Birthday Spankings--Black & Tan: Part 2   by Kenton Kilgore
The Dvergar Steeljacks had certainly struck a mighty blow against the Tau Air Cavalry, but there was still plenty of time left in the game for the Greater Good to prevail.

Turn 3
The Trowe quickly forgot their momentary fear of the Tau’s superior firepower (a tiny mind is a blessing) and regrouped. The Dvergar closed in on their foes. In range once again after spending the last turn running to catch up, Regulars Squad 1 fired on the rear of one of the empty Devilfish, destroying it with a tremendous explosion that unfortunately, wounded the nearby Warspar (who was NOT amused). 

The Flametongues unsuccessfully assaulted the other empty Devilfish. More luck was had by the Marauders, who assaulted the transport of Team Toruko, destroying it. The explosion wounded one Marauder, but killed five Fire Warrior passengers. 

Undaunted by their ride being destroyed, Team Toruko kept advancing towards my board edge. Team Ukon’iro dismounted from their Devilfish to deal with the Marauders, and the Hammerhead and the other Devilfish swung around for better firing positions.

Infuriatingly, only one Marauder fell to concentrated fire from Teams Toruko and Ukon’iro and the latter’s Devilfish: the elite Dvergar were strengthened by the presence of the revered Living Ancestor amongst them. Kuzame II was more successful, killing eight of the Flametongues with a submunition round: the sole survivor of the squad yelled his defiance and held his ground.

Turn 4
Clanking towards the approaching Tau, the Crawler’s cannon opened fire, killing one Fire Warrior from Team Toruko. The Marauders charged the rest of them, hacking them down with their heavy combat axes. Krom and the remainder of Regulars Squad 2 charged the Hammerhead Kuzame II, knocking out the railgun and stunning the crew within. 

Team Ukon’iro returned to the relative safety of their Devilfish. Devilfish drones gunned down the last Flametongue and combined fire with Team Enshoku to kill four members of Regulars Squad 2 and pin the survivors. The hour was very late, though, and it looked very grim for the Tau, so Pat conceded.
 

Posted May 2009
 

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