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KY'VASH RECON CADRE HAMMERHEAD & SKYRAY GUNSHIPS TX7 'Hammerhead' & TX78 'Skyray' Gunships While the propaganda arms of both the Imperium of Man and T'au Empire focus largely on the ever-expanding Battlesuit variants, in many theatres the core of T'au armour is instead made up of Devilfish-hulled hover-tanks such as the Hammerhead and Skyray, the former a dedicated tank-hunter, the latter a more general-purpose artillery platform. Marked with the same camo pattern as the rest of the Recon Cadre, the armoured vehicles of Ky'Vash are primarily ambush predators, hull-down and electronically baffled from auspex. Fiendishly effective main weapons are supported by a series of anti-infantry weapons driven by integrated drone systems, or manually operated by the secondary pilot. The minor technological limitations of the Sept have done little to reduce the combat effectiveness of these platforms, which has earned them a fearsome reputation among their foes within the volume. I've actually already painted a Hammerhead for this army, but these two are new! Well... Kinda new. Picked up assembled and base coated, these second-hand hulls needed quite a bit of work to get them ready, but the end result is adequate, I think, even if I do still need to futz around with the drones, all four of which were snapped apart when I got them. Also, I wasn't able to magnetise them the same way my other tanks have been, but that's OK! Because they were less than half the cost of getting the tanks otherwise. One does what one can. Now that I've finished with my Call to Arms for 2025 - more on that latter - I'm getting back into both painting things other than space marines AND updating my blog! Yay! Watch this space.

CRUSADE GAME 7 - TAU VS ELDAR It always starts so well. We've settled into a two-match Crusade day per month right now, which isn't a lot, but it's better than nothing. We're (almost) all 30-somethings with full time jobs, so it's tricky to get a free weekend. Still, it's more 40K than I've played before we started doing Crusades, so I'll not complain. Game 7 was against James' Eldar, and it was a damn close one! We absolutely mauled each other over the course of a scramble for unstable archaeotech tokens, turn one starting with the obliteration of his walked by railrifle fire, and the repositioning of bikes behind my lines that would eventually see my doom. Eldar bikes! They're not just gorgeous, they're good, too! At least, when led by a Farseer. Or... Wait, was it a Seer? Can never remember. Effective regardless. Other highlights include my Devilfish tanking a turn of dedicated fire, remaining on a single wound through a turn of close combat, before finally disgorging the Breachers to wipe out the Guardians that had swarmed their ride, leaving only their character standing alone on the flock. The Pathfinders put in good work, and the Ghostkeel drew plenty of attention, and finally did some work with that big ion raker, scouring away a few space elves before ending up getting bodied by psyker bolts and a bike charge. Can't park here. But, in the end, we know how my battle reports end. The last models on the table was the Eldar bike squad, free to pick up the remaining tokens and get the victory. Damn good game, though, nice and close. Possible too close, I swear modern 40K needs a larger board, or at least larger No Man's Land. Shooting game my arse.

CRUSADE GAME 6 - TAU VS WORLD EATERS This keeps happening. Well, this took a while for me to upload. I've been a little distracted by work, and the irresistible allure of the square base. Shame I can't share any Warhammer Fantasy stuff on here, but it is what it is. I need to get around to making my own actual blog. Anyway, this was the second fight of the day after my game against the Death Guard, giving me a fun Oops! All Chaos! weekend. Thing is, I'm starting to get the impression that I should be staying out of close combat with my Tau! Weird concept. This has been an issue all Crusade, maybe our boards are too small? I feel like I should have half my army in close combat at the end of turn 1. I dunno, I could probably do a better job of placing my lads behind cover, further back, and so-on, but it was particularly bad this time thanks to all that fun WE movement tech. I'm just gonna stop Infiltrating these guys, it never ends well. That aside, this final outing - in the Crusade - for Heath's World Eaters was fun, and close, though ultimately a loss for me. Heath is swapping over to the new Emperor's Children, it's early enough in the Crusade that he can assemble them in time for our upcoming matches later this month. Painted? Well. We'll see. Fun moments included holding out in close combat with like half of his army with some lucky battlesuit saves and the power of Big Guns Never Tire, and deleting the poor Defiler with my railgun. Very satisfying. We'll be doing more 750 point games next, and I believe the first set of rematches with previous opponents. We'll see how that goes.

CRUSADE GAME 5 - TAU VS DEATH GUARD A frank exchange of views. The third game day in our Crusade began with a more interesting set-up, at least! Outflank against @Agnostic Doggo's Death Guard, with me on the defence. Seems fine, right? Tau gunline, plenty of cover, but this was a rough, but enjoyable one. Lost, in the end, but a fine scuffle. Fully surrounded? Not with so many Scout/Infiltrate units! Bit cramped, innit? Shi-ur Monat, my hammerhead, did some damage, but didn't quite manage any kills. The same can be said for my Sunforges, locked in close combat with some plaguemarines for most of the game. We're still playing at a low points cost, which can muddle things, at 750 points it's easy to not really have a good matchup for every model. So it goes. Got some good kills in, though, with the bodyguard of a certain not-quite-a-demon-prince-but-soon getting wiped off the map alongside a number of plague marines and lighter vehicles. Vroom! Yes, the army is largely 30K marines, which is always fun. Less trim to worry about. Not a huge amount to say, really. Didn't get the rolls I needed, but didn't get cleared off the board on turn one, either, so I'm happy.