Double Elimination

The second game Mike and I played on Tuesday.  Somehow he managed to roll spearhead/annihilation again, which probably should have been an indication that the dice weren't going to be with Mike for this game.  We swapped back to our traditional table corners and shuffled the terrain a bit to try and make it as different as possible from the game we'd just finished.  We started playing at about 2120, and Mike had told his wife he'd be home by 2130, so we made a conscious choice to play as quickly as we could and as a result there are a few "missing" pictures.

Deployment complete.  Such a no-nonsense look of intensity.  TSM + Chapter Master behind the central plateau, TSM squad embarked in the Rhino.  Shas'el Fireknife and elite Deathrains parked pretty far forward.  Not entire sure what I was thinking, there.  Broadside as far "up" the long table edge as allowed, and as far back as possible to avoid the early Zerg rush.  Kroot Carnivores + Hounds infiltrated with the intention of running and bum-rushing in Turn 2.

Middle of turn 1.  Not much I could do given Mike's counter-deployment, so just some movement.

End of turn 1.  TSMs and CM started coming around the plateau, but the CM's orbital bombardment scattered into uselessness instead of taking out the XV88.  To make up for it, the combat-squadded TSMs gunned down a Deathrain; I almost miffed up the wound allocation and didn't remove one of the Deathrains, but I caught myself before turn 2 started.

Middle of turn 2.  The Rhino hadn't popped smoke, so the Fireknife and the surviving Deathrain got a bit over-excited and let it rip, but they were largely ineffective.  The XV88 joined in the part, but between them all they only came away with a weapon destroyed and an immobilized.  The Kroot just sorta...stood there, not sure what to do with a Rhino in their face.

End of turn 2.  Kroot BBQ, anyone?  The flamer-wielding TSM from the Rhino turned 11 of 12 members of the Kroot squad into charcoal, and bolter-fire took care of the remaining one.  The surviving Deathrain had a rain of death poured in his direction and also went down.  Things are looking mighty grim for the cadre at the moment; I've only got 3 models on the field of battle, and one of them is a gun drone.

Middle of turn 3.  I managed to roll my reinforcements on and scored a mont'ka ("killing blow") on the Rhino. So now we've got an isolated TSM squad squeezed between the cratered wreckage of their rhino and a tall hill, and the tattered remains of a pair of combat squads that are within rapid fire range of a plasma rifle and a FW squad, as well as the Devilfish's burst cannon and gun drones.  Something is missing from the sequence of events, because the Chapter Master is gone from the field but I would have sworn I hit him with the XV88 and popped the instant-kill shot through his Iron Halo.  Based on the geometry, though, sheer weight of fire from the shas'el Fireknife must've done him in, so I guess the one-shot was the previous game.

End of turn 3.  The full TSM squad runs to support their lone comrade, who, in turn, charges the FWs but is too saddened by the loss of so many battle-brothers and isn't able to bust and blue-skin heads.

From here on out I'm not sure which turns the pics  are from; we were trying to get the game done and moved pretty quickly.  It did roll all the way into turn 7, so we're definitely missing a few.  Mike's dice also go frigid on him; for the remainder of the game his TSMs shoot wildly inaccurately and their power armor decides to take a vacation and turn into speedos.  I don't know that I couldn't have won, but I didn't win so much as Mike was defeated by his own dice.

I think the is the end of turn 5, but I'm not sure.  The shas'el and the Devilfish take refuge behind the plateau, while the FWs stay put to get their single 30" shot, should the game continue.  Which it does.

Somewhere in turn 6.  I have no idea what's going on here.  Devilfish detached its gun drones behind the central plateau??  FWs don't care about a 4+ cover save the DFish is granting the TSMs, since a TSM's armor save is 3+.  Shas'el + FWs + DFish take a reaping of the TSM squad.

Middle of turn 7, end of game.  One of those gun drones is actually dead and the other is falling back, but hell if I can remember which or who was targeting them.  At any rate, sheer weight of fire whittles the TSMs down to nothing and the game ends with Mike being tabled.

Elevated Tensions

Escalation league, game 1.  Short version of the league:

• 500 points for 2 weeks
• 750 points for 2 weeks
• 1000 points for 1 week
• 1250 points for 1 week
• 3 game per week maximum, win/draw/loss is 3/2/1 points
• 3 points per phase for having painted army

Deployment complete.  Mission was rolled as annihilation, deployment as spearhead.  We shook things up by me deploying top-left and Mike bottom-right; just given space constraints at the table we usually do it bottom-left and top-right.  I won the roll-off and made Mike deploy first/take first turn.

Middle of turn 1.  Movement, I've got movement!  You can see that the livestream already crapped out, and we didn't bother to try to get it running again.  Mike's orbital bombardment, centered atop the main body of the Kroot Carnivores and Hounds, scattered to the upper-right and only clipped a single Carnivore, obliterating it.

End of turn 1.  Not too sure why I left my XV8s up there out of cover.  The Rhino got shakened/stunned, but is still protecting a full 10-man TSM squad.  The Kroot got a bit nervous at the pretty light and sound show that squashed one of their buddies and decided to try and close the range to the TSMs and the Chapter Master.

Middle of turn 2.  The combat squad has broken away from the Rhino's protective shadow to attempt to close into bolter range of my shas'el.  The Chapter Master ran toward the Kroot, getting nearly full movement out of his extra D6".  The sad panda face Mike is making is because his missile launcher armed TSM didn't splatter my XV88.

End of turn 2.  The Kroot formation shuffled backwards a few steps, though I'm not really sure why; they couldn't stay out of the Chapter Master's assault range while staying within rapid fire range.  The XV88 shook/stunned the Rhino again, while the combined fire of the Deathrains and the shas'el caused enough casualties for a morale check.  The TSMs failed and broke for the table edge, but we both knew they'd auto-regroup immediately.

Middle of turn 3.  The Chapter Master charged into the mass of Kroot, but his faith in the Emperor was misplaced and between 22 attacks he took and failed to save enough wounds and went down, accompanied by 2 Kroot.  The TSMs at his back were bored of not shooting and came forward to also engage the Kroot, while the Rhino disgorged it's cargo and the broken TSM squad regrouped and moved up, firing their bolters at the shas'el.  You may not be able to tell from the picture, but the ML-wielding TSM is peeking around the Rhino's flank to get a shot at the XV88 next turn.

End of turn 3.  My reserves finally roll onto the field, scooting forward 12" and disgorging 6 FWs.  Thanks to the miracle of modern Tau technology, the Devilfish's multi-tracker allows it and its drones to fire after a 12" move, and the combined weight of fire from the Devilfish, drones, and the debarked Fire Warriors gun downs the TSMs.  The XV88 finally gets a decent shot against the Rhino, destroying the storm bolter, while the XV8s hold position.

Middle of turn 4.  Not much movement, as an oppressive sense of dread settles across the Space Marines.  Somewhere in turn 3 or 4 a wound was placed on the shas'el, but I don't remember when or by who.  A scattered frag missile clips a Fire Warrior, sending him on his way to wherever dead Tau go.

End of turn 4.  My XV88 scores a devastating hit against the Rhino and secondary explosions rip it apart in a fiery spray of wreckage.  The XV8s fire their various weapons, but I don't recall how effective it was; doesn't look to be terribly effective from the number of models still in the TSM squad.  The FWs clamber back aboard the Devilfish, and it and the Kroot surge towards the TSMs.  In the grim darkness of my dining room table there is only impending doom, and Mike concedes the game.

This game came down to a few bad rolls; the krak missiles never took out my XV88, the initial orbital bombardment only killed a single Kroot, and the Kroot managed to kill the Chapter Master in a single round of melee.  Any of those rolls going in Mike's favor would have drastically changed the game.

This Cadre Brought to You by finestaut

A couple weeks ago finestaut SM'd me and offered to send me a few Tau odds'n'ends he wasn't using.  Between the initial offer and actually mailing the box, he changed his mind about Tau and told me he was sending whatever he could cram into the box.  It arrived today, and he managed to cram a whole lot of awesomeness into a pretty small package.

Tau confetti.

That's not "some Tau," that's a whole fucking cadre!

Tabletop muster.

Gun drones, in a little need of some depot repair.

More Crisis suits!  Have I mentioned how much I love Crisis suits?  I love Crisis suits!

Mmm...Sniper Drones...they're so pretty...

Pathfinders!  I don't have any of these yet.  Well, I mean, now I do, but before today I didn't.  My first Fast Attack unit.

Same Pathfinders, worshiping at the Church of the Foot of XV88 like every Tau should.

XV15 Stealthsuits.  I'm not sure they make these any more, as they've been superseded by the XV25 (though GW's site still lists the XV15 for sale).  Mechanically I believe they're functionally identical to XV25s.

Ethereal and weird little drones of a type that only ever seem to accompany Ethereals.  Banish your fears...we act as one.

A Shaper!  And fucking Kroot Hounds!  Awesomesauce.  Now I'm going to have to buy more Kroot Hounds.

That's a lot of Fire Warriors!  29, in fact.  More than I had in the first place!  I wish I'd taken a closeup of the dude in the blue; he totally looks like he's chilling with a frosty stein in hand.

finestaut, you are a Shacker among Shackers, and I thank you profusely for your generosity.  I don't know when I'll ever play a game that will let me field that many Fire Warriors, but the XV8s, Kroot Hounds, and Pathfinders are extremely useful to me.  In the semi-fluffy games amrbean and I are playing I'm certain that Sniper Drone Team will be fielded, too; it's my third one, now, and the Tau FOC just so happens to let you take 3 SDTs as a single Heavy Support slot.

Model T is for Tau

Fairly productive modelling week.  Not quite as productive as I'd hoped to be, but better than some weeks I've had.  Throwing together some XV8 Deathrain variants and additional XV88s (to be used in future 1,000 point battles vs. amrbean as well as the upcoming escalation league at one of the local comic/game stores) and a Sniper Drone Team because A) Sniper Drones look awesome despite being fucky metal minis and 2) I need more AP3 shots to punch through that god damn SM 3+ armor save.

SDTs are a waste of a Heavy Support slot in "real" army lists, but for only 240 points I can get nine STR7 AP3 shots at BS3 (BS4 if the drone controller hits with his networked markerlight) and only use a single Heavy Support choice.  That's good heavy infantry killing right there and in a pinch workable as anti-light armor.  Plus, I mean, they look awesome.

The SDT even comes with Stealth Field Generators.  See?  Hard to get a solid lock on 'em, right?

Why not post more pics?  Doesn't cost me anything ('cept sleep).

Please ignore the hokey right stabilizer fin on the central drone there.  A kustom modela I ain't, and that's just a piece of sprue I attacked with an Xacto and a butane grill/candle-lighter.  Games Workshop sent me a whole replacement SDT box, but this is the original kit.

I'm hoping that an eventual Codex refresh does something to make SDTs a better competitive choice, because, I mean, look at them.  They're badass!

'Eavy Metal

Working with metal models fucking sucks.  Getting the aerials to stay in place while the glue set was a several-minute-long, hand-cramping affair with plenty of do-overs and glued fingers and cursing.

Obviously this is the the Sniper Drone Team that was missing one of the stabilizer fins.  The replacement box actually arrived yesterday (with all parts!) but I didn't feel like snipping and trimming last night.  The rail rifle + stabilizer setup on the right is the one that was missing a stabilizer (duh?).  I wound up taking a piece of sprue, trimming it a bit too much (it's shorter than it should be), heating it with a butane handheld grill-lighter/firestarter thing, and bending it into almost the right angle.  It doesn't look good, but after it's primed it shouldn't look terribly godawful, either.

That'll Do, Pig

Well, they ain't exactly pretty, but they'll do.  Here's my first squad, all duded up in their gloppy-white armor.

Further painting is on hold until I get a new brush.  The one I used on these guys never actually came to a point, which made being precise (and I use that term both relatively and loosely) a stone bitch.  Right now I'm thinking of ordering this Reaper set of 3.  They're not the bestest brushes on the market, but the price is right and I've already sunk so damn much into my cadre that I'm cautious of further nickel'n'dimeing.  Given that shipping from just about anywhere is going to amount to a significant portion of the cost of the brushes in the first place, even that minor of a purchase is on hold for now.

So, next up is assembly of the Sniper Drone team, two XV8 Crisis Battlesuits, and two XV88 Broadside Battlesuits I bought a few weeks ago.  I'd forgotten that there were two XV88s.  Since I already paid for them, that was a pleasant surprise of a reminder!

Modular Weaponry

rheroux posted the other day some pics on how he'd magnetized his own battlesuits:

• http://www.shackpics.com/viewer.x?file=IMG_0419JPG_jh7cqud8kgtmtpbu2adg.jpg
• http://www.shackpics.com/viewer.x?file=IMG_0418JPG_ozrjp4qficbnmkcbpnqx.jpg

For comparison here's what I did, not following any guide but just making use of the materials and tools I had on hand and with my own (severely limited) creativity.  Keep in mind that this was a glued-together and primed model that I pried the weapons and support systems back off of in order to magnetize them.  That resulted in collateral damage to both the model proper and the weapons/systems, which I wasn't skilled or patient enough to properly clean up.  I'm confident that results would be substantially better on a model that was magnetized from the get-go.

Targetting Array, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, and shoulder attachment points (MP goes on the left, TA on the right).

Arm mount for the Plasma Rifle.

Assembled.  The missile pod and plasma rifle, especially, are noticeably not flush with the model.  It works well enough on the table, though.  In the one 5-turn game I've played with this guy since I magnetized him, I think I only knocked a weapon off once.

The Shapers Sent Us to Serve

As promised, pictures of my wife's handiwork (in more ways than one).

It's definitely an alien life form...

But it's a charming one!

A picture is worth forty-thousand words.

TITAN POWER FIST!!

Portrait.

Profile.

I always was an ass man.  The black/red/white hair-spikes look really good in person; she was inspired by the similarly-styled (but different colors) models in the Codex: Tau Empire.