Tonight I am running a 'prequel' to our normal campaign as some folks will be out for Valentines day.

There will be 5 to 6 DW, about 5 IG, and 1 Commissar. They will have 12ish hours to prepare for a Tau counterattack and they must hold a bridge for a specific amount of time till a rapid insertion force can reinforce and extract them.

What my main question is I plan on using 3 to 5 stealth suits to scout out the ruins and try and flush out the Marines. Then if they can lure out the group the Tau Fire Warriors and Tau Armor will open up.

Now as a whole this is the Tau force:

Three 15 strong Tau Firewarrior Units.

3 to 5 Stealth Suits

1 Hammerhead Tank

1 Devilfish

1 Commander in Crisis Suit.

Is this appropriate, too much, or too little?

The group each has spent 19000 xp so they are Rank 2 I believe.

they will have a very light weapon load out. 50 to 75 req. As they think this will be a quick grab and ****** but their Thunderhawk will be shot down and most of their extra gear lost. They will have what I give them to work with as they did in the movie to defend the bridge.

any thoughts? suggestions? Both are appreciated.

I hope to have a slew of pics to follow tonight or tomorrow.

I don't know about making their gear disappear. My guys usually spend alot of time thinking about what they want, and it would probably piss them off to no end if after they finished their req, that then I said "Most of it's gone, you just have what you have." If you want to limit them, I'd say play the mission down and give them low Req, then make it a suprise that they crash and there are more than was expected (Intel isn't always spot on). This way, they aren't full up on the best gear out there, but make sure to say there might be vehicles or something, so they have some anti-tank weapons and aren't just thowing bolter shots at the Hammerhead. Or say that they were in the Thunderhawk when it went down. This gives the playres what they need.

As for the amount of troops there, I think that's an adaquite level, but remember that you're a GM. If you set it up right, ou can make it so that there is as little or as many troops as you feel are ncessary. EG, you don't have to tell them the forces they have to stand up to, just throw them at them and then say "There's more" or "there's less" as needed. Don't forget that Tau are Tau and that they can run away if they think they can get something more adventagous, so if you think your group has done enough damage and can't take much more, let them destory something, like the Hammerhead or an enemy leader, and then the rest retreat because they think "Ther'es a whole chapter on the other side of the bridge"

Although I see the usefulness of the add or take away as needed approach to enemy numbers, I want to have a hard line on how many troops can attack at max. That way I can give them numbers if they are able to scout ahead and see whats coming.

I have gamed with these guys for about 20 years now and they really like knowing there is a set scenario of sorts and they will do all they can to win in the most efficient and story driven way possible.

sometimes they have clean sweeps sometimes they get beat down.

its more a matter of taste for me.

Should i run the Firewarriors as a horde each time or as individuals since there arent that many?

What I thought about doing was run them as a horde till they got closer than 36 meters.

why the tau would ever get that close unless driven is a mystery.

I agree though about not letting em gear up to 100 req then ditching 75 of it. I will just limit the req and they can use some stuff already on site.

thanks!!

I'd say run them individually, as I don't thinkt hey're quite hordes. Tau tend to try to be more elite, o I don't really see them as hordish. I'd consider 15 Orks more a horde than 15 firewarriors. I also find that small hordes tend to not fair that well. One good Devistator volley can take out most of them, and they don't get as many attacks.

Along with giving them hard stuff, even if they scout ahead, there could be a miscount, or the tau actually have cammo, so there could be that. Or an Orca comes down behind the lines and drops off two more things of fire warriors.

But, provided they have something to atleast take out the Hammerhead, (which technically they do because they have Krak grenades for what it's worth), then they should be fine.

thanks.

I think I will let them have 2 melta bombs they can preset as obstacles and maybe some other implements.

lets hope someone took some noncombat skills!!!!!!!

Just remember how accurate Tau are at range. Those Gyro Stabilized Pulse Rifles will allow all but the Stealth suits to engage well beyond the viable range of the kill team.

The Tau should probably sit at range to harass the KT to come to them, then have the vehicles engage.