Tallarn Commander's Tallarn 23rd Blog

[Tallarn Commander]

Bjorn, the bent staff is accidental.  It's probably caused by how I transport my objectives around (in a big ball of bubble wrap).  I kept straightening it but then I noticed the metal was getting weaker do I caved and left it bent.

 

Mithril, thanks for the kind words.  Yes, I've always preferred to design lists around a theme.  This morning I posted an overview of my favorite IG themes on a forum for a gaming group called "Ordo Fanaticus" (a regional gaming organization based out of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States).  Here's an excerpt:

 

"The IG are, as people have noted, a very diverse force.  I like to organize my lists around a given theme:

 

1. Light Recon:  Command squads, platoons, conscripts, Salamanders, and scout sentinels often work well with this theme.  This is a light force designed to locate the enemy and break contact (so only light tanks).  I also like to to use the Emperor's Talon Recon formation from Page 40 of the Montka book (this formation was discussed previously in this thread).  At 1850 points I often include 130 to 150 troopers, a couple of Salamanders, and 12 to 15 scout sentinels.

 

2. Recon in force/Punitive Raid: Command squads, platoons, conscripts, Salamanders, and scout sentinels as before but I also include heavier units like Russes and Mechvets.  This list is designed as a heavy recon force designed to move swiftly to gind and destroy the foe.  At 1850 points it includes maybe 5-6 tanks, 100-ish troopers, and some sentinels.

 

3. "Bridge too Far" List:  Command squads, platoons, and conscripts, supported by stormtroopers brought as troops using the MT Codex.  This theme is inspired by the British Red Devils 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem in WWII, so no tanks or walkers.  It features tons of light infantry and drop troops holding out against overwhelming odds.  At 1850 points I have maybe 130 to 140 line troopers and 30 to 40 deepstriking stormtroopers.  This detachment also fares about as well in games as the Brits' para and glider troops did in real life during Market Garden. :)

 

4. Blitzkrieg Force:  Command squads, platoons, conscripts, mechvets, Russes, self propelled artillery, and armored sents.  This is a classic treadhead list.  In 1850 points I have usually 10 or 11 tanks and 80 to 100 troopers.  For flavor, at least one of my platoons is usually meched up and mounted in Chimeras.

 

5. Urban Combat Detachment:  Command squads, platoons, conscripts, veterans, and "urban " themed tanks (Demolishers, Eradicators, Hellhounds, and mortar tanks like Griffons or Wyverns).  I don't mount up any troopers since fast mounted units don't seem to fit an urban theme.  I always include plenty of flamers and sniper rifles and a ratling squad is a must.  At 1850 points this list usually has about 150 troopers, 4 or 5 tanks, and some scout sentinels.

 

6. "Classic" Force:  A mixed force of command squads, platoons, conscripts, and mechvets with various and sundry thrown in.  In 1850 points it features fewer tanks than my Blitzkrieg lists, maybe 5 or 6 tanks and about 100 to 150 troopers.  It represents a force that can easily adapt to holding the line or attacking."

[Tallarn Commander]

Hi everyone, I just sent in my list for a big upcoming tournament that takes place in the Pacific Northwest of the US on July 29^th and 30^th, the “Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge.” I’ll be taking a variant of the recon-themed list I’ve been using this spring. It’s a team tournament and my team-mates and I are trying to get extra points by turning our lists in early.

As ya’all know, this list has lost a lot but it’s been really fun to use (plus the tournament is a bit more casual than normal so I might actually win a game or two). Since the tournament uses 7^th edition, it will sort of be a goodbye nod to that edition (and possibly the last time I get to use scout salamanders in a tournament if GW or FW don’t make rules for scout salamanders for 8^th edition).

Here’s the list:

Tallarn 23^rd Recon w Tanks, Final 2017 OFCC List (2000)

(A Co., 7th Btn., Tallarn 23rd Light Regiment, 2000 pts.)

HQ [347]
-Captain Scheherazade's Company Command Squad, officer of the fleet, 3 plasma guns, Chimera w dozer blade, vox, bolter
-Lt. Jihad's Company Command Squad, officer of the fleet, autocannon, vox, bolter
-Sister Badra, Brother Ziyad, 2 priests

TROOPS [805]
-Lt. Rushdie's Red-Gold Platoon with 45 troopers, Platoon Command Squad, 4 infantry squads, Commissars Guderian and Heinz, 2 voxes, 2 lascannons, 2 bazookas, 4 plasma guns, PCS has Chimera w dozer blade and 4 flamers, 3 bolters
-Desert Bedouins, 39 conscripts
-Desert Rats veteran squad, Chimera w dozer blade, 3 meltaguns , carapace armor

FAST ATTACK [298]
-Recce 4, 2 Scout Salamanders, each has autocannon and heavy bolter
-Recce 5, 2 armored sentinels w plasma cannons, searchlight
-Recce 6, 7 rough riders, flamer, Sgt. Sharif's meltabombs

HEAVY SUPPORT [175]
-Faith & Metal, Leman Russ Exterminator, dozer blades, hull lascannon, sponson plasma cannons

EMPEROR'S TALON RECON FORMATION [375]
-Recce 1, 3 scout sentinels, autocannons
-Recce 2, 3 scout sentinels, missile launchers
-Recce 3, 3 scout sentinels, lascannons

Total=2000

108 infantry, 11 walkers, 6 tanks, 7 cavalry=132 models

Notes: This list represents an Imperial Guard infantry company with an infantry platoon, a light auxiliary platoon, a couple of command sections, and a sentinel squadron (sentinels are often permanently attached to infantry companies in the 23rd). The company is conducting an area recon in force. Captain Scheherazade's infantry company detachment has been generously reinforced with: Salamander Scout tanks, rough riders, and scout sentinels from the 23rd's recon company; a veteran squad detached from regiment; an Exterminator from the Valhallan 518th Armored Regiment; and Chimeras from the 481st Pardus Armored Regiment.

Here are some photos of the list:

Army shot, I like the blend of cavalry, walkers, infantry, and tanks in this list...

Rough riders, scout sentinels, and exterminator...

"Recce 5," a pair of armored sentinels with plasma cannons with Gold Platoon troopers in the foreground..,.

Chimera and veterans in carapace armor

The best thing about the tournament is that it takes place in my hometown of Vancouver Washington. I'll go down a day early and go see the film "Dunkirk" with my dad.

Enjoy!

Edited February 4, 2019 by Tallarn Commander

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work. The Sentinels impress me the most.

[spafe]

A lovely well thoguht out themed army list... and stunning models to accompany it! Very very nice, I look forward to seeing how the recon force does in the tournie!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Army looks fantastic!

 

What was your recipe for achieving that yellow desert colour on your vehicles?

[Tallarn Commander]

Nicodemus, my vehicles' paint recipe is:

 

-Primer coat: white primer

-Basecoat: Bubonic Brown, now this color is called Zamesi Desert. I apply 5 to 6 thin layers, this takes forever but gradually adding the layers is a nice zenlike way to relax after a long day.

-Wash: Bestial Brown mixed with water at anout an 8:1 ratio, although lately I've been using Seraphim Sepia

-1st highlight layer: Bubonic or Zamesi mixed with Ushabti Bone at a 1:1 ratio

-2nd highlight layer: Ushabti Bone

 

Note that Zamesi Desert is slightly darker than the oldx Bubonic Brown that it replaced. However, you don't really notice the difference because I now use the sepia wash instead of a Bestial Brown wash--the sepia wash lightens the vehicle up back so it looks almost the same as the old Bubonic paint scheme.

 

I also chip the vehicle's hull by adding black here and there and then I add a small bit of Boltgun Metal to the inside of the black.I hope this helps.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks, that's perfect! I intend to use the same formula for painting my Praetorian vehicles (well, Zamesi desert plus Seraphim Sepia wash and then the highlights).

[elmo]

Always great to see an Army shot especially when they are to such a high standard

[Tallarn Commander]

Hi everyone,

 

As you may know, Bolter & Chainsword is running an event asking players to write up their units' fluff.  This event is called the Brotherhood of Angels. Many IGers have participated in the IG variant of this event and there is plenty of fun material to be found on the thread (I especially like Tweedlebum's fluff for the Saf'ti 1st Regiment): 

 http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/332077-brotherhood-of-angels-2017/?do=findComment&comment=4762658

 

I posted my fluff back in April but I figured that it would be a good thing to also post my regimental background info here on this blog so that all things 23rd can be found on one site.  So here ya go...

 

Table of Contents

1. Regiment name

2. Brief summary of regimental facts

3. Origin story

4. Founding world

5. Present activities

6. Combat doctrine

7. Roll of honor (3 famous battles fought by the regiment)

8. Regimental Organization

9. Beliefs

10. Recruitment

11. Local rituals

12. Banners & guide-ons

13. Honors/awards

14. Battle cry

15. Champions of the regiment

 

1. Regiment Name: Tallarn 23rd Light Regiment

 

2. Summary

-Founding world: Tallarn

-Commanding Officer: Colonel Khomeini

-Main colors: tunics and weapons casing are brown, pants are grey, headgear/kefiyas are purple

-specialty: recon, especially in desert terrain

-Battle Cry: “We are many! They are few!” (this motto is also found on Tallarn banners and on the sides of Tallarn tanks). However, since the Tallarn 23rd is also a light, rapid reaction force they are often rushed to imperial worlds to fight invasions or uprisings. This means that the Tallarns often find themselves outnumbered with only local PDF assets as their only allies. Consequently, veteran Tallarns often refer to themselves as “speedbumps” and they charge into battle crying “We are the speedbumps!” (or they cry “Remember Dallas!” in order to honor those who fell at that horrific defeat)

-Approximate strength: -Vehicle Count: approximately 60 tanks (mostly scout salamander recon tanks and specially modified long range desert group chimeras), 200 wheeled vehicles (mostly dune buggies and “Lightfoot” 2 and a half ton trucks), 300 sentinel walkers

-Personnel Count: approximately 4,970 troopers and 200 cavalry mounts

-Allegiance: to the Imperium of course

 

3. Origin of Regiment

The Tallarn 23rd was initially formed in 699M41 as a light reconnaissance and rapid reaction force. As a recon detachment, it acted as the eyes and ears for numerous Imperial Guard armies (and was especially effective in desert, mountainous, and urban terrain.)

 

4. Founding world: Tallarn

 

5. Present Activities

While originally formed as a light recon regiment, the Tallarn 23rd did spend 15 years as a standard line regiment, as a result of the “Debacle in Dallas.” The Tallarn 23rd’s failure caused the entire Dallas campaign to falter and, as a result, the planet of Dallas was lost. Consequently, the Departamento Munitorum and Warmaster Slaydo stripped the regiment of its light recon status and changed it to a line infantry regiment and they were sent to the trenches for 15 years. However, last year, at the Ballard Kingdom campaign, the 23rd was instrumental in helping the imperial forces to retake the planet. As a result, Slaydo granted Colonel Khomeini, the 23rd’s CO, a boon. Khomeini asked that his regiment be turned back into a recon unit. Slaydo gladly re-instated the 23rd’s status as a light recon regiment and the troopers of the 23rdrejoiced.

 

The 23rd is currently engaged on the planet Pacifica in the Everett AO (Segmentum Pacificus). They are tasked with performing reconnaissance in strength operations pinning down enemy assets on the northern flank while the heavier Mordian 777th Infantry, Cadian 810th Armored, and Vallallan 16th artillery conduct operations in the Seattle AO.

 

6. Combat Doctrine

The commander of the 23rd, Colonel Khomeini, has repeatedly taken his troops to the brink of hell and back. The colonel is a veteran of the Drop Zone Dallas debacle, the Victory at Seattle, the Battle in Ballard, and the NOVA Insurrection. The infantry troopers of the 23rd are experts in stealth, reconnaissance, and desert warfare. Colonel Khomeini favors rapid flanking maneuvers, set piece battles are not his style. They often operate from forward positions and serve as an imperial guard armies’ eyes and ears.

 

7. Roll of Honor

- Drop Zone Dallas Debacle: a light recon force deployed to the planet Dallas in the year 2001. After fighting and losing 6 skirmishes with various xenos foes, the Tallarns were withdrawn. The regiment took 2 years to rebuild after this campaign, but they did win the coveted “Best Army” award.

-NOVA Insurrection: The Tallarns were deployed to a beautiful forested world against a rebellious space marine opponent. The marines had a good force composition with various drop pod units and bikers. This was a close game that went down to the wire. In the end, the ogryns and conscripts managed to grab a midfield objective while my firebase managed to shoot down the enemy units that tried to grab my home-field objectives. My MVP: a dual award to the midfield objective grabbers [conscripts blob and ogryns] although honorable mention to my PCS for successfully using the pinning order to pin his biker squad on turn 1—had I not done that then it would have been hard for me to pull out a win.

-Maryland Massacre: The Tallarns were tasked with conducting long range recon operations (e.g. I brought a sentinel and infantry list with Vendetta air support). The opponent was a Tau force featuring multiple Riptides. My scout sentinels came out on one flank, tied up his kroot, and ended up killing them and grabbing an objective. My penal legionnaires came out on the other flank with additional sentinels and Al’Rahem’s entire platoon. The Vendetta was eventually shot down but finished off a Riptide before it was lost. Almost all of the outflankers eventually died to Tau counterfire, but he managed to blow away everyone but the legionnaires. However, by then they had done too much damage to the foe and my firebase elements in my deployment zone were able to advance and, along with the penal legion, managed to snag an objectives.

 

 

8. Regimental Organization

The Tallarn 23rd follows a fairly “typical” force composition for an Imperial Guard infantry regiment. However, the Imperial Guard is so varied that no regimental structure can really be called typical. The chain of command for the infantry is as follows:

-Regiment: The regiment’s commanding officer is a full colonel (currently Colonel Khomeini) and has 3 infantry battalions (the 7th, 13th, and 14th battalions).

-Battalion Level: Each infantry battalion’s commanding officer is a lieutenant colonel (often jokingly referred to as a light colonel, although never to his or her face). Each battalion has three infantry companies. The batallion commanders are Lt. Colonel Nemo, Lt. Colonel Mata, and Lt. Colonel Jadarat.

-Company: Each company’s commanding officer is a captain. There are nine companies. Each company has six platoons and a company command squad. The company commanders are Captain Scheherazade, Captain Al’Rahem, Captain Abdul, Captain Mousal, Captain Taleb, Captain Haffar, Captain Zaabi, Captain Ali, and Captain Quasim.

-Platoon Level: Each platoon is lead by a First or Second Lieutenant and consists of roughly 5 infantry squads and one command squad on paper (but during a campaign a platoon often consists of 2 to 3 squads as forces become depleted). There are fifty four platoons.

-Squad Level: Each squad is lead by a sergeant, corporal, or, sometimes, a senior private. The paper strength of a squad is 10 troopers. The 23rd is diligent about keeping its line infantry squad size at 10 troopers and will reform squads in order to insure that each squad has 10 troopers.

 

This is the regimental organization for the infantry troopers, the “dog soldiers” or “poor bloody infantry.” However, like most imperial guard units, the 23rd also contains quite a few specialist troopers. The bulk of these specialist troopers report to regimental level (e.g. Colonel Khomeini attaches them to battalion, company, or platoon commanders depending on where he thinks they will do the most good. These specialist detachments consist of:

-abhuman detachment: ogryns, ratlings, and squads [specific troop strengths classified]

-ecclesiastical detachment: troop strength varies but since Tallarns are more devout than the typical resident of the Imperium, each infantry company usually has at least one itinerant priest attached

-Commissariat detachment: number of commissars and commissar cadets is classified

-Heavy weapons company: 32 heavy weapons teams

-Recon Company: Attached to Regiment:

-Recon Company with 20 rough rider squadrons, 22 sentinel squadrons, 6 “ELINT” squads, 13 salamander scouts, 20 “dune buggy” squadrons

 

In addition, since the 23rd is a recon regiment, it also features something unique to the imperial guard: sentinel squadrons that are organic to infantry platoons. This means that a scout or sentinel squadron is attached to each of the Tallarn 23rd’s fifty four infantry platoons (although twenty two additional sentinel squadrons are also permanently attached to the 23rd’s recon company). There is often a close rapport between the 3 sentinel pilots and the platoon to which they are attached. The sentinels’ firepower has saved many an infantry platoon and many a sentinel squadron has been saved by the timely appearance of its attached platoon.

 

Also, when not conducting recon operations, the 23rds’ infantry platoons, companies, and battalions are often reinforced with armored and artillery units from other regiments. For example a squadron of Leman Russes might be assigned to Bravo Company, 13th Battalion, and so forth.

 

9. Beliefs

The Tal follow a fairly strict and conservative reading of the Ecclesiastical scriptures. For more information, see Lucien Soulban’s Desert Raiders. This novel features an excellent overview of Tallarn religious beliefs.

 

10. Recruitment

Since the bulk of Tallarn was virus bombed, the planet's tithes generally are the troops it musters for the Imperial Guard.  The 23rd is fortunate enough to sometimes get allotments of new Tallarn recruits.

 

11. Local Rituals

The Tallarn 23rd is a veteran regiment. As a result, only about two thirds of its ranks are filled by Tallarns. The rest of the regiment is made up of veteran guard women and men from regiments whose ranks have been so depleted that they have been folded up into other regiments. Consequently, the 23rd’s ranks include Necromundans, Tanith, Valhallans, Cadians, and representatives of a dozen other planets. However, the Tallarn regiments are diligent at teaching these newcomers both the Tallarn style of warfare and the Tallarn culture. A key facet is instructing each non Tallarn newcomer the language and history of the planet Tallarn. After a year, a non Tallarn must pass a lengthy oral exam administered by a board of officers and NCOs. The exam is conducted in the Tallarn language. Only after successfully passing this test does the veteran earn the right to call herself or himself a member of the Tallarn 23rd. All who fail the test are immediately mustered out of the ranks of the Imperial Guard and handed over to the Munitorium to become truck drivers, ammunition bearers, porters, etc.

 

12. Regimental Banners & Guide-Ons

Each platoon, company, and battalion in the 23rd has a banner or guide-on, as does the regiment itself. These banners all feature desert brown, gold, and or purple as primary colors, but otherwise these banners all vary greatly. One feature many banners have is a reference to Tallarn. For example, Alpha Companies’ banner features a camel and palm tree whereas Red Platoon, Alpha Company has a banner featuring an embroidered image of the planet Tallarn as seen from space.

 

13. Honors/Awards

All awards and honors were revoked from the Tallarn 23rd following the Dallas Drop Zone Debacle. In addition, for the next 15 years, high command consistently refused any requests for awards made by Tallarn 23rd officers and NCOs. However, following the Tallarns successes in last year’s Kingdom Campaign, the Departamento Munitorium and high command have begun granting honors and awards to the regiment again. The highest award earned to date is the Medallion Crimson award issued (posthumously) to Sergeant Mustafa. He single handedly held off an assaulting Eldar jet bike squadron in melee allowing the rest of his platoon to escape. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.

 

14. Battle Cry

“We are many. They are few.”

Veterans also are known to sometimes shout “We are the speedbumps!” or “Remember Dallas!”

 

15. Champions of the Regiment

Colonel Nemo (who will probably soon be promoted to a staff position in high command)

Colonel Khomeini

Captain Scheherazade

Sgt. Mustafa (deceased)

Sgt. Achmed

Sgt. Ali Baba

Corporal Sharif

Sgt. Tariq

Sister Badra (ecclesiastical detachment)

Private Throk (abhuman ogryn detachment)

Commissar Heinz (commissariat detachment)

 

 

I hope you all enjoyed reading this--it was fun to write!

[Tallarn Commander]

I got in my first 8^th edition game on Tuesday and I really like the new edition. It looks to be my favorite since 3^rd. It seems less futzly than 7^th, with games being smoother and more elegant (but not dumbed down). I’m very impressed. They also seem to have struck a nice balance between shooting and assault.

Overview of The game

I managed a very close win against a very nice Eldar opponent with a gorgeous Iyanden army. The game also went down to the wire. and lasted 7 turns. I used a tactic I’ve used many times in the past: platoons and tanks hold my objectives, tarpits advance to the middle to get or contest board control, and stormies grab objectives on the far side of the board. In previous editions, this plan almost always failed unless I was playing other sub par armies like orks, IG, or bugs. In this edition, the plan actually worked and against Ynarri too (I never beat a Ynarri opponent in 7^th edition). In the end, he only had a wraith knight left and his wraithknight tried to contest an objective that was surrounded by about 15 or so surviving IG troopers in about 3 or 4 units. Horde for the win!

With Tuesday’s win my 8^th edition IG record stands at 0 losses and 1 win. My 7^th edition IG record is 49 losses and 15 wins. And my 6^th edition IG record is 33 losses and 5 wins.

Here are my thoughts on various IG units I used in the game and some photos.

Photos of the armies at deployment—I really liked my opponent’s Blue/Yellow Iyanden army. It looked snazzy on the table

Wraithknight says hi

My firebase of infantry squads, officers, commies, and mortars: with platoons gone the way of the dodo, line infantry seemed to work a lot like it did in 3^rd edition. It’s a good solid firebase that can advance once the enemy has been weakened. As expected, commies and officers dish out some nice buffs and mortars are a bit above par with their cheap price and 3d6 shots.

A Tallarn Leman Russ advancing—I get what people are saying about the Russ being inconsistent with its D6 battle cannon shots. In this game, they did some yeoman’s work, whittling away at wraithguard and war walkers. I’d say they are a good unit but not an outstanding unit, they rank where they have often ranked for IG units at somewhere in the middle.

Armored sentinel duking it out with war walkers—another decent but not outstanding unit. I've always loved sentinels and 6 wounds does make them seem a bit more survivable to me though. I'm sad that my scout sentinels lost outflank though.

Stormtroopers drop in to grab an objective—these suckers were the real stars of the show. In 7^th I enjoyed using what I called my Bridge-Too-Far list of stormies and line IG troopers. Usually the army would lose and all the storm troopers would die. In this game, the stormtroopers were so cheap and so shooty that there were more of them and they did much better than they ever did in 7^th. I’m definitely getting more stormies!

Rough riders--wow, just wow. Not a great unit but a good unit. I've been using rough riders for 17 years and I've never been able to call them a good unit before. Nasty on the charge. Since they can re-use their lances I charged them in against war walkers, did some damage, jumped out of combat the next round while a Russ held up the walkers, and then on the following round I charged back in and did more damage. Hilarious! I also accidentally used the power lances' AP and damage stats rather than the hunting lances' stats (I mis-read the rulebook) so they would've done even more damage to the war walkers if I'd actually read the rules correctly.

Hellhound battling wraithguard—Hellhounds seem really good now. It just kept getting hurt and not really caring about it because its 2 flame weapons don’t care if its at 1 wound or full wounds.

Valk seen with the plasma and melta command squads it had dropped off. The Valk seems really good this edition and command squads seem so good that they are a bit broken. Not that I mind, I’ve been losing a majority of my games for many editions now, so I think the IG are overdue for some broken units.

Ratlings target the Eldar line. I miss wounding anything on a 4+ but their ability to rend characters on a 6 seems really nifty (although mine failed to do any damage this game)

Hypothesis:

I'm wondering if Chimeras are worth it this edition. Is taking 1 or 2 hellhounds, a valk, 2-3 command squads, and 3-5 stormtrooper squads superior to taking the same points in Chimeras and command squads. I love my Chimeras (although I’ve always preferred infantry heavy lists with only 2-3 Chimeras), but I think Chimeras might be a bit redundant this edition, what with stormies deep striking all over the place, Hellhounds costing the same as Chimeras but dishing out more firepower, and Valks being so good with their 20 inch move-and-deploy rule. I’ll test this hypothesis over the summer.

New units to buy because of 8^th edition:

-More plasma: I’ve always liked plasma and used it consistently in my squads over the years. Now I’ll just use more than I usually do. I’ll up my number of plasma guns troopers from 14 to 20 using Victoria Lamb plasma guns.

-More stormtroopers: I currently have 32 storm troopers. Later in the summer I’ll add 20 more stormies of various types by getting a box of 2003 sculpt Kasrkin off of EBay and a squad of 10 troopers from Anvil Industries. That way I’ll be able to run up to 5 squads of storm troopers.

-Valkyries: I currently have one and I’ll get a second some time this fall or maybe put it on my Christmas list. They operate a lot like they did in 5^th and I loved my Valk in 5^th.

I hope ya’all enjoy your first game of 8^th edition as much as I did!

Edited January 29, 2019 by Tallarn Commander

[Tallarn Commander]

I got in another game of 8th edition last night. This time I squeaked out another win, this time against a Death Guard player with a fun, fluffy army. His 3 Bloat Drones were especially deadly. Since I also play Deathguard I was happy to see that the Chaos Index treats the Nurgle's favored legion very well, they seem to be a fluffy, balanced force in 8th. Once I finish my orks in 3 or 4 years, I'll buy some of the Death Guard models from the Dark Imperium boxed set as they sure are gorgeous sculpts.

Here are some unit-by-unit assessments of my list:

-Captains--a superb source of orders [b grade-I'm a teacher by training]

-Tempestor--acted as a great force multiplier

-Commissars--ensured my infantry stuck around

-Infantry Squads--won the game for me as they managed to grab objectives in my deployment zone and in the midfield [A]

-Stormtroopers--a mobile force that occupied the opponent's right flank and really put the hurt on a bloat drone

-rough riders--did a few wounds on a bloat drone and helped the storm troopers tie up the opponent's right flank

-Hellhounds--the real stars of the game, they advanced out to midfield and cleared out plague marines and pox walkers in the center [A]

-Basilisk--did yeoman's work lobbing rounds downrange all game. The earthshaker's roll 2D6 and take the highest rule is rather fun to use.

-Mortars--also sat back and pounded the enemy, 3d6 is no joke

I'd have to say no one under-performed. 8th really feels a lot like 3rd edition, the IG units synergize well together. In contrast, in 7th I was often tabled before the game ended.

Here are some photos:

My line before the game. I misread my list and accidentally deployed the valkyrie you see here even though it wasn't in my list (we played 1500 points). Luckily I remembered on Turn 1 and I removed it from the game. My opponent was very understanding (and happy to learn he didn't have to worry about it any more).

Basilisk anchors the thin purple line

The Death Guard line before the game

Hellhounds advance on Bloat Drones

Para dropping stormtroopers tackle the Bloat Drone

Rough riders outflank and then charge

Hellhounds are nasty on overwatch, these 3 plague marines got incinerated trying to charge my Hellound "Metallus"

Back in 3rd edition I would often run a captain-commissar powerfist duo, now that powerfists are cheaper again my powerfist duo is back. Commissar Heinz and Captain Assad take out a Bloat Drone.

The three surviving members of Red Platoon's 2nd Squad win the game for me by climbing the ladder and capturing the 4-point objective. Commissar Mannerheim can be seen at the base of the ladder shouting words of encouragement. To the left Sgt. Schaeffer can be seen holding off the Bloat Drone.

"I will hold it off. You capture the objective!"

Enjoy the pics!

Edited January 24, 2019 by Tallarn Commander

[duz_]

TC your stuff always looks great on the table! :D

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

I haven't updated my blog since June so here's an update

July 2017 Ordo Fanaticus Tournament in Vancouver WA

Back in July I went to an excellent tournament in my home town of Vancouver, WA. It was a team event and all my "Gladi-Haters" team members were really fun to hang out with. As stated previously, I took my recon themed list and, as you would expect, it was handily destroyed in 5 of the games. The only game my list performed decently in was also the only 8th edition game I was able to play (the organizers let players choose which edition we wanted to play). In my 8th edition game I managed a very close draw against an awesome Tau opponent, who I've played before up here at a tournament last October in the Seattle area. He too had been trounced in this tournament and he was really glad to find an opponent who agreed to play 8th edition rather than 7th.

Here are a some photos of the event.

Obligatory army shot, the Tallarn 23rd Recon Detachment before the tournament started

Training Mission: Facing off against a gorgeously painted IG Mordian army

Mordians snipe out Tallarns with autocannons

Sentinels outflank to silence the Mordian autocannons

A gorgeous Mordian tank drives up to my line and decimates Tallarns

An awesome Taurox conversion, someday I'll paint up a Tallarn Taurox

Facing Off against Space Puppies

This combat went as badly as you would expect it to

Horsies after they speared some Space Wolf drop troopers

Some warlord on warlord melee, poor Captain Scheherazade

Facing Off Against the Dark Angels before the drop pods come down

If we hide in the trees they won't notice us plasma cannoning them

My flamer squad does very little, and then dies

Sgt. Fakhir fights against impossible odds

As does Captain Scheherazade

Facing off against Blue Tau on a desert planet

Crisis suits begin evaporating the IG line

Yay tarpit sentinel!

And finally some shots from my last/8th edition game against white Tau...some outflanking horsies

Tau suits advance on my right flank, his Tau sure did look nice

Tallarn infantry and fire warriors duke it out in the center, yes that's a Vostroyan plasma sergeant you see in this photo. Since plasma pistols are actually good this edition I've brought all my old plasma pistol troopers out of mothballs

And a final shot of my Salamander and Exterminator, 2 tanks that I don't use too frequently

So with this tournament my 7th edition "career" comes to a close. In terms of game mechanics, I loved 7th. In terms of game balance, it was, as you all know, quite horrible. RIP 7th edition. I lost about 3 quarters of my games but I enjoyed all of them.

I've only got in 3 games of 8th, but I really love it. It's my favorite edition since 3rd!

Also, a couple of weeks ago I broke down and bought the 8th Edition IG Codex. Huzzah! I can finally play my Tallarns as Tallarns again. As many of you already know, the Tallarn doctrines, orders, etc are quite fluffy for a Tallarn force. They grant us the mobility I used to have when I could infiltrate large portions of my light infantry (2003 Codex) or outflank a platoon (2009 IG Codex). Hat's off to GW for a balanced, fluffy ruleset. They really have improved in the last couple of years.

I'll try to get in some additional 8th edition games in the next few weeks, but work has been busy so no promises.

That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Edited August 11, 2019 by Tallarn Commander

[duz_]

Awesome as always TC! Wish I was there to see the Tallarn Mordian face off especially if you say the army was amazing. I did like his banner conversion!

 

8th is great so far! Looking forward to more updates. Any new models on horizon?

[Tallarn Commander]

Thanks Duz! Yes that was a really nice Mordian force.

 

Most of my focus this year has been on Night Lords and Death Guard.  But I do have 3 small IG painting projects I want to finsh this year:

 

-10 Puppetswar SWAT style storm troopers incredibly sculpted by Maciej Powarunas. Four of these blokes will be armed with Victoria Lamb plasma guns. Sadly earlier this month I mislaid  the small bag nontaining my Puppetswar order--they're somewhere in my apartment. So I'll have to do a thourough cleaning/search.

 

-4 plasma cannons, 2 are GW and 2 are Victoria Lamb, these will be magnetized for use on my Russ sponsons

 

-Add 3 mortar teams to large bases, flock and paint bases

[Guardsman Bob]

The next time when the crazy rules are flying, Morty is comming down hard, the Marines are doing their elitest thing, and I’m staring to feel down.

 

Just gonna pause to say, “We are many and they are few,” and smile.

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

 

Here are some WIP shots of some stormtroopers I assembled yesterday.

 

 

 

I've been focusing on my Renegades and Heretics army this year so this is the first WIP shot for this blog. The troopers are from a Polish company named Puppetswar and the plasma rifles and meltaguns are from an Australian company named Victoria Miniatures. I think many of you have experience with both firms, but this is my first time buying something from either of them. Both their customer service and the sculpts are superb. 

 

The Puppetswar "tactical troopers" are real 28mm which means they are the same size as my metal Tallarns and my metal stormtroopers (which I think were sculpted by the Perry twins back in the 1990s?). However, they are dwarfed by my 2014 GW stormtroopers and my Dreamforge Eisenkern stormtroopers.  You can see the size comparisons in the photos above. 

 

I hope to get these blokes painted up in time for a tournament next month.

 

 

 

I also got in my 4th game of 8th edition this week.  A fun game against a very nice Ad Mech player in which I managed a win. I never beat AdMech in 7th edition (I lost to them about 6 or 7 times) so it was nice to turn the tables.  The mobility of the Tallarns contributed greatly during this Maelstrom mission:  advancing and then shooting, outflanking 3 squads, using the dagger to outlfank All'Rahem and a 4th squad, and outflanking my horsies. This was only a 750 point game so I didn't get to include any tanks to try out the new Tallarn tank rules.

 

Here are some shots of the game.

 

 

 

My rough riders outflanking, as you can see, my opponent had a gorgeous army painted up in traditional red Admech Mars scheme

 

 

Turn 1 after Gold Platoon outflanks--this was my first game with the 2017 IG Codex and I was so happy with the Tallarn rules.  Regaining the ability to outflank felt like coming home again after a long journey

 

 

Sgt. Schaeffer's squad faces off against an incredible looking admech squad--I especially love the weathering on their hats

 

 

Rough riders duke it out with a walker.  As usual, these chaps did yeoman's work. And, for the first time, I remembered they had 2 wounds rather than 1.  This upped their durability quite a bit. The walker eventually would jump out of combat so he could shoot me and the Admech warlord would then charge in and kill off the rough riders.  But at least they did about 5 wounds to the walker before dying (and Red Platoon's lascannons made quick work of the 1 wound walker).

 

 

Plasma trooper Hashim advances. Plasma guns have always been my favorite special weapon for the IG.  Once I paint up the 5 plasma stormtroopers you see in the WIP shots above, I'll have 20 plasma troopers!

 

 

 

Blue Platoon leader Lieutenant Muhhamed tells Gold Three Squad to "First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire!"

 

 

Captain Al'Rahem outflanks with his squad. That dagger is a nice piece of kit. I'll probably be using it in most games as its very flavorful for the Tallarns.

 

 

Enjoy!

[4ndroid]

great looking army, nice work ! 

 

I've been working on kit bashing some Tuareg horse and camel cavalry to rough riders 

 

keep up the battle reports

[duz_]

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing those new models painted up!

[Tallarn Commander]

Hello everyone,

I hope those of you in the US had a great Thanksgiving.

Hi everyone, I got in my 5^th game of 40K last night. Another fun game, this time against a very congenial Space Wolves player with a very nicely painted and deadly squad of Wulfen.

The game was truly an example of quality against quantity. In his 2000 point force he had 40 or so troopers vs my 140 or so troopers and 4 tanks.

Here are some images

The Tallarn Imperial Guard army before the battle.

The Space Wolves line

His Wulfen get off a Turn 1 charge, wrecking a sentinel and consolidating into another sentinel, which promptly fled. His Wulfen squad was his MVP. It killed a Russ, 3 infantry squads, and a sentinel and they almost won him the game on the last turn.

Wulfen rampage amongst Gold Platoon on Turn 2

On Turn 3 my outflanking Blue Platoon squads secure his obelisk objective while my sentinel scurries past. Movement 9 is no joke. It really makes these suckers feel like the ATSTs they were meant to be.

Here are a series of 5 images following the life of Corporal Lucas, a meltagunner in the Desert Ravens Stormtrooper squad…

On Turn 1 Corporal Lucas and his squad face down a wolf lord. The lord would die to melta overwatch on the charge

On Turn 2 Corporal Lucas targets the Wulfen, but his squads’ shots bounce off their storm shields

On Turn 3 Meltagunner Lucas, seen at the bottom right, my Hellhound, my Basilisk, and my Mars Russ, seen as a shadow at top, try in vain to hurt the Wulfen

On Turn 5 Corporal Lucas and his squad face down Logan Grimnar. The veteran Space Wolf would soon die to melta overwatch. I’d like to think Lucas was the one who manage the hit.

Corporal Lucas and his squad meet a grim end, well not so grim since we agreed this was a mock training battle between 2 Imperium forces. They charge the Chapter Master only to get slaughtered. Luckily the Blue Platoon squad and the sentinel successfully tarpitted him til the game ended after Turn 6.

Back near my objective, on Turn 5 the Desert Falcons stormtrooper squad (still a WIP) places themselves between my objective, the banner in the background, and a lone surviving thunder wolf

And on Turn 5, fighting on my Objective, Sgt. Mannerheim can be seen pistol whipping a Wulfen

And, at the end of the game on Turn 6, Captain Scheherazade, who lost 3 wounds and her bolter this game, and Lord Commissar Abra defend the objective against the last Wulfen. If he had killed both of them then he would have won the game. But fortunately, the two IG ladies survived to win me the game!

A very fun, very clutch game. Here are 3 lessons learned.

-Don’t charge Wulfen. I don’t know what I was thinking.

-Track guards on Hellhounds are gold. It allowed my 3-would Hellhound to follow the Wulfen around the map, eating away at them.

-Consolidation zones are back. The 3^rd edition practice of ensuring consolidation zones of 4 or more inches between squads has returned. Learn this practice and use against assault armies.

Enjoy!

Edited January 21, 2019 by Tallarn Commander

[Vel'Cona]

-Don’t charge Wulfen. I don’t know what I was thinking.

 

[duz_]

Awesome as always! :D

What camera are you using? The images seem super sharp and bright!

[Arganias]

I have been reading up on this last page of your exploits in the end of 7th and the beginning of 8th! It makes me anxious to start working on my Inquisitor, her bodyguard, and the Elysians that are going to make up the bulk of my army. I want to follow a similiar format to yours as a project log and a war diary!

[Tallarn Commander]

Vel'Cona, hilarious meme. :)

 

Duz, my phone isn't too fancy. It's an Android, Samsung Galaxy 6. I've found that it takes much better pictures whebm I hold it really still--I often rest it on a surface when I snap a picture.

 

Arganias, yes, Bolter and Chainsword has many army project blogs that are fun to follow and very indpirational. Good luck with your Inquisition and Elysian army!

[WarriorFish]

Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat - the best games! Well done :)