Tau vs Necrons (750pt) II Battle Report (Zorcon's Perspective)

Here is my second attempt at writing a battle report. Even though more time had elapsed between the first battle and writing that report, I had taken better pictures during that game to help remember and show everything that happened.

Battle Report Zorcon (Tau) vs Laertes (Necrons) Round 2
OK, this is our rematch. I was a little unsure of my list, but we decided to keep our lists the same for one more battle (although, Laertes did make a minor wargear change to his lord). I will definitely be revising the list for our next game.

I still do not have my head wrapped around the tau. Too many years with marines, and not enough games are under my belt in the “current” rules environment (3rd-5th edition). In my head during a game, I “convert” my tau units to marine equivalents. For example, in my first couple of games I treated my crisis suits as light dreadnaughts, and in my last couple of games I treated them as terminators. I realize for many reasons this is a really bad idea, and I’m working on that…

Zorcon: 750 points of Tau
1 Shas’o with missile pod, plasma rifle, and multi tracker
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
9 Warriors and Devilfish with disruption pod
2 Crisis Suits with burst cannon and fusion blaster
1 Hammerhead with railgun, smart missiles, decoy launchers and disruption pod

Laertes: 750 pts of Necrons
1 Lord with resurrection orb
11 Warriors
10 Warriors
3 Destroyers
1 Heavy Destroyer

After the last game (battle report by <Zorcon> and <Laertes>), I really wanted my crisis suits to perform better. I knew Laertes would be targeting them with his destroyers, but I hadn’t really come up with a plan yet.

Mission: Secure and Control / Deployment: Pitched Battle


Setup:
We rolled a 2 for the Secure and Control mission, so we both had one objective marker to place, and did so in our respective deployment zones. Like the last battle, this was a low point-value game, so we opted for a 4’ x 4’ board. Also like last battle, Laertes won the roll and chose to set up first.

Laertes lined up his forces along the edge of his deployment zone. To his left was a unit of warriors guarding an objective, then his lord with the other unit of warriors in the middle. To his right he placed the destroyers, and far right was the heavy destroyer.

I chose to reserve both units of firewarriors , but only one unit in its transport. I placed the suits and railhead to my far left behind a hill. I seized the initiative and got to go first!

Turn 1:
My first turn was pretty quick. The suits were not in range to jump-shoot-jump at the destroyers (and I was not ready to advance them), so they stayed put. Actually, my plan was to make Laertes come to me. All I did was take a shot at the heavy destroyer with the railhead, and missed.

Laertes advanced his lord and unit of warriors towards my objective. He then slid his destroyers and heavy destroyer to the left. The destroyers caught a glimpse of one of my suits and managed to take it out. The heavy destroyer hit but failed to wound the railhead.


Turn 2:
Most of my reserves showed up – both units of firewarriors and one fish. I placed the fish with troops next to my objective and the unit of warriors to my far right. I decided to make a move for the forest with my suits and get a better position to thwart the destroyers. The railhead took a shot and missed the heavy destroyer.

Laertes unloaded the mighty firepower of his devastators on my suits and took them all out. His heavy destroyer hit and stunned the hammerhead. His lord and warriors advanced but got hung up on a fence mid field.

Turn 3:
No reserves came on board. In hindsight, I made a mistake here. I should have advanced my railhead, but since I couldn’t get to a point to target the heavy destroyer out of cover, at the time, I didn’t see the point. So I didn’t move, shot at, and missed the heavy destroyer. My fish dropped its load of troops and drones at the objective and made a screening advance towards the necon’s front line. I then moved the other unit of warriors up to my objective.

Laertes didn’t move either unit of warriors. The unit by the objective shot at the fish, stunning the crew and taking out the burst cannon. The unint in the middle of the field shot at my warriors holding my objective, scoring a few wounds. He then swung the destroyers towards his front lines. Lastly the heavy destroyer hit, but failed to damage the railhead.


Turn 4:
Again, no reserves showed up. I tightened my units around my objective, and shot at the lead necron unit, causing a wound. The railhead took a shot at, but missed the heavy destroyer.

Laertes returned fire on the railhead, and again failed to cause any damage (seeing a pattern yet?). The destroyers continued towards the middle of the board. The forward unit took out a few more firewarriors guarding my objective.


Turn 5:
Not surprisingly, my last devilfish showed up! I placed it as far forward as I could keeping it between the destroyers and my objective. My forward fish tried to tank shock the necron lord and unit of warriors, and then pushed forward to contest Laertes objective. My hammerhead finally took out the heavy destroyer. I regrouped the remaining firewarriors around thee objective, preparing for a charge by the necrons.

Laertes advanced his destroyers and nearly completely wiped out my firewarriors, the few survivors fell back. My devilfish was destroyed by heavy fire from the warriors, freeing up Laertes’ objective. His lord and warriors near the center of the board advance towards my objective.

That was the end of the game. Lucky for me as one more turn would have definitely turned into a loss.


Result: Tactical Draw (Zorcon 1 / Laertes 1)

It wasn’t until the end of the game that I realized a mistake I made before the game even started. When I assembled my hammerhead for the battle (adding all the wargear and weapon loadouts) I accidentally placed burst cannons instead of SMS in the drone sockets. I can’t say this had a major impact on the game, but there were one or two turns I would have been able to fire them.

Once again the destroyers owned my suits. But what bothers me most is that freaking back and fourth with the heavy destroyer. Even though I eventually took him out, I spent the entire game to do it (and the same in game 1). I consider that exchange a loss (in both games).

In a weird way, I consider this game a win for me. In the last two games, comparing our armies, Laertes has the game won on paper:

• 1 necron lord and 21 warriors vs 18 fire warriors and 2 devilfish (Laertes wins)
• 3 destroyers vs 1 crisis suit commander and 2 crisis suits (Laertes wins BIG)
• 1 heavy destroyer vs 1 hammerhead (Laertes wins on point exchange)

So any result that is not a loss for me is a moral vicory!

PHOTO NOTE: I'm not sure what happened, but in a few of the pictures, the lower right corner was black. I copy/pasted a corner from a different shot, and you may notice a double image of the hammerhead.