A Tale of Two Duds

Got together with the gang and we agreed to play a four-way free-for-all Kill Team game.

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I showed up with my Celestial Lions Kill Team. I decided to take a Plasma Gun this time, and made him a Specialist. I gave him the ability to Ignore Cover with his shooting attacks. Then I bestowed the Missile Launcher with Feel No Pain and the Marine with the Scope got Murderous Blow.

Celestial Lions ready for deployment.

The Bob brought out his Skitarii Kill Team. I have never faced them before and I was curious to see how they would perform.

Skitarii, radiating the awesome.

Da Masta Cheef brought along his Rainbow Warriors.  He would remark often during the game that we were playing a pair of dying  Chapters.

A prismatic assembly of Rainbow Warriors.

And finally we have Wolfy's Fem Fa' Tau Kill Team, gathered to snipe and blast those who deny the Greater Good.

(Chorus) "The Greater Good".

The field was set and the forces deployed. We agreed to a Kill Point game, with Secondary Objectives and Primary Objectives being 1 VP per Specialist killed. With our traits rolled up, the Tau and Celestial Lions had Leaders who got the Quick Thinker trait (Steal Initiative on 4+) and the Lions won that roll-off.

Four corners claimed and held.

Turn 1.

The Celestial Lions sally forth and the Missile Launcher begins his streak of epic uselessness by missing with his shot at the Skitarii walker.

Perfectly lined up to miss.

Likewise the Skitarii advance as well, but one Lion failed to take advantage of LOS blocking cover and was the first casualty of the game. The Lion Missile Launcher was struck by a weapon that inflicted two Wounds and I rolled two 6's for the save!

A tense stand off.

The Rainbow Warriors pranced forward into the waiting pulse rifle sights of the Fem Fa'Tau...

Chasing the Rainbow (I know, couldn't resist).

The Rainbow Warriors have a sniper scout that took a shot at the Celestial Lions Missile Launcher but it was ineffective. Then, from out of a bush, a missile streaked out to strike the Celestial Lion Missile Launcher with a dud missile. I was surprised by this, and did a double-take just to try to see the guy...

Has mastered the art of not being seen.

The Tau shot at the Rainbow Warriors. I think she killed one too but I don't recall.

Turn 2

It was another round of futility from the Celestial Lions, they only managed to shoot a Rainbow Scout to death. The Lion's Missile Launcher traded unexploded ordnance with the RW Missile Launcher, but nothing else of note happened.

The Lions, thinking that they have a strategy.

The Skitarii however was here to kill. A guy with a plasma rifle thing totally fried the marine that was on point before the walker ran up and turned another marine into the dust.

Two hearts replaced by one foot.

The Rainbow Warriors and Tau continued to move and shoot against each other. The RW Missile Launcher exchanged the unexploded ordnance back to the CL Missile Launcher, and his combi melta guy slagged another Lion. The Fem Fa'Tau was beginning to maneuver against the Skitarii also, as it was clear that they were a threat to every faction. She managed to take a wound off of the Walker.

Turn 3

I found myself quickly running out of models. At this point I was getting worried about my prospects. I threw Krak Grenades at the Skitarii Walker and they either missed or failed to penetrate it. The Plasma Gunner walked up, rolles a 1 and a 6. The 6 wounded and wrecked the walker. But the 1 resulted in him killing himself and breaking my own army!

Imagine a big ball of plasma in the open space

The Skitarii pressed on, killing more marines and they killed the Fem Fa'Tau Battlesuit earning another VP.

The Skitarii sweep in.

The RW and Tau let fly with a lot of shots. When the smoke cleared I had only two models left, and the other factions were all starting to see a significant bodycount as well.

Turn 4.

Yikes, only two guys left! The Missile Launcher and the Vet Sgt. I decided to focus on the two Skitarii coming up on the board edge. With surprising success, the ML hit and eliminated a skitarii guy with a Krak Missile! The Vet. Sgt closed in on his partner and they ended up locked in combat.

Locked in radioactive combat.

More combat errupted around the field. The Skitarii press forward to engage both the Rainbow Warriors and Tau. During the Skitarii Close Combat phase the Celestial Lion Vet Sgt defeated his foe and boldly advanced towards the Skitarii.

Scout Season is now open. 

This guy took a Wound from Overwatch fire before killing the Pin-up Tau in the Close Combat phase.

Wounded by Overwatch. 

The Rainbow Warriors retaliated. Of particilar note was the Sniper Scout who had moved forward and actually managed to hit with a snapfire shot and killed a Skitarii. We laughed as  it seemed he had to snapfire in order to hit anything!

"Maybe if I hit with a snapfire I get that new paint job..."

In the Tau turn, the xenos scum took their revenge on the machine men. They also tried to deal with the Rainbow warriors as well, but it seemed the Tau were having difficulty bringing them down.

Turn 5

Things are going fast now, with all of us having so few models left. The CL Missile Launcher  reverted back to 'useless' status by shooting another dud rocket at the RW Missile Launcher marine. My Vet Sgt advanced toward the remaining Skitarii survivors. However the Skitarii, eager for maximum VPs, proceed to shoot the Vet Sgt off the table. That karma was quickly cashed in as the Tau would table the Skitarii on their turn.

The picture below shows a stand-off that took a few rounds to resolve, but the Rainbow Warrior scout would win it only to then be vaporized by another Tau on their last turn.

A close quarters stand-off.

Turn 6 and 7 came and went with a flash. The game ended with my Celestial Lion Missile Launcher still trading dud missiles with the Rainbow Warrior Missile Launcher who was still in his bush.

Celestial Lion Missile Launcher view.

Rainbow Warriors Missile Launcher view.

Final VP tallies, as best that I was able to keep up with them:

• Skitarii 9 VPs
• Tau 3 VPs
• Rainbow Warriors 2 VPs
• Celestial Lions 0 VPs 

It was a fun game, with the Skitarii clearly being the foe everyone was fearful of. I performed poorly in the game, the dice dicked me over each chance it got. Even the victorious moments had a price. In hindsight  though I can't say that the Tau and Rainbow Warriors faired too much better...

And what the hell was up with our Missile Launchers?!

"Dude!" "Doooode!"

Hah!