Battle on Golia Delta
“My lady, forward reconnaissance has spotted a Tau battalion on this world. They are headed this way.”
Archon D’nil looked around at the ruined city and smiled. “Prepare the troops for advance. We need to see how fortified they are beyond their front line. There may be more we can enslave beyond them.”
The Sybarite saluted and proceeded to the front line of the recon group as the Tau emerged at the edge of the city.
The Forces
The game was played on a 3’ x 5’ area with 800 point rosters, using the Standard rules for a Recon. Here are the forces deployed.
Kabal of the Crimson Dawn
HQ
1 Archon (D’nil) w/ Splinter Pistol, Agoniser, Combat Drugs and Shadowfield
Elites
5 Mandrakes
Troops
10 Warriors w/ Splinter Rifles, Splinter Cannons and Shredder
+ 1 Sybarite (M’ryd) w/ Splinter Pistol, Agoniser and Gruesome Talisman
11 Warriors w/ Splinter Rifles, Splinter Cannons and Shredder
10 Warriors w/ Splinter Rifles and Splinter Cannons
10 Warriors w/ Splinter Rifles and Dark Lance
Heavy Support
1 Ravager w/ Disintegrators and Night Shield
Tau Force
HQ
1 Ethereal w/ Shield Drone
Elites
3 Crisis Battlesuits w/ 2 gun drones
Troops
12 Fire Warriors w/ Devilfish Transport
12 Fire Warriors
The Board
The board was covered in terrain and made up like a ruined city, with the exception of a winding rocky road in the middle of the board. When Brian placed the hill in the Northwest corner I knew where his Broadsides would go…
Deployment
We decreased the deployment zones for our game, since the table was only three feet wide. Our deployment zones were reduced to twelve inches each, with a foot wide uncontrolled area in between.
Turn 1 – Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar plunged into the fray. D’nai rounded the wall she was behind to approach the centre of town, while the Ravager moved over to cover her flank. The third company moved into the woods for cover, while the second company moved forward to threaten the Broadsides. M’ryd moved his group over the rocky outcropping to look down on the Crisis Suits near the city centre. The Ravager caught sight of one of the Broadsides across town and fired its bow Disintegrator in sustained mode, but the Broadside’s armor absorbed the energy, merely blackening the armor. M’ryd’s group opened fire on the Crisis suits and one of the protective gun drones moved to block the hail of fire, going down instead of the Crisis suit. The third company fired on the Crisis suits as well, but the shots were all useless against the unit. The fourth group brought their Dark Lance to bear on the Devilfish, just visible around a corner. The stream of dark matter sailed past the target, doing no damage.
Turn 1 – Tau
The volume of pirates charging toward their position was slightly intimidating, but the Tau Ethereal was resolved and ordered his men into the fray. The Ethereal joined with the nearby Fire Warrior group and advanced through the woods, to form a firing line in a debris field. The Devilfish moved up, while powering up its Burst Cannon and deploying its sentry drones. The Crisis suits jumped up into the rocky path M’ryd was leading his men through.
The Broadsides unleashed its Smart Missile system on the second Warrior group, killing two, before turning its railguns on the Ravager. The high velocity shell slammed into the skimmer’s front plating and rocked the craft, but failed to bring it down, only knocking the gunners from their posts. The devilfisk opened fire with its Burst Cannon on the fourth Warrior Company and killed one soldier, while debris absorbed the rest. From their elevated position, the Crisis Suits saw the Ravager struggling to stay airborne. The Crisis suits fired and managed to deliver another hit, but only managed to unseat the pilot. The craft was still active, but its crew would take a while to get organized. With a firing line formed the First Fire Warrior group opened fire on the third Warrior Company lurking in the trees. They managed to kill three and force the Warriors back. As the guns cooled, the Crisis Suits jumped back to a safe distance.
Turn 2 – Dark Eldar
D’nai continued her charge without the Ravager’s aid, confident in her Shadowfield. The Second Warrior Company quickly advanced to the top of the hill behind the Broadsides. The First Company continued to make slow progress through the rocky terrain while the Third Company regrouped and returned to their position.
The Second Company fired at the Broadsides, but their weapons were useless against the strong armour of the Tau. The Fourth company fired at the Devilfish once more and managed to fell the two drones that had been deployed, but failed to damage the craft itself. With the Crisis Suits in view below, M’ryd ordered his men to fire on the power armoured warriors. The concentrated fire managed to pierce the armor and inflict a wound on its pilot. The Third Company fired on the Fire Warrior line and managed to kill three of the Tau foot soldiers.
Braving their size, the second company charged in to assault the Broadsides. They managed to damage one but not before losing two of their own. As the large suits smashed their brethren, the Dark Eldar broke morale and fled from the engagement.
Turn 2 – Tau
The Devilfish moved up to point blank range with the Fourth Warrior Company as its doors opened and the Second Fire Warrior Company poured out. The Crisis Suits jumped back into the rocky path to engage M’ryd’s men.
The Broadsides used their Smart Missile System against the fleeing Dark Eldar, killing one Warrior. Once again, the Broadsides turned their railguns toward the Ravager and fired. The shot was a repeat performance of the last shot, glancing off and preventing the gunners from firing. The Crisis Suits fired on M’ryd’s men and managed to kill three Warriors before jumping back to a safe distance again. The Devilfish fired its Burst Cannon into the Fourth Warrior Company at point blank range and killed three Warriors. The First Fire Warrior group fired on The Third Warrior Company, but failed to claim a single life.
Turn 3 – Dark Eldar
D’nai ran after the Devilfish, and saw the Fire Warriors emerging. Charging her Agoniser, she planned to make an example of them. M’ryd’s unit advanced again, trying to cross the field to engage the enemy from behind. The Ravger’s pilot regained is composure and reversed the Ravager from the Broadside’s line of fire. The Mandrakes appeared in the woods behind the Ethereal and grinned as they drew their weapons.
The Second Warrior Company regrouped and turned their weapons on the Broadsides, but the splinter fire failed to penetrate once more. The Fourth Company raised their Dark Lance and fired at the Devilfish. The stream of Dark Matter burrowed a hole through the craft and brought it down in a thunderous crash. M’ryd’s men fired at the Crisis Suits but the hail of fired failed to penetrate the armor. The Third Company opened fire on the Fire Warriors North of them and killed two of them. The Mandrakes fired on the Ethereal and managed to wound the commander. Smelling blood they charged into melee with the Ethereal. The shield drone activated and the Mandrakes only succeeded in bringing down the mechanical contraption. The Etherial attacked with the assistance of the Fire Warrior group he was with and the Mandrakes were overwhelmed, all five falling to the Tau counterstrike.
D’nai charged into the Fire Warrior ranks and brought the Agoniser down on one of the Fire Warriors. The Tau were unable to pierce the Shadowfield and quickly fell back, away from the insane woman. The Archon hungrily pursued the Fire Warriors, anxious to hurt them further
Turn 3 – Tau
The Tau held their ground and fired. The second Fire Warrior group opened fire on the Archon, but despite eleven promising shots, she emerged unscathed and laughing. The Crisis suits opened fire on the First Company, killing five and pinning the survivors. The first Fire Warrior squad fired on the Third Warrior Company and killed four. The Broadsides, unable to fire their guns, continued to fight off the Dark Eldar, killing one more.
Turn 4 – Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar continued to press on the Tau. D’nai continued on the Fire Warriors, while the Ravager, whose gunners had now recouped, advanced on the Crisis suits.
The Fourth Company fired on the Second Fire Warrior group, but the shots bounced of. The Archon snapped off a couple of shots to the same effect. The Ravager fired at the Crisis Suits in sustained fire mode and brought down the drone, as well as a previously damaged suit. The Third Warrior Company fired on the First Fire Warriors and killed four of them. The Second Company continued their attack on the Broadsides, but neither side damaged the other in the battle. D’nai charged headlong into the Fire Warriors and dropped another trooper.
Turn 4 – Tau
Once again the Tau stood resolute against the Dark Eldar push. The Crisis Suits opened fire on the Ravager and with a blast to the primary engine; they finally brought the skiff down in a pile of debris. The First Fire Warriors fired on Warrior Company three and killed a single Warrior. The Second Fire Warriors continued their assault on the Archon, losing the Shas’ui to the Archon’s blade. The Broadsides continued their fight versus the Second Warrior company and after killing two more, leaving only two standing, the unit finally broke and ran away.
Turn 5 – Dark Eldar
The second Company continued their retreat, as M’ryd ordered what little remained of his squad forward.
As The Second Warriors ran, they paused briefly to fire their Splinter Cannon’s back toward the Broadsides, but failed to hit the target. The Fourth Company was on the move, but a concentrated burst of Splinter fire caught a weak point in the Broadside’s armour and the seemingly invincible titan finally fell. The Third Company opened fire on the Fire Warrior group and killed another soldier. M’ryd charged into melee with the Crisis suits and managed to inflict damage with his Agoniser. D’nai continued her attack on the Fire Warriors. She managed to kill two of them, but a shot from one of the Tau crippled her Shadowfield and a subsequent shot struck her as well. Begrudgingly, D’nai fell back, as her weak armor was now exposed and she was severely outnumbered.
Turn 5 – Tau
The Fire Warrior Second group advanced in pursuit of the wounded Archon. They were not about to let her escape.
The Broadsides, free to fire again, opened fire on the approaching Fourth Warrior Company and killed two in the salvo. The Second Fire Warriors reacquired their target and fired at the fleeing Archon. The twisted captain was repeated punctured by fire and she went down before finding safety of cover. The First Fire Warriors fired on the Third Warrior Company and finally dropped the last two Warriors stationed in the woods. The Crisis Suits continued to fight M’ryd, but only sustained damage from the Agoniser.
Turn 6 – Dark Eldar
The Seocnd Warrior Company escaped from the battle, as the Fourth Company advanced behind cover within the Tau’s deployment zone. M’ryd continued his attack on the Crisis Suit and managed to wound the soldier, but the battle suit soon overpowered them and the First Company was finished.
Turn 6 – Tau
The Broadsides were the only troops in a position to fend off the four remaining Warriors in their zone. With a hail of fire, they succeeded in only dropping one and the Warriors remained defiantly in their deployment zone.
Final
The Dark Eldar succeeded in gathering intel from the enemy lines, but unfortunately, they had nobody left to use the intelligence…
Dark Eldar – 650 VP, Tau – 730 VP. Draw.
Comments
Jay: Down to the last. I love it. It had been really close…if Brian had moved his second squad of Fire Warriors down a few inches into my deployment zone, he’d have won. I gave him a good run for his money with my forces, despite being reduced down to virtually nothing. I kind of feared the Tau, knowing what kind of weapons they could bring to bear, but I was pleasantly surprised by my army’s performance. One of my better battles, Brian proved to be a very worthy opponent. I can only hope to have further battles like this.
Jay’s MVP Picks:
Dark Eldar – The Fourth Warrior Company. They destroyed the Devilfish, brought down a Broadside and were the last men standing at the end. Not bad for 90 points.lay.
Runner-up – Archon D’nai. She made 11 saves to repel an entire volley of Pulse weapon fire and tied that squad up for half the battle. My Archon has done far worse.
Tau – First Fire Warriors. This was a tough call, but the First Fire Warriors, combined with the Ethereal, destroyed my Mandrakes and my Third Warriors. A great deal of damage for standard foot soldiers.
Runner-up – Crisis Suits. These guys kept my First Company occupied and ultimately killed them, while also bringing down my Ravager.
Brian:My comments for this are coming long after the battle, so they wont be very extensive. I had a lot of fun with this battle. My Tau did what they do best - shoot stuff dead - but Jay still ground my advance to a halt. He got a group of warriors into my deployment zone, so it turned out to be a draw.
Brian’s MVP Picks:
Tau - Crisis suits. These guys did exactly what I wanted them to, keep Jay from advancing through the middle of the board. Taking down Jay's tank and a whole squad of warriors, they did a lot to stop Jay's advance.
Runner up - First Fire Warriors. For killing the mandrakes and a group of warriors.
Dark Eldar – Archon. She resisted an entire barrage at near point blank range, then engaged the squad and kept them from advancing. This probably stopped me from getting anything into his deployment zone.
Runner up - Fourth Warriors. They actually completed there objective, and made the game a tie instead of a win for me.