BR23: The Black Buzzards VS Tau Mech/Riptide - 1500pts

Another game against Tau, I hope people are not getting board! I'll try and play against a different army for the next report, promise!

The Armies:

Black Buzzards (DE)

A few list changes, I wanted to try a more melee centric Archon for a change, to see if it could work with the rest of my list. As a result I needed a more offensive bodyguard so opted for some wyches.

HQ
Archon, shadow field, huskblade, soul trap

TROOPS
9 Wyches
Raider
10 Warriors, splinter cannon
Raider
10 Warriors, splinter cannon
Raider
10 Warriors, splinter cannon
Raider

FAST ATTACK
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade

HEAVY SUPPORT
Ravager
Ravager

Tau Empire (TE)

HQ
Ethereal

ELITES
Riptide, twinlinked smartmissile system, stimulant injector,early warning override
Riptide, twinlinked smartmissile system, stimulant injector,early warning override

TROOPS
11 Firewarriors
Devilfish, disruption pod
11 Firewarriors
Devilfish, disruption pod
11 Firewarriors
Devilfish, disruption pod

FAST ATTACK
5 Marker drones
5 Marker drones

HEAVY
Hammer head, ion cannon, smart missile system, disruption pod, blacksun filter
Hammer head, ion cannon, smart missile system, disruption pod, blacksun filter

Mission: The Emperors Will
Deployment: Dawn of War
Night Fight on first turn: No
First Turn: TE
Warlord Trait DE: Master of the Ambush (Sigh...)
Warlord Trait TE: Through Unity, Devastation. (one use - all units within 12" re-roll 1s to hit)
Combat Drugs: Serpentine (+1WS)

Objectives
My opponent placed his objective first, and I mirrored his objective.

Deployment:

My opponent won the role off and decided to go first as first blood is really important in the Emperor's Will mission. He castled centrally with a large piece of terrain (the bunker on his left) protecting his flank. I spread out, hiding my Archon's raider out of sight on the left and the two ravagers out of sight on the right. I deployed the reavers so that they would at least get a 5+ cover save and be out of range of the markerlights and the riptide smartmissile systems.

Note Riptides are represented by Forgefiends as there was no appropriate model.

Turn 1 (TE):

The vehicles shuffled to get their jink saves, the devilfish turboboosting 1" to get their 3+ cover save. The Archon's raider and the ravagers were out of sight of the four tau ion cannons. The reavers were out of range of the marker drones. The left marker drones fired at the warriors on the left of the centre island scoring two hits. The left hammer head fired a cover ignoring ion large blast at the warriors on the left of the centre island, getting a hit, and killing four. The right marker drones fired at the warriors on the right of the central island also scoring two hits. The right hammer head fired a cover ignoring ion large blast at the warriors on the right, getting another hit, and killing five. This blast also clip the raider near the warriors making it explode! The Riptide on the left fired at the raider on the left destroying it. The other riptide fired at the raider on the right and managed to glance it twice. One of the warrior squad broke and fell back 6".

The drones shuffled behind the vehicles, and the riptides tried to get into a better firing position.

Turn 1 (DE):

The warriors rallied and moved into cover, the other warriors spread out. The ravagers and the raider on the right move forward and fire all their lances into the Ethereals devilfish destroying it. The explosion kills 4 fire warriors, one was even saved by the 6+FNP from the ethereal. The explosion hit all the marker drones killing two, the survivors passed their leadership test thanks to the ethereal being within 12". The Reavers on the left bladevane the ethereal and his squad killing them all, earning them two pain tokens. The other reavers moved up to pressure the tau. Whilst the Archon and his raider moved flat out toward the riptides. The splinter cannon from the warriors on the left fired into one of the riptides but failed to damage it.

Turn 2 (TE):

Everything shuffled away from the dark eldar threat, firewarriors disembarking into rapid fire range, and vehicles moving to make sure they got their jink save. The two riptides used their nova reactors, and both passed the 3+ doubling their smartmissile shots. Both fired into the central reavers killing all nine of them (scary stuff). The fire warriors on the far right rapid fired the reavers with a pain token killing three. Their devilfish fired into the same reaver but failed to kill any. The squad of three marker drones fired at the reavers but missed. The other squad of marker drones managed to get two hits on the Archons raider. The left most hammer head used the marker tokens to ignore cover and fired into the Archon's raider making explode, the Archon used his shadow field to save four out of the five wounds inflicted by the explosion, meaning only one wych died. The other hammer head fired into the wyches however the large blast from its ion cannon only hit two. Its combined fire with its snapfiring smart missiles killed a single wych. The fire warriors near buy and their devilfish fired into the Archon and his wyches, killing all the wyches leaving the Archon standing alone.

The marker drones moved into position so they could lend support fire to the fire warriors. One of the riptides moved to block the reavers from charging the fire warriors on the right. The other riptide moved as far away from the archon as possible whilst still being in supporting fire range of the firewarriors.

Turn 2 (DE):

The warriors on the left killed two marker drones with their splinter cannon forcing the drones to flee off the board. The ravagers and the raider fired into rightmost devilfish destroying it. The reavers moved and shot the fire warriors killing four, they then multi charged the survivors and the riptide, smart missile overwatch kills one reaver. The reaver kill three warriors, the riptide and the warriors fight back but fail to kill any due to needing to hit on 5s (from the +1WS drug). The Reaver win combat by three, the riptide and the warriors flee, both getting cut down (not being fearless is rough for the riptide). The reavers consolidated away from the fire warriors. The archon charged the other riptide, and survived the supporting overwatch from the fire warriors. However the combat was fruitless on both sides.

Turn 3 (TE):

The hammer heads shuffled back. One firing into each ravager, destroying one, and stunning the other. The marker drones got a hit on the reavers. The firewarriors moved away from the reavers fired into the reavers with the devilfish, killing four. The riptide tried to use it's nova reactor but it failed. The Archon managed to inflict one wound, which thanks to instant death and being AP2 bypassed the riptides armour save and FNP. The riptide failed its invulnerable save and crumbled to dust, the Archon managed to trap it's soul doubling his strength.

Turn 3 (DE):

The splinter cannon on the left fired at the fire warriors killing one. The five warriors on the right embarked on the raider near by. The raider moved forward and the warriors fired into the drones killing two. The raider fired its dark lance at the same drones but missed. The reaver bladevaned the last drone killing it. The Archon charged the warriors, overwatch failed to hurt him. He killed four fire warriors, the fire warriors in turn failed to hurt him, they fled combat and were cut down.

Turn 4 (TE):

The hammer heads forwent their movement and fired everything into the Archon, a smartmissile managed to short his shadow field and the devilfish finished him off.

Turn 4 (DE):

The ravager fired into one of the hammer heads immobilising it. The raider with the warriors inside moved flat out behind the line of sight blocking tank by the home objective. The reaver moved flat out to hide behind the home objective too.

Turn 5 (TE):

Night didn't fall. The immobilised hammer head fired at the ravager, destroying it. The devilfish moved flat out to close on the warriors on the home objective. The other hammer head moved towards the warriors on the objective and killed three with its smart missiles. Thankfully the warriors didn't flee.

Turn 5 (DE):

The central warriors ran for the objective. The reaver trubo-boosted to the right side of the table.

Turn 6 (TE):

The game didn't end, and night still didn't fall! The hammer head killed four warriors and the survivors run off the board! The other hammer head killed two warriors in the open. The devilfish moved up and killed the rest of the warriors in the open.

Turn 6 (DE):

The Warriors disembark from the raider onto the objective. The reaver navigated around the terrain on the right.

Turn 7 (TE):

The game still didn't end! The devilfish and the immobilised hammer head fired into the warriors killing two despite them going to ground. The other hammer head fired its smart missiles at the warriors killing the last three!

Turn 7 (DE):

The reaver turbo-boosted for line breaker winning the game by a single victory point! Dark Eldar victory!

DE VPs: 3 (line breaker, slay the warlord, Ethereal) TE VPs: 2 (first blood, slay the warlord)

Overview

Well that was fun!

It was always going to be a tough game for me going second in The Emperors Will. The tau could get first blood, sit on their objective and at least force a draw (or a win depending on line breaker).

Dark Eldar are all about knowing when to be aggressive. When I managed to take out the Ethereal Devilfish I knew there was no better time. I needed that Ethereal dead, he could give all fire warriors within 12" an extra shot at rapid fire range, he created a leadership 10 bubble that would keep everything on the table (in particular the marker drones) and he was worth an additional victory point. The size of the devilfish and the casualties from the vehicle explosion had created a pocket for my reavers, it was time to strike! With the head of the Tau army cut off, I was in a position to put the rest of the army under pressure even if it meant taking heavy casualties, something would get through. With the tau army so bunched up they couldn't escaped. So charging in the other reavers and the Archon seemed like the right thing to do. Though with the Ethereal dead I could have opted to play defensively, though there would be no guarantee I would be able to outlive the tau firepower.

Speaking of bunching up I'm not sure castling was the most sensible thing to do, it gave me a lot of freedom in deployment. I could keep my reavers out of markerlight range and hide my Archon's raider. It also meant I could chose the time and the place of the engagement. If my opponent had spread out, his range and fire power would have severely limited my deployment options.

I think the last few turns of the game showed the importance of not assuming the game will end on turn 5, or 6 for that matter. I had my backup turn 6 raider with warriors in case I lost the squad on the objective. I had my backup turn 7 linebreaker reaver in case I lost all my troops. It pays to have safeties like that if you can afford too.

The downside of the Supporting fire special rule, is it encourages Tau to bunch up leaving them vulnerable to multicharges.

Riptides are interesting, but suffer from not being fearless. If you can get the multicharge on them and a squishy unit like firewarriors they are in serious trouble (Guide to Multicharging). He's not a character either so he can't single out your venom blades in challenges.

Drones that come with vehicles are none scoring/non denial units so can never get linebreaker, something worth remembering.

For a insight into the Tau mindset check out this thread (Tactics for taking on the Dark Eldar?).

Hope you enjoyed the report!

Fantastic batrep as always. You are a brutal Archon, sending your Reavers and Wyches into the full force of the enemy lines. By god it worked though!

I'm definitely learning new tactics from these, so please keep them up

After losing every Wych, Archon doesnt has to test his Ld?

Nice batrep, seems Tau are not so scary as everyone thinks. Still die in melee

cuchulain84 wrote:

Fantastic batrep as always. You are a brutal Archon, sending your Reavers and Wyches into the full force of the enemy lines. By god it worked though!

Sometimes you need to sacrifice a few wyches to make Tau skin boots and Riptide smelling salts.

Zanais wrote:

After losing every Wych, Archon doesnt has to test his Ld?

He did, but it was all good on LD10 (I don't normally include the leadership tests that are passed, as it's more writing!).

Well, that was a bloody fight and no mistake!

Can't believe that last reaver managed to secure victory, 4 pain tokens and (no doubt) extreme bragging rights back in Commorragh.

The thin margains for victory... excellent use of him though - just goes to show what extreme speed can bring to a list.

It certainly seems like Tau vs Dark Eldar is going to be incredibly messy, is there anything you'd have done differently? Or, what would you have done if your oppoent hadn't castled quite so much?

I'm finding the prospect of large blasts and ignores cover quite worrying - you did well to keep the reavers away from the markerlights as much as possible.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm enjoying the Tau reports have played numerous games against the other races but haven't got a proper game in against Tau yet (though I have lead the Tau to victory a couple of times since the new 'Dex)

Alsarion wrote:

It certainly seems like Tau vs Dark Eldar is going to be incredibly messy, is there anything you'd have done differently? Or, what would you have done if your oppoent hadn't castled quite so much?

No doubt about it. I'm just glad that the more popular Tau lists will not be so heavily mechanised as it causes us a lot of trouble.

List wise I would have dropped the wyches for some grotesques, they would do better as a damage sponge. I also would have given the Archon a venomblade so that he could have used that for the first round of combat against the firewarrior and hopefully got a two round combat as a result.

If my opponent had not castled so much, I'm not quite sure what I would have done. I definitely would have played the reavers more defensively (kept them out of sight if possible and waited for a mistake). Meanwhile focused on the taking out the riptides with splinter fire and the hammer heads. Obviously any shot at the markerlights that presented itself I would take. But there's a lot of threats in that list which makes it hard to deal with.

Definitely one of our harder match ups, not as hard as guard but still challenging non the less. Fortunatly for us the riptide isn't that problematic, also in a take all comers environment I can imagine it will more likely be armed with fusion blasters rather than smart missiles.

Alsarion wrote:

(though I have lead the Tau to victory a couple of times since the new 'Dex)

It's a competitive codex from the looks of things. A bit too static for me, but more interesting than guard! Not to mention some funky mechanics.

Awesome. This has been very informative. Also, have my 3 extra RJB done. So unit of 9 gonna be used soon.

Muskilla - Yeah, I have to say that of all the things that bother me about the new codex, killing Riptides isn't one. I'm expecting a wide-variety of Tau lists to begin with, then a few more distinct 'styles' - though the codex is well done, so there's a lot of vaiable choices depending on how you build your lists. I've been having success running a hybrid Tau list, works for me but it definitely relies on meshing togther.

Very static, as you say, compared to my Kabal. I've never actually tried Grotesques as a bodyguard - might be something worth looking into for me.

Skari wrote:

Awesome. This has been very informative. Also, have my 3 extra RJB done. So unit of 9 gonna be used soon.

Hehe - it's hard not to want Jetbikes after reading these, isn't it?

Thanks for sharing the pain. Can't wait to get my first games against Tau now.

This tree part series has been best batreps by so far. The added benefit of reading Tau forum of your opponents opinions and advice he gets is golden. Keep up the good work.

Need to resists the Reavers... Need to resist Reavers...

Yeah, a second impressive win in, again, unfavourable circumstances. And great report as always!

I thought it was going to be a draw, but the extra VP for the ethereal was game-changing. Taking the opportunity to get rid of him was important.

I think the TE list was a little more designed to resist you this time, what with the devilfish and SMS, but you deployed better and that all-important 1st turn was not too bad, though of course you were pretty much guaranteed to give away 1st blood (..No, go on - I want you to have it...you've earned it ). I think the TE list was lacking a little in marker lights too - did you get that impression?

You mentioned taking a VB for the archon so he could have caused fewer casualties and come out of combat at the end of the TE turn, but I think you should have opted to use the splinter pistol as a ccw (permitted in the rulebook) instead of the huskblade - at S6 it would have acted slightly worse than a VB and caused half as many casualties. Then the archon could have had a go at those vehicles - probably wiped them all given how long the game went on.

As to your modified list, did you miss the blasters on the warriors? Didn't look like they would have had much chance to shoot; maybe at the end when one of the vehicles came closer?
Bit difficult to say much about the wyches. They did their job and died. You could throw on some HWG, makes them menacing vs vehicles. Or a succubus with VB to take challenges. You'd have to reduce the size of the unit to find the points for those, though.
Having grotesques would be much scarier for your opponent, and more survivable, but you'd lose a scoring unit.

Also love the image of the Archon leaping onto the riptide and plunging his husklade into the crew compartment to turn the pilot into ash!

Vasara wrote:

Thanks for sharing the pain. Can't wait to get my first games against Tau now.

They are an interesting match up that's for sure.

Vasara wrote:

This tree part series has been best batreps by so far. The added benefit of reading Tau forum of your opponents opinions and advice he gets is golden. Keep up the good work.

Yes, it's been really insightful to see what people think when they see Dark Eldar across the board. Great to hear you've enjoyed the Tau mini-series.

Squierboy wrote:

I think the TE list was lacking a little in marker lights too - did you get that impression?

Indeed, it did feel that way. I think most Tau lists will have one medium-large unit of marker drones with a commander giving them BS5 thanks to a drone controller. That or sniper teams (who are BS5) or Skyrays who have two BS4 networked/skyfire markerlights. The problem with the last two options is they are not very mobile, the sniper spotter can only move and snapfire his markerlight, and the skyray can only move and shoot a single weapon at full balistic skill. I think tau will naturally focus on killing what they can markerlight as it's more efficient with their BS3, so things you keep out of markerlight range have a good chance of being ignored.

Squierboy wrote:

You mentioned taking a VB for the archon so he could have caused fewer casualties and come out of combat at the end of the TE turn...

Clever! I never thought/knew about that. Nice catch!

Squierboy wrote:

As to your modified list, did you miss the blasters on the warriors? Didn't look like they would have had much chance to shoot; maybe at the end when one of the vehicles came closer?

No, didn't miss them at all, even against mech. The way I play my warriors now days they tend to be at that 24-36" range, and focus on infantry.

Squierboy wrote:

Bit difficult to say much about the wyches. They did their job and died.

Wyches don't really work when they are a high priority target, they need a list with other threats to draw fire away from them. This is why I think they make a poor escort for Archons.

Squierboy wrote:

but you'd lose a scoring unit.

The thing is anyone with the Archon is going to draw a lot of fire, as he is a high priority target and what I'm starting to realise is scoring becomes irrelevant when you're dead. If anything a more resilient Archon unit would draw more fire away from my other troops.

Squierboy wrote:

Also love the image of the Archon leaping onto the riptide and plunging his husklade into the crew compartment to turn the pilot into ash!

It brings tears to my eyes.

Thanks for the batrep - I always learn something new from these

Nice game Mush

I wouldn't mind more Tau reps, I enjoy all of your batreps, no matter which army you fight.

Though I'd like to see a game vs. daemons if you know someone who has them?

Septimus wrote:

Though I'd like to see a game vs. daemons if you know someone who has them?

Unfortunately most of the daemon players in my area were on the flamer/screamer/fateweaver bandwagon and jumped ship when the new Daemon codex was released. Most of them are now Tau players...

I might be able to have a game against Shadow's Revenge's Dark Eldar with my own Daemons? Though I haven't played with them since 5th.

That's a shame.

I played the old daemons extensively - all the way since they got their own dex.

The new daemon dex is very interesting, though I have to admit I found all the random stuff way over the top at first. It's actually not that bad at all, sometimes random can be a good thing.

Furthermore, a lot of the heavy lifters in the daemon dex are almost as fast as DE.

It's a curious army as they sit somewhere in between an elite army and a horde. So that's why I'd like to see such a game

@Mushkilla - I notice your opponent is now asking for advice against DE on the Tau forums

Count Adhemar wrote:

@Mushkilla - I notice your opponent is now asking for advice against DE on the Tau forums

Yeah that thread is a fascinating read. Linked it at the bottom of the report. Our mandrakes are everywhere.

Mushkilla wrote:

Our mandrakes are everywhere.

Must be why they never appear in our armies.

Count Adhemar wrote:

Must be why they never appear in our armies.

Oh, they are there, you just don't know it.

Lol - Mush, you're getting complements on that thread for ruthlessly throwing away your troops....All for the Greater Bad?

You sir, have my utmost respect and admiration against such an opponent.

I have a Tau opponent who uses Tetras and Sensor Towers. This Report surely gives me enough confidence to try and defeat him. >

Mushkilla the "spydrone"!!

The slave-races have a weird way of naming you...
And now im scared that there are some Tau hiding here in Comorragh.

Squierboy wrote:

Lol - Mush, you're getting complements on that thread for ruthlessly throwing away your troops....All for the Greater Bad?

The Archon just gets respawned by his haemonculus. To Slaanesh with the rest they were traitors anyway.

JuliusKabal wrote:

You sir, have my utmost respect and admiration against such an opponent.

Thanks. That's very kind of you to say so.

JuliusKabal wrote:

I have a Tau opponent who uses Tetras and Sensor Towers. This Report surely gives me enough confidence to try and defeat him. >

I hate Tetras and Sensor Towers, they are both very potent for their cost.

Mngwa wrote:

Mushkilla the "spydrone"!!

I believe it's a reference to the drone we have flying round here reporting it's finding back to the greater good. Didn't you notice the racket?

Mushkilla wrote:

Mngwa wrote:

Mushkilla the "spydrone"!!

I believe it's a reference to the drone we have flying round here reporting it's finding back to the greater good. Didn't you notice the racket?

Aw... I wanted to keep it as a pet. It looks so cute with its little hat on

JuliusKabal wrote:

I have a Tau opponent who uses Tetras and Sensor Towers. This Report surely gives me enough confidence to try and defeat him. >

they are really good. Your best bet is to try and kill the tetras T1 before they move. If they do get a move off, I would say either haywire them to death, or focus more on what can actually use the bonuses of the markerlight (broadsides, SMS) and really only focus on them when you absolutely have too. Distruption pods are really good (actually brings it back to 4th ed hard to kill) but atleast once they are hit they are most likely dead due to low armor and open topped

Mushkilla, I figured you'd know this, but how long has the following been the case:

Q: When allocating Wounds caused by a unit of Reaver Jetbikes
making a bladevanes, cluster caltrops and / or grav-talon attack, from
which direction is the attack considered to have originated? (p29)

A: Use the final position of the Reaver Jetbikes for Wound
allocation.

Or have they just FAQ'd that right now?