More Tau Painting & Games

So last week was a pretty busy week for Tau.  First up I've been working on painting the Riptide and wrapped that up before the weekend.

I still really do no like the paint scheme for the army.  I guess overall it looks ok.  The guys at Frontline think I should just get an extreme highlight going on the blue to make it pop.  So that might be something I do after Golden Throne.

I also continued working on the bases for the troops.  I had done the pathfinders as a bit of a test even before I did the crisis suits the other week.  So this weekend it was on to the troops.

In addition to cleaning up the bases with some white paint and grey trim I mixed up some more 'snow' mixture.  I ended up making quite a bit before I was happy with the consistancy and color, so I just figured I'd get that riptide based as well.

I ended up leaving more grey gravel showing than I did on the rest of the army.  I wish I had done that on the rest.  Re-basing the army is another 'maybe' on my list but I'm not sure I want to spend the time doing that.

I moved on to the Kroot but ended up needing to get on to other things so that is on tap for this week.  I'm also hoping to get the ethereal done, and possibly Longstrike depending on how the weekend goes.

I also got a number of 2k games in last week to practice my Golden Throne list.

I played Anthony with a BA/IG mix.  This game went poorly from the get go, and I can largely blame my absent minded set up.  First I blobbed up and totally disregarded his Manticore.  Then I set right up on the 12" mark, when he was running a bunch of jumper BA going first.  I should have lined up on the back 3-4" to minimize the barage and to hope to get two full turns of shooting.  So that game was basically over before it started.

Then I went up to Frontline on Friday and got three games in with the guys.  Funny enough I played 3 generals with different versions of Eldar/DE mix.

First was Grant with his updated Seer council list.  The Seer Council runs with the baron, and is backed by 4 venoms, 2 min jetbike squads, and 2x3 war walkers.  Sadly for Grant I stole turn one, and was able to kill the Baron.  This ended up being crucial because later I assaulted his seer councel with a few units and challenged with my Commander.  He accepted, and though I could never 'Fist' him to death and I lost combat until only the Commander was left, my Ethereal kept him stubborn and tied that unit up until the end of the game for a Tau win.

Then I played Reece with his new improved Eldar.  He had a big Helion squad with the Baron and a jetbike squad with a jetseer, DA squad, Gaurdian Squad, war walkers, wave serp, swooping hawks, warpsiders, rangers and a Wraith Knight.  I feel like I'm forgetting something else.  Really it is a great Eldar list with no spam and lots of flexibility.  Plus it was relic and he was going first, so I didn't know how I could possibly snag the relic away from his jetbikes which would surely get it turn one.

Then I stole the initiative AGAIN.  So that game went downhill fast for Reece.  Still he was giving it a go and did get the relic and start pulling it away.  His Wraith Knight went in for the assault and lost some 4 wounds before making it to my Riptide.   The Riptide battled it out a few turns but with my 3++ save due to the nova charge I was able to win that combat, torrent down all his troops and basically left him with only warpsiders hopping around for another Tau victory.

Then I played Frankies Venom spam and he went first and just mopped the floor with me.  The highlight for me was killing his Wraith Knight with Overwatch.   It was crazy, but by the end of 5 I was stuggling to tie objectives even though I had lost first blood anyway, then the game went on and we called it there as I had almost nothing left on the board.

So in 4 games I won the two that I stole and lost the two I did not.  I'm not sure if that is enough for any take away data but it is what it is.

So back to painting and maybe a little bit of list tinkering with 4 weeks to go until the Golden Throne.