So some of you may remember awhile back I posted some lists featuring triple Riptides. I made no effort to hide my want for them, and I FINALLY got one! I built it asap and magnetized the weapons, then on Sunday managed to get in a crazy 4 games with it! I am only batreping one of them, as it would be too much work for me to do 4... Anyways, here are the lists:(Note, I had to pack my Tau in a hurry so forgot most of my Marker Drones, I usually run 3 6 man teams)
Tau Cadre Fishslap
Shadowsun: 2 MV52 Shield Drones, Command Uplink Drone
Commander: Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suit, Command and Control Node, PENchip
3 Crisis Suits: 2x Fusion each, Target Lock on each, 6 Shield Drones
3 Crisis Suits: Advanced Targetting Arrays, 2x Plasma each
Riptide: Ion Accelerator, Early Warning Override, Stim Injector
6 Fire Warriors: Devilfish with SMS
6 Fire Warriors: Devilfish with SMS
6 Fire Warriors: Devilfish with SMS
6 Fire Warriors: Devilfish with SMS
4 Marker Drones
4 Marker Drones
3 Broadside: HYMP, SMS, Velocity Trackers
Daemon "Flying Sorcery"
Fateweaver
Tzeentch Herald: Lvl 2, Grimoire of True Names
Tzeentch Herald: Lvl 2
Tzeentch Herald: Lvl 2
10 Plague Bearers
10 Plague Bearers
20 Pink Horrors:
3 Nurgling Bases
Daemon Prince: MoT, Wings, Warp-Forged Armor, Level 3 Psyker, 1 Greater Reward
Daemon Prince: MoT, Wings, Warp-Forged Armor, Level 3 Psyker, 1 Greater Reward
Daemon Prince: MoT, Wings, Warp-Forged Armor, Level 3 Psyker, 1 Greater Reward
Deployment type: Vanguard Strike(Diagonal)
Mission Type: Big Gunz Never Tire(All Objectives were placed in the lower middle of the map, he reasoned that way he could focus on one area).
For Psychic Powers and Greater Rewards he rolls very well...the Blue Prince gets Endurance, Iron Arm, and Primaris Tzeentch. Silver gets Iron Arm, Haemorhaege, and Primaris Tzeentch, and Black Prince gets Iron Arm, Warp Speed, and Primaris Tzeentch. Rewards give Blue and Silver Dark Blessing(rerolls failed saves) and the Black Prince +1W
Shadowsun and the Fusion Crisis Team infiltrate to just a hair beyond 18" away from his models
Tau Turn 1
Shadowsun's Crisis squad moves up 1" so everyone is in range to the Silver Daemon Prince. Riptide moves up a bit, all the Devilfish move forward hoping to get in range with SMS (Pre-measuring finds that all of the front 3 Devilfish are in range). Broadside move forward as well.
Shooting phase begins with a meager 8 BS2 Marker Light shots, but I manage 2 hits on both the Silver and Blue Daemon Princes! Shadowsun's squad fires on the Silver Prince and manages 7 wounds, he fails 5. First Blood and a Heavy Support kill! The Riptide and Devilfish fire into the Blue Daemon Prince and manage to inflict 3 wounds on him as well, so 2 Wounds left!
Assault Phase Marker Drones back up next to the tan Devilfish, the other team goes up towards the Riptide, who in turn heads for the middle of the board. Shadowsun's squad only rolls an 8...they go straight back to try and put as much distance as possible between them and the flying circus
K, first turn went really well. I have managed to kill a Daemon Prince and seriously hurt another. Next turn Biomancy is going to go off so my shooting won't be nearly as effective. I am going to have to concentrate and kill the Blue Prince, and maybe hurt the other Prince, then turtle with JSJ for max overwatch on his second turn. He will be flying next turn so hopefully Broadside can take one down out of the sky.
Daemon Turn 1
Biomancy goes off for both the Princes, who both get T8...Blue Prince restores a wound to himself thanks to the Daemonic Reward I think. Grimoire goes off on Horror Blob thanks to Fateweavers reroll. All Princes fly up right in front of Shadowsuns squad.
Warpstorm is a 7, even with Fatechickens reroll. Horror Blob shoots at Shadowsun's squad and manage to kill a single drone, the squad gets FnP 6+. Fateweaver tries to shoot Infernal Gateway at Shadowsuns squad but I Deny the Witch. Tzeentch Firestorm(s2) scatters 7" off.
Tau Turn 2
Everything shuffles for better LOS, Plasma Team comes forward, Broadside shuffle a bit
Shooting, it takes my entire army to bring down the Blue Prince, but it finally does (His dice rolls were red hot...). A handful of potshots went to the last Daemon Prince and the Pink Horrors but to no effect. The Fire Warrior squad on the top right manages to kill the entire Plague Bearer squad with minimum Devilfish support.
Assault phase lets all my units JSJ away from the creatures. I turtle a bit knowing I will be assaulted next turn, so Marker Drones went in the middle, the Plasma Suit Squad went to the right, and Shadowsuns squad went to the left.
Daemons Turn 2
One of his Plaguebearer squads comes in, he brings them in on the top right by the hill and objective. He attempts to Misfortune Shadowsuns squad with Fateweaver but I Deny the Witch.
In the Shooting Phase Infernal Gateway does far better and manages to kill 2 drones, but I pass my Toughness Test bringing the squads FnP to a 5+, good trade! The Pink Horror squad Perils themselves, killing a grunt.
Assault Phase is on, and he assaults the Black Daemon Prince into Shadowsuns squad. With a single Marker Drone hitting, the Plasma squad shoots a blistering 12 s6 ap2 shots, and between them and everything else put on 3 unsaved wounds(Only 1 left!). Both he and Fateweaver made combat.
Shadowsun is pushed out of combat because I denied his challenge. The Black Daemon Prince kills an unimpressive 1 Drone thanks to hot dice rolls on my part(and the FnP helped!), and then was killed by TAU in combat, thanks to the s5 attacks from the Crisis Suits :) Fateweaver lost a wound as well, who then loses another wound from Instability because Daemons lost combat. Ouch!
-That turn went perfect. Fateweaver will hopefully die to Shadowsun's squad, but I'll send my Riptide in just to make sure, though it has some distance to close. A single Fire Warrior squad in a Devilfish will break off to hit the Plague Bearers, though they may need other Devilfish SMS support. Everything else will attempt to put some wounds on the Pink Horror squad, because at this point they are the only remaining threat. Fire Warriors will begin to disembark on objectives.
Tau Turn 3
Devilfish shuffle more towards objectives, plasma Crisis squad moves towards the Horrors as do Marker Drones. The Riptide closes in on Fateweaver and Nova Charges his jetpack, and the lone Fire Warrior team disembarks in front of the Plague Bearers.
Shooting Phase the Plaguebearers go down super easy with the Broadside(who were out of range of the Pink Horror blob) and the one Fire Warrior squad. The Riptide manages to kill 3 Pink Horrors even though they had a 3++.
Riptide jumps 16" towards Fateweaver, everyone else jumps away from the Horrors. In combat nothing dies from either side.
Daemons Turn 3
His turn goes quick. The last of the Plaguebearers, who he puts right where the previous squad had come in. Nurglings mishap(He tried to place them next to an objective but scattered 11") and go into Ongoing Reserves.
Fateweaver Misfortunes Shadowsuns squad, while the Horrors shoot into the Riptide. He rolls obscenely well and puts 16 armor saves on me. I fail 3 armor saves and then fail all my FnPs...but luckily I now have a 4+FnP.
In assault we both whiff fantastically, Fateweaver is still chillin at 3w remaining.
-While I have managed to kill his reserves handily, and am relieved he put the next batch right where the first ones came in, I haven't dealt enough damage to the Horrors. Next turn the Plasma Squad and all my Devilfish will lay into the Horrors, while the Broadside and Fire Warriors will tackle the newly arrived reinforcements. The Riptide will add some much needed hitting power versus Fateweaver.
Tau Turn 4
In the Shooting Phase my Broadside and Plasma suits hammer the Horrors, doing a total of 13 unsaved wounds! This kills a Herald in the process thanks to a failed LOS from s7. The Fire Warriors and Devilfish manage to kill the Plague Bearers again.
In combat my Riptide sadly whiffs, getting only a single hit than rolling a 2 to wound...all my suits proceed to whiff as well! He misses with his one attack, whifftastic!
Daemons Turn 4
The Nurglings manage to mishap again! Sadly Fateweaver Misfortunes Shadowsuns squad again.
Warpstorm kills 3 Fire Warriors in the middle, they pass morale. Pink Horrors kill 2 drones from the Plasma team.
In close combat the Riptide Smashes. He inflicts one unsaved wounds on Fateweaver, who then rolls double 6s for Instability, killing him finally!
At this point he forfeits as I hold all objectives while he holds none. I have First Blood and Slay the Warlord as well, while he has no points. He has a few Pink Horrors with 2 Heralds left to face down virtually my entire army(I have lost 6 drones and 3 Fire Warriors).
Summary
GG to Hayden. Tau are really tough for Daemons to compete with. The Riptide performed decent, though killing Fateweaver was definitely brownie points for him. Shadowsuns squad gets MVP though, thanks to having 8 shield drones they were able to stick it out in combat, killing a Daemon Prince and doing 2 wounds to Fateweaver on top of it! As for strategy I just pretty much milled around in middle and forced Hayden to come to me. Though I think he seriously misused his Plaguebearers. Putting them right across from my Broadside was a crucial error, one that he repeated. He should've avoided them like the plague (Pun intended) and instead tried to help out Fateweaver (who never should've charged in the first place...).
Overall, a fun game but a bit one-sided.
-How have you Daemon players fared versus Tau? I have tried offering Hayden advice but besides 45 Flesh Hounds the Tau can deal with most anything quite nicely from the Daemon 'dex. Next time I am going to let him proxy a bit to test out some things, hopefully with a better outcome. Thoughts, comments, violent reactions? Leave a comment and let me know!