Battle Report: 2000 pts Tau Empire Vs Imperial Guard

It was the twilight before the dawn. Lord Commissar Dante Vertas leaned up against the hull of his Chimera. His battle company had taken up defensive positions around his transport while he awaited the return of the scouting party that he had sent to recon the route ahead. Of what was left of his men, some were taking the time to get some sleep, some carrying out repairs to their war engines, while some held their rifles close, waiting for the enemy to attack. All the while, the Imperial Knight assigned to his detachment ever vigilant for any sign of enemy attack.

It had been just over two days since the Tau had made planet fall, and Vertas' battle group had been isolated from the rest of the forces fighting planet side. Dante knew that they needed to reestablish contact with the rest of the fighting forces. The Tau, at the core of their tactics, were hunters. And if they identified his force, wounded and bleeding from their losses, as an isolated pocket of resistance, they would send in a force to try and mop them up.

Just then, there was a commotion along the perimeter. Vertas looked up as two of his guardsmen brought forth a bloodied soldier. Dante recognized him instantly as a member of the recon team he had sent out earlier.

"Report." 

"We were scouting south of this postilion when we came under fire from every direction! We made a fighting retreat but we were picked off one by one by those blue skins! I'm the only one to make it back."

The Guardsmen's face quivered a little as he remembered the slaughter but he held his composure in front of the Commissar. Then, just before he could continue with his report, his head exploded and Vertas was sprayed with fragments of the scouts skull and brains. Dante's fear was realized, the Tau had found his battle group and were ready to launch their attack.

"We're under attack!" Vertas bellowed, "Take up defensive formation Delta and engage the Enemy! Today, we shall fight and win in the name of The Emperor!"

Points: 2000

Mission Type: Maelstrom of War #2: Contact Lost (Mysterious Objectives, Tactical Objectives, Night Fighting)

Deployment Type: Dawn of War

Winner of Roll: Imperial Guard (Chose to go first)

Imperial Guard Forces:

HQ:
- Lord Commissar (War Lord)
- Primaris Psyker
Elites:
- Ogryn (3)
Troops:
- 2x Veteran Squad (10 each)
     - On squad with Chimera
Fast Attack:
- Scout Sentinel (1)
- Vendetta
Heavy Support:
- 2x Leman Russ (Vanquisher)
- Leman Russ (Exterminator)

Allies:
- Imperial Knight
     (Thermo Cannon)

Tau Empire Forces:

HQ:
- Battlesuit Commander (War Lord)
     (Plasma Rifle / Cyclic Ion Blaster / Drone Controller / 2x Marker Drones / PEN chip)
Elites:
- XV 8 Crisis suit team
     (TL Fusion / Flamer)
- XV 25 Stealth Team
     (2x Burst Cannon + Target Lock / Fusion)
Troops:
- 2x Fire Warrior Squads (12 each)
Fast Attack:
- Pathfinder Team
     (3x Rail Rifle / Devilfish)
- Piranha Squadron (3)
- Vespid Sting wing (4)
     (Strain Leader)
Heavy Support:
- Hammerhead Gunship
     (Long Strike)
- XV 88 Broadside Team
     (Rail Guns / TL Plasma Rifle)

Guard Deployment

Tau Deployment

Turn 1:
Night Fighting

With the Tau having made their presence known, Dante's men set about to bring the attack to them. It was still dark as the sun was soon about to rise. This made it hard for the Commissar's men to make out the Tau targets which had cleverly seeked cover in near by woods and ruins. The Imperial Knight led the charge towards the Tau battle line in hopes that they would quake in it's presence. The opening salvo from the Guardsmen's line unfortunately did not find many targets. Only a luck shot from the Leman Russ Exterminator managed to incinerate two hapless Fire Warriors caught passing through cover.

Tau forces set up in the woods preparing to fight the advancing forces of the Imperial Guard

The Tau on the other hand, had come equipped for hunting their foe in the shroud of darkness. Their mighty battle suits and tanks all were equipped with blacksun filters and took advantage of this by landing many shots on the Imperial armor. However, very little damage came as a result of these opening volleys and many were shrugged off by the Imperial Knight as it absorbed them with it's shields.

Turn 2:

The Guardsmen line advancing to face the Tau forces

The Guardsmen began to gain hope as daylight broke over the horizon. Now, all the Tau targets could at least be seen. So now did Dante take advantage of his men's rallied courage and begin to drive them towards the Tau. He knew that any hope of surviving and beating them lay in closing the gap and engaging them in hand to hand combat. With his chosen squad of battle hardened men aboard his Chimera, he raced towards the Tau's front line, flanked by the Imperial Knight to his left, and his Primaris Psyker with Ogryn body guards on his right. Knowing that the Anti-Armor power of the Tau's hammerhead gunship would be a large problem to his forces making it closer to the Tau lines, Vertas instructed the Knight to lay down covering fire and try to hold up the gunship. The Imperial Knight kept the hammerhead busy dogging it's Thermal Cannon's salvos, allowing The Commissar and his men to advance.

The Tau sensed that the Imperial Knight needed to be dealt with if they had any hope of eliminating the rest of the resistance. Therefore, the Cadre Commander lead the charge himself into battle from their forces Manta drop ship stationed high above the battle field. Leading down his team of elite Crisis suits and followed by a supporting squad of stealth suits, they landed with precision around the Knight and opened fire. This caught the Knight in a cross fire with the rest of the Tau's ground forces dealing it heavy damaged but not destroying it. The Tau also knew that the approaching Psyker and Ogryn would present a problem, so the Commander dispatched a Pathfinder team with their Devilfish to gun them down before they could reach their lines. The Pathfinder team took up a position near the Ogryn in a wooded area and fired into them, cutting down one Ogryn with rail rifle shots, and severally injuring another.

Tau Pathfinders set up an ambush against the Ogryn

Turn 3:

Dante knew that the Knight needed to be safe guarded against the Tau's brazen attack. Having his own squad disembark his command Chimera, he ordered his units to fire freely into the newly arrived Crisis suits, and like an iron fist closing over the Cadre Commander, he crushed them one by one until only the Commander stayed standing, defiant of Dante's attempt to eliminate him. Mean while, the Ogryn were being rallied by the Primaris Psyker to push into the woods and engage the Pathfinder squad. Spraying fire into the woods, the Ogryn were not able to hit any marks, but did manage to find the squad, and with a bellowing war cry, they charged into their position with little regard for their own lives. The Pathfinders took advantage of that and cut them down, but only then did they realize to late, that the Ogryn were not their primary problem. The Primaris Psyker, having used the Ogryn as bait, and having harnessed the power of warp speed, he proceeded to cut them all down in an extravagant display of blood as he danced around them and used his force staff to break their bodies and leave them in a messy pulp and sprayed against the trees.

The Tau Cadre Commander, knowing that he needed to push against the Guard, ordered all near by units to engage the Knight and bring it down. And bring it down they did as one mighty shot from the Hammerhead Gunship, now no longer suppressed by the knight was able to line up a killing shot and pierce it's armored hide, causing small explosions to ripple across it before falling to the ground in a heap of slag. The Commander also brought in the last of his reserves, a small group of Vespid. Their orders were clear, engage the one marked as the Commissar and eliminate him to break the moral of the imperial forces. Over on the far flank, the newly arrive Piranha squadron made short work of the Primaris Psyker, gunning him down in a hail of pulse fire as the unloaded their burst cannons and their drones' carbines into his position. This freed up the Devilfish to race across the flank into the Guardsmen's line to gain an advantageous position against the rear armor of the Guard's battle tanks. Unleashing it's own armaments, it ripped through one tank destroying it and damaged the other.

The scene of carnage on the battle field.

Turn 4:

With their Knight gone, and the Tau now encircling them, Lord Commissar Dante needed to push through before any hope of a retreat was possible. They were now becoming out matched and he knew that in order to fight another day, as much as he loathed it, he needed to retreat so that they could try and regroup with other elements of the Guard forces fighting planet side. The Emperor must have heard his prayers because a Valkyrie Gunship zoomed into the air space above their battle field and immediately began to harass the Tau units. The gunship forced the Hammerhead into evasive action as it unleashed a volley of Las-cannon fire into it's position. Meanwhile, the Commissar could see that the Vespid were coming for him and his squad and he ordered the men left standing around him to open fire and cut the bugs from the sky. The other elements of Dante's forces began to try and kill the Cadre Commander, hoping that his loss would break the Tau advance and create the opening they needed to make their retreat. With all the fire power left at their disposal, the managed to critically damage the Cadre Commander's suit, forcing him to retreat back up to his Manta drop ship and leaving his forces to carry out their attack while he had his suit repaired. A few blasts from the Exterminator Russ wiped out the stealth team and a hole in the Tau encirclement was opened. All that remained now was to make good on their retreat.

Dante and his men prepare to face the coming Vespid Stingwing

With their Commander retreated form the battle field, the Tau began to turn more attention towards the Commissar. Their last objective from their Commander was for his elimination. To that effect, the Vespid Stingwing jumped right into the fray with the Commissar's men. Not to shy away from a fight, Dante beckoned the Strain Leader of the Stingwing into one on one combat. The Strain leader accepted this challenge and struck several blows on the Commissar. However, Dante parried some hits and his armor took the rest. He returned with his own blows, but couldn't land a hit on the Strain leader. The rest of Vertas' men killed two of the Vespid and were looking to get the third. Sensing they were out matched, the Strain leader and his remaining Vespid disengaged Dante and his men, allowing for the rest of the Tau forces to engage them at range. The Piranha squadron engaged the Commissar's Chimera, and wreaked it with a torrent of pulse fire.

Turn 5:

Many of Dante's men give their lives to keep the Lord Commissar alive as they begin to make a fighting retreat.

With their hole opened, Dante order his men into a fighting retreat. His one remaining Leman Russ, the Exterminator, lay down a salvo of covering fire to keep the Tau forces occupied while Dante and the few men that remained began to escape. Signaling for a pick up, he voxed the Gunship, which had come to his aide, to swing in for a pick up. The acknowledged the order and did a quick strafing run to help keep the Tau busy running for cover from their hail of fire.

The Tau forces turned to the Exterminator tank to try and lift the suppressing fire it was putting down on them, but were unable to get a clear shot. With their encirclement broken, they were scrambling to prevent the Commissar's escape. But any attempts to lift the covering fire or bring down the Gunship were met by missed shots. The Tau remained focused on their goal, but it was no use. The Commissar boarded the gunship and made his escape back to the Imperial HQ were he would reunite with the rest of the planets defenders and continue the battle another day.

The Valkyrie Gunship deftly doges incoming fire to retrieve the Commissar for extraction

Final Score:

Tau Empire: 9

Imperial Guard: 6