Skirmish with the Imperium

So last night at our FLGS, we played a 2000 point game. Myself playing Tau alongside David's Eldar against Darren's Salamanders and Lewis' Space Wolves.

It was an interesting game - the deployment was either the 2 edges of the table or 18" in the centre. We won the roll off and chose the edges. The twist was Warp Storm, which luckily only really affected the Eldar player, as no one else fielded Psykers. The game mode was the one where you add up the Power Level of any unit completely destroyed (I forget the name, but it was a good one!).

The game only actually lasted until the end of the 2nd turn, as we started late and the shop was being shut earlier last night too. We prevailed 27-26, but it honestly could've gone either way.

Below the photos is some fluff from the Tau perspective.

Tau forces preparing for battle

Eldar Guardians watching over from the rooftops

Breachers and Jet Bikes advancing

Very little remained after the hail of Shuriken and Pulse fire

Commander Steadstrike joins the battle

The alliance with the Eldar may be an uneasy one, but it is still mutually beneficial regardless. The Tau learnt their lessons from the Drukhari incident so naturally they were cautious at first, but so far it has proved fruitful. When they received word that Imperial forces were moving in, it was only natural for the Xenos races to fight back together.

O'Lynu'Ka mobilised a strike force quickly, hoping to ambush the advance before it pushed too far into their territory. By the time they arrived, the Salamanders and Wolves had already dug themselves in well and to his surprise, none other than Vulcan himself had accompanied them. "Hmm, looks like we've managed to make quite the impression.." he mused to himself.

Positioning his forces around their flanks, supported by Eldar, Steadstrike gave them their final warning. When it was ignored, he gave the order. The clouds darkened as the looming Sun Shark flew low, dropping its pulse bombs onto the Marines below, the Breacher teams loading into their Devilfish and his trusted Fireblade, Shas'el Ka'mais Tsua'kran, barking orders to the Strike team, their pulse rifles aimed squarely at Vulcan and his guards. It was then that O'Lynu'Ka noticed a familiar figure entrenched in one of the buildings below his Manta ship. 

"Jostein..?"

It was less than a month ago they fought side by side against the impending Tyranid invasion and now they're here, once again fighting each other. The Commander sighed heavily, knowing his opponent is a worthy one. Turning his back, he headed to his newly outfitted Coldstar suit and began preparing to enter the battle himself.