Kill Team Revamped - Hit & Run - Tau vs Black Templar

[Narric]

This Bat Rep is going to be very short for a very good reason. I messed up a couple rules, which would have changed how the game would have gone.

I'll be writing it as a narrative, and the play-by-play snapshots will be shown at the bottom of the thread.

Scenario:
Hit & Run - Black Templar (Defender) vs Tau Empire (Kill Team)

Objective:
Kill Team - Get into contact with objective marker, and "escape" to board edge.

Battlefield


Battlefield information:
- Trees are Area Terrain. 5+ Cover Save
- Fortress Look-out point confer +3" to its spotting distance. (7" for this game) Also confers 4+ Cover Save to Defenders emplaced.
- Roof of Fortress is out of LOS to ground floor shooting. Access is front door, or rear broken window. Either access has the Watchtower as rooftop access point
- Walls in front of the fortress are Fortifications that can be used from either side. 3+ Cover Save. They also count as intervening if neither unit is in base contact. 5+ Cover Save.
- Barrels treated as D6 Medium Explosives (rolled upon detonation). Tanker treated as 2x Large Explosives. Cargo vehicle is inoperable, and treated as Medium Explosive
- Camo Netting Confers Shrouded USR to any occupying model.

Narrative Points:
Tau Empire - 5
Black Templar - 3

Defender Deployment



All was quite at the secluded outpost. Set up as a rally point for any friendly military forces, with a small group of Black Templars posted as custodians. The Neophytes were guided one-to-one with their Initiates, and the Sword Brethren took up more defensive positions. The posted Castelan grumbled as he review the latest watch report. Nothing had dared come near the Fortress, either through lack of knowledge or becuase the enemy new it was futile. Castellan Orvu near wished something would happen. Unknown to the posted Templars, a small Tau Kill Team was closing in.
The Kill Team leader, A veteran nicknamed "Coldspear," declared their attack strategy. Pathfinders (PFs) were to circle around and provide distractionary and support fire to the Fire Warriors (FWs) storming the front door. Should the PFs find suitable targets, they were to open fire. Hopefully reducing resitance. The two units would split in two, to increase the chance of a successful mission.
Their mission was to infiltrate and detonate the Fortresses main Power Relays. This couldn't have been done by airstrike, as the facilty had a wide area energy shield defending it from balistic attack.
Carefully, they enter the "Kill Zone." Pathfinders entering to the west, with the Fire Warriors entering from the East. Knowing they hadn't yet been spotted, the teams ran forward for better shooting positions.
The ground level Sentry Initiate continued to tutor his Neophyte. Nors showed promise, and Calix had pride in the Neophyte. The Sword Brethren at the door remanist about old battles. Fels re-iterating his tale of how he slew a Chaos Sorcerer with his Power Sword. The two Parapet Sentries look out to the woods. Only the sound of wildlife reached them. Sentus and Bueril had trained strong Neophytes. Edro, Sentus' Neophyte, watched the tree-line like a hawk. He would not fail to become a Space Marine, and would do the Chapter proud. Henso half-hearted tried to disarm Bueril. Why did his Initiate tutor have to be so obsessed with combat training, when they were supposed to be on sentry duty?
With great care, Zanu lead his fellow Firewarriors closer to the Fortifide wall, halting them to stand and fire upon the Crusaders. With their backs turned, the Initiate and the Neophyte fell quickly, not having a chance to defend themselves. To their great misfortune, the Sword Brethran at the door did not notice their fall, and so the alarm was not raised. On the other side of the fortress, Pathfinders equipped with Rail Rifles took aim upon the Door Guard Sword Brethran. A bolt of Polarised ammunition found its targte and one of the Brethren fell, his battle-brother none the wiser, regardless of a second bolt being aimed at him. ** Coldspear continued to push around the wall. Wanting to enter and place the explosive charge himself.
The internal clock in Bueril and Sentus' power armour indicated time to swap positions. Both pairs stepped down from their parapets, and began to walk across the Fortress rooftop. Castellan Orvu grew restless. He felt at the back of his mind that something was wrong. He did not act on it, as he reasoned it was a side-effect of inactivity. He truly desired an Imperial Guard regiment to take his place.
Zanu took his Fire Warriors up to the wall. The remaining Sword Brethren was still not aware, and he wanted to cause some damage to the fortresses structure when he could. A long stack of barrels rested in front of the build, and the Marine stood close to it. Relying his plan to his team, they opened fire upon the barrels. There overzealous plan caused enough disturbance to alert the Marines. Fels instantly took a more defensive stance, looking out from the fortress. Zanu marveled how the Marine didn't spot, or at least didn't act becuase of, the two dead bodies the littled the area infront of the fortress. The pathfinders began to fire upon Fels again. However, their desperation to end the marines life meant theirs shot went wide, further alerting the experienced Marine. Coldspear continued his run, and the Pathfidners broke cover, knowing that the sentries on the roof would not see them.

** From here, the game goes unevenly towards the Tau. had I read the rules correctly, the Black Templars would have been alerted, and the Kill Team would have greater odds against their success.



I'm honestly not sure if I should continue this Bat rep, or start again. I reckon the Marine side will start taking steps to repel the Tau Kill Team, and thats when Narrative points will need to be spent.

This was played using Mabbz' first draft for the Kill Team rules revamp. Check out the rules here.

If you want me to continue this Bat Rep, do say so. I have it saved on vassal, and have been keeping a Play-by-play semi narrative for it.

As promised, here are the phase by phase pics, starting from the Tau Movement Phase.

Turn 1 - Tau- Movement

Turn 1 - Tau - Shooting

Turn 1 - Black Templars - Movement

Turn 2 - Tau - Movement

Turn 2 - Tau - Shooting

Turn 2 - Black Templars - Movement

I seem to have forgoten to snapshot the Tau Turn 3. Sorry about that
Turn 3 - Black Templar - Turn Start

[Mabbz]

So the mistake was that you shot at someone and failed to kill them, but forgot that the target would have been alerted by it? I suppose that would have been fairly important, but I think you should carry on anyway. If the templars get into combat they can still do plenty of damage, and at the very least can try and punish the intruders.

One thing I might do as a result of this is make rules for bodies lying around. If I give models the ability to move them around (allowing a careful kill team to clean up after themselves). Trouble is that it could get a bit complicated without making any meaningful difference to the game.

[Narric]

I think simply having a dead body (friend or foe) within the spotting range of a defending model should raise the alarm to full. Otherwise the Defending player could have their entire force picked off one by one, without any ability to counter it.

I'll continue the Bat-rep later, after dinner. I'll continue the Black Templar turn as if they are on full alert. Hopefully that will even things out.