BR25: The Black Buzzards VS Tau Mass Broadsides - 1500pts

Thought I would share another Tau game before the new Eldar are out! So here's a game against S7/ignore cover spam. This tau list can put out 52 twinlinked S7 shots and 36 twinlinked S5 ignore cover shots per shooting phase!

The Armies:

Black Buzzards (DE)

HQ
Succubus, venom blade, haywire

ELITE
4 Grotesques, aberration, venom blade
Raider

TROOPS
10 Warriors, cannon
Raider
10 Warriors, cannon
Raider
10 Warriors, 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
Fireblade

ELITE
3 Crisis Suits, twinlinked missile pod, flamer
3 Crisis Suits, twinlinked missile pod, flamer

TROOPS
12 Fire Warriors
10 Kroot
10 Kroot

FAST ATTACK
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
3 Piranhas

HEAVY SUPPORT
3 Broadsides, HYMP, SMS, EWO
3 Broadsides, HYMP, SMS, EWO
3 Broadsides, HYMP, SMS, EWO

FORTIFICATION
Aegis Defence Line, Quad Gun

Mission: Crusade (three objectives)
Deployment: Vanguard Deployment
Night Fight on first turn: No
First Turn: TE
Warlord Trait DE: Divide and Conquer (-1 to enemy reserves)
Warlord Trait TE: Through Unity, Devastation (One Use - All friendly units within 12" re-roll 1s to hit)
Combat Drugs: Hipex (more run dice...)

Objectives
There were three objectives, the tau player got to place two of them and placed them both behind his defence line, meaning I would have to come to him.

Deployment:

The Tau set up behind their defence line which ran across the border of their deployment zone. the crisis suits and piranha were set up in the on my left flank in order to limit where I could hide and threaten most of the board. The broadsides were set up to provide maximum coverage whilst still being behind the aegis. The kroot screened the path finders. Finally the fire warriors and fireblade deployed centrally to man the quad gun.

The early warning overrides (interceptor) on the broadsides prevented me from deploying the reavers in reserve, without limiting the effectiveness of the reavers on the turn they would come in. Everything was deployed out of range of the broadsides. The warriors were set up in the open, but could only be threatened by the crisis suits. The ravagers were hidden out of sight, the grotesques gave the reavers cover against the quad gun. The ravagers were deployed out of line of sight. Three raiders on the right were set up so as they would have 4+ cover saves from the ruins. One raider was set up on the left behind the forest.

I didn't seize the initiative.

Turn 1 (TE):

The piranha moved flat out to threaten the dark eldar warriors in the open next turn. The fire blade fired the quad gun at the raider behind the forest destroying it. One crisis team destroyed one of the raiders obscured by the ruin. The other crisis team only managed to glance another raider obscured by the ruin as it passed it's 4+ cover save against the penetrating hits. Both crisis teams jumped back behind the forest to stay out of threat range of the ravagers.

Turn 1 (DE):

Each of the splinter cannon warriors moved forward to get within range of the quad gun, making sure they were still in unit coherence and fired into it destroying it. The raiders and ravagers swung round and all fired into the piranha only managing to stun them (at least they go through the 4+ cover saves). The succubus and her grots embarked into one of the raiders. The reavers turboboosted and to get into better positions.

Turn 2 (TE):

The drones disembarked from the piranha and jumped behind the gun line. The crisis teams jumped forward each firing into one of the warrior squads to take out the splinter cannons (the crisis were not in range to hit any of the raiders or ravagers). Each squad killing four warriors before jumping back behind the trees (one of them landing in the forest as they didn't roll too well). Everything else was out of range, but the tau had two objectives and first blood, so were under no pressure to move. Both dark eldar warrior squads passed their leadership tests.

Turn 2 (DE):

The two raider manage to get two glances on the piranhas wrecking two of them. The surviving splinter cannon warrior moved back. The reavers moved forward and then turbo boosted back to their original position to get their cover saves. The ravagers swung round and took out one of the crisis teams.

Turn 3 (TE):

The surviving piranha killed two dark eldar warriors, the four remaining warrior fled off the board. The Crisis team jumped forward and fired into one of the ravagers, inflicting a single glancing hit that the ravager managed to jink. The suits jumped back. Nothing else was in range and the tau decided to sit pretty.

Turn 3 (DE):

The ravagers took out the other crisis team. The raiders fired at the piranha to no effect. One squad of warriors ran back to the objective. The large squad of warriors embarked on one of the raiders and fired its splinter cannon into the fire warriors, but didn't manage to kill any. The reavers turboboosted into better positions.

Turn 4 (TE):

The piranha moved flat out away from the reavers so that it couldn't be destroyed next turn.

Turn 4 (DE):

The ravagers moved forward and fired into the broadsides killing two. The raider with the warriors moved forward and fired into the surviving broadside killing it. The warriors disembarked and fired into the fire warriors killing two. The raider with the grotesques moved flat out towards the tau line. The two reaver squads bladevaned the tau firewarrior squad killing all of them including the fireblade, earning one of the squads two pain tokens.


Turn 5 (TE):

Night fell, but had no affect as all the shooting was within 12". The broadsides on the right fired into the succubus' raider destroying it. Both pathfinder teams fired into the grotesques scoring five hits. The remaining broadside team uses one token to increase their ballistic skill to four and two to ignore cover, killing three of the grotesques. The kroot on the left use the two remaining tokens to rapid fire into the remaining grotesque, but only inflict a single wound thanks to 5+ cover and FNP. The piranha moved up and fired at the grotesque as well leaving the aberration (the only surviving grotesque) on one wound. The gun drones fired into the reavers without any pain tokens killing two, they then charged, overwatch killing one. The kroot on the right also charged the reavers. The kroot and gun drone struck back killing 3 reavers. The reavers won combat by two. Despite needing 5 or less not to break, both the kroot and the gundrones held!

Turn 5 (DE):

The ravagers fired into the broadsides on the left only killing one between them! The remaining raider flanked the piranha getting a shot on side armour managing to glance it to death (they only have two hull points). The warriors moved forward and fired into the pathfinders killing two. The reavers killed the two broadsides on the left and used their assault move to contest the objective. The aberration and the succubus charge the kroot, the succubus going first to tank some wounds (majority toughness 5). The pathfinders didn't get any hits with supporting fire, and the kroot inflicted one wound on the succubus with overwatch. The Succubus and the aberration made the charge. She killed three before they could strike, the kroot then fought back but were unsuccessful. The aberration attacked killing five more kroot, the two kroot who fled were cut down. In the other combat the reavers kill four more kroot, the gun drones and single surviving kroot fought back and killed two reavers. The reavers won combat by two and cut down both squads as they fled (go I6!). The game ended. Dark Eldar Victory!

DE VPs: 5 (1 objectives, slay the warlord, line breaker) TE VPs: 1(first blood)


Overview

Pre-measure, pre-measure and pre-measure some more.

Useful Tip: To save time during deployment when going second, measure out the range of the units that can threaten you (in this case the broadsides) and place a dice at their maximum range, do this a for all the long range threats in your opponents army and you get a good idea of your opponents threat bubbles (remember to take into account movement if the unit can move and shoot). This saves time as it mean you only measure ranges once and don't have to do it for each unit when you deploy them.

The Tau had no incentive to move, with first blood in the bag, and sitting pretty on two objectives. Yet if I rushed the Tau line blindly those 52 twinlinked S7 shots and 36 twinlinked cover ignoring smart missiles shots would make short work of my army. Finally reserve was very unattractive with the large amount of interceptor in the Tau army. As a result this game was all about premeasuring and dancing just out of reach before administering the killing blow.

The quad gun had to be taken out first as with BS5, splitfire and had 48" range, so could easily take out a vehicle a turn. Thankfully splinter cannons are great at this. After that it was all about drawing out the only elements that were mobile enough to threaten my darklances (crisis) or block bladevanes (piranha). Night shields would have made all the dancing easier, giving me more wiggle room, but I managed to get by without them.

Once the crisis and piranha were out of the way it was time to strike, as it would be impossible to close on the broadsides without exposing the ravagers to the pathfinders (as they were in front of the broadsides), who in turn could allow the surviving broadsides to move and shoot effectively (giving them a threat range of 42"). This meant the best approach was to overwhelm the tau shooting phase with multiple threats. The fireblade could make all units within 12" re-roll ones to hit for a single shooting phase with his warlord power, increased the fire power of the firewarriors with him by 50-100% depending on range, had a BS5 markerlight that could splifire, and was the warlord. Combine this with the fact that the firewarriors accompanying him would be deadly at rapid fire range, they were the obvious head for the reaver guillotine. Once the dark eldar were amongst the tau lines the two remaining broadside units had too much weight to pull, they were the solution to the reavers, the raider full of grotesques, the grotesques themselves and the two ravagers. From this point the tau were in a tough spot, I just needed to watch out for supporting fire (as the surviving tau units were cluster together) and the game was mine.

Though maybe bringing a landraider would have been simpler as the tau list had no way to deal with AV14.

A big thanks to everyone in The Dark City chat for giving me advice and helpful tactical/strategic banter.

Hope you enjoyed the report!

EDIT: How do people like the yellow lines for showing what shoots what? Do they make things clearer? Or should I get rid of them?

Great report as always! Was this the same tau player as before?
I also noticed that you did wound allocation from the reavers instead of random allocation when you bladevaned
...and. Aberration killed five kroot in one turn? Whoa thats cool!

Mngwa wrote:

I also noticed that you did wound allocation from the reavers instead of random allocation when you bladevaned

Latest DE FAQ replaced random allocation with the more sensible method.

Erebus wrote:

Mngwa wrote:

I also noticed that you did wound allocation from the reavers instead of random allocation when you bladevaned

Latest DE FAQ replaced random allocation with the more sensible method.

I know, I know. Since it was because of Mushkilla's email to them, I thought to mention it.

*cue riotous applause*

Magnificent.

Mngwa wrote:

Great report as always! Was this the same tau player as before?

Thanks, yes it was the same Tau player.

Mngwa wrote:

I also noticed that you did wound allocation from the reavers instead of random allocation when you bladevaned

Indeed, hurray for the FAQ!

Mngwa wrote:

...and. Aberration killed five kroot in one turn? Whoa thats cool!

He got 5 of his 6 hits in and was wounding on 2s with re-rolls to wound.

wanderingblade wrote:

*cue riotous applause*

*bows*

Yes, good stuff and fine report! I won't mention the 'going second, no nightfight' thing as it's practically a given for you now! Well I suppose I have mentioned it now..

Interesting game, very cagey for the first few turns as the pirahnas and crisis duked it out with your entire army. You had to rush them of course, but leaving it 'til later in the game was sensible. Always very gratifying to see the destruction when everything goes for it at the same time. You must feel a bit like Hannibal from the A-Team.

Looks like you sacrificed your splinter cannons to get the quad gun? Certainly worth it.

Using the succubus to tank the overwatch was risky, as she is just as killy as the aberration, but since it was on just one wound it was a good decision. I was surprised that you dropped the archon as you'd had good success with it, but I like the succubus and she allows a beefier grotesque unit.

The Tau list was oddly unbalanced - was this just written especially to give you a hard time? It would be a silly list for all-comers given that dark angels are popular and the aforementioned helplessness vs AV14.

I wonder if your opponent could have deployed the aegis further forward, and then advanced to it in his first turn? This would have got most of his stuff into range and forced you to attack earlier than planned. His turn one shooting would have been about the same too. On the other hand, advancing towards DE is usually playing into our hands

As always, such a great report! I'm very happy that you took on the missle spam list as that's exactly what my friend plays. This report not only shows how to play against it, but kind of gives a general idea on how to handle non mech gun lines, which is a heavy theme in my group.

About the ADL, yea he could've definitely gain those extra inches by deploying it more forward, especially considering that he was going first.

Squierboy wrote:

I won't mention the 'going second, no nightfight' thing as it's practically a given for you now! Well I suppose I have mentioned it now.

Hey the going second part is of my own volition. My opponents tend to win the roll off and go first, or I win and choose to go second. But yeah the night fight curse is a pain, not that it mattered against tau.

Squierboy wrote:

Using the succubus to tank the overwatch was risky, as she is just as killy as the aberration, but since it was on just one wound it was a good decision. I was surprised that you dropped the archon as you'd had good success with it, but I like the succubus and she allows a beefier grotesque unit.

Well I could always look out sir and none of the shots could ID her. I felt majority toughness 5 would be a life saver, if I lost the aberration the succubus would be T3 in combat and that wouldn't have been healthy. I thought T5 4++/5+ FNP would stop any wounds getting through, especially now that kroot are only S3, so the succubus being on a single wound wouldn't be a problem.

EDIT: Forgot to add that, like you said I didn't have the points for the Archon and a full grotesque unit. In the end it was a bit of an experiment. Loving the grotesques though.

Squierboy wrote:

The Tau list was oddly unbalanced - was this just written especially to give you a hard time?

The irony was that it was a list that was so blatantly tailored against dark eldar on paper, yet it completely crumbled because of its static nature in practice.

rotforge wrote:

As always, such a great report! I'm very happy that you took on the missle spam list as that's exactly what my friend plays. This report not only shows how to play against it, but kind of gives a general idea on how to handle non mech gun lines, which is a heavy theme in my group.

Thanks, and I'm glad it's helpful to you!

rotforge wrote:

About the ADL, yea he could've definitely gain those extra inches by deploying it more forward, especially considering that he was going first.

The thing is he didn't know he was going first when he set up the Aegis. Fortifications are set up before you roll to see who goes first. So If he set it up further in and I got first turn it might have caused him problems. But you never know with these things, there are so many different factors in a given game.

Great report, Mush! The patience to stay back and wait for the killing blow really won you this game. Oh, I can't count the times where I'd have had better success had I been more cautious / patient. Definitely something to remember in my next games.

About the lines: You had some fancy laser and rifle effects to show what shot what in past reports. That was good. However the schematic lines you used in this report were all more clear and helpful. I'd vote for keeping those. Different colours for moving, charging and shooting are also a good idea. Just make sure you change the colours according to the background colour of the battle field, they could be hard to make out otherwise.

Cheers!

Dogmar wrote:

Great report, Mush! The patience to stay back and wait for the killing blow really won you this game. Oh, I can't count the times where I'd have had better success had I been more cautious / patient.

Thanks. I had it in the back of my head that at worst, I would go for a turn 5 objective denial with the reavers and hope the game ended on turn 5. In the mean time I was just going to see what I could get away with with my dark lances. It kind of all fell into place by turn 4. But not feeling under pressure to charge his guns because of the option for that turn five reaver denial/linebreaker really helped.

Dogmar wrote:

About the lines...

Great, I was hoping they would be easier to follow.

Mushkilla wrote:

Hey the going second part is of my own volition.

Lol, ok!

Mushkilla wrote:

EDIT: Forgot to add that, like you said I didn't have the points for the Archon and a full grotesque unit. In the end it was a bit of an experiment. Loving the grotesques though.

Yes, they add a nice tough element that can surprise people.

Mushkilla wrote:

The irony was that it was a list that was so blatantly tailored against dark eldar on paper, yet it completely crumbled because of its static nature in practice.

I think you really showed that it was too one dimensional, despite the DE fear of such S7 spam, and that was a really good job.
If you wanted, you could have thrown some night shields onto the ravagers/raiders and had some fun sitting just inside 36", murdering all the broadsides (if you were into tailoring, that is).
Looks like Broadside HYMP spam would be better when combined with more stuff that can shoot >36" (Longstrike, or whatever), drawing people into range.

Squierboy wrote:

Looks like Broadside HYMP spam would be better when combined with more stuff that can shoot >36" (Longstrike, or whatever), drawing people into range.

Maybe giving one broadside in each squad a rail rifle and target lock. Split fire would be handy, and that would add three rail rifles to the list, giving it some more range?

Awesome report.

The yellow lines are perfect.

Loved to see how your army danced around him to pounce on him in the last turns. I got that from reading turn by turn and then you comfirmed it in your conclusion. Classic Tau action. Classic DE action.

Mushkilla wrote:

Maybe giving one broadside in each squad a rail rifle and target lock. Split fire would be handy, and that would add three rail rifles to the list, giving it some more range?

Yes, I think that could work. Could do with the skyfire upgrade on some of the missile pod 'sides too, but that would be just for balance vs all-comers.
Also, missile drones would have helped to boost firepower while protecting the broadsides; it was too easy for your lances to take them down. I would prefer dropping one broadside unit in order to do this. Anyway, enough of Tau tactics!

I note that your opponent hasn't yet tried the 'Farsight/Shadowsun XV8 bomb'. Is it a tactic we should be worried about? No scatter on deep striking is nasty! I might try and deal with it in a similar way to drop pods - turtle up and weather the storm, then annihilate the unit in my next turn (after all, almost everything in our arsenal is great at killing crisis suits).

By the way, these are a fascinating series of reports. Tau is a matchup that generally makes us Dark Kin start thinking about ducking back into the webway portal - just to check what them mandrakes are up to, you understand. We ain't scared or nothing...
I hope your opponent isn't too discouraged by these results, after all he won the first game and came very close in another (the one with all the mech units).

Great report Mush as always =3

Nice to see both the Succubus back in action, and you overcoming as you said in theory the Tau list Dark Eldar should be fearful of. I do wonder how your usual Archon would of faired in the battle.

It seems like the Grotesques are definitely a go to unit for fighting Tau, their high toughness great against their firepower and an excellent bodyguard unit.

Squierboy wrote:

Could do with the skyfire upgrade on some of the missile pod 'sides too, but that would be just for balance vs all-comers.

They can't buy the Skyfire upgrade alongside the Early Warning Override and from what I gather the Broadsides in this battle report is the more popular loadout, and since the Broadside pods are Twin-Linked 4 shots they end up having better odds against hitting a Flyer then 1 Skyfire shot.

And the lines do help btw so I agree with the others on them, very useful.

tlronin wrote:

Loved to see how your army danced around him to pounce on him in the last turns. I got that from reading turn by turn and then you comfirmed it in your conclusion. Classic Tau action. Classic DE action.

Thanks! I have started to use the overview section to give a general overview of what was going through my head during the game, basically explain why I did things. Where as the discription next to the pictures are more of just a factual account of the game.

Squierboy wrote:

I note that your opponent hasn't yet tried the 'Farsight/Shadowsun XV8 bomb'. Is it a tactic we should be worried about?

Good Idea! I might try and get a game in against a Farsight Bomb to conclude this series of Tau reports, there is another Tau player who has been running a farsight bomb since the book came out. I'm sure it will be a great game.

Squierboy wrote:

I hope your opponent isn't too discouraged by these results, after all he won the first game and came very close in another (the one with all the mech units).

He seems to be doing well against other lists, I'm one of the only players giving him trouble. Though he did post in this thread again asking for more advice.

KnightSeerValkia wrote:

They can't buy the Skyfire upgrade alongside the Early Warning Override and from what I gather the Broadsides in this battle report is the more popular loadout, and since the Broadside pods are Twin-Linked 4 shots they end up having better odds against hitting a Flyer then 1 Skyfire shot.

The other problem with the skyfire upgrade is it's very expensive (20-25pts) for what it does. The interceptor upgrade is cheap and works against a variety of targets. If you really want skyfire as tau I think you are better off getting a skyray as it has two skyfire markerlights allowing other units to fire at flyers, or allowing it to fire it's six S8 missiles at BS5 against flyers (as vehicles can dumb fire seeker missiles this edition).

KnightSeerValkia wrote:

And the lines do help btw so I agree with the others on them, very useful.

Good to here everyone likes them! Thanks for all the support.

KnightSeerValkia wrote:

They can't buy the Skyfire upgrade alongside the Early Warning Override and from what I gather the Broadsides in this battle report is the more popular loadout, and since the Broadside pods are Twin-Linked 4 shots they end up having better odds against hitting a Flyer then 1 Skyfire shot.

Yes, I 'm aware they'd lose the EWO. My point was to put in a couple on the HYMP, not the rail rifles (as you imply). Vs AV12 flyers the extra hits would be really useful (just over 2 for a pair of non-skyfire HYMP vs 6 for skyfire ones), especially against, say, a pair of heldrakes that could give your typical infantry gunline real trouble. I saw a few lists with velocity trackers so thought it a popular choice

Sure, a skyray would help instead, but I was thinking along the lines of spamming broadsides.

Squierboy wrote:

I saw a few lists with velocity trackers so thought it a popular choice

I don't know it comes off as a bit of trap to me, but then again I have never been a fan of expensive upgrades (so that's probably personal bias). Though I would be tempted to run it on a commander with two fusion blasters and go round eating helldrakes.

Hi Mushkilla, hello all,

I've been a long time lurker and finally decided to post.
I have to admit, I was very impressed with the patience you have taken when deciding to use your Reavers.
I have read all of your battlereps (yeah, I'm kind of a fan ) and it struck me as something completely new when going through this one. To the point, when I was thinking 'defrig, Mush, what are you doing?'. But when it all came together and I read your afterbattle thoughts, I was like 'ah, ok, I see what you did there'.

I am a very poor player myself, even though I've been playing Wh40k for well over a decade and probably would not be able to wait so long with the strike. Therefore, kudos for you for another great win and for these fantastic series, which I find very enjoyable and inspiring.


Gru6y

PS. GW totally needs to reward you somehow for increasing their Reaver sales ;]

Welcome to The Dark City Gru6y!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm always happy to hear about people enjoying/getting something out of these reports.

Gru6y wrote:

I have to admit, I was very impressed with the patience you have taken when deciding to use your Reavers.
I have read all of your battlereps (yeah, I'm kind of a fan ) and it struck me as something completely new when going through this one.

I have to admit I haven't played the waiting game in a long time, probably not since 5th, but against gun line armies like tau especially a list that can wipe reavers off the board in one shooting phase there isn't much of a choice. The stressful part is you don't want to strike too late, but on the other hand strike to soon and you throw away the game. You really have to fight to suppress your inner desire to go "woosh" with the reavers. Or at least I do.

Gru6y wrote:

PS. GW totally needs to reward you somehow for increasing their Reaver sales ;]

I actually work for GWs top secret experimental marketing branch.

Gru6y wrote:

Hi Mushkilla, hello all,

I've been a long time lurker and finally decided to post.
I have to admit, I was very impressed with the patience you have taken when deciding to use your Reavers.
I have read all of your battlereps (yeah, I'm kind of a fan ) and it struck me as something completely new when going through this one. To the point, when I was thinking 'defrig, Mush, what are you doing?'. But when it all came together and I read your afterbattle thoughts, I was like 'ah, ok, I see what you did there'.

I am a very poor player myself, even though I've been playing Wh40k for well over a decade and probably would not be able to wait so long with the strike. Therefore, kudos for you for another great win and for these fantastic series, which I find very enjoyable and inspiring.


Gru6y

PS. GW totally needs to reward you somehow for increasing their Reaver sales ;]

Why would he sacrifice reavers for few FW who are no threat at that point because they are out of range.

If he rushed he could maybe eliminate some FW, and lost his bikes, that means he would be at loss, but without reason.
If FW were threatening him with bunch of possible shots, then sacrifice could be justified.

Waiting with them was actually only sensible thing to do at that point, until he eliminated threats that allowed him to push fwd with his HQ in same time, using bikes as line breakers to open up defense wall for his CCQ cleanup crew

I know that I'm necro-ing this batrep, but I specifically read this report even before being a member -- and now that I am a member, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment.

I'm a Tau player at heart, but more importantly 1) I'm a fan of watching a skillfully played game, and 2) I despise tailored lists. So to see this Broadside-heavy completely mauled in such an artistic way is very, very pleasing.

The Tau -- and by extension, Tau players (who often take their 'tactics' really, really seriously) -- love to talk about 'styles' of combat, generally the Kauyon ('Patient Hunter') and Mont'ka ('Killing Blow'). Mushkilla's victory is almost an archetypal example of both styles: he carefully removed the forces that posed an immediate threat, subtly softened up the enemy's center, and then fell upon the Tau in overwhelming force. But this only worked because Mushkilla was willing to patiently dance just outside of the Tau's range, carefully moving and firing. Mushkilla also correctly identified the mobile threat the Tau's Piranha's -- and as soon as the Tau player overextended them, Mush wiped them out.

This should be an abject lesson in the flaws inherent to castling: no position is unassailable, and in attempting to make a redoubt, you've almost certainly given up the initiative.

Thanks for the feedback Por'El Lyi'ot I really appreciate it. Looks like I need to get some more games against Tau especially these fabled enclave/empire lists, that everyone is on about.

I smell another game coming where the dice fail me again