Battle Report - Warhammer 40K

I played my first game Warhammer 40K 7th Edition today.  I played only about 2 games of 6th Edition.  I could say that 40K is not in my regular rotation, but I'm not sure I can claim anything is in my regular rotation.  I'm basically a gamer of opportunity -- I play what my group is playing or what the next convention may bring.

As it turns out, a surprise opportunity came along, which was discovering that one of my fellow apartment denizens is a 40K player.  So Chris, my Wrath of Kings opponent, and Justin, my apartment neighbor, set up a 3-player, learning game to reacquaint all of us with 40K.  We played 750 points, and we omitted Psychic Phase, vehicles, buildings, flyers, and Tactical Objectives.

Justin plays Imperial Guard.  I let Chris use the Ork army that I purchased a couple of years ago.  I played my old faithful (at dying!) Tau + Eldar.

We played the Relic mission, which requires the armies to rush to the center to acquire a valuable artifact and keep it in the army's possession in order to seize the victory.  We deployed at equidistant points away from each other.  There was space for only a 9" radius, so the horde armies had a hard time fitting in their deployment zones!

I brought out my homemade pump plant and tried out my Frontline Gaming mat for the first time.  I couldn't find my cool industrial piping, unfortunately.   So the pump plant had to just dump out its toxic waste in a big pool beside the plant.  That counted as Dangerous Terrain...

My rarely used Malifaux Terrain-Clix terrain looked fitting as a loading area.  We decide the Relic was a Tau homing beacon, being used to call in orbital strikes against the plant.  You can see by the nearby craters that the bombardments are getting pretty close!

The Imperial Guard want to protect the plant and destroy the beacon.  The Tau must protect the beacon.  And the Orks...well, they're there to fight!

At the end of Turn 1, everyone is being careful to address their respective enemies on both flanks.  The Tau are making a beeline for the plant in order to find some cover.  A good portion of the Tau force is in Reserve:  a Kroot carnivore squad, Eldar Shining Spear jet bikes, and Tau Gun Drones.

This won't end well for the Orks...
As it turned out, they survived OK against the Sisters of Battle.  Justin was rolling some crappy dice.
However, the Guardsmen finished the job and earned Justin a First Blood victory point.

Krazy Kroot perform their classic Outflank maneuver and spring their trap on the heavy machine gun nest.
Hello, boys!

Tau and Imperial Guard play a war of attrition, while the Orks take the scenic route.

"Yes, this would be a rather pleasant site for some condos..."

The Tau were feeling pretty comfortable, putting the Guardsmen in a nice cross-fire.
Unfortunately, the Guardsmen go first, and they mowed down half the Kroot squad, causing the other half to run off the board.  Damn, how many times do I have to learn that lesson?  Actually, I just realized, they were supposed to Fall Back towards the Tau Deployment Point, not the side of the table.  They should have stayed on the board!

The Sisters of Battle press their newfound advantage and take the fight to the center, in an attempt to dislodge the Tau from the Relic.

The Sisters succeed!  The Tau are decimated and regroup and consolidate for a last ditch defense. 
The Eldar cavalry arrive on the scene.  Have they arrived in time?

A new threat arrives on the scene.  The Tau were caught in a classic anvil-and-hammer pincer.  By two separate, uncoordinated armies!

At least the Shining Spear put some hurt on the Guard, before everything goes belly-up.
(Whatever happened to those Tau Gun Drones, by the way?  Totally forgot about them!)

This was the state-of-affairs, when we had to call the game.  We declared the Orks the victor.  Tau and Guard pretty much bludgeoned each other, while the Orks preserved almost their full strength.  It was only a matter of time....