1200 Tau v Nurgle Marines Thoughts

Beautiful Diorama

In the last week, i've managed to read all the battle reports involving my favorite Tau bloggers I could get ahold of. Between that and my musings, I've been interested in getting a game going.

Tonight one of my buddies and I got a game going at the local gamestore. We played 1200 points, him Nurgle Marines and I Tau. Unfortunately we got capture and control, pitched battle. I placed my objective in the open and his was placed in cover. My list was as follows:

shas'el: mp, pr, mt
2x2 crisis: mp, pr, mt
2x6 fire warrior
2x1 devilfish: dp
2x1, 1x1 piranha: dp, ta, fb
2x1 hammerhead: dp, mt, rail, sms



his list was setup like so:

2x1 demon prince: mark, wings, warptime
2x7 plague marines: champ/fist, melta, icon
2x1 rhino
2x? zombies
3x1 obliterator



Due to my phone being low on batteries, I wasn't able to take pics, so I'll forgo the traditional batrep and focus on thoughts:

Deployment:   He went first, and deployed center-map. Traditional fair, rhinos providing cover to Dprinces, Obliterators in cover on the objective. I deployed my hammerheads and crisis suits in the left-corner closest to my objective, with the flank covered by the piranha. While this did keep me out of range of everything but a couple Oblits, it did greatly hamper my firepower. Because Tau are mobile, not fast, I wasn't able to get out of his Dprinces way. If I move 12 inches, and he flies 12 and then runs d6 inches towards me, its only a matter of time. While I can't control the dice, I think a split  firebase would have been the way to go. Also, I should have kept the fight focused around the other objective, so that my dfish and piranhas wouldn't have to struggle with cover.

Awesome Pic. So Sad

Turns: Played the game cagily, Tau-style. Used crisis suits to whittle down the Plague Marines, attempted to use the Hammerheads to either do the same, or drop templates on the zombies that had deepstruck near the other objective and shambled onto it. Sadly not a single pieplate hit those zombies! I managed to get my suits cornered and tied up in CC, and lost a HH to shooting. On turn 6, I had one objective solidly contested by a piranha,  a Dfish and its surviving FW cargo, and another one coming up fast. On the other objective, I had a railgun-less Hammerhead and a FB-less Piranha ready to contest. Sadly, the former got destroyed in CC and the other got immobilized.

Next Time: The first error happened when I allowed the game to be dictated on the wrong side of the field. While Tau are fragile in CC, I need to be more aggressive dictating which side of the field is played. Also, I am thinking split firebases are the only way to go. His forces fragmented readily, setting me up where I needed to be shooting wise. However, I couldn't get my forces to where the angles weren't giving cover saves. I need to not hide quite so far behind terrain in deployment, and aggressively move so that  every turn my full firepower comes down.  If I split my firebase, he has to come after one or the other. This way, I can negate the advantage that rhinos generate by holding the middle of the field. Otherwise, I think the game went well. This is my first game in ages where I used more than 6 fire warriors or 1 devilfish, and that makes me happy. Also, first Tau game ever where I willingly reserved parts of my forces. And i must say, it turned out well. As a test game, I wont lie I would have preferred a win. But, the loss was close enough that I think the new strategies will stick around. Next time: A real batrep!

Shas'el Mike
"while the lawyers clean up small details..."