[1500]IG vs. Tau

[The Celestial]

Imperial Guard(click for photo)
Doctrines:
Special Weapon Teams
Rough Riders (not used this game)
Hardened Fighters
Light Infantry
Veterans
HQ:
Heroic Senior Officer w/Medallion Crimson, Bolt Pistol, Power Weapon
Command Squad: Guardsman w/Flamer
Guardsman w/Master Vox, Laspistol, CC Weapon
Veteran w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Medic w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Frag Grenades, Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry
Special Weapons Squad (A)
Guardsman w/Grenade Launcher x2
Guardsman w/Demo Charge
Guardsman w/Laspistol, Close Combat Weapon x3
Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry
Special Weapon Squad (
Guardsman w/Grenade Launcher x2
Guardsman w/Demo Charge
Guardsman w/Laspistol, Close Combat Weapon x3
Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry
Fire Support Squad
Heavy Bolter Team x3
Light Infantry
Elites:
Hardened Veterans (A)
Veteran w/Plasma Gun
Veteran Lascannon Team
Veteran w/Vox
Veteran Sgt w/Bolter, Surveyor
Hardened Veterans (
Veteran w/Meltagun x2
Veteran w/Shotgun x4
Veteran w/Laspistol, Close Combat Weapon x2
Veteran w/Vox, Laspistol, Close Combat Weapon
Veteran Sgt w/Shotgun, Power Weapon
Frag Grenades
Troops:
Infantry Platoon (A)
Junior Officer w/Honorifica Imperialis, Medallion Crimson, Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon
Command Squad: Guardsman w/Flamer
Guardsman w/Vox
Veteran w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Medic w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Frag Grenades, Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry
Infantry Squad (A-1)
Guardsman x7
Guardsman w/Flamer
Guardsman w/Vox
Veteran Sgt w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Frag Grenades, Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry
Infantry Squad (A-2)
Guardsman x7
Guardsman w/Flamer
Guardsman w/Vox
Veteran Sgt w/Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon
Frag Grenades, Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry

Infantry Platoon (
Junior Officer w/Bolter, Surveyor
Command Squad: Autocannon Team
Guardsman w/Vox
Medic w/Bolter
Infantry Squad (B-1)
Missile Launcher Team
Guardsman w/Plasma Gun
Guardsman x7
Infantry Squad (B-2)
Missile Launcher Team
Guardsman w/Plasma Gun
Guardsman x7
Fast Attack:
Sentinel Squadron
Sentinel x2
Lascannon x2
Hunter-Killer Missile x2
Heavy Support:
Leman Russ
Lascannon
Sponson Heavy Bolters

Tau(click for photo)
HQ:
Shas’el with a Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, and Multi-tracker
Shas’vre Bodyguard with a Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, and Multi-tracker
Shas’vre Bodyguard with a Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, and Multi-tracker
Elites:
Six XV-15 Stealth Suits
Six XV-15 Stealth Suits
3 XV-8 Crisis Battlesuits with a Burst Cannon, Missile Pod, and Multi-tracker
Troops:
12 Firewarriors
12 Firewarriors
12 Kroot Carnivores
Fast Attack:
8 Gun Drones
8 Gun Drones
2 Kroot Hounds(in with Carnivore Squad)
Heavy Support:
XV-88 Broadside Battlesuit
Hammerhead Tank with Railgun and two Burst Cannons

Tau Commander won the roll for Deployment Zone choice and to deploy last.
Recon mission rolled, Gamma ruleset used.

Deployment:
To save time and space, reference this photo for deployment breakdown. Both Tau XV-15 squads and Kroot squad infiltrate. The IG squads infiltrate.
(Perspective throughout this report is based from that units commander at that time. Ie: Tau moving left would be away from the camera in the above photo while IG moving left would be towards the camera.)
More deployment photos. And IG.
No reserves or Deep Striking units held back.

Roll for Dawn to Dusk was a one. Nightfight rules used for turn one only.

IG Commander wins first turn roll four to two.

Turn One, Imperial Guard:
Movement
Infantry Squad A2 moves up six inches.
Sentinels moved up and right six inches out of cover.
Infantry A1 moved up and to the right six inches
Command Squad A moved up and to the right six inches behind Infantry A1
Special Weapons B moved up and to the left six inches
Command HQ moved up and to the left six inches behind Special Weapons B
Leman Russ moved right, sticking just out of cover.
Hardened Vets B rolled two on difficult terrain test, failing to enter the building
Special Weapon Squad A rolled three on difficult terrain test, failing to enter the building
Shooting
Hardened Veteran Squad A fires at the Hammerhead, glancing and destroying.
Sentinel Squad fires at XV-8 squad, destroying two, and forcing a (passed) leadership test.
Infantry Squad A2 fires at XV-15 Squad Omega, failing to deliver wounds.
Assault
None

Turn One, Tau:
Movement
XV-8 Command Squad jumps six inches up out of cover
Kroot advance six inches up and to the right around the ruined building
Both squads of Gun Drones fly forward six inches
XV-15 team squad Alpha hops left six inches out of cover
Shooting
Fire Warrior Alpha squad fails to spot an enemy unit.
XV-88 fires Smart Missiles at Hardened Veteran Squad B, killing one.
XV-15 squad Alpha opens up on Infantry Unit A1, killing 10 and wiping out the unit.
Gun Drone squad Omega fires at Special Weapons Team B, killing all six.
Gun Drone squad Alpha fails to spot the enemy.
XV-8 fail to spot the enemy.
XV-15 squad Omega fires at Infantry Unit A2, killing 7.
Fire Warrior squad Omega fires at Infantry Unit A2, killing the remaining 3 units.
Assault
Kroot Carnivores charge Hardened Veteran Unit B, killing five, while they lose four in the process. The Veteran squad pulls leadership off of the Command Squad with the Vox, and stands strong.
XV-8 Command Squad hops up and to the right, behind the cover of the building.
Gun Drone squad Alpha flies forward six inches.
Gun Drone squad Omega flies back left behind the cover of the bunker.
XV-15 squad Alpha jumps right, back behind cover.

Tau Turn One breakdown:
Wow, everything went wrong. First, it’s a recon mission…I play static Tau. Second, the only benefit the Tau have over IG in shooting is range, which was negated with the Nightfight rules on the first turn. Third, I lost the first turn roll. And we knew that the first turn was going to be a complete slaughterhouse with so many units infiltrating. When I lost that roll, I reached across the table to shake his hand and said “Good game, you win.� Yea, I know my confidence sucks. Forth, I would have held some units back for Deep Striking if I would have known that half of the units wouldn’t even be able to spot the opposing team on the first turn. Fifth, the first shot in the game killed my Hammerhead. I mean, come on now. And without the Railgun and with no Deep Striking, that means that his Russ owns the play field unless I get risky with my XV-88 and move out of cover. It was fun mowing down full squad with massed pulse fire though, but it doesn’t change that I lost 270 points in two shots.

Turn Two, Imperial Guard:
Movement
The Sentinel Squadron moves left six inches.
Special Weapon Squad A moves into the building.
Command HQ moves forward to the left corner of the bunker. Command Squad A moves around the right corner of the bunker.
Shooting
Fire Support Squad, Command Squad B, and Infantry Squad B-1 fire into the Gundrone Squadron, wiping it out.
Special Weapon Squad A fires into the XV-8 Command Squad for 0 wounds.
Leman Russ fires at the XV-8 Command Squad, destroying all three suits. destroying all three suits.
Assault
Special Weapon squad A joins Hardened Veteran squad B in melee with the Kroot and help kill six of them while the Kroot wipe out the Veteran squad. The Kroot fail their leadership test and fall back three inches while the Special Weapons squad consolidates into the Kroot, scattering them.
Platoon Command A assault XV-15 squad Alpha and Junior Officer kills the only three suits in base to base contact with her power weapon ending that assault turn. The XV-15s pass their leadership test and stand strong but the Command squad consolidates into them.

Turn Two, Tau:
Movement
Gun Drone squad Omega jumps forward and to the right six inches, next to the bunker.
The remaining XV-8 jumps six inches up, behind the Gun Drones.
Shooting
XV-88 fires it’s Smart Missiles at Special Weapon Squad A, killing three, forcing a (passed) leadership test.
Fire Warrior squad Alpha fires at Infantry Squad B1, killing four, and forcing a (passed) leadership test.
The Gun Drones fire at the Command HQ, killing three.
The XV-8 fires at Command HQ, killing the remaining two units.
Assault
XV-15 squad Alpha engages Platoon Command A, but are cut down completely before their turn comes up.
Gun Drones jumps forward six inches.
XV-8 jumps forward six inches behind the Drones.

Tau Turn Two Breakdown.
Ouch. Things are looking even worse now. Command squad dead. Stealth team dead. 212 points there. He kept pulling leadership offa his command units and kept passing those fall back tests which made matters even worse. I don’t have much left at this point, so I’m just going to charge everything I have and hope to get to other side of the board. It’s risky with Tau, but I’m going to need some victory points.

Turn Three, Imperial Guard:
MovementXV-8 dead, Gun Drones dead, FW 3 dead and fall back
The Hardened Veterans B’s two remaining models move forward six inches
Platoon Command A moves right six inches
The Sentinel Squadron moves left six inches.
Shooting
Platoon Command B fires at the remaining Gun Drone squad, killing three
The Fire Support squad fires at the Gun Drones as well, killing three as well, forcing a (failed) leadership test.
Infantry Squad B1 fires at Fire Warrior Squad Alpha, killing two.
The Sentinel squadron fires at Fire Warrior Squad Alpha with their Lascannons, killing one and forcing a (failed) leadership test and the Fire Warriors flee the battle
Platoon Command A fires at Fire Warrior Squad Omega, killing two.
Assault
None

Turn Three, Tau:
Movement
XV-15 Omega squad jumps forward six inches
Shooting
XV-15 Omega squad fires at Infantry Squad B2, killing 3 and forcing a (passed) leadership test.
Assault
XV-15 Omega squad jumps forward and to the left six inches.

At this point, there wasn't much units left, I stopped taking pictures, and started sweating, so I really don't remember much of what happened.

Turn Four, Imperial Guard:
Movement
Shooting
Assault

Turn Four, Tau:
Movement
Gun Drone Squad Omega falls back seven inches
Shooting
Gun Drone Squad Omega fires at Platoon Command A, killing one.
Assault
None

Turn Five, Imperial Guard:
Movement
Platoon Command A moves left six inches.
Shooting
Platoon Command A fires at Gun Drones squad Omega, destroying the remaining three drones.
Assault
None

Turn Five, Tau:
Movement
Fire Warrior team moves forward and to the left six inches.
Shooting
None
Assault
None

Turn Six, Imperial Guard:
Movement
Platoon Command A, out of reach of the enemy’s deployment zone, move back six inches, out of line of sight of the Fire Warriors pulse rifles.
The Sentinel Squadron move left six inches
Shooting
None
Assault
None

Turn Six, Tau:
Movement
XV-15 squad Omega jumps forward six inches.
Fire Warrior team moved forward six inches.
Shooting
None
Assault
XV-15 squad Omega jumps forward six inches into the enemy deployment zone.

The final outcome was a draw. The IG army had approx 1120VP and the Tau army had approx 1080VP. One unbroken unit of XV-15’s from the Tau army completed the mission objective in penetrating the IG deployment zone.

Tau Final Overview:
Well, I had fun, a definite change from usually playing Orks. I went into the match with the wrong focus. I had brought a 1000 point army list to team up with the IG player to fight Chaos and Orks, but the Chaos guy didn’t show so we did this instead. My goal with the list was just to bring as many shots to the field as possible try to mow them down. I knew ahead of time that all he had for armor was the Russ, so I only brought one XV-88, just as a back-up if the Russ took down the Hammerhead. I didn’t bring a Ethereal this time, because I had a feeling he would get gunned down against an IG army, and I’m glad I didn’t since both table edges had poor cover. I chose the one with the most cover but there was nothing big enough to hide the Hammerhead. I’d never played a recon mission either, so that took some getting used to. Also, in the last few games versus Orks, I have been winning at least one round of combat, and would love to sweeping advance, but I’ve had a Shaper. So, I didn’t bring the Shaper this time, since it’s IG, and I will beat them in CC, of course. Yea, and I didn’t even get them to fall back. Overall, I’ll take the draw (since I was expecting a loss), but this is one match a learned alot from and would like to go back and do things different.

IG Overview:
That went well, despite the fact that this was my second time playing the IG. Like the Tau player, I was expecting to fight someone else so I wasn’t ready for this game. I probably would have dropped “Hardened Fighters� from most of my units had I known that I playing Tau. I liked infiltrating most of my army. If nothing else, I was able to see where his units would be. My Sentinels, Leman Russ tank and Fire Support Squads did really well, but most of my other squads were vaporized by Tau shooting. Note to self…next time, assault the stealthsuits instead of shooting at them!

[Silver Wings]

I love stealthsuits, and the more you take the better. Losing the Railhead on turn 1 was unfortunate as they can move and fire try and get behind cover.

As a constructive criticism, you didn't seem too good at keeping your Crisis suits alive, with jump shoot jump and some ok cover from the diagrams I saw you certainly shouldn't have lost them all that easily.

I feel for your turn 1 I once started a game after my opponent got first turn playing 1100pts to 1500pts. You did brilliantly to pull it back though.