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In keeping with my other armies I will run a WIP for my as yet unpainted T'au before posting the completed models in my Kavaal Korst'la'sha'is thread. As I work through the list I will try to remember to post any details such as magnetisation techniques, tips etc but expect this thread to progress in fits and stops as I am currently bouncing between DA/AM and T'au trying to clear a massive backlog due to my well known addiction to grey plastic acquisition... So to start with here is the T'au painting backlog... HQ Commander Farsight x 2 (old style) Commander Shadowsun Troops Firewarriors x 78 Kroot x 9 Kroothounds x 8 Elite XV8 Battlesuits x 13 Fast Piranha x 2 Pathfinder x 22 Drones x 71 Sun/Razor Shark x 3 (magnets will be involved at some point) Heavy XV88 Broadside x 4 (New style) XV88 Broadside x 2 (Old style) XV88-2 Broadside x 1 Hammerhead/Devilfish x 4 Skyray x 2 Along with these there is also the need to repaint all of the old scheme models - it may take a while

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 4 - TAU VS IMPERIAL GUARD Spending a lot of time in close combat in this Crusade... My next game was a rematch, of sorts. Not for the armies so much as for the two most intimidating hulls currently in the Crusade! Yes, Andrew's Rogal Dorn - now a commander - against my Hammerhead, Shi'ur Monat. Oh, and some other things happened, I guess, but the two big tanks having another shooting match was the main thing. At this range it was practically a knife fight. We played the 'go get blackstone from objectives' mission, which seems fine... When you're not doing 500 point games with maybe one character model per side. Andrew only brought his tank commander, so in the end, this worked out the way most casual games do: Whoever still has models on the table wins. Still, we scuffled over some points as we went, with my Piranha scoring an early Sentinel kill, and his Rough Bikers running down my stealth suits... And getting blasted in overwatch by my Breachers. It was a fun, close game! In the end, while I crippled the Dorn with smart missiles, the railgun shot was saved, and my poor Hammerhead destroyed in kind. A loss, but a fun one.

CRUSADE GAME 2 - TAU VS ELDAR Who could have foreseen this? Immediately after successfully fending off an Imperial tank push, the two order-aligned Xenos factions have, inevitably, fallen to their own squabbling. Game 2 for the Crusade saw 500 points of Tau V Eldar on an alarmingly small board. It's fine, neither of us brought much in the way of close combat, which is more than can be said for the Chaos fight that used the board before us. We're probably going to enlarge our standard board size for the rest of these low-points games. Danger close! James brought his guardians and bikes, I brought more infantry and my battlesuit commander with retinue, and at 500 points those elite units really throw their weight around. This one also ended in a victory for my Tau, but a costly one. It seems my stealthsuits crave death, and are granted it gladly, and my ethereal managed to catch a powersword the moment he was done doing his mid-board objective. Both the battlesuits and strike team took a beating, too, though both squads ended up winning things for me by sheer weight of firepower, and a dogged refusal to die. None of these units should be in close combat. Things to take away from this one: massed pulse pistols can, sometimes, make up for the abysmal Tau punching, and I really, REALLY need to make my ethereal a firewarrior bodyguard if I want him to keep doing that 3DP agenda. Don't worry, I have plans. I'll leave you with some shots of James' delightful Ulthwé force, on what turned out to be their final index game! We'll see how it does with a new set of rules and points costs. A commanding presence. Gotta go fast, again.

CRUSADE INTRODUCTION & GAME 1 Mêlée à Two-V-Two Aaaah, it's been too long! Truly, Crusade is the only way to play modern 40K. 10th may not be perfect - far from it - but for largely casual, theme-focused Crusade games? It's a lot of fun. After ending my last Crusade early - you can find how that all ended over on my WIP Thread Post Here - we all took a break to paint something other than Space Marines and Tyranids (and, in one case, to have a child!) before finally getting our act together in January this year to start something fresh. The line up this time is a little more diverse, which is always a good thing. Man cannot live on Marine-Nid matches alone, after all. Here's what everyone is bringing to the party - which may change, we have a few armies that are being tried out, and may be swapped for other options as the Crusade rolls on. - @Agnostic Doggo - The Treachery of Twilight, a Death Guard warband, currently infantry with some vehicle support. - Andrew - Balhaut 23rd Armoured Recon, Imperial Guard with plenty of vehicles. - Heath - The Blood Masons, World Eaters Warband, who may transform into Emperor's Children once those kits get downunder. - James - Craftworld Ulthwé, Infantry with bikes and more to come. - Kieran - WAAAAAAGH Grot-Snicker, a veritable horde of Grot Tanks. - Your Humble Blogsmith - The Ky'Vash Recon Cadre - Disorganised T'au stuff in camo. We're running Pariah Nexus, though I don't believe any of us are that interested in Blackstone, just after a different set of missions to flail at! We're also starting with more evenly painted forces, too! That extra time between Crusades has paid dividends, and we have a minimum of bare plastic, which I just LOVE to see. GAME 1 - TAU & ELDAR VS IMPERIAL GUARD The Engines of Balhaut. The Guns of Ky'Vash. Game one was lightly derailed by a positive COVID test, so we did a mix of 1v1 and 2v1 games, 500+500 against 1,000. Andrew's Guard was most ready to play at that size, so we started with James and I having a team-up. We won, too, with some casualties. My Hammerhead put in some real work, the first casualty of the game - if not for the Crusade as a whole, because by the time we started playing the 1v1 was in full swing - was the unfortunate Chimera it obliterated. It then proceeded to put holes in tanks, and be weirdly hard to hit until finally exploding on turn 4, having sat on top of a building soaked up the attention of both of Andrew's tanks. Poor bugger wasn't lucky with those hit rolls. It was other wise pretty standard. Rough Bikers taking down my Ghostkeel, James' Windriders taking out the other wing, and all our infantry scuffling over the middle objective. My Firewarriors didn't move all game, they just sat on the home objective and blasted away. Love that Fireblade, though he put in WAY more work in game 2. What really matters is that I got to shoot my railgun. Felt good. Balhaut 23rd Armoured Recon - 1,000 points. Craftworld Ulthwé - 500 points.

2024 - YEAR IN REVIEW KY'VASH RECON CADRE A whole lot of Tau. So, my first Call to Arms was productive! Pictured here are all the Tau I painted in 2024, all but the pathfinders and sniper teams being painted during CtA 2024. That's 1,550 points, and 63 models, including the first tanks I've painted since returning to the hobby in 2020. I'm quite happy with them. While most of these models have shown up on the B&C either elsewhere in my blog or on the CtA, I've pulled out a few that photographed nicely when I got them all out. Shas'El Ay'Va and her Breachers. Tabletop gaming is about infantry. Much about with tanks and walkers if you must - I've done a little - but it always comes back to some poor, doomed idiots with rifles. This army was designed infantry first, with a scheme I wanted to see on Pathfinders and Fire Warriors, which was later adapted for the bigger guns. 20 fire warriors, 10 pathfinders, three characters, and three sniper teams, and I think they look pretty OK. Painting Tau faces is interesting, though I've not entirely sold on doing their eyes in white. Shas'Els Ay'Va and Yr'Anto. Not a lot of conversion in this army. It was more about the scheme, but ultimately, I am a creature of habit, and that habit is kitbashing. It's mostly been kept to these two, and the snipers, at least for now. I have plans for some weird battlesuits some time in the future, but for now it's these 5. The big guns. Battlesuits and tanks. As fun as it would have been to just rattle off endless waves of pulse-rifle infantry I did want to try out something new. Shas'O Vioraan with his nifty little drone shield, and all the magnets I could find to future-proof these idiots for when they bring back points costs. Wahey. That Hammerhead was fun, too, and put in some WORK in the first game of our 2025 Crusade, of which I'll be posting soon. The camo pattern isn't QUITE as effective on the suits, but it works OK. I do like how the yellow pops on the missile racks and other weapons. I'm quite proud of how these all came together, and have already painted a pair of new models - tokens, but extra ones - in 2025!

KY'VASH RECON CADRE DEVILFISH APC TY7 'Devilfish' Armoured Personnel Carrier. Infantry-heavy T'au forces often rely on Devilfish-Chassis vehicles for transport and fire support, the TY7 Devilfish having remained in service for much of the T'au's recent military history. The ubiquitous T'au anti-gravity technology is here used to ensure full viability over all surfaces, and when paired with the oversized engines allows for aerial insertion alongside battlesuit units. While lightly armed - similar to many Piranha variants, despite being more than twice the size - the Devilfish is durable, agile, and a proven cog in the T'au military machine. KyVashi vehicle camouflage is intended to break up the outline, rather than somehow hide what is, in essence, a main battle tank lacking a turret. Alongside paired Gun Drones, the Devilfish's main armament is a Heavy Burst Cannon, a high-output variant on basic T'au plasma-pulse weaponry. - The Call to Arms continues! This is my first real tank since I returned to the hobby, which is funny, because it was also my first ever! T'au being my first army as a kid, way back in 3rd Edition, it was funny to discover that the Devilfish kit hasn't changed at all. Same odd lines and awkwardness, but fun all the same. It's a very pleasant model to hold, the curved lines just feel nice, and I've caught myself handling it more than I probably should. I'm now on to the final section of my second vow: More fire warriors, and my Commander. We should have enough time to get that done, before moving on to a final, smaller 3rd vow! Wish me luck. And wish me luck using this thing to deliver Breachers into close range. Pow pow!

KY'VASH RECON CADRE CADRE FIREBLADE Cadre Fireblade Shas'el Yr'anto. Not all warriors of the Fire Caste seek to don the 'Mantle of the Hero' - a T'au Battlesuit - once their time amongst the infantry has come to an end. Those with the aptitude and inclination may instead remain on foot, leading the bulk of T'au military forces in up-armoured, quasi-powered armour based on the standard Firewarrior raiment. Such warriors are - usually, though not always - limited to the rank of Shas'el, partly due to the increased likelihood of death faced by infantry when compared to those who pilot battlesuits meaning few live long enough to earn that highest honour, the rank of Shas'O. Some do, however, often ending their service as backline generals and strategists, providing tactical support for the more combat-capable suit-pilot Shas'O. Note the Strike Team markings, both a reminder of Yr'anto's past, and signal of his chosen bodyguard unit. The infantry-heavy nature of the Ky'Vash Fire Caste has led to a higher proportion of such leaders among their number, with the majority of active - which is to say, non-training or tactics assigned - Shas'el serving as Fireblades, a term taken from the ubiquitous bonding knife that most wear as part of their combat raiment. It is common for such warriors to be the last remaining members of bonded infantry units, grizzled and prosthesis-enhanced veterans who serve as much as examples to younger warriors as they do as combat leaders. - So, I don't love the basic Fireblade model, it's a little wide, a little... awkward? As such, I've done some modifications to make this one a little more my speed. The arm is from the Pathfinder box, and the helmet is a basic Strike one, which is all I really needed to switch out to make a more restrained take. I have something planned for a second, Breacher-themed one, too, but that's for later. For now, wahey, that's my first vow done! The second is... Bigger. It'll all be showing up here, eventually. Also, what are our thoughts on the black helmet with big marking? I'm considering doing something similar for squad leaders. Maybe JUST the black, or half camo/half black. We'll see.

KY'VASH RECON CADRE GHOSTKEEL STEALTH BATTLESUIT XV95- 'Ghostkeel' Battlesuit, piloted by Shas'vre Ay'aata. The still-developing industrial base of Ky'Vash precludes the deployment of some of the largest, and most expensive T'au battlesuits, as does the operational preference of the Sept Fire Caste. Having developed an identity that favours a mix of stealth, ingenuity, and a certain rugged self-sufficiency the most dramatic of T'au hyper-weapons have proven to be a poor fit. One exception, however, is the Ghostkeel. Despite the larger frame, and difficult material investment for the more specialised systems the XV95 has proven to be a fine addition to the Ky'Vash method of war, serving to provide anti-vehicle or elite infantry punch in ambush, and serving as a deployable mobile weapons platform able to keep up with the far-ranging Recon Cadre ground forces where suits such as the Broadside or Riptide would struggle. Both the primary and secondary armaments are able to be switched out between engagements, chosen based on forward observations made by Pathfinder scouting teams. Armed with heavier main weaponry than standard Crisis Suits, the main advantage provided by the Ghostkeel is a powerful suite of electronic warfare and photonic displacement systems. The suit is, of course, too large to be a true Stealthsuit, even behind a baffle of generated fields, but the various holographic projectors and sensor-baffles included within the hull make the Ghostkeel a difficult machine to target, let alone hit with most firepower that would be sufficient to take it down. It is for this reason that the suit includes a small 'hive' of sub-system drone minds, each slaved to one of the vital defensive systems of the suits, operating the various countermeasures faster than the living pilot could, even if they could split their attention from movement and weapon activation. The Cyclic Ion Raker, an example of suit-scale T'au Ion weaponry, rightly feared. As a specialised suit with limited command or communications functionality, the Ghostkeel is piloted by Shas'vre, similar to those who lead Stealthsuit Teams - and often, in fact, elevated from having done so for several years - and is often the final position held by a Fire Caste warrior who has moved through Pathfinder-sourced development streams. Some do eventually graduate to command positions as Shas'el, or even Shas'O, but most end their careers within the cockpit of an XV95, one way or another. - That was a delightful little project. The largest part of my current Call to Arms vow, this beast of a thing was assembled over the week, and painted in two long sessions this weekend. Full magnetised, too! Not, uh... Quite as finest done as I could have, but I'm sure the slight misalignment of the secondary weapons is hardly noticeable. I was worried that it wouldn't have enough camo on it, but it seems to have come together OK. The extra pop of bronze is nice enough that I may go add it to my Stealthsuits, too. Not worth doing on the basic infantry, but for anything more elite, or more shooty, it fits. Next up: a Fireblade!

KY'VASH RECON CADRE STEALTH BATTLESUIT TEAM Stealth Battlesuit Team 01 - Shas'ui in XV25 Stealth Battlesuits with Burst Cannons, led by Shas'vre in XV25 Stealth Battlesuit with Fusion Blaster. Considered the natural progression for those Fire Caste warriors who serve as Pathfinders, elevation to the rank of Shas'ui allows - and, in fact, demands - training as a Stealth Battlesuit pilot. The XV25, only recently having made it to Ky'Vash alongside other more 'modern' battlesuit designs, is a point of minor consternation to those within the Recon Cadre. Traditionalists within the Ky'Vash Fire Caste consider the bulky, and situationally less flexible nature of the XV25 as compared to the previously favoured XV15 an inferior asset, though such opinions have begun to fade as the suit has proven itself compatible with the broader strategy of the Recon Cadre. While the XV25 has a highly effective stealth system, thus the designation, it retains the camouflage coating of all members of the Recon Cadre as a backup in the event of system failure. - They're just adorable chunky, aren't they? I quite like the old XV15's, but ultimately could not manage a printed/recast version of them that would work for me. Oh well. XV25 are fun, too, and they're VERY quick to paint! Possibly a bit too quick, that drybrushing is a bit dire. In my defence, I've basically run out of my grey, and went for completion rather than slow, steady progression so I wasn't left with anything un-brushed before I get a chance to go buy another pot. Probably back to space marines next, before I get back to the Tau for, depending on many things, either some fire warriors, fireblade, or Ghostkeel.

KY'VASH RECON CADRE FIRESIGHT SNIPER TEAMS Firesight Sniper Teams 01-03 Firesight Sniper Team 02 - Shas'la with Longshot Pulse Rifle Variant & Shas'la Spotter Firesight Sniper Team 02 - Shas'la with Longshot Pulse Rifle Variant & Shas'la Spotter Firesight Sniper Team 03 - Shas'la with Longshot Pulse Rifle Variant & Shas'la Spotter Firesight Sniper Team 03 - Shas'la with Longshot Pulse Rifle Variant & Shas'la Spotter And with that, all three teams are complete! This has been a fun little project, something of a proof-of-concept that I can enjoy kitbashing Tau without losing the more uniform, military vibe I'm after for the army. It helps that I've always enjoyed the mini-diorama style of stand-in, where two smaller models stand in as one. I find it very characterful, and it helps me tell what would otherwise be very samey units into something memorable, which is important for Crusade where I'll eventually be fielding them. Overall, I'm very happy with how they turned out. Up next for the Ky'Vash Recon Cadre: Probably Stealth Suits!

KY'VASH RECON CADRE FIRESIGHT SNIPER TEAM Firesight Sniper Team 01 - Shas'la with Longshot Pule Rifle Variant & Shas'la Spotter. While the Fire Caste of Ky'Vash make use of drones, like all T'au militaries, certain roles usually reserved for these sub-sapient AI constructs have instead been filled by specialist teams of Shas'la Pathfinders. Able to remain still and silent, even switching off their equipment to reduce their chance of being spotted by auspex scans, these two-Tau teams find ideal locations to pick off enemy officers and other high-value targets. The Longshot Pulse Rifle, while not as suitable for vehicle (or power armour) hunting as the rail rifle does allow for a higher rate of fire and reduced electro-magnetic signature, reducing the chance that the team will be slain by artillery or aerial strike before repositioning. The Longshot Pule Rifle resembles its Strike-Team equivalent, though with enhanced options and penetration power, at the cost of reduced shots per recharge. Often considered to be the natural stepping-stone between Pathfinder and Stealth Suit pilot, these sniper team positions are given only to the most promising of Shas'la, especially those who show aptitude for stealth and accuracy over the leadership capabilities that would otherwise see them groomed for Pathfinder team command positions. - This is one of the models I had in mind when I first decided to build a Tau army for 2024. I love making little mini-dioramas with multi-model bases, and as nice and drones are they never seemed appropriate for a sniper. This was built primarily from the Pathfinder kit, with the pulse rifle (and arms) from the firewarriors kit, and gun lightly enhanced with a larger scope. I did some minor cutting and positioning, but this was basically just a kitbash and base sculpting project. I think it came out quite nice! I have two more of these to do, one of which is being dry-fit as we speak.

KY'VASH RECON CADRE PATHFINDER TEAM 01 DRONE SUPPORT Pathfinder Team 01 - Drone Support. Gun, Marker, and Recon Drone. Techpriests of the secretive, and tightly monitored Xenocybernetica have performed extensive investigations into the 'Drones' employed in battle by the T'au Empire. These creations, seemingly autonomous or semi-autonomous in combat were initially suspected to be a budding form of Abominable Intelligence, though such fears have been largely quieted. The programming that drives T'au drones appears to be sub-sapient, and incapable of self-modification, its ability to act without direction merely the result of brute computing power, and a database of potential actions, rather than true 'intelligence'. It has been claimed, by some, that they could be a form of alien 'Machine Spirit', foul a thought as that may be. The T'au of Ky'Vash make extensive use of these constructs in battle, especially the large and well-armed recon drones utilized by Pathfinder Teams as weapons support and communications hubs, extending the operational range of these units before and during engagements. Some, often more veteran teams are known to mark their drones with kill-counters and mottos, marking their stealth-coated casings with small signs of ownership and care. Gun and Marker drones, directly guided by a Pathfinder Drone-Control Specialist. Recon Drone providing fire support for elements of the Pathfinder Team. - Finally! Took me long enough to get a warm, dry, and not too windy day to spray these little guys! I haven't painted a drone in the better part of 20 years, so it was fun to go back. The camo looks alright on the larger, flat tops, though I think I could have made the colour patches a bit larger. I'll mess around with the next set. With that, the Pathfinder Team is done! I'm pretty happy with how they came out. I'll be grabbing a squad of Firewarriors next, though that may not be immediate. Always important to ensure the pile of shame is under control before making it larger, right? Probably some more marines in my immediate future.

KY'VASH RECON CADRE PATHFINDER TEAM 01 Pathfinder Team 01, Pulse Carbines & Rail Rifles. Active in Sub-Sector Vyndax, the Fire Caste of minor sept world Ky'Vash lacks some of the heavier equipment of the core septs, but has proven to be a thorn in the side of Imperial colonial and extractive concerns within the region. Ordo Xenos representatives in the Sub-Sector have tracked reports of T'au recon and infiltration forces on multiple worlds, striking from hidden forward bases and ambushing supply convoys in the less industrialized and built-up Imperial holdings. Ky'Vash Pathfinder units range ahead of more substantial units and support platforms, quite literally 'finding paths' for less mobile segments of the strikeforce in the dense woodlands found on many of the once-terraformed worlds of Vyndax. Shas'la with Pulse Carbine. Shas'la with Rail Rifle. Shas'la Drone-Control Specialist. Shas'ui Team Leader. Note the bonding knife attached to her fatigues. - New Year, New Army! Also new blog, because it was about time. We'll see how I like doing things in here. Having spent most of 2023 building a non-optimal, primarily infantry space marines army, I've decided to do something different for 2024: That, but with T'au. Look, I like infantry! They're fun! This will, eventually, have a Hammerhead and maybe some Crisis Suits, but for now we're doing camo-clad footsloggers. The camo itself is a mix of AUSCAM woodland camo with what appeared to be a one-off Tau Piranha model I found online from like... 2018. This will be the standard scheme for the whole army, though the Pathfinders have more cloth, and thus actually less camo than the Firewarriors will have. Probably. I may end up leaving them with more black armour, we'll see what happens. Drones are pending, we've had some MOIST days, so they're waiting on my painting desk, unprimed.

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.

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 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.

I just played another Tau game, but it was against a 'fun list'. Tons of vehicles, lots of tanks so very few saves for me. I took so much damage from AP 3 or better it was insane. I lost my two biggest squads the turn after their arrival, but before I did I used the Beacon Angelis to flip a Chaplain and 5 Custodes across the table. My HQ being wiped and two fair sized pod squads was typically Tau, but I think the worst part was I could only cause 2 Tau vehicles to jink on arrival (they still lived even after being targeted with an Auspex each.) In his ensuing turn he moved tanks slightly (I couldn't get all his hammer heads in the picture below), but the Breacher squads are just so gross.... they are incredibly anti-drop pod , basically cleaning up anything that Interceptor couldn't. About halfway through my opponent's turn I realized I was hardly rolling any dice. It came to me that most of what was targeting me doesn't allow me a save.... moments like these the game feels so anti-marine right now. At the end of the day he had a heck of a time trying to get rid of my Custodes.... again. + Tau 'fun' deployment: squads of Breachers, and a long tank line with a Drone Commander in the middle and lots of marker lights. + So here's me dropping in.... shockingly in this game there was no Interceptor!!! I was shocked.... however with 90% of his army in boxes, I couldn't kill anything. + - I'm picking up a lot of models and just putting them away with no saves.... but the Custodes did pop his throwaway squad of ObSec Kroot. - He is ramping up the score bigtime.... I have a squad in the background (see top picture) to continue the IHB (Infernus Heavy Bolter) experiment. They are in that Grey Rhino.... T1, even with dozer blades, I move the rhino 2 inches, I roll snake eyes and the thing is immoblized. o_0 - I give up Warlord, and two of my best Aquila squads, my Libby (dead) failed to kill anyhting with Psychic Shriek. - I now have 4 Custodes, an Aquila of 5 Stalker Bolters (never killed a thing, it's all in tanks) with a Cyclone Terminator (maybe he got a hullpoint off a vehicle all game? Caused some jinks mostly. - The IHB squad got out of their dead rhino. All game they maybe killed 3-4 Kroot caught in the open. He saw that they were only Infernus Heavy Bolters, so he flew his vehicles right into them, shocking them off of objectives, knowing I could not even glance the front armour of his transports. + Tau coasting to a win.... I am playing magic wound time with these Custodes..... and they're angry. + - Custodes play magic friends, get into CC smoke a squad. He's having trouble getting past my 2+ saves and 3++ shields. Custodes kill a tank, marker drones, Drone Commander, a full breacher squad, a Pathfinder squad (top of buliding), and a Hammerhead Tank.... THEN leave the runes near end game with 3 models left!!!! - My BSSF Ancient comes firing in automatically on T4 (he failed all reserve rolls) and I have to kill a vehicle with him... that's all he has to do. He lines up the back of a transport with his Assault cannon, misses 3 shots, fails to pen/glance on fourth shot. He is annihilated by Breachers in the next turn. - He was running away with this. He drew good cards, and while I had solvable cards, they were hard... kill this, grab that... nothing I was sitting on. - My IHB squad is so innefective he is just dancing around it knowing I can't damage anything in range. He gets out of his transport to grab a big point turn and quickly ramps up 13 points on me. - My Custodes take some serious tank shots but the Tau are used to me just putting models in the case... but not the Custodes. Everyone, including the Chaplain has a wound on them, but 3 models still live. I get out to mid field with the Custodes, they wipe up some remnant Kroot, and the Custodes smash into the Transport my Dreadnought could not hurt. - Custodes destroy the Transport, the IHB squad fails to do anything again. - The Stalker team which has literally done nothing (lack of soft targets, out ranged) decides they mush break from the building to get to mid table... they die a horrrendous death trying to get there. The Cyclone Termie fails his first save of the game (needed invuln from Hammer head), and the squad melts with him. - The game goes to T6 and I concede. Ironically I have 2 Custodes with the single Chaplain, 4 members of the IHB squad, and the Rhino JUST repaired itself... and then gets destroyed. Amazingly enough I manage 12 points to his 13. End Game Thoughts: - I tried hard to make it a game. I was thoroughly demoralized at the mass loss of troops and how much my army struggled against armour. Also having so few saves against Eldar and Tau gets pretty old, pretty fast. Add in Admech/Grav and it's enough to make someone go to Daemons or something where you're better off running around the battlefield with a loin cloth for protection. - This is the continuation of some heavy experimentation. Obviously this is not my idea of an optimized list but after some consideration I've made some final decisions on some units: - BSSF as a stand alone Detachment is terrible. - Watch Company is 'good', but too tax heavy - Dreadnoughts are still terrible in mildly competitive meta's, but even more so when it's nearly the only armour your opponent has to focus all his melta/plas/las/Stealth Cadre at. - Infernus Heavy Bolter. I'm not going to bother debating this any further. In my mind ,this is the worst weapon in the codex at a melta cheaper than a Frag. I won't say I'll never, ever field them again, because there's always a chance my wife will drive over all my Frag Cannon models and I'll have to proxy IHB's as Frag. Custodes save the day!

So, yesterday is typically my 40k day at my FLGS. This week, the store has gotten a jump start on the Fate of Konor campaign, and I initially signed up for Imperium since my primary army is Blood Angels. But then I spoke to a couple of the store guys and quickly realized that there were too many Imperium players. There are simply not enough Chaos and Xenos players to guarantee a match-up for all of the Imperium players. So, instead of fielding my Blood Angels, I will be contributing to the war as a Tau-Eldar alliance. I'm not trying any power-gaming, but I only have a few Tau models. We're playing it as an escalation league, so I'm not going to be able to field the higher pointages since they're keeping substitution to a minimum. But I have a friend who has a large Eldar army. So, early on, I'm going to try to play straight Tau, but gradually shift to Eldar as the points rise. That all said, any advice for maximizing my Tau elements? I have a couple of fire warrior squads, one piranha, a few drones, three crisis suits, and a couple Ethereals.

Hey guys, I hope this one can be done a little more briefly than some of my longer reads as I have little time to do this.... I wanted to do a Battle Report on this game because it features an army that smoked me in T1/2 the last time I used Deathwatch against it. (Actually most ITC style lists have). And I knew I was up for a crazy test again. Once again, please be aware I don't know who my opponents are going to be beforehand. (no list tailoring) The Game: Maelstrom 1850pts My List: Basic CAD: Termie Captain Libbie lvl1 10 Vets/Frag/meltaguns/Shotguns/Pod 10 Vets/Frag/gravguns/Shotguns/Pod 5 Vets/Frag/Shotgun/stormshield/Pod 1 Terminator Assault cannon 1 Terminator Cyclone. Allies: Ultramarines Skyhammer: 5 Devs, 4 Grav cannon Pod 5 Devs, 4 Multimeltas, Pod 5 Assault Marines flamer 5 Assault Marines flamer/Eviscerator Smelly Fish: Drone'mander (Warlord) w/lots of drones Pathfinders + Some dude that has 3 wounds and lets all units within 12" get extra shots. Breacher squad (I can't believe I don't see more of these) in a Fish tank (can't remember the transport name) Stormsurge , fully loaded Riptide Wing : 2 Riptides Kroot infiltrating Stealth Cadre: Ghostkeel + 2 Units of Stealth teams with Fusion/Plasma. Game Type: Precious Cargo: + You can't discard "secure Objective X". Your opponent can steal any "secure Objective X" card from you. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Deployment + Opening Turns: + Looking at my opponent I roll on Telepathy simply for Psychic Shriek and on the outside hope that I get Invisibility. (ITC variant) I do not get Invis, and it was the regroup power. :/ So I pitch it and just stick with Shriek on my ML1 Libby. + Unfortunately he wins the roll for first turn. I decide to play the deny game, and hold back my entire army except for two solo Terminators who are completely hidden. + He infiltrates Kroot (which are a cheap throwaway for Objectives) right in the center of the table to slow me down. + Tau Turn 1: He is doing the ol' castle maneuver. Kroot are forced to lay down their lives for a shiny objective in the center. Off to the Eastern back fringe he has his entire Stealth Cadre + Early Turns: + He takes the early lead, but without me having anything he can see he simply charges his junk up with Invulns, etc. And earns an easy objective point but no First Blood yet.... + I declare Skyhammer coming in T1. He drew an objective that would force him to zoom a Stealth Team out from their hiding spot on the Eastern Flank towards a grey building. + I decide I must Steal this objective from him, and this is my first mistake..... I drop in one 5 man assault squad and I scatter off the objective a ton. So I am forced to dump a second Assault squad into this bad idea and they stick on the objective facing off against one Stealth suit who just finished short of the objective even after his Jet Pack Move. I fail to kill them with pistols/flamers, and fail to get the charge range. Note the amount of fail used in that turn. But at least I'm on the board with a Stolen objective. + Here's where all the fail took place. Again, sorry for all the proxies. These are assault marines. They don't assault, and they're hardly marines, but there you go. + + Meanwhile, at the same time in the Tau deployment zone, my Deathwatch HQ and 2 Pods come in along with the rest of Skyhammer: + Oh I love the taste of Interceptor in the morning. + +++ I apologize for all the proxies I'm still re-assembling my army +++ + The grey marines are supposed to be Grav Cannons. The Blue Marines are MultiMelta. In the middle my Captain, and Libbie strategically place around the pod, (*We are playing official FAQ Pod Rules). + This is a pretty big moment. I roll 5 dice on Psychic Shriek of course targeting the Storm Surge. This guy rolls high and he takes 3-4 wounds from Shriek. Even after FnP rolls. Wow. + But now it's time for everyone's favorite game: Interceptor! + A picture form the Tau edge of the table: Note the Interceptor annihilates most of Skyhammer before it gets to fire. Back to the Black Fortress for more anti-xenos tech??? While your there, somebody hand me that Ork Warboss lucky stick. I could use it right about now. + + So Grav Cannon squad takes an amazing amount of firepower. The pods to obscure some Riptides/etc from getting some primary targets, but the Wipe out of the Grav Cannon squad (his number 1 target priority of course) nets him FIRST BLOOD! + Nothing like relinquishing First Blood to your opponent on your own turn! So he knew the Grav Cannons were going to probably finish off the Stormsurge and once they were gone he picked off a few Deathwatch, but then focused REALLY hard on the Deathwatch HQ squad. + The Deathwatch HQ squad gets a few cover saves but not many. The squad is wiped until we get to the Libby. He takes one failed save, then Look out Sir's 6 remaining wounds onto the Termie Captain. Thank you Librarian. Middle management really is useless sometimes. The Head honcho takes 5 saves, before losing a wound. Not bad. He's still breathing. + Finally I get to shoot in my own turn! + The 10 man Deathwatch split into combat squads and hammer away at top targets starting with the Stormsurge. I keep using 12" Impact Frag Shots and lucky poison hits (basically NONE), but after 8 or so Frag Cannon/Melta/Multimelta shots, the Stormsurge goes down! Wow. + With what little I have left I take poison rounds at a Riptide, but 2+ then FnP is immensely hard for me to get through. I maybe put one or two wounds on a Riptide with the rest of my army. + The termies roll up on objectives, and I score 2 points and we're tied. Tau T2: + He takes some pot shots at my HQ, and isn't too worried about them, and tries to dilute my Frag Cannon count. Which he does. + He is trying to reinforce his Stealth cadre at Eastern / Mid, but has trouble killing all of my one squad there so my Assault Squad rushes him and loses Close Combat to a SINGLE STEALTH SUIT. This shall not be recorded back at the Black Fortress!!! + I drew an objective on his side last turn, and he steals it. He kills a squad off getting another point. For some reason his Riptide assaults my remaining Multi Melta team. I believe he was afraid of me assaulting his Drone Comander, which I would have tried, but probably died to the gobs of Overwatch. + His Riptides shot me up pretty badly and his Pathfinder squad with HQ had an amazing amount of shots. I knew they'd have to be widdled down. + Riptide assaults? Deathwatch T2: + He drew a card on my side of the table which I stole... + The Kroot are fried by Frag Cannons. Chicken for supper. + Another bolter squad concentrates heavily on the Pathfindes and kills half. + My libby takes another shot at Shriek. He almost denies it, but fails. I get 2-3 wounds on a Riptide, but none of my shooting can do anything else to it. The Termies try to help but no go. + Our 2 Turns of Close combat against the Riptide slowly kill off my Ultra Multi Melta's. + I take two more objectives. Turn 3 : + He realizes my Obsec has hurt him here. He hasn't killed me fast enough. The Stormsurge dying T1 is huge. But I threw everything at it. + The Ghost Keel moves out and my two assault squads are now down to one squad, and they kill the 1 dude he has left there. But it's a final 10 man Deathwatch Drop Pod that fries them with Frag Cannons (no 2+ Stealth for the Stealth Suits!) . + His Breacher squad steps into the Deathwatch that just killed his Kroot and he annhilates them with that High Strength /AP3 shooting. + I complete a few big objectives at this point and he's Rick Rolling my army to nothing at this point, but yet I scramble odd squads and try to maintain my army. + With the combination of Marker Drones, and Riptides he annihilates my Libby, Hq Termie and the squad they had just joined. + I am now forced to pick my next moves very carefully as my army is pretty beat up.... I grab another couple of objectives, while trying to find cover. + A remnant squad of Deathwatch have to kill a vehicle to net a point.... I destroy the Fish Tank, but the ensuing explosion kills two of my guys. OUCH. One is a frag Cannon. + Pointswise I take the lead in bottom of T3 with a 3 Point turn, but it is costly as I had to sacrifice a lot. Now to see if I can keep the lead and not get tabled at the same time... Turn 4: + Tau realize they have to be a bit bolder to 1) catch up in points, or 2) table me. + The Tau shooting is still devastating. He starts advancing a Riptide from deep in his lines, I still can't seem to kill these stupid things. They both have wounds but 2+/3++/5+ FnP is sick. I poison the crap out of one of them with my fragile line, but he still has one wound left. + Tau wipe out the Deathwatch squad that just killed a fish tank. Aside from Pods I have only 2 solo deathwatch marines left at mid table. + Tau wipe the rest of the assault squads which were largely doing nothing. Breachers wipe one out, the Ghost Keel wipes the other out. + By the end of his Turn 4, the table starts to look really bleak for me.... + Tau fire power has nearly eliminated anything I had in his zone. The Pods still block his passage though, and the pods have been plinking away at Pathfinders and drones. + Turn 5: + I lead the game, the Termies are being rushed by the Riptide still. +I manage to wipe the Pathfinders and their HQ for a point with Drop Pods and the Cyclone frag missile rounds. + For the sake of movement and in case we go to Turn 6 he starts shooting at Pods. He gets one down, the rest miraculously survive. He doesn't want to waste high volumes of shots at my solo guys running around. But he still manages to kill one with drones. now leaving me with ONE marine at mid. + I am retreating my last 4 marines on my side of the table with 2 Grav guns as I know his riptide is breaking for an important point which is being held by my Terminator! + Here the Riptide has one wound left! I throw poison at it with my last mid table marine. The Riptide destroys the Assault Cannon Terminator seen here protecting the edge of an Objective with is life on the line. + The Riptide ends up stealing this objective, but on the other side of this grey tower is 2 Grav guns and they destroy the Riptide, netting me a point. Turn 6: + The Tau destroy a pod, and my last mid table marine. But can only get a point, and I have 4 marines, and a Terminator left on the table. The destruction is immense on both sides but I'm hanging by a thread. + He finishes his top half of the turn and can only score one point. We add up the points to be certain and I have the lead 13-9 so he cannot come close to a tie at this point and he concedes to the Deathwatch. + Many fishsticks and rejoicing is had by the 5 surviving members of this game. Thanks for checking the batrep out!

The Tau are what got me started in 3rd Ed and I will always hold a soft spot in my heart for them even though I moved on to 3.0 Chaos for a more tactically viable army shortly after. I still had them until the codex with the Riptide came out and decided to give them up (I liked the model but hate the spamming of special rules like nova reactor that was becoming commonplace in 40k). From what I've been learning about 8th though, things are looking rather grim to me for the Tau. From Bolter Rifles seeming to be better to Pulse Rifles, the apparent loss of JSJ, and the focus on making Assault better; I'm not seeing anything that great for them right now. What do current Tau players think of 8th?

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the custom sept rules? For me, if I go down that route, I’m thinking A and D look decent