Spoony was visiting Boston and we made sure to get a game in. We had limited time so we agreed beforehand to stop after turn 5.
Spoony's List (Tau):
Spoony reserved both 6 man Fire Warrior squads, the Stealth suits, and one Deathrain. I combat squaded the plasma squad and put the sergeant and plasma gun in the Rhino. The board looked like this after deployment (the Blood Raven Space Marines are the objectives and the white pieces of paper are woods):
my deployment
Spoony's deployment
the whole board after deployment
My plan was to claim the two objectives near me with the two combat squads while trying to contest one of his with the Captain / Assault squad, Dread, and the sec ond tactical squad in the Drop Pod.
Turn 1 Tau
The Piranha moved fast down the short table edge and thecrisis suits all moved around to get shots. There was some shooting from suits at my Dread but none of it was effective.
Turn 1 Crimson Fists
The Drop Pod came down in the middle of the Tau lines. I should have shot his Fire Warriors to pieces but I got caught up in the moment and instead shot at the 3 Fireknives. I managed to kill one suit and one gun drone but the squad held.
Drop Pod lands
My Dread failed to kill the Piranha. The combat squad with the plasma cannon killed a Fire Warrior and my Assault squad ran down my short table edge.
Turn 2 Tau
The two 6 man Fire Warrior squads arrive from reserve.
reserves!
These two squads, combined with the large Fire Warrior Squad, the Fireknife squad, and the Shas'O to kill 9 marines from the Drop Pod squad, leaving only the sergeantwho passes his leadership test.
lone survivor
The Piranha tries to kill the Dread but fails.
Turn 2 Crimson Fists
The plasma cannon kills another Fire Warrior from the large squad. The sergeant from the Drop Pod charges that same squad, kills several Fire Warriors in combat, breaks the squad, and catches them when they flee - awesome!
awesome!
The Assault squad and Captain now start along the long board edge towards the Tau lines while the Dread shoots the Piranha down and assaults the two drones attached to it.
Turn 3 Tau
The second Deathrain suit comes in behind my two combat squads and shoots the storm bolter off the Rhino before the other Deathrain immobilizes it. The heroic sergeant is finally brought down and the remaining two Fire Warrior squads move towards the two objectives on Spoony's side. The Shas'O tried to shoot some of the Assault marines but fails to wound.
Turn 3 Crimson Fists
The Assault squad runs at the Shas'O. The plasma gun combat squad disembarks from their useless Rhino and heads toward the second objective on my side. The plasma cannon squad moves towards the Deathrain on my side, shoots one wound off of it, and t hen kills it in assault. The Dread finally kills a drone and wins the combat.
Turn 4 Tau
The Stealth Suits finally show on Spoony's side of the board, which is a pretty useless place for them.
Stealth Suits outflank late and out of position
The Shas'O and his drones shoot and kill 3 Assault marines but they pass their leadership test and pinning test. One Fire Warrior squad kills a fourth Assault marine and the other squad runs toward an objective. The remaining Deathrain suit stuns my Dread (I made him re-roll a destroyed result!). The Shas'O, in a bid to save one of the Fire Warrior squads, assaults the Captain and remaining assault marines. He takes a wound, does none in return, b reaks from the combat, and is run down.
current state of the board: Spoony has 1 objective and I have 0
Turn 4 Crimson Fists
My two combat squads move towards the two objectives on my side and the Dread assaults and kills the last Deathrain. The Assault squad and Captain wipe out one of the last two Fire Warrior Squads.
only one scoring unit left to kill!
Turn 5 Tau
The Fire Warriors claim one objective. The Fireknives manage to kill two marines from the plasma cannon squad. That squad promptly fails its morale test and runs. The gun drones attached to the Stealth squad kill an Assault marine. I roll double sixes on the pinning test and the squad is pinned.
epic (pinning test) fail
What did I learn?
We played another game the next night - look for that report soon!
Spoony's List (Tau):
- Shas'O with fusion gun, plasma rifle, 2 gun drones
- 2 Deathrain Battlesuits
- 3 Fireknife Battlesuits with 2 gun drones
- 6 Stealth Suits with 2 gun drones
- Piranha with fusion gun
- 12 Fire Warriors
- 6 Fire Warriors
- 6 Fire Warriors
- Captain with jump pack, power sword
- Venerable Dread with missile launcher and TL las cannon
- 1o Tactical marines with plasma gun, plasma cannon, power sword, Rhino
- 10 Tactical marines with melta gun, multi-melta, power fist, Drop Pod
- 7 Assault marines with power fist
Spoony reserved both 6 man Fire Warrior squads, the Stealth suits, and one Deathrain. I combat squaded the plasma squad and put the sergeant and plasma gun in the Rhino. The board looked like this after deployment (the Blood Raven Space Marines are the objectives and the white pieces of paper are woods):
Turn 1 Tau
The Piranha moved fast down the short table edge and the
The Drop Pod came down in the middle of the Tau lines. I should have shot his Fire Wa
My Dread failed to kill the Piranha. The combat squad with the plasma cannon killed a Fire Warrior and my Assault squad ran down my short table edge.
Turn 2 Tau
The two 6 man Fire Warrior squads arrive from reserve.
These two squads, combined with the large Fire Warrior Squad, the Fireknife squad, and the Shas'O to kill 9 marines from the Drop Pod squad, leaving only the sergeant
The plasma cannon kills another Fire Warrior from the large squad. The sergeant from the Drop Pod charges that same squad, kills several Fire Warriors in combat, breaks the squad, and catches them when they flee - awesome!
The Assault squad and Captain now start along the long board edge towards the Tau lines while the Dread shoots the Piranha down and assaults the two drones atta
Turn 3 Tau
The second Deathrain suit comes in behind my two combat squads and shoots the storm bolter off the Rhino before the other Deathrain immobilizes it. The heroic sergeant
Turn 3 Crimson Fists
The Assault squad runs at the Shas'O. The plasma gun combat squad disembarks from their useless Rhino and heads toward the second objective on my side. The plasma cannon squad moves towards the Deathrain on my side, shoots one wound off of it, and t
The Stealth Suits finally show on Spoony's side of the board, which is a pretty useless place for them.
The Shas'O and his drones shoot and kill 3 Assault marines but they pass their leadership test and pinning test. One Fire Warrior squad kills a fourth Assault marine and the other squad runs toward an objective. The remaining Deathrain suit stuns my Dread (I made him re-roll a destroyed result!). The Shas'O, in a bid to save one of the Fire Warrior squads, assaults the Captain a
Turn 4 Crimson Fists
My two combat squads move towards the two objectives on my side and the Dread assaults and kills the last Deathrain. The Assault squad and Captain wipe out one of the last two Fire Warrior Squads.
only one scoring unit left to kill!
The Fire Warriors claim one objective. The Fireknives manage to kill two marines from the plasma cannon squad. That squad promptly fails its morale test and runs. The gun drones attached to the Stealth squad kill an Assault marine. I roll double sixes on the pinning test and the squad is pinned.
epic (pinning test) fail
We each have one objective. Spoony can't claim any more because he only has one scoring unit left and he can't contest either of the two on my side because all of his units are dead. I have two scoring units alive but one is running. They will rally on my turn but since the game is ending on turn 5 they won't be able to claim a second objective for me.
The game ends in a draw.
In order for Spoony to draw, he needed BOTH of the following to happen:
1. Stop my Captain and 3 Assault marines from killing his last Fire Warrior squad. He did this by pinning a squad that has leadership 10.
2. Stop one of my combat squads from claiming an objective. He did this but causing my squad to fail a leadership 8 test.
I ran some numbers. The probability of me failing the leadership 10 test was 8.3%, and the probability of me failing the leadership 8 test was 27.7%. The odds of me failing BOTH tests was 2.3%. Out of 1000 times this situation arises, I win the game 977 times.
Ouch.
Edit: Spoony has informed me that my numbers are wrong. Before failing the pinning test my Assault squad passed a moral test. Had they failed that test they would have been neutralized as well. So, the odds of failing EITHER ONE of the morale test or pinning test is 15.9%, making the overall odds of Spoony squeaking out the draw 4.4%. That still means that over the course of 1000 games I come up with the win 956 times.
The game ends in a draw.
In order for Spoony to draw, he needed BOTH of the following to happen:
1. Stop my Captain and 3 Assault marines from killing his last Fire Warrior squad. He did this by pinning a squad that has leadership 10.
2. Stop one of my combat squads from claiming an objective. He did this but causing my squad to fail a leadership 8 test.
I ran some numbers. The probability of me failing the leadership 10 test was 8.3%, and the probability of me failing the leadership 8 test was 27.7%. The odds of me failing BOTH tests was 2.3%. Out of 1000 times this situation arises, I win the game 977 times.
Ouch.
Edit: Spoony has informed me that my numbers are wrong. Before failing the pinning test my Assault squad passed a moral test. Had they failed that test they would have been neutralized as well. So, the odds of failing EITHER ONE of the morale test or pinning test is 15.9%, making the overall odds of Spoony squeaking out the draw 4.4%. That still means that over the course of 1000 games I come up with the win 956 times.
What did I learn?
- Just like last time I made a good plan but this time I stuck to it and came so close to getting the win.
- Adding the Dread was a good decision and his firepower (or potential firepower - he didn't actually shoot much) was very helpful in controlling movement lanes.
- I need to keep focused on the mission objectives (i.e. shooting the Drop Pod squad at the Fire Warriors to deny him a scoring unit).
- Putting the Drop Pod Squad so alone and in the middle of the Tau line was probably a bad idea. They were killed pretty quickly and could have been more effective on either side of the Tau.
We played another game the next night - look for that report soon!