Battle Report - Tau and Eldar vs Orks

We know you love hearing about how Ruben and I mess up the rules and have the tactical IQ of lemmings but it's time for this week's battle report - Ruben's Tau and Chris's Eldar vs Chris's Orks.

The Armies

Tau and Eldar

Yes, Ruben borrowed some of my Eldar models and put them with his small contingent of Tau:

 - Tau Cadre Fireblade (or something)

 - 12 Tau Fire Warriors

 - 8 Tau Pathfinders

 - 3 Tau Stealth Team

 - 1 Eldar Spiritseer

 - 5 Eldar Dire Avengers with an Exarch

 - 5 Eldar Rangers

 - 6 Eldar Windrider Jetbikes (in units of 3)

 - 5 Eldar Wraithguard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent

 - Eldar Wraithknight with Heavy Wraithcannons and Scatter Lasers

Orks

All my Ork models including the recent additions from the battleforce (a good buy if you're thinking of making an Ork army):

 - Warboss with a Twin-linked Shoota and Power Klaw 

 - 5 Nobz with Twin-linked Shootas and Big Choppas in a Trukk

 - 20 boyz with Choppas and Sluggas led by a Nob with a Power Klaw

 - 12 boyz with Shootas led by a Nob with a Big Choppa

 - 9 Lootas with a Mek

 - 9 Burnas with a Mek in a Looted Wagon

 - 3 Nobz on Warbikes

 - 3 Deffkoptas

 - 1 Deff Dread with Scorcha and Big Shoota

Set-up

I picked sides and went for the side with a large building in the middle of the table. Ruben got second choice and went for the side opposite mine. 

Tau and Eldar

Ruben won the roll to go first and set up - the Wave Serpent with the Wraithguard and Spiritseer were deployed on his far right ready to shoot forwards in the first turn. The Warlord with the Fire Warriors and the Pathfinders started in and around the building on Ruben's left while the Dire Avengers occupied the objective in the middle of the table next to the Wraithknight. The Rangers were deployed in the trees to the left of the Dire Avengers while the two squads of Windriders were deployed on Ruben's far left. The Stealth Team were kept in reserve.

Orks

I didn't really want to sit all my Orks in front of the Fire Warriors and Wraithknight so both squads of boyz started on my far right opposite the Windriders. The Trukk with the Nobz, the Nob Bikers and the Deff Dread started behind the building in the middle of the board while the Lootas were sitting in the building with a good field of fire. I left my left flank light with just the Burnas in the Looted Wagon and the Deffkoptas 'hiding' behind a building.

Turn 1

I didn't steal the initiative so Ruben went first. The Wave Serpent moved straight forwards and fired at the Deffkoptas killing one. The Pathfinders moved forwards with the Wraithknight leaping into the middle of the battlefield and unleashing the deadly Heavy Wraithcannons into the side of the Looted Tank… and causing Crew Shaken. The Fire Warriors fired at the Lootas killing 3 of them - luckily then didn't run (something that always worries me with Orks). The Rangers also shot at the Lootas but failed to kill any. Finally, the Jetbikes moved into the middle of the board turbo-boosting to gain the cover save (not needed against Orks Ruben).

In response, I moved the remaining Deffkoptas towards the Wave Serpent and both shot and assaulted but failed to damage (leaving me in an awful position for the start of turn 2). The Looted Wagon headed quickly into the middle of the battlefield (dangerously close to the Wraithknight) - I needed to get the Burnas into those Fire Warriors. The Lootas opened up on the Wraithknight and did… nothing. Even the Mek with his Kustom Mega-Blaster failed to wound the beast. The Deff Dread did the unthinkable and headed out to face the Wraithknight (suicide I know but it was that or stay behind the building). The Trukk and Nob Bikers sped forwards as far as possible while the boyz moved forwards and opened up on the Jetbikes killing one.

Turn 2

The Stealth team arrived from deep strike and would have given the Ork Boyz something else to shoot at if Ruben had better luck with deep-striking (honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone who is consistently as bad). Their mishap mean that they started in difficult (dangerous) terrain next to the Fire Warriors at the other side of the board. The Wraithguard got out of the Wave Serpent and got 10 hits on the Deffkoptas. Luckily, the high toughness meant that they only took 3 wounds so one survived with a single wound remaining. Not happy with that, Ruben shot at the remaining Deffkopta with the Fire Warriors and the Pathfinders and eventually killed it. Ruben had first blood. The Wraithknight then wrecked the looted tank spilling the Burnas into the middle of the board, close to both squads of Pathfinders. The Jetbikes shot at the larger boyz squad with killing one.

The Ork turn two was much better than the first. The Burnas moved into a great position and flamed both squads of the Pathfinders, killing all of one squad and one of the other. Having lost a quarter of their squad, these Pathfinders decided to run - they would not be the last to flee the Orks in this turn. Deff Dread moved in behind the Jetbikes and (stupidly) decided to shoot at them with the Scorcha, killing one and causing them to run too. The Trukk deposited the Nobz who then shot at the Dire Avengers killing two and causing them to flee too. The Warbikers pushed forward into the trees luckily passing their dangerous terrain test and charging into the Rangers. The Rangers were no match for the Nobz and the two remaining decided to run away as well. Finally, the Boyz charged the other Jetbike squad killing them off completely (and only using one third of the available attacks to do so). Finally, the Lootas again shot at the Wraithknight, again failing to do anything to it. Unfortunately, the Mek managed to melt himself with his own Kustom Mega-blasta.

So after turn 2, half of Ruben's Eldar and his remaining Pathfinders were running with the Ork situation looking pretty good. I guess borrowed armies just don't fight as well as your own…

Turn 3

The Pathfinders kept running and the Rangers cleared the board edge but the Dire Avengers and the second Windrider squad rallied and were able to fire snapshots at the incoming Orks. The Wraithguard got back in the Wave Serpent which moved towards the Burnas in the middle of the field. The Wave Serpent, Fire Warriors and Wraithknight all shot at the Burnas killing all but one. The Wraithknight made up for that by charging the hapless Burna and smashing him into the ground. The Stealth team jumped to the side of the building to shoot at the incoming Warbikers but one of them got lost on the way and died of exposure (or a dangerous terrain test). The remaining two fired at the bikers killing one.

In response, the Choppa boy and Nobz all moved forwards to the objective that the Dire Avengers had been holding with the Shoota boyz heading into a building to grab the objective on the top floor. From here, they shot at the Windriders killing one and again causing them to run. The Nob Warbikers charged the Stealth team and wiped them out before consolidating closer to the building to strike at the Tau Fire Warriors there. The Trukk shot at the Fire Warriors killing one with the Big Shoota while the Lootas shot at the now expose Wave Serpent but failed to cause any damage. The Deff Dread ran into the midst of the boyz hoping to be some use in the upcoming assault on the Tau building.

Turn 4

It started to go horribly wrong for the Orks. Coming within rapid fire range of the Fire Warriors meant that the Nobz were decimated with just a single Nob and the Warboss with two wounds remaining. The remaining Dire Avengers shot at the Nob Warbikers killing one (damn you Bladestorm) and then assaulting with neither side inflicting any wounds - the Warbiker was bogged down in combat. The Wraithknight jumped behind the Deff Dread and shot at it with both Wraithcannons (I suggested using a single Scatter Laser for Laser Lock but what would I know?) and missed with both shots (gotta love double-1 and "I told you so"). However, it decided to charge and following the smash, the Deff Dread was merely a wreck. The Wave Serpent headed towards the building with my Lootas for a potentially game winning move.

So with only one Nob remaining with the Warboss, I decided to move the Warboss into the relatively safer giant squad of boyz and put the Nob in the trukk on his own and headed towards the Fire Warrior building - on reflection, the Warboss should have done with him but nevermind. The Trukk shot and Nob shot at the Fire Warriors and killed another one. The boyz continued to push towards the building making very slow progress. The Shoota boyz moved further into the building and shot at the remaining Jetbike finally managing to kill it. The Lootas again shot at the incoming Wave Serpent (sensing certain death very near) but again did nothing to harm it. The Warbiker fought with the Dire Avengers and managed to kill the Exarch after Ruben decided that he wanted a better chance of making the save rather than protecting the more valuable leader.

Final Turn

With GW Dave calling time on our game, this would be the final turn.

Ruben really cleaned up in this turn. His Fire Warriors and Wraithguard fired everything at the boyz and the Warboss and wiped them out - Ruben had Slay the Warlord. His Wave Serpent deployed the Wraithguard onto the second floor of the building where they used their D-Scythes to great effect, clearing the top floor of the three Lootas sitting quietly there. The Wave Serpents Shuriken Cannons then cleaned out the first floor killing the final to Lootas. As his Wraithguard were on the second floor, they had moved within range of the objective on the top floor and claimed the four Victory Points - things were looking grim. Luckily in the combat, my Nob Warbiker killed the remaining Dire Avengers in combat and was now free to kill everything else on the table.

I had a single Nob Warbiker, a Trukk and a squad of Shoota boyz sitting on a 3 VP objective. I needed to pull something out of the bag. The Nob seeing a 3 VP objective nearby immediately sped towards that and then fired at the Pathfinders killing one. The Shoota boyz fired at the Wraithguard in the nearby building and managed to kill two of them - unfortunately fearless meant there was no way of pushing them off the objective. Finally the Trukk fired one last time at the Fire Warriors but didn't do anything.

Final Score

Ruben: First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, 4 VP objective = 7 Victory Points

Chris: Linebreaker, 3 VP objective, 3 VP objective = 7 Victory Points.

ELDAR, TAU AND ORKS WIN! OR LOSE!

Conclusions

And that was that. It was a hard fought battle with ups and downs for both of us. We both sensed victory and had it snatched away. Here are our final thoughts (just like in White Dwarf only possibly with more expletives):

Chris: For me, the Nob Warbikers were great. They sped ahead and took no prisoners finishing off three different units and stealing the draw for me in the last move of the game

Ruben: "I think your bikes were outstanding, the MVP of your team for sure"

Ruben: "The MVP in my army was clearly the FW"

Chris: "They were annoyingly great"

Ruben: "That Wave Serpent killing the last Loota and letting me claim the objective - that was gold"

Ruben: "I was very happy I killed a shit lot of Orks"

So in conclusion, definitely a moral victory for the Orks with their 6/7 year-old Codex and facing off against the shiny new Tau and Eldar. Next time it's Space Marines and Tau against Eldar, possibly with some more new units so stay tuned, unless you don't like battle reports, in which case, why on earth did you read this far down?