Tau Codex and Release: Leaks, Pics, Rumours, White Dwarf

Warhammer 40K Tau Rumors: Its Going To Be Big 
(Everything seems to be going that way at GW)

Riptides and Broadsides:
Sunsharks and Razorsharks
Plagiarism from around the web, More rumours and pics

Get out your magnifying glass:

Collected rumors for Tau:

Tau Super Suit Stats, Kroot Monster, and Vespid Skooters coming?

Psychic defense boost: Tau are just harder to target with warp powers, they have very little presence in the warp. Tau got a DtW reroll in playtesting. Tau in Suits got a 5+ DtW.

The Kroot monster is very cool looking, but possibly points-wise expensive, and short-lived. A beast in CC, but it's hard to get it there. Roughly the size of a Maulerfiend, its like a hybrid between the Krootox and the Great Knarloc. Beaked head. (Whats with the parrot passion at GW? ) 4-legged. Over muscled. Kinda apelike pose and body structure.

The "super-suit" is NOT at all like a wraithlord. It is not suited for CC, and really cant be outfitted for that role. Possibly T 7, but others are saying it is T8. Apparently resembles BattleTech line merged with Tau aesthetic.

 Possible profile WS3 BS5 S5 T7 W3 I3 A2 L8

Don't think the Vespid Scooter made the cut. It was in a number of early drafts, kind of like the genosian fighters in Star Wars. Yes, flying creatures with a flying vehicle...

Rumour? Krootox Giant Rumors and Firewarriors BS4?

Krootox giant has the following rules and stats - these I believe will change as we have had much discussions upon this unit and cannot be certain if it is powerful enough for a competitive environment.
Krootox Giant:   WS   BS   S    T   W    I    A    LD    SV
                               6      3    8   6     4    1   5     7       4+
Special rules:  Smash, monstrous creature, rage, mental without control, move through cover,fleet
mental without control: If your krootox giant loses his krootox rider then the Giant must pass a leadership test every turn otherwise will attack the closest enemy unit. If the Giant cannot reach a target then it misses it next turn while it cools down.

Fire warriors can't be upgraded to bs4, the squad leader has an upgrade that raises their BS though for  50 points and goes away if he dies.

Units
Ethereals: These now grant army wide special rules and bubble rules, but there are different options. They function roughly much like those recent Dark Angels banners. So one option might be army wide Ld rerolls while in play, plus units in 12" are fearless. Another option might be one unit in army gets salvo once per turn, and all units in 12" get rerolls to hit.

Kroot: Everyone's favorite birdmen get Scout, Furious Charge, Move thru Cover. Kroot Hounds and Kroot hawks! Shaper can unlock additional unit upgrades.

"Sneaky Kroot": Look for an ELITES Kroot unit that can hide in terrain like Ymgarl Genestealers.

Knarloc: The new big beasty model, very similar to the Forgeworld Great Knarloc (see below). Monstrous Creature, with a trample attack allowing it to run 3d6" and cause 2d6 S6 AP6 wounds to any unit it crosses. It may additionally use this special move to charge a unit, gains +2A and the assault-grenades ability when charging in this manner.

Vespid: The maligned bug men are redeemed! Big improvements, weapon range increase, point reduction, hit and run.

Vespid Flyer: Smallest flyer in game, like a jetbike, single blaster as weapon, vector-dancer

Fortifications: Deep striking turrets as fortification options. Burst cannons or missile pods options.

Tau Flyer Transport: 13 13 12 armor, holds a full Fire Warrior or Crisis Suit squad, or single Uber-suit. Not a lot of weapons, but HP:3, and has a save from wargear that can be taken. Deep strike. Rules-wise is focused on getting units reliably to a location.

The Uber-suit: So many options currently it's hard to keep them straight. It's a mobile weapon platform, with rail guns as it's main weapon system, - which can be upgraded to a plasma weapon system or ion cannons. Classified as monstrous creature. 2+/4++ save. It can forgo shooting and movement to gain 2++ save. The Uber can move as jump infantry if it does not shoot it's main weapons. VERY HIGH toughness, no existing weapon can instant death it. Although it can smash if it has to, it is not designed as a close combat unit at all. Cost is comparable to a Terminator squad. It can take drone support.

Odds and Ends
FOC: Some specific HQs move Crisis Suits to troops. One moves two Kroot units to troops.

Psykers-defense: All Tau have some base immunity to psychic powers, and thus any Tau unit can deny the witch, with the suits gaining an  improvement to this roll.

Tau: Stealth Suits, Sky Ray, and More.

Crisis Suits: More dynamic, posable new models. Unit keeps its high level of customization, with several upgrades to stat lines possible. New flakk missile pods. New combi-kit includes Broadside parts.

Stealth Suits: Models unchanged. Have stealth, (obviously), plus optional drone granting shrouding.

Sky Ray: Last edition's train-wreck gets a new lease on life. Flakk missiles, plus has orbital bombardment (much like SM version, but with a lingering effect).

Fire Warriors: Same nasty gun. Still BS:3, but with a Shas'O can upgrade unit to BS:4.

Equipment
Drones: Any drone can be used for Look Out Sir rolls for any model in the unit they are attached to.

Markerlights: A single hit increases BS of all other units targeting the victim by +1. Multiple markerlights have no additional effects. OUCH - look out for possible BS:5, Fire Warrior volleys now! Markerlights improve snapfire against marked flyers to 5+ instead of 6, but must first hit the flyer with a 6 themselves.

Networked Markerlights: A longer range twin linked version. Vehicles only.

War gear:
Gatling ion blaster: 30''   S:6    AP:3   Assault:3
plasma storm blaster: 40''   S:9    AP:1    Assault:1 (lance,system failure,implosion)

lance: rulebook

System failure: If you score a glancing or a penetrating hit on a roll of a 6 you cause a system failure in the enemy tank/flyer. The tank/flyer cannot move or shoot for the remainder of the turn. The tank/flyer controlling player must roll  a d6 every turn for the remainder of the game, on a roll of 1 the tank/flyer has a system failure again and may not shoot or move again.

Implosion: if you score a explosion on a tank/flyer then it explodes 2d6 inches instead of the normal d6.

2000 Views - thanks to my followers

2000 Views - Thank you to my followers

Thank you to everyone who has followed by fledgling blog. 

2000 views without porn or bikini clad girls to lure people to my site. 

Just plain, raw wargaming and my plain raw drivel. 

All about gaming, modeling, competitiveness and having fun in the end: 

Some competitive demotivational  posters to celebrate. I know it pales compared to some blogs that get 2000 hits a day, but heck, you have to start somewhere...

Games and Reality: The real Flames of War

Games and Reality: The Real Flames of War

So I am on call yesterday. Called to a rest home to certify a death at 7 pm.
(I'm a doctor by trade)

Miffed cause I'm gonna be late for Games Night at the Wargames Club.
A patient of one of my partners, don't know her from a bar of soap...

Keen to try out my new Daemon Army Book, or use my Late War Germans...

Deal with the grieving family. She had a long life, ripe old age, had been struggling with cancer for the last two years. Condolences, clinical examination, paperwork....

No religious rituals, family don't believe in that stuff ... just for simple cremation.

To fill out the death and cremation certificates I need to go through her file.


Born 1925
German name, Kiwi surname.
Born and grew up in Berlin.

Jewish Ancestry.
Father taken away by Germans and killed.
Escaped with mother and sisters, aged 15.
Married twice, 4 kids, 2 failed marriages.

Shadow of war tainted her whole life...

I'm thinking about my own son and daughters, waiting at the table for me to come home for supper.
I'm thinking what it would have felt like to have your father ripped away from you and killed simply for being who he was.

I'm thinking about the real Flames of War, and how they still burn, even 70 years later.
And how even in her death, after all these years, that echo still resounds.
No funerary rites for him, none for her...

I'm thinking of my German Ancestry, and what befell the people of Europe at the hands of the Germans.
And how I love to march my German Army across the table top.

Historical battles, Flames of War...
How that flame burns, long after the last gun had fallen silent, and the last fire had been doused.

I am not Jewish, but I am familiar with their funerary rites.

No-one is likely to say an El male rachamim or Kaddish (Prayers for the dead) for her.

So here is one, as they would have offered for her father, after he had been killed:

(This one is for victims of the holocaust, which she was, even 70 years later, still a victim...)

So I went home, had supper with my wife and children. 

It was too late to go to the wargames club.

I had decided to stay my guns for the night anyhow...

" I can see a fiery, fiery glow

  Even as the sun is sinking low

  I can see a horseman on the run

  Oh my daughter, Oh my son"

                                              Laurika Rauch, from Hot Gates (Thermopylae)

FoW: And then I had my whole foot in...

Flames of War 20mm: And then I had my whole foot in...

Ok so we get to the club last night, and it's my German Panzerkompanie up against Luc's UK Armoured Squadron in Normandy. Late war. Flames of War in 20mm

Free-for-all and objectives to seize and hold, 2 each. A river runs through it, with a bridge and mill-house, small forest and village. Open fields mostly.Still struggling with numbers of models, as our armies were build for Warhammer WW2. Troops not on multi-bases. Not nearly enough artillery or Shermans, not the right light models  tanks on UK side. End up using Matildas as Stuart replacements, and M10s as stand-in Shermans

Slow start, as we're still feeling our way. Mike is at hand to help with rules, going a lot easier this time...more enjoyable. Our confidence and enjoyment improves turn by turn.Thank you very much Michael!

I choose to defend the approaches to the bridge with a pair of portee Kfz 7 Flak vierling 20mms, also giving cover to my motorised infantry. Not much space for my recce Zundapps with sidecars to maneuvre. LeFH 18s deploy on the edge of the boasrd, covering the right hand corner, Company commander in lead Panzer over to thier right. Panther company skulking behind the mill house, with one covering the bridge approach, and two covering the flank.

Luc places his field artillery (25 pdr x 2) opposing mine, 2 troops of 4 each Shermans with a firefly gun-tank each on that flank, and another troop on his side of the bridge. Motorised infantry deploy on other side of river facing him. Troop of 3 Stuarts supporting them

Firefly in my sights. German Command Tank advancing.

The Ill-fated QF 25 pounder battery, shortly before the Luftwaffe's visit.

Shermans passing by. This troop ended up taking the majority of the Panthers out.

First 2 turns is mostly tactical maneuvring, both side's foot soldiers digging in. Armour jostling for position. Herr Oberst in Panzer 1 takes out Firefly on approach to bridge, just to be taken out in return by a flanking troop with another firefly. Luftwaffe arrives on turn 2, contarary to expectations, 3 make it through the air defences, and takes out the whole 25 pdr battery, HQ escapes the blast, hops into their Bren carrier; and goes and sits on objective to defend it for the rest of the game. Lucs turn 2 sees his Stuarts (Matildas) taking out most of my motorised platoons' MGs, and laying down a smokescreen to further protect his dug in motor company.Spectacular fail on roll to bring on air support: 4 ones and 3 two's!; the RAF miss their target completely. Germans relieved.

Almost an ambush. Panthers protecting the bridge and the objective marker from behind the Mill House

Infantry face off across the river, both sides dug in.

Lots of baling out and clambering into vehicles in the next turn, a couple of Shermans destroyed by the panthers. Luftwaffe arrives again, a single aircraft makes it to target, anti-aircraft fire from Stuarts fail, and 2 of their number succumb to the direct hits from the veteran dive-bomber pilots. Sherman on the bridge now lay down smoke to protect their infantry. Panzergrenadiers unfussed, move forward through river, difficult terrain no problem for them, same with motorcycles, who cut through forest and attack the flank of the Tommies. Shermans open fire, and destroy the German transports struggling through the river. The Captain and his Protze staff car make it through unscathed. The surviving troops divert for a gap between the bridge and the houses, trying to make it to the objective beyond, taking cover behind a house.RAF finally make it through, only to be destroyed by the Flak before launching their rockets. Sherman takes out one in retribution on Luc's turn.

None of these Shermans survived the battle.

Movin' out. Luc's turn 1. Only one Sherman from this troop survived the Panther attack. 

Ok, the luftwaffe also took 2 out!

Ranging in...Open sights of the enemy

Luftwaffe at hand. 

Carnage after they had been...

With only one Stuart (Matilda) to oppose them the motorcyclists cross unhindered

Meanwhile a drama is played out behind the mill house, slug-fest between the panthers and Sherman troops.

The 2 IC panzer is flanked, hit repeatedly, baled, but remounted every time by the experienced crew. Impetuous sherman crew pay the price. Approach to bridge now open, and the panzer crew eagerly eye the objective just beyond the bridge. Only problem is the hulks of multiple burnt-out Shermans on it. While they are still contemplating what to do next they receive a long range shot from a firefly that sends the wonderment into oblivion in a ball of smoke and fire. Same fate befalls another Panther, breaks the line of approaching Shermans, takes out the firefly. Sole survivor retreats back towards objective. Coward Tommies, lets get them!, race forward thinking that cover from hulks on battlefield will protect, But no, the only surviving firefly has the last word: Boom! Panzer Zerstoerd (Destroyed)

Only one Panther, the Field Artillery, Zundapp riders and the one 20mm Flak vehicle survive. O yeah, and Herr Kapitan with half his Sturmtruppen, behind the house.

A good victory to Luc! A much more enjoyable game once you get the rules.

Lessons learned: 

1. Get the right models, and enough of them

2. Read the rules some more, watch the videos again

3. Base the infantry on team bases

4. Panthers pack good punch, but are a bit lacking in side armour. As an expensive option Tigers may be better.

WHFB New Chaos Daemon Releases and Army Book

WHFB New Chaos Daemon Releases and Army Book

GW has just (3 h ago) opened pre-orders on the new Chaos Daemon Army Book and Models

Check my fantasy Site for more info and pictures:

Link:

Trouble in the border provinces

Progress with the 8th Army

Progress with the 8th Army

I have been so absorbed with the NZTC Championsip Warhammer Fantasy Battles (and annual leave up in the sunny Bay of Islands) that I have neglected to update my 20mm blog to some extent.

Prior to Xmas I finished basing and almost finished painting a good deal of my 8th Army Desert/Italian Campaign Force. I started with the ANZAC Forces, using the Aussie Jungle Fighters by Airfix, and Indian Troops. I added a scattering of Ghurkas too, as they had the right headgear. Don't think they came out too bad. Down side to it all is that I had just finished repainting all my armour and guns for the European conflict...Oh well..

Anyhow, finally got to taking a few snaps, so here it is: The Allied defense of Wadi Ah Ful, somewhere in North Africa:

Signals receive word that a Recce Patrol has sighted a German Recce and Tank Unit
 making its way towards Wadi Ah Ful

The supply column hastily refuels and rearms the Diggers

A Matilda Platoon from the Indian Company is sent out to reconnoitre

While British Crusaders move up to bolster the Aussie Digger Platoons moving out. The battery of 6pdr anti-tank guns are already dug in, and ready for any Fritz that pokes his nose over the dunes

A Unit of Grants move over to the ridge above the Wadi to give the Indians suporting fire. Two 17 pounders may not be enough...

Indian Recce patrol returns reporting that the German coloumn has just entered the South End of the Wadi

Aussie sappers lay another mine-field along the edge of the Wadi

While the Indian 17 pounders lay in wait

3 Platoons of Sikh warriors move out to meet the Desert Fox and his Afrika Korps

Anti-tank and Anti-Aircraft cover

Kurz und Lang: Two Models of the  PzKfW IV roll into the South end of Wadi Ah Ful

German Recce Platoon racing down the dunes:

Two half-tracks, one a radio command vehicle, the other with a 20mm gun, and 3 SDKfz 222s each packing a 20mm cannon, 3 kubelwagens with Mg 34s, and a Kettenrad: 

Clearly a hit-and-run Kampfgruppe

Methinks the element of surprise is gone.

Can we expect those verdamte Hurribombers or Beaufighters again? 

But the Allies are prepared. View from the German (South end) of Wadi Ah Ful 

PzKfw IVs eyeing the Matildas

They may just have bitten off more than they can chew...

View from the North

Dipping my toe...FoW gaming in 20mm

 Dipping my Toe...FoW game in 20mm

Ok, so it had to happen sooner or later. Wargames are turn-based. Mostly. Period. (No pun intended)

 WWW2 (Warhammer WW2) is great fun, but I'm not all that keen on initiative/leadership  testing to see which units get to go, nominating this unit, then that...

Even Phil Yates must have come to the same conclusion when he started developing FoW.

... On the other hand I found the FoW rules we played last nightjust  a tad tedious. (Maybe its just because I have to look so many things up, and we were all noobs at it)

 It does differ substantially from Lionel Tarr and Donald Feathersone's rules that I cut my teeth on; and the Games Workshop stuff that's my main  fodder at the moment.( Just took part in a Team Championship Tournament last week.)

So back top WW2, as I've had enough of Dark Elves and Daemons for a while. But then again they have brought out some great looking models...Isn't avarice a terrible thing?

Ok, so there we went, Luc and I at the Kapiti Wargames Club, chose to random opposing sides,

 Late War: German PzGrenadiers with 2 platoons of Panthers, 

and British Armoured Squadron, with a lorryload of Shermans, a platoon of Firefly Shermans, and 4 M10 Achilles Tank destroyers.

We chose to play a simple capture and hold the objective battle, with a small farm, Pas de Douchie,  in centre of the table, with 2 roads leading to it, a ploughed field, and a forest.

Panzer Grenadiers rushing in with their Hanomags, just failing to make it to the objective before Luc's Motor Company. Think I forgot some of the German special rules, but so hey...

Time and ineptitude constrained us, but we got in a couple of rounds, Luc took the farm, and held it successfully.

Still struggling a bit with the concept of hits being based on opponents experience rather than shooter's ballistic skill. Suppose it will come with time. Thanks Michael for offering to help us next week.

LSSAH Panther on the road to Pas de Douchie

BTW: check out this great graphic site for armour I discovered:

Gunpoint -3D