Tau Commander Firestorm is complete for Dreadtober '22!

 Huzzah!

Dread-less-tober in my case...

I was hoping to get some good, outside/natural light pics for this post, but real life and/or crummy weather denied me the opportunity to do so. Nonetheless I'm happy with my end result and will no doubt be posting pics of Commandeer Firestorm as she leads her 2nd line cadre into battle in the future!

Rather than blabber on endlessly (as I so often do), I'll instead just show off the completed model:

Clearly this spaceport has an invasive species problem!

Am tempted to skip the thermo-neutronic projector for just the standard flamer in hopes to keep her from charging the nearest target in every game.

Close up of the Space Wolves' Grey Hunters' Rhino door.

Profile view of the oh so essential shield generator...

...and a top view of the big guns up top: Twin air-bursting fragmentation launchers.

I know that my contribution this year was meagre compared to some of the others involved in this project, but I'm pleased to have this mini off of my 'to-do' list. Thank you Dreadtober for giving me the impetus to paint my Army's warlord, Commander Firestorm!

And on turn two, everybody charged!

 o/

Yup, it's battle report time again folks. Rather than the usual multi-player menagerie, this time is was a more conventional 1 v 1 game with my buddy Rob who was fielding the Alpha Legion this time (of which only 1 mini is painted as he hasn't settled on a Legion yet). 

Three Objectives, worth 5 VPs apiece for whomever controlled them, plus random secondaries. Not too fond of the latter though this time around they did sorta save my ass. Anyways, 1k each, pretty much standard across the board deployment, and here's how it all went down:

My army, including an allied auxiliary support squad of Smurf Sternguard. 

Clearly the years have not been kind to ol' Alpharius....

Via some shenanigans, the warp talons managed a turn 1 charge into my devastators who were all but sitting on my table edge, wiping them out! Notta good start to the game...

In a repeat of last week, my painted tac squad slagged a pair of Raptors with meltagun fire before charging in for another grueling bout of close combat. 

Also like last week, the Apothecary failed his charge. 

Turn two and the Talons moved towards the Smurfs hidden in the ruins, the cultists took the center objective and the possessed moved to threaten my Rhino which was trundling across the middle of the board. 

Turn two also saw my scouts outflank and assault marines deep strike, though at 12" from the enemy due to more shenanigans. At this point everything but my APCs charged, though due to the distance the scouts and Assault marines failed to reach their target units.

Still whittling the Raptors down on the left flank...

Prior to charging, my razorback thinned out the possessed by two much to Rob's dismay.

Sternguard (equipped like regular tac marines) vs. Warp Talons is an unequal contest though the ragged survivors held their ground. 

My Lt. engaged the Sorcerer in what would be a multi-turn duel to the death!

Nothing to see here, move along...

Chaos chicanery resurrects a possessed and the Havocs dump into the Rhino that is blocking their view of the field. As the Alpha Legionnaires send a squad into support their middle, my tac marines delight in slaughtering the cultists almost to a man!

However, the Possessed prefer to be the ones doing the slaughtering!

Perhaps recalling their abysmal track record in close combat,the Havocs didn't overwatch my assault marines as they charged in...

The Raptors fell back out of combat, though in order to do so in a way that was away from the enemy, they actually retreated onto my side of the board! 

As such the tac squad slags two Legionnaires this time around before charging into the fray once more! The Scouts meanwhile had a good way to go before they could join into the fun. 

Slaughtering complete, the Smurfs and my central tac squad are no more. 

Meanwhile the Havocs were taking a pounding!

Having finally dispatched the sorcerer, my Lt. consolidates into the possessed, denying them the next turn's charge.

Not much left standing in this fight. 

In the backfield, the assault marines finish off the Havocs claiming both the objective and secondaries as well! 

These two snuggled down into terrain and started racking up more VPs for Rob. With cover and armor of contempt, it would take 2 turns of lascannon fire and a command reroll to dig them both out of there!

Disliking the notion of being consolidated into, the possessed tore my Lt. apart.

The scouts join the scrum!

The warp talons charge the assault marines, swiftly ending their brief reign of glory, likewise the possessed finish off the already battered Rhino, but not before it gunned down the last few surviving cultists. 

All outta tac marines, the Apothecary and 'chaff' (according to Rob) finish off the Legionnaires squad. 

At games' end, this was all that was left (that raptor was a casualty that I was passing across the table).

Well, that was both bloody and fun! I didn't keep note on who accrued how many VPs and when, but Rob had taken out an early lead to which I thought I'd never be able to catch up. However, I started clawing my way back and in the end, I pulled a rabbit out of my ass and somehow managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the last turn with 35 VPs each. Huzzah! Good thing the game ended As I'd likely get tabled had we gone another round!

I was pleased with my Razorback not only surviving unscathed, but also the amount of fire support it provided. Likewise this was the first game ever in which my assault squad actually killed something of note, the Havocs (not to mention racking up almost a 1/3 of my total VPs). Saving them from a probable eBay fate and possibly garnering them a layer of primer (they haven't earned any proper paint yet though).

That said my Lieutenant certainly did! Last week he led a charge that took down Fabius Bile in 1 turn and this week he single-handedly killed the chaos Sorcerer who was also Rob's warlord, and in both cases, he hasn't suffered a wound in either of those combats! Not that he survived the game or anything but still...

Another thing of note was the peanut gallery at the shop that accused me of being 'Meta' (with Firstborn Marines?). Not to mention that TWICE somebody walked up and exclaimed: 'Ooh! Chaos vs. Chaos!' Seriously, what the hell people?!?!

Dreadtober (3rd Post)

 o/

lol, how much do you want to bet that the rhino this door came from had a 'Don't Tread On Me' decal on it somewhere? 

This week I picked out the base colors, or rather the rhino door colors on the base (the rest of the base was a foregone conclusion as it will match the rest of the army). The door formerly belonged to a Rhino of the Space Puppies variety. I'm guessing that that vehicle has been removed from their roster. 

Close up of the still clean rhino door.

Painting straight lines for triangles freehand is hard enough. However, trying to it under a crises suit, and with other debris strewn on top of the door's surface was really tough. Luckily the worst sins were covered with decals, and the rest will be with first Agrax Earthshade, and then later with dry brushed on grime.

Sept symbol on the side no living enemy ever sees. 

 As such this mini first needs another layer of matte varnish to better seal the decals followed later by inking. The hardest parts are over with, next comes the fun parts: making it dirty!

Am betting that the decal on the flamer says something obvious like: hot surface. 

Another Sept symbol on the Shield Generator

What's Old and Gold and rises from the dead all over?

 o/

This past Friday night, I got in another 3-player, central objective 40k brawl with Rob and Screech (who was returning to 40k after a considerable absence). Here's how it went down:

Trimming down some of his unplayed armies, Rob gave Screech his Necrons, bringing him back into the 40k fold.

I deployed facing this horde with a 5-marine tac squad in the razorback accompanied by an apothecary, with a 5-strong dev squad and allied Smurf Combat squad in support. 

My scouts deployed on the objective and taunted the grey horde on Rob's side of the table. 

My Lt. another combat tac squad were in the rhino with a 5-marine assault squad along side. 

Screech went first and started off turn 1 by going all 'War of the Worlds' on me as his walker 1-shot-killed my razorback! Luckily, it's passengers all survived.

Going second Rob's chaos marines advanced in most all directions with the Raptors wiping out the Scouts for no losses. In return the tac squad slagged two of them with meltagun fire before charging in themselves. Not the Apothecary though, he failed his charge miserably and stayed behind to throw morphine darts at my wounded troops. 

In the backfield, my suicide assault squad charged the warp talons, wounded one, and then were all killed. Fairly typical for this bunch who never want to get painted it seems...

Sing it!

Withering under the weight of fire coming from the golden horde, I told Rob to 'quit hiding under a rock and do something!'

Yeah, thanks buddy; take the objective and prepare to charge me with another squad....that's really helpful. Ah well, he is the enemy. 

The Warp Talons hit and massacre a unit of crons!

Several of whom promptly stand back up and bog these monsters down.

Obliterators teleport into the backfield! Maybe they can hurt the walkers which have shrugging off my Krak missiles with alarming ease. 

Screaming the praises of the Almighty Bobby G, the Smurfs charge into battle, to show the Coyotes how close combat is properly done!

Uninterested in Smurf showmanship, the Apothecary charges the cultist squad and starts laying waste to the misguided mortals. 

Despite getting bogged down on its flanks, the 'Crons advance with ruthless efficiency.

My Rhino meanwhile was trundling about in the backfield exchanging mostly ineffective fire with the small legionnaire squad hunkered down in the building.

All of the cultists died or fled save the champion who held my Apothecary in place. 

The Necron overlord charges the Smurfs who along with the armor of contempt and a pair of sixes shrug off his war scythe and continue to beat down the regular golden grunts. 

Having finally dispatched the other squad, the Warp Talons advance on the 'Crons in the center. 

Rob meanwhile sends in the next wave! (Gulp!)

Morphine for me it is!

Indeed, this was the apothecary's rolls to save vs. all of those chainsword wounds! Unfortunately, the Squad leader had a daemonblade of some sort and dispatched him nonetheless.

The rest of my tac. squad also falls ceding Rob the objective. 

Fabius was enjoying watching the slaughter before him right up until his urchin side kick exploded in a volley of bolter fire which inflicted a wound or two onto the mad scientist as well!

No, my krak missiles couldn't injure that oblit either. The heavy bolters did gun down that whatever its called character in the middle though. Unfortunately, Necron chicanery and shenanigans allowed it to stand back up with a lone wound remaining.

My Lt. and accompanying tac squad charge Fabius who for convenience was taken down off of the level he was technically standing on.

And then they promptly killed him. Clearly these marines want some proper paint jobs!

The warp talons continue to slice thru the golden horde whilst the Smurf keep on rolling 6's to ignore the lord's war scythe much to my delight. 

At this point it was the bottom of turn 3, 11pm, and we called it quits as Rob had to work the next day. As is all too common in these games, no one held the objective long enough to actually score a VP, ending the game in a bloody draw (though I'm claiming moral victory for killing Fabius Bile!).