[Maj Stryker]

Dang.

That nearly makes me sick. Such bravery on the part of the Xeno scum. I think I would have taken more burst cannons to help deal with your troops had I been your opponent.

The Tau should really take a hard look at this defeat. What went wrong and how should we fix it?

Deployment: Unless you get first turn...don't leave your one hammerhead out in the open, especially on a hill so everyone can shoot you. Cover is your friend. The Pathfinders should have gotten out of thier Devilfish, but that wouldn't have saved them.

Turn 1: IG goes first. Well, what did Farsight expect to happen? Of course the IG are going to shoot the heck out of him. All Tau units were in clear view of dedicated anti-armor troops. Losses included one whole firewarrior team by two tanks, one Broadside, one devilfish, all but one member of Pathfinder team, and the Hammerhead. TAU goes second. The Tau commander did pretty good considering the horrendous losses he just took. Killed 5 guardsmen from 1 squad with 12 shots from a firewarrior team (estimated shots), 4 guardsmen from one heavy weapons squad, stunned one leman russ, killed another 5 guardsmen from another squad with two crisis suits. My conclusion of Turn 1 is: Very Well Played by the IG commander, Tau Commander has overcommitted...heavy losses early should have signaled to him to withdraw, re-organize and try again.

Turn 2: The Game is Nearly Over. IG Commander gets a lucky reserves deep strike roll and obliterates the last Broadside suit. Had the IG not gotten this roll, I believe the Tau would still have conceded. Heavy Weapons left from the Tau's first turn finish off the crisis suits. The two tanks who killed the first Firewarrior Squad kill the second the SAME WAY!! The Stealth team did not use thier mobility to stay out of lasgun range and were gunned down. The Tau commander concedes cause he has ONE Stealthsuit left and the remainders of one smoking, shell-shocked Firewarrior squad.

IG Casualties = 14 troops, one big ding in the Leman Russ.
Tau Casualties = 24 firewarriors, x number of pathfinders (they may never know due to the fire in the devilfish), 2 crisis suits, 1 Shas'O, 2 Stealth Suits, 2 Broadsides, a Devilfish, and a Hammerhead.

The Tau played right into the IG commanders hands. In trying to stay static and use his long range guns, the Tau left themselves vulnerable to deep striking units, mobile armor and longer ranged anti-armor weapons. Mobility may have saved the Tau Commander if he had withdrawn from LOS and regrouped. Had he gotten to go first, the first turn may have been to the Tau, but even with Markerlights and Seeker Missiles, I have a hard time thinking that the Armor of the IG would have been reduced to a considerable number.

Better Luck next time Xeno.