What a week!  Several players did not show including our new Necron player.  However, another player, Nathan, decided to join the campaign by borrowing my Imperial Navy fleet!  My battle with Nathan will be covered in the next post, as two batreps in one post is too much.  This post is all about my battle with Josh’s Tau!

—————————————————

Mission: The Bait

Azure Flames

-Pursued Ship: Space Marine Strike Cruiser Honor (Extra Shield, Navigational Shields)

-Space Marine Strike Cruiser Duty (Extra Shield)

-Space Marine Strike Cruiser Courage (Extra Shield)

-Space Marine Strike Cruiser Sacrifice (Extra Shield)

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur Pursuing Fleet

-Protector Cruiser, Vior’la Configuration

-Emissary Light Cruiser, Sa’cea configuration

-Nicassar Rig

-4 Nicassar Dhows

—————————————————–

Setup: The Honor was placed in the center of the board, and the Tau deployed 60cm behind it.

Azure Flames – Turn 1

The Honor moves ahead, and launches two Thunderhawks on CAP.

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur – Turn 1

The whole fleet moves up.  One fighter is launched, and two waves of missiles.

Azure Flames – Turn 2

The Honor Reloads Ordnance and begins to come about.

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur – Turn 2

Not allowing themselves to be caught out of position, the Tau fleet takes a turn to their Starboard.  Tau Missiles avoid the Honor, as the CAP would make them useful.

Azure Flames – Turn 3

Thunderhawks split off from CAP to deal with the Tau missiles.  The Honor seeks cover by the large planet.

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur – Turn 3

The Nicassar Dhows provide tempting bait along the far table edge.  The Protector Reloads Ordnance, and fires.  The Emissary sneaks through the asteroid field.

Azure Flames – Turn 4

The Honor gains cover behind the planet as it once again launches a CAP to deal with Tau missiles.

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur – Turn 4

The Protector goes on All Ahead Full to catch the Honor next turn.  The Emissary fails the leadership test to navigate the asteroids, fails to Brace for Impact, and suffers SIX DAMAGE, killing it and turning it into a Drifting Hulk!  Nicassar thread the needle between the asteroid belts.

Azure Flames – Turn 5

The Duty, Courage, and Sacrifice arrive from the board edge, and launch Torpedoes, forcing the Protector to Brace.  The Honor launches Thunderhawks at the Protector.  Brace saves prevent all hit-and-run attacks and all but one damage.

Tau Shan’al Shi’ur – Turn 5

The Tau disengage, abandoning the Nicassar Rig which is destroyed.  Game ends.

—————————————————–

The Bait is a gamble.  Does the pursuing force push it, or do they make a hasty retreat?  The Tau fleet was not slow, and speed matters.  The one big deciding factor was sending the low-leadership Emissary through the asteroids.  That instant death really hurt the Tau who might have been able to put the hurt on the Honor.

Next: another batrep from the same week, starring new player Nathan!