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XV-8 Battlesuit Conversions - Tutorial

October 13, 2013, 4:19 pm
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A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of my XV-8s, and was immediately asked for a tutorial...  well here it is.

First, I need to acknowledge Adam, the originator of this blog.  These conversions are based on his tutorial that can be found over on the right side of this page under the heading Tau Crisis Battlesuit Conversions.

I've added a few bits and pieces here and there, in particular elongating the torso, (making it look less squat).  This also allows for better articulation making more dynamic poses easier.


Components

Everything you need to build the XV-8 conversion is on the XV-8 Sprue, with 4 minor exceptions.

Firstly, you will need another flamer (for a total of two, that will no longer be flamers).

Second, you need some plastic rod to use as the spacer.

Third, some brass rod for pinning the ankle joints

And finally, you need the internal hatch cover from the inside of a Tau Vehicle (you never really use it when building the vehicle anyway).

In addition to all the bits, you'll need the usual hobby stuff, clippers, knife, super glue, plastic glue, green stuff, and a drill. The most important thing is that you need a sharp blade on your hobby knife - I usually change blades after each XV-8 conversion.

The Body

The first thing to do is cut the body. The first picture shows the front chest plate after the cut. Cut under the main chest panel, and just above the sockets where the legs attach.

Front plate, cut just above the leg socket
This is probably the trickiest cut in the conversion. Take it slowly and make many gentle cuts rather than a few cuts with greater pressure.

It's a bit ackward as you cut round the lowest part of the chest panel. Take care here ... I've shed blood more than once doing this bit!

Once it's done you need to do the same for the back panel





Back Plate cut just above the leg socket
This is an easier cut than the front. The important thing is to keep the cut above the leg sockets.

Once you've done both, stick the two lower parts together and put to one side. These need time to bond before you complete the model.

You can now go ahead and stick the two upper parts together. This bit always makes me a little sad. The back and front should fit together perfectly but they don't. You need to shave down both parts to fit them together. It just shows what an old model the XV8 is.


Completed upper torso
Next you can go ahead and stick the back panel onto the completed chest to get something like this.

Ironically, to get the back panel to fit properly, you need to cut one of the locating tabs as they don't fit into the slots properly!



The Head

For the head you need the original head, what used the to be the targeting array, and the burst cannon. These are the bits I'm talking about here. 

The bits you need for the head


First the head itself. Take the actual head and shave off the 2 nubs on the sides. It's easier to stick the antenna straight onto the head than try and use the locator pins. 

Next, fill in the front facial part of the head with green stuff and smooth it down flush with the front of the head. It should look something like this, not a great photo, I'm afraid.

Head with the front filled in with green stuff

Next take the targeting array and cut it in half, more or less across the mould line. Try and cut this as straight across as possible, because the next thing you're going to do is stick it to the front of the head. If it's not straight, it will sit squint and look stupid!  It should look something like this.

Head with front piece of Targeting Array attached

Next cut the burst cannon. You want the semi circular bit between the barrels and the main body, and the shell ejector. Cut one from each half of the burst cannon. The cut should look like this.

Burst Cannon Cut

This is a tricky bit. Turn the head upside down. Stick the two semicircular parts on either side of the head. When you've done it it should look like this (seen from below).

Under side of completed head

This is the same stage, viewed from the front

Head from front, before attaching ejector ports

Next take the ejector ports and glue them on the front of the head like this


Head with Ejector Ports

Back to the Body

The next stage is to insert the spacer into the lower part of the body that you cut out and stuck together earlier. You'll need to cut away some of the inside of the lower section to get the spacer in. Put a blob of green stuff into the lower torso and set the tube into it. 

Lower Torso, with Rod inserted as spacer


Next you need to fill in some gaps around the spacer with green stuff, and build up the edge around the spacer to square it off. When you're done it should look something like this.

Lower Torso, squared off with Green Stuff

Now you insert the spacer into the upper half of the torso. I usually insert it into a blob of green stuff. It's not necessary, but it allows you greater freedom to articulate the halves separately, if that makes sense!
Lower Torso, ready to be inserted into Upper Torso

And this is the whole, after the 2 halves are stuck together.

Completed Toros


Bulking Out the Chest

This bit is optional I guess, but I think it gives the VX-8 a bulkier look, which I prefer. 

First cut the fuel canister off both flamers, like this 

Flamer Cut

You can use them like this if you want, and that was the way Adam did this bit originally. However, I think that makes the chest too bulky. I cut the canisters in half along the mould line, and then shave of one side obliquely, to fit the chest piece. Once cut it looks like this.

Flamer Fuel Canister, ready to be stuck on.

Next you need a 2x3 section cut from the internal hatch from the Tau Vehicle

Section from hatch, ready to be stuck on.


Now stick them on like this

Torso with chest augmentation 



Arms, Legs and Basing.

You can vary this bit as much as you like. There are 2 things that make posing the XV-8 easier, cutting the legs at the knee to allow the leg to bend, and cutting the arm at the elbow joint to allow you to straighten the arm. Also, because of the 2 part torso, it possible to articulate the body, again making posing easier.

This is how I cut the leg

Let cut and bent.

The other important part is to make sure your basing is secure. I drill up through the leg and use the brass rod to pin the leg through the base. No chance of this ankle breaking!

Leg pinned  and attached to base.

And this is the finished model, once it is all put together

Model completed, with double Bursters

And here are a couple of examples of how flexible these models can be.


This is my Raven Commander. Both legs were cut and bent to 45º, allowing the model to kneel. The body articulation allowed me to bend him over like this, viewing his battlefield computer display. The display is made from a Broadside shoulder pad, and antennas from the homing beacon in the Stealth Suit kit. The fingers you can see in his right arm are cut from a space marine Power Fist.
 
The back banner is from Paulson Models.


This guy is a Double Deathrain Shas'vre. I modelled him using the same techniques outlined above, but the positioning is pretty unusual - vaulting over a piece of ruin (why he's vaulting over a ruin when he has a Jet Pack, I've no idea!). Again, the articulation in the waist makes for a very posable model.

So that's it, thoughts and comments welcome.

EYIG
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An Introduction is in order...

October 17, 2013, 12:20 am
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Well, more properly, a re-introduction.

Allow me to present Josh Broughton (Nite Phire).

Josh has been playing Tau since August 2011, and expressed interest in contributing to the blog to David a while back, but work and college have delayed his efforts somewhat.  

In his own words...



I did the usual when I was younger and started a Space Marines army,  then dropped them about a year later!  I had always wanted to do Tau, and after overhearing my friends talking about their space marine armies recently, I jumped right back in!

After starting Tau I found myself getting much more into the painting and modeling side of the hobby, but my first problem was; I needed a good paint scheme. That is where 'WarhammerTau' came in.

I found this website and its great tutorials, and loved Adam's subdued green and orange paint scheme.
Following much deliberation I used a very similar scheme for my cadre and set to work on creating my very own 'Warhammer Tau' army.

That brings me to today, after lurking for 2-ish years I have decided to offer my help by
writing articles for the blog.  Unfortunately I am unable play very often, so my contributions will mostly be with conversions and painting tips.  But I'm still a decent strategist and so can at least weigh in on some discussions.  I look forward to rejoining the team.

Thank you, and I will have my first article ready for you soon.

--Josh

Please look forward to his articles and commentary as he settles back into the team here at Warhammer Tau.

Will

I play Tau.
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tyranids

October 30, 2013, 10:01 am
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Finally! I had the opportunity to head up to my FLGS and spend some therapeutic time playing a game of 40k. Work has kept me very busy and often on the road, so this is the first time I'd had a chance to play since the Feast of Blades qualifier in my area.

My opponent was the player who went to Feast of Blades in my stead. He brought Tau to the Feast invitational (triple Riptides), but today he played me with his Tyranids. I hadn't really played Tyranids, ever, so I was excited to see what they could do. He was sick of playing 1850, so we agreed on 2000 points and beefed up our standard lists a little bit.

The Armies


Tyranids

Being unfamiliar with his codex, I can only give a rough description of the list he took. I also might get the gaunt numbers incorrect too.

  • Warlord - Hive Tyrant w/ wings & the 6-shot weapon. 
  • Trygon Prime
  • Trygon
  • Tervigon w/ the 18" large blast weapon
  • Tervigon w/ the 18" large blast weapon
  • 2 Hive Guard
  • 2 Biovores
  • 10 Termagaunts
  • 23 Hormagaunts
  • 23 Hormagaunts

Tau Empire

My own list was my Feast of Blades list, tweaked and beefed up to hit 2000 points. Mostly I just added Firewarriors and a Fireblade. For brevity, I am appreviating the support systems
  • Warlord - Shas'O Burning Eye-D w/ OG, PEN, x1 Shield Drone
  • Cadre Fireblade
  • XV8 Team: Raven w/ VRT, x2 Burning Eye-D w/ ATS
  • XV8 Team: Shas'Vre Deathrain w/ TL, x2 Deathrain w/ TL, x6 Marker Drones
  • Stealth Team: Shas'Vre w/ CDS, x5 Stealth Suits w/ CDS (all burst cannons)
  • 2 Piranhas w/ Fusion Blasters
  • 6 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Rifles in Devilfish (DPod, SMS)
  • 6 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Carbines in Devilfish (DPod, SMS)
  • 8 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Rifles
  • 12 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Rifles
  • Skyray (Dpod, SMS)
  • Hammerhead w/ Railgun (Dpod, SMS)
  • Longstrike Hammerhead w/ Railgun (Dpod, SMS)

The Setup

1st Turn: Tyranids (Tau failed to seize initiative)
Warlord Traits: Both useless. Mine allowed all units to get back up after going to ground. His was like Synapse only not as good.
Psychic Powers: Both his Tervigons failed to get Iron Arm. Instead, they got Endurance. His Hive Tyrant got Warp Speed and Iron Arm.
Scenario: The Scouring
Deployment: Diagonal (Vanguard Strike?)
Night Fight: None


Mostly mid-to-small sized terrain pieces with a large LOS blocking piece in the center. A few area terrain pieces as well. We chose sides and deployed without knowing the values of each objective. I tried to place my objectives in open areas and towards the center, to encourage units to be vulnerable when claiming them.

Deployment

I won the roll-off but elected to deploy second. 
Infiltrate: my stealth suits deployed an inch or so forwards of my lines
Outflank: none
Deep Strike: his Flyrant and Trygons
Reserves: none
Scout: none

Turn 1

Tyranids Turn 1


His two Tervigons spawned first. #2 spawned 13 but choked in the process, hurray! #1 did not choke and only spawned 8. He then cast Endurance on his Hormagaunt Brood #1. I am not sure what the second Tervigon cast, it didn't come into play.
Then he moved everything forward straight at me, except for his shooting units and his Termagaunts holding the backfield objective.
He ran his gaunts and then fired the Hive Guard at my Stealth Suits. He landed only one wound and my stealth suit passed his armour save. Then he fired his Biovore barrage at my 8-man Firewarrior team. It scattered onto the Marker/Deathrain unit and then hit that spot again. He caused a few wounds, but I saved most since the nearest model to the center of the blast was an XV-8. My Shas'vre took a single wound.
Nothing was in assault range, so his turn was over.

Tau Turn 1


I moved my piranhas just outside of 24" range of his hive guard, moved up all my vehicles, and shuffled my Stealth Suits sideways a bit. 
I started off shooting with my Marker/Deathrain unit. The Deathrains fired on the Tervigon, but only wounded once, and he made his armour save. The marker drones landed a couple markerlights on the nearest Hormagaunt brood. My 8-man Firewarrior team, Skyray, and Hammerhead all fired on the hormagaunts, but FNP saves kept his losses down to only 8.
I then took a pot-shot with my Devilfish 2's SMS at the Hive Guard hiding out of sight. I managed 3 wounds, and he failed all of them! Since that went so well, I decided to boost my Piranhas up to 12" away from them. Then Longstrike, Devilfish 1, the Fireblade and his 12 Firewarriors all fired on the second Hormagaunt brood. I forget exactly how many died, but it was more than half.
The Stealth suits didn't have LOS to many units, so they targeted the small Termagaunt squad, killing 4.
Finally, I finished my shooting with my favorite unit: the Burning Eye assassin team. At long range they had 6 tau plasma shots, twin-linked, re-rolling to wound, and ignoring cover. I rolled very well and landed 6 wounds, killing Tervigon #1 outright! 
My shooting was done, and his two Hormagaunt broods were both out of Synapse, so they failed their leadership check and fled. The Hive Guard passed leadership.
Fun Fact: My assassin team is feared in my local group, and they refer to it as "That unit." 

Turn 2

Tyranid Turn 2


He rolled for reserves but only the Trygon Prime would be coming on. His Tervigon cast Endurance on his Hormagaunts again.
The Hormagaunts rallied near the second Tervigon but the second brood kept running. The Termagaunts moved forward with the Tervigon and his Trygon Prime popped up right in front of my Skyray.
He fired his Biovores at my firewarriors again but mostly missed. He did kill one Firewarrior though. His remaining Hive Guard fired at my approaching Piranhas and destroyed the Fusion Blaster on one of them. His Tervigon tried to fire the large 18" blast weapon but it scattered away from my assassin team. Lastly, he targeted my Marker/Deathrain unit with his Trygon Prime. He inflicted several wounds and I lost a marker drone, a crisis suit, and my last 'Ui was wounded. Not overly impressive, but if just one other MC had come on that turn, I'd have had my hands full.

Tau Turn 2


I moved my Piranhas right up to his Hive Guard and disembarked my gun drones. I realize now that I should not have been allowed to do that since they moved more than 6" to do it. I guess I could have boosted the full 18" last turn and avoided the issue. Either way, we both forgot.
My other vehicles moved up as well, getting ready to grab some objectives, and my assassin team jumped forward into Rapid Fire range of the Tervigon. My Marker/Deathrain team moved up to the Trygon, ready to block his movement if he survived this turn's shooting.
The piranha gun drones finished off the last wound on the Hive Guard.
My Skyray and Marker drones lit up the Trygon, but only landed a couple hits. I used them to boost the BS of my large Firewarrior team. Longstrike, Fireblade, Deathrains, 12 Firewarriors, 6 Stealth Suits all fired at the Trygon and killed it.
My 7 Firewarriors killed off the small Termagaunt squad. My assassin team inflicted 9 wounds on the Tervogon, killing him immediately, then jumped back to my lines. My stealth suits and gun drones and marker/deathrains all repositioned into a cohesive line with their thrust move.

Some guys came over to see how the game was going. So far I'd only lost a firewarrior, a marker drone, and a crisis suit and my assassin team had killed a Tervigon each turn. 
To him: "Oh, that unit. I feel your pain dude."
To me: "You mean to tell me that this is your dead pile? How do you sleep at night???"

Turn 3

Tyranid Turn 3


Both of his other MC's came on this turn, and he cast Iron Arm on the Trygon (excuse the picture error, this was a regular Trygon, not a prime). The other brood of Hormagaunts failed to rally and continued their flight. 
The Hive Tyrant landed right behind Longstrike but his Trygon Prime (trying to come behind the Skyray) scattered off the board and I was able to put him far away in a corner ("Bad Trygon. Now sit there and think about what you did"). His other units all moved up except the Biovores.
His Hive Tyrant fired on LongStrike, landing a Glance and a Pen. I failed both of my jink saves and the Pen hit destroyed Longstrike's Railgun. 
The Biovores fired on the Firewarriors yet again, but it scattered so far it generated a spore mine.
Things were looking bleak for the Tyranids.

Tau Turn 3


I decided that he was at the breaking point, so I advanced. I moved up and claimed two objectives with my small firewarrior units, moved the Hammerhead up to block his Hormagaunts, claimed an objective with my Piranhas, and moved the gun drones up.
My gun drones had LOS on one Biovore and promptly shot it down. My Skyray targeted his Hive Tyrant, landed a ML hit, boosted its BS to 5, and unloaded. He failed 2 armour saves against the SMS, but passed 4 cover saves against my Seekers!!! I fired everything else that was in range, but he passed every single grounding test and armour save! Rediculous. My units out of range targeted the nearest gaunt broods, killing some here and there.

Turn 4

Tyranid Turn 4


His Hive Tyrant cast Iron Arm, but unfortunately only gained +1 strength and toughness. His fleeing gaunts passed their check and consolidated, poised to assault my poor gun drones.
He flew his tyrant up to contest the north objective, and stay out of range of my assassin unit. On the way he vector struck my Devilfish 2, immobilizing it. Everything else moved straight for me. The spore mine moved towards me, but only 1".
His Biovore moved to get away from the Gun Drones, and fired directly at my assassin team. The scatter killed a single marker drone. The Flyrant's shooting did nothing, since he'd dove and could only fire snap shots. The small group of termagaunts fired at my firewarriors but inflicted no wounds.
I had underestimated the speed of his Hormagaunts. They moved up and multi-assaulted my Marker/Deathrain team and my firewarriors. Sadly, the Stealth Suits were out of support range since I'd moved them to support the Hammerhead I thought was going to be assaulted. Overwatch fire killed 3 gaunts, then I struck first, killing 5. On his turn, even with only 7 left and no charge bonus, he landed ~9 wounds. I promptly failed 7 of them, lost the combat, and got run down. His other Hormagaunts charged my drones, losing a couple to overwatch fire. I lost two gun drones to his 3 remaining gaunts, and the two remaining fled back to their Piranha mommies ("Let us back in!"). He consolidated his 3 gaunts into cover on the edge of the large rock.

Tau Turn 4


That Hive Tyrant was getting on my nerves, so I figured I could probably take it down just by causing some grounding checks, even if my shooting needed 6's to wound.
I moved up my hammerhead, stealth suits, and gun drones. I also moved my large Firewarrrior team to claim the objective vacated my my late-Firewarriors.
I opened fire again. My skyray had to move, so it snap fired one of its markerlights, but still landed two ML hits! In other games my Skyray landed multiple ML snapshots as well. This guy was a crack shot apparently. Sadly, I completely forgot to use the ML hits to boost BS on any of my units! Still, I caused a few grounding checks and a single armour save, but he passed them all again! Unbelievable. 
My gun drones fired and killed two of the gaunts in front of them, but he passed his leadership check. My Stealth team killed off the victorious Hormagaunts, and my assassin team put a couple wounds on his Trygon. Lastly, my Hammerhead killed several of the Termagaunt squad and caused it to flee off the table.

Results

We decided to call the game there. His Trygon would have to endure another round of shooting against my assassin team, and the termagaunts were only in assault range of the Stealth Suits. His Tryant might be able to clear off my Firewarriors from the objective, but it was only worth 1 point. 

Tau = 9 points
  • 7 points in objectives
  • 1 point for LineBreaker
  • 1 point for First Blood
Tyranids = 3 points
  • 3 points for objectives (his lone Hormagaunt claimed an objective)

Thoughts

This game was a rough one for my opponent. He got unlucky and failed to roll Iron Arm on either of his Tervigons and then we got very unlucky with his reserves. I was able to deal with only one MC at a time. Plus I had some lucky rolls as well, killing the only Tervigon, capable of spawning, on the first turn.
Ironically, we'd discussed these issues with the Tyranid codex before the game started. I had asked how the Tyranid codex shows its age, and he said that things like reserves and psychic powers are directly related to how well the game goes for you. Without Iron Arm and decent reserve rolls, it's significantly harder on the Tyranid player.
He told me that usually he wouldn't take the Flyrant and would take some ravener units instead. However, he hadn't played Tyranids in a while and I guess he was hoping for getting all 3 MC's on turn 2. 
This game was tons of fun. He was a great sport and we were able to joke and laugh throughout the game. I am also excited to see what the new Tyranid codex will bring. There is a lot of potential there.

Things I liked

  • Submunitions. I love Railheads with submunitions. Another Tau player asked me why I took railguns when they are so un-reliable at tank hunting. I told him it was for the submunitions. The Ion blast may have better stats, but I prefer the reliability of the Submunition round along with the odd chance that you might insta-gib a vehicle.
  • Gun Drones. Specifically, ones mounted on Piranhas. If I owned the model I would take 3 Piranhas for a full squad of 6 drones. They performed perfectly, harassing backfield and actually netting some decent kills.
  • Assassin team. I always try to build a list without these guys, but I can't resist. They are too much fun, and adding the PEN to the squad was pure gold. At ~400 points, they are pretty expensive, but they aren't really in Deathstar territory either. Killing 2 Tervigons, and probably a Trygon, they were well worth it to me.
  • CDS on Stealth Suits. This unit served as an excellent "core" for my line. They shot up anything that got too close and their supporting Overwatch fire was fantastic. I did make some positioning errors with them, forgetting that normal range/line of sight/cover rules apply. I probably should have just jumped them on top of the large central terrain piece and filled the early voids left by the fleeing Hormagaunts.

Things I wasn't impressed by

  • Piranhas. On their own, they just don't really do it for me. I love them as drone deployment chassis, but otherwise they are just so unreliable. This game I got lucky and they were able to score. I think I would have appreciated them more if I'd used them as blockers
  • Deathrain/Marker unit. Aside from a few ML hits here and there, this unit did nothing but tank wounds. Perhaps I'd appreciate them more if they'd had vehicles to shoot. I won't give up on them yet. At least they are a hardy ML platform, instead of the pushovers that Pathfinders are.
  • Devilfishes. Probably my own fault, but they would have been much better used if I'd run them straight down his throat. As I played them they just wasted shots at his Hive Tyrant when they could have been up shooting biovores and termagaunts.
C&C are welcome. Let me know what you would have done differently.
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I'm Dreaming of a Tau Christmas...

November 12, 2013, 10:21 pm
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The new Tau Christmas bundle is on the way.  I just received a call from my favorite local game store employee informing me that it was going to be available in the next week or two, and that if I wanted it then I needed to let him know. 

I simply cannot find a container large enough for my joy! 

No-sir-ee...

The Tau Firebase Cadre will cost $290 (plus tax) for six Broadsides Battlesuits and a Riptide.  Separately, these babies would cost about $385, for something I wanted anyway.  That is a savings of almost two broadsides...

Maybe not so great for those who rushed out and got all this stuff when it was released in April anyway, but I only bought a few items last spring.  I still had my Eldar, Lizardmen, and Black Templar habits to support...

Too many good things at once can be a bad thing,  and all four armies were within about six or seven months of each other, so....  Let's just say that my kids are starting to bitch about the cardboard crackers with cheese whiz dinners I've been feeding them lately.

But I have resolved to get the Tau Firebase Cadre and possibly the Space Marine flyers -starving rug-rats or not. .  The jury's still out on the Eldar bundle, as it will probably be about $260 for that baby (considering an average 25% discount) and I don't really need any more Wraith Lords.  I think I will just pass on that one and save a little Christmas money for my precious reptiles (the Lizardmen, not necessarily the children). 

Actually, I've gotta spread the wealth a little, and it's getting harder to justify feeding the Tau and Eldar armies when my human children are getting a little thin...

So, my point is, I think the Tau deal is well worth it.  Ignore what you are seeing on the Interwebs.  25% is nothing to sneeze at, and the models are all useful, (if you need or want six brand new Broadsides). 

It breaks down to $37.50 per Broadside, and $63.50 for the Riptide (assuming a 25% discount on each).  And that is less than you will pay Discount Wargames or Destroyer on eBay.  And if you purchase it through your local store (as you should) there is no shipping.  :)  

Skeet Skeet Skeet!

I'm just thinking of how awesome it will be to field an all Battlesuit army (Farsight) that includes up to ten broadsides and up to four Riptides in a single force org.  Dress two squads up with missiles, and the other up with railguns...  ooh... baby...  And Ob'Lotai...

It'd be equally nice to throw a R'Varna or three into a heavy support slot on a second force org (but I'd have to put on a red wig and sleep with Daddy Warbucks or someone pretty important to get three of those.... 

And R'Varna is not a character thus exempt from the one per army rule...

As for the bundle? Get it.  Get a R'Varna, too.

Get it soon.

I play Tau.
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Tau, Nebari, Old Documents, Schitzophrenia, and Smurfs.

November 20, 2013, 10:34 pm
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Chiana, a Nebari Female
So... I was going through and approving comments the other day (unfortunately we have a couple of spammers and I have to scrub their filth regularly), and I came to a rather improved understanding of this site. 

What I discovered was that this is a living website.  By that, I mean that it is constantly being read and remade by fans all over the world.  A couple of the reader comments I published were responses to documents written by Adam back in August of 2009.  Now, four years wasn't that long ago -all things considered, but I was curious that folks were still commenting on those old pages.  So I started looking through them.

Almost every page written on this site has comments, and some of the comments represent ongoing conversations that have been going on for a while now.  Some of them are mere seconds apart, while others are separated by months and even years.  I chuckled to see comments from Mauler, whose name I often see on the Natfka's site.  Hope you're still reading, friend.

But this one comment stuck in my head (not from Mauler).  One of our readers commented that what turned him on to the Tau was their remarkable similarity to the Nebari, an alien race in the SciFi mini-series Farscape.  The Nebari are a chaotic race whose leadership uses Orwellian methods (including chemicals, mind control, and surgical alteration) to control their otherwise ADHD-overloaded population. You can read more about the Nebari here.  In his comment, the reader implied that the Tau were loosly based on the Nebari. 

Earth Caste Smurf...
Farscape was released in 1999 and the Tau made their appearance in the GW universe in 2001, thus one must have influenced the other, right? 

No.  That is wrong.  This logic is called 'post hoc ergo propter hoc.'  I remember this from a logic and reason course I took at university 20 years ago...  Anyway, this way of thinking is called a logical fallacy that states "Since event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X."  Nothing could be further from the truth--one did not influence the other, any more than the blue coloration being influenced by smurfs (even though the smurfs came first).

Here are some inconsistencies in that argument as it relates to the creative origins of the Tau. 
  • Tau are blue.  The Nebari are silver.
  • Tau women are ugly (regardless of caste).  Nebari women... are anything but ugly.
  • Tau society is socialistic and based on castes.  Stabilized Nebari exist in an autocratic neo-theocracy and un-stabilized Nebari are complete anarchists.
  • Tau do not have noses.  Nebari have sexy noses.
  • Tau, in most cases, have no or very little hair.  Nebari have lots of hair, and two different colors (black and platinum)
  • Tau are conquerors, empire builders, and civilizers in a dark universe that knows only war.  Nebari are a powerful race that maintain the ruse of being a demure, subjugated race within a greater galactic autocracy, but secretly attempt to run everything indirectly through deception, nuance, and treachery.
  • Tau are orderly and loyal to the Ethereals.  Nebari are hedonistic by nature, or sycophantic once 'stabilized.'
The only thing I find in common is the concept of the "Greater Good," but it is implemented differently.  For the Tau it relates to galactic peace through the common purpose and shared values.  To the Nebari it is more of an excuse for zealous and exterminatus-like tactics.

I disagree with the commenter, but I appreciate him reading the blog and reminding me that the site lives --even now, over a year after Adam stopped writing.  I also appreciate the commenter for reminding me of how hot Nebari women are, particularly Chiana, one of the leading actors in the far-fetched series.

There's a photo of Chiana on this page somewhere.  I'm not sure if it was the platinum colored hair, or the perfectly smooth silvery skin, the tight leathery outfits, or her rapid onset self-destructive schitzophrenia that made her so attractive, but I never missed an episode. 

The commenter made me think, and for that I am thankful. 

Adam's original post was intended to explain how the Tau appealed to a specific slice of the wargamer community.  GW wanted to add a race to the collection, and their target was males born in the 70s or 80s who had been influenced by Turrican and Gundam, and the models borrowed a number of aesthetic elements from Robotech and Voltron.  Though released in 2001, the development cycle went back way further than the 1999 release of Farscape.

Ok, So, I have done my part. I posted.  Now what about your part? 

What or who are some of your favorite aliens, and how did they contribute to your love affair with our fishy blue space communists?  Seriously, drop us a line in the comments, maybe a URL to a pic.  Then I will gather it all up and publish a page on the blog.

FYI, one of my favorite alien races of all time are the Cardassians from Star Trek TNG.  The males are calculating, manipulative, and treacherous, and the females  are... well, you know...  beautiful, but disgusting. (come on, work with the pun...)

My favorite STTNG episode was "The Wounded" with Mark Alaimo.  It was political, intriguing, and exceedingly well done, and it encompassed the true nature of the relationship between the Federation and the Cardassians.  On the other hand, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" was pure rubbish.  Easy on the eye, in fact quite pleasant in that regard, but you have to watch it with the volume turned all the way down --otherwise listening to them speak would reveal the stupidity and plasticity endemic to the women and the show, and thus would burn all the goodness of their outward beauty away. 

At least Mark Alaimo's plasticity was limited to cosmetic scales and brow ridges for artistic effect.

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On another note, well, just some statistics about the blog.  We have 251 posts, 399 followers.  I have deactivated three and archived four that were not about the Tau, which is our main focus.  We have 1390 comments.  Our blog hosts between 800 and 1200 posts per day, with a ten-day average of 879 per day.  Obviously we have more views on the days we actually post something new...  We had 24,961 page views in October, and 1,238,397 in the last 12 months. 

Most of our readers this week are from the United States, The UK, then Mother Russia, then Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Singapore, and Sweden (in order).  Aside from that one guy in Brazil, South America looks pretty bleak.  Vamos mis hermanos, haz que tus amigos latinos de revisar el sitio... Por el bien común (for the greater good).

I play Tau, (but that may be because there are no Nebari models available, and they have no rules -at all).


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The Firebase Support Cadre

December 5, 2013, 2:36 am
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Ok, so we have a new formation. 

As you all know, I rushed out and purchased this a couple of weeks ago, primarily because I wanted the new Broadside models and this effectively gave me two for free (at US $290 this kit is about $100 less than retail for the individual kits, and broadsides are $50 each...)

The kit gives us a Riptide and six broadsides battlesuits.  But it also aligns with the new dataslate product GW has available on the iBookstore.  This dataslate outlines rules for using these units as a formation or detachment in regular games of 40k. 

You have to run all six Broadsides AND the Riptide in your army, and in return you get the "tank hunters" and "preferred enemy: Space Marines" special rules.

May not seem like much, but preferred enemy gives them all the ability to re-roll failed to hit rolls of 1 (against Space Marine units), and tank hunters allows you to re-roll armor penetration rolls (either for fails or to try and bump a glance up to a pen) against vehicles (not just Space Marines on this one).
 

Downside, it gives Space Marines hatred against the unit.  This means they can re-roll failed to hit rolls against units in this formation during the first round of close combat.  That could be ugly, but let's be honest, Tau in close combat is always going to be ugly.  That's why our definition of close combat is "30 inches."

SO, you can download the dataslate for less than five bucks (I think it's US $3.99 in the Apple iBookstore) or you can get the info out of the new Escalation book (at least that's what the guys in my local store tell me). 

My first thoughts?  Yay for Tau.  Nice to be on the receiving end of gifts like these.  People don't seem to remember our challenges in 5th edition Tau...  

1)  These detachments can be taken by anyone using the allies matrix (I do need to verify this when I get my escalation book).  I do not like this, in fact, I am a prude.  I do not like looking across the table at Tau allies and detachments.  I tend to avoid these games, and as only one or two other players at my local shop run any Tau at all, there are plenty of other players for me.

2)  Mmmmm... tank hunters.  And without having to waste a crisis commander in the unit.

3)  They do not fill regular FOC slots.  again, I need to verify, but this may mean I can bring two hammerheads, some sniper drones, and this formation with six broadsides.  It's gonna rain flaming frogs...

4)  Mmmmm... tank hunters.

5)  I could run a Farsight army with O'Vesa and bring this detachment.  Elites would be three other riptides, giving me five of these puppies on the table.  With crisis suits as troops and an HQ Farsight bomb as my hammer... scads of marker, gun, and shield drones in Fast Attack, and more Broadsides and a Forgeworld R'Varna in HS, that is my suit army.

Might be weak against some of the heavier armor like land raiders and monoliths, but not all armies have that, and this would be one hell of a fun list.

I do not seem to have the Farsight update in my Army builder... so I don't know the points for this, but I will update this later when I verify the rest. 

BTW, I do not own five riptides, but this gives me one more reason to starve my kids...

6)  Mmmmm... tank hunters.

Hey, write me and let me know what you think!

I play Tau.
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Christmas, A New Tau Player, and Mohawk Boy

December 24, 2013, 1:49 am
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I hope Christmas finds you all warm and happy in the knowledge that some-where, some-how, and some-when a Tau railgun is blowing some Imperial dirtbag to little pink smithereens.

I have good news and bad news folks.  The Seahawks lost to those stinking Arizona red bird thingies, but I also have the great joy of announcing that my daughter and her fiancée (Mohawk Boy) have decided to learn how to play 40k.  And thank God, it was about time. 

Her favorite 40k race?  Tau.  Yes please.

YES!

YES!

YES! 

She doesn't yet realize that she has chosen one of the most powerful factions in 40k right now, but as always, we are only one codex release away from the scorn and pity that was 5th edition (and our 4th edition codex blues), so I will not play any of that up too much...

But do you know how much money I am going to save by not having to buy her new models?  She can just use mine, and I can get one of my other armies going.  I have had my eye on a Sisters or Inquisition detatchment for my Templars!  Neither detachment may add much to BT, but it will be fun. 

Her second choice is Eldar, and here again I don't really have to buy models for her.  I have boxes and boxes of unassembled Eldorks in the garage that I have been waiting for the opportunity to assemble, and so here we go.  And I'm off for the next two weeks... Should we start with the Wraithknight or the jetbikes? 

Oh yes, Virginia, it really is Christmas! 

Until recently, she and the aptly nick-named mohawk boy have been on this Friday Night Magic and dungeon crawlers kick, and I am glad they have finally come to the Jesus of the wargaming world, 40k.  I'm not knocking FNM, but let's face it, those magic guys are a little weird.  Not the weird like playing with toy soldiers on a beautiful Saturday afternoon weird (like us), but the allergic to sunlight and grass pollen weird...

At any rate, I am beside myself with joy.

It is the best Christmas gift ever.  I am so proud --well mostly.

On the other hand, I am not proud that Mohawk Boy wants to play either Tyranids or Orks.  I told him that he was welcome to play either of those two armies if he really wants to/  But I made it clear that if he so chose, then he would not be allowed any children with my daughter.  Honestly, he would never be able to both feed those kids AND field an decent army, and I would hate for him to lose a game for lack of a proper presence on the table.  I refuse to be embarrassed. 

I guess we could dress one of the toddlers up as a stompa though, depending on how ugly the kid is... and considering Mohawk Boy's rugged looks... well.  It just might work.  We could even let it rampage around the table...

I hope they let me name it.  I am thinking Pick-nose, or Gut-scrunch, or something proppa'

But would it be worth my daughter's wrath?  Oh well, it was worth a thought.

At any rate, I am in a bit of a slump for writing material, so I am going to continue my series of articles on how to get started *playing* with Tau.  The last articles actually related to what to buy, and you guys seemed to enjoy the posts.  Now I am going to focus on how to configure what you have and how to use them.

I will get the first one out this week entitled "Play Your Tau!"

'Till then, Happy Christma-Hanna-Kwan-Solsti-ka! 

We have such an unhealthy relationship with the holidays here in the US.  We should just resolve ourselves to saying "Happy Shopping!"

Whatever you call it (and as I started this article), I hope it finds you warm, happy, and full of hope, children, grandchildren, railguns, stompas, whizz-bangs, nerf daggers, figgy pudding, good friends, and whatever else brings you joy.

I play Tau.


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New Year, New "To-do" List

January 14, 2014, 10:19 pm
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So here we are well into 2014!

My Seahawks are doing great things, and I have been very busy.  I have not been too much into my Tau lately because I have been spending a lot of time with my football buddies and our favorite beverages made from malted barley and hops.  I will be posting regularly again soon, well I guess that really depends on how much longer a football season our boys are going to give us...

If they get to the Superbowl there will be two more weeks or so of bacchanalic debauchery.

But whenever we do wind down Football season, I have a list of projects piling up, in fact since our new codex dropped.  Until now I had just bought a couple of new models and proxied the rest.  But now I will have the time and money to purchase and work on my Cadre.  I will document my progress.  

Here is my Tau Top Twelve... for 2014 (catchy):

1) Build 2 squads of the new XV-88 broadsides.  One will have rail rifles, the other high yield missile pods.  I started two of the rail rifle models already.  One I built as recommended, in the pose you see on the GW website.  The other I modified.

He is standing more upright, and is quite tall.  He also has one of my unused XV-805 commander's extra hands, which is holding a captured servo skull by the tentacles. I will post the how-to soon, it still needs a lot of work.  

I may even build a third squad that I can magnetize the rifles and missiles and switch them to suit my needs.  That will give me the option of six rail rifles or six HYMPs.
Here is a preview.  He stands a good 10-20% taller than a crisis battlesuit.

2) I have spare Cadian and Fire Warrior bits, and I feel a squad of Gue'vesa calling to me.

3) After that, I have a new XV-805 to re-pose and build.  I have decided that I am not overly fond of his flamboyant landing, and I want my second one to be a little different.

4) Build and paint my Longstrike and Darkstrider.

5) Get a new set of pathfinders (even though I do not like their helmets).

6) Convert a devilfish to be the command/black ops DF required by one of the pathfinder formations.

7) I have another couple of Riptides to build, but not in the standard pose.  One will stand up fully like the broadside.  And the other will be kneeling.

8) Two Hammerheads and a Skyray (which will all be magnetized).  I will post the How-tos.

9) I have two forgeworld XV-88s and I am going to convert them to have jetpacks on their backs instead of pulse generators or whatever those devices are (but obviously not jetpacks).  Thse guys go with my R'Myr as XV-89 bodyguards, and while I love the rounded cockpits, I want the jetpacks to look right.

10) I have three tetras, and want another one (or three).  Seems like six will be a good number for my Cadre organization (which I will share another time).

11) Six more battlesuits, 3 stealth suits, another broadside (all pictured at the top of this post) as well as a couple of piranhas and a butt load of drones.

12) I need to paint, a lot.  I have a great scheme, just need to get it on more of my models.  My scheme is white armor, with bronze under-parts for the battlesuits, brown for the uniform fabrics. The white armor is accented with orange and brown, with a bit of gold on connectors, knobs, doo-hickies, and all of the big flat-head screwdriver head whatzits.  I am using electric blue for power flows, and flourescent green for sensors and lights.

I have more, much more.  I currently have about 7000 points of Tau, only about half of which has been built -most of it new in the boxes.  My goal is to get it all done by the end of the school year (June). 

I am also in possession of an Eldar army, most of which is also still in boxes (95% in boxes).  But my Templars are mostly all built, as are my Lizardmen.  I am still collecting models for all four of my armies, I only need a few forgeworld flyers for my Tau, a super-heavy tank, a revenant titan, and a flock of jetbikes for my Eldar, and a couple of big monsters for my Lizardmen. 

My Templars only need the new SM codex and whatever new units that introduced (I have not even looked at it because I have been pissed about the BT getting rolled into the SM codex).  But I suspect I will need the two new vehicles, Hunter and Stalker, and a squad or two of Centurions.   None of those Armies will get any attention until the Tau are done in my display case.  Besides, maybe a few codex supplements will be out by then -such as the rumored Kroot, Templars, and maybe even an Eldar Saim Hann.

But this is not about them.  

Tau.  

That is on my list.  

I play Tau.


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Seahawk Sept

January 19, 2014, 7:39 pm
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So there we go.  My Seahawks pulled it out.  They're going to face the Broncos at Superbowl 48, and that means two more weeks of abstinence for me and my beloved Tau.

Hey, it's only weird if it doesn't work.

See you all then (and whether they win or lose the Superbowl, the Ethereals and I will have a special Seahawks surprise for our Tau).

Marshawn Lynch is an Ork
Sherman brings the pain, so he is definitely Dark Eldar
Russell Wilson is Tau.  Fire Caste.
And to his credit, Kaepernick is a deamon.  
        --Slanesh because though it's a pleasure to watch him, you know it's a sin.

I love the Seahawks, but I play Tau.

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Back in Business

March 13, 2014, 11:25 pm
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Sorry for the delay in posting, but I've had a hectic time for the last few weeks.  My armies are covered in dust, and my enthusiasm had trailed off a bit. 

But now I'm back, and I have excellent news, for the most part. 

My idea to paint a squad of crisis suits in Seahawks colors bombed.  So I am going to stick with my white, brown, and orange scheme.  This is excellent news indeed, because as good as navy blue and lime green look on Russell Wilson, they look like shit on a crisis suit.

Back to my old business...


I keep looking at that list of stuff to do (that I mentioned a while back) and that particular list hasn't changed.  But I have added another list to it.  I still have all that new stuff still sitting there in boxes, but a friend just gave me his (rather) large and (very) unfinished Tau army in exchange for some Ork stuff I will never, ever use.  

And honestly, things got very intimidating, very quickly. I love this huge new army, but again, it's intimidating. I don't even know where to start...

So let's deal with that...

(Click the title of this article to see more.)

Where do I even start?  It reminds me of that old question, "How do you eat an elephant?"  The answer is, "One bite at a time." 

Well, look at this pile of stuff.  And this is only the ones that are already put together...  It is almost a complete army in its own right.  Where would you start?  Which bite would you take first? 



Well, I am going to tackle this lot one unit at a time.  I am going to start by finishing up James' unfinished army, then my new stuff (I figure it's kinda pointless to build more when I have so much to paint).  

I need to finish building a little bit, but most of my new (used) stuff is already put together, and I just need to clean it up, base it, and paint it.  But I'll tell you now, painting is not really my strong suit.  

I think I will start with an appetizer, painting the firewarriors, a devilfish, and maybe a hammerhead.  

After that I will do the Crisis suit conversions, probably after spring break.  One of my colleagues here on WHT posted a tutorial on how to modernize their look to better match the new commander, and I think I will follow his tutorial.  I will take pictures and plenty of notes as I go and add them back to his tutorial. 

I think I will shoot for completing one unit or vehicle per week.

My students yearbook is due at the end of March, so I will be stuffed till then with proofing and editing.  So the light work of painting should tie me over through that.  Then I will get on with the harder stuff.

Here's what James added to my already large army:
 
1 headless Enforcer commander
8 crisis suits (only 2 assembled)
6 stealth suits
24 fire warriors
12 metal pathfinders
The OOP special edition Firewarrior Shas'ui
2 OOP Ethereals (one of which I did not have)
4 Devilfish
2 Hammerheads
16 Kroot (on sprue)
1 KrootOx (still in the package)
2 Kroot Hounds (still in the package)
2 Piranha (on sprue)1 Riptide (also headless)
3 Broadsides (old style)
1 Sunshark/Razorshark (still in the box)
and a zillion more drone parts (you know how that goes)

He also gave me another 24 firewarriors and some drones that were painted purple and steel blue (his base was white like mine, so where these purple buggers came from I do not know).

This lot, plus the new stuff and old stuff puts my little Tau army easily over15,000 points.  I have over 80 battlesuits now... (34 crisis, 24 XV-25 stealth suits, Farsight, Shadowsun, Longstrike, 2 Enforcer commanders, R'Alai, R'Myr, Farsight's seven cronies, my 2 FW XV-88 conversions, four other FW suits, six XV-15s, two more XV-22s, and 3 Rptides).  

I am so chuffed.  I have no idea what I am going to do with it all when my daughter comes home from college and demands a place to sleep, because the guest bedroom is currently occupied...

Once I get it all compiled into Army Builder I will have a better figure for you.

All I am really missing from my perfect "dream" army is a couple of Tigersharks, an Orca, a couple of R'Varnas, and one more Barracuda, plus a few things that have yet to be released (like that rumored Kroot CC monster and a few alien allies).

And time.

Oh yeah, and that Manta....  the one that comes with divorce papers.

Next post should be around March 23rd with an update on the firewarriors repaint and maybe the devilfish touch-up.

I play Tau.

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Battle Report: Tau vs. Chaos Space Marines

March 21, 2014, 1:29 pm
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I am finally starting to get settled into my new area and job, so this last weekend I managed to get a casual game in. My area has no FLGS so we play in our basements and hobby rooms when we can.
This was my first game against my opponent so I had no idea what to expect as far as play style or army or terrain. He usually plays at 2000 points so that is what we went with. He hadn't played Tau since 2nd edition, so we used one of the Tau Battle Missions even though it wasn't really updated for 6th edition.
As always, I write these reports mostly from memory with a few notes that I take after the games are over. I am sure to have gotten some things wrong here and there, maybe got turns mixed up or distances skewed. I don't often take pictures since it is hard to really see what is going on, hence the Chronicler diagrams. Please bear with me, as I am far from a wizard at BC, but the overall flow of the combat and tactics should still be recognizable past the memory and program errors.

The Armies

Tau

I haven't played at 2000 points with Tau, so this was a bit bigger than I was used to. Plus, one of my Devilfish chassis was out of commission (massive conversion project) so I had to boost my usual list and use some models I don't usually play with.
  • Warlord: Shas'O Burning Eye-D w/ OG, PEN, Iridium, Shield Generator, x1 Shield Drone
  • Commander Farsight
  • XV8 Team: Raven, x2 Burning Eye-D w/ ATS (I call this the Executioner when combined with my Shas'O)
  • XV8 Team: Shas'Vre Deathrain-D, x2 Deathrain-D 
  • Stealth Team: Shas'Vre w/ Markerlight &TL, x5 Stealth Suits (all burst cannons), x2 Marker Drones
  • 2 Piranhas w/ Fusion Blasters
  • Pathfinder Team: Shas'ui, x7 Pathfinders (no special weapons)
  • 12 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Rifles in Devilfish (DPod, SMS)
  • 6 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Carbines in Devilfish (DPod, SMS)
  • Skyray (Dpod, SMS)
  • Hammerhead w/ Ion Cannon (Dpod, SMS, BSF)
  • Longstrike Hammerhead w/ Railgun (Submunition Rounds, Dpod, SMS)

Chaos Space Marines

He had access to just about every Chaos Space Marine model there is so I had no idea what he'd bring. It was a fairly generic list but it had no Cultists. I didn't keep track of the equipment of the CSM squads because I always assume Marines have every bit of equipment imaginable.
  • Warlord: Huron Blackheart (accompanying CSM 1)
  • CSM 1: 9 models. Champion w/ power weapon, 2 plasma guns, banner that grants Fearless
  • CSM 2: 20 models. Champion w/ lightning claw, 2 melta guns, banner that grants Fearless
  • CSM 3: 20 models. Champion w/ lightning claw, 2 melta guns, banner that grants Fearless
  • Land Raider: (dedicated transport for CSM 1) w/ 2x Twin-linked Lascannons, Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, dozer blades, smoke launchers
  • Forgefiend w/ 2 Hades Autocannons
  • Forgefiend w/ 2 Hades Autocannons
  • Hellbrute w/ Multi-melta
  • Hellbrute w/ Multi-Melta
  • Terminators: 3 models w/combi-plasma

The Setup

Scenario: Tau Battle Mission #3. Not sure on which one, but it had 3 objectives in the Tau deployment zone and disallowed reserves for the Tau. All my units got Hit&Run though. Instead of rolling for the mission we just chose because the other two would ruin his tactics entirely and he'd have to write a new list.
Warlord Traits: Huron's allows D3 infiltrating units, but he chose not to infiltrate or outflank any of his units (no idea why...). I rolled Ghost Who Walks Among Us which I'd never got before and was excited to try.
Psychic Powers: Huron gets a random power each turn. The only time it mattered was on turn 3 and he got Endurance.
Deployment: CSM had to walk on in the 1st turn, and I could deploy anywhere in my chosen diagonal half of the board
Objectives: 3 in my deployment zone from corner to center, and the only way to win was by holding more than the other guy
Night Fight: no night fight

Deployment


I had to put everything on the table, and I didn't have any idea what he was going to throw at me (I didn't even ask to see his list) so I just deployed my pathfinders centrally with my valuable suits in the backfield shielded by the tanks. It was a raw deal since none of my vehicles would get jink saves and he could walk on anywhere on the board to get best line of sight. However, it is a little exciting in that way, not knowing what is going to appear across the board from you.

Turn 1

CSM Turn 1


He brough all of his vehicles on but no infantry. Once on, the shooting started. At the time, he had thought that a Land Raider was a "heavy vehicle" as I would have thought as well, so that is how we played it at first. So it fired at full BS with all its weapons for the first two turns.
My vehicles were basically unprotected without their jink saves, and his vehicles were well equipped to counter enemy armour. I lost a hull point off of Long Strike and two hull points off of my Hammerhead. Not so bad, considering my disadvantage. In hindsight, this is the turn that he should have used his Daemonforge abilities, but he forgot.
With nothing close to assaulting, it was my turn.

Tau Turn 1


I started by shuffling my vehicles to better utilize the ruins for cover and get my jink saves. The left flank Piranhas and Devilfish moved forward, and the crisis suits got into position to try and shoot some vehicles.
I decided that I wasn't going to waste any shots on the Land Raider since the odds of my killing it were slim to none. The pathfinders landed two markerlight hits on a forgefield, Long Strike missed his one shot, my other Hammerhead's weapons did nothing, my Executioner unit did nothing, and my Deathrain-D squad managed to strip a single hull point. As usual, my first turn of shooting was abysmal, amounting to only a single hull point off of a forgefiend. I turboboosted my piranhas up near the building his path, ready to pop out and get some melta shots next turn. This proved to be a big mistake.
My suits all jumped back into cover for the assault phase.

Turn 2

CSM Turn 2


He rolled for his reserves and got the Terminators and one of his 20-man CSM squads. 
All of his vehicles moved up and his CSM squad walked on from his board edge, heading straight for the closest objective in the center of the board. He dropped his Terminators right next to my Deathrain-D team and Farsight and it only scattered away a few inches.
His marines took some pot-shots at my Stealth Team since they had time to reach the objective, 2+ cover saves were not enough, and I still lost a Stealth suit. His Land Raider and Forgefiends shot at Longstrike and my Hammerhead. The Forgefiends used their DaemonForge ability, basically doubling their damage output. Apparently the hard cover plus DPod were not enough, and I lost both of my battle tanks, failing every single 3+ cover save. The left Hellbrute fired at my Devilfish but did no damage. The other Hellbrute fired at my piranhas and missed. The terminators, or "Termicides" as he called them, used their plasma attachments in rapid-fire range and killed the Shas'vre, a Shas'ui, and wounded Farsight once.
His Hellbrute charged my piranhas, something I hadn't thought he could do, since there was a building wall in the way, but I guess how he usually plays is that ruins don't block movement. If I'd known before I wouldn't have put them that close, but his house, his rules, so I just shrugged and went with it. The Hellbrute smashed both Piranhas to pieces, drones and all.

Tau Turn 2


Things were not looking good for me, since I'd lost the majority of my firepower and I had a LOT of things to deal with. I shuffled my skyray and devilfish again, moved my Stealth team up (losing a Marker Drone to dangerous terrain), and moved my other Devilfish towards the final objective. I also jumped my Stealth Suits towards his CSM squad to try and slow their advance. I moved my Skyray up provide cover for my last Devilfish as it moved next to the central objective.
My Pathfinders fired at the wounded Forgefiend and landed 7 hits (would have been nicer if they'd done that last turn...). I used them to fire every seeker off of my skyray, finishing off his Forgefiend. Farsight missed his shots but his Deathrain-D companion killed two Terminators by himself! My Executioner unit fired at the Hellbrute, trying to slow down the closest vehicle to my units, but only stripped a single hull point. My Devilfish and Stealth team targeted his CSM blob, killing 4-5 of them. 
Farsight and the Deathrain-D prepared to charge the final Terminator, but failed their charge roll, and he forgot to fire overwatch (I imagine he doesn't often fire overwatch). My commander jumped back into cover and my Stealth Team jumped out near the objective to keep their distance from the Hellbrute and attract his CSM blob's attention.

Turn 3

CSM Turn 3


Luckily for me, his second squad of CSM did not come on this turn either. Saved! 
He moved the Land Raider 12" and I told him he couldn't since he said it was a Heavy vehicle, so he checked and we saw that it was just a regular vehicle. So it had been shooting with too high a BS in turn 1&2, oh well. The other vehicles and the CSM advanced. The lone Terminator moved up to attack my Devilfish from behind.
His Hellbrutes targeted my Devilfish, exploding it and killing one Firewarrior. The remaining warriors disembarked into the nearby ruins but I forgot to check if they were pinned. The CSM fired on my Stealth Team in the crater, killing another 2 Shas'ui. The Forgefiend and Land Raider targeted my Skyray and Devilfish, stripping a hull point from each and Shaking the Devilfish.
The Hellbrute attempted a charge on my Stealth team, but failed. The lone Terminator attampted to charge the nearby Firewarriors, but failed his charge range and died to overwatch fire.

Tau Turn 3


That land raider was now moving a lot faster than I had planned, since it wasn't a Heavy vehicle. So I blocked its advance with the Skyray. Hopefully that would buy me a little more time from whatever was inside. I moved my Devilfish onto the objective and unloaded my Firewarriors into the ruins, forming a makeshift castle out of the building and Longstrike's wreck. The Stealths jumped forward to shoot up some CSM again. My crisis suits all got into firing positions.
My Executioner unit targeted the Forgefiend, but the Skyray and Devilfish blocked some line of sight and no damage was inflicted. Farsight and the Deathrain-D fired at the wounded Hellbrute and did nothing. My pathfinders marked the CSM squad for my infantry to fire at. The Stealths and the pulse rifle Firewarriors killed about 7 of them but they still had the Fearless banner.
I repositioned my suits and hunkered down.

Turn 4

CSM Turn 4


His last unit of CSM automatically came on and he walked it straight up behind the other unit. For this turn, Huron's unit gained Feel No Pain.
He knew he had to get his land raider up to me, so he moved his Forgefiend back to make room and the land raider turned to move around the Skyray. It passed through the Forgefiend wreck and rolled a 1 and then a 1 for dangerous terrain, immobilized! It didn't matter though, it had done its job. He disembarked the contents another 6" from his assault hatch, only a couple inches from my makeshift castle. The squad of CSM, now down to about 6 or 7 models moved up to within a few inches of the objective.
The new CSM blob rolled 1" to run. The remaining CSM shot at my Stealth suits killing all but two. They failed their leadership and fell back next to the Devilfish. His Forgefiend shot at the rear of my Skyray and missed all but one shot, which was blocked by its cover save. The Land Raider fired across the board at my Firewarriors with carbines and killed two. They failed their leadership check by one and fell back through the ruins 5". The two hellbrutes fired at my last Devilfish and wrecked it. Finally, he opened fire with his disembarked unit. He had placed Huron at the back to avoid Overwatch fire, but that meant he couldn't use the heavy flamer. His unit fired their pistols at my Firewarriors, but they went to ground and gained Stealth thanks to their Defensive Grenades for a 2+ cover save. This is the first time I was actually able to use photon grenades to full effect. I lost a single Firewarrior to shooting.
He multi-charged my Pathfinders and Firewarriors since he wasn't going to get the extra attack anyways. In overwatch I inflicted 4 unsaved wounds but he saved two of them with his Feel No Pain. His champion challenged my pathfinder Shas'ui and killed him easily. 6 of the Firewarriors were killed and I inflicted no wounds in return. The Firewarriors and Pathfinders both fled (needed double 1's) and his unit ran down my remaining Firewarriors. 

Tau Turn 4


I was losing units fast and I didn't have much left to work with, but I was enjoying the game quite a bit. The casualties were pretty one-sided but I had every chance of forcing a draw or even eking out a win. I still had both of my HQ, my Executioner unit, and a very small scoring unit.
My pathfinders failed to rally and fled off the board but my Stealth Suits and Firewarriors both rallied and moved back towards the marines sitting near the objective. My Executioner squad and Farsight+Deathrain positioned themselves to charge Huron's unit. He'd never seen this unit before, nor anything like it I imagine, so he hadn't targeted them all game and they were at full strength.
Farsight and the Deathrain-D fired and killed the Champion, probably in the act of sticking the pathfinder Shas'ui's head on his backpack spike. My Skyray pivoted and unloaded into the back of the marine carrying the Fearless banner but he passed all 3 armour saves. I did, however, land a markerlight hit. My carbine Firewarriors and the Stealth team combined fire and managed to bring the CSM unit on the objective down to 5 models. My Executioner unit used the Markerlight hit and fired last, wiping his entire CSM unit from the board in one go (10 wounds, AP2, no cover saves) and wounded Huron in the process, despite the Feel No Pain. He couldn't believe it.
I charged Farsight into combat. He took a wound in overwatch but his armour blocked it. He challenged Huron to solo combat, blocked Huron's attack with his Shield Generator, and then hacked him to pieces. He consolidated into the ruins to maintain cover. The Executioner unit moved into the ruins to stage their advance next turn. My Stealth suits repositioned themselves between Farsight and the Hellbrutes, shielding him from counter assault and maintaining 6" distance from all of my battlesuit units.

Turn 5

CSM Turn 5


His CSM blob moved up, and ran another 4". His Hellbrutes shuffled around a bit, trying to stay out of the difficult terrain. The small CSM squad held its ground by the objective.
His objective holders only had pistols left, so they couldn't target anything. His Hellbrutes missed their shots and his Land Raider's shots were blocked by cover saves all around. His Forgefiend finished off my Skyray, but only managed to wreck it, so it still provided blocking terrain.
His Hellbrute attempted to assault my Stealth team, but failed his charge into cover. The combined overwatch fire from the nearby battlesuits immobilized it. My opponent was starting to see a pattern in my overwatch.

Tau Turn 5


I moved everything I had, except my Firewarriors, towards the objective. I was assuming that the game would go into turn 6, and I didn't want them stranded in the open, however, in hindsight I probably should have moved them up to help distract his units.
My Stealth Team killed one marine on the objective and my Executioner squad removed the rest. Farsight and his Deathrain companion fired at the Hellbrute still capable of moving but did nothing.
For my thrust moves, I positioned my Stealth team and my Executioner squad between his CSM blob and the objective. Farsight charged the Hellbrute and butchered it in close combat, but unfortunately lost his Deathrain friend to miraculous Overwatch fire. Incredibly, the Hellbrute did not explode (4 AP2 penetrating hits...) and Farsight consolidated to help screen the objective.

I rolled a 3, so the game continued, giving him slim shot at capturing a single objective and winning the game.

Turn 6

CSM Turn 6


This was his last chance, so he positioned his vehicles to shoot and his squad to charge. 
His Land Raider fired at my Stealth Suits, but I passed all 3 cover saves. His Forgefiend targeted my Shas'O and his team, killing the Shas'vre, and the shield drone. The Hellbrute rolled its ability after being wounded and got to shoot twice. He missed once but killed another Shas'ui from my Executioner squad. His CSM squad decided that it should target my tougher unit, so it shot at my Shas'O. Since the Shas'O was in the front he was able to tank the wounds and only failed one. His CSM did not fire, since we were pretty sure he would not be able to charge if he eliminated the unit he fired at, and he needed to charge to contest the objective.
He charged in, losing only one marine to Overwatch fire (from Farsight). Here we made another mistake, since he multi-charged and wasn't supposed to get an extra attack for the charge, but he attacked with 3 attacks each. His champ challenged Farsight, and since I was not familiar with close combat, I assumed that Farsight had to accept, otherwise I would have accepted with my Shas'O. Farsight killed the champion instantly but I lost both of my Stealth suits and my Shas'O blocked all the other attacks. I lost the combat 2-1, but my units didn't flee. I had the option of using Hit-and-Run to disengage and shoot his unit before charging again, but I decided I'd rather not risk the Overwatch fire. In hindsight, I probably should have. I could have joined the two units, or just jumped Farsight out before jumping back in again to get that extra attack, who knows? Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

Tau Turn 6


With no units left, all I could do is run my 3 firewarriors up to help with the combat and maybe, just maybe, capture the objective if I won the combat and swept him. I was Initiative 5 after all.
Farsight killed two marines but my other units did nothing (Shas'O fail!). His marines wounded Farsight twice and my regular Shas'ui once. I lost the combat again, 3-2, my Shas'O and my firewarriors failed leadership but Farsight held true, keeping the enemy locked in combat. I had forgotten to nominate my Shas'O as Stubborn this turn, but it didn't matter.

The game ended on a roll of 1.

Results

The game had ended in a draw with 2 objectives unclaimed and 1 objective contested.
Had we allowed for Secondary Objectives, I would have got Slay the Warlord, he would have got First Blood, and neither of us would have got Linebreaker since his infantry was not actually in my deployment zone and he didn't technically have a Deployment zone for me to occupy. It was a bit confusing so we left those objectives out.

Aftermath

The smoke cleared and I had 6 models to my name. Against his immobile Land Raider, immobile Hellbrute, Forgefiend, and 16 marines. Clearly I'd been outmatched in firepower and damage, but my scrappy Tau had forced a draw against the odds. I love my little blue boys and they have yet to let me down in spirit, even if they do seem to have trouble hitting things when it counts...

Thoughts

  • It occurred to me partway through that the mission might be intended to give the enemy an advantage against a Tau army forced to remain static and defend its territory and go 2nd. The mission, my abysmal 1st turn of shooting, and his above average 1st & 2nd turns of shooting really set me at a disadvantage early.
  • Since it was our first game we were both learning about each other, so we both had some surprises and made mistakes. Personally, I think that losing my piranhas to a Hellbrute charging through a solid building wall was the worst mistake that had the biggest impact on the game.
  • The last combat was a nightmare, with many different units, initiative steps, statlines, etc. It became really hard to keep track and I missed out on a couple advantages (like majority toughnesss, or my Shas'O being able to accept the challenge in Farsight's place). However, I am wiser for having been through it and next time will be different.
  • His army wasn't optimized and he didn't really take much advantage of Huron. It's possible he was intentionally leaving out his better units (aka Helldrake) for our first game. He is not a rules lawyer and plays a sort of hybrid 4th/5th/6th edition rules when it comes to terrain and cover. He's not really a fan of 6th edition. Learning how to play with someone is just as important as learning the rules.

What I liked

  • Farsight: I was hesitant to take him, but I'd just finished the conversion and it looked so darn cool. Turns out he provided just that little bit of close combat proficiency that I needed to get in there and stand toe-to-toe with CSM in close combat. Granted, he never had to go up against Abaddon or Kharn, but Huron is no slouch, and neither were those squad champions (and he killed two!)
  • Carbines. In this particular game, 15" was too short to engage the CSM at rapid-fire range, plus they are so cool looking. I don't think I'll ever stop running this little commando unit. And they once again survived to the end of the game, I don't think I've ever actually lost them completely, and they are always there to try and do that late game contest
  • Skyray: even after losing All my anti-tank in one turn, and no Helldrakes to target, it killed a Forgefiend (much more than its points) and blocked the Land Raider's advance. Had I positioned my Skyray better, I might have even postponed his attack another turn. Though had I done that, I wouldn't have been free to contest the other objective, so it ended up ok anyways. 
  • Executioner: I say this every game, but this unit is my favorite. Early game it may not impress, especially against CSM which have a TON of AV12+, but it really shines once you put just about any type of unit within 18" of it.
  • Stealth Suits: considered a "bad pick" by many Tau players, and maybe they are right, but they soaked up a disproportionate amount of fire, in just about every turn of the game, and still survived to help contest the final objective. They killed quite a few Marines too.

What Didn't Impress me

  • Deathrains: Maybe it's just me, but my Deathrains never really do anything. This game, they managed to strip a single hull point off of an AV12 model, and kill two terminators by luck (and that was only after two of the team members were killed). To be fair, the last suit took a Melta shot in the face for Farsight, which is pretty heroic, if unskilled.
  • Pathfinders: They got ignored mostly, allowing them to use their Markerlights to full effect every turn, even landing some on Overwatch to help my Firewarriors gun down some CSM. But I'm not entirely sold on them. Did I need those markers? Could I have done better with more Firewarriors? We'll see. I'll perhaps give them another shot, but if there'd been a helldrake in this game, they would have been dead instantly.
  • Stealth Marker Team: This was a fun unit in 5th, but now that I've tried it in 6th, I never will again. It didn't land a single marker hit and those ablative wounds could have just been gun drones helping out with the shooting.

Thanks to anyone who stuck with it and read to the end. I hope this helps some other Tau players out.


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Converting the XV 107 - R'varna Battlesuit

April 6, 2014, 11:35 am
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Hello All!

Today, instead of my occasional contribution of a battle report, I will be showing off my latest model: the XV107 R'varna by Forgeworld.

With all the new monstrous creatures and Imperial Knights running amok, it is a good thing that the Tau have the Riptide to compete. The R'varna is a heavier defensive variant of the Riptide. It sacrifices mobility and versatility for increased firepower and survivability. The R'varna is an awesome model, but I wanted to make a few changes to it...


From the Forgeworld website
I love this model. It is way more appealing to me than the standard Riptide model, but a couple things bothered me. First, even though it has the same shield generator as the Riptide, it isn't anywhere on the model. Second, no flechette dischargers. And third, the weapons really just act like a Heavy 2 weapon instead of two separate Heavy 1 weapons, why bother?

So without further ado, the total WIP picture dump of my XV107 - R'varna

Starting the scratchbuilt shield generator
Basically finished shield generator
My rendition of the Flechette Dischargers to mount on the shield
The first assemblies and work on the base

Scratchbuilt arms and hands from plasticard and sprues
Starting on the painting
After my highlights
Here are the final shots. They are the best I could do with the lighting and camera at my disposal.

And finally, here he is shielding my Ethereal from harm. He'd basically be the most badass bodyguard you could get in the 40k universe.

Thanks for looking. I hope this has given some people some inspiration. Feel free to post your thoughts or questions below.
-Sky




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Battle Report: Tau vs. Astra Militarum

May 14, 2014, 1:10 pm
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I got another game in a couple weekends ago against the new and improved Astra Militarum. I didn't have much experience with them before the new codex, but it looks like I'll be seeing them fairly often in my new gaming group. Let's see how my Tau measure up to the Imperial grunts.

A quick note about my Batrep program. Sometimes it is tricky to use and things get mixed up. Sometimes it will look like a vehicle is moving farther than it should, and sometimes I miss other things. The images are intended to give you an overall feel for how the game was going and the positioning of the units. Given time I could make them very accurate, but the payoff is too weak to invest the time necessary. Apologies.

The Armies

Tau

I came unprepared that weekend without a preset 1500 point list. I spent about 10 minutes throwing some of my standard units into a list and then making room for my XV9's. I wanted to give them a try, so I decided to see how they'd do when combined with Farsight.
  • Warlord: Commander Farsight
  • Shas'O Burning Eye-D w/ OG, PEN, Iridium, 
  • XV8 Team: Raven, x2 Burning Eye-D w/ ATS (I call this the Executioner when combined with my Shas'O)
  • XV8 Team: Shas'Vre Deathrain, x2 Deathrain 
  • XV9Team: 2x Shas'el w/ Fusion Cascades, x1 Shield Drone (accompanying Farsight)
  • 6 Firewarriors w/ Pulse Rifles in a Warfish* (DPod)
  • 6 EMP Grenadiers** w/ Pulse Carbines in Warfish (DPod)
  • Skyray (Dpod, BSF, SMS)
  • Longstrike Hammerhead w/ Railgun (Submunition Rounds, Dpod, SMS)
*A "Warfish" is a Devilfish equipped with a Smart Missile System
**"EMP Grenadiers" are Firewarriors equipped with EMP Grenades (Pathfinders similarly equipped are known as EMP Commandos)

Astra Militarum

I'd never played him before, but this was his pretty standard 1500 point list under the new codex. It was almost entirely Mechanized but relied on him getting the right warlord trait to be really devastating. 
  • Warlord: Tank commander in a Punisher with a standard Leman Russ squadmate
  • Company Command Squad with 4 flamers in a Chimera 
  • Primaris Psyker 
  • Comissar
  • Vets 1: 10 models. 4 meltaguns and a Veteran Sergeant in a Chimera
  • Vets 2: 10 models. 4 plasmaguns and a Veteran Sergeant in a Chimera
  • Platoon command squad 
  • 4 Infantry Squads combined into one unit (Commissar and Primaris joined this unit)
  • Leman Russ Vanquisher with hullmount lascannon
  • 2 Hellhounds

The Setup

Scenario: The Scouring
Warlord Traits: Farsight got his automatic trait, and the Tank Commander got the trait my opponent was hoping for: D3 Outflanking units. He then promptly rolled a 5, giving him 3 Outflanking units!!
Psychic Powers: The Primaris was the only psyker in the game, and he took the primaris power, Prescience (go figure)
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
Objectives: Mostly distributed evenly over the board, near terrain pieces. (represented by red X's)
Night Fight: First turn Night Fight

Deployment


I won the roll off and decided to deploy first. I didn't have very many units so I wouldn't be able to play a reactionary game, plus I needed to draw out his vehicles to get shots on rear and side armour, and if he deployed defensively I might have trouble cracking them. I chose the side with the most LOS blocking terrain, mainly so that he couldn't make use of it. I'd only had a few units capable of killing his tanks, but I'd need rear armour shots, so I put my XV-9's and my Executioner unit in reserve to Deep Strike. I reserved both my firewarrior teams since they'd be useless on the first turn anyways and maybe I could respond to how he went for objectives.
He deployed pretty normally, with a strong core of vehicles farther back ready to sweep around my flank, and his Warlord's tank unit across from me as his main attack unit. His huge infantry blob, his Vanquisher, and his Meltavets were all Outflanking. No doubt intended to come on wherever they needed to get side or rear armour shots on my tanks.

 Turn 1

Tau Turn 1
All my units on the board ignored Night fight. The Deathrains jumped into the bunker to get a good line of sight on his AV12 parking lot. The skyray jinked but I saved his missiles, hoping that I could get some better angles later.
My Deathrains stripped two hull points off of a Hellhound and Immobilized it but I forgot to shoot with Longstrike! I rolled afterwards and, had I remembered, would've killed his warlord immediately...I also forgot to thrust move my Deathrains back behind the bunker to stay out of Line of Sight. A pretty horrible first turn. You'd think that with only 3 units on the board I'd remember to use them correctly.
AM turn 1
He moved up his tanks, making a move for the objective directly across from him. The Leman Russes moved toward my Deathrains.
The Russes wiped out my Deathrains for First Blood. Since I'm used to ignoring Night Fight I didn't remember that they had Stealth. I also neglected to Go to Ground for a 2+ cover save. Even so, he fired enough shots that I may have been dead anyways. What really would have saved them would be if I'd remembered to Thrust back out of sight. Afterwards he used an order for popping smoke after shooting. Nothing else had range or strength to hurt my vehicles.

Turn 2

Tau Turn 2
I rolled for my reserves, and of my 4 units only Farsight with the XV9's arrived! This game was having a rough start to be sure. I decided that I would target his Warlord's unit. They would give me the most trouble after Longstrike inevitably died, and I needed to make the most of this drop, since they'd likely be dead next turn.
The Skyray stood still in order to shoot both markerlights at his Russes, but only hit with one. I was hoping to strip his cover, but increased BS would have to do. My XV9's exploded both tanks. He forgot that the tanks had used their smoke launchers, which was lucky for me since he appeared to be very good at making saves this game. Longstrike had no decent targets so he fired at the immobilized Hellhound. Penetrating hit, but he made his cover save, darn.
I jumped the XV9's up into the emplacement on his side of the board. I positioned Farsight and the shield drone in the front to give the unit some invulnerable saves against his Hellhound (in my mind, the Hellhound's weapon was AP3 like a Hellturkey's).
AM Turn 2
He rolled for his reserves and all three of his Ouflankers came on. Le Sigh...Here is where we made an error. Vanguard Strike confused us about which edges were used for Outflanking. He thought that it meant he could use the long board edges, and I couldn't remember anyways, so I went with it. After the rolling, his Meltavets popped up right behind my Skyray and his Vanquisher came on with a sideview of Longstrike. His infantry blob walked on ready to gun down the only thing on the board their las-weapons could hurt. The mobile Hellhound and Chimera advanced again, right up to the objective. If he had a good shooting phase he could table me on turn 2.
The Vanquisher, with surprising accuracy, fired and hit with both weapons against Longstrike. The primary weapon penetrated but Longstrike made his jink save. The Skyray was not so lucky, as it hadn't jinked in the previous turn, and exploded from Meltavet/Chimera fire. The infantry blob fired something like 110 twin-linked las shots at Farsight's unit (Prescience plus the FirstRankFire,SecondRankFire order, plus RapidFire range). After about 15 straight minutes of rolling, re-rolling, then rolling and re-rolling again and again and again, I'd lost both XV9's but nothing else. Once again, I failed to do the smart thing and Go To Ground for a 2+ cover save, as I would've had Stealth from my XV9's defensive grenades. Even so, then Farsight would have been a sitting duck next turn. He fired everything else that had range at Farsight and his drone, killing the drone and reducing him to one wound (Farsight didn't make a single save). 
All I had left was a badly wounded Farsight, alone and surrounded, and Longstrike caught between a Vanquisher Battlecannon and a bunch of Meltaguns. And it was only the bottom of turn 2!!! I'd never been this badly outmatched before, so it was a good experience for me.

Turn 3

Tau Turn 3
I rolled for my reserves and everything else came on (Finally, a little bit of love from the dice gods) I landed my Executioner team with side views of his immobile Hellhound and Chimera. Farsight jumped down and set up for assaulting the Hellhound from behind. My Warfishes moved on to counter his Veterans, disembarking their Firewarriors and getting side/rear armour shots on his vehicles. Longstrike moved back to get hard cover from his Vanquisher.
My Firewarriors and Warfishes opened fire on the back of his Hellhound, wrecking it. The EMP Grenadiers fired on the Chimera (didn't have range for a grenade throw) and stripped a hull point. Farsight shot the Hellhound, wrecking it before he had a chance to charge it, oh well. The Executioner unit exploded the Chimera containing his Company Command Squad, killing one of the Flamer units in the process. Longstrike fired on the last Chimera, penetrated but rolled 1 for damage. NOOOOO! DYL.
Farsight rolled well for his thrust move and moved to hide behind my Shas'O and his unit, but he'd have to wait another turn before joining (IC's can only join units during the Movement phase).
All in all, not a bad turn except for Longstrike's signature failure. I'd killed 3 vehicles and hurt two more, and mostly with weapons not intended for destroying tanks.

AM Turn 3
 Unphased by the loss of so many vehicles, he disembarked all of his Vets to attack my Firewarriors. The Infantry blob moved to attack my suits (intentionally positioned >18" away) and his Co. Command Squad got ready to charge.
The Vanquisher didn't actually move this turn, that is my error. It stayed put and hit Longstrike with Both weapons Again (so far this BS3 tank had hit more times that Longstrike had in any game I'd played so far. Looks like somebody is overpaid...) The main gun penetrated again, and I failed my 3+ cover save. Longstrike blew up in a spectacular explosion. His command squad fired flamers at Farsight and the Executioner, but he only wounded once or twice and I saved both. The infantry blob used its order+psychic shenanigans to shoot my Executioner unit with over 70 twin-linked lasgun shots. My Shas'O took every single shot and survived with 1 wound. Stimridium FTW.
He charged my Shas'O's unit with his command squad. I rolled very well for my Overwatch, killing two guardsmen. Then, in combat, he challenged my with his commander. I accepted with my Raven (Shas'vre) but they both failed to wound eachother. The rest of the Executioner killed the lone guardsman, winning me the combat. His senior officer passed his leadership check and stayed locked in combat. The plasmavets that disembarked charged my Firewarriors holding the objective. It had been so long since they'd disembarked we'd forgotten it was this turn and that they couldn't actually charge. No matter, my combined Overwatch killed 4 guardsmen. In combat, he failed all his attacks, I killed one of his, and he failed his leadership check. He fell back since I failed to sweep him.

Turn 4

Tau Turn 4
 I moved my EMP Grenadiers up to shoot his Chimera's side armour and the Warfishes moved up to block his approaching Meltavets.
My Firewarriors wiped out the fleeing Plasmavets. My EMP Grenadiers stripped another hull point from the Chimera (the grenade throw missed) and my Warfishes killed a few of his Meltavets (luckily he'd put his Meltaguns out front, so they were the first to go).
Farsight jumped into the Melee, hoping to find some cover from the mass of lasguns nearby. The EMP Grenadiers charged his Chimera (a surprise, since they weren't used to seeing Tau with assault weapons) and easily stripped another 3 hull points, wrecking it with no explosions. I challenged his commander with my Raven again, hoping to tie up the combat through my turn. I figured he might get lucky and wound him once, but I was really hoping for a repeat of last turn. However, luck was on his side, and he landed two wounds with his Power Sword, killing the Raven outright. In addition, my Shas'O failed his leadership check and fled the combat, exposing his unit to enemy fire!!! Farsight stayed locked in combat and prevented a catastrophic sweeping advance, what a trooper.
AM Turn 4
 Sensing they were outmatched, the Meltavets re-embarked on their Chimera and moved for a different objective. His Vanquisher and infantry positioned to shoot up my Executioner unit.
He killed my Shas'O with the Vanquisher cannon, once again accurately hitting the battlesuit from across the entire battlefield. With the Shas'O gone, the rest of the squad fell easily to the storm of lasgun fire.
Farsight attacked the senior officer, but the officer made an invulnerable save and lost one wound. In return he wounded Farsight, who failed his Better invulnerable save and died. All that dancing and character shenanigans for nothing, he was still dead.

Turn 5

Tau Turn 5
 I had basically nothing left with any teeth. If the game went on to turn 6, and I got very very lucky, I might be able to deny him one of the objectives, but I wasn't really expecting it. So I quickly moved my EMP Grenadiers within range of his platoon command squad, to try and net them some more kills. The Warfishes strafed sideways to get sidearmour shots on the chimera.
Even so, I was only able to strip another hull point with the combined SMS fire from both vehicles. My EMP Grenadiers wiped the platoon command squad out but they were left stranded in the open.
AM Turn 5
He disembarked his veterans to claim the objective by the tower, but otherwise made no moves. His infantry blob wiped out the EMP Grenadiers with ease. He would've targeted the Firewarriors, but he had no range and couldn't leave his own objective.
I rolled for game continuation and the game ended on a 1.

Results

In terms of remaining units, I had almost nothing left. Even so, considering that some my most expensive units inflicted the least amount of damage, I was impressed with how much damage I was able to inflict with the ones that performed. In my mind, the only units that earned their keep were my Firewarriors/Grenadiers, Warfishes, and the XV9's.
  • Astra Militarum: Linebreaker, Kill the Warlord, First Blood, 2 primary objectives, 1 Fast Attack kill
  • Tau Empire: Kill the Warlord, 1 primary objective, 2 Fast Attack kills
10-6 Defeat!

Final Thoughts

This was definitely not the best game for either of us; both of us missed important rules or opportunities that potentially could have changed the game. Sadly, that is just going to happen a lot of the time, especially when you play as infrequently as I do. I think that luck played a big factor in the initial flow of the game, and set me back early. However, I'm sure I'd have a hard time of it even if he'd only got two Outflankers and I'd gotten my Executioner unit on turn 2. 
  • Astra Militarum: I'm not sure how they were before, but I like that they are capable of spamming vehicles and lasguns. Those Primaris Psykers are a problem though. Spamming lasguns is one thing, making them all Twin-Linked is just insane. However, with the rumors I've been seeing for 7th edition, they may not be as reliable in the next edition of rules.
  • Combat: each game I get a little bit better about understanding the nuances of combat. Playing Farsight has forced me to do this and it is a good thing. Tau commanders should avoid combat, but not be ignorant of it.
  • Farsight: still getting to know him. I refuse to run him in a Deathstar, but he works just fine as a tankhunter. Perhaps in the future I won't make him my Warlord so that he won't attract quite so much attention.
  • XV9's: these guys are very expensive and they were forced into a suicide situation due to the Reserves SNAFU. However, I was still pleased with them. They easily killed their own points value in tanks, and they took a massive amount of lasgun fire (T5 is a better defense then you'd initially think)
  • Executioner: markedly less effective against Astra Militarum. I've seen this before but I was strapped for time and decided to see how they'd do. Unfortunately they never got a chance to try and snipe out those nasty characters. They killed almost nothing before getting tied up by a small command unit and killed by massed lasgun fire. I'll take them every time in my TAC lists, but if I know I'm playing AM I may swap them out for something else.
  • Longstrike: this guy...even against his Preferred Enemy all he managed to do was stun a Chimera for a turn. Another game like this and I may have to leave him out of my lists altogether. I do believe that he's only killed one Predator tank in the entire time I've used him, and the Predator would have diedwithout the Longstrike upgrade...
Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. I'm always open to critique or suggestions. I hope this will help other Tau commanders prepare for the new Astra Militarum. Thanks for reading!

Tau'va!
-Skyler


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New Rules... and Possibly New Problems for Tau

May 24, 2014, 2:48 pm
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So, I just looked through the new rulebook, and it's a beautiful thing, but a couple of things concern me.

First, Warp charge points and how the psychic phase works.  It appears to be similar to how the winds of magic works for fantasy, which means it sucks for Tau.  We will get dispel dice in equal number to the warp charge points generated by the psyche, but we will not get any kind of bonus for psycher level.  And then we have to roll a six on those dice to deny the witch… (not really a change, but annoying.)

Bummer, maybe we will get some kind of FAQ that will help us out a little.

Secondly, we have a nice buff for our skimmers in that they have a 4+ jink save, but as no good deed goes unpunished, we are now only able to snap fire the turn after we jink. 

Bummer, maybe we will get some kind of FAQ that will help us out a little.

Third, vector strike got nerfed a little, may be an issue for those of you who fly barracudas, but I think the trade-off for others not being able to butt rape firewarriors as they fly over will be ok.

Lastly,  super heavies and super heavy flyers get to move and fire just like their conventional counterparts, which means they should also get the jink saves… (I am referring to the  Tigershark here).

I hope they don’t FAQ this one.

Let me know what you think.

I play Tau.

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7th Edition Tau:

May 31, 2014, 7:00 am
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Hello all.

I am going to be discussing a few of the changes to Warhammer 40k with the arrival of 7th edition, and what they mean for Tau players.

Hu Jin Tau touched on some of these, but I'd like to examine them in a bit closer detail. The short answer, is that things have changed, but we are still in the fight, with some new tricks too.


The Bad

Let's start with the bad. Tau no longer have ANY Battle Brothers, outside of other Tau detachments or Farsight Enclaves. We can still ally with everyone, but nothing like in 6th. Seems those other races decided we weren't all that friendly after all. No matter, they will all join the Empire eventually.

Jink has been altered. This is both good and bad for us Tau. The new rule, I believe, was intended to nerf Waveserpent spam by, at the very least, taking away their offensive capabilities when benefiting from crazy cover saves. While this puts a little bit of a handicap on Eldar transport firepower, it cripples the already mediocre Tau battle tanks. Skyrays need those markerlights to make their missile salvos effective, but if they have to jink to stay on the board before the enemy flier comes on, then they might as well be terrain. Hammerheads will not be able to use their weapons' large blast profiles if they jink, taking away one of the only things they had going for them.
"But... Markerlights!" You might say. Markerlight sources are expensive and hard to keep on the table. Hammerheads already needed markerlight support to be effective, but now they need more? And they still won't be able to use their Blast profiles?
No. From now on, our Skyrays and Hammerheads will have to act like a regular Astra Militarum tanks, but with less dakka and less armour. If you take them at all, that is.

Speaking of vehicles, they are harder to destroy. Tau's calling card used to be killing vehicles that nobody else could. Our long range AP1 weapons are expensive, but at least they had good odds of destroying what they hit, now they don't even have that.  Similarly, Tau won't be able to abuse this new damage table like other armies that have AV14 vehicles (which is just about everyone). Tau players won't be taking as many Skyrays and Hammerheads as they used to, so the Devilfish is really the only thing that wins on this one, and it was relying on its Jink save to stay alive anyways.
In addition, Skyrays are now drastically less effective. They can't destroy fliers or vehicles with one missile, so they'll have to rely on volume of fire to glance vehicles to death. Since they have a limit of 6 shots, they are not built for volume of fire and you'll be lucky if you can down a single flyer with the Skyray. At this point, suits with Velocity Trackers are the only way to get rid of enemy air support (outside of our own Fliers). 

Psychic phase. We have no psykers, so this is essentially a free phase for other armies to use force multipliers or shoot us with psychic bullets. The only saving grace is that it's a little harder for regular psykers to get powers off (armies built around the psychic phase are another matter, and are also OP). Perils are scarier for psykers, but your opponent doesn't have to worry about us denying the witch with our own psykers, so he won't throw as many dice in order to avoid Perils. Yay...
Still, in the words of CoffeeGrunt: "The best Deny the Witch measure is a Pulse Round to the face"

Charge range through cover is a flat 2D6 -2 inches. Not a huge change, but before you were likely to lose 3 or 4 inches. Many of the units in our codex ignored difficult terrain on the charge anyways, so this is a small buff for other armies and, conversely, bad for us.

Sniper weapons no longer actually Rend so our Kroot and SDT's will be less useful against enemy vehicles.

And last but certainly one of the worst: Independant Characters cannot join a unit containing a Monstrous Creature. No more attaching Support'O's to Riptides and wreaking havoc on everything in sight. It was fun while it lasted, but I guess we can give them this one. The exception would be O'vesa, who is an Independant Character himself, and he would be the one joining other units instead of the other way around.

The Good

Now, on to the Good, as we should never dwell on the negative. The future is bright and Tau are the only ones to get us there.

Photon Grenades have changed. Now they have a thrown blast profile, so even our BS3 firewarriors have good odds of hitting their target. This blast wont hurt anything, but it Does force a Blind check. Unfortunately, Blind checks now only occur once per phase, but that one failed initiative check is going to hurt tremendously. Much more useful than Stealth under 8" imho.

Devilfishes. Our battle tanks may have suffered at the hands of 7th edition, but our transport is looking much better. Realistically, 6th edition was the beginning of the end for the Warfish, but 7th is the nail in the coffin. Our transport is speedier and tougher than a Chimera, and it also gets a DPod buffed Jink save! These will be tough to take down, and they are...

Barracudas are a bit better, as their burst cannons ignore the new and improved Jink save, and they will be sitting pretty on a 2+ Jink save if you give them DPods. The Barracuda was my favorite before (though I haven't played with one) and now it is looking better and better in 7th. It is a shame that it can't use it's overcharged Ion Cannon if it Jinks though.

XV-9 Hazards with Fusion Cascades are a bit better now. Still not cost effective, but since they already relied on a higher rate of fire than Fusion Blasters, the new edition is kinder to them. Oh, and XV-9's have Photon Casters, so they can try and blind low initiative armies too!

Scoring! Devilfishes can now claim objectives and hold it against anything but an enemy Troop choice. Granted, a dedicated Land Raider will be even tougher, but we can take 3 Devilfishes for the price of one Landraider, and our vehicles are faster. Watch out for those zippy Eldar. We may be a bit quicker than Astra Militarum, but that doesn't mean we are actually Fast. Devilfishes will be back in style, and maybe with Carbine Firewarriors too (forcing a Pinning check AND a Blind check? Yes please)

Flamers can now hurt passengers in Open-topped vehicles. Our transports aren't Open-topped (except for Piranhas carrying drones) so our Firewarriors are safe. The fun will be when you drop some Soul Cleanse-D's next to an Ork Trukk and roast them inside it.

What Does it All Mean?
  • This means it's business as usual. Mass firepower is still the name of our game.
  • Tau will have to have good Alpha Strikes to set the pace early and keep those psykers under control. So you may not be reserving as many units as you used to.
  • Devilfishes will be popular again, and they will make your opponent furious as they run around snagging objectives while enjoying a 3+ cover save on top of a universal buff to 7th edition vehicles. 
  • Hammerheads will become even rarer (Longstrike will almost cease to exist) and maybe Skyrays too.
  • The occasional Blind will be hilarious when your opponent's hyper assault unit suddenly can't even hit a Firewarrior in close combat.
  • Tau seem to have been hit with the Nerf bat overall, but not that hard. We are still strong, and now we can freely use tactics to our advantage without feeling sorry for our opponent because we are "OP". 
  • Long range anti-tank firepower is no longer an option for Tau. It used to be our thing, but now we can't do it effectively. We are going to need to play smarter and be prepared to get our hands dirty. This isn't the end, it just means that we need to work on our "close" game, which Tau are pretty good at anyways.
  • I also expect to see more Enclave players. Crisis suits are now even more important than ever, and FSE is the only way to get them onto the board in sufficient numbers.
  • And finally, some things just don't change...
    Check out more of Sebastian's stuff at eastern-empire.com
Let us know what things you are looking forward to trying that you wouldn't have done in 6th edition! And how you are going to keep those transports on the other side of the board where they belong.
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DIY Homemade Portable Wargaming Table

June 13, 2014, 5:45 am
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Though not strictly Tau related, I did put my R'varna in a couple of the pictures. That counts right?

There aren't very many options out there for portable wargaming tables. Those that are out there all have their own flaws and my design is an alternative method for those of us who are limited in everything except willpower. No money? No time? No space? No problem.

This tutorial is not meant to be a strict step-by-step. It is intended to get your creative juices flowing and thinking about how you can make your own with what you have available following the same rough design.
In theory, this tutorial should have something of value for just about anyone, regardless of their resources or handyman skills.

Now, down to business...

Pros & Cons

First, why should you build this way instead of another? Only you can answer that. I used this design because it addressed a few problems that I had with the existing portable table designs out there, even if it had new problems of its own. 

The Good

  • Very cheap-If you already have the tools and a base table available(most people will I think), you could potentially make this board for free.
  • Simple to move-The cloth hinge design allows you to pack, move, and unpack this board all in one go. Instead of several trips to your car with segments and pieces. 
  • Quick & easy to build- there's no need for special skills, power tools or exact measurements to build this. Similarly, it is very easy to fix if something falls apart down the road.
  • Flexible storage- It can be folded or rolled depending on what space you have available. If you need it to go under your bed, just fold it in half and lay it down. If it needs to go in a corner then  roll it up and stand it upright
  • Builds character- If prying boards from a scrap pallet (that you had to ask a store manager for) to make your own wargaming table doesn't build character, I don't know what will. 

The Bad

  • Heavy- The board weighs about 40 lbs (18.5 kg) on its own. Keep your back straight and lift with your legs!
  • Upkeep- I haven't had this issue yet, but I am assuming that, over time, hinges will come unglued and they'll need to be reglued or replaced
  • Uneven surfaces- The odd board or warping can cause some uneven areas on your board. The gaming surface and good wood selection will make this hardly noticeable, but it won't fix it completely. What do you want from me? The wood is FREE! 
  • Builds character- Technically this is a good thing, but it never seems to feel like one when you are doing it...
If the good outweighs the bad to you, then read on. If it doesn't, read on anyways; maybe you'll have some creative revelations of your own. 

Materials

  • Wooden boards- Free if you can get it from scrap piles, pallets, fencing, shipping containers etc. If you buy wood from a hardware store then it will be less than $50 in most cases (and if you have your girlfriend/wife do the asking they might cut it for free :) )
  • Cloth- Free if you use spare cloth lying around. Just about anything that isn't stretchy will work. If you buy some then I'd expect it to be less than $5 for what you need (maybe half a yard?)
  • Base table- Wherever you play you'll need a 6' long table. You can also buy a folding 6' table from walmart for about $40 if there aren't any acceptable tables where you play.
  • Gaming Surface- this could be anything from Frontline gaming mats to a $5 sheet of felt, and is not strictly necessary. The point here is that the board itself is not pretty and you'll probably want something softer and better looking to play on

Choosing Wood

What you want is 4' lengths of somewhat thin boards. 1" thickness is very easy to come by (3/4" in actuality), but a 1/2" thickness would be better if you can get it. Definitely no bigger than 1" nominal thickness, anything else is too heavy. Less than 1/2" is not very rigid but is doable. flat wood is best, so shipping crates and pallets work well since they've been nailed down and formed flat. If you can't find full 4' lengths you can combine pieces to reach 4' without any issues (more on that later).You'll want to avoid adding lengths less than 12" since often the joints of those pieces will not be supported by the base table and could be an issue.

In my mind, the ideal wood for this project is THIS. It will roll nicer and weigh much less, but buying all you need would be well over $100. The most common wood I've found is 40" lengths of 1x4's from pallets.

Tools 

  • Carpenters Glue 
  • Scissors
  • hammer/prybar (not necessary if buying wood)
  • Measuring Tape & Pencil (not necessary if buying pre-cut wood)
  • hand saw (not necessary if buying pre-cut wood)
Most households will already have all of these. If yours doesn't, then you'll need them for getting through Life anyways, so go buy them. You could probably buy this whole list for less than $30 USD.

The Table

I am lucky enough to work as an engineer for a manufacturing company, and we go through tons of pallets, scrap wood, shipping crates, etc. I found some 1x4 pieces that were over 10' long. I spent 30 minutes during a couple lunch breaks to pry the boards off of the crates and cut them. I also cut one 48" length out of a 1x6 board so I could hit 72" exactly (nineteen 1x4's and one 1x6).

One of the crates that I dismembered for the Greater Good
Some of the 1x4's cut to length
I found some scrap cloth that was mostly inelastic and sturdy (some old khakis that don't fit anymore) and I cut it into a bunch of approximate 2"x2" squares. I laid down about half of the wood and glued the squares across the boards. Don't skimp on the glue, apply liberally to try and get as good a hold on the first pass as possible. The more squares you glue on, the stronger it will be. Make sure the cloth gets glued right on the seam to maintain as tight a hinge as possible.


For the other half of my board I used long strips along the boards instead of squares, just to see the difference.

Note how I apply glue directly to the seams for as tight a hinge as possible
I'd recommend strips, since it is a bit quicker and gets you the same results. Though you may still want some squares for gluing over large holes in the wood left from knots falling out (you may notice a couple of those in the first picture).

Letting the glue set overnight
Once everything is dry you can try flexing the table. Bend each board individually to see how tightly the hinge is holding. If the cloth isn't holding right to the edge of the wood for tight hinge, I recommend adding more glue and letting it dry again. Each time you make a pass of gluing, let it dry overnight, preferably with something pressing it down (like a few spare 2x4's). Now is when you'll decide if you want to add more rows of hinges or not. I used five rows of hinges on the second half of my board, but I bet three or even two rows would do the trick.

When the hinges seem to be holding well and tight, then your table is done! Roll it up, put it on the base table, unroll it, cover it with your gaming surface and you are good to game!

Ready for loading

Unrolling on the base table

Unrolled, adding gaming surface

All set. R'varna is for reference

Specs 

  • Unrolled- 0.75"x48"x72"
  • Rolled up- 48"x10"
  • Weight- ~40 lbs (~19kg)
  • Cost- $0.00+. For my gaming surface, I spent $8 USD on two sheets of felt from Joann's. Everything else I either scrounged or already had on hand.
  • Time- Working during lunch breaks and after the kids went to bed, it took me about 4 hours of work spread over 3 days, including 2 nights/workdays for letting glue set. If I were to do it again I bet I could do the whole thing in less than 2 hours with one night of letting the glue dry.
These are the specs for my own board, ymmv depending on the materials you choose and what you have on hand.

DIY Pallet Example:

Now, something for those of you who can only find free wood in the form of pallets. I did not execute this method myself, but I planned for it in case pallets were all I could find. Hopefully some people find it useful.

Pallets are an excellent source of free wood. Just about everyone uses them and just about everyone will be glad to give them to you for free. Most pallets have several 1x4 or 1x6 boards on them but they are only 40" long on a standard sized pallet (might be different outside US, not sure). So you have to redistribute the lengths.
You start by cutting each 40" board into a 16" length and a 24" length. You can combine two 24" boards into one 48" board, and three 16" boards into another. Six 40" boards transforms into five 48" boards.

6 1x4's will get you a 17.5" section without any wasted wood
Just keep adding until you have the total length you want. It can be time consuming but the 16" length should keep the joints at least partially supported by the base table. Doing it this way will end up with some extra wasted wood but it was free anyways. 48 1x2's will hit 72" exactly; 21 1x4's will hit 73.5" and 13 1x6's will hit 71.5" (both pretty close).
You will want to use extra strips of cloth and glue to make sure everything is properly supported. I'd say you'll need 5 strips minimum.

Strips 2,3, & 4 will need lots of extra glue
Obviously, finding anything 48" or longer that you can cut down will save you time, but sometimes you have to work with what you've got. With a little creativity, and some easy math, just about any boards that you can get your hands on will work for this table.

Thanks for reading!

Well that's it! Please let me know what you think of my design. It's far from perfect but it gives you an idea of what you can do and how cheaply you can do it!



I'll be posting the "advanced" course in a little while to show some of the extra improvements I made to my own table.
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Escalation League Battles: 500 pts

June 23, 2014, 6:54 am
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Escalation League: 500 points

This last gameday with my LGG we had our second Escalation day. Our first escalation games were last month at 500 points, but that was 6th edition, so we opted for repeating this point level to keep it small for 7th edition. I'll give a brief overview of the list I was running and how the games went.

The List

For the 500 point level the only requirement was one Troop choice and no 2+saves, MC's, or vehicles with armour totaling 34+. 
Last month, I played a mixed list with Deathrain-D's, full firewarrior team, and one EMP Grenadier unit in a Devilfish. I did ok, winning one game and losing my second, but it just wasn't much fun sitting and waiting for my opponent to come to me.
This month, I asked if it was ok if I switched to Farsight Enclaves instead of Tau Empire and everyone was fine with it. Escalation leagues are for learning new armies, so this was a good opportunity for me to learn about the FSE and how they play.

XV8- Team 1
x3 crisis suits, Shas'vre with ATS, all Fireknife configuration, Bonding Knife ritual 
(Shas'vre 1 acted as my Warlord)
XV8- Team 2
x3 crisis suits, Shas'vre with ATS, all Fireknife configuration, Bonding Knife ritual
Stealth Team
x5 stealth suits with burst cannons, Bonding Knife ritual

Game 1

My first game was against the Astra Militarum. He'd had bad games in the previous month, so he'd tweaked his list to have some more vehicles in it, instead of mass infantry. We were using the Maelstrom of War missions and we rolled mission #3 which has increasing amounts of objectives in your hand.

Astra Militarum
Taurox with plasmavets
Chimera with meltavets and Militarum Priest (Warlord)
3 Bullgryns

Summary
He deployed first and opted to go first, no Night Fight. He put his Bullgryns in front of his Taurox to give it a cover save and put the Chimera on the other side of his deployment zone, to try and cover all fire lanes. I put my Stealth Suits in Outflank and deployed both crisis teams across from his Taurox/Bullgryns.
Unfortunately for him, I seized the initiative and got to shoot first. The general gist of the game was that I destroyed his Taurox early and ran rings around his dismounted infantry. My Stealth team didn't come on until turn 4, but it didn't seem like I needed them much. Eventually, a lone Bullgryn made a 10" charge into combat with my suits and killed two of them over two turns of combat before the game ended. We didn't tally the final score, but I had about a dozen Tactical Objectives and he had 5 or 6. Plus I had Linebreaker and First Blood.
Victory for my first game as FSE! Not bad, but I'd been pretty lucky with my early shooting.

Game 2

Game #2 was against the Grey Knight player that had trounced me in the last game (I failed every single leadership check and 2 of my 3 units fled off the table. sad). I wasn't sure how the game would go, but so far he hadn't lost a single league game. This game we rolled #3 for the mission, so escalating objective cards again.

Grey Knights
Inquisitor with retinue (some acolytes and a couple Heavy Bolter servitors). Took Divination and a Chimera transport
Lascannon Razorback with 5man strike squad. Psycannon and Daemon hammer
Heavy Bolter Razorback with 5man strike squad. Psycannon and Daemon hammer

Summary
He deployed first and went first. Similar deployment to my previous game with his vehicles spread out to restrict my options. I deployed pretty much the same as well, with the Stealths Ouflanking and the crisis suits bunched together across from his Rhino/Chimera pair.
I was a bit fortunate early on. I immobilized one Razorback despite a 3+ cover save (Forewarning + Sanctity) and his other one immobilized itself on some difficult terrain. I rolled pretty good for my armour saves and he didn't have many weapons that could penetrate my 3+ armour. Without his Razorbacks his infantry just couldn't catch my kiting suits, and the Stealths popping in the backfield further confused his advance. In the end he just couldn't get into combat with me, and he was getting the raw end of the Shooting deal every turn.
I had bad luck early on with tactical objectives, but I scored 5 points in each of the last two turns for a pretty solid win, despite only having the Shas'vre from each squad and 2 stealth suits left.
Victory for game #2! That went pretty well, but I again had some luck early on with keeping him immobile and running circles around him. My superior armour save rolling also proved to be a huge help, but I can't rely on that forever.

Game 3

The last game of the day was against a Space Wolves player. I'd never played Space Wolves before so I was pretty excited. We rolled mission #6 which is decreasing tactical objectives.

Space Wolves
Rune Priest with 8 marines
Heavy Bolter Razorback with 5 marines 
Lascannon Razorback
1 Thunderwolf with Storm Shield

Summary
He deployed first and went first. I killed his Razorback early to maintain superior mobility, but his Thurnderwolf was just too fast and I couldn't draw line of sight to him on the first turn! He wreaked havoc on my crisis teams, killing two suits. The other two basic suits were insta-killed by the Lascannon Razorback. In an amazing feat of bravery, my Warlord wounded the wolf in overwatch, then killed him in combat! My stealth suits came on and killed off the 5 man combat squad in one turn of shooting (thank you bad-armour-save-rolls). My warlord destroyed the Lascannon weapon on the Razorback and my Stealth suits advanced to start shooting his warlord unit. When the game ended we both had 9 victory points total (I only had 7 objectives, but I'd scored Linebreaker and First Blood)
A Draw! I was happy with the result because I'd eked out a draw despite missing out on most of my early tactical objectives and getting caught up in combat by his thunderwolf.

Final Thoughts

The "All Suit List" did pretty well, but I was pretty lucky all around. A few unlucky rolls on the armour saves and I would have been in trouble. Every suit counts when you only have 11 models total and 5 of them are in reserve!
Battlesuits are fantastic in Maelstrom missions. They are tough to remove, denying some tactical objectives to your opponent, and they are very zippy. With their thrust move they can move very quickly to get in range of those tactical objectives.
I haven't used Fireknives since 5th edition, but I think that I may start to use them again; at least, I will for these smaller games. In 5th edition, Fireknives were a necessity because you couldn't take two of the same weapon, but their ability to target just about anything really helped me out in these tiny games where I only have a couple units to shoot with.
Outflanking Stealth Suits are awesome, even without the Acute Senses that they used to have. I keep writing lists and taking them out, but they never ever let me down, so I put them back in. Love 'em.

Next month is the 1000 point escalation level, and I know for a fact that the Grey Knight player will be taking a Storm Raven loaded with terminators. Fun stuff...
If you want to get a feel for how our tables were set up, here is a very short video that one of our members put together that shows some of our games going on.

Stay tuned and I'll try to snap some actual photos of the games next time. 
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1000 pt Farsight Enclave List

July 16, 2014, 12:05 pm
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As the title suggests, this is the list that I will be bringing this weekend for the third Escalation round. We did a round at 500 points during 6th edition, and then decided to do 500 points again after 7th hit.

Why Farsight Enclaves?

I chose FSE because Escalation leagues are a great way to try out something new. I also knew that I was eventually going to be fielding my R'varna as a counts-as Riptide, and I desperately wanted that Earth Caste Pilot Array. Plus this gives me some accountability for getting those other suits of mine assembled.
For more info on Farsight Enclaves and some of their unique army traits, check out EYIG's earlier post on the subject HERE.

The List

HQ

  • Commander: Cyclic Ion Blaster (CIB), Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster (TL FB), Stims, Fusion Blades
    • 2 Shield Drones
Elites
  • Stealth Team: 5 stealth suits with burst cannons
  • Riptide: Ion Accelerator, TL FB, Earth Caste Pilot Array (ECPA)
Troops
  • Crisis team 1: x2 Helios, 'Vre upgrade, both with VRT
  • Crisis team 2: x3 Fireknives, 'Vre upgrade, ATS on the 'Vre
  • Crisis team 3: x3 Deathrains, 'Vre upgrade
    • 2 Marker Drones
As always, if any of these abbreviations don't make sense to you, check out the battlesuit naming guide HERE

The Enemy

My opponent will either be Chaos Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Astra Militarum, Space Wolves, or Grey Knights. Most are mechanized forces with lots of transports, the GK player is fielding a Storm Raven with terminators in it. 
Last game we tried Maelstrom of War missions and had a blast. We will give them another go this time around. We may move to Eternal War missions for the larger games but that is a ways off yet.

The Plan


At 1000 points, there isn't a whole lot of strategizing going on, but it's a lot more than at 500 points. In previous games I dominated my opponents with longer range and my JSJ abilities (very little terrain). Once I destroyed the enemy transports, they couldn't catch me. I am hoping to do more of the same this weekend, but I also expect there to be a lot more LoS blocking terrain. This will reduce my early shooting somewhat, but my higher late-game mobility should give me the edge on nabbing objectives

Instead of using the Farsight warlord trait table, I'll be rolling on the BRB Command table. These powers are better than anything I'll get on the FSE table (and some are better than the Tau Empire table too). Plus, since this list is a legal CAD, I can re-roll my result. I do keep shooting sidelong glances at the Strategic Traits though, they look pretty amazing too. Hmmm....

The Commander will join the Helios and that will be my first response team, moving to engage the enemy front runners. Note, the Fusion Blades don't make my commander "good" at close combat, they just make him ok. XV8's really aren't that bad in combat, and a bunch of AP1 attacks at initiative could be awesome. If the enemy challenges, I have the 'Vre character for accepting so that my commander can do his thing.

The Riptide will place himself somewhere ostentatious and bait the enemy. If I can get the enemy to pour their early firepower into my toughest model, the rest of my suits can be free to do their thing at full power. When you are playing an All Suit list, every casualty counts. 

Not sure who took this pic, but it sums it up nicely
The IA and FB are more to scare than anything else. The low AP weapons will get the enemy's attention and hopefully attract some fire.
The ECPA gets more usage out of the Heavy Burst Cannon, but I really want that re-roll Nova charge since I am not taking STIMS. Plus it pretty much guarantees the large blast profile won't Get Hot! 

Fireknives and Deathrains are my transport hunters. They will focus on light vehicles and, subsequently, their contents. Last game both squads were Fireknives and I was very impressed with how the 5th edition staple held up. I switched one squad to full Deathrain in order to have better odds of hitting the enemy Storm Raven in Zoom mode. I fully expect the GK Storm Raven to deliver its cargo, but Deathrains are never a bad loadout anyways, and they are a bit cheaper too. 

The Stealth Suits make their way into all of my lists. They aren't the most efficient way to get burst cannons on the board, but their Outflank has saved my bacon more times than I can remember. Their cover save is absurd and drives my opponents nuts. They are my 'ace in the hole' that nobody ever seems to see coming (I wonder why...) and have yet to let me down in a game. 

See You on the Other Side

Naturally, this is all well and good for theorizing, but I have never fielded a Farsight Army except at 500 points (and that hardly counts because it was just two XV8 teams and a stealth team). This army also has lots of elements that I've never even tried before:
  • BRB Warlord Traits
  • Fusion Blade commander
  • Riptide
We'll see how it goes this weekend and I'll be sure to post up my results. Let me know what you think of the list! 

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Battle Report: Tau vs. Grey Knights

July 21, 2014, 12:09 pm
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--Vre'Ho'kais whispered over the comms,"Target in sight Shas'El". Obviously there was no need to whisper, there wasn't a chance that a human would hear him speaking. Indeed, were a human standing a tor'lek away, Vre'Ho'kais would be both invisible and inaudible thanks to his stealth field generator and sensory detection dampers. He watched as the Gue vehicles crawled slowly between the outer buildings of the ruined city, red and silver against a dreary grey landscape. 

"Acknowledged Shas'vre, hold your position"

The vehicles rumbled closer, fanning out in a sweeping formation before leaving the relative protection of the surrounding buildings and entering the rocky plains. They were not heading for their religious fortress as O'Sha'is'Nen had expected them to. Instead, it almost looked like a pincer movement, encircling the Tau ambush, but that was impossible, they couldn't have known. His audio sensors started to pick up something else, it sounded like a Gue aerial propulsion system, getting closer. The order came suddenly, ahead of schedule, "Fire on your pre-designated targets! Fire now!" 

Vre'Ho'kais stepped from his cover and raised his Burst Cannon, his stealth field flickering as he moved. To his astonishment, he was met with a hail of Laser and Bolt fire from the Gue transports. His unit's stealth fields made them nigh invisible, but the enemy had known their position somehow! He fired his Burst Cannon at the nearest Gui vehicle that had been marked as his designated target. Surprise was gone and their ambush had apparently failed, but it didn't matter now. He'd kill all these Gue regardless.--

Battle Report: Farsight Enclaves vs Grey Knights, 1000pt

Last weekend I got two games in for our group's Escalation league, winning both! For the Greater Good of course!
Lots of 'firsts' in this game, but he conceded after 4 turns. My opponent's rolling was terrible, but I felt that I had the game clinched regardless. Read on if you want to see how my "All Suit" list did!

The Lists

Farsight Enclaves
The whole list is HERE, but here is a quick rundown of my units:
  • Commander with fusion blades+cyclic ion blaster and 2 shield drones
    • 2 Helios accompanying him
  • 5 stealth suits
  • 3 Deathrains with 2 marker drones
  • 3 Fireknives
  • Riptide with ECPA, Ion Accelerator, and FB
Grey Knights
As expected, he added a Storm Raven+Terminators, and upgraded his Inquisitor to Coteaz.
  • Inquisitor Coteaz
    • 5 Grey Knight Terminators accompanying him (all in Storm Raven)
  • Storm Raven with Lascannon, bolters and missile launchers
  • 5 strike knights in Razorback (lascannon)
  • 5 strike knights in Razorback (hvy bolter)
  • 5 Inquisitorial henchmen (vets with hotshot lasguns) in Chimera

Deployment


Mission: Maelstrom Mission 5
1st Turn: Grey Knights (I successfully seized but I had to re-roll, darn Coteaz!)
Nightfight: No
Psychic Powers: He had Prescience, Forewarning, Misfortune, plus all the Grey Knight ones
Warlord Traits: We both rolled on the Command table. I got #5 (re-roll 1's to shoot) and he got #1 (leadership bubble) 
Reserves: I deployed everything, but he had kept his second Strike Team in reserve to Deep Strike. He also had Coteaz and the Terminators in the Storm Raven
Objectives: I can't really keep track of the specific objectives accomplished, but I'll do my best to remember.

Turn 1

Grey Knights turn 1
His henchmen moved up to claim the closest objective and his loaded Razorback moved up to claim another. We were using mysterious objectives, but none of the objective types had any bearing on the game, so I'll ignore it hereafter. 
His shooting was pretty weak right now so it did not result in any casualties. 
I believe he scored a victory point for holding a certain objective.

FSE turn 1
My Riptide successfully nova-charged its shield. I shuffled my Deathrains closer to an objective and to get an angle on his Chimera. My Fireknives hopped up to claim the objective in the emplacement. My Helios+Shas'O moved forward to get in range of the Henchmen in the ruins and my Riptide moved straight forward into the open to try and attract attention. However, my opponent had lots of experience playing his own Riptide and had probably decided he was going to ignore it, as he didn't really target it all game. My Stealth Suits hopped closer to his Razorback.
Shooting phase! My Deathrains destroyed the Chimera's multi-laser, my Helios+Shas'O group killed 3 Henchmen due to some unfortunate cover save rolling. My Fireknives stripped a hull point from the loaded Razorback and my Stealth Suits stripped another (it had cover from the forest). My Riptide tried to finish off the Razorback but missed or failed to penetrate.
For my Thrust moves, I pulled my Stealth Suits back to the barricade, put my Riptide farther into the open, finished moving my Deathrains onto the objective, and moved my Shas'O+Helios back towards their hard cover. The Fireknives stayed put in their emplacement.
I scored no objectives this turn, but I'd done a little bit of damage so things weren't all that bad

Turn 2

Note: I am going to display my previous Thrust moves during the enemy turn. Think of my units doing this move first, before his turn actually starts. 
Grey Knights turn 2
His Storm Raven came on with ease (Coteaz!) but his second Strike Team did not (sad day). His Razorbacks didn't move but his Chimera shuffled sideways a bit to make a move for the left-hand objective. His Storm Raven zoomed to the center of the board. I told him that he could move a LOT closer if he wanted, but he didn't want to. I was confused, but perhaps he expected my suits to stand still until his turn?
During Shooting he managed very little. His Razorbacks failed to kill anything, but wounded one of the Fireknives. His Storm Raven wounded my Shas'O once, killed a Shield Drone (Look Out Sir!) and killed one of the Deathrain team's marker drones. The Henchmen and Chimera targeted the Riptide but the Riptide armour blocked everything.

FSE Turn 2
The only units I moved were my Riptide (closer to his side of the board), and my Helios+Shas'O to get some distance from his Storm Raven.
My Deathrains, as the best equipped units for the job, targeted his Storm Raven. They hit 3 times, forcing him to Jink and still stripping a hull point! (note, Jink is supposed to be declared before you roll to-hit, but we'd forgotten and I let it slide since it was a rule neither of us were familiar with). My Shas'O+Helios took a couple potshots at the loaded Razorback, hoping to dismount the Strike Team for my Fireknives to kill, but their long range plasma shots did nothing. My Fireknives finished off the wounded Razorback, forcing the Strike Team to dismount. My Stealth Suits were waiting patiently for them and proceeded to kill 3 of them with a storm of Pulse fire. My Riptide tried its hand at destroying the other Razorback, but had no luck. The Razorback got me First Blood but I don't think I had any other objectives yet.
I used my thrust moves to shuffle the Stealths back into cover and my Shas'O+Helios behind the big rock formation.

Turn 3

Grey Knights turn 3
His other strike team arrived  from reserve. He placed them on top of the left-hand objective to hold it. He moved the full 12" and then disembarked the Terminators with a perfect Deep Strike (Storm Raven rules). This put them within just a few inches of my Shas'O+Helios, but they were unable to charge because they used Deep Strike. 
He cast a flurry of psychic powers giving his unit 3+ invulnerable saves, Twin-Linked shooting and Rending when shooting my Warlord's unit.
The Strike Team that just arrived ran to get spread out and his other team shot at the nearby Stealth Suits, killing nothing. The Storm Raven hit nothing since all of its shots were snap-shots and the henchmen failed to wound my Riptide (the only thing in range). The Chimera and Razorback's Heavy Bolters failed to kill anything either. His Terminators opened fire, but the shooting was less than impressive. My commander lost another wound but everything else was saved by armour saves. He forgot that his weapons were twin-linked until he'd almost finished, which was a real bummer for him. 
None of his units could assault this turn, so he was done. I believe he scored a second objective for having a unit in my deployment zone.

FSE Turn 3
I moved my Helios+Shas'O farther from his Terminators, keeping the impassable rocks between him and myself, and shuffled everything else. 
My Deathrains stripped another hull point from his Storm Raven (no longer Zooming) and my Helios group finished it off. The blast scattered wide and didn't hit the Terminators (oh well). My Stealth Suits finished off the two grey knights in the trees and my Fireknives tried to kill off the two Henchmen holding one of the middle objectives (I had the card that needed me to hold twice as many objectives as him, so I need to clear out his objective holders) but failed to kill them. My Riptide tried to kill the Razorback and merely stunned it.
My thrust moves were pretty good, so I managed to keep my Helios group pretty far away from his Terminators. I kept the Fireknives just a little bit in reach as bait. If he managed to assault them then he'd be stuck in a corner anyways. I believe that he was still winning on VP's as he'd accomplished 3 or 4 of his cards. Mine were somewhat tough to accomplish, but I had the upper hand in the battle so far.

Turn 4

Grey Knights turn 4
We drew all of our mission cards and finally got our first "secure objective X" cards. All in all, there were 4 cards up for grabs on the table and by the looks of things, I was setup nicely to get 3 of them. 
His terminators started coming around the rock formation and his Strike squad stretched out a little bit so that his psycannon could fire on my Deathrains. 
He wounded one of my Deathrains but didn't kill it. After checking assault ranges (12" to my Shas'O or 10" to my Fireknives) he decided to forgo his shooting and run his Terminators closer to my Helios+Shas'O, but only ran 2". 

FSE turn 4
I moved my Stealths to secure one of the objectives and left everything else as it was. I Nova-charged my Riptide's thrust move to 4D6, planning to capture the center objective and try to double the objectives held by my opponent. 
I started shooting by Overcharging my Riptide's Ion Accelerator. I figured that he didn't have much chance to getting through the 3+ Invulnerable save, but he would seldom get another chance as perfect. The large blast scattered just a few inches, netting 5 hits and 5 wounds. He failed 3 of his saves, losing 3 Grey Knight terminators (including the one with the wargear that grants Feel No Pain). At this point, he called the game. His major unit had been cut in half and I had only just started shooting. I was poised to get all 3 secondary objectives and I was about to pass him on Tactical objectives as well.

Results

At the point that we called the game, I believe he was technically winning by VP's, but he stood very little chance of winning the game. Had we simply finished out turn 4 I would have been winning by VP's and possibly killed off his Warlord+Terminators, all while losing only two drones.

Final Thoughts

This game felt like a tainted victory. I had easily trounced him but I felt like much of that was due to his poor rolling. Not only did he fail more saves than average, but he also failed to wound my models quite a bit. Perhaps it only seemed that way, since his shooting phase was naturally so weak, but losing only 2 drones over the course of the game really demoralized my opponent.

Things I liked
  • The Deathrains worked perfectly. Forcing the Storm Raven to jink and stripping two hull points from it really neutered its second shooting phase.
  • Shas'O. Though he didn't do any of the things he wanted to do, his Warlord Trait was pretty handy since I kept him within 12" of the Stealth Suits and Fireknives toward the end of the game. His Stimulant Injector and Shield Drones really made him a tough nut to crack too.
  • Riptide. It pretty much failed to do anything all game, but it DID kill 3 grey knight terminators with options, ending the game on its own. This impressed me, even if the overall performance was lackluster.
Things that did not impress
  • Marker Drones. They hit exactly nothing all game. They really need a Drone Controller in the squad at the very least, or they are no better than other drones. I will either try to get them some more support or I'll just replace them with Shield/Gun drones at the 1500 point level
Everything else performed as expected, doing their jobs quietly. There's something to be said for consistency, and not everything has to be flashy. I'm sure that if the game was going badly, these "working class heroes" would have been more important to the overall victory. I'm still getting the hang of Farsight Enclaves, but the overall mobility of the list is astounding. When they need to get some distance from enemy assault units, they sure can move! 

Thanks!

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! Was I making any glaring errors that a better Grey Knights player would have been able to exploit? What could the Grey Knight player have done better?
Anything that comes to mind, comment below!
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Battle Report: Tau vs Astra Militarum

July 25, 2014, 12:50 pm
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---Shas'El Bork'an J'Shas'ka called a halt to his battlegroup's advance. The XV8's fanned out into a holding formation around one of the larger ruins while he tried to get his bearings. The rain was coming down harder. From inside his battlesuit, he could not feel the falling droplets directly, but his sensor ranges were decreasing and there was an increase in static throughout his suit's neural connections. He looked around, but the only landmarks in this part of the continent were the numerous ruins from a forgotten civilization. Even the recon probes would have trouble mapping the area accurately in these conditions. 

"Vre'Ho'kais, scout the area west of us. 2000 tor'lek range, sweep formation. Return within 20 rai'kor."

He looked down at the rubble at his feet: a knotted mess of primitive tank traps and anti-infantry entanglements. They couldn't be far from their target, but he needed to be sure. How many times had O'Sha'is'Nen warned him against running in without proper preparation or intel? For all he knew, the enemy was 1000 tor'lek distant, watching them. He glanced at the massive profile of Vre'Monat'Shan on the other side of the ruins. 
"If the enemy was anywhere nearby they'd know we're here from just one look at him" he thought to himself. The gravity of the situation, if his musings were true, did not fully sink in until the first shells were already in the air.---

Battle Report: Farsight Enclaves vs. Astra Militarum 

This is the second game from the other weekend. It is the second 1000 point game I played for our escalation league. This time I faced off against our Blood Angels player, who has been trying his hand at Astra Militarum.

The Lists

Farsight Enclaves
Same list as the previous game, in more detail HERE.
  • Commander with Fusion Blades & Cyclic Ion Blaster plus Stims and two shield drones
  • 2 Helios
  • 3 Fireknives 
  • 3 Deathrains
  • Riptide with Ion Accel, Fusion Blaster, and Earth Caste Pilot Array
  • 5 Stealth Suits
Astra Militarum
He had added some tanks and an Aegis to improve his early game against my firepower. He told me that the brought the Basilisk exclusively to deal with my crisis squads. His command squad+quad gun was brought to deal with flyers. The Primaris, depending on the power he got, either went with the Plasmavets or with the command squad.
  • Company Command Squad
  • Primaris Psyker
  • Tank Commander in Leman Russ Executioner
  • Plasmavets in Taurox
  • Meltavets in Chimera
  • Basilisk
  • Aegis defense line with Quad gun
Note: I was unaware, at the time, that Tank Commanders had to come with a second Leman Russ in the squadron, but I'm sure I would have let it slide anyways. In the end it just made his Warlord easier to kill.

Setup

Mission: Maelstrom of War mission #3: Tactical Escalation
Nightfight: No
Psychic Powers: He got the power that Ignores Cover, but I don't remember it affecting the battle at all
Warlord Traits: He got #1 from the AM codex (D3 outflanking units) and I got #6 on the Command table (reroll 1's to-hit in assault)
First Turn: I deployed first, but he successfully stole the initiative
Reserves: Despite having D3 outflanking units he chose not to use any reserves. I put my Stealth Suits into Outflank

Deployment

I deployed first, hoping to go first and get some damage in before he started shooting his big guns. I put the Stealths into Outflank. I figured that they were my best bet at removing his Basilisk because of how the board was set up. The rest of my army deployed around cover, mostly because I was afraid of the Executioner.
He set up pretty standard, clumping his vehicles so that they would get cover, and putting his Basilisk far back. The Primaris deployed with the command squad to grant it Ignores Cover.

Turn 1

A note about the terrain. We called the ruins hard cover, but we did not treat them as area terrain, like in the rulebook.

AM Turn 1
Since he seized the initiative, naturally het went first. His left flank all moved forward and everything else stayed put.
His Basilisk fired on my Deathrains, wiping out both drones and one of the suits instantly and wounding my Riptide by a lucky scatter. They passed their leadership check. His Executioner fired on my Shas'O+Helios, wiping out a shield drone and one of the Helios, wounding another. His Chimera finished off the second Helios. My Shas'O passed his leadership check. Everything else targeted the Riptide but I passed the few saves they forced. The Bullgryns ran a little bit farther.
He scored a victory point for killing a character (the Helios 'Vre) 

FSE Turn 1
Wow, that was pretty bad! I hadn't even gone yet and I'd lost a third of the models I had on the board! I admit that I was at a bit of a loss on what to do next. There was virtually no cover between me and him, but I needed to get my suits in range to do something about that Basilisk. I moved everyone forward but I moved my Shas'O towards the ruin and hard cover.
I had a side arc on his Executioner, so I fired on it with my Deathrains. I stripped a single hull point but otherwise caused no damage. My Riptide nova-charged its shield but failed to do any damage to the Executioner with its big gun. My Fireknives had nothing in range.
I jumped my commander behind a ruin and everything else jumped straight forward to make for the cover in the craters.
I scored no objectives this turn, and hadn't really done much to assuage the torrent of AP2 firepower he was toting.

Turn 2

AM Turn 2
He disembarked the Meltavets from the Chimera and moved his vehicles forward again along with the Bullgryns. Everything else stayed put.
The Basilisk fired on the Fireknives and killed one with the scatter. His Executioner fired everything it had at my Riptide and wounded it once. He ran the Bullgryns so that they would be in better position to assault next turn. The Taurox, Chimera, and Quad gun fired at the Deathrains but only managed to wound one of them.
I don't remember him scoring any objectives this turn.

FSE Turn 2
My Stealth Suits, unfortunately, failed to arrive from Outflank. I Nova charged the Riptide's weapon, hoping to get a good solid hit on the Leman Russ, and maybe get some Bullgryns or Chimera with it. I figured that even with the Nova shield, the Riptide wouldn't last another turn if I didn't silence that Executioner. My Fireknives moved toward the cover of the craters and my commander hopped out to get range on his Executioner's side armour.
My commander (at maximum range) failed to do any damage to the Executioner, my Riptide's nova charged blast scattered completely into nowhere and his fusion blaster didn't do anything either. My Deathrains fired and stripped another hull point, destroying the main plasma cannon with a lucky penetrating hit. The Fireknives took some pot shots at the Bullgryns, wounding one twice.
My Riptide charged the Leman Russ, hoping to finish it off. At WS1 (earth caste pilot array) and against AV11 rear armour, he didn't have super good odds, but I needed it dead. I rolled poorly and failed to damage it at all.
I jumped my Shas'O back into cover and got the two crisis teams into the cover of the craters.

Turn 3

AM Turn 3
With his Executioner's main gun destroyed, I had some more hope. He move the Meltavets and Bullgryns towards my Riptide to catch it in combat. The Chimera moved a little bit to the side to get better firing angles, everything else stayed put.
His Basilisk fired at my Deathrains, hitting them both, but I went to ground and passed both cover saves granted by the craters. The Executioner fired its one plasma cannon that had line of sight, at my Deathrains. The blast scattered wide so the Chimera, Taurox, and Quadgun tried to finish off the Deathrains. Fortunately for me, I only lost one suit and the Shas'vre survived with one wound. The Meltavets fired their meltaguns at the Riptide and wounded it again, leaving it with only 2 wounds left. .
He then declared a charge against my Riptide with his Bullgryns, needing 4" to make the charge. I missed all my Overwatch shots, but he rolled a 3 for charge distance anyways! His Meltavets charged my Riptide to tie it up for a few turns. The vets caused a couple wounds but I passed my saves, in return the Riptide crushed two of them underfoot. Despite having -2 to their leadership, they rolled very low (4 I think) and passed their Leadership check, a big roll since my Riptide now couldn't shoot on my turn.

FSE Turn 3
I was slowly losing models, and what's worse: my Stealth Team failed to arrive again! Things were dire but at least I wasn't losing models like I had on the first turn. I moved my Shas'O up and everything else pretty much stayed put or jockeyed for better firing angles. I rolled for my Nova shield, failed, but passed my re-roll. The look on my opponent's face, when I told him the ECPA allowed this, was priceless!
My Deathrain Shas'vre fired at his Basilisk and with some lucky rolling managed to get a "Shaken" result, silencing it for a turn! My Fireknives now had side armour on his Executioner and but I failed to cause any damage anyways. My Shas'O, instead of targeting the Executioner at extreme range, fired at the Bullgryns. He wounded one twice and finished of the already wounded one.
I hopped my Shas'O back into cover, feeling pretty ashamed of himself. In combat, my Riptide passed his armour saves yet again, and stomped another poor guardsman into the mud. Apparently 3 out of 10 was too many, as the Vets promptly failed their check and ran. In a funny twist of events, my Riptide caught them in a sweeping advance and wiped the unit from the board entirely, consolidating a few inches away from the Executioner. A moral victory for sure, even if I still hadn't killed any of the heavy hitters.

Turn 4

AM Turn 4
He decided against trying to round the tank with his Bullgryns and had them run towards my Shas'O instead. He knew that his Basilisk likely would be dead next turn and then he'd have no way of getting Slay the Warlord. Everything else just jockeyed around for better shooting positions.
I forget who targeted what, but both of my remaining crisis teams were finally wiped from the board. Leaving me with a wounded Riptide, a Shas'O, and one of his Shield Drones on the board.

FSE Turn 4
My Stealth Suits automatically came on the board and I got to choose the table edge I wanted. I brought them in behind his Quadgun. He used the Quadgun's Interceptor and managed to kill one of my Stealth Suits. At the time I did not remember that Skyfire weapons fire snap shots against ground targets, oh well. My Riptide stayed put, Nova Charging its shield, and my Shas'O jumped out of cover.
My Riptide fired on the Executioner, killing it with 3 direct hits a Pen and a Glance. He didn't even need to use his Fusion Blaster, I was so proud. My Stealth Suits didn't have a good angle on the basilisk, so they fired on the unit manning the Quadgun. They killed the company commander, the Primaris Psyker, and one of the regular guardsmen. The unit failed its morale check and fled right up next to my Stealth Suits. My Shas'O looked like he could finally use his Fusion Blades this game, so he shot the Bullgryns. Suddenly, he couldn't miss and he killed one Bullgryn while wounding the other one twice! All in all, a very productive shooting phase.
I jumped my Riptide towards his lines and jumped the Stealth Suits into some hard cover. They rolled 3 out of 4 dangerous terrain tests! Luckily, they passed all their armour saves; no casualties. My Shas'ui rolled well for his charge range and got into combat with the Bullgryn. The Shield Drone had the higher initiative so it struck first. It hit twice and wounded twice, then the Bullgryn failed a save! My Shas'O was probably feeling incredibly stupid at this point and I had missed out on the Fusion Blades again! My opponent, however, did not feel sorry for me at all. 
"Aw, I'm sorry you didn't get to kill my unit with the weapon you wanted to. Not."
I consolidated straight forward, confident that my Shas'O could handle an empty Chimera on his own.
Things were looking up, I'd cleared out most of his advancing units and I'd finally gotten my Stealths into his backfield to cause some mayhem. As far as objectives were going, I believe he was currently ahead but it was a close game. Neither of us had been able to score more than a couple of the Tactical objectives.

Turn 5

AM Turn 5
He immediately drove his Taurox back and disembarked his Plasmavets. The 3 guardsmen from the company command squad rallied and he moved his Chimera away from my Shas'O in order to claim a particular objective. The Basilisk turned towards the Stealth Suits.
He fired with all of his infantry and the Taurox but the 2+ cover was too good. Then he fired the Basilisk, but the blast scattered way off the board. The Chimera fired at my Shas'O wounding him twice, but his Stims negated one of the wounds. Neither of his infantry groups could assault my suits, so he ended his turn.

FSE Turn 5
Don't mind the Chimera's movement arrow, I forgot to remove it for this frame.
I moved the Stealth Suits around to put the Basilisk between me and his infantry, and to get a shot at his side armour. My Shas'O and Riptide moved forward. I decided to Nova charge the Riptide weapon and see if I could cause some damage to the knot of infantry and vehicles in the corner.
My Shas'O failed to significantly damage the Chimera, and he was out of charge range this turn. My Riptide's blast scattered badly and killed only a single guardsman. It clipped the Taurox too, but it made its cover save from the Aegis. My Stealth Suits easily stripped the last two hull points from the Basilisk, scoring me a tactical objective for killing a vehicle.
I made my thrust moves but didn't really go anywhere in particular. My army had lost most of its cohesiveness and now I was just trying to kill units before the game ended.

We rolled for the game to continue and it did continue. However, my opponent decided to concede at this point. He had lost almost all of his heavy hitters and didn't think he'd have much chance of winning the overall game. I felt that it was still pretty close since I was only winning by 1 victory point. Anyways, he wanted to call it so we finished there.

Results

I forget the actual numbers but when we called the game I believe that I had 6 VP's total and he had 4. However, at the time we thought that I had scored First Blood by killing his Vets. Later that night I remembered that the Helios were actually a separate unit so he technically scored that VP on turn 1. He definitely would have played another turn if he knew we were tied instead of him lagging by 2 VP's.

What Impressed Me

  • Riptide: He performed admirably, soaking up tons of firepower and tying up the advancing enemy almost single handedly. This is what the Riptide was born to do and it is fantastic at it.
  • Crisis Suits: I've noticed this in the last few games I've played, so I'll point this out here. Crisis suits, as a multi-wound unit, can soak up quite a bit of firepower. Even caught in the open, being pounded by a Basilisk and various other things, they held in there for a few turns before going down. 
What did Not Impress
  • Shas'O: he didn't do much this game at all. Perhaps one more turn and he would have been able to use his fun toy, but this game he had to hide and avoid giving my opponent Slay the Warlord. Despite having range and side armour most of the time, he still couldn't strip a hull point from that Executioner either. Oh well, he can't be super killy every game.
Once again my Stealth Suits saved the day. You might say "For 150 points they better!" which may be true. My suit teams did great, taking a real beating in the early turns and buying me the time I needed to neutralize his heavy hitters and turn the game around. There is no guarantee I would have won, given more time, but they at least gave me a chance. 

All in all, it was a pretty close game that started off very rough but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The game actually moved along at a good pace too

Thanks for reading! Post your thoughts in the comments below!
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