I switched out the Plasma Destructors for some Volcano Cannons, and mixed them into other formations rather than keeping them separate. Ordinatus artillery formations were again at more points. Figures once again a combination of Guard and Chaos proxies.
Incompertus, 4000 POINTS
Gryphonne IV Skitarii Legion (NetEA 2.1 (Approved Candidate version))
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ORDINATUS MAJORUS [550]
1 Ordinatus Majorus, Ordinatus Golgotha (Hellfire Missiles)
ORDINATUS MINORUS [600]
2 Ordinatus Minorus, 2 Minorus with Quake Cannon, Minorus with Carapace Landing Pad
ORDINATUS MINORUS [450]
2 Ordinatus Minorus, 2 Minorus with Gatling Blaster, Minorus with Volcano Cannon
ORDINATUS MINORUS [450]
2 Ordinatus Minorus, 2 Minorus with Gatling Blaster, Minorus with Volcano Cannon
SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [425]
2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units, Magos Character, Minorus with Support Missile
SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [325]
2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units, Minorus with Corvus Assault Pod
SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [225]
2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units
SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [225]
2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units
SAGITARII DEMI-CENTURY [275]
5 Sagitarii units, 5 Rapier Laser Destroyer Unit
ORDINATUS MINORUS [475]
2 Ordinatus Minorus, 2 Minorus with Volcano Cannon, Minorus with Gatling Blaster
Tau list, no Supreme Commander this time, and a massive BTS formation.
| 525 | FW Cadre, 12 Fire Warriors, Ethereal, Bonded Team, 2 Pathfinders, 2 Gun Drones, Devilfish | |
| 325 | FW Cadre, 6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish, Skyray | |
| 325 | FW Cadre, 6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish, Skyray | |
| 325 | 6 Crisis Suits, Shas'el | |
| 325 | 6 Crisis Suits, Shas'el | |
| 200 | Pathfinder Group, 4 Pathfinders, 2 Devilfish | |
| 200 | Pathfinder Group, 4 Pathfinders, 2 Devilfish | |
| 200 | Pathfinder Group, 4 Pathfinders, 2 Devilfish | |
| 200 | Pathfinder Group, 4 Pathfinders, 2 Devilfish | |
| 225 | 4 Railhead Hammerheads | |
| 175 | 4 Tetra, 2 Piranha | |
| 175 | 4 Tetra, 2 Piranha | |
| 200 | Protector Class Cruiser | |
| 150 | Orca | |
| 150 | Orca | |
| 150 | 2 Barracuda | |
| 150 | 2 Barracuda |
Turn 1
Deployment as below. The Tau BTS is holding the central buildings and ruins.
I win Strategy Roll, and Minoris Support Missile fires at the BTS but only killing one unit (could only get 5 under the templates due to good spacing).
The Tau target the Corvus Minoris, stripping it's shields and damaging it with a co-ordinated fire involving Hammerhead Tanks.
I marshal advancing the formation and restoring shields.
On the right flank, my Minoris take fire and no damage, but then advance...
... and destroy the Tau Hammerheads.
My two other Minoris formations on the left flank advance and target the Tau BTS formation killing more units. I also manage to line up two volcano cannons to target the Ethereal and kill him, removing fearless ability from the formation.
Amazingly after all the fire, the Tau BTS has only just broken though! It retreats to the backfield, taking more fire from the Minoris Artillery and suffering more losses. My Majoris artillery manages to wreck a pathfinder formation.
Tau Barracudas strip shields from the Corvus Minoris again.
And end of turn, first Tau air attack lands...
... and with crossfire wrecks the Minoris formation leaving it with only one damaged Minoris remaining.
Then another air drop on the next flank...
...another crossfire and Hypaspist formation is left with only two units remaining.
Lastly Tau Spacecraft arrives (represented by AX-10 here), and destroys the Corvus Minoris and last Minoris from the wrecked right flank formation.
End of turn.
My Sagitarri have moved to the central building.
Turn 2
Tau win Strategy Roll, and Crisis suits destroy a Minoris and strip shields from the rest of the formation.
Crisis suits on the other flank cross fire a Hypaspist formation, but do little damage and retreat to the woods with their jump jets.
I marshal my freshly damaged Minoris formation forwards restoring shields and removing some blast markers.
I also engage and almost wipe out a Pathfinder formation, as Barracudas target my Hypaspists.
Tau advance and target my Sagitarri but do little damage.
My Minoris artillery breaks the left flank Crisis formation, killing three of them. The Majoris Artillery only kills a single unit from the right flank Crisis formation.
More fire is exchanged with little extra effect, and the turn ends.
Turn 3
Tau win Strategy Roll again. Crisis Suits jet forward and target the Minoris artillery but fail to damage them.
Infantry from both sides contest the central buildings, and both sides take significant casulaties.
My Minoris roll forward to a Take and Hold Objective and destroy a couple more Tau formations before they are in turn broken.
More fire is exchanged, but formations on both sides are suffering from suppression and casualties and the game shifts to a battle of slower attrition and positioning.
Turn 4
I throw my Supreme Commanders formation into the central buildings to prevent the Tau gaining "They Shall Not Pass" and "Defend the Flag" and both sides concentrate on doing as much damage as possible.
Game fails to go to turn 5, and then the game is over. Tau have one objective (Take and Hold), Skitarri none. Victory points are approximately Skitarri 1600, and Tau, 1300.
Conclusion
A closer game this time, though still a Skitarri victory by Victory Points. I thought it would be easy to get the Tau BTS formation after I killed the Ethereal. However after the air drops I felt I needed to redirect my artillery fire to prevent being overrun at my Blitz, and couldn't get the last three units from this Tau BTS formation all game. The Tau air drops were quite devastating, especially with crossfire and some favourable dice rolls but then they were blunted by less favourable circumstance and return fire. Volcano cannons were of course overkill against almost anything in the Tau list, but still useful with their range and power. They would have been even more useful if Tau had taken Mantas of course!
Once again this game I frequently used marshal actions to recover shields and remove blast markers and this was an effective tactic. There were many activation failures as blast markers accumulated and Skitarri were reduced to holding the central area and batting away the Tau attacks. I made sure I threw enough weight into the centre that Tau couldn't get an easy victory with 'Defend the Flag' or 'They Shall Not Pass' though, meaning Victory Points would be decisive and likely in favour of Skitarri as they turned out to be. Artillery formations once again very tough formations to take on effectively and preserved Skitarri Blitz and BTS well.
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