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Man, that was a tough setback but you recovered it very nicely!

The Dragon turned out great. Good recovery. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

-Rids

I HEARD MY NAME.

That is awful, and I've been there. IN FUTURE (and feel free to practice this on your fogged canopies!)

Take ultra-fine sandpaper, and sand the clear plastic. I find a dry sand, followed by a wet sand works well here, you should only need to sand the outside, unless the glue/goo got to the inside. Clean with a soft cloth, and let them fully dry.

Then, apply clear GLOSS varnish to the clear plastic.

--Brian

Thanks! I will give that a shot, since I do hope to use the damaged canopy in some way. If I can actually restore it that would be ideal, I was thinking I'd just paint it back and stick it on a hard luck Valk I got for free.

Does anyone know if getting a speciality set of sanding papers is worth it? Saw some in action for model cars and wasn't all that impressed, but I could be wrong.

And now: Enter the Arvus!

Should I try to do re-entry scorch marks on it?

A packet of model sanding paper is cheap, and worth it for projects like these. Being able to ultra-smooth sand/surface prep is great, and can really help with sticky/problem decal applications.

I have a pair of Arvus (Arvii?) and I also ponder the landing scorches. No opinion either way, as of yet.


--B.

Definitely Arvii. I'll see about the sanding paper then. I'm trying to focus on better quality tools and materials over more figures, so that fits. : )

In the meantime I got given some Cadians for the price of shipping, and so I'm doing some up desert style to put more imperial boots on the ground on Taros. I-walker runs mostly tanks, but you never know. Not my assembly, and I got some free labor of varying quality while teaching some basic painting techniques on these.

78th Raganii Fusiliers. I think I will convert them up a bag piper, but otherwise leave them stock. One of the many, many Cadian pattern infantry regiments of the Imperium. I'm going to do a platoon's worth painted to a vague tabletop quality.

I have some ultra fine sanding films. They work great when I bother to use them. They are plastic, and are good for wet sanding.

I hear ya. Usually any cleanup I need to do can be done with a knife, but one can always try to get better.

It occurs to me that we haven't shown these yet:

Helstrom Veteran Squad:







Hmm, there were 3-4 more, but I can't seem to find a picture of them.





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There is a Tau type terrain 3-D print files kickstarter up. Not really worth it for me, but good for inspiration!

I love the Arvus. Looking forward to seeing yours complete. And that’s a unique veteran squad. It has a lot of character and fits the desert theme.

-Rids

Thanks! The full squad is really cool - I walker had most of the original last chancers mixed with some other classic metals.

Idea to save for Terrain: Tau sand farm. Using a series of nets/charged plates/technowhatsits, blowing sand is sorted grain by grain into patches of different colored sand of different composition.

Arvus is done!


Here's a WIP shot. I used a larger brush for a heavier shading (which looks kind of crappy), but then tightened it up by painting in more desert yellow. The drybrush also helps a lot.



Here it is finished. I enjoyed it, and commend Forge world for producing such an evocative model that helps complete the 40K setting. Oddly, it seems to have a great deal of sensors and optics, which I suppose makes sense for an orbital shuttle - why wouldn't you use for recon of you had space superiority?









For whatever reason the Khorne red looks very pink in these pictures. It really isn't. Sticking a big chunk of resin up on a flying stand does feel a bit risky







Here is the underside, for when it is lying crashed in the desert after the Tau have shot it down!

I really do love this model, and the older Aquila Lander. I wish we could see more of the 'non-combat' models, shuttles and the like, from the 40K universe.

Really like how the weathering around the panel lines came out- that's the look I've wanted for my own vehicles for some time- will have to try to emulate!

Must admit the drop tank sensor pod is a scratch build. However even the chin has a pretty good assortment of sensors. I always figured it would make a fine ELINT platform.
Hence the drop tank mod.
It is a ubiquitous imperial aircraft with space capability.

Just what is Col. Helstrom up to using such an advanced upgrade while performing liaison duties?

Looking really nice, Kestral!

I definitely need one of those. It can add so much story and character to a campaign.

-Rids

Nice Arvus lighter there kestral.

Cheers,

CB

@Briancj: I'm with you on needing more non-combat models. I want those too. They really help tell a story on the table.

Arvus looks great kestral, I also like the sand farm idea you wrote about. Ambye have a big electro magnet for separating out all the iron particles?

Thanks folks!


I read an interesting piece that the reason places like our Moon will never really be great mining resources is that they lack any kind of sorting - sure the minerals are there, but without water and tectonic processes, it is all evenly distributed and thus relatively useless from an economical harvesting perspective. On the other hand, if you have a bunch of sand blowing around, and a way of extracting just the grains you want (like an Electromagnet), that seems very economical.

In other news, we've decided to Roll the campaign, even if not everything is perfect, because, well everything will never be perfect, and neither of us is getting any younger.

Which makes my to-do list something like this:

First Game: Battle Fleet Gothic
1x Rogue Trader
1x Kiff Raider
1x Tau Space Station
Seems pretty doable in 2 weeks.

Second Game: Battle for the Dawnwaters Edge:
Breaching Team
Rogue Trader Shuttle.

Doable for a Month out.

I'm in, where do I drive?

--Brian

Lol. Pm sent

This campaign sounds really fun, I love that you are doing a cross platform story. That's something that I've always wanted to try.

Looks like Brain CJ will be involved, which is awesome! He has Admech, IG, and Minotaurs, which will nicely broaden the imperial forces available. I-Walker is also going to include some Rogue Trader elements, which will add further variety on the Imperial side. The Tau are sure to be hard pressed. Here's some fluff!

The Rinn'va sept was pleased with their Taros project - a new world was being developed, and if there were occasional problems with the Imperial Cult, resentment among the conquered Ge'ula, supply struggles, terraforming setbacks, and the like, they were not unexpected or unmanageable. The disappearance of one collaborator, even an important one, was barely a footnote.

Nymus Dree and a small band of companions, veterans of the 2nd Taros intervention, were smuggled off Taros by a tramp freighter, the Toujours L'Audace. They paid their way with stolen gems from the mine workings, and were handed off through successively more reputable traders, until they arrived at Kota 5, sub sector Capital of Uleth .

Nymus Dree took his information to the imperial authorities immediately. This was the moment of greatest danger for his enterprise, for there was every chance that he would simply be executed out of hand, sent to a prison planet, or left to rot in a local cell. However, if Dree knew anything, it was how to navigate the Bureaucracy. Within a month he was in contact with the many branches of the Imperium's power structure. He was an imperial Provisioner after all, and the defeat on Tauros was recent, and a blemish on the honor of the Imperium. With luck, skill, and faith, Dree set in motion a Third Taros intervention.

Although Dree would continue to play a role in what had become his life's work, greater than he would now have the Honor of leading the endeavor. There was much discussion, but eventually the sector authorities decided to appoint a Sky Marshal. A rank sometimes seen on the Eastern Fringe, a Sky Marshal was not directly associated with one service, often drawn from high ranking planetary nobility rather than imperial guard officers. Proclamations were made, and suitable candidates put themselves forward, but one student out above all others - Rogue Tracer Elucia Vhane. Rogue traders had been Sky Marshals before, and Vhane, at this time over 400 years old, had a formidable reputation. She would bring with her ships and fighting forces, and it was felt that she would have the flexibility to deal with complex situation such as the reconquest of a world partially developed by the Tau. Her charter would give her political cover to preserve anything of value on Taros, rather than simply purging the Xenos, and powerful interests smelled a profit in this.

Chronicler's Note: The Third Taros Intervention takes place well before the return of the Primarchs, great rift, Rogue Trader Kill team happenings, and other events of "8th Edition".

Imperial Guard Regiments would be mustered, but this was not Vhane's immediate concern. The Administratum and Munitorium would see to that. She did note that Lord Commissar Von Horric, now a legend for his execution of much of the command staff at the end of the 2nd Taros intervention would once more be serving the Emperor on Taros. That was good, in that it would focus the minds of officers on the ground, but also bad, in that other officers might do their best to avoid serving along side such an uncompromising commissar. Sky Marshal Vhane was not unduly concerned. To her the Imperial Guard were a hammer, and precise aim was not required.

Vhane would not command ground forces directly, but would be responsible for mustering and commanding the invasion overall. In particular, she would need to seek aid from the Imperium's independent allies - the Mechanicus and the Space Marines. She summoned Dree, and after long conversation aboard her Flagship, the New Dawn, she formulated a course of action. The mechanicus would not be difficult to rouse - Dree had compiled evidence of gruesome tech heresies committed by the inquisitive and inventive Rinn'va on Taros, and beyond that the Rinn'va had a considerable interest in STC technology, and Dree made it seem very likely that they possessed information on undiscovered Standard Template Constructs. The Mechanicus pledged aid at once.

Space Marines were a trickier matter. The obvious choice was the Emperor's Scyths, eager for vengeance after their losses in the First Taros intervention, but they were engaged elsewhere. The Kestrals, a chapter with a long association with Rogue Traders were another possibility, but they were unenthusiastic about fighting the Tau, whom they, like the Ultramarines, saw as a low priority and even occasional ally.

How Vhane and Dree induced the Minotaurs to participate can be told by Briancj, or it can remain a mystery.....

Here's what I propose,subject to input of course.

Taros Order of Battle
Tau and Auxiliaries (Kestral) VS Imperial Guard, Rogue Traders (Insurgency Walker) and Imperial Guard, Admech, and Minotaurs (Brian CJ). In the event that Kestral is called away, the imperial forces will have a "Training Exercise" or "Inter-service Dispute". In the event that one imperial player is unavailable, the other will face off against the Tau. It is possible other players might appear in an allied role, but the overall campaign will be Tau vs Imperium, at least until the Mutiny, when chaos may become a wild card factor. In general, other factions are unlikely, though not absolutely ruled out.

Scenario Design will alternate between sides, Kestral will design the first one, I-Walker the second.

Rules:
Mostly Warhammer 40K 5th edition, unmodified basic rules, except POSSIBLY a tweak to the vehicle damage table. Players can use whatever codex they like (between 3rd and 7th ed at least), and can even mix and match units within reason, or design entirely new units. The one caveat to this is that the opponent(s) get to overule the points costs if they wish. Guard will probably use 5th Ed. Codex, but be able to purchase the 4th ed codex doctrines. This should give them an edge in what is generally a difficult match up. It is perfectly acceptable to write up rules for units not included in a codex and post them here, as long as decent models are available. Pictures are encouraged. : )

We will need to decide what flyer rules will be used, since 5E does not include in them.

Other game systems like Battle Fleet Gothic, Aeronautica Imperialis, Double Eagle or Strikepoint or Kill Team may be used for specific purposes.

The one caveat is that the rules a player is going to use for their forces in a scenario need to be stated in writing IN Advance, and a player needs to have those rules on hand. : ) This can be as simple as "I'm going to use the rules in IA Vol 2 for X". This can be changed between scenarios. This should allow for a good mix of fluffy and cool yet clear cut and competitive game play.

There is no advancement, casualty tracking, etc. A player decided when/if their characters are killed for story purposes, and when they "have a close call".

This is very much an artistic/nostalgic campaign - Painted figures, while not absolutely required, are STRONGLY encouraged. I'll do my best to put together decent terrain as needed. The campaign will go on until the story is told, with players agreeing on the overall course of it and alternating writing the outcome of each battle.


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How does that look?

I think the campaign concepts should work well. That is fairly similar to how my brother and I are running ours with things like agreeing on the story progression to link the battles and deciding if characters die or not after dying in a battle, mostly based on what feels right and what advances the story. This sounds exciting. I wish you luck with the campaign!

-Rids

Solid work, no problems on my end.

I will note the current Minotaurs story/fluff are of questionable [Lords of Terra's personal Marine Chapter] origins, and were my "Badab War" army, and used at Adepticon with the Wardens (Gitsplitta, Solar_Lion, and company). My Adeptus Mechanicus can be regular OR dark, as well. BOTH of these forces (Mins and Mech) can be "anti-Imperium" as they have their own (shady) reasons for being here above and beyond 'fighting Tau'.

Fliers in 5th ed aren't truly necessary, they were just fancy skimmers with fancy bases until 6th ed. I can't remember if the IA books added "Flyer" rules to 5th, but I don't NEED to fly my Avenger Strike Fighters...

BFG-wise I have Eldar (BB, Cruisers, Escorts) and Ork (Space Hulk, BB, Kroozers, some Escorts), some Imperial and Chaos (cruisers only, one Imperial Battleship), a Blackstone Fortress, a Ramilies Class Star Fort, and a Planet Killer.

For story/missions I have a Fortress of Redemption (Modified to be for AdMech), two Sky Talons, some Munitorum Containers, and a handful of 'civilian' vehicles. One Necron Monolith. And two Arvus Lighters and an Aquila Lander (non-crashed!). These are for my Rogue Trader/AdMech forces, but are great story props. GET TO DA LANDA.

Oh, and an Ordinatus Golgoltha. You know, for the lulz.

----

So, in the end, it comes down to what you want your Tau to fight. I can do Footslogging Guard, Artillery Guard, MBT Guard, Air Cav Guard, regular Cav Guard... Anything Space Marine (boy howdy) [Minotaurs were designed around the Blood Angels Codex, but could also use Dark Angels], some gloriously weird AdMech (Could use the Chaos codex, could use the Grey Knights codex).

Oh, and a pile of Orks, but they were designed around Fliers and DeathKoptas, alas.

Let me know where you want me to go, and I'll go there.

Thanks!

--Brian

Ordinatus Golgotha?!!!!!

Sweet Merciful Emperor! This one?

Why, yes. That one.

--Brian

I must admit that when building an army the first thing I think of is "what do I want to push around the table" or " what do I want to see blow up" or sometimes even what will blow up some unit I want to see blown up. Now I can understand not wanting to pack up and travel with that, but the ah.....Ordinatus Golgotha is a thing of beauty. In fact you have a lot of cool stuff that could certainly get some table time in as more than just scenery. For example your Sky Talon container transport.
As a side note, the wargames exclusive cars fit the stock Sky Talon. !

I have the initial battle somewhat framed in my mind - it involves a lot of shuttles, at least for the Imperium.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Details tomorrow I think.

 Insurgency Walker wrote:
Now I can understand not wanting to pack up and travel with that, but the ah.....Ordinatus Golgotha is a thing of beauty.

Why thank you.

It breaks down into multiple parts, as it was designed for travel. It was one of my Adepticon Army Board pieces as part of The Wardens team.

--B.

Excellent!

Well, here is my thinking for the opening of the Taros Campaign.

The tramp freighter Quasimodo was one of several human vessels that called infrequently at Taros as part of the Rinn'va's efforts to promote the Greater Good. Such vessels were part of a black market between human fringe worlds and the Tau, and while they constituted a security risk, the risk was considered to be acceptable, particularly as they furnished valuable intelligence. At first such ships had conducted trade in neutral systems, then further out in the Taros System, then in time at the space station Dawnwater's Edge after a rigorous security protocol. That protocol was underway now as the battlecruiser La'hus'rall, pride of the Rinn'va, moved in close to conduct a scan and boarding. Her shields were up and weapons charged, but no one expected any trouble. Quasimodo's captain was on screen and the Tau water caste thought they understood him well.

Without warning, Quasimodo's engines flared to full power as smaller ships spilled from her belly and the Captain shouted something about life pods and fled his bridge. A steely eyed human stepped from behind a console and took the helm brandishing some sort of religious icon. Desperately the La'hus'rall sought to maneuver, but the tramp freighter bore down inexorably. Collision alarms sounded, and the smaller ship struck near the bow and tore along the port side, opening an enormous gash, then exploded.

The Rinn'va had used fire ships and Q ships themselves in the past, but the tech used this time was beyond them and undetectable. Tau analysts would later note that no life pods launched successfully from the Quasimodo for reasons unknown.

Crippled, her back broken, the La'hus'rall drifted into a lower, decaying orbit that would eventually see her crash onto Taros in several weeks. All Taros went to full alert. The jettisoned small craft lit their engines and began to make their descent. Several were damaged during their sudden launch and crashed, while others suffered navigation errors or re-entry faults and made emergency landings in the desert. Others however flew true and peeled off on their assigned missions. Tau interceptors would claim several kills and scatter other flights, but some made it through to their targets, albeit in disordered formations.

Those targets were chosen to weaken the Tau air arm. The Rinn'va had prepared well, building on the airbases created during the first Taros war. They were well hidden, dispersed, and hardened, relatively safe from anything short of planet wrecking bombardment. But there were other targets - most notably Installation 6B, a Tau Auspex base in the Phyrea Heights. Without it the Tau would be largely blind in the coming air war.

How the Imperium knew of Installation 6B was a mystery to the Tau, but it had to be held. The security force assigned to it in peacetime would struggle to hold it against a determined attack, but the Imperium's bold assault had failed in one respect - the one in a hundred chance that a hunter cadre would be on maneuvers nearby. Shas'vre Inas'la reacted instantly, her cadre mounting up in minutes and racing for Installation 6B as soon as it was clear no orbital bombardment was incoming. At the same time deep space Auspex detected multiple starships entering the system. Taros braced itself for war.

Tentative Scenario Detail

Table Set up:
4x8 Table.
Canyon/Mesa terrain with some Tau Installations for flyers to zoom around. The objectives are 3 hardened "pop" up sensor silos.

Imperial 2 player forces:
Each Imperial player commands 1,000 points of Imperial Guard or Mechanicus. Space Marines are too precious for their commander to risk them on a mission with so many random factors. All imperial troops must either be flyers or mounted in flyers. 1 HQ max per player, no other force org restrictions. Only infantry will be able to capture objectives. Flyers are not treated as dedicated transports and may transport any unit.

Imperial forces enter from a short table edge of their choice. Half the Imperium's flyers, chosen at random, enter on turn 1, the rest are placed in reserve.

Tau forces:
Tau forces consist of a 500 point security detachment - 1 HQ, 2+ Troops, no more than one of any other choice. They deploy on the table at the game start. Cadre Inas'la is 1000 points and begins in reserve. All units must have jump packs or be mounted in devilfish. Devilfish may be purchased without using a force org slot and may transport Kroot and Auxiliaries. Tau installations include 3 hardened (armor 14) bunkers.


In addition I will set up a battle fleet gothic game to fill any remaining time and represent the battle in orbit. I have or will have the figures for that and will choose the forces and will give some thought to alternative scenarios if someone is missing.

How does that look?