#MarkerLights

[jofiah]

the sequel has fewer than a million views compared to the OG's 11 million:

it gets pretty fucking spooky scary near the end so be warned

05.01 - The Ancient Blade

[tumblrisweird]

So I've been on a Lancer kick lately and have built a lot of character/mechs in COMP/CON (currently at 55+). Some of my favorite unusual builds (none of which I've actually gotten to playtest yet) include:

A Tokugawa built for long-range fire support

A Kobold that spends all its time hiding and moving mechs around with dual Ferrous Lashes

A Caliban that uses the cannon talents and a thermal lance to knock tons of enemies around

A size 3 Saladin with Mule Harnesses built to be a mobile fortress

A Dusk Wing with a superheavy Siege Cannon that provides orbital bombardment

A Swallowtail that uses an auto-cooler to provide Markerlight plus two additional lock-ons every round

A Death's Head with a Leviathan superheavy cannon

A Mk 1 Genghis that uses Zheng equipment with Combined Arms talents

An armored locomotive

Jerma

[taudad]

Major Takeaways I had from my first tournament

T’au are fighting an uphill battle right now. It’s sad, but true that right now we don’t have much that hits hard and we don’t have much staying power

1st turn is REALLY important for how we play. Since Kauyon doesn’t kick in till turn 3, the difference between 2 and 3 rounds of getting shot at is significant when it comes to your Kauyon Output. Plan accordingly to hide if you get 2nd turn

Strategic Reserves are your friends. Especially when fighting Space Marines, you need to keep your big targets off the table at the start of the game. My Stormsurge was Oath of Moment’d in 2 of my 3 games before it could get a single round of shooting off. If you’re playing a big crisis bomb or Stormsurge you need to keep it in reserves until you know you can shoot with it

Ghostkeel and Piranhas are our MVPs. I’m not including Tetras here because they’re Forgewold and hard to get, but these two did WORK. The durability of the Ghostkeel on my Home Objective is what made me present a challenge at all to my opponents, and the two Seeker Missiles on each Piranha plus the drone harassment are crucial to hurting enemy vehicles and knocking opponents off of objectives for secondaries

Ethereals are worth it for the CP alone. I had two Ethereals, one leading a strike team, the other alone, and the extra CP generation gave me some much needed flexibility. It allowed me to use great stratagems like Tank Shock and Grenades that I otherwise wouldn’t have the CP for. Plus if you put a gun drone on them, they act as a pretty good action monkey once you bring them in from Strategic reserves

STEALTH SUITS. Between the rerolls of 1s to wound for guided units, to Infiltrating with Stealth, to bring a cheap source Markerlights guiding, to the FREE once per game Rapid Ingress, this is a must have unit. I ran 3 minimum strength units and will likely be doing so indefinitely

Our enhancements are great! I used Exemplar of the Kauyon, Puretide Engram Neurochip (PEN for short) and Through Unity, Devastation and all of them came in clutch at different points of my games. In particular, the PEN was fantastic as it allowed me to Rapid Ingress 2 Crisis Bombs (for FREE with the Stealth suits) on my opponent’s turn two when I went second and it gave me the possibility to Overwatch a second time as well

It’s still possible to have fun in 10th. I lost 2/3 games, but my second loss went 54-56 and was one of the best 40K games I’ve ever played. Play your best, aim to have fun and don’t beat yourself up if you don’t do well. We got this, Shas’os!

For my personal list, I’m likely going to revise the armament of my second crisis team to have Fusion Blasters and Missile Pods as the Burst Cannons and Flamers are just useless against anything T5 or higher and might swap out the Coldstar commander for a Crisis Commander as the reroll 1s might be worth the lost movement and assault if I’m Rapid Ingressing the unit anyways

[mmeveronica]

give me the most disgusting goblin build you’ve got. I’ve been trying to find something to top my defender goblin/drake/kidd but so far I’ve got nothing. Barring that, an interesting support would be wonderful.

I am sorry, I've tried but I just can't figure out how to make a disgusting goblin build. Best I can do is like, give them Hunter Lock for their autopod and then slap on a Markerlight alongside Spotter 1 and maybe Tracking Bug or something like Neurospike. I'd love to see the shnatiness you've come up with though (seriously please reblog with it)

In recompense, I shall bestow upon you a Dusk Wing mostly Controller tiny bit of Support Build that I hope scratches that crazy goblin itch. I present, number 39, the "Crashing Comet"

Very loosely inspired by the mech design on page 157 of the Lancer manual, the crashing comet aims to dazzle and confound the enemy using various visual phenomena.

The Build starts with 3 Dusk Wing LLs for the Flicker Field Projector, StunCrown and Oasis Wall, at LL 4 it'll grab the Flash Charges from Metalmark 1. These all should be obvious choices, but do note that some engineering investment is highly reccomended due to the limited systems acquired.

At LL 5 this build will actually grab Lich 1 for the Wandering Nightmare system, this will be flavoured as an intense light show instead of messing with the flow of time. When it comes 'round for LL 7 Goblin 2 will be had, both for the Lesson of the Open Door as we're using many save systems but also for the H0R_OS System Upgrade II which will allow use to construct various holograms.

As for talents this build may use, Ace 1 should be obvious as this is a Duskwing. Infiltrator 3 could be useful when using Oasis Wall, and it sneaks in a little extra flashbang which is fun. We could also use Stormbringer 2 and/or Walking Armoury alongside the Burst Launcher to knock enemies into our AoEs such as Wandering Nightmare.

[sapphiekrinos]

whats your favourite Lancer build? (realised or otherwise)

Of all the builds I've used and build crafted, I think this one is currently my favourite. It's definitely not any kind of meta, I think, but it's fun.

» Kani // MUTT «

NHP host, LL12

[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]

Apply Fists to Faces (+2), Assault (+4),

Get Somewhere Quickly (+6), Get a Hold of Something (+4),

Hack or Fix (+6), Invent or Create (+4),

Spot (+4), Survive (+2)

[ GEAR ]

***

[ TALENTS ]

Technophile 3, Iconoclast 3,

Sysop 3, Brutal 3,

Grease Monkey 2, Hacker 1

[ LICENSES ]

HORUS Goblin 3, SSC Swallowtail 3,

HA Napoleon 2, HA Sherman 3,

HA Barbarossa 1

[ CORE BONUSES ]

Full Subjectivity Sync, The Lesson of Shaping,

Superheavy Mounting, Overpower Caliber

[ MECH ]

« IN THE PRESENCE OF THE WITNESS »

SSC Swallowtail

H:0 A:4 S:4 E:6 SIZE:1

STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:0

STRESS:4 HEATCAP:10 REPAIR:5

ATK BONUS:6 TECH ATK:5 LTD BONUS:3

SPD:8 EVA:16 EDEF:14 SENS:20 SAVE:16

[ WEAPONS ]

FLEX MOUNT: Pistol / Pistol

AUX/AUX MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING

SUPERHEAVY MOUNT: Tachyon Lance (Phase-Ready mod, Overpower Caliber)

[ SYSTEMS ]

Enlightenment-Class NHP, Unstable NHP,

ATHENA-Class NHP, ASURA-Class NHP,

H0R_OS System Upgrade I, Personalizations,

Siege Stabilizers, Markerlight

[gildedframesofglass]

Greetings! I was just curious on the build of the frame you run

The pleasure is mine,

Well, I should preface this with the acknowledgement that One Everlasting Encore is built for show. It isn't the most ergonomic or professionally designed machine, but it is a beauty to behold.

And, Ra knows, it cost me a fortune.

-- SSC Emperor @ LL12 --

[ LICENSES ]

SSC Emperor 2, SSC Death’s Head 3, SSC Metalmark 3, SSC Swallowtail 3, SSC Atlas 1

[ CORE BONUSES ]

Full Subjectivity Sync, Ghostweave, Neurolink Targeting, Integrated Weapon

[ TALENTS ]

Tactician 3, Skirmisher 3, Infiltrator 3, Crack Shot 3, Brutal 3

[ STATS ]

HULL:4 AGI:6 SYS:2 ENGI:2

STRUCTURE:4 HP:10 ARMOR:0

STRESS:4 HEATCAP:7 REPAIR:4

TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+1

SPD:8 EVA:18 EDEF:10 SENSE:15 SAVE:17

[ WEAPONS ]

Integrated: Marathon Arc Bow

INTEGRATED WEAPON: Oracle LMG-I

MAIN MOUNT: Vulture DMR

[ SYSTEMS ]

ATHENA-Class NHP, Kinetic Compensator, High-Stress Mag Clamps, Markerlight, Shahnameh x4, Multi-Gear Maneuver System, Custom Paint Job

[ariesgamesandminis]

Huge restock from The Army Painter has arrived!

Base Primer: Matt Black Basing: Brown Battleground Drill Bits Hobby Starter: Hobby Brush Set Markerlight Laser Pointer Miniature and Model Drill Self-healing Cutting Mat Speedpaint: 2.0 - Algae Green Speedpaint: 2.0 - Blood Red Speedpaint: 2.0 - Fire Giant Orange Speedpaint: 2.0 - Highlord Blue Speedpaint: 2.0 - Noble Skin Speedpaint: 2.0 - Royal Robes Speedpaint: 2.0 - Satchel Brown Speedpaint: 2.0 - Warrior Skin Tweezers Set Warpaints Fanatic: Arctic Gem Warpaints Fanatic: Deep Ocean Blue Warpaints Fanatic: Metallic - Evil Chrome Warpaints Fanatic: Metallic - Tainted Gold Warpaints Fanatic: Night Sky Warpaints Fanatic: Stratos Blue Warpaints Fanatic: Wyvern Fury

[marlonbrandto]

THE MAYNOS GAMBIT | 5

The calm ride of the elevator is interrupted by the clamour of gunfire coming from the surface. Aun’Shar was well enough to stand now and began to hoarsely cough out a few words. “D’tano, the statues…”

“They weren’t mere statues, and right now we have more immediate issues, ethereal” D’tano interjects as the door rasps open into a full scale battlefield. Mortars whistle through the air over the screams of battle, punctuated by the thrumming crack of railgun fire. Bo’ran and D’tano support the ethereal into the open field around the vault. A nearby Ghostkeel decloaks and stoops, the pilot jumping out of the open chest cavity. He grabs the ethereal and shouts to Bo’ran “this armor is put to better use at your control, commander!” The commander nods and climbs into the suit. Looking past Bo’ran, D’tano is able to make out the shapes of their would-be aggressors, the Votaan must have found what was left of their failed diplomatic mission, and they want Tau blood.

1. The Votaan sends a vanguard of vehicles rumbling towards the vault. Bo’Ran uses the Ghostkeel’s comm suite to order the Tau forces in the area to fall back, preparing a Kauyon lure. Medics hastily inject stimms into Aun’Shar, getting him on his feet while they inspect his wound further.

2. Tetras beam markerlights onto the first few vehicles, and the Crimson Order relies on its auto targeting. The Votaans’ rovers are no match for the hail of ion fire, and in an instant, the first wave of their charge becomes a burning hulk of metal.

3. Dwarves take cover at the steps of the vault, and prepare a different approach. One produces a mortar, punching stabilizers into the soft gravel at the base of the vault. Another laboriously loads a torpedo like device into the mortar, and with a muffled *thump* the torpedo hisses through the earth. A strike team member notices the gravel unsettling in a direct line towards her, but before she can warn her team an explosion erupts beneath her, showering the strike team members with the once proud warriors remains.

3. Before they can recover, the strike team is beset upon by a heavily armored squadron emerging from the ground, revving up plasma weapons. Fire warriors dive in front of Aun’Shar, trading their lives for his.

3. Locked on to a stealth teams beacon, the Red Tri-Wings careen through the atmosphere, using what’s left of their thruster’s fuel reserves to soften their impact with the planet surface. Quickly assessing the situation around them, they turn their attention to the Votaan threatening Aun’Shar.

4. Berserkers have reached the first line of defense, hammering the hull of the Tetras, but the armor holds. One tetra copilot jumps out of his seat, and slowly draws his knife, staying crouched as he sneaks around his vehicle. A Berserker catches a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, but as he turns the Tau lunges, thrusting his knife into the dwarfs exposed side. The berserker drops his hammer and flails backward, trying to grab his aggressor, but the fire warrior pulls his knife out, and quickly stabs directly into the dwarf’s head. The dwarf relaxes, and the fire warrior pushes him to the ground before running back into his vehicle.

5. On the other side of the battlefield, the heavy armor of the dwarves melts under the hail of the Red Tri-Wings ion rifles, only their leader stands strong, screaming of revenge. The leader of The Tri-Wings diverts the power of his weapons into his thrusters and rushes the Votaan warlord. With a thud they collide, the dwarf tries to shout an insult, but the crisis suit grabs the warlord’s head and pushes him into the earth, dragging him through gravel and stone at a frightening speed. The rocks rip away his armor and tear his flesh, leaving naught but a mangled corpse for the battlesuit to hold aloft at the remaining opposing force.

6. Commander Novastorm fires the Ghostkeel’s Cyclic Ion Raker at the Hekaton Land fortress, but finds the battlesuits fire power to be lacking. Behind him emits a flash of light as a Hammerhead propels a railgun shot that cuts directly through the thick plating of the Votaan’s vehicle. The Heckaton erupts into a brilliant explosion, vaporizing the dwarves amassed around it.

A hush falls across the battlefield, Novastorm holds up his hand, ordering a ceasefire. Burning dwarves writhe on the ground, while the few that can still stand sprint for any form of cover in a retreat. Aun’Shar steps down from his hover drone, feeling better after being flooded with combat stims and his wound sealed with medigel. He moves to look for D’tano, but freezes when a rumble seems to shake the earth around him. Over by what once was the Hekaton, the ground begins to crack. Then suddenly, like a web, cracks form all around the area. Aun’Shar runs for his hover drone but the entire earth falls out from under him.

No! Not back down in that hell! He thinks, as his shoulder impacts with the ground, which now has formed a sharp slant into the darkness under the vault.

No, no, no! As he slides down the improvised ramp, rocks cutting into his skin, a devilfish scrapes past him, caught in an uncontrollable spin as it bounces off a tetra, sending the smaller crews craft flying.

The ethereal quickly fumbles with his armor’s controls, trying to send another distress pulse when a dwarf collides with him. The two tumble down the hill, the dwarf balls a fist, but relaxes as the ethereal deftly pinches a nerve at his neck. Aun’Shar moves the body under him, and prepares for the upcoming impact, having found a new resolve as he opens his comm channel.

“Warriors! The Votaan have been slain! Now we descend to hell to ensure they stay there and seize the Calamity Equation from the hands of the devils that guard it!”

Aun’shar’s comms erupt in acknowledgments and battlecries, as his army attempts for create a formation around him, sliding into the abyss once more…

[farsight-the-char]

"Kroot have markerlights at home"

Does not specify ranged attack though, so you could say, flank the Lone-Spear along the side, snipe an Assault Intercessor squad, and then unleash the Rampagers on the target for more reliable hits.

[residentsweatgoblin]

I made a mock-up of possible detachment rules for the upcoming tau cidex, enjoy!

Army rule - For the Greater Good

Kauyon

-Detachment Rule:

Round 3 onwards, Tau Empire units gain Sustained Hits 1, Sustained Hits 2 if guided. -

Stratagems:

.FNP 6+ to battlesuit unit

.+1 to BS (ang Ignores Cover if Markerlight keyword) against target unit has spotted

.Battlesuit Move Shoot Move

.attacks against targey <9" away gain ap -1, only usable in round 3+

.Photon Grenades

.Combat Embarkation

-Enhancements(4):

.Detachment Rule starts round 2

.+1 to hit roll, +1 to wound roll from 3rd round onwards

.Use a stratagem a second time

.Lethal Hits to guided unit

Mont'Ka

-Detachment Rule:

Round 1 and 2, Tau Empire units gain Lethal Hits, +1 to wound roll if Strength > Toughness -Stratagems:

.When a charge is declared, but before the roll, move charged unit 3", may only use in round 1 or 2

.When a charge is declared, overwatch on 5+, increased to 4+ if <8" away, 3+ if <3" away. May only use on the target of a charge and may only overwatch charging unit, if multiple, must declare one target unit.

.Sweep and clear, target unit which has advanced gains Sustained Hits 1, Sustained Hits 2 if guided

.Exfiltrate, end of shooting phase, remove unit with Deepstrike ability and place in reserves, may not remove unit in melee

.One Infantry unit, counts as being at full strength for battleshock, and doubles its OC until the end of your next command phase

.Any non-battlesuit vehicle, when advancing may automatically advance +6" and gains Assault on all weapons until the end of the shooting phase

-Enhancements:

.Detachment Rule in effect until round 3

.Guided Unit counts as not having moved that turn

.Model weapons score critical wounds on 5s

.Until round 3, unit gains 2" movement

Rinyon

-Detachment Rule: All Drone Wargear weapons, twin pulse carbines, support turret missile systems, tactical drone weapons and tidewall droneport weapons are BS 4+ (tactical drones and tidewall droneport gain Faction:For The Greater Good rule), Longshot pulse rifles are BS 3+, in addition to their normal effects, Markerdrones grant Sustained Hits 1 to guided units, shield drones grant the equipped model a 5++. In addition, Guardian drones provide a 6++, pulse accelerator drones increase range by 10", Grav inhibitor drones subtract 1d3+1" from charge rolls against unit, Recon Drones grant guided unit Precision

-Stratagems:

.Saviour Protocols, when an attack is allocated to a unit, remove one drone wargear option for the remainder of the battle, reduce the allocated attacks damage to 0. If the chosen drone wargear is a shield drone, roll a d6, on a 5+ the wargear is not removed, if removing a shield drone would reduce a model to zero wounds, it is destroyed and removed from play.

.Interference Subroutines, one tactical drones unit, -1 to hit for all enemy units within 6"

.Circling Blade, once per battle, all Drone Wargear weapons, support turret missile systems, tactical drone weapons, Longshot pulse rifles and tidewall droneport weapons gain Sustained Hits 2 until your next command phase.

.Intel Relay, one unit with marker drone, may act as guiding unit for all units with wargear with the name "drone", even if they do not have line of sight to eachother

.Wirlwind retreat, movement phase, one crisis unit within engagement range, make melee attacks as if it were the fight phase, each model increases their attacks characteristic by the amount of drone wargear they posess, the unit then makes a Fall Back.

.A unit with gun drone wargear is destroyed, set up a tactical drones unit as close to the destroyed unit models without being in engagement range. The tactical drone unit has as many models as gun drones wargear in the destroyed unit (gun drones removed by Saviour Protocols do not count towards the amount of models in the tactical drones unit)

-Enhancements:

.Drone Controller, all models with drone burst cannons, longshot pulse rifles, and missile pods granted by drones (and longshot pulse rifles wielded by Firesight Teams, twin pulse carbines wielded by devilfish and tactical drone models and tidewall droneport weapons) within 12" amay re-roll all hit rolls

.Drone Fortress, may take two additional drones available to the model.

.Targeting interface, all drone weapons in unit have a BS 3+

.Battlesuit character, all models in unit can take one additional drone.

Spirit of the Enclaves

-Detachment Rule: Each time a unit makes its ranged attacks at a target <9" may re-roll one wound roll, gains Sustained hits 1. MAY NOT USE ETHEREALS WITH THIS DETACHMENT.

-Stratagems:

.Drop Site Clear, one crisis unit that has just been set up on the battlefield via Reinforcements or Rapid Ingress, may immediately make an attack as if it were the shooting phase (if unit arrived via Rapid Ingress, this unit may not use the Overwatch Stratagem until the start of the opponents next movement phase)

.Stand and Fire, one tau empire infantry unit, all weapons gain Pistol keyword until your next command phase

.The Eightfold path, one battlesuit character, +1 to WS, double Attacks characteristic of Melee weapons

.Emergency detonator, vehicle unit with Deadly Demise or any battlesuit unit that has just been destroyed, instead of rolling for deadly demise, the unit automatically explodes, you may re-roll the damage dice, in addition, if targeting a battlesuit; stealthsuit units, Broadside units, crisis units and commander units gain Deadly Demise d3,

.Wrathful Volleys, one vehicle unit in engagement with one or more enemy model, your units may target the engaged enemy unit(s) using weapons without the Pistol keyword and without penalties to hit. Attacks against the target(s) gain Sustained Hits 1, Sustained Hits 2 if within 8"

.Bloodbond Armour, one Battlesuit Character unit and one other Battlesuit Character or a Crisis/Riptide/Broadside/Ghostkeel within 8", until the start of your next command phase

-Enhancements:

.Onager Gauntlet - Replaces Battlesuit Fists WS4+ A3 S12 AP-4 D4

.Fusion Blades - Replaces Battlesuit Fists, must take 2 fusion blasters WS4+ A5 S9 AP-4 D3

.Talisman of Arthas Moloch, this model's weapons and any weapons on the unit this model leads gain anti-psyker 5+, gain Feel No Pain 5+ all damage from psychic attacks

.Once per turn during your command phase while this model is on the battlefield, roll a D6, on a 4+ gain 1 CP.

Unifying Influence

-Detachment Rule:

Kroot, Vespid and other auxiliary units gain the Auxiliary Keyword and count as Táu Empire for the purposes of For The Greater Good Army Rule. Auxiliary units improve their Leadership characteristic by 1, and T'au Empire units within 6" of Auxiliary units improve their Leadership by 1.

-Stratagems:

.Recon Sweep, one Pathfinder, or auxiliary unit not in engagement range, at the end of the shooting phase may make a normal move

.Outflank, at the end of the movement phase, one unit within 9" of a battlefield edge may be removed from the battlefield and placed into strategic reserves.

.Savage Intervention, when an enemy charge is declared but before the charge roll is made, one Auxiliary unit within 12" of the enemy charging unit and the allied target unit, may make a charge against the enemy unit as if it were the charge phase on your turn, if successful you do not gain the fights first ability, however the enemy unit's charge automatically fails and you move the intervening unit into engagement range.

.Coordinated charge, one Guided Unit, until your next command phase, improve the WS of melee weapons when targeting the corresponding Spotted unit and may re-roll charge rolls made against the spotted unit.

.Take and Hold, at the start of your movement phase, target one infantry unit visible to your warlord, Until the end of your next command phase, you may reroll all battleshock tests for this unit, and improve the OC characteristic of models in this unit by 1.

.Quill Grenades, shooting phase one Kroot unit with Grenades keyword who has not shot, gains weapon WS3+ A3d6 S4 AP-1 D1 Blast

-Enhancements:

.Frenzying Pheromones, Kroot Character only, models led by this unit improve their Strength and Attacks Characteristics by 1 for all melee weapons, Kroot units within 6" of this model at the end of the movement phase also gain this benefit until the opponents Command Phase

.Dynamic Mirror Field, grants the model Stealth and 5++

.Kroot Character Only, each time a stratagem targets this unit, roll a d6, on a 4+ regain 1 CP

.Infantry Unit only, once per battle round, may use Go to Ground Stratagem for free, while the bearer is leading a unit, all models in the unit gain the Stealth rule, if the unit already has the Stealth rule, improve its save characteristic by 1.

Bor'Kan

-Detachment Rule:

All T'au Empire units gain 4" to the Range of their Ranged Weapons' profiles. All Táu Empire Vehicles, when targeted by an attack of strength greater than their toughness, reduce the wound roll by 1. Ghostkeel and Riptide units gain the Character keyword.

-Stratagems:

.Experimental Weaponry, at the start of your shooting phase, select one weapon equipped by a Táu Empire model, until the end of your shooting phase, Invulnerable saves cannot be made against attacks with this weapon.

.Grenade Racks, when a Battlesuit unit with Fly completes a normal, advance, fall back or charge move which moves across an enemy unit, roll 6d6, for every 5 models in the enemy unit roll an additional d6, for every 5+, the unit suffer 1 mortal wound.

.Target Aquisition Suite, one Guided Battlesuit Character unit, until the end of the shooting phase gains Precision on one weapon against Spotted unit.

.Multi Spectrum Discouragement Array, one Battlesuit unit with the Stealth keyword, at the end of your shooting phase select one enemy unit within 12", the unit must immediately take a battleshock test, additionally suffer -1 to hit with ranged weapons and reduce movement and charge rolls by 2" until the start of your command phase.

.Advanced Warheads, one Battlesuit unit with missile pod weapon, until the end of the shooting phase, all missile pod weapons gain either, Blast, or Anti-Vehicle 2+

.Sensory Negation Countermeasures, after opponents charge phase, one Battlesuit unit targets an enemy unit in engagement range, -1 to hit until the end of the fight phase.

-Enhancements:

.Gimbal Pilot Harness, one Character Battlesuit, weapons gain Assault keyword, once per round may use the Insane Bravery stratagem for free. May ignore modifiers to attacks caused by a Damaged: X Wounds Remaining rule.

.Uplinked Stabilisation, one Character Battlesuit, when this model is guided and targeting its spotted unit, re-roll attack rolls of 1.

.Enhanced Power System, Commander in Crisis/Enforcer/Coldstar Battlesuit, select two equipped weapons, +1 to wound rolls for all attacks with these weapons.

.Thermoneutronic Projector, one Character Battlesuit unit with a T'au Flamer, replace one T'au Flamer with the following profile: 12" Ad6+2 S6 AP-1 D2 Torrent, Ignores Cover. Gain the following Melee weapon, Ad6+2 WS4+ S6 AP-1 D2 Additional Attacks

[soraka-in-warhammer40k]

T'au Army Battleplan T1:

Activate Ethereal Power -> Position units -> maybe grab a re-roll 1s buff -> get on Markerlight -> activate whatever stratagem lets you shoot better in that situation -> shoot -> good job you're done.

Genestealer Cults Battleplan T1:

Reveal Ambush Markers reactively to opponent -> Activate Primus next to a Nexos, giving a 1s-re-roll to hits AND wounds to your 10-Man bike squad -> activate Nexos to give an enemy crossfire marker->Advance close to 6 on the enemy so it counts as Exposed-> spend 1 CP for drive-by demolitions to use a once-per-game-grenade (your squad has 8) it does max hits -> Cast "Might From Beyond(+1A) onto the bikes + Psykic Stimulus (can charge after advance)-> Shoot as normal as you are running Rusted Claw + throw another Demolition Charge -> Charge In -> spend 1CP to use the 3rd Demoliton Charge in melee combat hitting on a 2+ and do normal melee attacks.

Congratulations, you now finished your tasks with 20% of the points on the board in that turn.

[overfedvenison]

So the Legends datasheets came out. Among them is an interesting unit

The Heavy Gun Drone comes in a unit size of two for 45 points. They can either get a twin-linked Burst Cannon or a Burst Cannon and Markerlight, which it uses to boost it's own Ballistic Skill (Note that it cannot act as an Observer unit - it lacks "For The Greater Good." The Markerlight keyword doesn't actually do anything, but it's represented by the Burst Cannon getting that boost) The interesting part is that it has the rather unique ability to shoot at an enemy targeting a nearby unit. An enemy is forced to either eat that damage, or waste some shots taking out this unit (which is conveniently has the same toughness as a Crisis Squad and just enough survivability to require more than a glancing blow) (Giving this thing "Vehicle" is just cruel. If you ever fight Tau, pick the "Kill Vehicles" secondary to win. I think the only things I've seen that do not have Vehicle are like, Fire Warriors, Fire Warrior Leaders, and Auxillaries. Shout out to them being able to Tank Shock for an average of 1 entire mortal wound for some reason though) I think the point is not to actually do damage, but rather to draw some aggro and die. And it strikes me as doing so in a less asinine, more proactive way than traditional Drones were. Also like, a burst canon looks cooler

Protip: It's VERY easy to make a proxy for this if you collect Tau. I used some of the ethereal Hover Drones that I have two of. They can also counter-shoot anything in the army that gets targeted! That means you can use it to guard some Kroot, if you want. It synergizes with anything, albeit not necessarily well, and if you field multiple around one guy you can counter-shoot to cover a shot Heavy Drone. I think these would be great backing up a Farsight-led Flamer Squad. Farsight can drop in, shoot, and Strike and Fade forward to get into range of his "+1 Wound buff if within 9" of an enemy" ability. Because of how Overwatch works, an enemy that close can be attacked in Overwatch as they try to move away, taking the full brunt of your flamers. This is rough to deal with. If you back yourself up with Heavy Drones, it becomes even rougher - If you hold position and fight, you STILL get shot and damaged. There's a drawback: It's move speed is slightly too slow to keep up with Crisis Suits, and they lack Deep Strike. So, might be a little hard to set that up just right. That's all just musing, haha

[hooliganpaints]

Long text post is long

eugh. I was not meant to be up this early. Blue Wizard needs coffee badly.

First tournament of 10th today, and I’m repping the Enclaves with: - BIG FARSIGHT BAYBEEEEEEEEEE

- 3 Crisis suits, 2 w/ 3x Cyclic Ion Blasters and 2x Shield Drones, 1 with 3x Cyclic, 1 shield drone, and 1 markerlight so it can give out Ignore Cover

- 1 Ghostkeel with the Big Fusion and the Little Fusion

- 1 Hammerhead Gunship with the obligatory railgun and accelerator bursts

- Longstrike, also with the obligatory railgun and accelerator bursts

- A Pathfinder team with 3 railguns, a grenade launcher dude, 2 “gun drones” and a pulse accelerator drone

- And my final 75 points, a Stealth Suit team with 2 bursts and a fusion blaster/support system/shield drone/marker drone dude

Coming out to a neat 995 points. This will be the first and last tournament of 10th at 1000 points at my local, since the new map size and the fact they’re moving to a new store allows them to go to 2000.

I... have no idea what to do for secondaries.The inherent issue with this list is that crisis suits feel a lot less durable (because I need to be in 18″ to effectively shoot, and I lost my ablative 2-wounds-per-suit-with-a-4+-invuln), and on top of that, one of the secondaries is just an auto-pick versus a list like this (2 VP per vehicle model that’s killed (crisis suits are vehicles again), and 3 VP if they pop the ghostkeel or the tanks.

I think for most lists I’ll see today (knights and marines), my best bets are going to be:

Storm Hostile Objective: 4 VP if I control a point my opponent did at the start of my turn, or 4 VP if I control a point I didn’t control at the start of my turn if they had no objectives

Behind Enemy Lines: Score 3/5 VP if I have one/two units in my opponent’s DZ

Assassination: Still the “score 4 VP when you kill a character” we all know and love

Bring it Down: 2 VP for each vehicle model kill, +1 if it’s 10+/15+/20+ wounds, capping at 5 VP per model.

I did get a few games in, and I think the secondaries I can reliably score on are Storm Hostile and Behind Enemy Lines - MAYBE Assassination dependent on their list.

I’ll be posting write ups as they happen instead of a 20 page block of text at the end of the day so if anyone’s interested in 10th from a more “casual competitive” POV they can read without their eyes glazing over. Cheers folks.

[taudad]

Poll Time!!

I have 185 pts I’m undecided on for my 1000 pt list and am looking for some input. Here are the current options I’m considering:

1) Riptide Battlesuit: A significant number of shots on a pretty durable body. Plus it serves as a good tanking unit and Overwatch target

2) Sky Ray Gunship: This significantly ups my Seeker Missile output and provides an extra source of Markerlights, while still allowing for 55pts to put into a Kroot Carnivore squad or an enhancement for my Ethereal

3) Broadside Battlesuit: I only have the one and I’m open to testing it as a heavy support option, but my biggest concern is it’s lack of durability as an individual model. However, it does leave me quite a lot of extra wiggle room at just 90 pts

4) Pathfinders + Darkstrider: I’ve been looking for an opportunity to field this combo ever since I painted up my Darkstrider. It provides a significant amount of firepower and 2 different Markerlights, but it is a relatively fragile unit and doesn’t typically last till turn 3

You can find my current list below the poll if you’re interested

Thanks Everyone!

Ko’Shi Cadre (815 Points)

T’au Empire

Kauyon

Incursion (1000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Commander in Enforcer Battlesuit (115 Points)

• Warlord

• 1x Battlesuit fists

1x Marker Drone

2x Missile pod

1x Plasma rifle

1x Shield Drone

1x Shield Generator

• Enhancements: Exemplar of the Kauyon

Ethereal (50 Points)

• 1x Gun Drone

1x Honour stave

1x Hover Drone

1x Shield Drone

BATTLELINE

Strike Team (80 Points)

• 1x Support turret missile system

• 1x Fire Warrior Shas’ui

• 1x Close combat weapon

1x Guardian Drone

1x Pulse pistol

1x Pulse rifle

1x Shield Drone

• 9x Fire Warrior

• 9x Close combat weapon

9x Pulse pistol

9x Pulse rifle

OTHER DATASHEETS

Crisis Battlesuits (180 Points)

• 1x Crisis Shas’vre

• 1x Battlesuit fists

1x Cyclic ion blaster

1x Missile pod

1x Plasma rifle

2x Shield Drone

1x Weapon Support System

• 2x Crisis Shas’ui

• 1x Battlesuit Support System

2x Battlesuit fists

1x Cyclic ion blaster

3x Missile pod

2x Plasma rifle

4x Shield Drone

1x Shield Generator

Ghostkeel Battlesuit (160 Points)

• 1x Battlesuit Support System

1x Cyclic ion raker

1x Ghostkeel fists

1x Twin T’au flamer

Piranha (55 Points)

• 1x Armoured hull

1x Piranha fusion blaster

2x Seeker missile

2x Twin pulse carbine

Piranha (55 Points)

• 1x Armoured hull

1x Piranha burst cannon

2x Seeker missile

2x Twin pulse carbine

Stealth Battlesuits (60 Points)

• 1x Stealth Shas’vre

• 1x Battlesuit Support System

1x Battlesuit fists

1x Burst cannon

1x Gun Drone

1x Homing Beacon

1x Marker Drone

• 2x Stealth Shas’ui

• 2x Battlesuit fists

1x Burst cannon

1x Fusion blaster

Stealth Battlesuits (60 Points)

• 1x Stealth Shas’vre

• 1x Battlesuit Support System

1x Battlesuit fists

1x Fusion blaster

1x Gun Drone

1x Homing Beacon

1x Marker Drone

• 2x Stealth Shas’ui

• 2x Battlesuit fists

2x Burst cannon

[elan-ta]

The tau rules are here!!

Overal quite happy with them if I'm honest.

The new greater good rule looks interesting though I couldn't quite work out how they're going to be interacting with markerlights from the article.

Kauyon looks good, I wonder how Mont'ka will fare when we get to see it.

Like the pathfinder and drone profiles. I might actually put some guardian drones in squads now they've changed how they work.

As per usual the weapon profile spotlights are amazing, that railgun is spicy.

The stratagem looks like it could be really fun/annoying lmao.

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

well this blog in particular is named for mortarion from the death guard, the faction that caught my interest about 40k and which i arguably do like more as a faction is the tau.

So, just thinkin on it with the guard model range refresh lately, what might a tau refresh look like? or atleast what my ideal tau refresh might look like.

below cut, case it gets too long

the lore pretext: the tau x+1 sphere expansion

so to lay some fluff text groundwork ahead before i start pulling out weird ass ideas for a tau model range refresh, cause i feel that helps generate some more interest in a line refresh, the basic idea behind the line refresh would be an 'in universe' refresh of tau weaponry and tech with new ideas brewing in the tau R&D pipeline and acquired tech from trade or conquest. to expand, the tau would notice that rival powers such as the imperium have made some sudden leaps in technological prowess that they didnt think the imperium would make for some time yet if ever. the primaris marines and their ridiculous cawl arsenals, the guard pulling out some new stuff like the rogal dorn tank or new sentinel models, etc. additionally there would also be the concern of how the tau are coming up against a lot tougher obstacles in their expansions in general. Thus, the ethereals decide they need to 'step back' effectively and undergo a massive upgrade of their own forces before continuing on with expansion. they go quite for a bit, losing some ground on some fronts because of it, but suddenly surge forth gaining a lot more ground for their empire thanks to their new tech kicking off the sixth sphere of expansion [or the x+1 sphere anyways, x being whatever expansion GW decides the tau are at next]

the upgrades: going model by model

tau fire warriors visually they wouldn't look that different [though personally i would add coatails] save for a much more noticeable 'backpack' thats got an antenna pole sortta thing stick out of it on the one side and a little camera thing on the other. underneath the backpack would also be a little carrying thing for a cqc looking weapon thing. lore wise the visual changes would represent the biggest change for fire warriors being a realignment of fire warrior doctrine to keep up with the challenges the tau keep facing, aided by some minor tech and equipment upgrades. the backpack itself would double as a storage container for field equipment and rations but it would double as equipment in its own right. the antenna would help commanders keep a grasp of and communicate with their fire warriors from any point on the battlefield well providing the fire warriors themselves better combat information on their surroundings and their comrades movements. the camera like thing on the other hand would be a compact markerlight sensor allowing fire warriors to tag targets themselves freeing them up from a dependency on pathfinders for the benefits of markerlight support [partly inspired by captured primaris tech]. well new markerlights of the x+1 sphere would be even more capable then the old ones, for the sake of mass production fire warrior markerlights function like the old ones. finally the cqc looking thing is in fact a cqc device! well the tau as a whole would still look down on cqc as uncivilized, in a universe where practically everyone's revving up chainsaw swords it atleast helps to be able to stab someone in self defense if called to. thats where the biggest fire warrior doctrine shift comes in, the cqc device being a 'plasma dagger' for tau to defend themselves in cqc with before moving back to range. cultural attitudes mean most fire warriors [especially veterans] still find the prospect distasteful and will avoid using it unless called for, though the dagger is intended to make up for the likely inelegance of its use with high cutting power by virtue of being a plasma dagger. younger fire warriors also find the dagger handy as a general use kinda instrument for the wider range of survival missons they're expected to go on. another change in doctrine is the removal of distinction between strike and breacher squads. instead fire warrior teams can equip either pulse rifles or pulse blasters depending on mission requirements. if you have a pulse blaster equipped however you can also equip a 'plasma shield' inspired by imperial voidsmen well pulse rifles can be upgraded to 'long pulse rifles' for extra punch if being more unwieldly. what would that all mean theoretical rules wise? strike and breacher squads merge into fire warriors who have markerlights with optional shield upgrade if blasters equipped and extended range/power for rifles at the cost of being more cumbersome. in cqc you also have the option of using the plasma dagger instead of shooting opponents in the face, the plasma dagger having high AP but 0 S. in the elite section would be 'shas'ui fire warriors' effectively your karskins to the infantry fire warriors. they can also serve as a bodyguard blob for your ethereal or commander with additional bonuses for doing so. in the heavy support role would be 'fire warrior heavy weapon team' name obviously pending. the taus take on the guards heavy weapon team effectively but using what might as well be battlesuit weapons as heavy weapons.

battlesuits in terms of appearance all the tau battlesuits would share a similar minor redesign in that they get a more rounded look similar to how shadowsuns newest battlesuit has a more rounded appearance, and perhaps most notably the landman double arm sortta deal shadowsuns got going on. lore wise its the result of advancements made during the development of shadowsuns battlesuit being applied to the wider tau battlesuit pool, the culmination of a number of prototypes hitting the mass production stage effectively. stealth suits would also have the option to be fielded as 'strike suits' well crisis suits would have the option to be fielded as 'spectre suits'. the difference is effectively that strike and crisis suits have improved combat over stealth and spectre suits in exchange for no stealth capabilities. some new units would also show up! broadsides would be joined by 'buster suits' as an additional heavy weapon support being stealth suit sized broadsides basically. riptide and ghostkeel get to be stormsurge sized/powerful and move to the lord of war slot forming the trifecta of battlesuits. alternatively strike and crisis suits could remain in elite, well stealth and 'spectre' suits move into fast attack to more evenly divide the options for battlesuits among different unit types. battlesuit commanders would also get a imperial guard tank commander kinda setup where you can chose individual battlesuits and make em the commander of your forces.

pathfinders in terms of look theyd also get the backpack and plasma dagger treatment the fire warriors get. for similar fluff reasons. game wise theyd be moved to the troops section since their marker light utility would be spread across the entire range so theyd have less of a reason to sit in a specialized slot. instead they can serve as either your inexpensive blob of cheap scouts or your more expensive experimental weapon team at a bit of a markup but with improved deadliness to the experimental weapons. instead in the fast sloot would be 'pathblades' veteran pathfinders who have refused promotion and stubbornly stick to the dangerous light armor scout role for whatever reason.

kroot kroot carnivores would get a fancy new model similar if more basic looking then the kroot farstalkers [farstalkers being an elite kroot option]. however to represent their genetic mutability you can also field them as specific strains as a 'weapons choice' for the basic kroot warrior. stalkers are the more stealthy but still cqc specialist, hunters are long range stealthy kroots in case ya want kroots to buff up the gunline for whatever reason, vultures get to fly across the field and headhunters get a special poison attack at the cost of being a bit more frail [kroot get ta be beefy i say!] kroots would also get knarloc riders in the fast attack role, kroot master shapers in hq, and greater knarlocs in lords of war. to represent how the kroot are some of the taus biggest partners/incase ya wanna run a kroot army.

other auxiliaries a heavy support auxillary option of some new race to contrast the vespid and add variety, and a human aux option in the elite role who borrowed some esoteric imperium equipment. the reason the gue'la would be in the elite slot is cause, lore wise, i feel it makes the most sense that only the better trained of whatever human forces joined the tau would head out to war with them. as a means to impress their new masters and all that.

fireblade a new fireblade model sharing the new tau backpack, theyd come in two flavours. regular fireblades and commander fireblades, commander fireblades being the highest ranked fireblades and allowed to command large forces of tau despite not actually having the rank of commander in the tau structure.

vehicles tau hoverbikes developed off of eldar examples and captured imperial relics using tau hover tech. aside from that, a tau heavy gunship option, the name 'great whale' comes to my mind but the main thing thing would be that its a heavier tau gunship for those looking for something packing a bit more punch.

thats all i can think of for now, feel free to add your own ideas.