Warhammer 40k: Death Company vs Tau 1000-ish Points

In line with my last two posts (one and two), this covers a game of 40k between me and my oldest boy.  He loves the Blood Angels, and I love a well-painted mini, particularly some Death Company with jump packs.  So what follows is a few highlights from a game where we each had 1000 points or so.  He had Astorath as his warlord and a Death Company squad of 11 as a death star unit (which it is, at 1000 points), and I had Tau and some Kroot. 

The two forces lined up, Blood Angels on left and Tau on right.  Blood Angels took the initiative.

The land speeders advanced and drew a ridiculous amount of fire, but proved improbably lucky at managing not to get blown up.  Terrible Tau dice in this opening turn.

The Death Company runs in order to close the distance.  One land speeder is down.  Its crew dismounted, but I think this was a mistake - I think they were supposed to go down with the ship, so to speak.

Tau prove much more effective on the other flank, whittling away at tactical marines that wander into range.

 The Death Company take a couple of casualties from overwatch fire as they assault, but it doesn't really matter.  The Kroot get munched pretty easily.

The placement of the Death Company, in easy line of fire of Tau Fire Warriors, helps whittle them down a bit.

Tau on the right flank fall prey to some deadly Devastator Squad fire.

Some Kroot think it's a good idea to assault the tail end of the Death Company unit...

...and they suffer casualties and rethink this course of action.

And Astorath and his Death Company faithful close the distance to the Tau Fire Warrior line, delivering a crushing blow.  At this point, we called the game.  There was no Tau victory on the horizon.

Two lessons learned:
1.  The Kroot pushed me from 800 or so points to nearly 1000, and I need some more proper Tau troops to make this list competitive.
2.  The Kroot might have been effective as a speed bump of sorts, pushing them into the path of the Death Company so that they spent more time under the guns of the Tau line.  Something to think about for future games...

Warhammer 40k, Blood Angels vs. Tau

Building off of my last post, 40k is STILL back, baby!  Here's a few pics from another game with my oldest boy, who continues to enjoy playing Blood Angels against any and all takers:

Tau advancing to the nearest buildings for firing positions across the road that divides this town, which looks nothing at all like my Force on Force terrain for urban operations in the Middle East... 

 Tau

 Tau Crisis Suits advance to a rooftop, only to come face to face with a Blood Angels assault squad.

 Mephiston uses a spell to make one of the Tau on this rooftop explode, killing other nearby Tau.  Pretty spiffy trick, that. 

 The assault squad, having cleared the rooftop of Tau Crisis Suits, likewise slay some Kroot foolhardy enough to move into melee combat...

 Mephiston leads a tactical squad in a charge against these Tau.  Tau overwatch fire proves deadly, but...

 ....Mephiston closes the distance and gets the job done himself.

The assault squad used jump packs to move into assault range of this Tau unit and Ethereal...

 ...which left me with no more Tau in a bloody endgame.

The tally of points after 3 turns and conclusion of the game.  I got tabled by my boy.

40k is Back, Baby!

I started gaming a over a couple of decades ago, and of course had a Warhammer 40k army.  Blood Angels, painted reasonably well.  I sold them, unwisely, for about what I paid for them, when I needed money.  I essentially donated my time and effort in assembling and painting them, and it hasn't sat right with me since. 


Then last year I procured some Tau (not even realizing they were 40k, but that they looked good as generic anime-esque aliens) minis for my Modern Warfare:  Alien Invasion posts (see #1 and #2, more to come). 


Then I took the leap, and bought some Blood Angels and a few more Tau, and finally got to play a bit with my oldest boy.  This is a delayed report - the battle happened a bit back, but here goes...

Tau face off against a mixed Blood Angel and Imperial Guard force.  Tau near side of the board.

Tau suffer a lot of casualties for going through difficult terrain.  I think I misapplied this rule.

A Crisis Suit dances in front of the Imperial line...

...and takes a wound.

Tau casualties pile up...

Kroot charge in from the Tau right flank, and you can see the remainder of a Tactical Marine squad at top.  They shouldn't have let themselves get caught out in the open...

Kroot and Guard clash in the center of town.  Both have been thinned out.

Furioso Drednought closes in for the kill.

Turned out a Blood Angel victory, and had a good time.  Looking forward to future matches.