Some Greater Good Additions

Some new adds for my Tau collection.

Here are a couple of models for a faction for which I have not painted for quite a while...some 40k Tau! There is a Broadside battlesuit, two drones - all GW models - and a "Greater Good Deep Strike Veteran Big Shas" from Wargames Exclusive.

Earlier this fall ByronM was kind enough to host several folks for a "FriendsCon" - a group of players who love GW's 40k setting, so much so that as a group we ignore the things we don't like about the 8th edition of the rules and just play for kicks.  Curt brought out his Sisters of Battle, and at the time had shared with us how jazzed he had been to work on those figures again, as the Sisters had been a force he collected "back in the day".  Ah - the power of nostalgia!

When assembling my own FriendsCon force, I was moved to go back into an old collection as well - my Tau! I built and painted nearly all of my Tau forces back when they were originally released (around 2000 or so?) - so many of my Tau models are almost all 20 years old! The Tau were one of the first real attempts I had made at a "serious" 40k collection - a complete force, with attention to painting etc. etc. that was a big deal for me back then. I had loved how the red and white painting combo had come out, and even though we got carved to bits on the table, they generally looked great while getting blasted/obliterated/tabled. 

But time moves on, and my hobby interests moved all over the place (as you can see at the side of this blog!).  And at several points, I vowed I would sell my Tau forces, and I tried to on several occasions - but a sale never worked out. So I still had all of these models for FriendsCon. With Byron's help, I sort-of-figured-out-a-bit of the Tau's 8th Edition codex, dusted off the models after pulling them out of storage, and hit the table with them. And you know what? It was super fun! A sign from the Hobby Gods that these models must stay in my collection - and be improved...hence these models!

And wow...have the Tau ever changed! The models available from GW for the Tau range today are really something. New suits. New drones. New versions of suits. Wow!  My amazing wife even got one of them for me for Christmas in 2018...one of the new Broadside suits, so in October I put that model together and got out the red paint!

XV88 Broadside Suit

XV88 Broadside battlesuit.  That huge frigging rail gun sure fits with the 40k vibe!

This isn't new to any Tau gamer out there, of course, but wow, it was new to me. The early version of the XV88 Broadside suits was essentially a basic XV8 Crisis suit with some additional metal bits. This newer one is larger, is bigger - and WAY cooler!

Old and new...the model on the right was painted back in 1999!!!

Prepare for GREATER GOOD TIMES!

The Broadside Suits are very much an anti-tank/anti-heavy-armour weapon (as you might guess!). In 40k's 8th Edition, these sorts of weapons are much less effective against vehicles than they used to be.  But wow, the vision of the rail gun as a huge frigging rifle is SO neat. I love it.

Fantastic detail on the back...you can see the Smart Missile pods on the right shoulder.

The sculpting/design of this model is super cool...what a great re-visioning of the XV88

This suit is also sporting some "smart" missiles.  I recall back in the days of the Third Edition that the Smart Missiles were kind of useless, but they seem much more effective now. In fact, you can build this new Broadside to be armed with nothing but missiles...but I just think the rail gun is too cool, so I didn't do that. 

Shield drone on the left, marker drone on the right.

Markerlight drone...so cool! We didn't have these back in 3rd edition...

Shield drone...for an old salt like me, very cool to see these as fully plastic models...back in the day you needed to get metal parts to convert a gun drone to a shield drone.

You also get drones - it's the Tau after all! There are so many more types of drones now...I went with a shield drone and a markerlight drone, just to experiment building them and painting them.

Deep Strike Veteran Shas

A cigar? Is that greater good for your health?

This is a resin model from "Wargames Exclusive", purveyors of very interesting alternate 40K figures.  Their "Greater Good" range has some really interesting figures.  The "Gunslinger" - a character model I painted back in 2016 - is also from "Wargames Exclusive.  These figures are very cool. This grumpy-looking character "Shas" is very interesting, not your typical cool, smooth eco-urbanite Tau Fire Warrior, is he?

Cool view of the "jump pack"...

Shas with friend, the mysterious "Gunslinger"...

A cigar-chomping drop veteran? Hey, why not? He sure looks cool, and could serve as a "Cadre Fireblade" or something while on the gaming table.

Thanks for visiting!

Death of a Baneblade - 40k 8th Edition Battle Report

Imperial Baneblade 6813 contemplates its final moments amid 40k action ...

Do you have any figures that you must actually dust off before you use them on the table? Last night I had the chance to do just that as Conscript Byron popped over for a game of 40k 8th Edition.

Earlier in the week I had dug out and dusted off my collection of Imperial Guard "Praetorians".  The original plan was for them to face off against Dallas' Ork hordes, but unfortunately Dallas was unable to join us this week. A substitute "Xenos threat" was therefore required. To address this need I went even further into the "old-stuff-I-don't-have-room-to-display-but-can't-find-the-will-to-dispose-of" pile in my basement and pulled out my long-dormant Tau collection...

Starting disposition - the Imperial infantry have secured the staging site of an old mine facility,  while the Baneblade (accompanied by a Chimera APC with a mounted squad aboard); the Tau ambush would come at the right side of the photo. 

How old is some of this stuff? Well, the Praetorians have been part of my collection probably since...around 2009 or 2010. I do not recall the last time they saw action on the tabletop...it may be on the blog here somewhere, but it would have been quite a while ago, back before Dallas moved to his current address.

Praetorian troops take up firing positions.

Praetorian auto cannon support squad ready for action. 

As for the Tau, well, they are even older - you can tell from the photos.  I painted these when the Tau were first released by GW, so this would have been somewhere around 2001-02, something like that.  It was fitting that Byron was able to stop by last night, as we were chuckling at how I had painted these very Tau models to be ready for one of the "WarCon" tournaments he used to run - and that was a long time ago!

Imperial mechanized troops dismount as the ambush begins.

Tau Pathfinders deploy markerlights to ease the targeting of their fellow troops - while Kroot mercenaries cover them up front. 

So - one old collection to face off against another old collection.  I wanted to spice it up a bit...and I thought..."Baneblade!"  Back in January of 2011 I completed one of the (at the time) new plastic Baneblade tank kits.  But it had never once seen action on the tabletop, not once, since that time.  So I thought it would be fun to haul it out and see how it performed in the 8th Edition of Warhammer 40k.

The Tau ambush takes shape...the plastic targeting markers were used to indicate markerlight "hits".

I set up a 6' x 6' table, and made the Baneblade central to the scenario.  The Imperial Force would represent some column advancing toward an objective on a sparsely-populated Imperial mining colony.  The Tau interlopers, while indifferent to the Imperial infantry, were alarmed at the Baneblade, and sent a strike force to eliminate it.  The Tau would have six turns to destroy the Baneblade.

The Kroot decide to eliminate the Chimera with a close assault...would tie up the tank and render it useless for the game...

Byron took command of the Tau, while I played the Baneblade and its covering force of Praetorian infantry.  Both sides were at 70 "Power Levels" in terms of size.

Byron's Tau commander opted for an aggressive strategy, with his XV8 Crisis teams arriving in a drop from their Manta gunship high above the table, and hoping to get a kill with an all-out assault in that first round of shooting. We laughed at how this plan might have been received by the other Crisis Suit pilots..."like, right in front the enemy objective...are we SURE about that?"

Surprise! The Tau Commander, accompanied by two XV8 Crisis Suit teams, drops in to make the kill!

Baneblade commander notes the presence of Xenos power suits...

Meanwhile, Fire Warriors engage the supporting Praetorian infantry at long range. 

It almost worked like that. Byron's drop was dramatic, and did damage the Baneblade pretty badly, but it still survived for a bit. The air filled with firing from exotic Tau weapons, met with shattering return volleys of Imperial Guard heavy weapons and the arsenal of the mighty Baneblade tank. It took four turns, but the Baneblade was eventually put out of action, with the coup-de-grace delivered by the lethal railgun of the Tau Hammerhead tank.

The Company Commander watches developments from his improvised command post. 

More Fire Warriors move into position...

Imperial mortars try and eliminate enemy infantry...

It was a costly victory, in that the Tau lost both of their XV8 Crisis teams in the huge volleys of return fire. The Tau Commander himself was nearly clipped, losing his two shield drones (lucky for him they came along!).  On the other hand, no Crisis Suit pilots would be around to question the Commander's strategy...the losses were regrettable, but I suspect this counted as a "greater good" overall outcome for this Tau Commander...

The end is near for the Baneblade...Tau Devilfish APCs attempt to kill steal...and they would almost manage it!

KaBOOM! The Baneblade is "out of action"!

Tau Hammerhead taking in the spectacle of its kill shot...

"Where did those other Crisis suits go? Oh well...it's for the greater good, after all."

It was a lot of fun to get these models out on to the table, so a big thanks to Byron for stopping by. 40k's 8th Edition has many, many warts, but the setting is still awesome, and the game is still a ton of fun when you play with fun players.  It is great that these dusty old figures can still get some time on the gaming tables. Hope to see folks again next week!

Tau Plains of War ITC Tournament Army Completed!

It's been a lot of work, but I have finally finished off my Warhammer 40k Tau army for this coming weekends Plains of War ITC event here in Winnipeg. For anyone not familiar with the ITC tournament scene, it is a hugely competitive tournament series that features obscene armies meant for one thing, flaying your opponent.  It is not for the faint of heart. You are allowed allies, detachments, formations, and more!  While ITC tries to limit the power level a bit, by fixing (or adjusting) the insanely broken rules that GW has been publishing for the last 10 years, the series is all about the win.

Honestly, not really my cup of tea any more, BUT the organizer of the local event is a great guy and a friend so I have to go, right?  It also doesn't hurt that because the event will be competitive it gave me a chance to paint a whole bunch of big Tau suits, which I normally wouldn't paint as they are too good to field in numbers in a friendly game (unless you don't want friends for long).  So, without further delay, here are some of the brand new units from what I call my Pacific Rim Tau List, since its a lot of giant robots.

Lets start with the big boys, three Riptides, in a Riptide wing formation.  You get to take 3 of them, at the same price as normal, but they all get better, for FREE!  Reroll overheating, hit enemies easier if another Riptide has already fired at them, shot everything twice in a turn (once per game), and don't take up any slots in your force organization chart.  Yes, all that for free!

Paint wise, I had Tau units before, done in a winter camo scheme, and wanted to use some of them as well, but they were painted years ago and were not great.  So, I updated the scheme a bit by painting all the new ones (and going back over the old small suits and infantry) with chipping and edge highlighting.  Both done to a very high stark contrast in an attempt to look very anime'ish.  There are gradiants in the base coat (done by airbrush) but what I really wanted to pop was all the rough areas, which I think I made work.

While I like the overall look, and they pop (in my eyes at least) at table top level, they do look rough close up.  There is no subtly here, they will not win any painting awards, but they are not meant to, they are fast rough and dirty, so no offense taken if you don't like the style, several people I know don't like it already!

Next up is another formation for the army, the Advanced Stealth Cadre.

Once again, units at the same price as normal, but better!  The Ghostkeel (the big suit in the middle) can fire at +1 ballistic every turn, ignore cover, and target the rear Armour of any vehicle it shoots at, plus either (or both) of the units of small stealth suits get that bonus as well if they are within 6" of the Ghostkeel. For FREE....  are you starting to see my issue with recent GW rules?

Oh, did I mention that with the drones that come with the Ghostkeel give it a 2+ cover save in the open due to doubling its stealth and shrouded saves?

Last of the new units painted for the tournament is my commander and her unit, although to be fair half of the unit is from 10 years ago just being retouched up with chips, edge highlighting, and new bases.

The unit is made up of Commander Shadowsun leading a unit of Crisis suits as part of a Farsight enclave, which makes them count as a troop choice instead of an elite choice.  By having Shadowsun lead the unit, she grants them stealth and shrouded (so a 4+ cover save in the open!) as well as a 3d6" jump after firing every turn (instead of the normal 2d6" jump).

Shadowsun herself comes with 2 shield drones that give 4+ inv saves and a drone that lets a single unit within 12" reroll all 1's that turn.  On top of that she has 2 melta guns that she can fire at different targets!

The unit is made up of 8 Crisis Suits, 3 with plasma guns and missile launchers, 2 with dual cyclic ion blasters (so 8 str7 shots each), 2 with dual melta guns, and a unit leader than lets the whole unit ignore cover, reroll misses, and chose to either reroll to wound or reroll armour penetration rolls.  Oh, and remember, they count as troops!




So there you have it, all the new units I painted up over the last few weeks for the army.  The army is 1850 points and really that makes up most of it!  The only other units in the army are a small 8 man unit of Firewarriors, a unit of Kroot (that Sean McWatt painted for me YEARS ago and that I just touched up a bit), and a few Broadside Missile suits.

As nasty as all the above looks, I expect to not break a 50/50 record....  Mainly due to my inability to focus on and remember 40k rules as they just piss me off, and due to many of the armies that I have seen that are going, making this one look about as tough as a Powder Puff Girl.  Sigh....

At least I had a lot of fun painting them!!!

Tau Hospitality

While in Winnipeg, I had the chance to have a game of WH40K with Byron, at his place. Steve, a friend of his, came for a visit and provided some precious advice at various moments of the game. I don't play 40K very often, and last time I did was with the 5th Edition of the rules. So I had lots of reading to do before this game.

To give some more context, during the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I painted two 40K armies and since I have been waiting for an opportunity to field one of them. Well, I am happy to report that the Viet-Cron army just had its baptism of fire. Unfortunately, I don't think I will have a chance to play with Greg, who inspired the theme behind the Viet-Cron, before I leave Winnipeg, but I am sure we will have a chance to meet sooner or later for a friendly encounter.

Byron prepared a table with some awesome scenery. Many of the buildings visible in the picture are his creations and I really like how they are linked by small bridges.

I deployed my Destroyers on the right flank, ready to engage a squad of Fire Warriors.

 On the left flank, a group of Viet-Cron Warriors engaged a group of Tau Battlesuits and even managed to scare them away for a few turns. The posters, the billboards and the solar panels really make the city something special.

Right in the middle of the battlefield stood the "Temple of Metal", shooting all around. I thought the thing was invincible...

... so I moved it (it's on the right edge of the picture) closer to the heart of the city, ready to wipe out any target coming within range....

 ... then BOUM! some Battlesuit equipped with an array of fusion weapons blew up my big unit with one well aimed shot. The Spyder is positioned just behind where the "Temple of Metal" was standing a few seconds earlier.

On the right flank, things were going well. Two Battlesuits and the Tau Warriors were vaporized.
 

A final view of the battlefield. The Tau obviously have a strong foothold in the city while the few remaining Viet-Cron units control most of the forest.  Point wise, it was a Tau victory, but fun wise, it was a blast for both players!

I had a chance to take a look at some of Byron's outstanding miniatures and scenery before heading back to the downtown suite. A cool gaming evening like this is one of the reasons why I always look forward to my yearly trip to Winnipeg.

Painting Challenge Theme Entry - 40k Tau Gunslinger

Tau "gunslinger"

The last bonus theme round for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was "Gambler/Risk-Taker".  For this round I submitted this "Tau Gunslinger" from a company called "Wargames Exclusive".  They make all manner of borderline GW-themed sculpts which are either clever enough to avoid the hilarious IP enforcement battalions of Nottingham or simply are not significant enough to attract their interest to begin with.  I am no lawyer, and I leave that to others of appropriate education and background to opine upon...

Scenic base is a nice touch

I thought this very cool sculpt was at once clearly a Tau, and decidely not-Tau in his appearance or demeanor.  Your "typical" Tau is a smug combination of psuedo-social-democratic political outlooks, caste cultures and rail guns. The Tau generally let their guns do the talking, but it is usually big guns. Like, really big.  Not sidearms.  Over the years the Tau have evolved into one of several factions which have served to ruin the prospects of balanced 40k games, although the models have always had a cool look to them, and over time have seen a number of (generally) even cooler new releases.   

I tried to make his cloak "pop" with a bright red

This fellow, however, doesn't seem to need a Riptide suit (over whatever it's called).  He's prepared to walk right up to you and quick-draw with the blasters.  Of course, knowing how advanced Tau weaponry is, the pistols are probably armed with subatomic ammunition or something...but anyway, I liked this figure a lot.  The sculpt was well done, and it was a real joy to paint - the first Tau figure I have painted in close to 12 years, I think. 

The detail on this sculpt was lovely - very, very well done

"Go ahead - make my greater good day..."

The Sixth Analogue Painting Challenge concludes this weekend.  I've passed my points target, and I've managed to hit all of the bonus theme rounds, so I'm feeling good about that.  On the down side I'm poised to lose all three of my side duels.  In fact, I'm getting obliterated in my "sci-fi" side duel, but I may find a way to catch Byron in the "modern mayhem" duel...we'll see...