm, storm bolter)
2x Servitors
Master of the Forge w/Conversion Beamer
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts w/extra armor, multi-melta, power fist/storm bolter, both in Drop Pods with Deathwind misisle launcher
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts w/assault cannon, power fist, one with storm bolter, one with heavy flamer
Ironclad Dreadnought w/hurricane bolter, Ironclad assault launchers, Seismic Hammer/heavy flamer
5x Scouts w/camo cloaks, heavy bolter w/hellfire shells, 3x sniper rifles
5x Tactical Marines w/vet sarge (armed with boltgun) and flamer in Razorback w/dozer blade, storm bolter, TL heavy bolter
5x Assault Marines w/2x flamers, vet sarge with combat shield and power axe
5x Devastators, 2x heavy bolters, sarge w/bolt pistol and chainsword, in Rhino

Orks
Painboy w/Gitfinda
Warboss w/attack squig, Bosspole, Cybork Body, 'eavy Armor, Kombi-Skorcha, Power klaw
Weirdboy Mastery level 2
4x Nobz in Battlewagon w/'ard case, extra armor, Grot Riggers, Kannon, Reinforced Ram
17x Shoota Boyz w/'eavy armor and Nob w/bosspole
10x Slugga Boyz in Trukk w/rokkit launcha
Burna-Bommer w/6x Skorcha missiles
2x Big Trakks w/2x Big Shootas, Grot Riggers, Supa-Kannon
Deff Dread w/extra armor, Grot Rigger, Power Klaw, Rokkit Launcha
Deff Dread w/extra armor, Grot Riggers, 2x Skorchas
4x Lootas w/Mek armed with Rokkit Launcha

Skitarii
5x Skitarii Rangers w/Transuranic arquebus, Ranger Alpha has galvanic rifle and refractor field
5x Skitarii Vanguard w/arc rifle, enhanced data-tether, plasma caliver, Vanguard Alpha has arc maul, conversion field, digital weapons, phosphor blast pistol

Inquisition
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor w/Conversion Beamer, Power Armor, Psychotroke Grenades, Mastery level 1, Rad Grenades, 3x Servo Skulls, Warlord
Henchmen Warband, 3x Acolytes w/boltguns, carapace armor, laspistol, 3x Jokaero Weaponsmiths, 1x Servitor w/heavy bolter

Deployment

Our deployment.  Me and Nathaniel roughly split the battlefield halfway for our armies.  The anti-tank guns were spread as evenly as possible across the board.  His Pathfinders were placed up on terrain for better markerlighting, my Triarch Stalker stood in a big crowd of Necrons to make its buff as effective as possible, and I put my Master of the Forge and his Scouts on the tall ruins at the top of the picture for maximum coverage with the Conversion Beamer.

Fire Prism and Raider are Hammerheads, walkers and Wraithlord are Broadside suits.

Ike's deployment.  He put a blob of boyz behind his Aegis line on his left flank, with the interceptor Quad-gun, put the Iron Hands armor in the center, and on the right flank put the Warboss and Weirdboy in their Trukks.  His Scouts infiltrated on the square ruins near our lines.

Full deployment, examples A and B.

And that was that for deployment.  On to the battle.

GAME TURN 1

Turn 1, ex. A

Turn 1, ex. B

Turn 1 - Us

The combined Necron-Tau force walked forward a bit.  Not much happened.  We were able to kill a Scout and a Loota, and mentally prepared ourselves for what was to come.

Turn 1 - Ike

Ike's turn began with a Deathwind-armed Drop Pod landing in our left corner, deploying his Vendread with the multi-melta.  His forces moved into and behind any available cover, and the Warboss and Weirdboy drove their Trukks forward according to standard ere-we-go tactics.  In the shooting phase, he killed two Destroyers, and the Drop Pod VenDread immobilized a Hammerhead gunship (the Raider).

GAME TURN 2

Turn 2, ex. A

Turn 2, ex. B

Turn 2 - Us

The action started to pick up this turn.  Both Praetorian squads came in, along with the Doom Scythes.  I sent the Scythes towards the Razorback, AT-ST Deff Dread, and the footslogging Ironclad Dread, and dropped the Praetorians in on Ike's right flank.  On our right flank, the Lahker troops and Destroyers made it to the square-based ruins, backed up by the Stalker and Crisis suits.  In shooting, we killed a few more scouts, my Heavy Destroyer knocked 1 HP off the Big Trakk on Ike's left flank, and my Destroyer squad in the middle (under the Scythes) killed the Weirdboy's Trukk for First Blood.  The Praetorians killed off Ik's right-flank Big Trakk, Nathaniel's Fire Warriors charged and grenaded the Drop Pod Dread to death, and the Hammerhead repaired its Immobilized result.

*Possibly this turn, possibly next turn, my Dev-proxy MoTF and Ike's Inquisitor began a conversion beamer duel, and I made this to commemorate it.*

Wait...conversion "beamber?" Dammit...

Turn 2 - Ike

Ike's Burna-Bomma, not about to be left out of the battle, flew onto the field.  The barely-assembled Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard made it onto the field, outflanked on Ike's left flank.  One of the Tau units Intercepted the Vanguard and killed 4 of the 5 men in the squad.  Ike poured on the shooting, however he only inflicted minimal casualties, mostly warriors and a Praetorian.  He did get some boyz into combat with the Tau on our left flank, not sure how.  Darn meddlin' orks.  The lone Skitarii Vanguard valiantly assaulted my warriors and was slain.

GAME TURN 3

Turn 3, ex. A 

Turn 3, ex. B

Turn 3 - Us

Our Necron-Tau infantry line didn't move much further this turn, they stood and fired.  The Riptide moved towards our left flank to provide fire support against the Orks and Dreadnought.  The Doom Scythes homed in on the Aegis defense line and killed the remaining Big Trakk hiding in the woods.  The Deff Dread (real model) approaching the Lahker-held ruins was destroyed, and the other Dreadnoughts were damaged.  My MoTF had a Conversion Beamer duel with Ike's Inquisitor, and killed a few of his acolytes.  The Praetorian squads then assaulted the Inquisitor's squad and the remaining Dreadnought on Ike's right flank.  (Bad move against the Dread, Praetorians with Rods of Covenant can't glance AV12)

Turn 3 - Ike

Ike's second Drop Pod finally arrived, putting his repainted Dreadnought down almost in our center field...it got Intercepted and exploded.  He began to inch his Orks and Lootas on his left flank up at this point.  The Burna-Bomma decimated the midfield squad of Fire Warriors, killing all but one model.  The Librarian and Assault Squad deep-struck into our right flank.  Ike caused light casualties across the board otherwise, and assaulted Lord Nahz's squad on the square ruins with the VenDread.  His Inquisitor's squad suffered losses at the hands of the Praetorians.

GAME TURN 4

Turn 4, ex. A

Turn 4, ex. B

Turn 4 - Us

The Doom Scythes moved into ongoing reserves.  My warriors and Stalker, finding themselves in range of Lootas, a Rhino of Marines, and the Assault Marines, decided to back up and re-form the line.  The Immortals gaussed the AT-ST Dread down.  The Rhino that had been hovering in the midfield near the square ruins was finally wrecked as well.  One Hammerhead and the Riptide put the Warboss and Nobz down.  In an unlikely intervention, Nahz had his Necron ass saved when the Crisis suits joined his combat and killed Ike's Dreadnought with an Onager gauntlet.

Turn 4 - Ike

Ike's forces had pretty much been removed from the lower half of the board at this point.  He focused his efforts on killing Nahz's squad and the Crisis suits.  The Crisis suits died to the joint effort of a Big Shoota and the Ironclad Dread, and Nahz was tackled lethally by the Librarian and his Assault buddies.  The Razorback charged onto our side of the table, I'm pretty sure it took a shot at the Stalker, but thankfully failed to kill it.

GAME TURN 5

Turn 5, ex. A

Turn 5, ex. B

Turn 5 - Us

The Doom Scythes swooped back onto the field, went after the Burna-Bomma, spammed the tesla destructors, and knocked it out of the sky.  The rest of the Necron-Tau force consolidated towards our side of the board in general, finishing off the mauled enemy units within range.  The Praetorians overcame the hardy Inquisitor and got Slay the Warlord at long last (the others got squished in their ill-considered Dreadnought combat), and a Techmarine and his servitors wandering around in the midfield were slain.

Turn 5 - Ike

Ike's Shoota Boyz made it far enough they could hose the Destroyers on their end of the board, taking a few of them out.  The Librarian charged my Destroyer Lord, whiffed his attacks, and then dodged the return attacks and...survived?  Maybe?  The record is incomplete here.  The Praetorian squad is listed as "kill", who or what is not specified.  They may have been killed, they don't show up in any pics at that point.  Ike's Scouts, battered but alive, still hunched in the square ruins, somehow hanging on through the slaughter going on around them.

The game ended the bottom of Turn 5.  Final score: Lahkers and Tau 17 kill points (counting Slay the Warlord and First Blood), and Ike got 11 kill points.  Victory for the Greater Good and the Dynasty!  (But more importantly the Dynasty.  Necrons rule.)

Final thoughts:

• Deathbringer Flight was a lot of fun, honestly more cool than effective for their points...still, they shot down the Bommer, destroyed a Big Trakk, and took a few HP off the Ironclad Dreadnought.  Not too bad.
• Destroyers do NOT belong on the front lines or in assault, not at all.
• Stalkers do a lot for your army when they're alive...hint hint, Gabe, put that Stalker in cover.  Maybe even in reserve.
• Funnily enough, Praetorians are better tank-busters with the voidblade (Rending, Entropic Strike) and the S6 particle caster pistol, rather than the nasty but low-strength Rod of Covenant.
• Be very, very thankful you were on the friendly end of the Tau guns this game.

Extra Pics:

Pictured: grand prize winners of the survive-the-match contest.

Ike's Lootas.

Ike's Inquisitorial warband, complete with what I believe are Battletech proxies for the Jokaeros.

The Warboss and the Weirdboy Wyrdfang da White.

An advance slightly more orderly than the 5k-point game.

I may have enjoyed this moment more than was necessary.

Skitarii...uh...Rangers outflank.

Skitarii Vanguard outflank, right before getting Intercepted.

We let Ike use Battletech's "flippy-arms" rule so his Dreadnought could bring his guns to bear on the Praetorians.

The Burna-Bommer lets fly with a skorcha missile.

Wyrdfang da White (left) charges into combat.

Ike actually had another conversion beamer on the field, but he got left out of the duel. Sorry MoTF.

The very nicely painted Dreadnought, which got intercepted when he dropped in.

MOST DEFINITELY NOT AS PLANNED

I may not be a great nemesor, but by the Silent Kings I can get good shots with them.

The Inquisitor-Praetorian combat. He did not go down easy.

The dramatic aerial pursuit of the Burna-Bommer.

That jump Librarian may not have survived after all.

"Guys, guys!  We're alive!  Who woulda thought?"