Also, on my second tour of Garage Sales, I managed to pick up a block of five knives, so we now have some cutting knives. I may need to make a blog post listing all the stuff I have thus far so we can coordinate it more effectively, or maybe I'll send an email. Who knows?
Anyway, on to the Battle Report.
It was a clear day on the Battlefield of a remote planet, long since forgotten by both Imperial Surveys and Tau Expansion probes. However, after a deposit of a rare ore was discovered by both parties, teams were sent to examine it. Detecting their opposing presence in the area, Colonel Kralik dispatched Captain Richardson to investigate the enemies strength and numbers near the mining sight. The opposing Tau commander was issued the same set of orders, so the engagement began.
Captain Richardson was given command over L Company, Nicknamed "Lucy" Company two Platoons of Infantry, consisting of three squads each. Two Basilisks, a Stormtrooper Squad with transport, one Hellhound and two Anti-Tank Support squads.
List form
- Two Platoons with Three Squads, each Squad having a Grenade Launcher and Heavy Bolter
- The Platoon Command Squads both had Iron Discipline and Missile Launchers
- The HQ Command Squad had two Attached Anti-Tank (Lascannon) squads with Sharpshooters, the Captain himself was upgraded with Carapace armour and a bolt pistol as well as Iron Leadership
- 2 Basilisks
- 1 Hellhound
- 10 Stormtroopers with Chimera
List Form
- Two Squads of 20 Kroot with Shapers and Hounds
- 10 Firewarriors
- 1 Hammerhead
- 1 Devilfish
- 6 Stealth Suits with 12 Gundrones
- 2 Crisis Command Suits (One with Twin Linked Flamer, one with Twin Linked Missile thing)
- 4 Crisis suits (Varrying loadouts, generally burst cannon plus something else)
- 8 Pathfinders
"Pathetic" Captain Richardson muttered. "They go up against the full might of the Imperium and they send these... Xenos! At us, they do not even risk their own blood in this battle, they use their Xeno slaves to do the dirty work. This battle shall be won swiftly this day.
The battlefield was littered with forests and hills, but bordered a area quickly becoming engulfed by desert, as there was a mixture of rolling sand dune and grassy knoll. Captain Richardson had the initiative in deploying his forces and ordered all of his men as far into no mans land as he could to ensure the Foolish Tau kept their heads down. The Platoons were spread along the front, with the left flank supported by the Stormtroopers in the Chimera, and the right flank being supported by the Hellhounds. The Anti-Tank squads were also nestled in the protection of cover on the left and right flanks. Finally, the Basilisks came snorting into position on each corner of the battlezone, providing overlapping fields of fire with their massive guns. The HQ Squad itself was placed behind a forest near the center of the battlefield, to ensure he could cover both flanks even without Vox Assistance.
The Tau placed their firewarriors far back in their own deployment on the left flank, and set up the Pathfinders in cover on the right flank. The Hammerhead was deployed on the far left, and the Devilfish was deployed in the middle. The Stealth suits were detected on the far left flank as well, and finally the Kroot were pushed ahead of the force as they used the cover of Forest to infiltrate closer to the enemy guns. As predicted, the Crisis suits would be holding back and diving in later in the battle.
Top of Turn One
Captain Richardson considered his next move after deploying, and decided that he should strike first to drive fear into the hearts of the Tau warriors, as well as ensuring the dastardly Kroot would not get too close to the firing lines. He moved his troops into position, and then ordered the company to open fire as soon as they had targets.
The two Infantry squads on the left moved into forest to gain advantage from cover, although the rapid movement kept them from utilizing their heavier equipment. The infantry squad near the center, already in cover dug in, in preparation for the coming battle. The three squads on the right flank all pressed forward over and around a grassy knoll in order to get closer to the objective, the enemy lines. The Stormtrooper Chimera moved up towards the center of the field to provide covering fire for the advancing infantry, and the Hellhound moved towards the grassy knoll to get a better firing solution on the Pathfinders. Finally, the Anti-Tank squad on the right flank had to move up to get to higher ground, even if it meant not having the Lascannons set up for the first volley.
Once all the troops were in place, they opened up with the righteous fury of the Emperor. The squads of infantry managed to score several hits on the Kroot squads before they built the momentum to even emerge from their forests. The Hellhound incinerated four pathfinders while they were still checking the scopes on their rifles. The left flank Anti-Tank squad fired a volley of Lascannon shots at the Hammerhead while it was still running warm up diagnostic in its infernal computronics, and although they managed to score two penetrating hits, they amounted to damaging the targeting matrix and they would be unable to immediately fire back on the Tau Volley. The Stormtrooper Chimera's gunner came down with terrible cramps and was unable to fire their Chimera's weaponry.
The mighty Basilisks then opened up, sending shells screaming across the battlefield. The first shell, fired from the right flank was aimed at the presumed whereabouts of the Stealth team, but the shell was too long and went screaming out of the battlezone, detonating harmlessly miles away. The second shell firing from the left flank scored a hit on the side of the Devilfish, but the shell failed to detonate, so it did not create any effective damage.
The Right Flank Platoon Commander caught sight of the failed Basilisk shell, and directed his retinue to fire the Missile Launcher at it, the missile struck true with the blessing of the shell and disrupted the Devilfishes weapon system for a moment.
Bottom of Turn One
The Kroot then surged forward out of their forests on both flanks but were unable to make any immediate assaults onto the gunline. The Hammerhead moved out of the firing sights of the Lascannons as the crew's cowardice outweighed their courage and they fled direct fire. The Xeno pathfinders were also symbolized their races incompetence as they managed to only fire off a few rounds of sniper fire that did not amount to anything, still shaken from the instant cremation of their comrades. Unfortunately, the Firewarriors got a few lucky shots in that claimed the lives of four guardsmen, and the Kroot, who could not assault, leveled their primitive guns as the valiant guardsmen and slew another five. The Devilfish soared up over a tower and using the height to its advantage, fired at the Chimera, incapacitating the cramped gunner. Finally, under the veil of invisibility, the cowardly stealth team and their gun drone allies killed the Left flank Anti-Tank squad under whithering plasma fire, cutting down shrub and soldier alike.
Captain Richardson grinned as the Tau feebly attempted to mount a resistance to the wave of Guardsmen flooding towards their deployment zone, but his grin turned to a mask of fury when he heard the shouts of "Retreat! There's too many of them!" and "Fall back!" The two squads that had rushed forward into cover only to come under fire were breaking and falling back. "Get back in line you traitors or I'll shoot you myself! He bellowed, his bleak upbringing on a garrison world had drilled discipline into his head, people said he had a Will of Iron.
Top of Turn Two
His words were enough to halt one of the squads in its tracks, but another disregarded his threats and continued running. Knowing that he had a battle to run, he shouted another threat of "If you make one more step with your backs towards the enemy! It will be the sky your backs are facing next, with a new eye to see out of!" That stopped the second squad in their tracks. He glanced venomously towards Lieutenant Jenkins, commander of that platoon, who only stood with his mouth agape at such a blatant disregard for discipline.
The two troops that had been falling back, managed to wheel around and fire back at the enemy. The one that was still in the forest continued pressing the Kroot, who lost several more of their kind. The one that had fled out of the forest took pot shots at the shimmering field of disguise the stealth suits wore, without success.
Lietenant Jenkins, trying to make up for his incompetence, fired all the weapons at his disposal at the Stealth suits. While the Lasguns and Missile found targets, the wretched armour of the suits prevented them from finding harm. The center squad continued shooting at the Kroot near the center, but still in the woods, taking out another few Kroot. The Chimera Stormtroopers, seeing their gunner was impaired, ordered a rush towards the Kroot in an attempt to frighten them into submission. The tank drove right into the forest, knocking back tree and Kroot alike, but they did not break, nor did they break after taking fire from the Guardsmen across the field. The Stormtroopers waited for the chance to attack, but did not disembark.
The three squads continued storming over the Knoll, taking shots at the Kroot and the Pathfinders. The Hellhound, having found a strategic point overlooking the top of the knoll, fired another stream of fiery death, killing another pathfinder. The remaining Right flank Lascannons, their position secure, fired at the Devilfish, although the Devilfishes erratic maneuvering made it difficult to pinpoint sensitive areas, one Lascannon bolt sliced straight through the engine reactor, detonating it and destroying the craft.
The Basilisk on the left flank, threatened by the approaching stealth suits, fired point blank on them, the shot went far, but still managed to kill four gun drones. The Basilisk on the right flank fired at the Hammerhead, attempting to disable it, but the shot, while hitting the vehicle, lacked sufficient force to do any lasting damage.
Bottom of Turn Two
Captain Richardson appraised his situation, although the Xeno Tau were showing significantly more backbone than in most fights, their squads were being whittled away by sustained imperial fire. The Captain even had remarkably low casualties. He was also informed the the recently destroyed Devilfish also employed complicated tracking equipment that was supposed to assist the Crisis suits coming into battle. Richardson swelled with pride, however, it was short lived as the screaming engines heralded incoming crisis suits. Two squads of two Crisis suits landed uncomfortably close to his position, the dust cloud that they kicked up obscured the view of most of the battlefield. He also heard two other touchdowns on the far right flank.
The Stealth suits moved on the Basilisk, showing its side armour with a hail of plasma, eventually a lucky shot glanced of the tread and into the ammo compartment and the Basilisk was destroyed in a flash of fire and smoke, replaced by a ruined shell. The Kroot moved up into Assault range, but the firewarriors fired at the squad and caused them to fall back among the uproar. The furthest left of the crisis suits fired impotently at Captain Richardson, but only managed to kill one of his staff. The other team of Crisis suits fired at the middle squad in cover and caused them to break and fall back as well. The team on the left flank in the forest resolutely refused to surrender and fired at the Crisis suits, bringing their Heavy Bolter to bear, they managed to blow out a leg of one suit, but it was still going. The retreating central squad shot at the team as well, and destroyed the one legged suit.
On the Right flank the battle was going better, but only marginally. The Crisis commander descended into the area and lit a Heavy Bolter team up, leaving only charred ruins. The center Kroot that had been rammed by the Chimera had filtered around to the rear exit to prevent escape, and the second Crisis Suit commander who had landed by the Pathfinders, fired Missile Pods at the side of the Chimera, on of the hits broke through its armour causing the stormtroopers to evacuate, only to be cut down by Kroot guns, and a subsequent shot destroyed the Chimera entirely. The Pathfinders continued to incompetently fire on the advancing Guardsmen.
Top of Turn Three
Captain Richardson was concerned, he was watching the left flank fall, with cried of "Retreat!" and "Fall back!" filling his ears. Using his superior skills he was able to stop both squads in their tracks, but they were quickly becoming surrounded. He decided it would be best to escape to the Right flank where reports indicated the battle was going better.
The furthest left squad continued to fire upon the Crisis suits managing to take down one of the suits, adding to the battlefield debris. As well, the squad in the forest managed to inflict another wound on the remaining suit threatening the commander. The central squad, which had stopped retreating near the edge of the battlezone, fired against the single suit, but was unable to score a hit. Captain Richardson himself fired at the Crisis suit as he fled past, but was unable to score any effective hits.
Lieutenant Jenkins watched in horror as the Stealth suits closed in on his position, and fired into the shimmering field, he spotted a few gun drones fall, but not enough. It seemed the Tau this fight were not willing to yield and inch.
On the Right Flank, The march forward faltered as the three squads all focused their fire on the Crisis commander, and even with the Support of the three lascannons, they were only able to deal one wound due to the hyper-stimulated nature of their commander, it was as if he was unable to feel pain. Hits that would wound a normal man were ignored by the commander.
The Hellhound fired at the pathfinders and killed another one of them, but they steadfastly refused to retreat. The single remaining Basilisk fired at the last known coordinates of the Hammerhead with the hope of taking it out of the fight. The shell was far and exploded off to the right ineffectively.
Bottom of Turn Three
The situation was readily falling from bad to worse. As the Stealth suits moved up, they cut down Lieutenant Jenkins and his squad where he stood, pumping so much fire into the forest there was nothing left but matchsticks and pink stains. The Single remaining Crisis suit fired at the Far left squad but only managed to kill one Guardsmen. However, the Carnivorous Kroot assaulted into them and wiped the squad out in short order, they moved up towards the Captain, he could see the lusty glint in their eyes and the blood on their fangs, they were after him next.
The firewarriors shot at the squad on the left flank in the forest and decimated the survivors, only the heavy bolter crew and the Sargent remained standing. The second crisis suit team moved between the Captain and his escape route, and then targeted the squad in the central forest, causing them to retreat again.
The Hammerhead moved out of cover and screamed off to support the right flank. It fired submunitions at an advancing squad of Guardsmen and wiped their existence off the side of the grassy knoll. Only Sargent Gerrard survived, stumbling dazed from the crater, however, he filled with blood rage and went storming off towards the enemy.
The Crisis Flamer Command Suit jetted over towards the remaining Anti-Tank Squad and incinerated two of the three lascannons, the third squad was horrified and could feel the heat off the licking flames, but remained steadfast to the Imperial cause, not retreating. The Crisis Missile Command Suit fired a volley of Missiles at the Hellhound and detonated the Promethium tanks in the rear, casing a massive fireball that killed a guardsmen in the forward squad. The Pathfinders finally got their bearing straight, killing several guardsmen on the far right squad, causing them to retreat.
Top of Turn Four
Captain Richardson continued to retreat, the central squad, which was retreating, managed to blast the Crisis suit that was blocking his path, but he did not make very much progress towards his objective. He attempted to rally his troops but found they were all trying to make the quickest escape from the battlefield, the left flank had essentially collapsed.
On the right flank, one surviving squad and Sargent Gerrard pressed forward, while one squad retreated. The middle squad fired at the Kroot while on the move and killed the Shaper. Without their slave drivers leadership, the squad quickly broke and fled. The second squad fired at the Pathfinders, but their shots fell short as they were unable to aim properly on the move, a desperate grenade yielded no result.
The Basilisk continued to fire on the Hammerhead but was unable hit the fast moving vehicle.
Bottom of Turn Four
On the Left Flank, the Stealth suits surged over and cut down the rest of the central squad in the forest, and the Crisis Suit and the firewarriors mopped up the last of the left flank squad in the forest. As well, Captain Richardson let out a Battlecry as the Kroot caught up with him. However, the cry was short lived as the fast reacting Kroot hounds quickly overcame him and dragged him down to the ground, feasting on his fast rotting corpse. His special issued Carapace armour had done him little good. The remaining staff were cut down in short order, the left flank was destroyed.
On the Right Flank, the Crisis Commander Flamer suit incinerated the retreating second squad, reducing them to ash. The Crisis Commander Missile suit shot at the rushing final squad, but did not faze them in the least. The Hammerhead shot at the Basilisk and scored a direct hit, but only managed to stun the crew.
Top of Turn Five
With his last chances to turn the tide of battle failing, Lieutenant Donaldson took control of the remnants of the force and moved up near the Lascannon. The Lascannon made a last stand and took a shot at the Hammerhead, the shot, which had to have been blessed by the Emperor himself, penetrated the magazine chamber and sent the Xeno ship flying in pieces in all directions. The Basilisk, which was unable to fire, was cranked into first gear and sent barreling off towards the enemy deployment zone to gather intel.
The final squad pressing forward was confronted by the Missile Commander. With the objective so plain in sight, they rushed the Commander and cut him down in short order. Tearing him socket from armoured socket, the Missile Commander was brought down trying to retreat.
Bottom of Turn Five
In the dying moments of the Battle, the Flamer Commander, who seemed impervious to pain, cremated Lieutenant Donaldson, his staff and the last remaining Lascannon in one well place arc of flame. As well, the surviving Pathfinders managed to find sights on the squad in the deployment zone cut into them, reducing their numbers to six and pinning them. The squad Sargent wanted to retreat but were unable to for fear of getting their brains blown out
Top of Turn Six
The Basilisk continued snorting towards the objective, and the pinned squad managed to shake off the fear and fire back at the Pathfinders, although unable to kill any.
Bottom of Turn Six
The Remaining Crisis commander, unable to reach the Basilisk to prevent it from moving any further, assessed his new intelligence streaming in from his other squads in the deployment zone. He knew that although his wounds were severe, he had won the day. The Pathfinders also cut down three of the holding Guardsmen, and once again got them to shove their heads in the sand, they were now in no condition to gather intelligence.
At the end of the day, mass casualties had been inflicted on both sides. Lucy Company was essentially wiped out, although post battle recovery units were able to salvage the two Basilisks and the Chimera, the Foul Tau Xeno's managed to keep two Crisis Suits, one squad of Kroot and one Crisis Commander in the Imperial Deployment zone, gathering much needed intelligence under the watchful eye of their depleted stealth suits.
The information gained was used in a lightning strike on the local resupply point, crippling operations on the main continent of the planet. Maintenance of Imperial Control seems unlikely at this point and Imperial Navy movements are indicating evacuations of the rest of the 412th Battalion.
Lessons Learned from this battle
Ian:
2+ Feel No Pain is really, really annoying
Tau have the same Leadership as Guardsmen, but they can upgrade it in much the same way (Bonding knives) so they don't always run away when you shoot at them
Kroot are squishy but really scary in close combat, especially Kroot Hounds
Stealth Suits are dumb, who makes a unit with a 3+ Save and you have to roll 2d6x3 and be within range to see them!?!
Basilisks can survive to Turn Six if you give your enemy something more important to shoot at
Geoff:
Basilisks have decent front armour, they don't fold like a house of cards the minute you point a gun at them
Guardsmen retreat a lot, but they also tend to recover a lot if they're within range of an officer, especially one with Iron Discipline.
The final Score was about 1152 Points for Geoff. It was the destruction of the Hammerhead that kept him from getting a Victorious Slaughter, he simply got a Crushing Victory instead, so I was happy. The Broken Down score was 2011 Points for Geoff (Because he killed most of my army, well all of it save one squad and a tank, but he only had one squad of Kroot and a handful of Crisis suits in the Deployment Zone, so he didn't get many victory points there.) and 859 Points for Me.
Oh God that was much longer than I originally planned it to be. I hope someone takes the time to read this. I enjoyed writing it!
7 comments:
Don't worry Ian. I read it all....in total disgust for your butchering of the english language. Aside from clear spelling mistakes and repetitive sentences it was a pretty cool story.
Apparently you are still using 4th edition otherwise you would not care about his 2+ FNP guys since if you have ap2 weapons then they will feel it.
Yeah, I still don't have my 5th edition rulebook in yet.
As well, the Saint John Gaming Community is... Hostile to the changes in 5th edition at best, so I think I'll be playing 4th edition for the rest of the summer.
They're still grousing about how much Chaos was changed in their new Codex.
Its very different when you play at a store that isn't designed to sell you the latest thing, and moves seamlessly into the new ruleset.
Also, as the time states, I wrote it in two hours between 1am and 3am, I don't have super command over the written English language at the best of times.
stealth suits are expensive, and their guns are short range. plus at T3 with 1W, they aren't that hard to kill with rockets/plasma/lascannons/power weapons/etc. I find it odd that they're pretty much useless in pats hands, but geoff kicks your ass with em, makes me wonder if one of em is wrong.
wow long story but interesting non the less and scoot im still learning how to use my stealth suits cause we dont play large enough games were i can use them
Scott, I'll tell you why: Because Geoff always takes his stealth suits with Gun Drones, and they get cloaked too. He can take two Gun Drones per Stealth suit and they get the same Cloaking field ability for free, so its basically two ablative wounds for whatever points they cost, and they fire twin linked shots.
So basically they may be crappy, but whenever I shoot at them AND hit them (Because they have the super stealth of 2d6x3)he takes all the wounds through the gun drones.
I get my ass handed to me because I usually have the choice between shooting at that, or shooting at something more pressing, like a Unit of Kroot about to assault me, or a Hammerhead, or Pathfinders, etc. So they just sneak around spewing shots everywhere.
Basically his squad with 6 Suits and 12 Drones spews 24 Burst Cannon Shots + 24 Plasma Carbine shots. Its alot of shots, even if most of the drone ones miss, its extra rolling.
Ianly, I think burst cannons are 3-shot, and I know carbines are assault 1, so either you remembered wrong(which is the likely scenario), or geoff's doing something wrong.
I remembered wrong pretty much. I don't know the specifics, I just know I get shot up alot.
Also, I realized why I got confused over the gun drones, they're Twin-linked, they don't have two shots, just re-rolling misses
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