Hobby Update: Savage Orcs

I've been working on my one big must-do project and that is getting my unit of Savage Orcs (and Savage Orc Warboss) painted.  The stumbling block has been the color. I didn't want the same blue I used on the rest of my army, but wanted a kinda hybrid Blue-Green to show the (relatively) recent addition of the savages to the Clan of Gork's Snowshoe.

I mixed a lot of colors, many times. What I did find is that no matter the ratio, the greens would always dominate the blues, like the green pigments are always much more powerful.  It was really frustrating.

So I had abandoned the idea and decided to jump into painting them starting with Sotek Green.  It's very close to the old Hawk Turquoise. I then washed using my favorite Coelia Greenshade and then layer up with Sotek Green, then highlight twice with mixes of Sotek Green and Space Wolves Grey.

This got them painted but left me wholly unsatisfied with the result. Then I decided to try something completely out of the blue: I washed the first models with Thrakka Green.  This *almost* gave me the result I wanted.  Almost.  Next day I hopped on down to the game store and picked up the Waywatcher Green glaze.  This worked great, getting me very close to the vision I had in my head. 

First time I had really used a glaze, but the learning curve is pretty short. 

Still need to do the warpaint.  The other issue with these guys is now simply tedious they are to paint. Bone, leather, stone and skin.  Browns and beige oh my.  I was able to speed up the process by going to a drybrush on all the bone parts. 

Another part of that is getting in more color.  Reds really add to the look of the unit, but it's hard. There is some lizard skins on some of the models so doing red and green skins helps a lot.  I also painted the standard as they show on the GW website, with a transition from red to yellow.

That's about it for now.  I need to finish assembly on Farsight, then get him going.  Plus I'm getting the scratch building itch again, who knows what will come of that...

Tournament cancelled; Hobby overload.

So sad, the tournament I was going to was cancelled due to lack of turnout. At least I didn't have to drive down there.  Still not happy, was really looking forward to it. Oh well.

I spent the weekend staring at stuff. There is so much I want to do, that I'm locking up not able to decide how to proceed!   I did however, make progress on two things. I assembled all my Warmachine models. I now have an official 15pt list ready to play.  I think I'm planing my list along the lines of the way I play 40k. This could be fun, or a complete epic failure. Not sure yet..

I also actually started on my Savage Orcs! I'm still not 100% sold on the skin, but it's close to what I had in mind and easy to do.  I plan on doing a simple job, and if I have time go back and add layers. I have two months to finish 35 models.  They are, as expected, easy but tedious...so getting motivation is hard. If I don't get them done I'll mix in some of my regular dual-hand weapon boys to fill the squad.  It will look funny, but be painted.

It will look better after the basing with snow.

I have the savage orcs to work on. I have a bunch of kits and bits to try and build another Dakkajet. I have the warmachine models to work on.  I have ideas for Chaos allies for my Orks. I have more firewarriors to paint for Ork allies.  I have my Farsight to work on. Ugh. I want them all done now! 

Plus with Eldar on the way, I might try to pick up some of that for Tau allies..

Anyway for now I'm trying to focus on savage orcs, but who knows how long that will last..

1250pt Tau tournament list

Yay! I got permission to head on down to Ancient Wonders for a 1250pt tournament.  Just for fun, no entry fee and no prizes.  Love playing there though, I've always had good games.

Just paring down my current list. I'm surprised how much of it I was actually able to get in.

HQ (60): Cadre Fireblade

Troop (125): 11 Firewarriors; Shas'ui w/Markerlight, blacksun filter
Troop (159): 6 Firewarriors, carbines; Devilfish with SMS, disruption pod
Troop (129): 17 Kroot, sniper rounds; 2 kroot hounds

Elite (94): 2x XV8 each with flamer and TL-Plasma

Fast (87): 7x Pathfinders, Sash'ui
Fast (195) 3x Piranha, 3x Fusion blasters, 3x disruption pods
 (Ya it's an expensive unit)

Heavy (170): 2x XV88, 2x HYMP, 2x Velocity tracker
Heavy (131): Skyray, disruption pod, blacksun filter

Fortification (100): Aegis w/quad-gun

1250 exactly

I have a lot of skyfire for 1250pts. I'm thinking someone might try to get in 1 or 2 flyers, as most armies can't deal with them at that points level.  Tau can.

The Piranhas are expensive. However it does give me 2 units.  Because they are taking fusion blasters, there is no reason to keep the gun drones attached. They will detach right away, and try to sneak up for contesting or other shenanigans, and if they die, it's irrelevant.

Pretty happy with this. We'll see how it goes.

Getting close to finishing cleaning up Farsight. He's not as perfect as I originally though, but it's still a very good casting.

A sad day indeed...

Never before the release of the Tau codex would I have imagined this day would come.  It really saddens me.

Tonight I tore off the railguns from my Broadsides.  Cleaned up the superglue, put in magnets and then painted over the scars like they had never been there.

It's hard for me to call it a nerf, considering just how overpowered broadsides have been in 6th.  Especially against Bastions..teehee.. even more so combined with 30 lootas..teeheehee..

You can just see the sadness in their faces..

I'm still working on scratch building some high-yield missile pods, but what I came up with so far is way out of scale to the crisis suit..even though it's probably close to the size of the actual bit from the new Broadside. So for now I'll just pop on some missile pods I have already.

Now I really need to re-think the allies for my Ork army, and what I'm going to do about AV14.  S10 broadsides have served me so incredibly well over the last 10 months I'm almost at a loss on what to do next.  Maybe I'll go with the Chaos Space Marine thing taking some meltaguns.

Anyway off to bed, ready for game night..

Tau Cadre Fireblade complete!

Finished up this guy tonight.  First of the new models, but not the last for sure. I only have a Farsight for now, but I'll be getting more as soon as the restocks come in to my FLGS. 

This is a GREAT model. I love the dynamic pose, love the complex armor and the cloak.  I combined techniques on it, going for a blend on the cape but line highlighting the armor.   The base color is the old GW foundation paint Fenris Grey, which (fortunately) I bought a new pot just before the paint line migration..so I have plenty for a Riptide.

I should say this guy is very easy to paint, even with the cloak assembled I had no issues reaching everything that needed paint.  IMO the single-model plastic blisters is some of the best stuff GW is doing right now, and the Fireblade is a testament to that.

Tau hybrid list take 2 (1750pts)

Here is my updated list based on the lessons learned in my first game.

I call it hybrid because it has a mix of static and mobile units.  Tau have units that excel at one or the other, and finding the right mix is hard.  I plan on trying out both static and mobile lists as well.

HQ (183): Crisis commander; Iridium armor, drone controller, cyclic ion blaster, missile pod, shield generator, target lock, onager gauntlet.
-His job is to lead the target drones and lend them his BS5

HQ (60): Cadre Fireblade
-same job as before!  Just too good and too cheap not to take!

 Troop (134): 12 Firewarriors; Shas'ui w/Markerlight, blacksun filter
-Goes with the Fireblade

Troop (159): 6 Firewarriors, Devilfish with SMS, disruption pod
-Mobile objective taker

Troop (120): 20 Kroot
-giving these guys another shot, but without the sniper rounds they are more flexible

Elite (94): 2xXV8; 2x TL plasma, 2x Flamer
-suicide deep strike unit. Could go with fusion if I can find the points

Fast (165): 3x Piranha, 3x disruption pods
-Really like how these guys worked out. 

Fast (120): 10x pathfinders, Shas'ui

Fast (96): 8x Marker drones

Heavy (194): 2x XV88, 2x HYMP, 2x Velocity tracker, 2x missile drones
-broadsides are primary damage units until I get a Riptide

Heavy (194): 2x XV88, 2x HYMP, 2x Velocity tracker, 2x missile drones

Heavy (131): Skyray, disruption pod, blacksun filter

Aegis (100): quad gun

1750 exactly

So that's the new version.  Still have a backfield unit, a couple mobile units and a couple that have flexible deployment options. 

Tau: second take after my first game.

So I played one game, of all things against another Tau army.  Let me tell you, Tau are *Brutal*, and Tau vs Tau fights will come down to who goes first...

I learned a lot from this game, especially how badly put together my first list is.  I was trying to spread out the markerlights around the whole army so that I would always have some. But it turns out when you do this, you take away alot ..if not most..of your killing power.  It just does not work out very well.

The only thing that worked as planned was the Piranhas. They are great at a fast moving infantry killer.  I will keep those.  The flyer sounds good, but 6 S7 shots for the points probably isn't worth it.  I'd rather go with velocity trackers.

Going up against markerlights is too hard.  There is so much shooting both quality and quantity in a Tau list combined with no cover save and a BS boost that no unit can survive.

So the way to build a list is to have discreet units of markerlights and killing power. 

There are a couple of things in the book which are are just broken.


First is the missile broadside.  For 89 whole points you get TWELVE freaking shots.
Second is marker drones with a battlesuit commander and a drone controller. Give the guy iridium armor so he's T5 so he's a great shield. A unit of BS5 marker drones that can move-shoot-move is just CRAZY.  oh, and they are CHEAP! And there is no longer a BS5 limit on markerlight shots.  Last night I got hit with a BS10 riptide that ignored cover...

Second try list is coming soon. Man, I really want more play time right now to do some testing.

Cadre Fireblade work in progress.

Last couple of days I've been working on my Cadre Fireblade to have a painted model for Wednesday's night league.  So far, he's coming along nicely.

I am happy with the blend on the cloak. I have the first highlight on the head and the rest is ready for layers/highlights.   This has been an awesome model to paint so far and I plan on getting another to do up to match my Blood Axe Firewarriors to use as an ally.

One thing I do really like about the model is that the shoulder pad is separate, so you can use a Farsight enclave or your own design for it.

Tau first impressions and first list.

Tau is finally here.  After a long, long wait. After virtually disappearing from the battlefield in 5th. After a small resurgence due to the changes in 6th.  After nearly a decade. Tau are back.

There are a lot of things to like in the book, and a lot of things that they changed/nerfed that didn't need to be..at all.

First two things that stick out at me is the tanks no longer have access to multi-trakers, which means no more shooting as fast vehicles.  This makes them much, much more static then they were before and is a huge nerf.  Devilfish, for example, gained 3 extra shots due to the changes in burst cannons and pulse carbines. However it can't use them (with their 18" range) unless it stays still...and it didn't drop in price at all.  This is a serious WTF in my opinion.

The second thing is the changes to the Kroot..who lost an attack, a point of strength but gained AP5 in close combat.  Completely, totally nerfed the unit as a close combat threat.  It was just..silly.

The biggest impression I got is that GW wants the Tau to return to 4th edition static gun line all bunched up together ..hence the supporting fire rule.  While it seems the army has the firepower to pull this off..it really does not.  Most everything in the book is BS3 with no way to change it (even the targeting array is gone).  A one-use warlord trait and a one-per-army wargear item can give you some re-rolls but that hardly fixes anything.

Now what got really good. First is the Smart Missile system. It gained range, does not require LoS and just flat-out ignores cover.  Free upgrade on the heavy support tanks.   The decoy launcher is a must-take on the pretty decent Razorshark fighter.  For the price of a grot you get an 4+ invul against shots with the interceptor rule.  The fighter sports 6 S7 shots and has a darn good chance to survive against the quad-gun.

The sniper drone teams also got a nice bump. Some people are complaining about losing the rail rifle, but to be sure they more then made up for it. Cheaper, and they get to fire the longer range sniper shot at BS5 as long as one of the marker dudes is alive.  BS5 means there is a great chance as some rends. That reminds me, the rail rifle is also very, very nice. Not only going to Ap1 but goes from heavy to rapid fire..*amazing*.  Wish more models could take it.

Speaking of markerlights, they are plentiful, easy to use and breaks many rules including being able to bump BS on overwatch and snap shots.  Pluck down a couple maker shots from the Skyray (which includes skyfire) on a flyer then open up on it at BS3. Or pull 2 marker shots to ignore cover completely.  There is quite a bit of ap3 and ap2 blasts in the book, and even more ap4/5 blasts which means the squishy troops behind an aegis are in trouble.

The riptide is going to be a definite wait-and-see unit. It sounds good on paper but gets spendy fast (not hard to push 300pts) and despite containing the most experienced, best warriors the Tau can field..are still WS2 and BS3..sigh.  But it does pack a lot of firepower and is very, very mobile.

Piranhas got much better. Nearly half the price and gained 3 shots.  Add in disruption pod for a +1 cover save (I should note the disruption pod does NOT give stealth..but a +1 cover save. Which means it would stack with stealth!!) so they always get a 4+ just for moving and you have a cheap, fast unit pumping out a lot of S5 firepower.

That is what has me puzzled.  The Tau have 2 kinds of units..ones that move fast and ones that sit back and don't.  I'm not sure how to mix those two things up in a single list, or if you even want to try.

This is the first list I want to try, pure Tau for now.

HQ (50): Ethereal
-A buff monster with a re-roll bubble for almost nothing.

HQ (84): Cadre Fireblade, 2x Marker Drone
-A great, cheap HQ choice buffs the unit hes in and has BS5 with split fire for the quad gun

Troop (142): 12 Firewarriors, Shas'ui, 2x Marker Drone
-Sits behind the Aegis with the Fireblade

Troop (244): 10 Firewarriors, Shas'ui, Marker Light, 2x Marker Drone
-Devilfish with SMS, Disruption Pod
-This is my advancing troop choice, moves up and sets up a position to put out some marker lights mid-game

Troop (140): 20 Kroot, sniper shots
-Cheap unit that can infiltrate. Only 24" range so not sure how good they will be.

Elite (196): 3x XV8 Crisis Suits
Shas'vre with Puretide Engram Chip, Drone controller, Burst cannon, 2x marker drones
2x Shas'ui with TL Burst cannon, plasma rifle
-Mobile unit capable of dealing with different kinds of units.

Fast (168): 3x Piranha, disruption pods, blacksun filters
-Fast, 4+ cover, 24 S5 shots..

Fast (168): Razorshark fighter, disruption pod, decoy launcher, missile pod
-lots of firepower

Fast (133): 10x Pathfinders, Shas'ui, 1x marker drone
-Markerlights!  Sure to be the first unit targeted.

Heavy (194): 2x XV88 Broadside, 2x Velocity Tracker

Heavy (131): Skyray, SMS, blacksun filter, disruption pod

Fortification (100): Aegis, Quad-gun.

1750 exactly.

Slannesh Chaos Lord

Despite Tau coming out tomorrow, I still have it in my head to build a small Chaos Space Marine ally force.  I was thinking about a unit of noise marines for the blastmaster, but due to the rules in the CSM book I would still have to have a troop choice.  But it would allow me to take a Helldrake.  A pink helldrake would look pretty bad-ass IMO.

Anyway the ideas are still going through my head and I wanted to try a color scheme.  Went through all the pink paints at my FLGS and finally settled on Vallejo Game Color Sunset Red and GW Emperor's Children.

The armor is based in sunset red, then washed heavily in Baal Red wash (Yes I still have a lot of it) and then layered with sunset red and emp's children.

This is both a test and potential ally HQ but I didn't put anywhere near as much work into it as I did the last one.  Not much blending, just layers.  It's overall an OK paintjob. I could have blended the armor and cloak but just didn't feel like it :)

He was definitely much easier to paint the second time around. The first time I spent a lot of looking trying to figure out what was what on the model.

I almost went with yellow for the sword and plasma, but thought it would be too much of a spot color.

Anyway, pics. Enjoy. 

Youtube wargamming parody video

Holy crap I got parodied! I'm absolutely amazed I do something that can be parodied lol!

This video has me in tears! Spot on in so many ways!  Thanks a lot guys, it really made my day.

Working on a side project waiting for Tau..a slannesh character for a possibly future ally project.

So that's it for now. I've been pouring over Tau rumors desperately waiting on the codex.