Marcharius IX Campaign: Curtain Call

"I dont care about that damned planet,I only care that the heads of each and every [Chaos] Lord there is on a [expletive] pike" - Uriel Bejz (Renegade Marine, once of the Minotaur's chapter 999 M41)

"I commend them, the Gue'La. Not for their tenacity, not for their ferocity nor for their cunning. It is for their honor that I now have great respect for them. Even when drawn down to a man, even when death was inevitable, they still fought us with all they had, instead of cowering or surrendering like dogs. When faced against overwhelming odds, they stood strong, even when scores fell. These...humans...they will forever have my respect." -  Shas'O BrightSun (T'Kain Sept, Marcharius IX reclamation Force M41)

Today ends our groups Marcharius IX Table top Campaign. Marcharius IX first appeared in our Dark Heresy game as a world on the edge of the Imperium. Located between Tau Space and the Imperium, this world would come to have drastic consequences for the party.

The party first encounter Marcharius IX in their pursuit of the Rogue Trader Josiah. Josiah had been spreading chaos tainted wheat across the imperium for years, having been chased by Inquisitor Herodotus and his warband. Bo Terran, the charismatic interrogator and de facto leader of the party, unintentionally brought the party to the world after getting captured and pulled into in a webway with eldar pirates. What the party found was a world high in tension. Tau and Humans living together in tense truce. After reestablishing contact, they found that the local Governor of the world had made a trade deal with Josiah in order to sell the world's resources to chaos in exchange for immortality. It was discovered that Bubo the plague father and Kordan of the Thousand Sons would soon arrive. Bubo with the Rogue trader, and Kordan in pursuit of Bubo. The party only barely escaped as the world fell to chaos around them. Having made it out alive, the party called upon the Marines of the Dorn's Raiders and "The Coalition", a mass gathering of Space Marines, Guardsmen, and other factions of the imperium in order to retake Marcharius IX. When the party returned to Marcharius, they had one goal. Kill the 2 chaos lords. While Bubo was killed in the fighting, many members of the Coalition were lost. Unable to stop the imperium, Kordan summoned a warp storm and consumed the planet in the warp. The party was only barely able to escape having suffered major losses in friendly Non player characters and major damage to themselves. The Coalition along with the Dorn's Raiders took massive causalities in the fighting as well.

100 years passed......

This is where the table top campaign took off. After 31 days in May, each of the former PCs and GM recorded a total of 20 games played.  The armies were as followed:  Jon: Detachment D-44 (Imperium), Jerry: T'Kain Sep (Tau), Greg: Dorn's Raiders (Space Marines) and Tallarn (Imperial Guard), Kurtis: 186th Death Korp (Imperial Guard) and Chaos Marines (Night Lords) , and Matt: Brother Hood of Ferrus (Iron Hands Space Marines).

 The Imperium had a 1:4 win loss ratio.  The Tau had a 1:1 win loss ratio and chaos had a 0:0 ratio. The height of the campaign was when the Dark mech stole a former PC's power lance that they had left behind for the survivors. What chaos wants with the Power lance is a story that will be told when Wrath and Glory (the new 40k RPG) releases this June This is not the last we have heard of Marcharius IX. In the mean time, the Tau of the T'Kain Sept had reclaimed the world in the name of the Tau Empire. What they found was horrific and barbaric......

Post Campagin Patch for Detachment D-44

The last of the Gue'la lay dead in a pile. The firefight had been tough and many shas'la of the T'kain sept lay dead near where the Gue'la tank had blasted their position. After a month of fighting, the human world, once known as Marcharius IX had been reclaimed by the Tau Empire. The Etherals wanted to cleanse the world of all chaos taint and make it into a new sept world. One that would be a shining example to the rest of the Empire. However Commander Brightsun was not so sure. Having seen the horrors of the landscape and the chaotic influences that had ravaged this world for so long, Bright sun was sure that no tau citizen could ever truly consider this a home. The surviving human forces had either been scattered or died en masse. As for the chaos forces, they had disappeared as quickly as they had come. Many of the Imperiums soldiers had escaped and command reported that they had gotten back to the Imperium lines. Entire parts of the world burned. The Imperium had not left quietly and Brightsun believed they would back someday. Among the survivors had been found humans as old as 150 years old. Many Earth Caste believed this was not natural for the human life span and questions had been asked of those who had been found. One of them, a young human had responded that the warp had kept them alive to live their own personal hells. Many Earth caste scientist took this be the ramblings of a insane human.Whatever the case was, there was still work to be done. The twisted barren landscape was still full of daemon creatures and resistance cells. Whether or not the world could ever  be fully reclaimed Brightsun did not know. Taking a last look at the deadpile of tau warriors Bright sun activated his XV-8 and flew off to find another battle.

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Tau Codex: Warlord Traits and Dreams

Hello everyone, my name is Jerry and today we will be talking Traits, my feelings on them and just a general review of them. Jon will be posting this for me but lets move on.

To start off, I would like to point out the “Named Character and Warlord Traits”. Of the six named characters, there are two from different Septs, the rest are T'au. So if we want to run a Battalion or Brigade from another Sept, we HAVE to have either a Fireblade or a Ethreal in it because of the COMMANDER limit. Already not a fan.

Another thing I would like to talk about is that we only really have three “types” of Warlord (excluding Longstrike and Darkstrider). We have the Ethreal, the Cadre Fireblade, and the COMMANDER. When looking at a lot of these traits, a lot of them seem to have been built for suits in mind. Precision of the Hunter, A Ghost Walks Among Us, and Examplar of the Mont'ka come to mind, but we have a limit to one per detachement

There is good too though. For example my favorite Trait thus far has been Through Unity, Devastation. This thing takes your average gunline and makes it a slightly more deadly or turns your Crisis Suits into Assassins. Say you have a Fireblade with this Trait and you've got fourteen Pulse Rifles that have a target within Volley Shot range. On average, with only re-rolls of 1, because that is all I use my Fireblade for is Markerlights, they are needing to save against sixteen shots, and of those about five are at -1. Now my math maybe a little suspect, but those Sixteen shots alone would usually kill any infantry in their way. But those Five -1's, when going up against stats like 2+/3++ *Cough*Custodes*Cough* give that little edge on possibly nicking more health off it. Hell, it helps against most MEQ in general and can even flat out kill some GEQ. The idea is that whether you're spamming pulse fire, or Ion cannons, it makes your dudes that much more lethal.

                                                            The Good

Through Unity, Devastation: Like I talked about above, this Trait gives all your 6+ wound rolls an additional AP when within 6” of the Warlord and against a single unit. Helps that gunline focus fire and annihilate more armored foes. Best part is it works on any toughness.

Academy Luminary: What's not to like? It increases the range of your three HQs abilities and gives you an additional CP. I personally haven't thrown it on anybody but Aun'Shi and a Kroot blob, but the thought of throwing it on a Commander, and advancing a gunline Via Mont'ka to cover a large swath of board without losing aim is great!

Precision of the Hunter: So this is one of those Traits I mentioned earlier that was meant more for a suit. I cannot think of a good reason a Fireblade or Ethreal are re-rolling 1's vs. MONSTERS and VEHICLES when most things that have that keyword they will be wounding on 4+ or worse. If it wasn't for the fact it is really, really good on a Anti-heavy 'Mander, this would be Bad. But when I get to re-roll wound rolls of 1 against things I am wounding on 4+ or better, yeah, really helps when my Fusionmander is burying 3 Blasters into a tank and really wants that gooey Marine or Guardsman inside.

Seeker of Perfection: Again another suit made Trait. For each 6+ hit roll, +1 to wound roll. The Fireblade is not pumping out enough shots to make this reliable and the Ethreal will most likely die before it can really see it's use with it's 5+ save in melee. Kinda in the same ballpark as Precision of the Hunter in the sense that it is great at making sure your shots go through, but feels more like it is built for large volumes of fire with weaker guns. Say for example a Coldstar decked with burst cannons and HBC. He is going to be wounding most things you wanna throw volume fire at on 3+ so adding 1 for every 6+ hit is kinda neat and it seems to stack with Overwatch. So it seems that every time you hit in Overwatch you get to add 1 to your wound as you need a 6 to hit in Overwatch as Bork'an Sept.

Hero of the Enclaves: This thing is awesome! Now T'au should never in their right minds get in melee, but when it comes to the Farsight Enclaves, sword range is where they like to be. And no Trait better emphasises this fact than by letting you Heroic intervention 6” and basically as long as you don't stay in melee you get to re-roll FAILED hit rolls. So even though average 'Mander is hitting in melee on 3+, that “all failed rolls” part makes you that much more of a Kung Fu badass. And with Fly, there is no reason you aren't making sure the conditions for the Trait aren't met. By far this Trait is the most reliable and possibly the most potent...as long as you have some Fusion blades because you still don't have melee weapons and still have AP 0, D1 fists.

                                  The Bad

Exemplar of the Mont'ka: So let's start off with Mont'ka. Back in the Chapter approved, this rule read “Your Warlord can Advance and still shoot as if they hadn't moved this turn”. Frankly kinda busted because then my Darkstrider (who I got a tonne of use in Index) or Shadowsun could just run down the field and in Darkstrider and a Fireblade's case, Markerlight on 2+ still, and on Shadowsun she could bounce up to some tough guys with her min 9” move and blast them in the face with her Blasters. Now with the Codex out, Darkstrider no longer get's this, nor does Shadowsun and Fireblades are more prone to standing around with their gunline. I can see it's use on a non-Vior'la Fireblade keeping up with some Carbine warriors still wanting Markerlight, or maybe a COMMANDER that want's to save points instead of being a Coldstar but otherwise is overshadowed by Vior'la Tenant.

Through Boldness, Victory: Great if you didn't already hit on 2+ and usually is able to re-roll 1s's. Also doesn't work during Overwtach, which admittedly would be busted, and not when outside 12” which is when all other armies -1 to hit ability no longer applies. It's good when you no longer have re-rolls, and  when you have lost you mind and are allowing something to stay within 12” of your Warlord without being an Assassin or Meat Grinder. Risk is too great for a payout that you easily get already.

A Ghost Walks Among Us: Let's bring back Darkstrider because he gets this. Pretty good for him because he gets to be all zippy on the field with his 7” Vanguard, 7” move and now +6” advance. Other than that, not that great. Ethreal can get it, but only good thing I see coming out of it is keeping up with Kroot mob. Fireblade is prone to standing around and if he advances he can't shoot anything that turn anyway (unless Vior'la but even then only the rifle can be used) and when it comes to COMMANDERs, there is the Coldstar who has a better movement (though I am unsure if you can stack it with a Coldstar as the Trait says specifically when rolling a dice).  The point is that it seems the Units that would get the most use out of it are heading into melee, which we don't want our Warlord most of the time (see above, Hero of the Enclaves.) or have a unit that does this better for 18 points more.

                                  The Ugly

Strength of Belief: I hate this thing. It reminds me that T'au have no Psyker defense, have no reliable mortal wound generator (see Seeker missile) anymore, and the thing is useless anyway. First off it is put on our Tank Commander. Other than a handful of guns, there is nothing else but Psyker powers that dish mortal wounds. And most Psyker powers that do mortal wounds hit the closest unit. I don't know about you, but my Longstrike is far away from any Psyker unless it is Grey knights or some Eldar units that like to get close. Even then there is a unit in between Longstrike and that Psyker.When not on Longstrike, the only time I see it's use is from snipers, but sniper rifles and most other weapons are not reliable mortal wound generator to see it's use unless you opponent spams those things.

Overall I think when it comes to Traits, there are some that will see way more use than others, but overall I can't say we did terribly. Next time I will be Talking Tenants and kinda do an overview much like this for it.

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Tau Codex: 8th Edition Review

The Tau are back! March 17th saw Games Workshop release the first 8th edition codex for the Tau Empire and what a codex it was! New Sept Tenants, Stratagems and even a list building restriction found nowhere else in the game. Tau really did get it all. However after getting the codex, I decided that it was worth a look through. These will be first impressions from the codex between myself as a veteran Tau player and Jerry2die4 as a brand new Tau player. Each of us has written a segment of this article. We hope that both the veteran players and the new players see what has come out of the Eastern Fringe.

Jon's thoughts as a Veteran Tau Player

First off, the good. TAU SEPT TENANTS! Finally! This is something that I've wanted since 4th edition for the Tau. Now that we have six sept tenants, we have the ability to actually have some uses for certain units. Since my Jar'Kia sept is a world that was taken by the Bork'an Tau, I felt it was only natural for me to take the Bork'an Sept trait.

Next comes the warlord traits and there are a lot of them. Tau got a few in 6th and 7th when the warlord traits first came out. However this edition has seen the number raise drastically. Each Sept is getting its own trait and this allows for the player to have a lot of say on how their warlord is run. I plan to have my commander running a triple Ion blaster and some shield drones. However, the 1 Tau Commander suit per detachment is kind of a bust. More on that later.

The Stratagems that  Tau got were really nice. We even got the return of the Doomsday bomb from 4th ed. A pleasant surprise for those long time tau fans. I think as a Tau veteran player, the most noticeable thing about the codex was a the number of options that it opens up. I like how each stratagem allows for the flexibility of play. A tau player should be able to pull of between 10 and 15 command points allowing many tactical options for the average player. Stratagems allow for the Tau player to be able to play his or her army with a lot of synergy. Whereas the Imperial Guard is about numbers, Tau is about fire power in the right spot at the right time. Each piece of war gear and stratagems allows a Tau Shas'o to be prepared for anything and everything.

Victory for the Tau over the Forces of Chaos

Now on the bad and the ugly....

First, Crisis suits are still very expensive. The base cost for a crisis suit is seemingly too high for the output of damage that it does. With the loss of Crisis suits being troops, the usefulness of the unit has gone down. This also damages Farsights ability to "Farsight Bomb" the enemy with crisis suits.  Secondly, the uselessness of the Tau Key word for Jetpack. When keywords first became a thing, it was hoped among many Tau players that this keyword would allow for us to Jump-Shoot-Jump. However in the codex, the Jetpack keyword was not given any abilities. In essence, its useless.
Riptides, although better priced are still very expensive and usually die very quickly. Other units like the forge world Barracuda went up in points and are not worth fielding. Another problem is that some of the Special Characters like Shas'O O'Ralia are unable to be fielded due to their specific Sept Keyword which is not in the codex. At the moment, taking O'Ralia is more of a hindrance to you than to the enemy.

Now the ugly. The elephant in the room. The only 1 Commander rule for Tau is a major hindrance to the army at the moment. With no other army facing this restriction, Tau seem to have been (un)fairly treated in the restriction of their main HQ unit. I never used the Commander Spam and I understand why it was removed. However, what we got in return put a hamper on the army as a whole. For those who like to run multiple commanders, the limitation is going to hurt. With the March FAQ coming soon, hopefully this issue will be addressed.

As the codex starts to gain some age, Tau players will have to adapt to the coming meta. Already many list are aiming for as many command points as possible. The Tau Septs with their special rules allow for players to have all types of play be it defensive or offensive. Time will tell where the codex falls in the power levels. As a long time Tau Veteran, I am both excited and hopeful to see the army recover from its index era and move onward into 8th.

Tau'va Shas'la!

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2018!: New Year and New Projects!

Hello and welcome to the 2018 edition of Behind the Lines Gaming.As a new year gets underway we look forward to the new start that a new year will bring. Like last year I will be attempting to post every other week but real life might  get in the way. As with last year, this is more a attempt to regulate myself than a true schedule or promise.

Projects for this year include finishing my Tanith 1st and only army as well as my Phantine and Pardus 8th Armored. Good progress has been made on this army and I can only hope 2018 sees to it that more good things are to come.

My Menoth forces will also continue to be worked on. This army is a small one and I am unsure if any more models will be added to it. Time will tell. What use to be a nice 50 point army is now somewhere in the 40 point range. These point changes, as well as the game going up to 75 points has left a sour taste in my mouth.

My Adeptus Mech forces might also grow some in 2018. I am planning to completely rebuild my list with a new force and build up my forces to 2000 points.

With the lack of a Tau codex for 8t Edition, The Tau Sept has been shelved until the codex hits. Once the codex comes out, I will see how Tau have transferred over to the new edition. 

The Deathwatch force remains small while the Black Templar army I bought in 2017 has been stripped and primed. Im still not certain what I want to do with them at all. I might at some point sell them. 

2018 is going to be a exciting new year that we here at Behind the Lines gaming hope everyone will be excited for! Stay tuned for a much more to come!

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Tau Sept: Shadow sun

To Follow any other path other than the Tau'va is to doom us all. Only together through courage and discipline shall we stand victorious. Fight with fire and courage and nothing can stand against us! - Shadow Sun (Tau Codex 4th Edition) 

So I hope you all will forgive me but I have been busy this last month with school and work. Today I present to you something thats been in my "to write" list for a while. Tau Commander Shadow Sun! 

This model is from Wargame Exclusive and is the Greater Good Dash Commander model. Sharp eyed viewers will notice that this version of Shadow Sun is a lot more "anime" than Games workshops version. The design was fine for what I wanted it for and so I put in a order for it.

 This model took about two weeks to get to the United States and then I washed it as per normal. Afterwords I put down a purple ink layer and then did the jade wash on the model. From start to finish the model only took 1 full night of work. This was unusual for me and I carefully checked to make sure that I did not miss any detail on the model. I tried to also highlight her face as to make it seem more "cute" but I dont think I did as good a job as I could have. You be the judge. 

Lately I've been searching for a better job and so my post have become fewer and far between. This means in the future I might be down to only 1 post per month. Hopefully I can keep the pace up but we will see. How do you all feel about WIP post? I usually try to make sure a post is about a finished project but Ive been thinking more WIP post might help me to get more motivated? Let me know in the comments!

Anyway Today I also broke out my air brush and did two more chimeras for my Inquisition and Tanith Army. After they were dried, I got out my tanks and took a group photo as a tease of what I want to do a future post on for my "Armored Company" list I play at times. So since I've had you all wait for so long I hope this teaser will do. 

Work In Progress Armored Company. Notice that the red chimera is a Inquisition Chimera as is the one on the far left in the same row.

Till next time! Keep rolling those dice! Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps.  

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Tau Sept: Shas'O R'alai

Long time viewers of my blog might notice that the banner has changed for Tau. That's because Im trying to make it so each army from here on out has a unique banner or some form of it. We'll see how well it goes. Today I present a new addition to my growing Sept. Shas'O R'alai!

At the store ( I bought the forge world broadside too!)

This model was purchased for me by Bandogora01 at his local game store. Old armies are traded in for store credit and I happened to be there over Christmas break when I spotted Shas'O R'alai and a Forge world Broadside. Both very hard pieces to come by (without paying Forge world prices here in the states). As such I wanted to pick them up and had my friend who worked there hold them for me until I got paid. Bandogora was nice enough to ship them to me once I paid for them and they arrived in good time. The initial model weren't much to look at. Black primer and a weird brown color base coat. This was removed easily enough with LA's Totally Awesome and then the true fun began.

Cleaned up and ready (Spoilers for future post)

I primed the model and then set about painting it in the color scheme of my Sept. Long time viewers know that the color scheme usually takes about a week from start to finish. Shas'O R'alai took two weeks of off and on painting. This was because as a HQ unit I wanted to make sure extra attention was paid to the model in the process. Once the model was finished I set about making a few fixes on the model before calling it done.

That same weekend, I took Shas'O R'alai out to the game store with my brother. We played a 1500 point game. Tau vs Guard. Crisis Wing (Farsight) vs Armored Company with a mission from the Monk'ta Book. Needless to say, I lost. However Shas'O R'alai proved his worth killing many guardsmen, a chimera, and a sentinel before dying to massive lasgun fire. His warlord trait: The Assassin really did make him a terror for independent characters. 1d4chan claims hes the tau version of Abbadon, Yarrick, and other heros who can "tank" their way through the enemy. I didnt see that as much as I saw a long ranged killing machine who could bring a lot of hurt for very little cost. Shas'O R'alai's markerdrones hitting on a 3+ really did make it easy for markerlights to be used for his squad. In the future I think Shas'O R'alai might become a more permanent addition to my forces. My brother on the other hand reverted back to the normal "Tank-Mander" build stating he felt that Shas'O R'alai wasnt within his play style. To each their own.

Back View

Marker drones

Tell me your thoughts on Shas'O R'alai, is he truly a terror like Dante or Yarrick or is he more akin to our regular Tau commander. Share your thoughts below.

Till next time!

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Tau Sept: A Rising [Rip]Tide

Today we present you with a real treat. A Tau Riptide done up the Jar'Kia Sept scheme. This Riptide was a Christmas present from my father and was a gift I had been wanting for a few years now. Riptides are commonly though as OP (Overpowered for you non gamers) and so they are not given much mercy on the table. In the last three games I've used proxies for it, it has not died and in fact has killed a ton of points back.

So, how did I go about starting this build? Well first I clipped off the pieces and then laid them out to do sub assemblies on them. I highly recommend sub assemblies for this model due to its size and height.

Next, I set about doing painting all the parts in jade with a purple ink. After that I did the metals first with a bronze and then with a tin color. After that, I broke out my air brush and set to work doing all the jade parts you see before you. While the purple ink took two full days of on and off work, the jade only took 5 minutes with a air brush. A airbrush makes the job so much easier and enjoyable.

After the airbrush work, i let the model dry before going onto the detail work. First was the highlighting on all parts of the model. Then came the recessive highlighting with the purple wash. I then washed the blacks with nuln oil before adding a highlight to the black. Next came the metallic parts (again due to over spray with the airbrush) and then the washes on top of the metal parts. Lastly came the orange which I had stupidly left at my girlfriends house over winter break and so was forced to put that part of the project on hold for a long while. I then added a brown tone to the base and added some agrellian earth to the bottom in order to make the model look completed.

I have yet to try it in game yet but from what Ive seen of it played in proxy play, it is a beast of a model. Stupidly, once i finished the model I had burnt myself out on it and left the Burst cannon and secondary systems partly done. This has seen been corrected but it was a pain in the arse to go back and finish them out.

Overall it was a fun model kit to put together. While I am in no rush to get another Riptide, I do intend to buy 2 more someday. I think running a riptide wing would be fun (and cheesy as heck). Maybe I should save it for tournament level play?

In real life news I have found out that my Masters Thesis has been approved. This is a huge milestone for me and one that means life is about to get really busy for me. Not that i'm complaining though.

Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

Till next time!

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Tau Sept: Stealth Suit Ready!

Another unit that has been along time coming. Today we present to you: Tau Stealth Suits.

These models were done over the course of two weeks in batches of three. Special attention was given to the unit in order to make sure it looked like the squad was matched to the rest of the army.

These models are some of my favorites having been the original stealth suits of the Tau back in 2006. I much prefer this smaller and sleeker look to the bulkier plastic models that came later. With this squad I wanted to get back to painting bright colors after having painted blacks and reds for so long with my Tanith. It was a joy to be able to paint something that did not have to be grim and dark.

These stealth suits showed up in the battle report a few weeks ago. As a unit of four, they were able to inflict some heavy causalities on the Tanith guardsmen. The burst cannon is a nasty piece of tech for removing GEQ models (Guardsmen EQuivalent). A week later my brother and I replayed the same list as done up in the battle report. This time the Tau and the Guard were forced to withdraw after a lengthy battle that saw both sides reduced to very few in number. While I did not get any images of that battle, it felt good to get back into the fight.

This Tau unit of stealth suits saw action during that engagement. They were able to deep strike deep into the enemy lines and killed the priest that was accompanying the Tanith Veteran Squad. The next turn they were gunned down by the angry Tanith and removed from play. Still, the battlefield is ever changing and my brother might take them again. I'll have to be on guard against them.

As the year draws to a close, these blog post are going to become more spardic. I imagine that I will only get 1 or 2 more post in for the year and then we'll be in 2017.

Till Next time! Say hi, leave a comment or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

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Battle Report: Ambush at Hive Vulcan

"These Gue'la know not the power of the Farsight Enclaves, Let us enlighten them to the Greater Good" -   Attributed to one Shas'O Jark'ia MirrorWater prior to the Ambush at Hive Vulcan M. 41

Turn 1

Its time for another battle report, this time between myself and Silent Phantom 45.  Phantom decided to play Tau against my guard in a 1000 point match up. We each used a tournament list that I had written up and set up the table. Mission was to kill as many of the enemy as possible.


Turn 1 saw Phantom line up his two broadsides and fire off his missile salvos at me. The shots hit my chimera and blew it apart wrecking it. The Tanith jumped out and scattered as the Pardus Chimera burned. Next Crisis suits lined up a shot and fired their missiles and plasma at my Leman Russ tank. All of the shots missed.

My turn 1 saw me fire my chimeras and Leman at the crisis suits and broadsides. All of my shots failed to hit. I had forgotten to scout my snipers so they were left in reserve.

Turn 2 saw Phantom move his suits into position and line up another shot. This time the Leman Russ tank was knocked out by the two broadsides and the Crisis suit team that had missile pods and plasma rifles.  On the other end of the board, the crisis team failed to come in from reserve and the suits moved up along with the commander. The stealth team of three hid out in a ruin.

My turn 2 saw me move up my troopers to cover of the burning Russ. The scout sentinel walked into the lane of fire and the chimeras on the other end of the field moved up firing at the stealth team. 2 members of the stealth suit team were killed in action but their leader would rally on his own. A crisis suit of the three man squad was killed in action as well when the Tanith Veterans jumped out of their chimera and fired into the enemy with their war priest shouting hymns to the emperor. My snipers failed to come on

Turn 3 saw Phantom destroy another chimera as its Tanith crew jumped out from the flaming Pardus wreck.  The crisis team on the right flank blew apart the scout sentinel and the broadsides fire at the command chimera but missed. On the left flank the crisis suits and the commander tore into the Tanith squad and the priest. Two members of the squad were killed but the rest lived as the xeno suits descended upon them

My Turn 3 saw my command chimera move back to avoid the broadside guns. Orders were thrown out to the vets and they roared their defiance at the enemy killing two drones and a suit. The stealth team was shot at by the chimera but lived. On the right flank my Veterans were firing at the crisis team descending upon them. One enemy suit was killed. Again my snipers failed to come on.

Tau in my back field

Turn 4, Phantom deep struck his Tau into my back field. Tearing apart my Pardus chimeras, he ripped into them and the Tanith were forced to jump out. Now things were getting desperate. He fired destroying the command chimera. Ibram Gaunt and Colonel Corbec jumped out angry that their comrades had been killed by the xeno. A few more Tanith on each flank were killed as the xeno pressed their attack.

For the Emperor!

Turn 4 for me saw my guys fire into the Tau and a few assaults went off. Gaunt and his squad charged the Tau, and in return Ana was hit as they overwatched. The squad used their straight silvers to tear into the enemy ripping apart the suits as one enemy and a drone fell to the blade. In front of them, the Tanith veteran squad assaulted the Tau commander and last stealth suit in one of the most heroic acts of the game.This delaying action would later allow for the Tanith to re position themselves and get a better lane of fire on the enemy. Many more Tanith were killed and injured and the war priest himself was knocked out as the xeno commander pushed aside all opposition. The Tau stealth suit was killed inspiring the Tanith to greater feats of heroism.

For Tanith!

Turn 5 saw the Tau kill off the last of the Veteran squad and one lone Tanith sergeant ran for his life. The Tau commander fired killing three Veterans of Tanith and the broadsides moved up. The Command Squad and Gaunt were hit again losing another Tanith and on the left flank the survivors of the Tau commanders rampage got attacked again by the Shas'O. Things were starting to get very desperate.

My Turn 5 saw the snipers come on and the Veteran squad in the chimera join the assault against the Tau suits attacking my command squad. With their straight silvers, the Tanith tore into the Tau killing the suit and its drone. Now free of the melee of combat, the Command squad turned its attention to the squad of crisis suits bearing down upon it on the right. Gaunt and Corbec was all that was left. Doc Dorden had been KO'ed by the suit as it went down. The snipers fired killing the second suit leaving two suits alive. Gaunt and Corbec moved towards their enemy to show them Tanith's wraith.

Desperate Melee combat

Turn 6 saw the enemy Tau commander punch his fist into the Pardus chimera with a str 10 AP1 hit. the tank exploded causing him 3 wounds and killing 2 Tanith in return. The Crisis suit then moved towards his next target: the lone Tanith veteran squad. The two suits fired on Gaunt and Corbec but missed. The broadsides had no targets but moved up anyways killing one sniper. The lone sergeant running for his life was also killed during this turn.

My Turn 6 saw my last Vet squad fire on the Crisis command but fail to kill him. The Snipers fired on the commander suit but failed to kill him. Corbec and Gaunt took on the two suits and killed both in melee combat. They then consolidated towards the enemy commander.

Turn 7 saw the enemy commander jumping away from the three surviving Tanith and firing his last charge of Ion at them.All three were vaporized in a hail of ion fire.

Corbec and Gaunt face the Tau

My Turn 7 saw Gaunt and Corbec fight the Xeno in melee. Both were Knocked out and left for dead on the battle field.

Victory had gone to the Tau!


Post Game report:

Well that wasn't how I expected things to go. This fight was hard and Phantom (being my brother) knew what I would do and countered hard. It was a bloody fight till the end and was a hard fought game. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the list I was using. Someday i'll have to challenge him again to replay this fight. For a while I thought I had him but he was able to play aggressively and turn the tide. Some of you might note that he was using my Tau against me. Thats because he doesnt have a army of his own but Its nice to see my figures being used (even if it is against me). Anyway leave comments and any questions you have i'll be happy to answer.

Till next time!

Table at the end

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Battle Report: Battle for Hive Desolation

"There was fire and smoke, they killed a few of our guys and we killed a few of theirs. In the end we were the ones left standing. The Emperor protects" - Unknown,  Attributed to one Captain Jonus Reamus of the Phantine 44th Skyborne. 

Turn 1

So today I come with news of another battle report. This time at the 750 point level. We played on a 4x4 table with Inquisition + Elysians vs Tau. This time we fought for Hive Desolation.

Turn 1

We set up the table and each player picked a side. He went first. The Tau moved up and fired a few shots into my guard. Nothing hit.

My turn, i get my orders thrown out and move up some. The Chimera comes up the left side of the field and the Tarous speeds forward. At this point i open fire and killed a few fire warriors. The Tarous injures the broadside but fails to kill it. My other Tarous kills a Crisis suit earning me first blood.

Turn 2

Turn 2

He opens fire again and damages the chimera some by dropping a Crisis suit behind it. The first dune buggy is destroyed but the second one survives to fight another day. The fire warriors open fire on my guardsmen and Inquisition warbands but fail to injury any.

My turn. I move up and throw out orders. The pykers cast their powers (Presence) and the Inquisitor and his warband get out of the chimera to attack the suit behind them. Shooting goes off seeing another Tau squad killed and another damaged. In the backfield, the Inquisitor and his warband open fire with their pistols before charging into CQB with the crisis suit. One round of very close combat sees it dead. The team then consolidates 5' and goes back towards their transport.

Turn 3

Turn 3

He drops another crisis suit behind my three man warband and moves some fire warriors forward. He opens fire and kills off one of the warband. The broadside kills my chimera and explodes it killing 3 members of the Inquisitors warband. At this point its just the death cult assassin and the Inquisitor himself. The crisis suit burns a few of my guys but they make their armor save.

On my turn i throw out orders and have my squads all gun down his crisis suit. The now 2 man warband opens fire and kills a lone fire warrior. The Dune buggy kills a lone pathfinder. The other squad guns down the rest of the pathfinders.

Turn 4

He moves up some and opens fire on me. All shots either fail to hit or are saved. My dice were rolling really hot that day.

Turn 4

Turn 4, I throw out orders and fire on a few fire warriors. At this point he decided to concede defeat.

Victory goes to the Guard 4-2

Fire and smoke were coming off the now destroyed Tarous. The two man crew burned to a crisp inside. The Tau had pulled back for now but the day was won. Captain Jonus Remaus looked around at his tired and bloody men. All veterans of many jumps. Now working for the Inquisition under Xeno Inquisitor Umarus. The Tau Commander had been killed in action or so he had believed but Umarus had told him that the xeno had escaped. For the moment however, Jonus didn't care. sheathing his power sword he sat down and found a spot to relax. In moments, sleep overtook him. However his dreams were anything but peaceful.... 

The Kill Team game

Afterwords we decided to mess around and do a 3 way 250 point kill team game. Imperial Guard Tanith vs Inquisition vs Tau. Overall it was a very fun game. Kinda silly but enjoyable. Finally we had to leave and called it a day.

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A Tau Crisis [Suit] Story

Panoramic Shot of the Crisis Suits

 So once again, its time for another update! This time from the far eastern fringes. In what is a first for me, I have finally painted all 12! of my Tau Battlesuits. For the advanced Tau player this might not be much but for a Cadre that started out in mid 4th Edition, its been a hassle just getting to this point.

Top down view of the teams

Every time Ive painted them I have never liked a scheme enough to stick with it. This time however I have found one that really spoke to me. I started with a few of my regular suits to get to scheme down and then proceeded to continue on with a new suit each week. Overtime, the suits started to get better looking which helped me feel as if they were getting done. All of the Crisis suits have been converted to some extent since my cadre is using the XV-46 Crisis suit, a variant found in the DeathWatch RPG series. Of course since there is no official pictures of the suit, I went with what i felt best could be achieved closest to the writing of the material. The XV-46 is used a close range suit, designed to work in hostile, close quarters combat such as ship boarding and Zone Mortalis type games. My Cadre however, has requisitioned a few for field testing against their common foes of Necrons and Orks.

Another view of Commander MirrorWater

All the Crisis Suits line up by teams

So whats next? Well im not sure if I want to return to do some more for my Imperium armies or stay working on the Tau. I thought out moving on to the Stealth suits but they get so little game time it wouldnt be worth it (although it would be fun to paint!). Other considerations are the (old style) broadsides which have been converted or maybe a vehicle or two to transport my Fire Warriors. Im going to have to see how time allows me to do these. Im hesitant to work on the vehicles without a airbrush due having always burned myself out on them,  Readers, what would be a good airbrush for a beginner?  Let me know in the comment below! As always leave a comment, say hi! or just let me know you were here. Every little bit helps.

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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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2015. A Year in Review

    

Rolling for Happy New year!

 Where oh where has this year gone? Seems like only yesterday we were starting up a new year. This year has seen a lot of change in me. Memories were made, friends were made and lost, and the world turned daily. As we continue towards 2016, we here at Behind the Lines Gaming would like to wish you a Happy New Year.  At the beginning of the year we had promised to promote big news to you all. I can safely say that this big news is coming in 2016 so be on the look out and keep checking back!

2015 saw many new additions to my rooster. At the beginning I had just started on my Victoria Lamb based Tanith First and Only army. This army has rapidly expanded and grown in size!  Now numbering 100+ models, the final additions of a few female Verghast is planned for 2016 once they are released.

The Tau army that has been posted here throughout the year is also currently in major WiP mode. A few models and squads have been done. Those will be posted in 2016 as well. The Menoth army is back together again and primed ready for paint. 2015 might as well have been the year of stripping paint. Hopefully these new schemes of paint will improve the models and make them look even better!

As always we plan to do a Top three projects we have done this year. Located Here, the Gallery is a page dedicated to the Top work on completed models we've done each year.Give it a look and let us know what you think!

#1 as always was a hard choice this year. All of the models have been fun to work on and paint. However the winner was a commission given to me by Bandogora. This commission was for a Company command squad of the Bloody 18th Krieg Regiment.  Not only did I get some awesome artwork out of it from Kurt Mertz but the army was one that had a feel to it unlike any other ive painted!

Below are a few images from the Rise of the Bloody 18th post I posted throughout the year!

With the 18th came Krieger 18D. This krieger has been Bandogora's Dark Heresy Character and plays a critical part in the formation of the 18th. What secrets and history lays behind the gas mask are still yet to be known, however the Emperor, or maybe the Chaos gods have given a very special fate to this Krieger. All of that remains to be seen.

The company command squad was some of the most fun I had painting. Using their uniquely blue and red scheme, these models seemed to "pop" on the battlefield allowing them to look both uniquely grim dark, but also well done. These models were in rough shape and it was clear that who ever had owned them before hand had not taken care of them. This was not about to happen on my watch. After a lot of TLC, I was able to get them back to how they should have been all along. Ready to die on the battlefield for the Emperor!

This back view of the models shows their uniquely done backpacks. Forgeworld is always know its for wonderful models and these did not disappoint. A lot of time was given to the smallest of details. This is why they became my favorite project of 2015!

#2 was a easier choice to make, This project was one that will be seeing action this coming year in 2016!  My own take on the Panzer III tank from a chimera. This model was a lot of work to convert and took some time and effort. After a lot of glue, sweat and pain, the model was finally together and I was pleased with the end results.

Not the prettiest of jobs at the moment but when it comes time for primer and paint i think she'll do nicely. Im hoping that I will be able to convert it fully for a second one of these tanks. When that is accomplished then I should finally be able to get the model fully. It has to be noted that the treads were the hardest part of the whole conversion. Maybe I'll try to do a tutorial on my second one should I get the time. 

My third favorite project of the year was not really a model per say but was a aid for the game. This project took only a few hours but it was a lot of fun making them in order to help me better play in 40k. Of course what im talking about is my own custom designed cards that i made for Imperial Guard orders and warlord traits. 

Any good guard commander knows that it is vital to use your orders right and have them ready to use when you get to the game. These cards were made using the magic card game custom card creator. A nifty little program that allowed for me to fully customize my army cards on the battlefield. This set was a customized set for the program from the Star Gate series of card game. I ordered some card holders to place them in! Some people had expressed interest in them. Therefore I plan to make a free version for people to download if they wish. In the future I plan to add Stormtroopers, cadian traits and others onto this list. 

As the year comes to a close I wish to thank my loyal readers and those who follow me. It makes writing these post easier knowing that some people read them and enjoy the content of them.If you like what you see please become a follower of the blog or leave a comment below! Every little bit helps

With that I wish you the best in this ending to 2015 and a happy start to 2016! Keep rolling those dice and stay tuned for many new exciting things to come in 2016! 

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