War of the Relics; Long Fangs and Stealthy Tau

Gunvor could not see the tank but he heard the chatter of fire and its treads crushing rubble underneath. The warrior in him felt a bit of regret for the Ultramarines now caught betweeen him and the tank which was making it clear it was not a friend to the Ultramarines.

Still, he would have expected no mercy had he been in that situation and he owed them the respect due them as warriors. He would honor their courage and skill greatly if they found a way out of their predicament. He led his men closer, while still maintaining his post guarding whatever treasure was buried in the ground. The 3 remaining ranged weapons of his company fired at the beleaguered Ultramarines, though their shots had no effect.

In a fit of good luck, the Ultramarines made 6 or 7 saves. Still, another easy VP for the Space Wolves. I am definitely seeing the power of a rugged unit sitting on an objective. It is a good way to pile up points and if you can protect it, so much the better.

It was obvious the Tacticals could not threaten the Land Raider in front of them as only the Krak missile from the launcher could even penetrate the armor. Stoically, they advanced towards their objective, hoping to at least take the pesky fire of the Space Wolves out of the equation and perhaps shove a krak grenade down the hatch in close combat with the Land Raider. They considered firing at the Raider but decided instead to run for cover.

A Land raider is a tough nut to crack for tacticals, and one snap shot needing a 6 to hit and another 6 just to glance seemed pretty pointless so I hoped instead to get them as much out of sight as possible. A whopping 2 for distance was technically not enough to get the 2 guys to the second level...but they have already suffered so much...

The Dark Angel commander Florent looked with disdain at the Ultramarine cowards scurrying for cover before the might of his mighty land Raider. He considered slaying them all simply to demonstrate his superiority, but his navigator pointed out the dangers of toiling through ruins. Even a Land Raider could throw a track.

Nodding acquiescence, Florent pointed through the nearby wall. "Lets get out of these ruins and head towards our objective."

The mighty Land Raider shuddered as it crashed through the wall into the open and turned toward the objective.

Florent checked the coordinates and looked at his instruments. There was no doubt about it, there were 4 Space Wolf Terminators squarely on top of his objective. He smiled gleefully. He would accomplish his mission while taking out the arrogant pups.

I think I actually played this a bit illegally. I went "flat out" instead of shooting to clear the ruins. I think the rule is no flat out in dangerous terrain. I only realized this after playing another turn, however...so be it. I also made the choice because  only the Hurricane Bolters on the right and Assault Cannon in the turret had line of sight and they could not even take out Power Armor...not liking their chances against Terminators.

As an aside, I think a Land Raider without at least one AP2 or better is wasted points. You HAVE to be able to take out tough targets. I think it is poor against any Space Marine or equivalent. Sheer volume will do a few casualties, but I would rather have effective shooting...

Ingvar smiled gleefully as the Land raider hove into view. "Target practice, boys!" Almost before the echo of his voice faded two crack missiles thudded into the Land Raider's front armor but were deflected. One lascannon missed entirely but the one-handed Stumpy was more effective. The bright ruby laser found a chink in the armor and the land Raider instantly exploded, tearing itself apart  in a fiery wreck. Stumpy raised his fist in salute to his vanquished foe.

Well that was...uh...lucky. A 3 to hit, 6 to penetrate, and 6+1 for high AP on the damage table equals one dead Land Raider. The Wolves are starting to run amok.

Commander Tai signaled to his stealth team. They nodded acquiescence and slowly worked their way through the ruins to line up the hapless Ultramarines in their sights. 

So skilled were his men that the first the Ultramarines knew of their presence was the unleashing of gunfire. Two marines fell to the Fusion Blasters, but their armor was proof against the remaining fire of his unit. No matter, Tai would wipe them out, advance to his objective, report back and then find out what had happened to Commander Bau.

The poor Ultramrines just cannot catch a break. Any roll but a three and the Tau would not have encountered them. Instead they are squarely in the path the Tau need to take. One might guess they are not long for this game...

VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 10 First Blood, kill points x4, objectivesx4, Overwhelming Firepower
Ultramarines 7;  kill points x2, objective x5
Dark Angels: 0
Chaos Space Marines: 0