The Battledome: Free State GT 2023

 

Welcome to The Battledome!

The Tau Fire Caste study the ways of war in the vast complexes known as Battledomes. These serve as arenas for the combat trials of Tau warriors and are used to test the skills and combat abilities of Tau warriors. The Tau use the Battledomes to train their warriors in the art of combat and to hone their skills in various forms of combat often crafted by instructors to represent specific and upcoming war zones.

The Tau are a highly advanced alien race with advanced technology and a deep understanding of science and engineering. Their Battledomes are no exception, featuring advanced simulations and holographic environments that can replicate any type of terrain or combat situation. These environments allow Tau warriors to practice and prepare for any type of combat scenario they may face in the field.

Free State Grand Tournament 2023

    

    Hello, Logan here! I had the pleasure of competing in the 2023 Free State Grand Tournament hosted by Pinick's All Around Auto. This was my third year attending, and 5 of my teammates competed along with me. Five rounds with player placed terrain makes for some interesting matchups, and they also had a custom terrain piece called a Ridgeline. It was basically the same as a Ruin but it was an Obstacle and also had Unstable Position. While not a benefit or a detriment to me, they definitely made the difference for my teammates in some games. I'll have more thoughts at the end of this article overall, so let's get into the games!

View my list

Round 1: Grey Knights (Scott) 0-1

    An extremely fun game, Scott is always a joy. While it was a little early to offer me some Jack, it was laughs all game. I made one major mistake which made it possible for him to clutch it out. Turn 2 I left one of my Coldstars out of Look Out Sir range and he was able to quickly capitalize on that mistake. It came down to a Smite being able to kill my other Coldstar in his deployment zone to score him teleport assault on the last turn. 

Round 2: World Eaters (Allan) 1-1

    I got paired with one of my teammates round 2. Getting defender meant I could deny safety for him from the center objective with a Forest. He failed a long charge on Kroot to get his Berzerkers onto my objective. Him failing that charge made it much easier for me to win. World Eaters score their secondaries extremely easily. It's honestly just free points for playing the game but that is another discussion. Eightbound unfortunately are perfect targets for Ion Accelerators and whittling him down over 3 turns let me shift my Coldstars into his backline to steal his home objective and lock down the two Forgefiends. 

Round 3: Iron Hands (Sean) 1-2

    

    Main book Space Marines got a huge buff with Arks of Omen, and I was not excited to play this matchup. While I was able to pretty much pick up anything I was able to get line of sight on, the Ruin in the center of the table providing him Obscuring scored him 10 easy points over the course of the game. While I have some Out of LoS weapons, it just was not enough to shift the units, and since I went first, he was always able to follow up and end his turn on the center. I also made one crucial mistake which you can see in the above photo. My Breacher unit was too close to the wall and a Character Brutalis Dreadnought was able to sweep them off both objectives. If I had placed them farther back from the wall it would have been an entirely different game, but hindsight is 20/20

Round 4: Grey Knights (Marc) 2-2

    Always weird for my first game on the second day to be against my dad, but that's how random pairings be sometimes! This was a mission we had actually practiced the previous Monday (I lost). I learned from that and decided to play HYPER aggresive this match. With the long deployment I had both of my Coldstars redeploy into his back line and start clearing out his obsec before they could move out and start casting Purifying Ritual. His list can score max secondaries by Turn 3 so I had to play the denial game as I can only score 97 max with Decisive Action. Removing him from his back objective was key, and helped me get the last Aerospace Targeting Relay deployed.

Round 5: Black Templars (Isaiah)

    

    Man I really just only played Marines this entire tournament. Regardless, while we had joked about it the night before at our team dinner, Isaiah and I did get paired for Round 5. It was no longer random pairings, so with the both of us 2-2 and similar scores, it must have been fate. An extremely close game, and it came down to whether or not Isaiah made a 4+ on his Tenacious Assault strategem to keep my Strike Team locked in combat. Luckily, he rolled a 2 and I clinched out the game.

Final Thoughts

    With a final placing of 10th, I am extremely happy with how I did at this tournament. I made some mistakes I definitely should not have in my losses, but you need to fail to learn. I also ended up as best overall Tau and got a fancy coaster! I'm now 3rd for Tau in the Lord Marshall Conference. My main goal for this season is to take top Tau and end up in the overall top 20 for the whole Conference. 

    

    On the tournament, I honestly really liked the Ridgeline terrain feature. The Unstable trait makes for some interesting play in how you can zone out and protect certain units. Mission selection was nice and had a decent mix of deployment types, but maybe one more 6 objective mission instead would have been a boon. Free State Gaming Club always hosts fun tournaments, and I'll definitely be going back to this event next year!

    

- Redrix-3