The Ethereal Council: The Tau and Psychic Powers

A common complaint of Tau players is the complete and utter lack of psychic power protection. This is not a rant but more of an explanation. The current Tau Codex was written back when psychic powers were a rare thing on the battlefields of the 41st millenium. Few armies used them extensively save for Tyranids, Necrons and Eldar so there was little need to include any wargear or units that had some psychic protection. There certainly weren't any powers that were over the top and certainly none that rivaled the power of having more guns than your opponent. There simply wasn't a need for psychic power defense during the time when Codex: Tau Empire was released.

Nowadays psychic powers seem to be coming to the forefront of 40k with the release of Jaws of the World Wolf, Lash of Submission and who knows whats in store for us when Codex: Tyranids is out. There are now powers that are defensive in nature, some that cause casualties and other they can move your enemy's models around. With such powers now being thrown about left and right these days, psychic protection is getting close to a necessity. I predict that the next Tau codex, whenever it's released (could be many years yet), will have some wargear or unit with psychic power defense, even though Tau don't register in the Warp. It's a simple matter of giving the army a fighting chance against the witchcraft of Space Wolves, Eldar and the Chaos Sorcerers of the 40k Universe.

The Woods of Thoth: Inner Circle Combat Patrol Mini-Tournament

Combat patrol

Rymo Voir’la stood before his great commander. The heat of the settlement dome comforted him after months of campaigning on the cold lands of Thoth. He stood at attention. Fio’la attendants flanked Old Shatter Hands as he addressed the ground troop captain.

“My lord, the Fire Warriors are ready. Devilfish transports serviced and operational.”

“Good, my cousin. Take your Shas’la and patrol the parameter. Eliminate any ground forces. A Piranha Patrol Wing will accompany you. I’ve also arranged for a number of Kroot Scouts to guide you and the Shas'la. The woods of Thoth are rife with enemy troops. The Kroot will sniff them out."

"But sir, the Kroot are---"

"If I want your opinion, Shas'ui, I'll give it to you! The Aun have commanded it. Keep an eye on them, report any abnormalities. ”

"Affirmative, sir."

Club night with Inner Circle this week was a mini combat patrol tournament. There were 3 rounds of games to determine the winner in about 3 hours. Each player had 500 points and could build force within the following parameters.

1) No 2+ saves, well that means no broadsides for me

2) No vehicle with an armor value higher than 33 (devilfish ok, piranhas ok but no hammerheads)

3) No model with more than 2 wounds (Crisis Suits ok but that means no Shas’El)

4) No unit valued at higher than 250.

5) No single model valued at 100 points or higher.

6) FOC: HQ 0-1, Troops 1-3, Fast Attack 0-1, Elites 0-1, Heavy Support 0-1.

Within those parameters I constructed a mobile force with plenty of bodies and 2 troops choices.

2 XV8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pods and Flamers.

2 Piranhas with Fusion Blasters and Targeting Arrays.

10 Fire Warriors with Shas’Ui.

1 Devilfish Transport with Disruption Pod.

10 Kroot.

This list was designed to have plent of anti-infantry firepower, mobility and the ability to knock out Rhinos if needed.

Game 1 Tau Patrol vs. CylonDave’s Traitor Guard.

CylonDave’s models were all forgeworld Guard Renegades and were painted in a dark blue colors scheme that matched really well with the winter-board we played on. He had an infantry force of about 45 guardsmen with special weapons and heavy bolters. He deployed in a line so first off I noticed that outflanking kroot could ambush a flank and wipe it out. I alos noticed a few meltaguns so I was pretty conservative with my Devilfish until they were neutralized. CylonDave sent some units out in the open to claim objectives. My fire warriors and XV8s opened fire and caused significant casualties. My piranhas had no tanks or vehicles to hunt so they deployed their drones and zipped back and forth on my side of the board to claim cover saves. Kroot outflanked and wiped out a unit in close combat then consolidated into a wood to gain a 3+ cover save. One volley of fire was dead on as CylonDave blasted away with heavy bolters and I rolled four 1’s for my cover-save, even after going to ground. The Kroot then promptly ran away. The last turn I was able to move out to control one objective and contest the two others. Tau victory.

Game 2. Tau Patrol vs. Mike’s Tyranids.

Mike seemed fairly new to the game but had a pretty compact force of Tyranids. He had two units of Genestealers with scything talons, and 5 warriors with one Venom Cannon and four Deathspitters.

He set up everything and took first turn. I foolishly set up in a firing line and outflanked my Kroot. I say foolishly because I really underestimated the damage that those deathspitters could cause on my Fire Warriors. He took out 6 of them in the first volley of fire. My turn the Fire Warriors jumped in their 'fish and sped away. The XV8s jumped from cover, fired at Genestealers and jumped behind the 'fish (circling the wagons tactic.). Then I started to feed the 'Nids my gun drones to tie them up a bit and allow for punishing volleys after the assault had left them in the open. At one point I even got him to assault my Devilfish, shaking it and then my XV8s jumped out to flame the bunched up unit of ‘Stealers to a crisp (grilled lobster anyone?). Then my Kroot outflanked into a wood and soaked up a lot of fire, taking zero casualties. By turn 5 I had wiped the Nids off the board. No need to claim objectives. Tau Victory.

Game 3. Final Round. Winner takes all. Tau Patrol Vs. Dameon's Loyalist Marines

I played Dameon in this round who had brought a tight list to this mini tournament. 2 razorbacks, and 3 speeders in a squadron, bristling with fire power: heavy bolters and maxed out Typhoon missile launchers. He set up in a corner and took first turn. I set up in the opposite corner and infiltrated my Kroot into a wood. I turbo-boosted my piranhas to one corner and he fired at my Kroot who went to ground for a 2+ cover save. Then I decided I needed to get in his face and distract him a bit. I boosted my piranhas right up in his corner. If he ignored them for my 'Fish or Kroot, the piranhas would waste a Razorback and my disembarking Drones would have had shots at the Speeders. He poured all his fire into the Piranhas, destroyed one and stunned the other. The drones disembarked, passed the pinning test and hid behind cover. My turn I moved out with my Devilfish and the got a few shots off. No Damage. Turn 5, Dameon moved his Razorbacks onto objectives. I took one in my turn and contested one of his. Roll for Game End: a ONE. Game over. As there are no draws in this tournament so we went by kill points. Dameon got 2 kill points and I got ZERO. Marine Victory! Dameon’s patrol wins the whole thing. Congrats!

Shout Out to Incunabulog

More and more I am gleaning knowledge of the Tau way of war from the great Aun, Sholto on Incunabulog. Not only does his blog feature articles on the many Forgeworld units available to the Empire. In fact, I don't think I know anyone who owns as many Forgeworld models as he does, let only with as much experience with them. He's also got some unique ideas about how to field the fluffiest of Tau units, Pathfinders. His blog is also a great source of modelling and painting tips. Check out his blog and leave comments. Sholto updates his blog frequently and his posts are always filled with great content.

The Great Plastic Citadel of Skulls

What great work the Citadel spray gun can do in the hands of a master! This beautiful structure is the handy work of the staff at the Glen Burnie Bunker as a display model for the new GW terrain kit. This piece was painted in Deathwing colors and came out beautifully. It’d be easy to field this fortress as a great centerpiece for any Planetstrike or Apocalypse game, the hard part would be hiding it from your wife!

Cloaking Device Operational: Reserves in Objective Based Missions

Just a quick post about how I’ve been using reserves in my army. Up until lately I have been reserving everything save for 2 Hammerheads and my Broadsides. It basically meant I started out thin and while it preserved a lot of my force for later stages of the game, I just wasn’t able to cause enough damage to cripple my opponents plan early on nor was I able to throw units out to block his movements. Any rhino rush army would have gotten too close. Now I’ve been thinking of deploying all of my early game killers, units with long range high strength fire power; Deathrains, Broadsides, Hammerheads, Shas’Els, and Fireknives while reserving my units that claim and contest objectives: three devilfish and my piranha squadron. Of course, situations dictate adaptation and there is no formula you can repeat against all armies.

I’ve also been considering giving my commander the Positional Relay so I can control my reserves better. Ideally I want first to have the piranhas in turn 2 so they can start running amok and causing havoc, then have the Devilfish trickle in to claim and contest objectives themselves. The forces I want to preserve for late game objective-grabbing/contesting are the Devilfish, Piranhas and at least one Hammerhead. The rest of my army can die horrible deaths for all I care. XV8s and 88s are not going to be contesting objectives anyway. There is a part of me that will miss deepstriking my FireKnives. It’s just so much fun to drop down and toast something up close!

Against an all drop pod army, I am not going to deploy anything and keep it all in reserve! Can’t say the much about daemon armies, as I’ve never faced one. I'd be interested in hearing how other Mech Tau players are using reserves. Are they worth it? Do we need all of our fire power in on Turn 1? Am I reserving too much?

Firepower On Hoof: The Tau Mobile Infantry Army

It's always interesting to find an army that is completely original, one that you've never seen before, composed of seldom-used units in large numbers and played with it's own unique strategy. My friend, Dale, is one the those players who constantly comes up with lists like this in whatever game he plays. Dale is not at all interested in theory-hammer and his lists are built with no outside influence other than game play. This past Friday I was able to witness his unorthodox Tau army in action.

Dale's army has 3 full squads of drones, 9 or more Crisis Suits, 5 Broadsides and a number of 6-strong Fire Warrior squads on foot. Not a single vehicle. Essentially, Dale has packed in a lot of firepower on foot. His Crisis Suits sport either Burst Cannons and Plasma Rifles or PLasma Rifles and Fusion Blasters. Dale has also invested a lot of point in shield drones and Marker Drones to accompany his various XV8 and XV88 squads. It's a total opposite approach to army building than most players take, but it does render all those melta-crazed warriors ineffective.

Dale uses the drone squads to protect his large XV8s and fire warriors, as they move to control or contest objectives. Drones will surround and protect valuable units from assault and shooting (by providing a cover save), while in the Tau shooting phase the drones will move out of the way so as not to confer a cover save to the enemy. The smaller foot-slogging units of Fire Warriors tend to get ignored because of their size and low threat level.

It is risky to get too close to this army. With that many heavily armed crisis suits, anything that comes within 24 inches of them gets fried. In one turn of shooting during this game, a full squad of Legion of the Damned was wiped out, regardless of their invulnerable save. This was not the only time in this game when this happened.

This was not a Tau victory in the end, as Dale needed one more turn to move his troops onto the objectives. The Marine player was able to hold two objectives and contest one of the Tau's with a speeder for the win. However, Dale Tau Mobile Infantry army caused much more damage and certainly won the war of attrition.

Tau Vs. Space Marines Battle Report: Guest Post!

Today we have a real treat; a guest post from Pete W.

Dream Wizards Battle Report Nov 12^th

^{Marines vs Tau 1850 pts}

^{Pete Wallin}

^{1850 Marine List}

^{Chapter Master with power fist.}

^{Dreadnought with Multi-melta and storm bolter}

^{6 Terminators with Cyclone missile launcher}

^{5 Sternguard}

^{5 Scouts with heavy bolter}

^{10 Tactical marines with Flamer & Multi-melta}

^{10 Tactical marines with Meltagun Missile launcher}

^{10 Devastators with 2 Missile Launchers and 2 Lascannons}

^{10 Devastators with 2 Plasma Cannons & 2 Heavy Bolters}

^{Land Raider Redeemer with Storm bolter}

^{This list is not built in a particular way. I just got a bunch of models that I liked and could afford. It’s generally done alright in the games I’ve played with it but I’ve not really run it against tournament lists. As a footslogging list, I get lots of resilience and firepower but can run the risk of getting outmaneuvered. Also, I’ve only got two vehicles so they will probably die in most games through virtue of being the only hard targets.}

^{Pre Game}

^{I met Tim and Dream Wizards having nabbed a table before the hordes of Magic the Gathering players took them all. The terrain was mostly set up by the previous players but we tweaked a few pieces by alternate placement. We both agreed that more terrain was better. I’m all for fighting in the open if you’re both heavily mechanised but OSH had all skimmers and I was basically all footslogging so it was good to have lots of cover and line of sight restrictions for both of us. We roll off for missions and get capture and control.}

^{OSH won the roll and put me up to go first. Knowing that he had a lot more maneuverability than me (and having lots of marines for a small deployment zone) I spread out fairly evenly. I broke all of my tactical and devastators into combat squads to get some flexibility. The devastators were split by matching weapons so I had a plasma squad, a missile squad, lascannon squad and heavy bolter squad. My deployment was basically heavy weapons on the right and centre, tacticals and terminators going up the centre for the big hill where I thought OSH might put his objective and the Land Raider (5 Sternguard inside) on the left.}

^{OSH reserves all of his Devilfish and his big crisis team (2 Shas’Els, 2 bodyguards, drones). His Hammerheads and Piranhas take the hide behind the terrain on my left flank. The broadsides sit on top of the hill and the Deathrains sit just behind it (on the objective) ready to JSJ. I infiltrate my scouts to the other side of the rocks from the Hammerheads and Piranhas}

^{Turn 1}

^{OSH failed to sieze the initiative (good for me) and we kick off. Most of my troops surge forwards and run. The dread and scouts tuck in behind the rock terrain so that they won’t be shot to pieces. Learning a lesson from the last time I fought Tau (railguns hurt), I send the Land Raider 12” up the left flank, pull a handbrake turn, drop the sternguard behind it and pop smoke. At this point OSH reveals his wicked collection of counters to show smoke, shaken, stunned, break tests and everything else. How handy J}

^{My shooting wasn’t too heavy since everyone had moved. I shook one hammerhead with lascannons. OSH was generous indeed on the range measurement as it was about 1mm in range…maybe. The terminator’s cyclone shots were deflected by disruption pod. I dropped my Chapter Master’s (CM) orbital bombardment on the Broadsides. I always struggle with this ability because it can seriously flatten troops but if I hold onto it too long, the CM tends to get hit with Instant Death, wasting the ability. In any case I get two wounding hits but OSH wisely puts these on the shield drones and makes one invulnerable save. My plasma cannons are just in range and manage to drop the other shield drone (or that might have been turn 2, I forget).}

^{OSH boosts his Piranhas 24” and neatly boxes my Land Raider in against the terrain behind it; no moving for him next turn! The shaken hammerhead pulls back slightly letting the other one come forward. A submunition blast drops a tactical marine then the broadsides kill two more. Realising that scouts have Krak grenades and Hammerheads are rear armour 10 the Deathrains drop one with missile fire.}

^{This was a pretty strong turn one for me. Hopefully I will come through the railgun and fusion fire next turn without too much damage.}

^{Turn 2}

^{Everything moved forwards again, except those units around the Piranhas. Everybody else hunkers down behind their guns to (in the words of Russell Crowe) ‘Unleash Hell’.}

^{The sternguards bolter the flank of the nearest Piranha but get no glances. The Land Raider fires everything and knocks off a fusion blaster. All other fire against the Piranhas is deflected by cover saves except for one shaken result which OSH puts on the gunless vehicle. With a combination of plasma, lascannon and heavy bolter fire, I put three wounds on the broadsides. OSH rolls high and they flee off the table. At this point I have to comment on his great sportsmanship. I offered him 3+ cover saves because my lascannons were firing through woods and he was behind a wall, but he stayed with 4+. My scouts charge into the HH but get no damage with krak grenades.}

^{OSH gets a devilfish from reserve and brings it in on my right flank. His Hammerheads pop forwards and submunition a bunch of marine off the edge of the hill in his deployment zone. Two squads break and run but will auto rally next turn. The Piranhas drop drones off near the scouts and pull back against the rock formation near their deployment. Unfortunately for OSH, they both roll 2s to hit and so don’t get to melt the Land Raider. His Deathrains kill another marine (or two, I forget) and the devilfish gets a terminator. Gun Drones miss the scouts.}

^{Well that went a lot better than I thought. Having my Land Raider still in the game is great and hopefully it can survive another turn of fusion fire. The broadside team running was a real blessing as they were providing a pretty solid bulwark on the hill in the centre. I’m worried about how quickly my wall of marines in the centre is running out though. Two more turns and we should be on the objective though.}

^{Turn 3}

^{Time to make the most of OSH not having his scary crisis team and get onto objective. The pounding that my tactical squads have taken on their way across the board is leaving me with only a few guys left who can hold his objective. Still, the terminators can contest so it’s not so bad.}

^{My broken squads rally and make up the lost ground of the last turn towards the big hill accompanied by the terminators. The lack of targets for my bolters and is limiting for me but at least I can run the marines. My Land Raider rolls up beside the Piranhas, hoping to flame them down and shoot the gun drones. The sternguard are a little lost and move back a bit towards the centre. The dreadnought heads for the Piranhas, hoping to assault them since it’s immune to Flechettes. The combination of cover saves, front armour 11 and flechette launchers is really starting to bug me as it’s a lot more resilient than I expected. I send the chapter master forward now that the risk of instant death has gone down. Maybe he can reach the hill in time to help hold it. I move my heavy bolter devastator squad out to give a better LOS to the devilfish in case they deploy FW next turn.}

^{Shooting is mixed. The Land Raider bags four gun drones out of six but the survivors don’t run. The flamestorm does nothing to the Piranhas but the dreadnought kills one with the a multi-melta shot. OSH wisely pulls the one vehicle in assault range of the walker and my dread can’t smash them up. My firepower on the right only manages to immobilize the devilfish as the Deathrains are neatly out of sight behind the hill. My indomitable scouts attack the HH again but they either did no damage or perhaps shook it. They were after the tanks all game I forget the details.}

^{OSH gets the rest of his devilfish and they form a neat trio with the immobilized one. They all fire but no casualties ensue (that I remember). The Hammerheads move towards the centre of OSH’s backfield and blow away some more marines. The Piranhas make a turbo boost break into my rear-left corner. Why won’t these things stay still and let me kill them? Deathrains kill a marine or two. Gun drones assault the scouts but lose combat and run off the field.}

^{Well it’s looking more solid now. The terminators and remaining tactical marines are ready to take the central hill and objective or go for the devilfish as needed. The Land Raider has got some space to maneuver and can try for the Hammerheads with the assault cannons. I’m still struggling with the Piranhas but they haven’t done too much damage at least.}

^{Turn 4}

^{Okay, time to make a real push for the objective. I get my marines up the hill and send the terminators towards the devilfish. With any luck we can pop them open with the lascannons and then storm bolter the fire warriors down. My Land Raider and dreadnought both move to get LOS on the Hammerheads. Power of the Machine Spirit is being very useful to let me move the full 12” and still fire.}

^{In the shooting phase the first HH survives an assault cannon volley in the flank but the second is blown to pieces by a lucky shot from the dreadnought. My firepower on the devilfish shakes a single one. Front armour twelve is nothing to be sniffed at. The annoying Piranhas continue their trend of surviving lots of firepower. This turn they took two krak missiles, ten bolter shots to the flank and a plasma cannon with no ill effects.}

^{Finally Tim gets his big Crisis team. They deep strike near the devilfish and scatter right next to the terminators. I’m a little worried at this point as they are toting a lot of plasma and fusion, and 5+ invulnerable saves are never reliable. The Piranhas skip shooting and boost over to put their backs to the rock pile in the centre. Looks like they’ll suck up another round of shooting. At the end of OSH’s shooting phase, all of my terminators save one have bitten the dust. The firepower of the crisis team was quite terrifying against heavy armour. I roll for leadership before the end of the phase (my mistake) and I failed so I insisted that we take that roll (OSH said I could reroll at the end of the phase). The sole terminator runs 12” back. The Hammerhead didn’t shoot that I remember so perhaps I shook it in my turn.}

^{Well that blunts my attack a lot. I’m pretty confident with my position for the most part but losing the terminators really hurt. I was hoping to use their power fists to pull apart the devilfish and expose the FW. At this point I have two realizations. I can turn the Chapter Master around and get him into contact with the Piranhas. Even with the worst rolling, he can only take two wounds from the flechettes and so will get to swing with his power fist. The second point I realize is that I’m not holding my own objective. I was so distracted by all my marines that I only just realized that it’s a devastator combat squad on my home objective, not tactical.}

^{Turn 5}

^{My terminator auto rallies and I send him through the woods to assault the devilfish. My Land Raider rumbles another 12” to get a rear armour shot on the Hammerhead. The scouts go charging after it also (they must have run out of Krak grenades by now surely?). My tactical squad in the building at my back left ran out. By next turn they should be on my home objective. My three survivors in the front made it to the top of the hill near to OSH’s objective.}

^{My shooting claimed the Hammerhead (assault cannons to the backside), which exploded and took out a scout. I must remember not to run infantry until after I shoot the big guns at vehicles near them. I put a bunch of fire on OSH’s big squad but only take out a drone…}

^{….then the game ends. In a stunning lack of attention to the clock I forgot to round up the game in a more timely way and my ride home has arrived. OSH and I shake hands and declare it a hard fought draw.}

^{From where he stood, Gabriel could see the flimsy Tau skimmers zipping across the marine lines. Bolts, missiles and plasma blasts chased them but the strange shimmering outlines and sheer speed was too much protection. Gabriel mentally calculated their path and smiled grimly. They would pass right by the rock spire and that’s where he would catch them and tear through their flimsy armour.}

^{‘Master Gabriel?’}

^{The hulking form of the Sons of Anteus chapter paused in his mighty stride to listen the commlink. It was a message from Shipmaster Vega in orbit and Gabriel knew that he would never broadcast into a battle without good reason.}

^{‘Go ahead, Vega,’ he growled, flexing the fingers of his power fist, impatient to destroy the Xenos skimmers.}

^{‘There is message from Segmentum command. They have a confirmed sighting of the Blackheart’s fleet passing Illiah.’}

^{‘Huron?’ Gabriel spat, ‘we must pursue him. I will not let his stain on our honour remain.’}

^{Much as it galled him to do so, the Chapter master knew there was only one course of action.}

^{‘This is Chapter Master Gabriel Anteus to the Tau commander.’ He broadcast on open frequency.}

^{There was a crackle and then an alien voice sounded. It spoke passable Gothic, though Gabriel detested hearing an alien speak it at all.}

^{‘Well met, Gabriel Anteus. I am Shas’El…Old Shatter Hands. Why do you hail me now? Have you seen the folly of opposing the greater good?’}

^{‘The only good in this universe, Xenos,’ Gabriel spat, ‘is the light of the Emperor of Mankind and I would be happy to show you his grace at the end of my bolter.’}

^{‘Tell that to your finest warriors,’ Old Shatter Hands said.}

^{Gabriel glanced to the right flank and saw, with horror, the twisted remains of terminator squad Decimus. Behind them was a group of the Tau’s large battlesuits and in the centre, flexing its hands was, Gabriel knew, the commander. He ground his teeth, aching to destroy the Xenos for killing his brethren, yet he knew that they must go.}

^{‘Shas’El, I propose a truce. You are beaten on this field, you must know that.’}

^{‘The Greater Good will prevail, Gue’la,’ the Tau said, though Gabriel could hear concession in his tone.}

^{‘That is something we can decide another day. I will spare your lives if you allow my forces to withdraw and leave this planet unharried. If you do not, I will call upon every resource at my command to grind this colony of yours into the dust.’}

^{‘This truce will not be the end of it, Master Anteus,’ Old Shatter Hands said, ‘this planet belongs to the Tau Empire.’}

^{‘We will decide that soon enough, Tau. Order your troops to cease fire and I will do the same.’}

^{‘Very well, Gue’la. Until next time.’}

^Thoughts

^{Well that was a blast to play. First of all, OSH (Tim) was a fantastic opponent, very gracious, polite and generous with rulings (I really thought I was out of range once or twice). His army was painted extremely well also. I know that many people run short of time for painting but it really does look better to see the Sons of Anteus going up against the elite cadre of Old Shatter Hands rather than the grey plastic marines attacking the grey plastic tau.}

^{The tau are a really interesting foe to face when their commander knows how to use them. I spent a lot of the game with no real targets that I could hurt and Tim really played well to keep his vehicles either safe behind their disruption pods or though cover saves. His firepower didn’t seem too ferocious (except the crisis team melting the terminators) but it really started to take its toll a lot by the end.}

^{Tim’s decision to reserve a lot of his force was pretty effective, except for OSH not showing up until turn 4. It really played well in neutralizing a bunch of my units that ended up stuck on the wrong side of the board. By the end, I’d cleared my left flank of units (except the two piranhas which ran to the centre) but only the Land Raider was likely to get anywhere near close enough to do anything to the block of devilfish and crisis suits if the game had gone another turn or two. It also kept the large footprint crisis team safe from my heavy weapons that might have killed off the commanders with Instant Death.}

^{I had a lot of good luck in this game: Tim’s broadsides running off the field, the piranhas failing to melt the Land Raider, lots of saves made etc. Overall I was pretty happy with my playing though forgetting to keep any troops on the objective was pretty silly.}

^{Now I think back on it, for all of my firepower, I didn’t actually kill that much. My final tally was : 2 hammerheads, 3 broadsides, 1 piranha and 6 gun drones. Aside from the immobilized Devilfish, Tim had all of his scoring units ready to move around and cause problems for me. His big crisis team was also ready to cause havoc and probably keep his home objective clear (my 3 tactical marines probably wouldn’t have lasted long). The Piranhas were real stars all in all. They essentially took up75% + of the firepower of my Land Raider, Sternguard, and three tactical/devastator combat squads and lost only a single member (plus drones).}

^{Overall I think it would have probably gone my way or to a draw if the game had gone on but that could have turned around. If I’d killed the Piranhas in turn 5, my Land Raider and Dreadnought could have boxed the Tau survivors in place and contested OSH’s home objective. Of course, if (as through the other 4 turns) I failed to kill the Piranhas they could have melted the LR, the Deathrains could kill the dread and now OSH could use his scary crisis team to batter through my lines to take my home objective.}

^{It was a great game that really went both ways at times and I look forward to settling the issue in a future game.}