Astra Militarum vs T'au Empire, 11.05.2022

A second attempt at Tempest of War, embracing the return of 7th edition missions (kind of). Lots to learn about terrain and objective placement.

Note the artillery proxies, as well as the daemonic conscripts.

The T'au won both roll-offs for choosing sides and beginning the game. Sigh. That did not go according to plan. We both redeployed units, with the T'au going all-in first turn.

Battle round 1

The heavy battlesuits moved forward, obliterating both my Chimeras and a Wyvern. Stealthsuits moved in, mowing down an infantry squad.

Then the T'au assaulted both my flanks. In close combat. I mean after shooting, but still in close combat. I definitely did not expect that. Due to proximity, the Ghostkeel caught both my Conscript squads. On the other flank, Inquisitor Clotilde made all her saves, but again everything was tied up.

On my t urn, I had to gain some ground. The Bullgryns advanced unto an objective. I kept the Conscripts in combat to die down the Ghostkeel. I had other targets to focus on. Tank Commanders moved to gain firing arc on the Riptides. Ogryns Move to help the close combat. Spoiler: close combat whiffed, but at least kept my stuff safe from shooting next turn.

Bad cards (due to objective placement) and bad shooting. Pask and the Punisher could not take down a Riptide, while the artillery could not take down a Devilfish.

Battle round 2

The T'au advance on my right flank, while also targeting the Bullgryns (who decided to make all their saves). Goodbye, Pask. At least I killed the Stealth Suits in combat.

I fell back the Conscripts (which I should have done a turn earlier, to gain the objectives) and killed the Ghostkeel with Multimeltas. Those guns are good, folks.

The T'au commander exposed himself, so I concentrated fire on him - leaving him at 1 wound. Sigh. I also chipped away at the Riptides, to no great effect. Need to learn better target priority.

At least the heroic Ogryns survived both overwatch and close combat, tying down one Riptide.

Feeling kind of exposed here, not gonna lie.

Battle round 3

Two squads of Crisis battlesuits descended from the sky, totally ignoring the Delayed Reserves mission rule. They shot at my infantry, with mediocre results.

The highlight of the shooting phase was the tied down Riptide declaring plasma into the Ogryn and everything else at the Punisher, with the Ogryn surviving. The Punisher did make some fancy saves, but eventually died, along with the Inquisitor.

I pulled my cards but decided I could not catch up, and with the store closing I decided to concede on the spot. With good cards I could have made it to turn 5, but unlikely.

Summary

Well, that went better than expected. I am always biased against T'au for some reason, but I found their shooting phase survivable, I guess. It also helps if your opponent is gracious and the match is fun.

It's my second game with Guard since the balance dataslate and a variation of this list. I still like it, I just need to get better with it. Especially placing pre-game stuff.