The following Battle Report was originally published on [url=http://the.battle.directory/]The Battle Directory[/url] web site on 28-03-2015.



The original report including all the images, user comments and stats can be found here [url=http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115]http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115[/url]



The Battle Directory takes the pain out of building and sharing battle reports for all your favourite gaming systems. Our fast and simple interface allows you to import your army, upload some photos, and fill in as much detail as you like. We'll take care of all the hard work so you can focus on your strategy.



Space Marines VS Astra Militarum and Tau Empire - An Unlikely Alliance - Astra Militarum & Tau



Battle Report Detail



  • The Scouring - (Eternal War)
  • 2,000 points




Overview



So our little group continues its journey into 40K with our two new Space Marine players taking on an combined force of Guard and Tau. At 2,000 points per team this is going to be a great show down.



Background



We keep mixing up the teams in our group of 4, Tau ally with Marines, Guard ally with Marines and now its the turn of Tau and Guard to join forces to repel a Space Marine force. We're playing on a 6 x 4ft table using Terrain I bought from War Games Tournaments on eBay, their MDF buildings are superb [url=http://ebay.to/1zzsblh t=_blank]http://ebay.to/1zzSBLh[/url]!



The images were a little scattered as I was concentrating on the game a lot (and rightly so) rather than on taking photos for each turn. But hopefully this will show you the battle pretty well. Enjoy!



Deployment Team A



I arrived late the party, upon my arrival terrain had been set up and The Scouring has been randomly selected as the mission. We set up on the narrow table ends, which meant any melee units had a long way to cover in order to get in close. The objectives were scattered randomly on the board and we were ready.



The Space Marines had managed to get a few high scoring objectives near to them including a 2 VP, the 4VP and a 3VP objective. The Guard and Tau were going to have to do something special to cover the ground to ensure victory for the Emperor's Greater Good.



The image shows only the Space Marines right flank. Space Marines go first, Guard & Tau fail to steal the initiative.



Deployment Image (Team A)





Deployment Image (Team A)



Deployment Team B



The Tau and Imperial Guard took a corner each as they need to keep at least 6" away from each other. Id they don't then the units may freeze and do nothing for a turn if they fail a Leadership test - I think.



The Guard set up with the Defence Line up front, followed by the 20 man blob with Yarrick and Psyker. The Missile Launchers deployed in a 3 story building near the centre of the table. The Veterans and Platoon Command squad all deployed near to the same building.



Finally the Russ and Bullgryns all deployed in the centre too, just forward of the defence line. The Bullgryns were ready to make a break for melee and the Russ was wanting to move up to get its 36" range Executioner cannon in range.



The Tau deployed in the other corner of the table, Pathfinders in a Devilfish, Kroot on the ground and Riptide near by to. Farsight is in reserve.



Deployment Image (Team B)





Deployment Image (Team B)



Start



The Blood Angels went first and pushed up the board. The deployment zones were a major disadvantage to the Blood Angels who wanted to get into melee.



Their lack of transports and drop pods meant they had to foot slog 48" to get anywhere near the enemy forces. TheSanguinary Guard lead the change with their jump packs closely followed by a Land Speeder.



Meanwhile the Space Marine left flank also moved up, but much slower as there were terminators here and just a single unit of 5 Assault Marines.



The Tau and Guard very slowly moved forward. The Leman Russ moved up with the Bullgryns to provide cover and to get its gun in range. The Bullgryns were armed to take care of theSanguinary Guard. Missiles flew at theSanguinary Guard but all failed to connect or wound.



Getting into Turn 2 we saw some shooting. A single Lascannon shot from a Tac Squad hit the Leman Russ with a snapshot. It penetrated and immobilised the vehicle behind some line of sight blocking cargo containers. Although the Russ could just see over the top of the containers its orientation made its side Plasma Cannons useless along with its hull mounted Lascannon.



Turn 2 also saw the Sanguinary Guard get much closer to the Guard lines as they jumped then ran. They did take two wounds and lost two models from the Leman Russ. Although I cannot help but think it should have been more wounds if the Russ could brought all its weapons to bear on theSanguinary Guard. Missile Launchers were a complete failure again too.



The far flank with Tau saw little action as units continued to move into range of each other.





Space Marines move up the battlefield, Assault Marines are leading the charge - Start

Only 1 image is shown due to forum restrictions, total images: 9 - [url=http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115]View Full Report[/url]



Middle



With theSanguinary Guard getting close to the Bullgryns but not charging it was time to see if theBullgryns could do their task. ThreeSanguinary Guard remained after two had died from the Russ. A lucky Hammer of Wrath killed one, it was lucky because one two Bullgryns had their HoW attack and were in base contact - it was alsoluckyas that kill left thetwo guys left with axes! The Bullgryns would therefore strike first. Which they did and wiped the unit off the table.



Farsight Deepstriked into the Blood Angels Deployment zone and killed a unit of 5 Terminators. The Blood AngelLibrarian(their Warlord) was in a single unit, itwas not attached to anything. So shooting him with Farsight and his Bodyguards would've been overkill.



The Guard blob moved up the board and started to try and get nearer to objectives. The Bullgryns did the same after their melee win. The Platoon Squad an Veterans did the same in the centre of the board.



The Blood Angels needed to hit back, hard and fast. Their Tactical Squads assaulted Farsight with the Librarin casting some power on one of the Tac Squads which increased their Attacks andInitiativeby D3. Farsight's Bodyguards were gradually dying but Farsight remained and the Tau were hitting back gradually killing Marines. A grinding melee this was going to be. Its at this point the Marines made their biggest mistake (rememberthese are new players) - theLibrarianstayed out of the melee with Farsight. His Forceweapon could have sorted that combat out in a single round.



Meanwhile on the Tau flank Terminators are dying to the Riptide and concentrated fire from the Kroot. The Marine squads on this flank now start to move up at the Terminators die and the Assault squad is lost. Their ability to capture objectives is fast decreasing.





Heros. Killers of Sanguinary Guard. - Middle

Only 1 image is shown due to forum restrictions, total images: 12 - [url=http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115]View Full Report[/url]



End



Its at this point the game started to feel like a done deal. Imperial Guard and Tau forces were moving up the board, Farsight was still locked in combat in the Marine deployment zone and it was starting to sound like "The Marines can win if, X, Y and Z happens and we make it to 7 turns".



The Librarian was STILL doing nothing and watched on as Farsight's Dawn Blade chopped up Marines gradually. The single remaining Land Speeder and Dreadnought were lost it seems and were neither helping get rid of Farsight or trying to make their way up the board to take objectives. Meanwhile the Riptide, Devlfish and Kroot at taken their toll on the right flank, killing all the Terminators and freeing up ground for objectives to be taken.



The Imperial forces streamed forward; the Bullgryns took one objective, the blog another and the Veterans another. The Tau had linebreaker in the form of Farsight as well as First Blood. Both Warlords stayed until the end of the game.





Farsight endures against the Marine onslaught - End

Only 1 image is shown due to forum restrictions, total images: 12 - [url=http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115]View Full Report[/url]



Bullgryns & Ministorum Priest - Man of the Match



These guys were fantastic. I had one job in mind for them to complete and they did just that. Taking out the 5 manSanguinary Guard unit in melee was perfection. The Commissar pictured is in fact theMinistorum Priest, myMinistorum Priest is not yet built/based.



Space Marine Librarian - BFU (Biggest F*** Up)



TheSpace Marine Librarian didn't know what to do, he started to move forward to engage the Guard but after Farsight dropped he then moved back but refused to get into melee, which meant his decent melee stat line was not used and his Force weapon was not used to Instant Kill Farsight.



Final Summary



A really enjoyable game, it was close up until Farsight clogged up the Marines and stopped them focusing on moving forward.



The Librarian really messed up by staying out of the combat. The Dreadnought did nothing also. It was too indecisive; was it moving forwards to attack to staying put to kill Farsight? it did neither by the end of the game.



A re-match will happen soon.



The original report including all the images, user comments and stats can be found here [url=http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115]http://40k.battle.directory/battle-report/space-marines-vs-astra-militarum/view-full/115[/url]