WH40k Tournament Wrap Up

This past Saturday was the monthly WH40k tournament at Gamers Sanctuary.   There was a good turnout with 12 players total including quite a few new faces from other area FLGSs.   I was a bit surprised at the army makeup this time as it was Xenos dominant (4 Eldar, 3 Tau, 2 Necron, 1 Dark Eldar, 1 Imperial Guard, and 1 Blood Angel/Space Marine).   I was excited to try my Farsight codex supplement out and brought a battle suit heavy list.   In the future I plan on running an allied detachment from the supplement with the base Tau codex.    More after the jump.

This was my 3rd local tournament with the new Tau codex but my first using the Farsight Enclaves supplement.  I was 2-1 in both previous tournaments with both losses coming from similar builds, MC Heavy Chaos Daemons w/ allied Chaos Marines (Heldrake and cultists).   The FE supplement allows me to avoid taking a standard Tau gunline and add a lot more mobility by taking battle suits as troops.  I was hoping this would give me the edge against the Chaos Daemon lists but that remains to be determined.

Farsight Enclaves 1500 pts

1500pt Tau Empire: Farsight Enclaves (2013) Roster (Primary Detachment)

HQ

• Commander Farsight
  Independent Character, Preferred Enemy (Orks), Supporting Fire, Very Bulky
  Crisis battlesuit, Plasma rifle, Shield generator, The Dawn Blade

Elites

• Stealth Team
  Infiltrate, Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire
  Bonding Knife Ritual (*)
  • 2x Marker Drone
    2x Markerlight
  • Stealth Shas'ui
    Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
  • Stealth Shas'ui
    Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
  • Stealth Shas'vre
    Burst cannon, Drone controller, Markerlight and target lock, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
• Stealth Team
  Infiltrate, Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire
  Bonding Knife Ritual (*)
  • 2x Marker Drone
    2x Markerlight
  • Stealth Shas'ui
    Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
  • Stealth Shas'ui
    Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
  • Stealth Shas'vre
    Burst cannon, Drone controller, Markerlight and target lock, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
• XV104 Riptide
  Nova Reactor, Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire
  Early warning override, Ion accelerator, Riptide battlesuit, Riptide Shield Generator, Twin-linked fusion blaster

Troops

• Kroot Carnivore Squad
  Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Stealth (Forests) ()
  Kroot Hound (Acute Senses), Sniper rounds
  • 12x Kroot
    12x Kroot rifle
• XV8 Crisis Team
  Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire, Very Bulky
  Bonding Knife Ritual (*)
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, Missile pod, Plasma rifle
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, Missile pod, Plasma rifle
  • 2x Gun Drone
    2x Twin-linked pulse carbine
• XV8 Crisis Team
  Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire, Very Bulky
  Bonding Knife Ritual (*)
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, 2x Missile pod
  • 2x Gun Drone
    2x Twin-linked pulse carbine
• XV8 Crisis Team (compulsory)
  Preferred Enemy (Orks) (CC only), Supporting Fire, Very Bulky
  Bonding Knife Ritual (*)
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, Fusion blaster, Plasma rifle, Vectored retro-thrusters
  • Crisis Shas'ui
    Crisis battlesuit, Fusion blaster, Plasma rifle
  • Crisis Shas'vre
    Crisis battlesuit, Fusion blaster, Plasma rifle, Talisman of Arthas Moloch (*)
  • 2x Shield Drone
    2x Shield generator

Heavy Support

• Hammerhead Gunship
  Ion cannon, Two Gun Drones
• Sky Ray Missile Defense Gunship
  2x Networked markerlight, 6x Seeker missile, Two Gun Drones, Velocity tracker

Created with BattleScribe

Game 1
Tau (Farsight) vs Blood Angels (w/ Space Marine Allies)
Purge the Alien
Vanguard Deployment

For this tournament, we were not suppose to bring allies.   However, my opponent had a Blood Angels (primary) list with allied Space Marines.   From memory, his list had a Librarian, 3x Sniper Scout squads, 2x Furioso (w/ Frag cannon) in drop pods, 1x Devestator Squad, Lysander + 10x Sternguard with combi-meltas in a drop pod, 1x scout squad, and 1 Storm Talon.    

My opponent went first which allowed me to castle up in a corner with LOS blocking terrain to his Dev squad.   I was able to hold off his first two drop pods which deposited both Furioso dreadnoughts near one unit of Stealth suits.   I was able to counter attack and destroy both dreadnoughts and pods before they did too much damage.   Meanwhile, I deepstruck Farsight and a unit of battle suits behind his lines.   He countered by dropping Lysander and the sternguard near them and blasted them off the table with combined fire from the devastators.   I was able to take out the Storm Talon then pick off the scout and Dev squads for KP/VP and eventually won this game, 11 to 5 VP on turn five.   Good opponent and fun game.

Game 2
Tau (Farsight) vs Necrons
Emperor's Will
Dawn of War Deployment

My second game was against Will who brought his Necrons this time.   I played against his Dark Eldar last tournament and had a really fun game.   His Necron list was very different than any I have faced before.   From memory, Overlord, Royal Court w/ 2 Crypteks, 15 warriors, 5 immortals, 5 Lychguard, 5 Triarch Praetorians, 3 Wraiths, 3 Destroyers, and 1 Doomsday Ark.

We were on a ruin heavy terrain board with two objectives.   Will won the roll off and setup first.   I positioned the bulk of my force away from the Wraiths in the opposite corner.   The first turn went very well for him as the Crytek and attached Lychguard teleported near my Stealthsuits and fried most of the unit with the flamer template.   My shooting was terrible at first but got a lot better as the game went on.   Will started off hot with the reanimation protocols but I was able to focus on some of the small units to take them out completely before he could bring them back.

Farsight and his bodyguard deepstruck and took out the Doomsday Ark.   I eventually surrounded the warrior squad and won combat.   I had a Shas'vre upgrade to issue challenges so Farsight himself was free to wreck havoc without getting hit with Mindshackle scarabs.   I ended up winning the game on turn five, 8 to 1 VP.   It was a closer game than the score indicated.   Will had some bad luck with 3 failed charges with his Wraiths in the game.   One of those charges connecting would have had a big change on the outcome.

Game 3
Tau (Farsight) vs Tau
Crusade
Hammer and Anvil

So I was happy to be going into the third round with two wins.   I was wondering if this would be the moment I could get that coveted tournament win with Tau.   Unfortunately, I ran into a really bad match up against Tau with short edge deployment on a table with no LOS blocking terrain.   My opponent had pretty much the Tau net list at 1500 pts, Commander, Ethereal, 2 units of Firewarriors, 1 squad of Kroot, 1 unit of Pathfinders, 2 Riptides, a unit of 2 broadsides with HYMP, a unit of 6 marker drones, Aegis defense line with Icarus Lascannon, and a Skyray.

We had five objectives and my opponent got to place three in his deployment area.   I placed my two and tried to figure out how I could try and contest one of his.   I briefly thought about deep striking some units, but with two Riptides with Interceptor and no LOS terrain, it was too risky.   So I tried to make it across the board using what little cover there was.    Needless to say, my opponent tore my army up and removed any cover I could get from my own intervening units.   I was pretty much over by turn two.   My opponent was content with sitting back and shooting me and never moved on to my objectives.   I was able to hold on and not get tabled but I really didn't have a chance this game without being able to JSJ behind cover.   Good opponent, tough list, and bad luck for me to not go first on this table.  I lost 11 to 7 VP (2 objectives and line breaker with one Stealthsuit LOL).

So I didn't face my Chaos Daemon nemesis, but I did have a fun day playing.   I also learned a lot and probably need to bring more markerlights than I have been taking.   I knew the commander + drone squadron combo was good, but now that I have faced it I guess I need to copy it for competitive events.   I do plan on going to the upcoming Michigan GT and bringing my Tau.   So time to get working on that second Riptide model.   Thanks for reading!