Imperium vs. T'au Dogfight. My first win!
Another great dogfight with my son! This is our 4th game, and my first win against him. He still had a small points advantage, but we’re getting close to having equivalent lists. We also started using different altitudes. He took it like a champ and even congratulated me (haha!).
This time, we took our highest-point lists yet.
Imperium (125 pts):
• Thunderhawk
• Lightning
• Lightning Strike x2
All aircraft equipped with 2 pairs of Hellstrike Missiles.
T’au (115 pts):
• Barracuda AX-5-2 (Swiftstrike Railgun)
• Tiger Shark AX-1-0-3 (Paired Swiftstrike Burst Cannon)
• Tiger Shark AX-1-0-4 (Paired Ion Cannon)
• Remora Drone
All aircraft equipped with 2 pairs of Seeker Missiles. (I only realised after the game that Barracudas and Tiger Sharks can only be outfitted with one pair each. Woops!)
On Turn 1, we simply moved forward to start getting into range. On Turn 2, all Hell broke loose. He won initiative and immediately shot my Remora out of the sky. It never even fired a shot.
I followed by firing all my missiles at his Lightning Strikes to reduce the number of enemies coming at me. My Ion Tiger Shark got into close range with the Thunderhawk, so I had it dive to Altitude 2 to reduce the incoming fire from the array of heavy bolters.
He had his sights on my Barracuda with his long-range weapons, but I had climbed to Altitude 4 to avoid the Turbo Laser Destructor and Twin Lascannons. My Barracuda took a hit but came out intact.
After some heavy dogfighting that cost me my Ion Tiger Shark, the Imperial fleet was down to only the Thunderhawk. I tried to create some distance between our aircraft, but his flying was unpredictable and I found myself at ineffective range, flying too close to my target.
At this point I was down to a Barracuda and Tiger Shark only, each with only 1 point of structure left. I turned the Tiger Shark and stooped with my Barracuda, flying at maximum speed and returning to the Astartes' elevation to line up the killer Railgun shot.
The Barracuda’s aim was true, and the Space Marines were brought down shortly after the Navy craft were decimated.
The Greater Good has prevailed!