Battle Report: 1K Tau vs Tyranids

Battle Report

Tau versus Tyranids

1000 pts

Preliminary: The scenario, table organization, and deployment order were selected via dice rolls, giving us a basic "take objectives" game, the table split down the middle lengthwise, and Tau deploying and going first.

Turn 1:

With the entirety of my forces already on the table, there wasn't much to do other than adjust as needed. The only thing within range was a squad of termagants, so with a railgun submunition from my Hammerhead, 5 termagants met their doom.

The Tyranids then attempt to spawn more termagants with the Tervigon, but a roll of doubles ended that before it started. The Hive Tyrant positioned itself and fired upon my Hammerhead, but no damage was done.

Turn 2:

I positioned the Hammerhead and fired at the Hive Tyrant with the railgun and smart missile system (SMS), missing with both. Thankfully my Devilfish had better luck, moving forward and killing a Zoanthrope with its SMS.

Genestealers then arrived on a long table edge, flanking and moving into a wooded area. The Hive Tyrant then fired at my Devilfish, taking a hull point and stunning the crew.

Turn 3:

With the squad of genestealers threatening to take control of the center objective, I launch a massive attack with pitiful results: the left Piranha kills 2 genestealers, my Crisis suit Commander kills 2 genestealers, my Hammerhead only kills 1 genestealer, then my center Crisis Suit, Krootgun, and Devilfish all miss their shots. So many twos rolled...

The remaining zoanthrope fires upon my flanking Piranha, causing 1 hull point in damage. The Hive Tyrant then fires at and destroys the center Crisis Suit. The genestealers move and assault my left Piranha, only to do no damage and take 2 casualties from a flechette discharger.

Turn 4:

My commander unleashes hell with his Cyclic Ion Blaster and kills the remainder of the genestealer unit. With the genestealers gone, I decided to focus on taking down the Hive Tyrant. Realizing the gamble, I disembarked my Firewarriors from the Devilfish to increase my chances of causing enough wounds to kill it. 19 Firewarrior shots, my krootgun, the Hammerhead railgun and SMS, and the Devilfish burst cannon and SMS only cause a total of 3 wounds. I had 32 chances to wound, and only 3 made it. I've never seen so many twos on my dice ever. And on a related note my right flanking Piranha misses the remaining Zoanthrope.

The Hive Tyrant regenerated 1 wound, then commences fire at my Firewarriors, thankfully also having a bad dice-rolling day, as only 1 Firewarrior was killed, and only 1 more Firewarrior was killed in the ensuing assault. Another unit of genestealers flank and arrived to replace the previous unit's place.

Turn 5:

With the Hive Tyrant tied up in assault, I focused on the newly arrived genestealers. My Piranha missed on all counts, but my Crisis Suit Commander killed 3, the Hammerhead killed 3, and my Krootgun killed one. My right flanking Piranha and my Devilfish focused on the remaining Zoanthrope, killing it. The assault between the Firewarriors and the Hive Tyrant was resolved with predictable results: the entire unit was killed after the sweeping advance.

After consolidation movement, the Hive Tyrant moved straight to my Kroot, assaulting them, and sadly also annihilating the entire squad after sweeping advance.

With a dice roll of a 1 the game ends right here, solidifying my loss. My Tau had First Blood and Linebreaker for 2 points, but the Tyranids had one controlled Objective for 3 points.

Lessons: Never forget Overwatch, as I forgot to do this with my Firewarriors and the Kroot before they were assaulted by the Hive Tyrant. That could have been a game changer. Tactically though, I have no regrets, as I felt the odds were in my favor, but the dice rolls weren't. Again, I've never seen so many twos rolled in my life.

Predictions if the game continued: It wouldn't have taken much to kill the Hive Tyrant (1 wound left) and the two genestealers left from the unit. That would have cleared 2/3 of the table. My forces could then encircle and lay down fire upon the remaining two squads of termagants and the Tervigon.