Tale of Four gamers November painting list

So my 500 points worth of Tau for the November stage of TOFG consists of the following:

1. Crisis Commander
2. Two bodyguards
3. 10 Firewarriors
4. Hammerhead

I may, depending on time paint another 2 firewarriors to have a legal army and a couple of gun drones to additional firepower (read ablative wounds) for my suits.

I figure that with this selection in the first month I won't get bored of painting too many of one thing at any time. It will also force me to choose a colour scheme for the main components of my army; suits, vehicles and firewarriors.

My intention is to have variations of a theme for each different facet of the army, while keeping the same general colours on each, this will keep the army varied yet uniform. Also, it might help to test my painting skills.

See how it turns out eh?

In a competitive move and for something completely different my friend has decided on a tale of four gamers style competition.

Being as I have had boxes of Tau Stuff sitting unassembled and unloved in my cupboard for the last 12 months. I thought it was time to give a different army a go. Plus it'll also prove to some of my critics that I can paint colours other then black (templars).

This will also be a slight tactical challenge for me now. Given the Tau philosophy of war (play style) instead of charging towards the enemy shouting die at the top of my lungs, interactive warhammer, I'll now have to outmanoeuvre and outgun my opponent.

Here are the rules for the competition (I take no credit for writing them out as they are a direct copy and paste form This Blog )

"Here is a basic rundown with dates where they are known. Please get your 500 point starter lists to me by the 31st October.

Month 1 - 500 points by the 30th November. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (7th Dec), 0 for unpainted.

Month 2 - 500 points by 31st December. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (7th Jan), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 3 points available for getting a test game against someone (not necessarily a ToFG competitor, anyone will do. Get a couple of pics if possible.)

Month 3 - 500 points by 31st January. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (7th Feb), 0 for unpainted. Also, will play a mini-league with each competitor playing each other competitor. League rankings will determine 5, 3, 2, and 1 points. This will take place late january (date TBC)... as such unpainted models from that months batch will be allowed (as it should take place before the deadline.) We will look to book the club for a Sunday to get the games in.

Month 4 - 500 points by 28th February. 5 points for on time, 3 points for late (7th Mar), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 2 points for modelling an objective marker. Further bonus 1 point for a further objective marker.

Month 5 - As much extra as you wish for Apoc. Legendary Units, Super Heavies, whatever you like. Deadline is the day of the apoc game, probably late March or early April (date TBC). There will be no points available for painting, but simply put if it isn't painted you can't use it. Any units dropped from earlier 500 point blocks can be put back in here. All forces will join our standing 2000 point armies. The sides will probably be Rich and I vs Chris and Ken (Chaos and Orks vs Guard and Tau makes most sense from a fluff point) but if anyone has any particular objections we can negotiate that later. Any difference in points will be covered by additional strategic assets for the poorer party. Scoring for this month will be 5 points for each person on the winning team. There will be an additional 5 points for the "Champion" of each team. This will be decided by completing a secret personal objective (so secret even their team mate isn't allowed to know!)

I believe these rules are as fair and clear as I can make them, but any questions either comment below or email/text me and we'll sort it out. I believe the armies will be the following, but feel free to correct me if you have a sudden change of heart.

Ginge - Orks
Chris - Imperial Guard
Me - Tau
Rich - Chaos Space Marines

Best of luck to all the competitors. And don't forget to have your first 500 point list to me by the 31st October."