Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tau Workshop


Unfortunately this is a late post, there has been alot going on lately with the holidays here in the US, but that also has me working on my tau a little bit more since I will be playing a game tomorrow. Here is some new stuff that I have done up Lately.


Here is the broadside with arms on.surprisingly the model actually is balances without a base.

A commander that I started working on, haven't figured out which head I am going to go with yet, but it will be one model that is not mounted on a flying base. It will be jumping off a rock of some sort.


My next commander will be doubling as a Shas'o Rymr, and so while I had some wait time I put together this double barrel plasma gun. i think it turned out pretty well.


Here are the rest of my Crisis suits, all with loadouts for the game. A lot of time this week was spent magnetizing weapons and getting my list together.


Last but not least the most interesting picture. This is the WIP of the cord that will connect the railguns to the backpack. I took the inspiration from the forgeworld suits.

What do you guys think? A few more conversions and some basework and I will be at the painting stage soon (hopefully)

Tylermenz

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Speed and Altitude - Aeronautica Tactica

So this will be the start of a series of some sort I suppose. I will attempt to explain some rules an tactics of the Aeronautica game both to increase my understanding of them and to introduce it a little bit to new players.

Two things play an integral part in the Aeronautica system. Speed and Altitide. Both range from 0-9, and have built in dials on bases to record them (as they change constantly during the game)

Speed:
Basics:
This is how fast your flyer will move. You go 2" for each point of speed you have.

Min and Max Speed:
Not everyone can go all out. Your max speed will limit how fast you can get across the board, either to run away or chase your opponent. Min speed is generally 1, although some flyers have 0 (which means you can hover) or even a higher number. You can never go above your maximum speed, although you can go below your minimum (not without risks). The biggest things is remembering that you will ALWAYS be moving. Unlike alot of other games, aeronautica is one in which you generally don't have the option of playing static.

Thrust:
Each turn you can change you speed (up or down) according to your thrust value. This gives you a small control over how fast your plane will be going on any given turn. It goes without saying that the higher the thrust, the more control you will have.

Below you Minimum Speed:
If you ever END the turn going slower than your minimum speed, your flyer crashes. yes it is gone. But it is important to notice that you can thrust yourself below your minimum, as long as you are above it by the end of the turn. Basically you can stall out your engines, and if a manoeuver gets you up in your speed, then you can keep living, while still moving the minimum.

Manoeuver Cards:
It is imporant to remember that when moving, you should also calculate the length of the maneuover card into the equation (approx. 3"). This will always be the bare minimum that you can move, and I have seen some pretty close calls when this is forgotten and flyers near the edge(if you fly off you are gone)

Altitude:
Basics:
The altitude is how high your flyer is. 0 is on the ground, 9 is the high atmosphere. Terrain on the board also has an altitude value associated with it. Altitude also determines who you can shoot, what weapons you can shoot at them, and how easy it is to hit them.

Terrain:
I haven't actually seen it happen, and it shouldn't if you are paying attention, but you can run into terrain and blow up your ship. Terrain can also be used to shake off opponents with lower manoeuver than you, or you can put ground defenses up on them to increase thier range.

Shooting:
You can shoot anyone within 1 altitude of you. Always pay attention to fire arc of your weapons (some can only shoot up or down) and the altitide of your opponent. There have been alot of times when I thought I was going to blast a fighter away only to realize I am at Altitude 3 and he is at 7.

Max Altitude:
This is the highest you can go. Most flyers can get to 9, but there are some that can't. Knowing this can allow you some safe time, or to try and split up your opponent.

So that is pretty much everything that I can come up with. Some more advanced tactics will come later, but right now that is what I have.

On a different Note, there is currently a constest going on over at http://www.throneofskulls.com/ (a khornate World Eaters forum). 1/2 the time has passed and WIP have been posted here:

http://throneofskulls.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1074&start=210

Here is the WIP of mine, since it is already in my photobucket and on coolminiornot.com I figure it is not too big of a deal to show it (just don't tell anyone). Painting has already started, and is about 70% done. If anyone has a good way to do metallic brass i am all ears. Otherwise, see ya next week.

Photobucket

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Aeronautica Imperialis

Aeronautica is the Forgeworld game of aerial combat in the 41st millenium. Basically you get choose from several races in the 40k universe (Tau, Orks, Imperials, Eldar and Chaos) and in Epic scale you fight with all the flyer's of those races.

It works out to be a very tactical game in which each turn you choose all manuevers that your planes will fly and then move them in a rotation with your opponent. This system makes it hard to predict what your opponent will do, and you soon realize to unload when you have the chance.

I choose to play the Tau since I have a Large Tau 40k force, and my buddy chose to play Orks since he was going to start an ork army. With our teams chosen we then began a campaign. In the Campaigns you take around a 600 point list as your total fleet, and then play games that range from 100-300 points. One of the cool(or uncool) parts of the system is that when your flyers die in a game, you need to replace them from your reserves for the next game. Points gained from playing missions allow players to buy more flyers, choose missions, and eventually win the game.

Right the Tau one the last three games we played and if they win the next one I will take victory over the greenskin horde.

So here is what I have for the game:
1 Manta
4 TigerSharks with Ion Cannons
4 TigerSharks with Railguns
2 Tiger Sharks with Remora Fighters
6 Barrucudas
4 Remora Drone Fighters
3 Skyrays
1 Aerial Minefield
2 Custom Tau Bunkers

Obviously I do not have all of this in the campaign (The manta being over 100 pts alone). The Bunkers are for our next scenario where the Orks need to do bombing raids on the Tau Bunkers. I left one of the Dials open to show the number of hits the bunkers have left.







Does anyone else out there play Aeronautica, I know that it is a pretty expensive game to get into since it is forgeworld, but it is also extremely fun and pretty awesome.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Update on XV 89

I was hoping to get some pictures of a deamon prince I did awhile ago, but I havent been sent them yet, so just a small update for now. This is the progress I have made on my XV 89 Broadside Battlesuit. The arms are put together, but I need to wait until the greenstuff dries in order to glue them into place. I will then add cables to the backs of the railguns attaching them to the jump packs. Also I am debating how I want to do the head, I think it needs to be converted into something a little bit more stout, but am not sure how i am going to do that yet. Possibly thinking a rounded head with only 1 antennae, or both antennae on one side.... anyway here are the pics.

Some shots of it "together"

Front View

Photobucket

and some closeups of the arms and redone shoulder pads...
Shoulder Detail

Both Arms

Right Arm

I am thinking about doing a tutorial on how do make the armor plate upgrades, redone jetpacks, and different railgun designs when I make my second suit, What do you guys think?

Also, does anyone know how to widen the margins on blogger? or what width pictures need to be? They keep getting cut off, and I would like to be able to not have to edit them too much or make them much smaller....

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Pigs Life

So despite a good day of modelling on my broadside battlesuit and deamon prince but due to my sick g/f (swine flu) I havent had any time to take pictures, much less upload them to post. However I do hope to get something up this week yet. Hopefully a finished broadside.