The Albigensian Crusade

[Golf33]

I think in looking at a heavy bolter frame, and the muzzle comes from the Battle for Macragge force field pylons. Can't quite make out the other parts though. Nice work!

[Honda]

I think in looking at a heavy bolter frame, and the muzzle comes from the Battle for Macragge force field pylons. Can't quite make out the other parts though. Nice work!

 

 

Very close. The body actually comes from the...housing of the siege drills from the Centurions. Since you get three pairs of these (acquired from bits store), it was a very cost effective way to get a general shape that didn't look like other heavy weapons, even if it doesn't look like the standard grav gun.

 

I still have a few more left over that will feature in another conversion/kit bash later in the year.

 

Cheers,

[Honda]

Distractions are very distracting. You can quote me on that.

While my Explorator (Inquisition counts as) force is finding its way to Ioria, I've been moving a bit slower on the Ghost Talons, which is a shame as I can really feel them coming together now.

I will persevere.

I also enjoyed making jet noises while I was sneaking in some airbrushing on the fuselages. I am going with my basic grey and there will be weathering/chipping.

Fuselage

There is a bit of banding going on that one might infer looks a bit of camouflage, if the Templars were in to that, but they aren't. ,

And now the "fun" part of the story.

I decided to go with white/light grey wings like my other aircraft. I want them to all look like they are part of the same force. So this is the effect I am after.

So there I was working on my reverse stencils...

...and I was eager to get them on the winglets so I could start adding the white. My grey primer freezed up for some reason, but I had some Testors Gull Grey paint sitting there and I thought, this will work.

It didn't.

It wouldn't dry. I kept testing the areas on the paper plate I sprayed on, and they remained tacky to the touch. So I thought, Ok, it just needs to dry more, but I started to get a sinking feeling about this. Two days go by, bupkis, the grey is still tacky.

Ok, I thought, I'll get a hairdryer and accelerate the drying process.

Well, my hobby area inside the house immediately began to smell of paint aerosols...which perhaps some of you find rather pleasant, but I do not. Neither did my family. So off to the Simple Green tub they went. Today when I got home from work I immediately went to the garage and started scrubbing and most of thegrey came off, but there was still a little bit of tackiness, so back into the bath they went.

But I'm hoping another day will sort that out and then I can dry them off and possibly get back on track.

Also, after looking at my SR, I want to do something a little more lively with the canopies. Part of that will be adding a thin coat of turqoise ink on the surface, but also some sort of light flash on it. I'll have to figure that out first though as I don't want to experiment with models that are in "Production".

Anyway, that's where we stand for now.

Cheers,

[Golf33]

Nasty experience with the paint. I've had to put my painting on hold as temps here have been up to 40℃ and I don't trust the paint to behave in that.

[Honda]

Time to check in.

First, I've recovered the winglets and they are now at the point where I wanted them to be, only three days later. Le sigh... Also, you can see the "stencil" work for the wing crosses. I went with a slightly wider version than last time and I like it better. So that would be 3mm to either side of the cross center line vs. the previous 2mm.

Note the winglets ready for the barbie, er, airbrush.

Next I've been working on the metallics. I tried something a little different this time after seeing some cool stuff in HoH, so this go around I started with a yellow ink, then transitioned to purple, then blue on the guns, and just went with yellow/purple on the exhausts.

Next, a quick mock up of how it will look I like the lines of the fuselage and the slightly larger winglets seem to fit in.

If you look closely, you'll see that my masking for the wing crosses didn't come out that great, so I'll get the opportunity to touch those up as well. I've also decided to go with a dark glass look on the canopies. I kept looking at my SR pics and I just don't care for that anymore. I do think I'm going to test some inks and a flash on them so there's a little color in that area of the fuselage.

Once I finish up all the components, then I can assemble them and move on to the weathering powders, chipping, and recess work.

That being said, they are starting to come together and it looks like we'll be able to get some games in on 2/4, so it would be nice to have those ready.

I think that's it for now.

Cheers,

[Honda]

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Stormtalon looks like an Imperial version of Airwolf. The weathering effects are most impressive.

[Othniel's Blade]

Did some traitors get John McClane'd? That's a beautiful Talon.

[Honda]

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

Looks far better than the original! If only I had done that with my first one!

[Honda]

No rest for the ZEALous! Those Skyhammer squads aren't going to get built on their own.

Quick update:

A lot of the bulk of these two squads are Rescue Soldiers , hence the yellow. It's always feels rewarding when you can pick up something that someone else didn't want or didn't treat well and allow it to unleash the ZEAL within its heart.

The first Skyhammer squad is built and basecoated. This will be a grav focused squad, 10 sets of boots that will either be broken out into 2 x 5 man squads with 2 grav cannon each or one of 10 with four. I see advantages to both configurations depending on the situation (e.g. in Apoc games, it seems you are better off taking 10 man squads because they are more resilient).

Grav cannon close ups

The second squad, which includes the yellow lascannon and MM previous.

Right now, I'm planning on running this squad with two pre-existing lascannons and batching them up with the two new heavy weapons (so, 3 x lascannons, 1 x MM). In the dugout, I have 4 x missile launchers getting ready to step into a third squad, which will mean I'll need a fourth dev squad and two more assault squads if I want to run two Skyhammer formations...which I do. :)

Now, back to the Forge...

Cheers,

[Honda]

The Battle for Helios Septa - Opening Salvos

The Tau are like decay.

Persistent, always seeking any gaps, flaws or oversights to exploit to their own advantage. The Tau never improve anything, only adding to their own empire at the expense of others. They mislead the unwary and the unwise with promises, never intending to deliver on those same promises, leaving the misguided a spent currency in the advancement of the Tau economy.

They always arrive with an offer and an open hand, presumably for the benefit of all. Few see the steel behind their soft hands and persuasive words.

Just like the insidious embrace of decay, the Tau will change everything they touch...forever.

The Greater Good is a lie.

The Greater Good is the darkness that harbors a lie in the shadow of twilight. It appears as if it is light, but in reality it is no more than grey darkness, absolute in its consuming desire to blanket all of its possessions in sameness.

The Greater Good is a lie that must be stamped out of the galaxy. It is an affront to humanity and the spirit of the Emperor.

I pledge my life and my crusade to the zealous eradication of this blight upon the Imperium of Man.

- Master of Sanctity Octavius Hesse

Black Templars vs. Tau, 2500 points, The Scouring (Kill Points), Long Table set up

Turn 1

The Tau set up with a strong and conservative deployment of Fire Caste foot troops. Determined to bring the xenos to battle, the Templars concentrate and prepare to launch a strong thrust into their lines. It is night and therefore very little damage was observed from the suppressive fires given by the Land Raider Crusaders and Whirlwinds.

Victory Points

Black Templar: 0

Tau: 0

Turn 2

Large numbers of Tau Crisis suits began deep striking on the Templar flanks, causing significant damage to the mobile artillery battery. The Templar Raptor wing engaged a Crisis suit unit, but did not appear to cause any damage. Two Land Raider Crusaders peel off from the main drive and engage the Crisis suit formations. Terminator Sword Brethren assault out of their vehicle and lock themselves into combat, though were unable to lock up both of the Crisis units. This would have severe implications later on.

Victory Points

Black Templar: 0

Tau: 3 (2 KP, 1st Blood)

Turn 3

The Tau Crisis suits immediately engage the Raptor wing Ghost Talons and bring down both, although the enhanced target suppression systems caused significantly larger amounts of firepower to be directed towards the Talons to accomplish this goal. The remaining Whirlwind is immobilized and then destroyed. Ghostkeel reconnaissance suits deep strike near the Templar Land Raiders, along with their leader, Shas'O Rymr and his bodyguard. Despite significant amounts of fusion weaponry directed at them, the Land Raiders remain resolute in their purpose. Their ZEAL remains undiminished. The Sword Brethren are able to defeat the Crisis suit unit, but the suits are able to make their escape. A large Fire Warrior unit was engaged by Grimaldus and his crusader squad, defeated in hand to hand combat, but then managed to escape the Templars complete wrath.

Victory Points

Black Templar: 0

Tau: 5 (4 KP, 1st Blood)

Turn 4

The Templar Land Raiders are again targeted with fusion weaponry from multiple vectors, yet the Land Raiders continue to deliver the contents of their wrath upon the xenos. The Land Speeder, "Wings of Sigismund" is brought low from multiple barrages of missile fire. The Templars in response engage the Tau commander and lock he and his bodyguard into a battle of attrition.

Victory Points

Black Templar: 1 (1 KP)

Tau: 6 (5 KP, 1st Blood)

Turn 5

The Ghostkeels continue their pogrom against the Land Raiders, finally causing one of the venerable machines to succumb. The Sword Brethren are unable to corner the retreating Crisis suits and engage them, therefore they return to their Land Raider Crusader and prepare for a resumption of their advance. The Tau commander remains locked in combat with a Crusader squad, while Grimaldus charges into the Tau backfield engaging the Fire Caste warriors with the cleansing fires of his Land Raider Crusader.

Victory Points

Black Templar: 2 (1 KP, Linebreaker)

Tau: 8 (6 KP, 1st Blood, Linebreaker)

Aftermath:

What a great game, though one full of mistakes on my part. I intend to rectify these lapses (Hello, they're shooting at you in Overwatch, take your Zealot bonuses", "Remember what Grimaldus does", the list goes on).

Anyway, things that worked well:

• Land Raider Crusders crammed down the Tau's throat
• Engaging Tau units in hand to hand AND using your Zealot bonuses
• Maintaining mobility in the face of lots of crisis suits
• The Cataphracti Termi Captain Reclusiarch can really tank hits like a boss. I gave mine Shield Eternal and a Thunder hammer and he was awesome. Re-rolling those one's is very, very nice.

What didn't work:

• Not sticking to my plan. Nuff said.

• I wasn't as impressed with the performance of the Whirlwinds. Gar was able to negate a lot of their effect, so I think I have to play with them a little more. They were pretty soft targets and in a Kill Point game, caused me to give up 3 KP pretty quick.

• How I used the Raptor wing. I had planned on targeting one of the suit units that was geared for AA and when the Talons weren't able to get through their shield drons (Gar had some hot save dice), I had planned on multi-charging both crisis units to tie them up until I could get the Talons up field. Because of the Overwatch fire, my outlier Sword Brethren ended up having to charge the original target, thus leaving the other crisis suit able to skate away and then shoot down the Talons. It could have gone the other way, but it didn't.

• I wrote down a number of "things" to remember throughout the game, but there were rules that didn't get used because....reasons. I think I'll get past that with more usage. It's been awhile since I've played my Templars.

• Chasing Tau. Seriously, I could not catch them and run them down to save my life. Yes, once was because I was in terminator suits, but even Grimaldus saw them run away faster than a speeding bullet. This seems to be a theme with Gar and his Tau when we play.

Anyway, it was a great game and the beginning of a new narrative campaign for us this year.

Cheers,

Black Dog 2-1 joins up with a Storm Talon from the November Warriors on its way to the engagement zone. Vox picts from orbiting satellite assets note the passage of the two aircraft.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Nice batrep, I hate Tau who know enough to run. It's... distasteful... better luck next time.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Master of Sanctity Hesse's description of the Tau are excellent. A pity the Templars didn't win that battle, but knowing Dorn's sons, the shame will only encourage them to fight harder in the next battle- and there WILL be a next battle, even if the Templars must blaze a trail across the entire galaxy, burning entire worlds to ashes while hunting the Tau commander responsible, each and every surviving Templar determined to avenge this shame.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Yeah chasing down Tau can be annoying... the best answer is usually Jump Packs, load up a few and just use them to chase them down... another idea are Drop Pods, if you can, you can use these to funnel the Tau in a way that they would need to engage you, tried this with a few games against the blasted Crisis suits...

 

Whirlwinds are a bit of a hit or miss, you can either do a lot of damage with them, or no damage at all... during my last game I brought 1 Whirlwind, which managed to kill 1 CSM... then got blown to smithereens... 65 pts. there you go... their best usage is against Nids or Orks, if you know what you were facing, these guys would have rocked...

 

Try Vanguards, Assault Marines or Bikes to tie up Battle Suits or just park a Land Raider behind them and surround them with Infantry so that if they do Fall Back from Assault it results in a Massacre... I only managed to do that once though...

 

Good Luck next time, and may the Emperor guide your blade.

[Honda]

Thank you brothers for your words of wisdom. They shall be taken into consideration in follow on efforts.

 

Some additional insights:

 

• For the fist time ever, I actually did take a Vanguard Vet unit with seven Sword Brethren in it. This was my "I'm playing with this for giggles" unit because. It was originally painted for ETL...IV (?)  and has a very, shall we say, eclectic mix of weaponry. I ended up taking 1 x SS/TH, 1 x SS/CS, 1 x Plasma/Paxe, 1 x twin LC, 1 x BP/CS, 1 x BP/CS/Melta Bomb, 1 BP/Pfist. It was expensive, but capable. When it got into combat, it did fairly well because ZEAL, but all things considered, I wonder if two assault squads with flamers might not have done a better job. That's something to think on. Also, I wanted some jump infantry as a counter to all of Gar's suits and he recognized their potential and dropped them down by half pretty quickly. However, I shall be expanding my jump troop options for future games.

 

• There will be future games. This "inconvenience" was just an opening salvo in the launching of my crusade against the Tau. For our narrative campaign, the plan is to blend in some of aspects of the Taros and Nimbosa Crusades from a story telling perspective and let that framework drive the story.

 

• The complete Templar arsenal has yet to be unleashed. It shall.

 

• Whirlwinds: I hear what you are saying. To be frank, after the game, I wondered whether I would have been better off taking another Land Raider. I put them in this force because of their ability to fire indirectly and remove cover saves. I've used them in other games and against non-3+ armor save troops, I've gotten sterling service from them. Also, we didn't know what scenarios we were going to play and in this case, Kill Point games caused them to be a larger liability. Also as we were talking through what happened in the game, the long edge set up did not work to my advantage, giving the Tau an extended flank to exploit. That is how "war" is, you make the best of the cards you are dealt.

 

• Overall, I am encouraged by what happened. This was a good lesson to be re-learned. My ZEAL remains unfazed!

 

ONWARDS!

[Marshal Mattias]

It definitely looked like one of those games where you would have needed at least turn 7  to turn it around (Templars tend to win these attrition games) - but those early kills from massive Tau firepower make for a tough hill to climb, especially when you had to cover a lot of ground to engage. You certainly had some unfortunate moments which turned out to be critical - that charge distance for one.

A shame about the Whirlwinds - I think they (like most SM tanks) are pretty vulnerable to anyone with a med-str gun on a deepstrike platform. Crisis-heavy Tau were possibly the worst match-up for them :(

They looked gorgeous on the tabletop though, much like the rest of your army. It really is a treat to see them in a game - please continue with the photos in the next battle! And get right in there - let's have some action shots/model-eye views and stuff, as well as the 'tactical' view of the table!

[Kierdale]

It's great to see your zealots back in combat again :tu:

[Honda]

"Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you..."

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

Sounds like a hard fought battle brother!

When you said several tau managed to run away, did you mean like a sweeping advance run? If so did you remember that crusader grants us an extra D3 to our sweep rolls? It makes it very hard for cowards like the tau to escape!

When playing against a Tau Deepstrike army, you started very well, castling gave your opponent very few models which he could pick off easily whilst being a safe distance away from any quick response. I think you made a mistake by moving too early, the tau fire warriors were the cheap but ever so tasty bait that he left for you to chase. They couldn't damage any of your models reliably and three whirlwinds should be able to put a large dent in them ( 3x S5 ap4 large blast barrage over a few turns should do some damage!) so I think you should have just stayed castled and barraged the tau until his bigger things came in. Once their initial big troops are on the ground you can effectively plan where you want your models to engage and take your zeal to the enemy!

 

Another way to play against tau ofcourse is the drop pod assault, if he only has fire warriors turn 1, drop amongst them and see if you can wipe them all with flamers and shooting!

 

Goodluck with future campaigns, the more you crusade the more honour you attain for him on Holy Terra!

[Honda]

When you said several tau managed to run away, did you mean like a sweeping advance run? If so did you remember that crusader grants us an extra D3 to our sweep rolls? It makes it very hard for cowards like the tau to escape!

 

 

<facepalm> No, I did not..

 

Now having said that, and perhaps we played this incorrectly, but once I had beaten the fire warriors in combat, the Tau player rolled to see if he broke. At a -4 or -5 to his leadership, (7?) he ended up breaking. Then we both rolled our dice to see if I caught him trying to run away. He rolled a 6 and I rolled a 1. Given that I had assumed that he was able to break free and escape. Is that not true?

 

When playing against a Tau Deepstrike army, you started very well, castling gave your opponent very few models which he could pick off easily whilst being a safe distance away from any quick response. I think you made a mistake by moving too early, the tau fire warriors were the cheap but ever so tasty bait that he left for you to chase. They couldn't damage any of your models reliably and three whirlwinds should be able to put a large dent in them ( 3x S5 ap4 large blast barrage over a few turns should do some damage!) so I think you should have just stayed castled and barraged the tau until his bigger things came in. Once their initial big troops are on the ground you can effectively plan where you want your models to engage and take your zeal to the enemy!

 

 

An interesting observation brother. My initial thinking since this was a  KP mission, was to go after the softer easy unit to grab KPs. Where I thought I fell short in execution was in not sticking to this plan and letting 2/3rds of my forces peel off to deal with the deep striking crisis suits.  As it turned out, that split off caused me to not have enough resources to accomplish either task, therefore failing at both.

 

I will take your guidance under consideration as I understand what you are saying.

 

IMPERATOR VULT!

[AndrewChristlieb]

Initative +D6 (+ and additional D3 for us). Standard TAU shoild have been at 8 with a roll of 6 and the Templars at minimum 6. You still would have needed a 5/6 for the D3 to catch him.

[Honda]

Initative +D6 (+ and additional D3 for us). Standard TAU shoild have been at 8 with a roll of 6 and the Templars at minimum 6. You still would have needed a 5/6 for the D3 to catch him.

 

 

So you're saying that reading the rules is important because they are more accurate than multi-edition memories. Who knew?

 

I understand my failings and will take steps to correct.

 

<looks for the frickin' rule book>

[Arthanor]

And that's why reading and understanding the codex is important even for Black Templars :P and why even we keep a relic copy of THE codex on the Eternal Crusader for Helbrecht to read.

 

You're learning brother and that's as important for you as sharpening is for your blade. Next time you'll slice him to ribbons.

[NoPityNoRemorseNoFear]

The bonus to sweeping advance has always been my favourite part of the crusader special rule.

For what is more zealous than murdering one necron xenos in combat and then wiping out the rest of them through sweeping!

"Let them flee from the wrath of the emperor, for their damnation is assured."
     - nPnRnF five minutes ago