The second half of the Tau force approached the Imperials by entering a hedged yard containing a satellite communications array. This is where the brunt of the fighting occurred.

Guardsmen Deploy

Now that the guardsmen have a better sense of where the Tau are, their training kicks in—and their defenses firm up. One guardsman clambers aboard the civilian transport used to carry the High Mayor. The vehicle has no weaponry, but it has an open-top hatch, and the guardsman uses it to wrap himself in armor—and provide himself with a better vantage point to spot the enemy.

On the west side of the office building, the guardsman behind the parked wagon is seeking out a target. Not far away, a Fire Warrior tries to force his way through the hedge that surrounds the back yard, and the guardsman raises his rifle, aims, and fires. The xeno goes down.

On the east side of the building, Sgt. Deley peaks around the corner. He cannot see the xenos; the satellite array blocks his line of sight. So, he decides to go on overwatch—he raises his lasgun and waits for the xenos to show themselves.

Across the road, another guardsman moves to the stone wall behind the repair shop. He cannot see the second group of xenos approaching, but a sniper on the roof of the shop yells down that he sees movement amidst the heavy growth that lines the stone wall to the west.

At the beginning of the fighting, the Tau enjoyed some success by concentrating their fire on one guardsman at a time. Here, a guardsman takes cover behind a broken wagon, but he is facing the combined firepower of two gun drones and a Stealth Suit.

Men Down

A gun drone fires its jet pack and crosses the back yard, landing only three meters from the guardsman behind the wagon. He drops as the xeno drone fires but misses. The guardsman pops up from cover and fires at the drone, but his las round is deflected by the drone’s armored shell.

At the same moment, the Stealth Suit opens up with its burst cannon. Six pulse rounds flash across the back yard, and one finds its mark. The guardsmen never knows what hit him, as the the shot penetrate his eye and blows out the back of his head.

Two Tau appear in front of Sgt. Deley, having moved around the satellite array, but they spot the sergeant and duck into cover. The NCO sees his chance. He runs forward to a storage tank, a position that will allow him to throw a grenade and, hopefully, take out both xenos.

Alas, as he begins his run, another drone appears on his flank and fires a shot that slams into the sergeant’s flak jacket. The pulse round easily penetrates the body armor, and the NCO drops to the ground but manages to drag himself into cover of the storage tank.

On the hilltop, the Tau were stymied by open ground. Armed with short-range pulse carbines,the xenos knew it was suicidal to advance when the defending guardsmen, armed with longer-ranged weapons, could fire away from cover.  As a result, the xenos fighting in the yard of the satellite array were unsupported.

Tau Stymied

On the opposite side of the road, the Tau advance is frustrated by the terrain. The Pathfinder with the rail gun is content, having found himself a position along the stone wall that looks down on the human position—but with nearby bushes providing ample cover. He is patiently firing down at the guardsmen around the office building, but they also are using cover, and the xeno is unable to take down any of the humans.

Meanwhile, the Shas’ui of the party is trying to make his way down the side of the stone wall to reach the repair shack. But two guardsmen have taken up positions at the bottom of the hill, and the Fire Warriors need to cross open ground. That’s not an option. They are armed with short-ranged pulse carbines, but the Imperials have longe-ranged lasguns. Also the humans are in good cover.

So, the Tau are forced to leave the wall and make their way through the nearby woods, a safer route but one that means they cannot support their comrades fighting around the office building.

It takes precious minutes to get into a position where the Tau can safely bring the guardsmen under fire. Yet, even with a marker light guiding their shooting, the guardsmen are protected by the solid defenses of the wall they hide behind.

Then bad luck strikes. A volley by the two guardsmen proves extremely effective, killing one Fire Warrior and forcing the Shas’ui and third Fire Warrior to fall back into cover. The Shas’ui realizes that the battle may be over before he can support his comrades.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.