2009/01/12: AGO Opener
A 3v3 team skirmish at the AGO, ~315--325 points a side thrown together from what was on hand:
- Forces of Good
- Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher (6 marines)
- Tactical Squad w/ Flamer (5 marines)
- Tau Fire Warriors w/ Gun Drone (9 warriors)
- Forces of Evil!
- Tactical Squad (7 marines)
- Tactical Squad (7 marines)
- Khorne Berzerkers (5 berzerkers)
Table was 4x3 with a good amount of Heroscape terrain, including vertical cliffs and walls.
Rules
Two objectives per side, placed by deploying teams within 12" deployment zones along long table edges. Objectives were assumed to be controlled by deploying side until contested (see note below).
Each player controlled one unit, but teams played as one side (taking all their actions as if they were a single player).
All terrain was counted as difficult terrain. Water was also categorized dangerous. Every two tiles of vertical movement cost an inch.
Battle
Deployment
Chaos Tactical 1 deployed on south side of table, poised to rush in toward a nearby Imperial fasthold. Chaos Tactical 2 deployed in center, with flexibility to head for either objective. Berzerkers deployed on extreme north edge, hoping to run around the myriad bogs and cliffs to flank the Tau and capture the nearby Imperial objective.
Imperial Tactical 2 deployed around southern Imperial objective, hoping to guard it with their missile launcher from the top of the rise. Tactical 1 deployed in the center, shielded from initial fire by a small rock formation. Tau Fire Warriors bunkered down in rocky cliff faces on the northern edge, crouching low to dodge incoming fire while sniping the forces of the Warp.
Turn 1
Chaos Tactical 1 advanced on the southern Imperial objective, but was too slowed by difficult terrain to directly engage the enemy. Tactical 2 advanced over nearby cliffs to move into a supporting position. Meanwhile, the Berzerkers skirted the nearby bogs and rushed toward the Tau position.
Imperial Tactical 2 fired bolters and missile launcher on Chaos Tactical 1,
inflicting light casualties. Squad Scolirus (Imperial Tac 1) swung forward, rapid firing on Chaos Tactical 1, inflicting further casualties in an attempt to break the tide before it swept over Imperial Tac 2. Bolters overheating, Scolirus chanted his litanies of battle in hopes that the other group of Chaos Marines would be sufficiently entangled in the difficult undergrowth to prevent a counter-assault on his men. Tau marksmen meanwhile sniped away at the advancing Berzerkers.
Turn 2
Chaos Tactical 1 assaults Imperial Tactical 2. Imperial Tactical 1 assaults Chaos Tactical 2. Tau eliminate Berzerkers.
Turn 3
Assaults! Tau start running for Chaos eastern objective.
Turn 4
Assaults! Scolirus attempts to disengage his men from the assault and pepper the Chaos troops with bolter fire, but the Chaos troops react too quickly. Tau keep double timing toward northern Chaos objective, but face significant detours around difficult terrain.
Turn 5
Assaults! Chaos Tactical 1 is eliminated; Imperial Tactical 2 consolidates its position, the sergeant alone remaining over the objective. Imperial Tactical 1 is eliminated, Chaos Tactical 2 moves toward Imperial southern objective.
Game ends on a roll of 1 for mission conclusion---Tau are thwarted in taking one of the opposing objectives, just steps too short!
Results
Tie game---Imperials hold their home objectives, Chaos hold their home objectives. Imperial forces win on victory points, with two Chaos forces eliminated and one under half strength against one eliminated Imperial unit and one under half strength.
Lessons
Turns 1 and 2 opened well for the Imperial forces. Together Tac 1 and 2 managed to do enough shooting damage on Chaos Tac 2 to severely cripple its coming assault on Imperial Tac 2 and nearby objective. Swinging Tac 1 to do this gave Tac 2 a chance, but left the Tau more open to the Berzerkers and exposed Tac 1 to possible assault from Chaos Tac 2. Fortunately, a gamble paid off here and the difficult terrain prevented Chaos Tac 2 from assaulting Imperial Tac 1.
Interestingly, the Tau managed to do significant damage on the Berzerkers, quickly eliminating the reasonably well armored unit. Despite the short board their range, damage (S5 weapon), and number of shots (Fire Warriors are 7 points versus Loyalist Marines' average 17 points, leading to larger units), all equated to some impressive firepower.
Turn 4 saw an interesting attempted use of Combat Tactics. Chaos Marines outnumbered the squad to begin with, which combined with their close combat advantages to slowly whittle Tactical 1 down. Faced with a losing proposition, Tac 1 tried to fall back and shoot the Chaos Marines, then counter-attack to get the charge bonus, but with their equal initiative the Chaos marines managed to prevent the action by winning the sweeping advance roll.
Tau possibly should have started advancing toward the enemy objective earlier, crossing the difficult terrain in front of them and rapid firing into the oncoming Berzerkers that would then be to their side, at the edge of the large terrain. The hope would be that they either be eliminated in the shooting (as they were) or held up enough in the terrain to be eliminated next round. That would have given an additional turn of movement toward the objective in a more direct path, which could have helped.
Notes
Having objectives assumed held by the deploying force is an important modification to small points-value games. Arguably, there simply aren't enough units in play to have one camping out, forced to stay within 3" of an objective. It should be made clear at the outset, however, whether or not the objective must be explicitly held after it has been contested once. In slightly larger games this might be reasonably required, but in such a small game it severely limits the players.
Tau fared fairly well in this game, surprisingly so against the Berzerkers. This was an interesting result; Tau had previously been assumed in our group to be the weakest race in very low point games. The small tables used tend to engender close combat very quickly, seemingly negating the Tau's advantages (range) and accentuating their weaknesses (close combat). This might not be the case however; perhaps they have the firepower to do enough damage before combat hits.
Using Chaos Space Marines and Loyalist Space Marines works well in a training game. They're different enough to present varied options and tactics, but similar enough that most of the statistics are the same. That makes them easier to remember, and easier to follow what's going on and learn the mechanics.