Conversion: Commander Farsight

My Farsight conversion is based on Shadowsun. I used the arms of a stealth suit, regular plasma rifle and shield generator, and an oversized sword from some Confrontation model (i think) that I had used to make a Blood Bowl player with (swords are not allowed in Blood Bowl...). Maybe the model is too small compared to the original Farsight model, and might therefore not be allowed in a tournament.

Farsight is one of the few Tau units that offers some close combat capabilities. With a sword that cuts through most armour he (or she in my case) delivers quite a punch. In a game against Space Marines, he/she slaughtered unit after unit of marines. After all the beating I had taken before then, that was a moment of joy! :-) So I believe that Farsight is a good and fun addition to any Tau army, even though you might not want to use him in every battle.

A cool unit to try is to give Farsight a bunch of bodyguards. It will probably end up in a very pricy unit, and you may regret it if it gets locked up in close combat, unable to bring down it's firepower on the enemy. Regardless, it is a fun unit to try! You can also try out adding a "support suit" to the unit. With a Command and Control Node and a Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite it will boost the other battlesuits shooting attacks, but only if it does not fire itself, so don't bother to spend too many points on weapons for this suit. Also, it's only really effective together with quite a number of battlesuits, and Farsight may take up to 7 bodyguards, so just go crazy with those suits!

It is also nice that Farsight doesn't scatter when Deep Striking, so combine the above with some target locks, and you can potentially take out quite a lot of the opposition in one spectacular blow! For the Greater Good, of course.

Broadsides

Inspired by a custom model I saw somewhere, I put the heavy rail rifles under the arms of the broadsides, instead of over the shoulders. The rifles connects to the arms by wires on one arm, while the other is covered by a shield generator. On the shoulders I put the smart missile system, but instead of the regular ones I used some kind of missile launcher from "skinnies" from the Starship Troopers miniatures game.

So, what to say about broadsides? Never leave home without them? Well, they sure were more powerful in the old rules, since the strength of the rifles has been reduced. But I think it's reasonable that the railgun on the Hammerhead tank is more powerful than the guns of the broadsides. I still really like them, and they have an unmatched ability to soak firepower, at least among the Tau ranks. AP 2 weapons may of course blow them away quickly, so it might be good idea to give them some shield drones, if you have the points to spare. Against mechanized opponents, target locks may be useful. With a little luck, you might take out several vehicles in one go! Also, do not forget the built-in multi-tracker that allows the broadsides to fire both the twin-linked railrifles and twin-linked smart missile system in the same turn.

"The Dogs of War"

Why settle for human helpers, when you can have human helpers best friend: The dog! Or dog people, more accurately, but what's the difference? Since the Tau don't keep pets (apart from drones), they have a hard time understanding the concept of keeping animals in your home (that I made up).

(Maybe I went a little too far with this conversion project...)

These guys are played as gue'vesa, i.e. human auxiliaries. The heads are from some kind of cyberdogs for the Starship Troopers miniatures game. The rest are fire warriors bodies, with modified weapons. Their feet (paws?) shows my attempt of using "green stuff". Tricky...

Campaign report part III

The lost bunker

Our intelligence reported the location of an underground bunker, near a small deserted mining village. When moving in to investigate, one of our scout force commander's vehicles was wrecked by incoming enemy fire. Apparently, the Renegades had also discovered the bunker, and was moving into the village.

A task force was quickly dispatched, lead by commander Coldsun, in an attempt to secure the village, take the bunker, and rescue the scout force commander. Two Devilfishes were lost in the fighting, along with some infantry and a Hammerhead railgun. One of the outflanking kroot squads really managed to stir things up among the enemy troops, slaughtering an infantry squad and a storm trooper squad, before running off under heavy fire. With some repairs, most of the other vehicles will soon be ready for action. Commander Firesun secured the village single handedly, after which the enemy started to pull back. One fire warrior squad entered the bunker, which exploded and caved in shortly after. The inside of the bunker remains unknown to us. All for the Greater Good.

Kroot

What to say about the kroot... Well, do not be fooled by their appearance, they look like they could bite the head off an orc, but that is not the case. They are fragile and mediocre close combat fighters, at best. But they can be useful, as long as you know how to use them (and how to not use them).

The kroot has three strengths: They can infiltrate, get good cover in forests, and they are cheap. Remember that infiltrators also can outflank. Outflanking kroot can cause trouble for the enemy, and may even take out a vehicle if shooting at it's rear, or by assaulting it. They will not live long, but don't worry, they are cheap, remember? :-) 

Another way to use them is to let them dig in somewhere, preferably in a forest (maybe it's time to get some model trees?;-). From there they can harass the enemy and draw some fire, maybe even letting them go to ground to make them last longer. Watch out for flamers though, or they will easily get, well, toast... But don't worry, they are cheap, remember?

There is always that exception that confirms the rule, right? Above you can see two squads of kroot advancing on a unit of terminators. The whole thing ended up in a melee, and the kroot won...

Conversion: Darkstrider

Darkstrider is one of the new additions in the latest Tau Codex. With his Structural analyser, he will lower the Toughness value by one for his target, which also counts for his whole unit. Should be quite effective if you put him in the lead of a 12-man Fire warrior squad. You can also outflank with that squad, thanks to Darkstrider's special rule. A nice addition is that his unit may retreat D6 inches if charged. But make sure not to put him in the front row. Whit only a scout armour, he'll soon bite the dust.

Here I used a pathfinder officer (metal model), cut the head off and replaced it with a Fire warrior head. I also cut off the "ponytail", making him bald.

The Structural analyser is made from a battlesuit antenna and a piece of transparent plastic, which shows a little better on the second picture below.

I only used Darkstrider on one occasion yet (I find him a bit expensive). I used him to outflank together with a Fire warrior unit in a Devilfish troop carrier. Generally, it can be a good tactic to keep troops in transports in the reserve, since bringing them into the fight later in the game will increase their odds of survival. After all, they are the ones you want near the objectives at the end of the game. With Darkstrider's outflanking ability, you have a chance to get a troop unit close to an objective near the opponent's table edge, possibly getting a victory point for "Linebreaker" in the process.

Human helpers

I really like the idea of humans joining the Tau Empire. After all, Tau are the only good guys out there, right? The forces of the human imperium are not good, just read the stories, and Eldar are just evil killer pirates. The rest don't need commenting, I think...

The Tau call them Gue'vesa, which translates to human helpers. These humans come in squads of six to twelve, and they are equivalent to imperial guardsmen. They are quite useful, since you get a cheap troop unit to hold objectives (or use as cannon fodder, whichever you prefer). A good restriction is that you must have a fire warrior squad for each gue'vesa unit, and they may not be taken as your compulsory troops.


Now to the fun part: Building the gue'vesa models! I used the bodies of fire warriors since I wanted them to blend in with the rest of the army. Since most humans don't have hoofs, I had to do something about that. This came to my first attempt at using "green stuff" to make tiny boots for these little guys. Quite tricky, I must say, and the result - well, ok I guess.

The heads are from militia soldiers from Warhammer Fantasy, as well as some other ones that I don't know where they are from. Since all races ready to embrace the Greater Good are welcome, I also made a non-human gue'vesa soldier. With a head from a (non-GW) orc and some head tails made from green stuff, I think he became a very cool addition to the bunch!