FOREWORD

Well, this Army has been 10 years in the making, has gone through several big changes from colour schemes, to units, to simply how it plays.

I first got into GW thanks to the Space Crusade box set and its Dreadnought Expansion I was bought back in 1998. I loved it but it was not untill 2002 that I found out it was a Spin Off from a much larger game. And so I began to delve into Games Workshop and the Tau had just been released a year earlier and they were the army I got to play at my introductory games and I fell for them straight away. The advanced tech and stylish suits and armour appealed to me greatly as I love aliens with style, plus I decided I did not want to go down the same route as everyone else at the time which seemed to be Space Marines, Orks or Eldar.

And so I began my collection, as most of us do, with the army box set (2001 edition, of course). 12 Firewarriors, 12 Kroot, 3 Crisis Battlesuits and a lot of Gun Drones, the start of an obsession. For the first few years, I collected, built, painted and played with the army quite well. But then I started to lose interest. You know how these things are, you're young and want it all done straight away but it took ages to build, paint and finish. Not to mention, when I first started out I was on my own, I had no other friends or family who knew or played the game and I wasn't exactly up on the painting of models either; at the outset, each of my units was a different colour to each other with no uniformity what so ever. Many weren't even painted with GW paints so a lot of detail was obscured on my older models but they were later replaced. Nor was my army building skills very good; my first few outings with the army I had 1500pts made up of just 3 Crisis, 2 x 10 FWs, 1 S'O and a Hammerhead because I had given them basically every upgrade and option possible, not knowing that you didn't have to or that half of them were unneccssary. Of course I got beaten alot and so became disheartened with the whole thing, so for awhile I gave up and did other stuff, only really getting back to the army around Christmas time each year when my family would provide me with an influx of models.

But three years ago (2009) I decided enough was enough so I went and got the 5th Edition of 40k, strip minded the army of paint and old, shoddy units and started again. And ever since the army has grew and grew and is continuing to do so. I've won or drawn far more games then I have lost and this has encouraged me to get the army finished and start on another.

Now, with half the army complete and the rest ready for painting I thought it as good a time as any to begin showcasing them.

ARMY PHOTOS

This first one is from 3 years ago, so 2009, just before I began to take this army seriously, as mentioned in the FOREWORD. Visible in the image, from left to right, starting with the back row is my Hammerhead, Sky Ray, the Piranha Sqaudron, a Sniper Drone Team, Vespid Strain and my Shas'El. In front you can see my Stealth Team, Firewarrior Team 1, the Command Team led by Shas'O Raatol himself, the Gun Drone Sqaudron (mostly just a points filler), Firewarrior Team 2 and my only Crisis Team at that point. Apart from the Stealthers, my Shas'El and Sniper Drones, the other units were fully painted and, so I thought at the time, complete apart from their bases. You may note that the right hand Firewarrior Team displays the new improved bases from that year. I had never been much of a baser. There were in fact two other units in the army at that time; some very badly painted Kroot Squads which I was planning on selling so no point including them in the picture I thought. And 2013, the army as it stands now. I know what you are thinking. What has he actually done in the three years he has been 'serious' with the army. Please give me some slack as I have a partner, job and family and so could not dedicate 100% of my time to GW. Also, the modelling and painting side are not the only areas I have improved in, I wanted to take the game itself more seriously and make my army competitive rather than just good to look at. It has performed so much better at Hobby Clubs and Stores these last three years thanks to my dedication to understanding the rules and putting Tactics into practice.

1. ARMY UPDATES:
2. The Vehicles have each recieved fresh paint jobs, markings and transfers.
3. The Piranhas have had their Burst Cannon replaced with Fusion Blasters and their bases are finished in the new style of 2012 (Stirling Mud and Green Fluff as apposed to Goblin Green all over).
4. Five new units have been added to the unit; the 2 Firewarrior Teams and 2 Kroot Sqauds on the lower levels and the Crisis Team visible in front of the Hammerhead.
5. The Sniper Drone Team has been ditched in favour of a pair of Broadsides (which will occupy the space on the lower level once built).
6. All of the Vehicles, the Command Team in the middle of the upper level, the two upper level Firewarrior Teams and the Vespids are now all complete, bases and all.
7. And the Crisis Team on the left are in the process of being overhauled and redone.
8. I now only have to construct my Broadsides, purchase a Pathfinder Team, finish painting the army and it will be complete.

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ARMY LIST

WIth the release of the 6th Edition Codex I thought long and hard about how my army fared in 5th and what I wanted to change for this new generation.

What did I come up with? That the best idea was to strip mine all my units, take them back to basics, and start again.

So, here is how the entire collection will look when finished:

TASH'VAR PRIMARY DETACHMENT

HQ:

1. Cadre Fireblade = 60pts
2. Commander with Plasma Rifle, Twin-Linked Missile Pod, Shield Generator and Irridium Armour = 170pts

• 2 x Shas'Vre with Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Shield Generator = 174pts

ELITES:

1. 3 x Crisis Shas'Ui each with a Burst Cannon and Twin-Linked Missile Pod = 156pts
2. 3 x Crisis Shas'Ui each with a Plasma Rifle and Twin-Linked Flamer = 141pts
3. 4 x Stealth Shas'Ui, one with Fusion Blaster and a Stealth Shas'Vre with a Markerlight and Target Lock = 180pts

TROOPS:

1. 8 Shas'La and a Shas'Ui with Markerlight and Target Lock. All 9 have Pulse Rifles = 106pts
2. 8 Shas'La and a Shas'Ui with Markerlight and Target Lock. All 9 have Pulse Rifles = 106pts
3. 8 Shas'La and a Shas'Ui with Markerlight and Target Lock. 6 have Pulse Rifles, 3 have Pulse Carbines = 106pts
4. 8 Shas'La and a Shas'Ui with Markerlight and Target Lock. 6 have Pulse Rifles, 3 have Pulse Carbines = 106pts

FAST ATTACK:

1. 9 J'Kai'La and a Pulse Accelerator Drone. 6 have Pulse Carbines and Markerlights, 1 has a Rail Rifle and 2 have Ion Rifles = 149pts
2. 4 Vespids and a Strain Leader = 100pts
3. 2 x Piranha with Fusion Blasters and Blacksun Filters = 101pts

HEAVY SUPPORT:

1. 2 x Sniper Drone Teams = 116pts
2. Hammerhead Gunship with Railgun, Smart Missile System, Blacksun Filter, Point Defence Targeting System and Submunition Rounds = 141pts
3. Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship with Smart Missile System, Blacksun Filter and Point Defence Targeting System = 121pts

SA'CEAN ALLIED DETACHMENT

HQ:

1. Commander with Cyclic Ion Blaster, Fusion Blaster, Stimulant Injector, Vectored-Retro Thrusters, Neural Systems Jammer, Puretide Engram Neurochip, Marker Drone and Shield Drone = 176pts
2. Ethereal with Honour Blade and Homing Beacon = 60pts

ELITES:

• XV104 Riptide with Ion Accelerator, Twin-Linked Smart Missile System, Counter Fire Defence System and Advanced Targeting Array = 193pts

TROOPS:

1. 15 Kroot with Sniper Rounds = 105pts
2. 14 Kroot with Sniper Rounds = 97pts

FAST ATTACK:

• Sunshark Bomber with Twin-Linked Missile Pod = 165pts

HEAVY SUPPORT:

• 2 x Broadside Shas'Ui one with a Heavy Rail RIfle, one with a High Yield Missile Pod and both have a Smart Missile System, Advanced Targeting Array and Missile Drone each = 160pts

Total Points: 2998 ...... Total Models: 117

TACTICS

Coming Soon

UNIT PROFILES

HQ:

• FILE: TKKR_HQ1_CT_01
• NAME: Shas'O Tash'Var Or'Es Kessan Tam'Ya Raatol - Fire Commander Tash'Var Great Wise Noble Mentor
• GAMES: 126/126
• SURVIVAL RATE: 75%
• NOTES: WIP
• GENERATIONS: Originally O'Raatol had a standard Crisis Battlesuit with two Missile Pods on one arm and a Shield Generator on the other. He fell foul of the 'ankle breaker curse' that has plagued most of my Suits which led to the inclusion of Flight Sticks (see my P&M Blog for more details). Unfortunately, his suit was later destroyed by a 'canine enemy' and had to be replaced. So came the second Generation, a conversion on the Shas'O Rmyr model from Forge World, armed again with Paired Missiles and a much larger shield. For 6th Edition, the addition of a Plasma Rifle and a new paint job and base formed the 3rd and current Generation of O'Raatol

• NAMES: Shas'Vre Tash'Var Kir'Qath Tau'Va & Shas'Vre Tash'Var Lar'Shi'Vre Ko'Vash - Fire Hero Tash'Var Defender (of the) Greater Good & Fire Hero Tash'Var Protector (of a) Worthy Cause
• GAMES: 100/126
• SURVIVAL RATE: 25% - Bullet Magnets
• NOTES: WIP
• CONVERSION: I decided the standard Tau Shield Generators were too small, and as my Shas'Vre were equipped to look as if they have swords and shields, I replaced their Generators with modified Drone bodies. The aerial slots and exhaust grill have been hidden and replaced respectively with Green Stuff

PAINTING & MODELLING BLOG

I also have a P&M Blog for this army which can be found here: MY TAU ARMY BLOG