Rise of the Jar'Kia Sept: A Tau story

Forgive me for being gone for so long. A lot has changed over the past month since I wrote my last blog post. So what do I have for you today? Well for starters, I have starter pictures to my Tau Army!  Yes I've gotten bitten by the Tau bug to restart my paint jobs.


Blog readers will remember a few shots of my own Jar'Kia Sept that I posted a last year. Well I've restarted with yet another new paint scheme. This time one that I am truly thrilled over and wanting to see the army to completion on.

First up, We have a Crisis team of Three suits army with plasma rifles and a missile pod. These are my main hunters and are used for a majority of the army. I usually run my army as a Farsight Enclave list under the command of Shas'O Water Mirror.

This Team is lead by Shas'vre  JadeStar and is the one of my favorite to run. With their killer combo, this team is often the first to go hunting for enemy vehicles or HQs to assassinate.  Their last game against Necrons however saw the team whipped out, yet JadeStar survived and has not forgotten her lost brothers and sisters.

Next up is my Commander, Shas'O Mirror Water. Mirror Water is considered by most to be a renegade. Although he hasnt broken ties with the Tau Empire yet, he has been known to eschew any Etherials that have been attached to his command. In his actions against Orks during one campaign, Mirrow Water lost nearly 60% of his Cadre in a three month long operation. This left him frustrated with the Etherials and their way of handling the Tau Fire Caste.  Whether or not he will strike out on his own to join Farsight is yet to be seen. Nonetheless, The Cadre has not yet returned to the Inner Septs for rearmament and relaxation. Instead, they have started to find similar minded cadres to join with in order to take the fight to the enemy. As long as Mirror Water feels that his Cadre can fight, he will continue to seek out the enemies that have killed his blood kin.

Up next is my new Cadre Fireblade named Dawn Fire. Commander Dawn Fire is a strict Tau Commander that believes that their is nothing that cant be overcome with the right application of firepower.  He has been assigned to work with Mirror Water in hopes that he can stop the Shas'O should he attempt to go rouge. Yet being the newest member of a veteran Cadre can be hard and Dawn Fire might soon himself at odds with his ranking commander.

Well thats all I got, as always leave your comments and concerns. Below is a full army shot as of 4/20 showing all that had been painted. Keep checking back and For The Greater Good!

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Battle Report: Battle For Hive Valediction

The table at the end and a wide view of the game

"As the Emperor Protects, so must we" - Col. Commissar  Ibram Gaunt

                   This past weekend I played my friend Salous against his new ork army. In response I broke out my Tanith First and Only that I haven't run in forever and went to war.

Saint Sabbat takes the lead for the Tanith!

The table was played on a F.A.T Mat by frontline gaming which was really really nice! Maybe one day i'll buy one of them because it added alot of feeling to the battle. So how did it go? Well the guard walked away with solid 4-1 VP over the orks. We played at 1200 points and I used a custom Tanith Codex by Chaos_Seerer from Bolter and Chainsword.



Deploy was the standard deployment and we had 4 VP placed around the table. Although I outnumbered the orks, it was still going to be a tough game since he was running a biker squad. This squad had no painboy so in that regard I was lucky! Still guard shooting and orders were a important part of this battle.

Turn 1 say him move up and into the guard lines. Two of the Pardus 8th tanks were damaged and a few Tanith were shot at. However most of the shots either missed or were off target.

My turn 1 saw me killed a lot of the bikers and a few of his orks. Guard effectiveness was played up to make sure that they huged cover and make sure that they stayed out of his charge range.

Turn 2 saw him shot and then charge my tanks. This was a really bad turn as two of the Pardus 8th tanks were wrecked. The game looked bad. On the other hand, the ork squad failed to get off a charge against one of the Tanith squads who were lucky to fight another day.

The Commissar and her men

My turn 2 saw my remaining tank kill a few Orks. The soldiers mostly focused on the bikes and killed off the biker squad except for the Ork warboss on his bike. Having no other options left, Saint Sabbat charged the Warboss. The war boss looked at her, and then checked his lucky stick. Salous rolled a one twice and the War boss killed himself with his lucky stick leaving the Tanith and the Beati very confused. The Phantine Vendetta took off a hull point and blew up the boom gun on the back of the truck.

Turn 3 saw him charge a Tanith Squad and whip them out but not before taking serious causalities. The Orks repaired the boom gun and set about shooting at the third tank. Finally his nobs killed my last remaining tank. the other orks took a few shots at the Tanith but did little

My turn 3 saw me move up to meet the ork squad and to capture the far left point. Another tanith squad moved up to the red building and moved to capture the point hidden in the red building. A few orks died and the Vendetta came on shooting at the truck again.

Turn 4 saw him move a few orks and fire his orks at my Tanith. Three Tanith died but the others went to ground and used their camo cloaks to hide from the blast.

My turn 4  saw me move my Saint Sabbat and her Tanith Squad into position to charge. It was at this point that Salous called the game.

So what do I think of the game? Well It was a strong guard victory. The codex played very well and the Tanith units felt true to the lore. I had a really fun time running my army the way I had envisioned them to play. The dice rolls were pretty equal between us so there was alot of back and forth in the way the game was played. At one point I was pretty sure I had lost when the orks war boss had not died to concentrated fire. However, it was lucky he died to his own stick.

The battle was over, and the Guard had held the Line.

"For Tanith, For the Emperor!"

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Pardus 8th Armored: Line of Death

Line of Death

Today we have another addition to the Pardus! I present to you, Line of Death. This Leman Russ Tank is commanded by Captain Le Guin, seen both in the Tanith First and Only novels as well as the Phantine novels. This Leman Russ Tank carries two auto cannons and a hull heavy bolter. Sharp eyed views can note that the side panels have had the words "Pardus" added onto them for detail.  This tank was a joy to work on and I hope that sometime in the near future I will be able to make them some track covers for the top area. Captain Le Guin remains one of my personal favorite characters from the Gaunt's Ghost series due to his loyalty and caring for his men.

Front View

WIP at the moment!

Sometime in the future, I hope to make it so that Line can join her brothers and sisters as a Battle cannon tank as well. The battle cannon piece was modeled on a converted Thunderer that I sent off to Bandogora for his birthday. Maybe he'll let me do a post about that soon enough! In the meantime I am letting Line of Death be my main hunter for heavy infantry and light vehicles. I hope to get a 4th tank soon to run as a Command Tank for the squadrons. We'll see how that turns out.

So what else has been going on here? Glad you asked! I've taken to working on my next flyer to paint up: my converted Vulture Gunship! This flyer is heavily armed with Punisher cannons and a heavy bolter meant to take down light targets. It will be painted up in the colors of the 352nd "Blue Nose Bastards of Bodney, a P-51D Mustang unit from World War II. However, in game terms, it will be from the world of Phantine for their aviators. That at the moment is a major WIP.

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Pardus 8th Armored: Drum Roll Please!

Drum Roll in her glory

So here we are with the second part of my Pardus 8th Armored update! Today I present to you  "Drum Roll" commanded by Captain Hancot. This tank first appeared in the Gaunt's Ghost series of books. Since my Tanith are working with the Pardus 8th I figured I would add another tank into their ranks. This tank joins Fury of Pardus as the second member of the three part squadron I intend to make up for my 2000 point army.

Front View

This paint scheme was the same as other tanks in my Pardus Armored. The only problem painting this time was that I've been sick with a very nasty cold. As Im sure many of you know, feeling sick and painting models is not a fun feeling. Nonetheless I was determined to paint up this tank for the weekend. There are a few bits I intend to buy for this tank so that it looks more uniform with the others. Also I'm trying to think of ways to jury rig it so that the side weapons can be added onto the tank.hopefully in the future i'll have something done up.

So whats coming in the future? Well Im planning to finish the last of these three tanks. That tank is currently sitting here next to me on my work bench. After that I intend to go back to the Ad Mech or maybe work on some Menoth from Warmachine.

Also, that secret project that I keep mentioning has made major gains in the last few weeks. In the near future I hope to be able to talk to you all about it. I hope you all are as excited as I am. For the moment I think Im going to go lay back down. This sickness is terrible...


Till next time, leave a comment, say hi or give me a follow, every little bit helps!

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Pardus 8th Armored: Fury of Pardus

A New Year means new models to try and build. This  time around its the Pardus 8th Armored! Yes Im finally back working on my tank company. Last time I had messed around with these guys was way back in 2012 when I started to paint up my Leman Russ tanks. Those were sold and traded away on a (much regretted) whim. Now I've been forced to restart from scratch.

Originally, I was gonna wait for Victoria Lamb or Mad robot miniatures to release there own versions of the Leman Russ tank (and I still might) but in the mean time, I have converted up my 3 extra Chimeras into a Leman Russ Tanks with the power of magnets! Since my own regretted whim left me without tanks, I put away playing my IG for tau as of late. However, this does not mean that I have been slacking. Instead, I decided to convert up these models as proof of concepts to show that it could be done.

Today I think the proof is in the pictures. This is the first conversion I did. Its named Fury on the side, which is short for "Fury of Pardua" found in the book "Double Eagle" by Dan Abnett. It was commanded by Lt. Klodas and was abandoned in the desert on Enothis. Here, it before that fateful battle. It was also a nod to the movie "fury" which came out last year about the tank crews in WWII. Although I havent seen it, It was too good of a opportunity to pass up.

I did my paint scheme up in a urban environment since my armies are suppose to be fighting to retake a Hive world in the Sabbat Worlds. Since these pictures were taken, I have converted up two more tanks to add to the Pardus. With the news that Madrobot is coming out March 1st with the new Gideon Tanks of his, Im not sure how long these tanks will remain tanks but in the mean time I hope to have some fun with them and enjoy a few more games with my guard. Its been too long since they've seen action and a few of the squads have been done up (as seen here).

In other news, The Adeptus Mech have been getting some love and painted. Forge World Metallica is growing and I hope to soon be able to post their pictures here along side my Tanith army. One of the coolest things about the Ad Mech is their weird playing style. Its like a battery that starts off strong and weakens the longer the game goes on. They truly are a alpha strike army. Hopefully I will get to take them out soon! My regular opponent has now picked up a Ork army also. This means guardsmen vs ork battles might soon be a thing. Fingers crossed for some exciting battle reports.

Until next time!

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March on Tanith, March on: Part 2

Verghast Recruits

Tanith Vets

So here we are, the first real post of 2016! What do you we have for you today?

Well before I left for winter break I had been working on some Verghast recruits. I was originally going to post there on their own but decided to wait. Instead, what I got for you today is not 1 but 2 fully painted units of Tanith First and Only.

The First squad is made up of Verghast recruits pulled fresh from the hives. These men are carrying their own versions of the lasguns as given to them upon joining the first and only. The next picture below is of my first fully painted Tanith squad. Sharp eyed viewers will note that there are 11 Tanith in this picture! That is because I found a extra body and was able to make a extra model out of the bits I had ordered from Victoria Lamb. These two squads make up my first platoon of Tanith painted up. Only the Platoon command squad to go!

In the mean time I have taken a break from painting Tanith to work on my Ad Mech a little. My Ad Mech forces are coming together under the leadership of a female Magos! Along with her Skirtarii, she will be joining the Tanith in their battles across the Sabbat Worlds. These forces come from Forge World Metillica, home of my friends tech priest in our Dark Heresy game. Hopefully i'll have more to show you as the paint jobs progress.

Also, I was given my late christmas presents that I missed while I was away over Christmas

holiday. A bunch of new supplies and goodies to help the process go smoother. The biggest welcome was new brushes and a dark grey spray paint can for a surprise project. More on that later!

As the year begins to unfold, I would like to remind my readers that I am going to attempt to do this blog every two weeks. However, this is not always going to pan out. With work and school, I am trying to do the best I can on the blog. However, stop by, leave a comment or just let me know you were here. Every little bit helps!

Until next time!

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Hello 2016: A New Year,A New Start!

Hello and welcome to the 2016 edition of Behind the Lines! Like last year I will be attempting to blog about a new project every two weeks. This is not a promise by myself or anyone here to keep to that but we will strive to do so.  2016 hopefully will see many new and exciting works done and updates to the blog. Hope on and get ready, its going to be one hell of a ride.

First off, I will be continuing to paint up my Victoria Lamb Tanith army. This project remains my main goal and will be seen to completion. New Tanks and vehicles will also be joining the ranks as I expand my Imperial Guard army, Hopefully I will be able to keep up the momentum! Of course that all depends on what kind of time school and work allow.

Secondly, my Tau and Menoth armies will be shown here!  You all have seen my Tau before  but not the new scheme I have planned for it. The Menoth Army is a tougher choice on what I want to do with it and Im hoping to get some community feedback on it. Also in the works is a major new army! Yes, an Adeptus Mech from Forge World Metallica is joining the war in the Sabbat Worlds along with another new PC from our Dark Heresy Game! News on that to come!

Finally We have been talking about a big project all year long. This project is still on course and is due out this Year! Needless to say we are excited to show it off to all of you and hope that you all are as excited as we are. I apologize for the lack of information on this but we have been very busy with our real life  as well as preparing this for everyone.

2016 is going to be a major year of big news and exciting new items. Hopefully you all are ready!  Happy New Year Everyone!

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