Tyranids Colour Scheme!!

Admittedly it's probably a little late to have just finalised my colour scheme for the tale of eight gamers, being well into phase 2 now. However I have now had chance to get down and do some painting without being disturbed too much.

However this is my final colour scheme for my Tyranids (note it isn't actually as shiny as the first photo looks, bloody flash :-P):

Breaking in the Nids

As I finally got my Tyranids for the first round of tale of eight gamers put together and have pretty much got no hope of getting them finished in time for the due date. I took the opportunity to play a couple of games of combat patrol against one of my mates. This worked out quite nicely as he wanted to try out some of my other armies as well. 

My army for the first 500 points consists of the following:

3 x Zoanthropes

10 x Termagants

13 x Hormagaunts (with toxin and adrenal glands)

10 x Genestealers

We played on a 4ft x (just short of) 4ft table as it seemed reasonable for a 500 point per side game.

Game 1:

Vs My Tau, annihilation, Spearhead deployment. Tyranids going first.

Tau army, 3x fireknifes (with 2 drones and bonding knife), 3 x Firestorms (with 2 drones and bonding knife), 6x Firewarriors.

The game started off with my tyranids running across the open ground in the centre, the termagants heading into the comfort of a building and the Hormagants sticking behind zoanthropes for a cover save. The Tau fire removed a few hormagaunts from the back of the pack but not causing any significant damage. Then the genestealers came on directly behind his battlesuits, this pretty much put the game in the tyranids hands. Once the battle suits were engaged with the genestealers and then the hormagaunts piled in, the Tau were swept from the board.

Tyranids win!

Tactical Notes: This proved to be quite a good game for the Tyranids, the outflanking genestealers proving my opponents undoing, tying up the large majority of his firebase from turn 2 onwards. If I was playing my Tau I would have deployed slightly differently to minimize the effect of the genestealers outflanking at least get myself a turn of shooting before they would be in combat. 

This was also a good opportunity to show my opponent just how bad Tau were for an apparent elite shooting army. Doesn't matter how good your guns are if you can't hit the broadside of a barn.

Game 2:

Vs my space wolf army from winds of war 2011, Night fight, multiple objectives (4)

5x long fangs 4 missiles, 5 x grey hunter MoTW meltagun, razoback TLHB, 5 x grey hunter MoTW meltagun, razoback L+TLPG, 3x wolf guard, MoTW 2 x storm bolter.

I deployed my Hormagaunts and infiltrated my genestealers after winning first turn. Paul, deployed a razorback, with an embarked squad in it exactly 18" away from my hormagunts. By some miracle I was able to roll a 6 for the difficult terrain test for my gaunts and a 6 for their fleet move enabling the gaunts to reach the  razorback. Which they miraculously destroyed :-P. The genestealers just edged forward in the building to get nearer the enemies deployment zone. My termagants and zoanthropes came on centre back of the board and ran forwards to try and get the hormagaunts into synapse range quickly. My opponents army came on, the wolf guard and second razorback squad engaging the genestealers, the long fangs running into position and, squad from the destroyed razorback engaging my hormagaunts. 

I managed to warp blast the long fangs back off the table, and the genestealers killed the wolf guard but were in turn killed by the second squad of grey hunters. Game ended up with a single grey hunter in combat with a zoanthrope over an objective. Zoanthrope had passed 7 invulnerable saves on his last wound. Ending the game in a draw.

Tactical Notes: Hormagaunts outside of synapse will normally run away after taking a couple of casualties. Also Termagants in combat with wolves will lose, made far worse by being fearless. I was losing models at twice the rate he was killing them and doing precious bugger all back. Not much else I could really have accomplished here. I could have held the genestealers in reserve to try outflanking again, then gone to ground with my army on the two objectives in my deployment zone. Trying to use the Genestealers to tie up on of his objectives. Not very Tyranid like though. 

Game 3:

Vs Chaos Space marines. Capture and Control, pitched battle.

5 x Nurgle Marines (2 x flamers, champion with combi flamer), 5 x Plague Marines (2 x Plasma gun champion), 5 x Havocs (3x heavy bolters, 1 x missile, mark of Nurgle)

After taking a round of shooting while in cover, I ran forward managing to tie up his closest squad (plasma) with my hormagaunts, the genestealers outflanked again coming in on the right side to engage the havocs. He charged his flamer squad into combat with the genestealers. At the end of these combats he had 2 blokes left from the plasma squad, facing down four genestealers, 10 termagants, and Zoanthropes. He gave up at this point.

Tactical Notes: Think I did pretty well here, holding back from his flamer range till I was i a position to get the charge off despite going through cover. While the genestealers mopped up most of his firebase. Hopefully a greater learning curve for my opponent here though. keeping away from the edge if your opponent is outflanking and not moving too far forward with your troops against Tyranids. He knew his marines could beat my Hormaguants in combat, that wasn't my intention though. I just wanted to stop them shooting for a few turns. Complete success.

(Picture By Adrian Smith, taken from GW website, used without permission)

Tale of (TBC) Gamers

From November 2009 till February 2010 I took part in a ‘Tale of four gamers’ type event with a couple of my friends. Although my end score was relatively low, due to the steep learning curve of the Tau army combined with my slow painting and few opportunities to get practice games in, it was a great motivator to get the majority of my Tau army painted in a relatively short space of time. Far quicker then I would normally have be able to. Although I met relatively few of the deadlines and came last overall it was a fun challenge that I relished.

So when my friend suggested running another one this year, I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a start on my new Tyranid army.

I previously played Tyranids in second addition, though stopped about halfway through third edition, my Black Templars were my new favourite army at this point, although I still continued to collect Tyranids just didn’t put them together. I was tempted to start them on the previous ToFG competition, but fancied collecting a shooty army instead. Hence collecting my Tau. Although my desire to collect another Tyranid army has never dwindled. Unfortunately I sold my big pile of Tyranids a few years ago. So I’ll be starting my army from scratch.

I won’t reiterate the rules here, the event organiser has made quite a comprehensive post of all the details Here. There are a couple of differences for the latest event though. The major one that will help me out is the extended deadlines. With having approximately 8 weeks to complete the 500 point blocks rather then the 1 month which I struggled with previously.

One of my main concerns with collecting the Tyranids for the escalation (if I decide to go) is the first 500 points. Played using combat patrol rules, So no toughness 6+, no 2+ saves, no more then 2 wounds. So no Hive tyrant, no Tyranid prime, no Tyranid warriors, no Tervigon, no Shrikes and no Trygon Prime. Leaving me with only one option for synapse, Zoanthropes. Which aren’t ideal in a combat patrol army. If facing an opponent with a psyker in, they can get shut down far too easily, leaving me without any anti tank.

Any suggestions?

Tale of Four Gamers: Apocalypse

For the conclusion of our Tale of Four Gamers event, we decided that an apocalypse game would be in order. For this event my Tau would be allied with Chris' Imperial Guard force. While Ginges' Orks would be 'Allied' with Richs' chaos marines.

The Orks set-up as a huge mass as close to no mans land as possible. Some of the chaos forces set-up hidden behind the orks, the rest waited to outflank (although me and Chris didn't know this at the time). 

Turn 1: The ork and chaos forces on the board surged forward as fast as possible. the Stompas' pyscho-dakka-blasta opened fire first. Half hour later, when Ginge eventually rolled a double, relatively few models were actually removed as casualties. The rest of the Ork and Chaos shots caused few casualties among the good guys, although a lucky shot  by the chaos baneblade destroyed the disruptor beacon. With a rare outbreak of 5 and 6s my firewarrior and Pathfinder squads broke and headed (extremely swiftly) for the hills.

As the Evil forces ended their turn the Tau and Guard readied their guns, however at a sign from the stompa the orks launched a blind barrage before their advance, obscuring the majority of their army form the Tau and imperial retribution. Leaving wazdakka and his bikers exposed on the flank. The Tau remote drone network picked out targets for the seeker missiles. Unfortunately it was not enough. By the end of the Good guys shooting phase, wazdakka was left on one wound with two trukks and a soul grinder taken out. 

Turn 2: Chaos forces outflanked behind the forces of good while with a loud waaghh the Orks crashed into the front. By the time turn was over the casualty rate among the Tau and Imperials was catastrophic. With Shas O'Kunas and his battle suits dead or fleeing, one hammerhead down, the remaining squad of pathfinders dead. The Imperial forces casualties were even higher. The mortars died all 3 hydras were killed. while the large stubborn squad was flamed by the stompa then wiped out by the burna boyz. Not much remained from the forces of good.

At this point me and Chris were thinking the result was pretty much a done deal. With precious little left to deal with the chaos marines running rampant through our lines and even less left to deal with the Stompa. The outlook was grim.

The Tau and Imperial forces took stock of their situation deciding that we lacked the firepower to take care of the chaos forces running through our lines we decided that all we could do was try to hold them up and try to secure the objectives in the opposition deployment zone. The Tau barracuda and XV9 battlesuits arrived from reserve. The Tau forces concentrated on the chosen marines. Leaving a few alive but pinned. The blue hammerhead damaged the drive on the stompa slowing it's advanced. The barracudas seeker missiles didn't cause much damage. But the barracuda took out a few of the looters hanging out near the back of the Ork lines. The rest of the fire from the Allied good guys was scattered causing light casualties.

Turn 3:

The rest of the Chaos reinforcements turned up, slaughtering what little remained of the imperial and Tau forces. In the assault phase the deamon prince charge the hammerhead with one squad of deamons assaulting the XV9 battlesuits and another squad charged into the broadside. The terminators destroyed the hellhammer. 

The XV9s took out 7 of the assaulting deamons (3 from fearless), taking no casualties themselves. While the broadside crushed two of the deamons attacking him. 

Another Hammerhead and squad of firewarriors arrived on the field. Firing on a squad of chaos marines near the XV9. The Firewarriors killed a grand total of 0 marines but the hammer head killed two. The Other hammerhead moved behind the stompa and fired on the remaining soul grinder, missing. The Baneblade immobilized the stompa.

Over the next couple of turns, the XV9 battlesuits finished off the deamons and flanked round the field, securing one of the objectives in the ork deployment zone. The railgun armed hammerhead was destroyed by the remaining soul grinder, while the Ion cannon armed hammerhead secured the other objective. The last devilfish was destroyed by the stompa, It's drones contesting one of the center objectives. The two surviving imperial guard veterans contested the other centre objective, with the chaos forces holding the remaining two. It fell to kill points to decide the winner. Giving the win to the ork and chaos forces. See Ginges Blog for full details of the scores.

The Board at the end of the game. Not much left!!

Shas O'Kunas coughed up a mouthful of blood, the stimulant injectors in his suit taking the edge off his pains but it was still agonising. He looked up at his attacker powerless to do anything. As the chaos marine raised his blade to finish his existence, it's shimmering energy field seeming to hunger for his blood. O'Kunas looked out of his shattered visor, determined to face his death head on. The chaos marines' head disintegrated before he could land his blow. The rest of his squad was perforated by fire from the XV9 battlesuits, forcing them to go to ground. He sent a coded message to the XV9 thanking them. But advising them to secure the objective and get out of there, the battle was lost. With that O'Kunas blanked out.

Tale of Four Gamers: Situational Update

+++++ Incoming Transmission +++++

++Source [Planet-side]: Stealth Team – Silent Death++

++Destination [High Orbit]: A Whisper in the Void – Shas’O Kunas++

++Priority: Urgent/Operational++

[Unintelligible]... Deamon Prince appeared above Ork shanty. Witnessed talking to largest ... [Unintelligible]… appears a truce has been reached between the Ork and Chaos forces. Chaos and Ork reinforcements have been witnessed entering the camp. Composition unknown. Large vehicle construction … [unintelligible] … completion estimated 15 Rotaa. Large road being made in the rough direction of the Gue’la bastion, estimated completion time 10 Rotaa. Run’al discovered …[unintelligible]…

Pursued by Ork forces … [unintelligible]… compromised…

++[/Transmission Ends – Terminated at source]++

================================================

+++++ Incoming Transmission +++++

++Source [Vior’la]: Aun’el Vior’la Shi++

++Destination [Galactic sector 065:034//System 43B]: A Whisper in the Void – Shas’O Kunas++

++Carrier: Messenger Drone LR56-3BA-89++

++Reference: Reinforcements++

Greetings Shas’O Kunas,

I am pleased to hear the campaign is progressing well, although I grieve for the loss of your fallen warriors. I find solace in the teachings of Commander Brightsword, remember a life given in pursuit of the Tau’va is a life well spent and a worthy goal of any Tau.

I have been keeping abreast of your campaign. It worries me that the composition of the enemy forces is greater then we first estimated. To this end you are authorised to use any and all means to achieve our objectives. However it pleases me to inform you that I have been able to despatch a small contingent of elite forces to aid your efforts. They should be arriving shortly after you receive this message. In your absence the Fio have been developing a new, improved battle suit. I believe you will find it most effective. Its current classification is XV9.

Fight well and with Honour

++Transmission Ends++

=========================================================

+++++Incoming Transmission+++++

++Source [Planet-Side]: Imperial Bastion++

++Destination[Error##Unknown::Broad Beamwidth Transmission] Intercepted++

++Priority: Error#041 Code not recognised/unavailable++

Add++ Translational subroutine [Alpha01-B// Imperial Gothic Low]

This is Major Koenig transmitting on an open channel to all blue arsed xenos that may be listening. I have received your information regards the alliance of the filthy orks and chaos scum that is polluting this planet, our scouts have confirmed your findings. Even though it pains me to have to say this, you are right that their combined strength will overrun our defences. Although I’d rather wrestle an angry grox then fight with you skinny [Untranslatable], the defence of the civilian population of this planet forces me to accept your offer.

Koenig out.

Thought for the day: Innocence proves nothing

++Transmission Ends++

Tale of Four Gamers: Tournament army list

For the third month of the tale of four gamers, there was a mini tournament between the competitors; Ginge, Soundwave & Noveltyboy. Full details of the tournament rules can be found here.

For this list I would be using the models that I have painted over the last three months. So my list for the tournament was as follows:

Shas'el: Plasma Rifle, Missile pod, multitracker, hardwired multi tracker with 2 shield drones, bonding knife 122pts

Crisis Team 1: 2xShas'ui with plasma rifle and  TL missile pod

Crisis Team 2: 2xShas'ui, 1xShas'vre, 2flamers and TL missile pod on the ui, AFP, missile pod, HW drone controller with 2 gun drones, bonding knife and multitracker on the vre.

Firewarriors x 7 shas'ui with bonding knife (x2)
Firewarriors x 7

Pathfinders x 5 railrifle x1  (x2)
Devilfish, disruption pods, flechettes (x2)

Hammerhead, railgun, burst cannons, multitracker, flechettes, disruption pods (x2)
Broadside shas'ver, plasma rifles, HW targetting array, HW multitracker, Drone controller 2 x shield drones bonding knife.

This was the list i took to the tournament. Think i might have to mix it up a little for the apocalypse game.
Any thoughts?

Tale of four gamers: Hammerhead number 2

Photo of my second hammerhead for tofg. I think it looks pretty good.

Battle Report.

Tuesday night battle report.

Went to the local gamesworkshop this evening to try to get a little more practice in with my tau before the tournament at the end of this month. With my 1500 point army just about finalized. I arrived at the shop to find they have started a table booking system. Meaning I wouldn't be able to get a game till 8.

When I did finally get a game it was a 3000 point a side match up with two players a side. I ended up playing alongside a space marine army against a necron and chaos marine army. Here are the army lists from what I remember.
Chaos:
Daemon prince.
Dreadnought
10 man assault squad
5 terminators
Terminator lord
Tooled out chosen x 9
Two small chaos marine squads

Necrons:
Nightbringer
Necron lord
2 scarab swarms
3 heavy destroyers
At least 2 large squads of necrons (they were all piled together behind a building
Monolith

Marines (allied)
Landraider
Dreadnought
Ironclad
Sternguard
Terminators
Chapter master
Drop pod
Landspeeder typhoon
Razorback
2 squads of tactical marines.
(not even sure this list is legal)

Tau (me)
Shas'el
2 crisis suits PG + MP
3 Crisis suits F +TLMP
Drones for above.
3 squads of 7 firewarriors
2 squads of 5 pathfinders 1 rail rifle in each.
Devilfish x 2
Hammerhead x 2
1 broadside

Pitched battle game type anniliation.

Turn 1:
We won the roll for setup and opted to set up first. However they managed to steal thr initiative and get first turn.

C&N: The prince and chaos jumpackers shot forward. The mainstay of the necron army remained hidden behind the building. While the heavy destroyers started taking potshots at my devil fish.
The only shooting from the chaos marines killed one sternguard while the necrons blew the burst cannon off one of my devilfish. (I think its important to note here that i didnt make a single one of my 6 disruption pod saves in this game).

T&M: Massed fire from the marines and tau killed of the assualt marines. While the broadside and hammerhead failed to damage monolith the other hammerhead missed a heavy destroyer. Missile pods from one of the crisis teams manages to shake the dreadnought. While the only disembarked firewarior squad shot up 3 chaos marines from one of the smaller squads.

Turn2:
C&N:
The daemon prince moved in position to charge my deathrains and a tactical squad the ctan shot at and stunned a dreadnought. The heavy destroyers continued to shoot at my two devilfish with no effect. Other then that there was no shooting on the chaos or necron part.
The prince charged my deathrains which I foolishly forgot to pull back last turn, along with the marine tactical squad. Slaughtering 5 marines causing my suits to flee off the table. Not before they caused 2 wounds back though, got to love strength 5.

T&M:
The space marines and tau arranged themselves to take full advantage of the chaos marines they could see. The terminator squad prepared to join the fray against the Deamon prince. Shooting.g wise the chapter masters orbital bombardment destroyed the monolith. (being as the heaviest ground based guns failed miserably last turn). The only real shooting was the two hammerhead failing to hit the heavy destroyers the broadside failing to hit the destroyers. The firewarriors failing to wound the destroyers, the missile pods on the other crisis squad doing the same. (although this want helped b the necron player saying they were T6 when I think the are 5, unintentional though I think) and the landspeeder typhoon took out the chaos dreadnought.
In the assault phase the terminators finished of the prince losing one of their number.

Turn 3:
C&N: The chaos chosen and terminators managed to turn up this turn. The chosen outflanked behind one of my firewarriors squads. The terminators deep striked near one of my devilfish. The heavy destroyers fired at my fish again taking the burst cannon of one and shaking the other. The newly arrived terminators unleashed hell from their combi bolters including melta gun at my pathfinders. Killing a total of one. :-P.
The chosen decimated the firewarriors shockingly enough. And consolidated towards my crisis suits.

T&M:
The marine army started to swing round to face the newly arrived chaos forces. While the crisis suits moved forward to rapid fire on the terminators. Feeling sneaky. I rotated the fish and tankshocked the chosen. To my delighted they broke. At this point I forgot about the trapped rule meaning that the chosen would have been destroyed. However as it was they spent the rest of the game running. The pathfinders opened fire marking the terminators for the plasma guns of the crisis suits which killed 3 of them. The commanders missile pod killing off another. After the space marines killed the final terminator and took a wound of the lord. The broadside opened fire killing the lord outright. The hammerhead fired submunitions at the Necrons that were visible. Knocking 5 off their feet (3 didn't get back up again) the other railhead missed the heavy destroyers again.

Turn4:
C&N: The necron player finally decided to start getting his hands dirty with the ctan destroying a razorback then the embarked squad in assault. The heavy destroyers finally cracked one of the fish. The resulting explosion. Wounding each of my 3 remaining suits.

Due to time constraints that was all we got to play. So despite an extra turn the C&M players could not pull anywhere near our kill points. Tau for the win.

Units of note.
Hammerheads for repeatedly missing.
Broadside for splatting the chaos lord
The devilfish that shocked the chosen.
The fireknifes for their kills.
The railrifles for their complete inability to hit anything.

Any thoughts?

Tale of four gamers: Hammerhead WIP

Picture of my Hammerhead in its current state. haven't had time to finish the camo tonight. Rented house inspection meant a lot of the night has been spent tidying. Ugh.

Tale of four gamers:Hammerhead No2

So far this month progress on ToFG has been relatively slow. The pathfinders are largely assembled and are basecoated. The hammerhead is assembled with rotating turret and has received the second base coat last night. Hopefully i'll be able to finish off the camo scheme tonight.
Photos soon

ToFG: Month two (and a half :-P)

So for my ToFG for december I did 1 broadside, 2 devilfish, 10 firewarriors and 3 Crisis suits. For other participants entry's check out the following links: Ginge - Orks Chris - Imperial Guard and Rich - Chaos Marines

Tau Broadside, From Forgeworld with plasma rifles

Tau Crisis Team 2

Tau Crisis Team 1

Tau Devilfish

Tau month 2 family photo

ToFG: Late, and late again!

Well despite the two snow days, my tau army is still not going to have the last things added for the the December painting by the late date. By the end of this evening I expect to have the gun drones for the devilfish yet to do. As well as guns for the crisis suits and the basing to do. It has been an epic attempt over the past few days though to try and get it completed.

I think the mistake I have made is trying to do one devilfsh the same as my suits. I'll post pictures later and you'll get the idea. It has taken about 6 times as long to complete the main body of the devilfish this way. (the main colours on the first DF took my approx 45mins. By the time I had finished highlighting the second one it had taken nearly 6 hours!!)

On the plus side, the broadside looks amazing as do the crisis suits and firewarriors. I'll post pictures soon.

Tale of Four Gamers: Games!

As month 2 of ToFG included a bonus point for getting a game in at 1000 points, I decided it was time to introduce myself at the local GW for a Tuesday night session.

I used the same 1000Pts list for both games.

Shas’el: Plasma gun, TL missile pod, HW multitracker, HW Drone controller 2 shield drones, bonding knife

Crisis suits x 2, TL Missile pod and plasma gun

Crisis suits x 3, TL Missile pod and flamer, Team leader with HW DC 2 gun drones, Bonded.

8 x firewarriors, leader bonding knife

Devilfish, disruption pods flechettes

8 x firewarriors, leader bonding knife

Devilfish, disruption pods flechettes

Hammerhead, rail gun, burst cannons, multi-tracker, disruption pods, flechette discharges.

First Game:

The first game I played, (ever with my tau) was against a space wolves player.

From what I remember of his list:

3 x greyhunter squads (2 in rhinos 1 in drop pod)

Rune priest. (In with grey hunters)

Landspeeder tornado (MM + HF)

Wolf riders.

We played on a 4’x4’ table dominated by a fortress of redemption. (this would severely hamper my ability to add long distance support to my units) Dawn of war set-up he gets first turn. Capture and control.

My first mistake was keeping everything except my commander in reserve, I should have deployed nothing on the table to start with and brought it all on first turn. However as it was my army came on piecemeal and was taken apart in the same manner. I did do numerous things wrong in this game though. For instance, after the hammerhead blew up the first rhino, I should have retreated my battlesuits to the top of the building, admittedly a difficult terrain test, but would have prevented them getting charged and killed by the rune priest and friends.

If I had brought everything on in the first turn. Then I could have dealt with the squad that drop podded onto my objective straight away. Leaving me free to chase the rest of his army.

But hey ho, live and learn. Highlight for me had to be the flechette dischargers on the hammerhead wounding two of the wolf riders, then killing one on its death. Fun, although my opponent might disagree. Also the dinner plates of doom from the fish managed to successfully block the wolf riders advance for two turns. Died in the process. But still fun.

Game result: Space wolves 1 objective, 1 contested.

Second Game:

The second game I played was against an ork player.

From what I remember:

2 deff dreads.

2 Buggies (TL Missile)

Looted wagon, with Gazkull and nobs (7 total I think)

Small squad of grots

Shoota boy squad (15 IIRC)

Slugga boys (9+nob IIRC)

Table quarters deployment. Multi objective, I got first turn through seizing the initiative.

To start with we deployed at the same time (due to time constraints) which took away my primary advantage. So I attempted to seize the initiative with success. From 5 turns of raining TL missile pods into dreads, I successfully blew one of the arms off, and stunned it. (fantastic rolling eh!) The big fortress blocked most of my shooting and the hammer head scattering by an average of 6 inches a turn. Coupled with appalling rolls for armour penetration meant the ork lines reached mine without many casualties. (1 buggy, couple of grots, 9 boys killed with 5 turns of shooting). Crap eh?

Game ended in a draw though. I managed to keep enough models between my FW and gazkull to stop him reaching my objective. And we both contested a third objective.

Have to keep practicing.

December Painting

Due to lots of distractions over then past few weeks, I have been unable to meet the deadline for this months tofg. I am attempting to achieve the late deadline however have 3 models and only 4 nights left. Main problem with this is that the 3 models in question are a battlesuit and 2 devilfish. I think I am unlikely to meet even the late deadline. But I will try my best.
Januarys painting hopefully won't be as much as a problem. With only 10 pathfinders and a hammerhead to paint.
(probably be late for that as well)

A bit of background

As two of the other participants in ToFG are writing a bit of background for their armies. I thought it fitting that I do the same for my tau army, not to mention that it's entirely fluffy. So here is my attempt at creative writing.


O'Kunas watched carefully as the scenes of battle replayed on the viewer. As much as he told himself it was to gain tactical insight into his enemies, there was a slight sense of satisfaction in seeing the barbaric Orks and vermin Gue'la butchering each other in the ancient ruins of the previous human settlers of this planet. He wondered briefly what brought the humans back here after so long. Whatever it was they wouldn't succeed.
          There was a tense moment on the Tau stealth-ship when the Imperial Valkyrie had nearly crashed into the stealth shielded reconnaissance drone. However the humans remained ignorant of the Tau's presence.
         "Shas'O?" Enquired a respectful voice from the back of the command deck, "It seems the Gue'la and Orks are determined to kill each other. How do you wish to proceed?"
         "Their conflict will serve to sow confusion amongst the Gue'la forces, it will shadow our movements, allow us to strike hard and fast where they least expect it. Commander Shadowsun has ordered us to secure this planet within the next three months. We will succeed."
         O'Kunas turned to face his second "So El'Savon what news from the pathfinders teams to the south?"
         "They have engaged and destroyed a small Gue'la outpost, opening a small hole in the humans defensive grid. The Fio estimate that it will be several weeks before the Gue'la have the time and resources to rebuild."
          O'Kunas considered this for a few seconds. "That is our opportunity then, we will land a spearhead, take out whatever resistance remains. Our forces will then engage in hit and run attacks against both the Gue'la and Ork forces."
          "Would it not be more productive to allow our foes to destroy each other?"
          "I have considered this possibility, By my estimates both sides are fairly evenly matched, If we allow this conflict to continue we risk not being in the strongest position when their reinforcements arrive."
          "Very well Shas'O." Replied  El'Savon, He hesitated before asking his next question. "What of the marines? the ones that don't follow the humans corpse god?". 
          O'Kunas paused, the so called chaos marines presence was worrying. They were an unknown variable, their attacks seemed to lack any sort of military cohesion, appearing at random across the planet. How they had gotten onto the planet also remained a mystery. Their own ship was equipped with an advanced Cloaking Field and sensor technology which kept them hidden from the ork junker floating near the edge of the system and the Gue'la orbitals. However no sign of any chaos starship had been detected.
           "They are of no concern for the moment, we pursue our goals first. We force the humans to quit the planet, engaging and destroying the Orks as we encounter them. Once we have Established a strong military presence we deal with the chaos marines when their agenda becomes clear. El'Savon, you will lead the spearhead."
          "As you wish Shas'O, For the Tau'va"
          "For the Tau'va"

ToFG: No games and painting update

Well as you probably expected due to the lack of a battle report this weekend no gaming took place.
Have to head to the local GW see if I can get a game in there at some point.

Painting thus far this month hasn't really been going too well thus far. With the only day I have realy had off work been spent Christmas shopping. However in the little spare time I have had available. I have managed to assemble two devilfish, 12 firewarriors, 3 crisis suits and cleaned most of the mould marks off of the weapons and firewarriors. The Crisis suits have also had magnets glued into drilled recesses at certain points. All of these have also been undercoated and base coated. Hopefully when I start my holiday I'll be able to start painting proper.

Death Guard saturday

I have been having a look at the models I have available for this weekends game against death guard. After looking through the dex I think my best net against the plague marines are fireknife configured crisis suits. followed by an ion cannon armed hammerhead gunship.
so my list will consist of the following:
-ShasO plasma rifle, missile pod, multi traker, bonding knife, stimulant injector 127
-2xShas'ui plasma rifle, missile pod, drone controllers, 1 shield drones, 2 gun drones 154
-Shas'el cyclic ion blaster,missile pod,bonding knife, 2 gun drones 102
-2xShas'ui missile pod TL, fusion blaster, 110
-8 firewarriors teamleader, in fish with pods and multi tracker 185 (x2)
-Ion head,dis pods, multi tracker, burst cannons 130
total 993

I'm expecting the fireknifes to get one round of shooting in before they attract attention. The army is quite manoueverable and should cover 12" a turn quite easily. hopefully allowing me to deal wiith o.e elememt of the opposition at a time.

well thats the plan anyway. :-P

ToFG: End of Month One

Well it has been a long old slog this month for ToFG, and I regret to say that at the end of the day.... I still couldn't find any sand to base the crisis suits with. So I'll leave whether my inability to but sand in the only weekend I've had off this month go against me.

Anyway, without further ado onto the photos:

Well now I let the judges decide my worth. Have at it guys

Firewarriors

Right then people, time for some more ToFG photos. This time as you can tell by the post heading, I will be showing some photos of my firewarriors.

Comment and constructive criticism more then welcome. Work on the battlesuits and drones continue. Hopefully be able to bring pictures of them on monday.

Magnetic Attraction..?

As some of you may know, for my ToFG army I'm constructing a Tau army. My original intention is to have magnets to hold weapons in place, due to the nauture of tau battlesuits and, when constructed, my ever evolving game-plan. I thought it would be nice to be able to switch the weapons.

Over the past few evenings I have constructed three battle suits each with 6 little magnets at strategic locations. This has proved a royale pain in the arse to do, the magnets are fidely and have a tendency to not stick to plastic with super glue. But an amazing ability to stick to me. Whats really annoying though is when you finally get one in place and then realise the polarity is wrong. Which has happened numerous times.

Oh well, least its done now, just got to paint the things (and four drones) in 5 days. Working 3 off them. 12 hour shifts. I'll guess a roughly 40% chance of it happening