Magnetized battlesuits

Personally, I am not too strict on the "what you see is what you get" rule, but magnetized weapons is a nice way of keeping track of who carries what. You can get some cheap 2 mm magnets off eBay. Drill a hole with a 2 mm drill, and the tiny magnet will fit perfectly. They are quite tricky to handle, since they are not only very small, but also very strong. Also, make sure you put them in right, otherwise they will repel instead of attract each other.

Three of my battlesuits with magnetized weapons

Speaking of battlesuits, here is a unit that is fun to bring to a fight. I call it the firefly. Take a lone battlesuit with cheap weaponry: one or two flamers and nothing else. Let him deep strike behind enemy lines to torch some infantry. You can also give him a fusion blaster and watch when their biggest tanks start to sweat. Then watch the firefly go up in flames! All for the Greater Good, of course.

Hammerhead conversion: Long barrelled burst cannons

Here I converted a Skyray to a Hammerhead with two long barrelled burst cannons (as found in Imperial Armour vol. III). These will replace the railgun, and have the same values as regular burst cannons, but with double the range and two extra shots.

Instead of two big cannons I used four of the regular burst cannons that you can use instead of a smart missile system (which I never use, since I believe that drones or SMS are a better choice).

To fill out some space under the Skyray turret wings, I put a seeker missile under each wing. These are magnetised, so you can choose whether you want to pay the extra cost for them, and also to keep track when you use them.

Lightbringer

I am very fond of building models (more so than painting them, actually). And I don't mean just assembling dozens of fire warriors, but creating something with a touch of individuality. Here is one of those examples (and there are more to come).

This one I call Lightbringer. He is a unique character inspired by Guardsman Marbo (Imperial Guard), although not as powerful. Lightbringer is a fast attack choice that is yours for 40 points. To cheap/to expensive? Well, let me know what you think:
Stats: WS4, BS4, S3, T3, W2, I4, A4, LD8, SV4+
Wargear: 2 pulse pistols, EMP grenades

Special rules: Independent character, Infiltrate, Move through cover, Fleet, Stealth, Hit and run, Eternal Warrior, Lucky, Not a leader

"Lucky"? Well, sometimes that is what it takes to survive out there. Lightbringer adds +1 to all save rolls (note that this does not affect the AP of weapons, an AP 4 weapon will still penetrate his armour).

"Not a leader"? No, he works best alone. If he joins another unit, he loses Infiltrate, Move through cover, Fleet, Stealth and Hit and run.

As you can see the model is a regular Fire warrior, but armed with two pulse pistols made from the front part of pulse carbines. Since he was raised among the Kroot, he also carries a Kroot backpack.

So, what is this guy good for? Well, the purpose was not to create a powerful character, but to make a fun addition to the Tau army list. He is supposed to be cheap, and with a little luck he might be of good use. In rare cases he might even be a gamechanger, which is true for any unit.

Effective painting

Looking back on my old Warhammer Fantasy skaven army, I did not want my Tau army to end up in the same way. That is, 10 % of the models adequately painted, the rest unpainted. And that's how far I got since the 90's... This was also the reason why I was reluctant to start playing 40K - not another unfinished project. So, instead my goal this time was: 100 % almost adequately painted! :-)

If you, dear reader, are not at all interested in painting techniques, you can stop reading. Also, if you consider yourself an expert painter, continue at your own risk... This is for amateurs only! ;-)

I needed to find a way to paint the army fairly quickly, since I didn't feel like I had that much time to spend on painting, and also because my back is killing me after sitting at the painting table too long (hey, 40 is closing in on me!). So, my goal was, and still is, to paint the army to a nice enough standard as effectively as possible. I decided to go for black and white, with orange details. Painting models in black and white was a bold move, someone told me (I thought maybe I had made a mistake, thinking bold=stupid...). Well, here is how I did it:

Step 1: Spray the model black (obviously).
Step 2: Highlight (drybrush) most of the model with dark grey.
Step 3: Drybrush some details with boltgun metal (old citadel with screwcap, still going strong!).
Step 4: The white areas are first painted white, then a creamy white, then highlighted with white. (They were actually just painted white at first, then I improved them like this... which was much needed.)
Step 5: Finally, the part I like the most, add some orange details, almost like warpaint. Done!

Below is an example of one of my battlesuits. I guess you recognise the antenna from a devilfish. I also chose to cut off one of the antennas on his head... makes him look less "rabbit-like". The blue thing under his foot is a Ultra Marines power fist...

Campaign report part I

Faris Campaign Report

From Shas'o Lao'Tai of the Fire Caste Firestorm Cadre to Venerable Aun'Ka of the Ethereal Caste.

The Faris system

The Faris system is distant to most races, but rich in resources and an important outpost.

Faris II

The great planet of Faris II is covered by a veil of dust and debris, protecting it from the rays of the sun, but making communications and scanning of the planet from space nearly impossible. The exploration of the planet must therefore be done on the surface. The climate is hot and arid, and the surface of the planet is covered mostly by sand. The sand is rich with minerals and metals in some areas.

Humans

The planet of Faris II contains many human independent settlements. We have been establishing recruitment centres in some of these. Many gue'vesa has chosen to join the auxiliary forces in our glorious struggle for the Greater Good.

The hounds of the human imperium have left the system completely. However, one regiment seems to have been left behind, now forming a renegade band of warriors, plundering settlements, industrial facilities, and the remains of conquered enemy vehicles.

Orks

We have not yet encountered any ork forces, but has seen remains of defeated ork armies. The vehicles of the renegade army seems to be made up partly of plundered ork warmachines.

First contact

The first contact with the Renegade army took place among some old ruins that was of some tactical value. The ruins seemed to be the remnants of an old spacecraft, and we will send in our earth caste members to work on it. Our brave Tau forces took some losses, including a battlesuit and a Hammerhead, but otherwise the fight went our way, and we could count our first victory on Faris, all for the Greater Good.

In the beginning...

I started with Warhammer 40K a few years ago (I am now 36), after a short but effective persuasion campaign: They said "start playing 40K", I said no, then I started playing 40K. I am just a sucker for tiny models with weapons, and has been since I was a kid.
 

So I chose Tau. Why? Well, I had some Tau models that I bought just because I thought they were cool, and the plan was to use them in one of my own game ideas (I thought that Fire warriors were robots...). Also, after reading about them, I liked the idea that they allied with different kinds of alien species, like the kroot and vespids. Now I have also learned to love all the possible options that come in the form of high-tech equipment!
 

As many others (I guess), I started with the "Tau Battleforce", thinking that it would give me an army that I could take on some enemies with. And so I did, finding myself utterly crushed time after time. It took a while (and the acquiring of more models) before I got a hang of how Tau should be played. And now, I must say, my army kicks some serious butt (thanks to some help from Tau blogs and forums). Maybe I might give some helpful tips to other Tau players on this blog, as well as to tell about my experiences with the hobby.
 

And why not start with a favourite of mine: A two-man battlesuit unit with dual missile pods (not twin-linked). Maybe throw a target lock on one of them, and split their fire. Then let them fire missiles to their little hearts content, mainly at light vehicles! Jump from cover, poof-poof, then jet pack move back behind cover and have some tea. Very convenient.