Round 1 from the recent (June 2017) tournament I went to. Tau list is here. Mission 1 is here. Summary of mission – two objectives in each deployment zone, two maelstrom objectives in midfield. Maelstrom included holding the objectives, killing units, linebreaker and counter linebreaker (have units in your DZ but not the opponents) with Dawn of War deployment. Opponent was Dark Eldar / Drukhari with the below list:

3x Archons w/Blaster, Agoniser plus some stuff

2x5x Incubi

3x9x Warriors w/Blaster, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Agoniser

6x Reavers w/2x Caltrops (cannot remember other special weapons)

2x5x Scourges w/Blasters

3x Raiders w/Dark Lance

2x Venoms w/2x Splinter Cannon

Ravager w/3x Dark Lance

Razorwing

Deployment

Objectives are Red, maelstrom are Orange circles in pictures.

The Durkhari player was going to finish deploying first to get the +1 benefit so I did not care about loading up all my characters in the Devilfish. There were some nice LoS blockers off the central sides of midfield where both Maelstrom objectives were placed but there was no cover ANYWHERE on the table. Not as bad as planet bowling ball thanks to the LoS blockers but the hulls and little alien shrubs meant jack shit. People will need to change their terrain for 8th edition – this will be drilled home multiple times :). My objective was in the middle backfield and the Durkhari’s objective was in the back right corner of his DZ.

The Durkhari player used his Scourges + Razorwing to force me to drop some deployment options first. I deployed centrally with useless things like the Devilfish or options who could Scout (Pathfinders and Kroot) to lure out some of his other units and he then started deploying all across the board which allowed me to deploy centrally. He really should have used the giant LoS blockers more – even if I won the roll off to go first, there was no way I could get all my shooting over on that side and even if I did, he could move very quickly or corner me. By spreading out, he let me spread out as well to protect against charges and allow my mobility of Crisis Commanders / Hammerheads to be utilised if necessary.

I threw out a bait of infiltrating Stealth Suits near the objective to encourage an attempted charge from some Incubi but made sure there were several units within 6″ to support in overwatch. Durkhari won the right to choose who goes first and went first, no seizing happened.

Durkhari Turn 1

The Incubi took the bait and jumped out of their ride and moved forward with the Venom. Both the Raiders on the left moved up (not trying to hide too hard) and the other Venom joined them. The Razorwing zagged parallel to the Durkhari DZ while the right flank stayed relatively still, the lone Raider pushing forward to get a shot. Several things were done wrong here IMO, nothing was done to minimise the return firepower of my army except for the lone hidden Venom, there were nice LoS blockers around and nothing was being maxmised in this regard. Full on alpha strike attempt. The Kroot on the left were evaporated by Splinter fire and half the Kroot on the right.

Shooting started, and did very little. Dark Lances / Blasters were either whiffing on their to hit roll or to wound roll, putting a couple of wounds on Longstrike until finally the Ravager boxcar’d the Devilfish in one salvo. The Venoms killed a Stealth Suit (making it tougher for the Incubi to get into combat, not a good idea) and they declared a charge, the Incubi going first. The Venom should have been the first option to go here – drawing out either the firepower of the Ghostkeel or the Stealth Suits themselves. Instead, everything shot at the Incubi, killing them despite Power from Pain’s best efforts. The Venom then lost some wounds charging in as well with no damage being doing in combat.

Tau Turn 1

Movement mistakes on my opponent’s behalf opened up options for myself and most of my Pathfinders were alive as well (a few had taken some splinter fire here and there). The disembarked Fire Warriors moved up to blast the Venom in midfield with Darkstrider’s support while the Stealth Suits, Kroot and Ghostkeel moved around the right LoS blocking rock to take the fight to the Durkhari. Left most Pathfinders tried to form a pitiful wall in front of the Hammerheads while they and the Commanders shuffled around to have maximum shot options. I made a mistake here, and every game the Stormsurge did not move, firing at full 3+ BS even though the anchors cannot be deployed at the start of T1. Did not make a massive difference.

Shooting saw the Pathfinders get off lots of ML hits on various targets for re-rolls but I completely forgot about the Destroyer Missiles and Flamers this game. My Commanders were placed such that they could shoot at either side of the board but for some odd reason I placed one such that he could only see the two Raiders on the left, he shot first therefore and along with the Hammerheads dropped the Raider hiding behind the rock, disgorging his Warriors into hiding positions. The Stormsurge used its SMS to take a few more out and dropped the other Raider on the left to 1 wound remaining – sigh! The other Commander and Ghostkeel were able to drag the Ravager down a Tier but left it on a handful of wounds left while the Venom in the middle was deleted.

Durkhari Turn 2

In come the Scourges! The Venom on the objective sticks around for some Maelstrom points (2-0 to the Durkhari) and the disembarked Warriors move towards the Pathfinders in front of the Hammerheads (the Scourges drop outside of Interceptor range of the Stormsurge on the same flank). The Razorwing does a 90 degree left turn and streaks straight towards the giant rock pillar housing my objective while the Reavers come out to play on the right along with the Archon.

Shooting sees some wounds dropped onto the Ghostkeel who tanked a nice amount of damage thanks to -1 and -2s while the left most Pathfinders were deleted along with Longstrike. Combat saw nothing happen to the Ghostkeel thanks to his toughness but the Kroot were tied up as well as the Ghostkeel (the remaining Hammerhead as well on the left). A more aggressive turn but given the two Raiders with 10 guys inside and Venom with Incubi were still hanging back meant I could deal with each threat at a time. 20 more Warriors / Archons and 5 Incubi would have been an all in commitment but also put me under more pressure. Stormsurge also took some damage from stray Blasters / Dark Lances.

Tau Turn 2

I have not really lost much, Longstrike was not nice but that’s about it. My Maelstrom ticked over for one so Durkhari had a small lead (2-1 to the Durkhari) My right flank mobilises with the Ghostkeel Flying away from combat, the Kroot Falling Back and the Fire Warriors with Darkstride rolling around the rock to pew pew at the now stranded Durkhari (if the Warriors had gotten out and attacked the Kroot as well, they could have surrounded a single model to lock everyone in combat). The left Hammerhead also fell back to ensure it could shoot while the Commanders did their job right this time and were in position to shoot both flanks.

Shooting saw nearly all the Scourges bar two die along with the Ravager removed from the game. Mass shooting at the Reavers also them drop to two members (one with one wound remaining) but no damage was done to the Archon with the Stealth Suits blocking him from accessing the Fire Warriors). The Stormsurged trundled into the Warriors in combat for fun but did no damage and took none in return.

The Tau army was starting to mobilise and had the shooting upper hand still while the Durkhari threats were reducing.

Durkhari Turn 3

I forgot to take pictures here unfortunately but the left flank for the Durkhari involved finally getting the Warriors and Incubi out to try and destroy the Hammerhead. Durkhari also went up one on Maelstrom (3-1 to Durkhari) with the Warriors not falling back from combat with the Stormsurge (not a big issue as the better target was the Hammerhead) while the Archon was blocked off on the right from the Fire Warriors so attempted to kill the Ghostkeel. The Warriors on that flank stayed inside.

Shooting saw some infantry die from the Razorwing who had moved to the left flank and some more wounds plinked off the final Hammerhead but nothing significant given the reduced firepower of the Durkhari army. Combat saw the Archon fail to do significant damage to the Ghostkeel (though did drop it a tier) and the Hammerhead remained on Tier 2.

Tau Turn 3

Tau got two Maelstrom points this turn (3-3 draw) which was big in the scheme of the overall game as I was able to keep up the rest of the game (but never get ahead unfortunately, if we had had a Turn 6+ game, should have been able to) and I looked to capitalise on the right flank. I finished off the Reavers on the right flank but completely whiff against the Raider + Archon but am confident in the durability of the models there and the Stealth Suits / Fire Warriors coming to back them up. Left flank sees the Hammerhead fly away again and Stormsurge walk out of combat to down most of the Warriors and all of the Incubi with the Commanders trying to drop the Razorwing (they would have been better off killing the Raider / Venom and saving that for later).

Wrap-up Turns

Unfortunately I stopped taking pictures after Turn 3 (the whole one I did take there…) so summarsing the final phases of the game. Wrap-up turns saw more Durkhari deleted (mostly the Raiders) and little damage done in return with the Tau spreading out to keep pace on Maelstrom. The Durkhari were too far away to pressure both main objectives and with tournament time winding down, the game was called – Tau victory (2 objectives to zero; Maelstrom tied; Linebreaker for both and Big Game Hunter for Durkhari).

Conclusion

The Durkhari player did not maximise the strengths of his list or terrain. While he did have some slightly below average rolls for his blasters / dark lances, he was very close to average damage the first turn (19 wounds is average and he did 17) – it was just jackpotted on the Devilfish with the boxcars for damage. Beyond that, my firepower and mobility was not limited, I had multiple avenues to shoot rather than the Durkhari player using LoS blockers to limit that and while I made some shooting mistakes on my end, these were insignificant to the overall game. Not putting mass pressure on me with assault also meant I was dealing with the army in waves rather than all at once along with the gamble / falling for the bait with the Incubi Turn 1 against the Stealth Suits.

Fun game overall, but relatively easy to manage for the Tau providing a moderate victory (13-6) heading into round 2.