Monday 24 August 2015

Epic 3K: Titan Legion vs Vior'la Tau

I've been busy with house purchasing and shifting over the past couple of months, but had my first game against Andrew's Tau in the weekend. I decided to take a Titan Legions list to see how the Tau would handle them.

Legio Gryphonicus (NetEA v3.24 *APPROVED*)   3000 POINTS 
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WARLORD TITAN [875]
2 Turbo-laser Destructor, 2 Apocalypse Missile Launcher, Legate

REAVER TITAN [675]
Apocalypse Missile Launcher, 2 Turbo-laser Destructor, Veteran Princeps

WARHOUND TITAN [275]
Inferno Gun, Vulcan Megabolter

WARHOUND TITAN [275]
Inferno Gun, Vulcan Megabolter

WARHOUND TITAN [300]
Plasma Blastgun, Turbo-laser Destructor

WARHOUND TITAN [300]
Plasma Blastgun, Turbo-laser Destructor

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150]
2 Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [150]
2 Thunderbolts


Andrew was using his Vior'la Tau again.

Vior'la Tau
Vior'la FW Cadre, 8 Fire Warriors, Ethereal, Cadre Fireblade, 2 Gun Drones, Skyray [BTS] [425]
Vior'la FW Cadre, 6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish, Skyray [325]
Vior'la FW Cadre, 6 Fire Warriors, 3 Devilfish [225]

Broadside Group, 6 Broadside Suits [300]
Broadside Group, 6 Broadside Suits [300]

Pathfinder Group, 4 Pathfinders, 2 Devilfish [200]
Stealth Group, 6 Stealth Suits, Cadre Fireblade, 2 Gun Drones [275]

Recon Group, 3 Tetra, 2 Piranha [150]
Recon Group, 3 Tetra, 2 Piranha [150]
Recon Group, Tetra, 4 Piranha [150]
Recon Group, Tetra, 4 Piranha [150]

Protector Class Cruiser [200]
Fighters, 2 Barracuda [150]


And the perfect accompaniment to the game of Epic Armageddon - Epic Imperium Stout and Epic Armageddon Ale!

Turn 1

Andrew won the dice role for set up (we had equal Strategy Rating), and chose corner deployment, taking the upper left. I was in the lower right. I placed my two anti-infantry Warhound Scout Titans (inferno guns and megabolters), in the town (bottom centre), and the rest of my force is up near the middle right of the table.  The Tau garrisoned across their half way line (diagonal) and with plentiful reserves.

Tau won the Strategy Roll, and a coordinated fire mission from three formations near the town broke one of my anti-infantry Warhounds, though did not damage it. My Warlord advanced and killed three broadsides in the ruins to it's front right. The rest of my Titans advanced and fired, but did little damage to the Tau infantry taking cover in the various ruins and buildings. 

Our aircraft effectively neutralise each other.

The Tau then managed to bring down the shields of the Reaver, and hit it with their Spacecraft, damaging the reactor and leaving it on just one hit point! The Reaver is destroyed in the end phase by reactor damage and my broken Warhound fails to rally. Not a great start for the Titan Legion!

Turn 2

I win Strategy Roll, and the Warlord advances and blasts another Broadside unit, killing two of them.

A Warhound advances and kills another three of the Broadsides.


However Tau retribution is swift and the two Warhounds are broken and retreat behind cover, shields down and one having lost two of its three damage capacity.

My Warhound in the town blasts some Tau recon units, but only manages to kill one of them.

End of turn, and two of my three broken Warhounds rally.

Turn 3

Titan Legion are thin on the ground. I retreat the Warlord back to guard the blitz objective, it's fire sadly doing little to the infantry in the buildings ahead of it.  My unbroken Warhound in the town also manages to break the Fire Warrior formation in here, but can't get close enough to contest the objective. The Tau then finish off another Warhound, and break another, leaving me out of activations except for aircraft. 

The Tau win 2-0, with Take and Hold (capturing two of my objectives), and Defend the Flag (holding all three of their own objectives) victory conditions. 

Conclusion

Losing the Reaver turn one was an unexpected nasty surprise. Damn space ships! Once again the Tau prove a very tough to crack. Titan Legions give you a feeling of invulnerability initially, but are vulnerable to being out-activated and maneuvered and losing on victory conditions as happened here. Well done Andrew.

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