Fluff wise, The backpacks on marines/chaos marines are the power pack that supplies the power armor with energy, the nozzles are to vent the hot gasses produced by these power packs, and could not provide lift in any way.

One of the things that made me realize he was playing them wrong was reading the IA3 book the other night. The fluff section where it shows the combat loadout for a Space Marine shows the backpack to be exactly as you mentioned. A power source, life support system, and has a few other minor functions, such as a heat managment system and minor thrusters for low gravity situations... Nothing about a jump pack. Anyway, I've talked with the Marine player at home since then and he's changed his mind about them. We'll be playing them straight out of the codex next time. So, I'll chalk this one up as a moral victory and call it a night. In other news, I picked up a few new toys for the growing Grey Knights force. My plan is to combine a few elements from the Sisters of Battle, as well as some IG with the Grey Knights. My newest toys for this army are a Knight with Psycannon (Making 2 Psycannons, 3 Incenerators), A Terminator with Psycannon (Giving me one Incenerator and one Psycannon), and Celestine, the Living Saint. I think this will be a pretty fun army once I get finnished working on my Tau... Which will be awhile.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

when playing an inquisitorial army, you are almost always outnumbered. Grey knights excell against demons where they get bonuses, but are otherwise mainly overpriced marines.

Edit: they are still fun to play, I sometimes run an almost all Grey Knight force of about 1500 points and whether I win or lose it's a blast to watch your opponent cringe when they hear that your space marines can kill light vehicles as well as infantry.

Yeah, I've noticed they are very expinsice Agent. I just picked up a squad of Sisters of Battle and an Immolator. That's gonna add a little variety and a little extra beef to the army. Any advice for a future Inqistional commander? I do have to admit, after the somewhat limited model selections the Tau Empire offers, the Grey Knights with allies from both the Sisters of Battle as well as the IG is kind of a breath of fresh air. Still going to finnish building and painting all of my Tau before I fully turn my focus on my Inquisition. I'm going to use my Tau for points limited and standard matches, but use my Inquisition forces for Apoc level matches. I figure it'll be easier to beef it up to that level of points and firepower than the Tau. Anyway, it's late and I'm off to bed. Wish I could get home and work on more of this stuff... Got at least another month before that though. In the meantime, enjoying the travel and being able to pick up random stuff from town to town at different game stores.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

as for a future inquisitorial commander, look in the witch hunters codex. There is a psychic power in there that makes your weapons AP1 on 6s when you roll to wound (almost like rending) I was really surprised when a guy playing sisters of battle rapid fired my crisis suits and said "Oh look! this many are instant wounds!" That was when I started taking shield drones.

I'll take that into consideration! And to think, I was going to pass over the psychic stuff since I don't know much about it! That would have been a mistake! Thanks for the pointer! You don't happen to know of any good forums for the witch/deamonhunters? Or do you just look into the marine/IG ones? I'd be thrilled to find another site that was as in depth and actualy usefull as ATT has been for me. I really can't even express how much you fine folks here at ATT have helped me out with this game already. From tactics, to rules problems, to ideas for each unit's use. Not to mention all the great custom stuff. I'm a better 40k player because of this site. I went from being a complete newcomer to being the "go-to" guy with my local gaming group, and a lot of that is thanks to this site. Thanks again guys and gals and I look forward to reading even more great work!

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

I don't happen to know of a good forum for Inqusitorial playing, but a lot of ATT users are successful with inquisitorial armies, and speedfreek has a really nice witch hunters army. I would suggest looking at that.

Having taken your advice, I'm now looking around trying to decide what approach I want to take for my new army. I'm very much into the idea of an airborne army, but after doing some poking around, replacing most of my ground transports with flyers will be pretty steep. With a Thunderhawk Transporter running around $550 USD, and the gunship only about 50 dollars behind that. Then, on top of that, the Valkyrie is going to run a shy more than 50 as well... So, as much fun as the airborne Inquisition sounds, I think I'm going to have to let it go for awhile... Though I will almost certainly be adding a Valkyrie to the mix so I can get a feel for flyers, as well as enjoy a little high speed transportation. Long story short though, all of this is going to have to wait untill I'm home... Still could be awhile on that front.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

Back home again! Yay! Work was fun, but now I'm back here in the great midwest. I'm working on advancing the Greater Good again. I recently picked up more stuff for both of my current army projects. I've purchased 3 more Crisis Suits so I can finnaly get my second team up and running sooner than later. I'll be starting on my painting projects again in the next day or so as I unwind from work. I'm going to keep at my first FW squad and then move on to finnishing the kitbashing needed to make my honor guard. My current plans for the Tau are to have a force that can scale up from anywhere from 500-3000 points of forces on the table. That, combined with my ambitions for IG once the new codex come out, should make for a pretty interesting Apoc army, using the IG as Gue'Vesa. The concept of this is a modular force... I'm thinking a total of 3 armies... A combined Daemonhunters/Witchhunters army that totals up to around 4k (easy with the high points cost of the Grey Knights units.), Then a Space Marine Drop Pod army that totals up to around 2.5-3k for mobility and versatility, An IG force that will total up to around 3k (I already have a baneblade stormlord variant in the works.), And then my Tau that will total up to around 3k as well. My thoughts on this are for the four armies to be able to be played seperatly, or I can combine the Inquisition/SM/IG into a truely massive Apocalypse force, or use the IG with the Tau to make a more champain oriented Apoc force. At least that's my plan... So far, I'm pretty much where I want to be on my Tau, though I may need to pick up a few more things to make the full 3k I'd like. I need to take an inventory later today or tomorrow and figure out what I've got and what I still need to buy for these though...

Anyway, it's good to be back. I'll be posting more stuff with pictures by the end of the week I hope.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

No new pics to post as of yet, since it's been a busy weekend. I did get to play a pretty fun game Sunday, however. Alas, it was with my Inquisition army, so I'll spare you the gruesome details, but sufice to say I get to chalk another one up in the W collumn. I just found out I've been laid off for a while, so while I'm looking for new work, I'll have plenty of time to get started on more painting. My first order of buisness is to start up with my FW squad so I can actualy have one whole squad painted, then move on to my Crisis suits. I don't plan to build another model for my Tau force untill I've completely painted what I have built already. So, I'm off to get started doing just that. Hopefully I'll have pictures for you fine folks to enjoy sooner than later.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

New Record! W-3 L-2 D-1

So, it's been awhile since I had much that was really worth while to post up on this particular thread. Since then, I've had a chance to screw around on a few other threads and do some reading. Now that I'm home I've put together some more stuff for my inquisition army and tonight I got my start at the first few pieces of terrain for my sept's home planet. So, here's a few WIP pics of the stuff I've got started so far. It's without paint or flocking at the moment, and the larger piece has some filling in to be done with putty before I even get that far.

Small crystal formation. I'm using old flooring tiles for the basing.


Large crystal formation on the edge of a hill. I'm thinking of a dessert where the wind has blown a dune against the windward side of the crystals.



So, with that started, my friend and I have started working on a campaign to put on the planet. We're planning on working up some of the alternate battle suits that I've posted about in another thread. We're already working on sketches of them and researching resin casting. I'll post the sketches when we get them ironed out. The concept of the campaign is the in ital Tau conquest of the planet. I'm putting a unique ethereal together for it, as well as some elite Fire Warriors for some scenarios. I'll be working on this stuff for awhile, as well as getting some painting and more terrain building done as well. I'm hoping to have most of this work done by August so we can start playing the campaign when my buddy gets back from his vacation. Anyway, that's about it from me for now.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

So, I'm still hard at work on the campain. So far, the focus has been on unit design and new toys for both the Tau and Chaos. So far, my partner and I have done very little work for the Chaos, which is odd, because they're his army of choice. But, here's what we've got for the Tau so far...

XV-86 Battlesuit
points ws bs t s w i a ld sv
Shas'ui 50 2 3 4(5) 3 1 2 1 9 2+
Shas'vre +10 3 3 4(5) 3 1 3 2 10 2+

Type: Jump Infantry
Team: 1-3 Shas'ui
Equipment: XV-86 Battlesuit, Plasma Thrower, Plasma Rifle
Character: One Shas'ui may be upgraded to a team leader at +5 points. A team leader has access to the battlesuit wargear list in the codex. The teamleader may be upgraded to a Shas'vre for another 5 points.

Special Rules:
May Always deepstrike, even in missions types that wouldn't normaly allow it. Accute Senses granted by the battlesuit.
R S Ap Rules
Plasma Thrower Template 6 3 Assault 1 ((Note, this weapon is probably over powered. We're working out the details on it still, and are considering making it more in tune with the Incenerator from the Inquisition armies.))

This unit is an Elite Choice for Tau Empire armies.

XV-17 Light Combat Suit
points ws bs s t w i a ld sv
Shas'ui 35 2 3 4 3 1 2 2 8 3+
Shas'vre +10 3 3 4 3 1 3 2 8 3+

Type: Jump Infantry (Jet Pack)
Team: 3-6 Shas'ui
Equipment: AA mounted Missle Rack, Twin Linked Pulse Carbine. One in three shas'ui may replace thier Carbines with a Rail Rifle for 5 points. May also take one Battlesuit Support system. If one member does, they all must.
Character: One Shas'ui may be promoted to Team Leader for 5 points and the team leader may be made a Shas'vre for an additional 5 points. A Shas'vre may also buy a marker light or a marker beacon (as per the Pathfinder Dfish) for 20 points.

Special Rules:
Accute senses.

The XV-17 may be taken as an Elite choice for the Tau Empire.
R S AP Rules
Missle Rack 36" 8 4 Assault 2; AA mount; Limited Ammunition*

*May only fire 4 times in the course of a game.

So, the next one is probably the most experimental of the three units.
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld SV
Ethereal (Name hasn't been decided on yet.) 200 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 10 4+*

Rules:
Double Bladed Honor Blade: Counts as 2 Close Combat Weapons, granting a total of 2 extra close combat attacks.
Dedicated Veterans: This army has an additional elite choice of Elite Fire Warrior Squads that he has personaly trained and fought along side. (These may be taken as Elite Choices.)
Personal Shield Generator: Grants a 4+ invulnerable save.
Prefered Enemy: Chaos Space Marines
Inspireing Presense: As standard Ethereal
Price of Failure: As standard Ethereal

Elite Fire Warrior Squad
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Shas'ui 20 3 3 3 3 1 3 2 8 4+
Shas'vre +15 3 3 4 3 1 4 2 9 4+

All other characteristics as per normal Fire Warriors, except a few notes... The Shas'vre may be equiped with a power weapon and pulse pistol for +10 additional points.

Rules: Counter Attack

- Anyway, this is the first wave of new stuff we've come up with for our little campain, which should be the conquest of the home planet. There will also be some custom Auxilaries at some point, but I haven't arrived at that point yet. Any comments are more than welcome and always appritiated.

So, been working on the terrain stuff... Finaly got around to doing a little painting after picking up some less expensive hobby paints at a local store... Saddly, I apparently suck at drybrushing ridges on this stuff. I'm only going to post one pic for now, untill I can figure out how to make my brush work a lot neater. This turned out terribly.


This was a poor attempt to reproduce crystals as described in the Necron codex. They came out shaped alright, but they look like crap after my paint. Going to try again tonight I think. Any suggestions how to go about this in a more idiot-proof mannor?

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

Maybe treating them a bit like Gem stones, aka, lenses and so?

Some white and some blue as basic colors, perhaps?
Then slowy darking into your choisen colors before getting into the black range of colors?

Over at Bolter and Chainsword we have a really fantastic Inquisitorial sub-forum community IMO... I'd recommend checking there.

www.bolterandchainsword.com

It's been awhile. Work and RL drama has been keeping me from getting much done lately. Saddly, this trend looks like it's going to continue for a bit longer, but at least I've made another step forward. I picked up a bunch of wood and materials to build 2 8'x4' game tables in 2'x2' Squares. The plan is to make one a wilderness table and to make the second one a themed table to match my sept's home world. Purple desert with rock formations and crystal spires. At least that's the plan. My friend and I have everything set up, but I'm afraid I got a phone call this morning about going back to work first thing in the morning... So, I'm going to have to put this project off for another two weeks at least. Oh well, at least I'll be able to make a little more money to throw at the hobby.

Jin'Dal

What could be a good idea, since the Tau are so advanced, would be to add a heat generator attachement on the backpack; mabye something like those twin viles on the plasma rifle, or some cut up and smoothed out photon grenades...

You know, I didn't think to check the fluff... The backpack part of a Firewarrior's standard issue gear might have something like that already built in. The Space Marine's backpack on the power armor has enviromental regulators, as illistrated in the IA:3 book. So that's a good point. The only thing is, the same gear detailing in that book is from the Empire's point of view, so it's all just "guessing" at what each piece of gear is. I don't have that book on me right now, since I'm traveling, but that's something I'll have to check into.

Jin'Dal

Well, it's been awhile. Life caught up with me, but I'll spare my compatriots all the dirty details and leave it to say that I now have plenty of spare time to sit in my home and work on my armies. So far, I've been putting a lot of time into terrain, but last night, I finnaly got around to working on my Tau forces. I completed the squad of Firewarriors for my honor guard. Also built a few test models. One was pretty much an excuse to use some of the fantasy Wood Elves I had laying around after comandeering the capes for my honor guard. The one test model I did using them as a base came out kind of interesting looking. I also made a test model for the XV-17 battle suit I'd mentioned in a previous post. I kinda borrowed some ideas from some other folks here on ATT for how to do an extremely light suit without scratch building it. After fiddling with it a bit though, I've decided the rules need a little bit of work. For starters, from a modeling stand point, putting a missle rack and a pair of pulse carbines onto such a small package proved to be more than I can handle at this hour... So I'm probably going to make it an upgrade for one model in the squad, simular to the rail rifle upgrade. The only catch to that is if I do that, I'll change it from a missle rack to a missle pod. I doubt anyone would want to take a weapon that had limited shots on a model that couldn't mount a back up weapon. I know I wouldn't at least. I'll have a host of pictures of my recent endevours on here tomorrow some time I reckon. It's after 6 am here though, and I'm getting very very tired. So, I'm off to get some sleep for now.

Jin'Dal
(SirDuck13)

Alright, new attempt at the XV-17 statline and rules...

XV-17 Light Combat Suit
points ws bs s t w i a ld sv
Shas'ui 35 2 3 4 3 1 2 2 8 3+
Shas'vre +10 3 3 4 3 1 3 2 8 3+

Type: Jump Infantry
Team: 3-6 Shas'ui
Equipment: Twin Linked Pulse Carbine. One in three shas'ui may replace thier Carbines with a Rail Rifle for 5 points. If the unit is six models strong, one may upgrade to a missle pod in place of his Carbines for 20 points. May also take one Battlesuit Support system. If one member does, they all must.
Character: One Shas'ui may be promoted to Team Leader for 5 points and the team leader may be made a Shas'vre for an additional 5 points. A Shas'vre may also buy a marker light or a marker beacon (as per the Pathfinder Dfish) for 20 points.

Special Rules:
Accute senses.

The XV-17 may be taken as an Elite choice for the Tau Empire.

Here's a pic of the first attempt at one being modeled. I hijacked the idea of a cross between a firewarrior and a stealth suit from one of our esteemed comrades, to give credit where it's due (though I should probably look for his or her actualy SN.) I'm not entirely satisfied with the backpack and jump jet ports on the side of it yet. I was hoping to give them the Jet Pack rule, but this set-up just doesn't seem to justify it to me.




I'm also not entirely satisfied with the mounting of the guns on the arm. I think it looks sort of flimsy. I'm debating on cutting off the underslung grenade launcher part. It would save on bits used and it would also streamline the weapons a little more.

Here's the completed work on my honor guard firewarriors.





I'm still debating on what exactly thier rules should be. Haven't decided if I want to count them as the previously mentioned Elite Firewarrior squads, or just as a fancy honor guard for a specific Ethereal.

Next up, some terrain pieces I've been working on. I'm hoping to find some usefull stuff around the house to start working on a few bastions for planet strike, but for now, I have some wilderness stuff from the home planet of my sept. Some of it still looks rough, but I'm working on it bit by bit. Some of it is still a work in progress. I've only just started on the taller of the rock formations. The two more realistic looking rock formations are actualy aquarium terrain that I've primmed and repainted. I'm using matte sealer on them and it gives them the dusty and dingy look that Ive actualy come to enjoy on this project. The boards I'm planning to make will be done to match, though I haven't had a chance to get the wood cut and the stuff built. Hopefully the whole thing comes together nicely. Only time will tell.

First up is the smaller piece that I posted pics of before. It looks a little better after being flocked and sealed, but my paint job still could use a little work.


Next is a larger piece using the same style of constructions. Insulation foam and floor tile for basing. This one's cyrstals came out a little nicer, but still not what I'm looking for. I'm probably going to end up being lazy and just buying crystals.


Fully finnished painting and sealing of a rock formation intended for aquariums.




This one is a work in progress.




That pretty much covers it from me for now. Next up, I'll probably tackle putting together a new set of Crisis suits. I just have to do a little more reading about what sort of suits I'm most in need of right now before I pick my configurations for them. Still leaning towards plasma rifle and fusion blaster stuff for close in work on heavy targets... I've got a very shooty Nidzilla list that's going to be hitting my table tops soon and the carnifexes are concerning me at this point.

Jin'Dal out
(SirDuck13)