Battle Report Teaser and special rules.

Hi folks.

For those who read the Tau of War (http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/) you might notice that i've started playing against Old Shatter Hands with my marines. Last night we had a very close fought and brutal game to test out his tournament list and new gaming table.

First of all, this post is not the battle report. I've been working through my memories of the game and trying to place when all of the key events happened. OSH has promised to send me over his pictures of the game so I can make it a proper report.

It was a small and deadly game. OSH has a 4x4 urban style table and there was a reasonable amount of terrain given the size. He brought his mech tau list which is:

- Old Shatterhands (Fireknife (FK) Shas'El), two FK bodyguards and two drones.
- Shas'El Sidestriker (Fusion and Missiles)
- 3 Deathrains
- 3 x 6 Fire warriors in Devilfish
- 3 Fusion Piranhas
- 2 Broadsides with 2 shield drones
- 2 Railgun Hammerheads

I came with a specially made footslogging marine list (similar to the last battle report with me on OSH's blog)

- Captain with power fist
- Multi-melta Dreadnought
- 6 Terminators with cyclone missile launcher
- 5 Sternguard
- 3x10 tactical marines (Missile/Plasma, Missile/Melta, Multi-melta/flamer)
- 5 Scouts with heavy bolter
- 10 Devastators with 2 missile launchers and 2 lascannons
- Huntsman Spider Tank (Super heavy with custom rules)





Now the last item is probably the one that will draw the most attention and justifiably so. Since I don't have the pictures of last night ready yet, I will shamelessly use one taken from the gallery of the guy who makes the model (http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/).

This thing is a beast of a model. It's baneblade sized with its massive legs and we had a few problems figuring out how to fit it around the terrain and other models. It's a really intricate resin kit but fits together very well and has so much character. Curtis, the guy who runs Ramshackle Games, is one of the nicest people you can deal with. I got the spider tank, two other vehicles and a host of figures from him for a great price and he even included a set of miscast pieces for conversions etc. for a cheap cheap price. More info on my vehicles can be found at http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=13537.msg168754#msg168754 and http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=13496.msg162183#msg162183.

Now the tank was made for a different game system so I needed to make some suitable rules for it. Thanks go to OSH at this point for agreeing to play against custom designed rules and a superheavy unit in a small game.

Name: Huntsman Spider Tank
Points: 350
Type: Super-heavy walker
Structure Points: 3
Armour (Front/side/rear): 13/13/10
Ballistic Skill: 3
Weapon Skill: 2
Attacks: 3 at Strength 10 (2D6 armour penetration) with no armour saves allowed OR stomp attack (1 attack at each model in contact with it during assault phase resolved at WS and I 1. S10 power weapon, 2D6 penetration)

Weapons:
- Turret Mounted Demolisher cannon (R:24", S:10, AP:2, Ordnance 1, Barrage)
- 2x chin mounted twin Rail rifles (R:36", S:6, AP:3, Heavy 2, twin-linked)
- Two crushing claws (-1A per claw destroyed)

Fleet walker (6” + D6” + 6” assault)


I made the rules this way so that it is a resilient unit that is not too outright killy. I wanted it to be tough but not as over the top as some of the apocalypse units. At first I thought twin linked rail rifles might be too much, then I saw the Brass Scorpion has a Heavy 10 S6 AP3 gun, 2 heavy flamers, a demolisher cannon, more attacks and goes nuclear more easily, all for 50 points less.

Overall, it was a very solid unit in the game but didn't dominate overly or unbalance things. More on that later.

Stay tuned for the real battle report when i get the photos from OSH and get a chance to write everything up.