For Christmas, Give Your Enemies ALL the Bullets!

Games Workshop is feeling festive this December, but in its own way; rather than just giving gifts, it's decided to offer you the chance to buy them.  How generous!

But seriously.  They're doing an 'Advent Calendar' for December, with each day offering up a new digital download for purchase.  The downloads are in the $4-$5 dollar range, just right for an impulse purchase.  December 3rd's was of note for me, because it contained a new Tau Empire formation, one that just so happened to match exactly the contents of a large box set GW just recently put up for sale.

How convenient...

The Firebase Support Cadre has to contain an XV104 Riptide and two squads of three XV88 Broadsides, though the drones are optional.  It costs no additional points, and curiously, can be taken in addition to Allied forces, without requiring the player to run a core Tau force; you could, if you wanted (and could somehow find the points for it all), run a Marine army, with Inquisitor warlord, Allied with Imperial Guard, backed up by a Firebase Support Cadre.  40K is getting weird, guys.

And Not A Single Lens Flare, Anywhere!

Almost Human, a science-fiction detective series on Global, premiered last week with a two-day event. Last night saw the third episode air, and at this point it feels safe to draw a certain number of conclusions. Pilots can be rocky, but a couple of episodes should give you a good idea of at least the bones of a series, especially one as relatively straight-forward as a buddy cop action/drama piece. Shows can get better, of course, or collapse mid-season, but usually they begin as they mean to go on, until the studio declares they're not allowed to go on any longer.

And I am happy to say that Almost Human has begun almost perfectly.

Relics of Treasure - Week 9

Round 9: 2500 pts

Graham (Grey Knights)

Grey Knight Brother Captain

Callidus Assassin

10 x Grey Knight Strike Squad w/Psybolt, 2 x Psycannon

10 x Grey Knight Interceptor Squad w/Psybolt, 2 x Psycannon

5 x Grey Knight Terminators w/Incinerator

You may have noticed that Graham was fielding slightly less than the full 2500 points. The reason for this is because it was decided that, for the league's grand finale, my Tau would seek to disrupt the Grey Knights' hold on the orbiting space station, a tile Graham had held without interruption, under constant challenge, for three weeks in a row. The space station is a series of interlocked corridors, like a game of Space Hulk, rather than an open field, and since the internal space is so much smaller the games were likewise scaled down. For the final week, it was only a thousand points, with the further restriction of no vehicles, and nothing that couldn't physically fit inside the corridors (so no Riptides or Dreadknights or Dreadnoughts). On top of this, the peculiarities of the station had a number of effects, including prohibiting Deep Strike, Infiltrate or Outflank.

Relics of Treasure - Week 8

Round 8: 2300 points

Anton (Space Wolves)

Wolf Lord w/Thunderwolf, Artificier Armour, Power Fist, Storm Shield

5 x Wolf Guard w/5 x Thunderwolf, 5 x Storm Shield, 3 x Power Axe

Rune Priest

10 x Grey Hunters

10 x Grey Hunters w/2 x Meltagun, Drop Pod

10 x Grey Hunters w/2 x Meltagun, Drop Pod

10 x Grey Hunters w/2 x Meltagun, Drop Pod

6 x Long Fangs w/5 x Lascannon

Dreadnought w/Twin-Linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher

Land Raider

Yet again I found myself going up against the forces of the Imperium, and for the first time since week two there were wolves on the far side of the table from me. Anton's forces were drop-heavy, as is common amongst the wolves of Black Knight Games, but with three heavy support choices and a pack of wolf-riders, he had a strong on-table presence from the beginning. I expected a tough fight, though I was hoping it wouldn't be quite as tough as the last time I went up against the wolves.

Relics of Treasure - Week 7

Round 7: 2100

Hammer and Anvil

Thom Morden (Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines)

Great Unclean One w/Mastery Level 3, Greater Reward, Exalted Reward

10 x Plaguebearers

10 x Plaguebearers

15 x Flesh Hounds

Soul Grinder w/Daemon of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment

Daemon Prince w/Mark of Nurgle, Mastery Level 3, 2 x Greater Reward, Daemonic Flight, Warp-Forged Armour

Daemon Prince w/Mark of Nurgle, Mastery Level 3, 2 x Greater Reward, Daemonic Flight, Warp-Forged Armour

Chaos Lord w/Burning Brand of Skalathrax, Mark of Nurgle

7 x Plague Marines w/2 x Plasma Pistol, Chaos Rhino, Havoc Launcher

Heldrake w/Baleflamer

Having missed out on one of the league nights owing to an unfortunate personal issue, I was lucky to get a make-up game in against Thom on the weekend. I wasn't all that eager to throw down with the daemons again, particularly that brick wall of a Great Unclean One, but beggars can't be choosers. And it's not like Thom isn't a good guy, so a game with him, even a loss, is pleasant enough. Plus, I had a certain new weapon up my sleeve...

Relics of Treasure - Week 6

Round 6: 1950

Hammer and Anvil

Mitch (Dark Eldar)

Archon w/Shadow Field, Soul Trap, 3 x Sslyth, 2 x Medusae, Lhamaean, Ur-Ghull, Raider, Night Shields, Flickerfield

Haemonculus w/5 x Incubi

Haemonculus w/4 x Wracks, Raider, Night Shields, Flickerfield

12 x Warriors w/Dark Lance

10 x Warriors w/Dark Lance, Raider, Night Shields, Flickerfield

10 x Warriors w/Dark Lance, Raider, Night Shields, Flickerfield

10 x Wyches w/Raider, Night Shields, Flickerfield

10 x Scourges w/2 x Splinter Cannon

10 x Reavers

Talos Pain Engine

Cronos Parasite Engine w/Spirit Vortex

Cronos Parasite Engine w/Spirit Vortex

Mitch had a pretty lovely Dark Eldar force, which suggested he'd been at it for a while; they might not be as numerous as Orks or IG, but getting a raiding force of Dark Eldar ready isn't like throwing together a Draigowing list, either. That further suggested that he knew what he was in for when it was announced he'd be going up against Tau. Guns, guns and more guns, guns that cut through Dark Eldar bodies and skimmers alike with contemptuous ease, with ways to ignore the former's FNP and the latter's cover saves.  In short, every Archon's nightmare.

The R'Varna - For When You Just Have To Win

So, Forge World has brought out a new Tau kit, the XV107 R'Varna battlesuit.  It's a resin upgrade kit for the Riptide model, with a wide array of chest pieces, back, front and top, two new guns, shoulder pads and shin pieces.  Here are front and back shots of the model, to show off just how much has been added to it; more can be seen at Forge World's page for it, here.

Aesthetically, I don't mind it, though I do have some qualms.  The vanes on the gun don't look particularly Tau-ish, and the 'pulse submunition cannons' don't share any real design details with any Tau pulse weapons.  Or any official Tau weapons, for that matter; more than anything, they resemble O'Ralai's pulse submunition rifle, perhaps mated with the XV9's phased ion gun.  But both of those weapons broke away from the established Tau aesthetic in their own way, and the pulse submunition cannons just take those baby steps and turn them into a full-fledged sprint.  Forge World has been constructing its own distinct Tau look for some time, best exemplified in the XV9 with its bulbous knee joints and winged jump packs, and the XV107 is perhaps the ultimate extension of that to date.  It does sort of bother me, because as nice as at hose models are, they don't entirely look like they fit with the parent line.

I'm not a huge fan of the optical piece, either; I know a lot of people have complained about the Riptide having a pinhead look, but it's already a huge model.  Giving it a 'head' in scale with the rest of its massive frame just makes for an even more absurdly unwieldy model, not to mention making it dangerously top-heavy, and from an in-universe perspective it's hard to imagine that a fixed-forward camera system was an improvement over the existing swivel-mounted hardware.

But the XV107 isn't just a model kit, it's got rules.  Experimental rules.  And I think we all know what Forge World's experimental rules mean.

It's broken as hell.

Relics of Treasure - Week 5

Round 5: 1750

Vanguard Strike

James (Space Marines – Iron Hands)

Captain w/Power Sword

5 x Terminators w/Land Raider Crusader

5 x Sternguard

10 x Tacticals w/Multimelta, Meltagun, Rhino, Hunter-Killer Missile

10 x Tacticals w/Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Rhino, Hunter-Killer Missile

5 x Scouts w/Missile Launcher, 4 x Sniper Rifles

5 x Assasult Marines w/5 x Plasma Pistols, Meltabomb

Venerable Dreadnought w/Twin-Linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher

5 x Devastators w/Lascannon, 2 x Plasma Cannon, Heavy Bolter

We were supposed to go up to 1850 this week, but my opponent was relatively new to the hobby, and couldn't quite swing it with what he had, so I agreed to drop back down to 1750. No sense trying to drive the newcomers out of the hobby, after all. As usual, it was Crusade (4 objectives), and since I still had one last unoccupied territory in my area there was a relic in the centre of the table. The last time that will happen, though; from here on out, if I want to add yet more tricks to my Commander, I'm going to have to take them from the smoking plasma-riddled corpses of my enemies.

Which I am totally comfortable doing.

Relics of Treasure - Week 4

Round 4: 1750

Deployment: Hammer of Wrath

Cam (Imperial Guard)

Company Command Squad w/Master of Ordinance, Master of the Fleet

Platoon Command Squad w/Plasmagun, Commissar

Heavy weapon Team w/3 x Lascannon

Heavy Weapon Team w/3 x Heavy Bolter

5 x Veterans w/3 x Meltagun, Chimera

Infantry Squad w/Plasmagun, Missile Launcher

Infantry Squad w/Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter

Infantrry Squad w/Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter

Hydra

Griffon

Hellhound

Leman Russ squadron w/2 x Battle Cannon, 1 x Executioner Plasma Cannon

Aegis Defence Line w/Quad Gun

I was actually getting set to fight someone else, a Grey Knights player, when a couple of late arrivals forced Matt to juggle some opponents around to keep things on the level. Given the choice between Cam, here, and Graham and his Grey Knights, I pretty quickly called dibs on facing off against Cam. I can beat Graham, it's not impossible, but that guy wields his Grey Knights like a surgeon's scalpel, and I wasn't really looking to test myself against the current number one in the league. So, instead, I traded a couple of Stormravens, a Dreadknight and a Vindicare who looks like Deadpool for heavy artillery, a Fast flamer-tank, and a squadron of Leman Russ.

It never rains, but it pours.

Tau Heavy Support – Part 2: These Guns Aren't Getting Any Smaller!

I just realized, I never actually got around to putting  up the last of my Codex: Tau Empire reviews.  Well, let's correct that little oversight, shall we?

Last time we started on the Heavy Support slot, and unexpectedly got bogged down in the infantry choices. So now here we are in part two, and it's finally time to talk about the tanks. And oh, what tanks they are!