Update: Modeling Maniac

It's been quiet, but I've still been active in my WH40K endeavors.

The Shi'Vesa
I've been working diligently on my army builder. The only problem is this is the largest application of its scale and I didn't do a lot of the little things that they (and I) teach students when you're programming: chart it out, decide your variables before you code, etc. So I'll do something like the Crisis suits then go back and re-vamp firewarriors. The revamp breaks something on the displays and... yeah...

The Army
The Kais'shi military is developing nicely. I've assembled twelve more kroot, ten more firewarriors (in addition to the 6 I've modeled so far), a new crisis suit (bringing me to two), three XV 25s, two Devilfish and a Hammerhead. I've got a Piranha, another Firewarrior team, and a lot of drones to assemble on top of that.

I'm hanging onto the drones so that I can try and scrape up a spare $30+ and order a few things from GW including the Hammerhead Weapons (so I can put SMS on the Devilfish) and the shield drone bits. I've decided while I like my mod it's going to be easier to just pay the $9.

Magnetic Personality
My crisis suits have all been successfully magnetized and one is ready for battle. The second suit needs to be painted and I need to magnetize several more weapons. I'm also looking at magnetizing the Piranha and a bit on the Devilfish and Hammerhead as well.

Getting Organizized
I recently decided to clear out my beloved uniques collection from my Mage Knight days to make room for the new addiction. No I didn't throw anything out - that would be silly. Instead I cleared out the two (very nice) tackle boxes that connect back-to-back into another, crowding the MK figures and making myself a very nice bitz box. I hope to really organize the box to the point of "firewarrior arm set 1" labeling but hey - that's down the road.

That's it for today. More as I can.

Radio Silence

Yeah I've not posted much lately. Birthday, work, and illness have all conspired against me.

First a lesson learned: It is far better to assemble then paint rather than paint then assemble. I've painted my first firewarrior team (mostly) and begun assembling last night. However I discovered that attempting to glue together two painted figures. I discovered that anywhere there was paint the figure did not bond. I did discover it will pull the paint off, allowing a second application work. So I hope that I finish the other units I can scrape the paint off with my knife then paint.

Second I got some 3mm x 2mm disc magnets from a student at work in trade, and I was able to set them into my XV-8 Suit. I hope to magnetize the weapons soon.

Finally my warhammer collection looks as follows:

1. 30 firewarriors
2. two devilfish
3. two XV-8 suits
4. one hammerhead on the way
5. one stealth team
6. 10 kroot
7. one pirhana
8. goddess knows how many gun drones.

Finally the Tau world has been abuzz with the announcement of the Crisis XV-9. While I would like to get my hands on one - especially if they give it some nicer weapon choices - there are far too many other pieces of equipment there I'd love to get my hands on.

Ah well. Hopefully more soon.

But Dude - Why do you play Tau?

This is covered by our profile posts but consider this an expanded rant on the subject.

Today I was visiting my in-laws who gave my by birthday presents early (a devilfish and a piranha). I was speaking with my brother-in-law goes "But dude - why do you play Tau?"

The initial answer was simplistic and focused on answering that I like playing high maneuverability and the sleek design that looks military without being clunky. But the question bothered me.

Why do we play Tau?

We may have been drawn to the Tau because he remind us of Transformers, or Gundam, or some other Japanese robot. But that's why we MODEL Tau - not play.

We play Tau because we know that standing still can have as much strategy as moving around. We only sit and wait for the enemy to approach us because it's more fun to let him run full tilt into the range of our rail guns. When they get close we move around the board, flying past obstacles and firing away at targets of opportunity. We don't play Tau because they're the biggest nastiest thing out there. We understand that three Crisis suits can do more damage to our opponents than one Terminator can. We play Tau because we enjoy the strategy and tactics that such a challenging race can bring. Are we weak at assault? Yes. Is that a flaw? No - it means we just do not let you assault us.

We play Tau because we know what they can offer, and what we offer them. We stand by and roll the dice just as diligently as any other race and take our losses with honor - because we just took another step to defeating you. Every Firewarrior, Crisis Suit, Hammer Head and Kroot you advance on just ticks away towards our next strategy. Every marker light that guides our is a beacon that says:

We will not give up. We will find the way to beat you. Our forces work together and our strategy will be refined to defeat you. We are the Tau Empire and we will bring peace and prosperity to the universe for the Greater Good.

Tau'va!

Shield Drone Project

If I'm lucky I'll get photos up this week but I did complete the mod to change two gun drones into one shield drone. Here is an overview of my DIY Shield Drone:

1. I took a drill bit (you can use the Games Workshop Hobby Drill) that was the same size as the hole in the bottom of the gun drone disc that will be the bottom disc of the shield drone. I then drilled the hole all the way through the gun drone disc. I did this to ensure the drone would sit level on its flight stand
2. Next I took the center bit that normally joins the gun drone disc to the guns and snipped off the nub that would normally be inserted into the gun drone using my plastic snipers.
3. I dropped a dab of glue into the hole that the flight stand normally is inserted into, then pressed the nub into the hole to fill it.
4. I took the "top" gun drone disc and dropped a dab of glue into the hole underneath it.
5. I inserted the center bit into the disc aligned so the "teeth" on the bottom of the center bit facing the rear of the drone.
6. I smeared a bit of glue on the free nub of the center disc and then pressed it into the bottom, taking care to ensure the discs were lined up as mirrors of each other.
7. I snipped the aerials from the sprues and glued both of them on top of the new shield drone. By this point I was able to verify that new shield drone can sit on a flight stand.
8. That's it! Now I just have to paint the blasted thing.
   

The Frugal Warhammer Player: Tau Empire Battleforce

I am still eagerly saving up my pennies to buy the Tau Empire Battleforce. Technically I have enough money right now to buy one of these. Well - technically right now I have it, but my itchy wallet says go to to Louisville Game Shop this weekend and BUY BUY BUY and... well... they don't have it in stock.

Anyway - this thing is not only the best "entry" into the game as a Tau player it offers some incredible versatility.

HQ
My only issue here is the HQ slot. I believe Games Workshop intends for you to use the standard XV-8 in this slot but as I've said before that just feels weird to me. Either remodel it or spring for an extra $30 and buy the Crisis Commander and you'll be set. Optionally you can stick the XV-8 as a Bodyguard or move him down to Elites.

Elites
If you're like me and don't like using the standard XV-8 in this slot and/or have a Commander, the XV-8 can fall in here along with that nice Stealth team and their Markerlight Drone.

Troops
Far better than the 300-point army list I posted previously this gives you the option of fielding a team of Fire Warriors and a team of Kroot. To make things nicer you can mount your Fire Warriors in your Devilfish by taking the Gun Drones out of the squad (more on that in a bit).

The Gun Drones
I'm not a big fan of Gun Drones so far, but I do see their uses. In this set you get a whopping six - count 'em - six gun drones, including ditching the two on the APC in favor of using that spot on the model with a Smart Missile System.

So your options then become using them either as a fast-attack Gun Drone squad or you can mod them into shield drones. I'll have details on my plan for that up soon. I hope be experimenting with this mod over the next week so if I'm lucky I'll have photos up soon.

Overall this thing is a fantastic deal for the money. MSRP is $90 for the set, where as you can expect to pay that much for just the two troop choices and the XV-8. On top of that I've seen this thing online for about $72. Not a bad way to get started.

The Frugal Fieldable Tau Army

I was tinkering with my first thread on Advanced Tactica and started thinking about the lowest cost (in terms of money) army that can be put together which got me thinking: what would be the lowest cost army that can be fielded but still leave flexibility as your collection expands.

So the rules are:

1. Must contain all three of your +1 troop choices
2. Must round off to 100 points
3. Since war gear does not have to be represented on the model, use war gear where possible to avoid locking yourself into any given configuration.

HQ: Tau Crisis Battlesuit Commander (MSRP: $30)
Note: I know that technically you can get away with using a standard XV-8 Crisis Battle suit it feels a little ganky to me, plus this way you get some extra wargear bits you don't normally have access to.

Configuration: Shas'el with Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Targeting Array, Hard-wired Multi-Tracker, Stimulant Injector, Hard-Wired Black Sun Filter, Hard-Wired Target Lock. Total Points: 118

Troops: Tau Fire Warrior Team (MSRP: $35)
Note: As far as I can tell, just because it's on the model it does NOT mean you have to actually have that equipment. So when assembling the troops I recommend having two models holding the marker light so you can use it later at higher point level games.

The Tau Fire Warrior Team can be used to build two six-man teams. Make two models (one per team) Team Leaders. I like making the two teams identical:

• Shas'Ui Team Leader with: Bonding Knife, Hard-Wired Drone Controller, One Gun Drone
• Five Shas'la Fire Warriors.
• All six models in the team with Photon Grenades.

Total Point Cost: Two teams of 91 points each (182 points total)

Variant:
If you want extra survivability on your commander you can drop the Targeting Array and one drone to get the Shield Generator.

Tactics:
The XV-8 is there to hammer at as many targets at a distance as you can. Jump-Shoot-Jump is the order of the day. Use your troops to to lay cover fire so the XV-8 can fall back if needed but largely use them to grab and hold objectives.

Twin-Linked Weapons on the XV-8

Many weapons in the Warhammer universe have the ability to be twin-linked, allowing you to re-roll your attacks if you miss. While I am a fan of not missing and I do tend to roll badly, I am not a fan of twin-linking. Here's why:

Twin-Linking Only Covers Your Hit Roll
The lowest-end XV-8 trooper has a 50% chance to hit assuming no modifiers to his BS. Re-rolling a miss still has a 50/50 chance to miss, but of course it does have a 50/50 to hit. As an example you could either twin-link a fusion blaster for just six more points or you can purchase a Targeting Array for 10 to bump your odds of hitting up to about 66%. and you still have a hard-point open for an additional option. Of course the converse to this is a twin-linked fusion blaster with a targeting array to give you a 66% chance with a re-rolled miss, or on a Shas'el to give him a 83% with a re-roll.

Twin-Linking Does Not Re-Roll Saves
Just because you hit does not mean you damage. Armor, cover, and invulnerability all can stand in the way of your extra investment. To me this factor is the biggest argument against twin-linking weapons.

More Shots Equals More Hits
While I definitely see the value of twin-linking and probably will have one or more suits twin-linked in the future I feel that the basic XV-8s are better suited to sporting more weapons or support systems. Higher-ranked XV-8s are better served by hard-wiring in extra support systems and equipping one twin-linked and one standard weapon but for the brunt of my army I will likely shy away from it.