Battle Report: Tau vs Grey Knights

 BATTLE REPORT CARD

Date: June 15, 2025

Game: Warhammer 40,000

Size: 1000pt

Mission: Only Wars

 
🟥Red Player: Alex

🟥Faction: Tau Empire

🟥List: Experimental Prototype Cadre

🆚

🟦Blue Player: Luke

🟦Faction: Grey Knights

🟦List: Epic Heroes + Melta Rhino

Prologue

 If you’ve been following along with my Project Diary: Harlequins, you’ll know that a good friend of mine recently started his Warhammer 40,000 journey. After picking up some Grey Knights and building them while caring for a newborn, he was itching to get some table time in to see how the game plays. So, for Father’s Day, he blocked off some time and I drove out to him to get his first 1000pt game in. 

We used the Only War rules from the CRB for his first game, allowing him to get familiar with the concepts and flow of the game. He had consumed quite a bit of 40k content leading up to this battle and a decent amount of the rules understood. The biggest issue, and one everyone has with the game, is how the rules are split into a dozen different documents to figure out how the game currently works. 

For me,  I wanted to run the new Experimental Prototype Cadre detachment and run a test between the Plasma and Missile Fireknife Crisis Suits. But between arranging the game and playing it, the summer dataslate dropped with the new Tau Greater Good rules and points and my list needed to change. Leaving me with a set of flamer Crisis suits and, after much debate, the missile Crisis suits to try and play around with the new detachment's stratagems. 

Round 1

Good positioning turn 0 means the Tau have only a few shots to take during Turn 1. The Terminator squad with Drago in it takes a beating, but the Narcan Terminator left over does his fair share of work reviving a unit every turn.

 

Score: 🟥0 - 🟦0

 

Round 2

The terminators that teleport assault into the back line are completely wiped out, but it takes the Tau nearly 400 points of shooting to take out 200 points of Terminators. In a great move, the Strike Marines sitting on one of the middle objectives use Mist of Deimos to get away from what would have surely been a wipe from a 10 man Breacher Team disembarking from the Devilfish.

 

Score: 🟥2 - 🟦2

 

Round 3

The Grey Knight's sticky objectives meant it was hard to peel them off the back point. The Broadsides crack open the Rhino and the Breacher Team melts the gooey servitors inside it. The Ethereal has now paid off, hitting 2/3 4+ to generate command points which are being put to good use, though Threat Assessment Analyzer never paid off. Experimental Ammunition did well on the flamer Crisis suits.

However, I know the Grey Knights will be in melee combat soon and I didn't do enough damage to weather that storm. Additionally the Purifier Squad's incinerators are nasty to all my suits at S6 and AP -1. The Terminators tear apart the Ghostkeel.

Score: 🟥3 - 🟦4

 

Round 4

A 3 man Purifier squad overwatches against a 10 man Breacher Team, wiping them out completely. The Terminators and the Purifiers tear the Crisis suits apart in melee. Leaving me with not much left mobile enough to capture points or do damage.

Score: 🟥5 - 🟦7

  

Round 5

The game was decided by the end of Round 4. Round 5 was played out only to see if he could wipe the double Broadside unit from the board. The answer, was yes.

Score: 🟥5 - 🟦9