Black Templars vs Tau

Well, here is my first battle report for this blog. In fact it's my first battle report period. So...here goes.

1850 Points
Capture and Control
Pitched Battle setup

The terrain was a decayed urban environment with an older bunker providing the Tau base, and a bit of impassible terrain for my base. The Tau player won the roll and chose to go first. He set up his defensive line. Three squads of Fire Warriors guarding the base with support from two Hammerheads and one Devilfish transport. He held in reserve two crisis suit squads and one Stealth suit squad. He infiltrated one Stealth suit squad past his line in the main alleyway.

I setup a rhino with five man squad by my objective. My vindicator behind my Land Raider Crusader with fire-support from my dreadnought. On the far left I place two rhinos with squads in the hopes of rushing his objective. I keep in reserve my Assault Marines. My goal is to contest his objective and hopefully divert him from trying too hard to get mine.

Turn One - Tau
Tau goes first. His Stealth suits blast the melta gun from my Land Raider but that's the only damage I take in his turn.

Turn One - Black Templar
I moved my rhinos forward, popping smoke to obscure any shots.
My dreadnought lets loose on one of his Hammerheads, misses with the krak missile, but my lascannon hits, destroying it. The first kill of the game. Hoora! I drove my Terminator-filled Land Raider down on his stealth suits and let them out, massacring them.

Turn Two - Tau
His reserves begin to come in. One crisis suit squad manages to come in. The other scatters off the table but goes back into reserve. The one that makes it blasts my Vindicator into tiny pieces and I loose a Terminator to a barrage from the remaining hammerhead.

Turn Two - Black Templar
My Assault Marines fail the reserve roll.
I advance my Terminators on his Hammerhead and drive my Emperor's Champion Rhino straight at his fire warriors.
I turn my Land Raider at the Crisis suit squad and fire on it. Doing some wounds but no real damage.
My Terminators charge his hammerhead, destroying it, but due to the Flechete Launchers and the exploding vehicle, I loose more Terminators. Sigh.
Turn Three - Tau
He rolls for his remaining reserved troops and they both come in. The remaining Crisis suits land behind my 5-man rhino. His Stealth suit squad has a deep strike mishap and is destroyed.
He moves his Devilfish to where his Hammerhead was. His HQ Crisis suits fire on my Land Raider, opening it up and leaving a mess of wreckage.


He directs his Fire Warriors to fire on my Emperor's Champion's Rhino. They do no damage to it. Which is quite the bonus for me. On the other hand, his 2nd squad of Crisis Suits immobilize my 5-man rhino.

Turn Three - Black Templar
My Assault Marines land on the table behind his line of Fire Warriors for what I hope to be a good diversion.
My Emperor's Champion hops out of his rhino with his squad behind him and moves to the Fire Warriors defending the Objective. I tank shock his Fire Warriors in an attempt to keep them from my Squad. I move my Terminators past his Devilfish, ignoring it. My Dreadnought ignores the Crisis suits and moves to his the Devilfish. I also let my 5-man squad out to take on the 2nd Crisis Suits in the hopes that I can bog them down for a few turns. Shooting phase I do a few shots from my Assault Marines, causing a few wounds. I do the same with my other squads, just weakening him before the assault phase. My Dreadnought scores a hit on the Devilfish, immobilizing it and cause me to now think it harmless. I assault. I engage the 2nd Crisis suits in an effort to stall them.

Turn Four - Tau
He tries to move his Fire Warriors around my Rhino in an attempt to kill my Assault Marines. His defenders shoot at my Crusaders. They do no damage. His Devilfish however, opens up on my Terminators, killing one and I fail my leadership roll. They flee 8 inches!! Not cool, but it is my hope they may goad him to bring his Crisis suits closing and away from my objective. He uses the Crisis Suits to assault my Dreadnought, blasting it. My squad survives the Close Combat with the 2nd Crisis suits and bogs him down for another turn.

Turn Four - Black Templar
I regroup my Terminators and move them out of line of sight of the Devilfish. I tank shock his Fire Warriors again to move them farther away from the objective and to put both squads in assault range of my Assault Marines. I fire my trooper held Lascannon at the HQ Crisis Suits but causes a wound, no casualties. My Crusader Squad assaults the defending Fire Warriors, massacre them and take the objective. My Assault Marines assault both remaining Fire Warrior squads, making sure to get in combat with both squads. I do. They kill one of mine. I kill four of his. They run and I overtake them. His troops are out. My close combat with the 2nd Crisis Suits doesn't go so well. They kill the last remaining Marines.

Turn Five - Tau
With only two remaining active units he decides to slog it to my objective. I don't like it, but its ok. I think I have his pretty well defended now, but I forgot that his Crisis suits were HQ and Elite and could not hold objectives. So I was worried that the best I'd get was a draw. I am hoping this game ends before turn 6. He does surprise me that he uses his 2nd Crisis Suits squad to destroy my now useless Rhino. But he fires on my Objective holding-rhino, popping it and killing one Marine. They hold their ground though, in the face of their certain death.

Turn Five - Black Templar
I move my Assault Marines just out of range for his 2nd Crisis Suits, but just in range for my jump packs. I move my Terminators in position to assault and destroy that annoying Devilfish. They are successful.

I roll for the game to end...and it goes on for Turn Six.

Turn Six - Tau
He moves his 2nd squad closer to my Marines and blasts them, killing at least half. They hold their ground though. He moves them back in the assault phase in the hopes it will put them out of assault range. It doesn't. He moves in with his other Crisis suits and assaults my defending squad, wiping them out. My objective is now his. I'm a little glum. This would have been my first win our local gaming group, but now I think I've just pulled off another draw. However, I am reminded that his Elite and HQ units cannot hold objectives, only contest them. Well, my mood brightens, and I think about my turn.

Turn Six - Black Templar
I jump my Assault Marines to his 2nd Crisis suit squad and do just enough wounds to cause it to flee and I overtake it and wipe it out. My turn ends and we roll to see if the game continues. It doesn't.

Objectives
Tau - 0
Black Templars - 1

It was a fun game, and my first win here. I was very happy with it. I think I did mess up. I should have reserved everything. I felt I held his object with too much time left for him to react and take it from me. But all in all, it was an enjoyable experience for this green player.