Saturday, November 7, 2015

The (Tau) Empire Strikes Back!


While I've still been slowly working on my Halo models, I've always had my future Tau models on my hobby desk staring back at me.  It's been a few months since my last tau update but I decided to put the project on hold for a bit as the Tau codex rumors started to gain steam this summer.  The new codex came out and I've been trying to see how both my main Tau army and the small Farsight force I've chronicled here fit into the "new" book.  My main army is large enough to give me a few options but the Farsight force needs more tweaking.

I initially planned to next add two Forgeworld remora drones next to the force but since FW has yet to update their rules but admittedly only been a few weeks.  While the option to use a small Farsight ally force of my existing models still works for now, there are two problems.  The first is that there are now rumors of a Farsight campaign book in a few weeks and also a redone enclaves subcodex in a few months.  With GW now officially embracing the "decurion" onion layeres formation style of army building, the rules that make my small force legal are likely to go away.  The second is that the new style of army building gives just too many freebie rules to ignore especially as any likely opponent will be using something similar for free as well.

The easiest way currently of achieving the same effect (a small semi independent crisis suit force) is to turn them into a retribution force from the hunter contingent.  In order to use that though, I need to acquire a broadside model.  I have a forgeworld xv-88-2 but it just doesn't have the bulk necessary to accompany my enforcer suits so it'll have to be the current plastic.  The best loadout currently is the missiletide suit but I neither like the look of that version nor does it fit into my theme of a small anti-elite armor force.  Instead, I'll be using the currently unfashionable post-nerf railgun plasma rifle version.  I'm also not a fan of that look but it has good conversion potential.

Because of the way the current plastic kit is laid out, the middle model is out as an inspiration.  A popular and useful conversion now is to do something similar to the right and magnetize the railgun tip so that you can swap on the missiles for the other loadout.


I like the options this affords and for a while (long before this codex came out) this was my top choice...until I found this!


As you can see, it's similar in style to my previous squad entry on the left.  I plan to make a few changes to both weapons and other parts (like adding hands!) but the overall bazooka look is what I'll go for.  I've got some ideas about switching the railgun bazooka over to the other shoulder and having the second hand come over to stabilize it but I'll have to wait until I get a model to see if the idea is truly viable.  Luckily, I have some extra broadside railgun bits including arms that I picked up for my riptide (namely the shoulder pad) that may expand the options.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks but at least right now it is just theory. The first pic is an old unit of mine but the next two pics are the inspiration for my current project. The next step is to actually acquire the model. :)

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