Tau Fleet Completed!

‘Chocks away’, ‘tally ho’ and ‘say hello to Blighty’.

Okay; I’ll be the first to admit that the above phases, are not necessarily ‘in period’ for my Tau cadre force. I would be the first to admit that, I couldn’t see a Tau pilot uttering “… in two ticks I’ll be giving the Hun a damn good thrashing; then I should be home for tea and crumpets…”

However, I hope the above phases make you realise that I’ve completed my Tau Aeronautica fleet. Not a 40k Tau army, not an EPIC Tau army but an Aeronautica Imperialis fleet. Since the beginning of the New Year I’ve been working none stop to make my fleet ‘air worthy’ and now, after two months, its finished. Below you’ll see a photo of my, rather snazzy, army list; but first, I’ll give some background to my fighting fleet.

“… It was always Tar’sel’s ambition to push into the outer-core of the Colossus system. The Ethereal’s felt that these ‘planets of men’ held little value; Tar’sel knew that they were wrong, not that he would ever dare say it.

As he inspected the armouries, barracks and factories on Tau’n, he allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction. Only luck had allowed the Tau to capture an Imperial embassy ship; only luck had allowed the Ethereals to realise the full potential of the Colossus system. Only luck allowed Tar’sel to rise to ‘Air Castle Commander’ in time for the exploration. He looked again at the fleet being assembled. The Barracudas were having their last coat of paint applied; it was a harsh sand colour, though Tar’sel agreed that it had to match the terrain.

Everything was in place, though Tar’sel knew what would happen if he failed…”

As you can see from the above army list, my force is divided into four different areas:

• Tau Ground Defence (TGD)
• Tau Fighter Command (TFC)
• Tau Bomber Command (TBC)
• Tau Special Forces (TS1)

Tau Ground Defence

Major Kar’shiem is in charge of Tau ground defence, which means he’s directly responsible for the defence of any planet secured by the Castle. At his disposal is:

 

Three Sky Rays (mounted) - 36points

 

Three Sky Rays (stationary) - 36points

 

One Drone Minefield – 16 points

Tau Fighter Command

TFC is commanded by Resh’lia. Seen as an unusual choice by many, he’s not particularly bold and he isn’t particularly resilient; he’s not a leader, and finds it difficult to inspire. Yet he is the most calculated man within Tar’sel’s high command.

TGD, TBC and TS1 will all be asking for TFC’s help, at one point or another. TFC has the ability to provide fighter-support, both during the day and at night, for all three other aspects of the Castle. It can also act independently, as the command has access to limited ‘air-to-ground’ weapons. With such huge flexibility, Tar’sel has foreseen that Resh’lia will be constantly requested to help the other three commands. Tar’sel therefore needs a guy who can quickly, determine the greatest need and provide adequate support; Tar’sel hopes that Resh’lia is that guy.

 

 

Six Barracudas with an escape pod each – 120 points

 

Three Barracudas with an escape pod each. All three are equipped with ‘air-to-ground’ extra weapon loads – 78 points

 

Three Barracudas with escape pods and blacksun filters (helps with night-fights) – 69 points

Tau Bomber Command

Dev’hia is a constant head-ace for Tar’sel. Seconded to the Castle at the last minute, the Tau Ethereal’s ordered that Dev’hia be given a ‘senior command role’. Tar’sel held no personal grudge against Dev’hia (even though it would appear that the guy had friends in high places), it’s just that he’s more of a politician than a battlefield commander. Even though his record paints a ‘pretty picture’, it’s easy to read between the lines that the guy couldn’t plan a beer festival within a brewery. Surely bomber command is the best place. I mean, he’s only in charge of four aircraft; two bombers for night raids, and two for day. Most of the time he’ll be able to hand battlefield command back to Tar’sel; so how hard can it be?

 

 

Two Tiger Sharks (variant) with advanced stabilisation systems and target locks – 46 points

 

 

Two Tiger Sharks AX-1-0’s with extra weapons loads, blacksun filters and target locks – 54 points

Tau Special Operations (TS1)

Zar’vel is a ‘soldiers-solider’; he only has to look at a fellow comrade and their moral is automatically restored to its highest level (no matter the situation). Brimmed with medals, Zar’vel is one of the most decorated Tau pilots in all of history; and he has at least twelve ‘heroic stories’ per medal (the truth of some are debatable). Zar’vel is a dependable but highly enthusiastic commander; it was he who, after a solid victory on Gemma V (against the Imperials), wanted to ‘push on’ to the Emperor. However Zar’vel is too much of a ‘soldier’s commander’ to ever think of perusing his career further; Tar’sel is very thankful for this because, he knows that if Zar’vel wanted to take command there was little he, or any of the other commanders, could do about it.

Zar’vel is in charge of ‘special operations’; to help him he has an Orca for ground insertions (either picking up or dropping off ground troops; usually to ‘marker-light’ category one targets). He also has a Tiger Shark AX-2-2 which, with its two drone body guards is used to search, scan and assess ‘none-combat-active’ worlds. The fleet’s most prized possession is its Manta; classed as a small spaceship the Manta, along with its eight drones, is potentially a feet of its own. It has both ‘air-to-air’ and ‘air-to-ground’ capabilities meaning that it can destroy most targets. Due to it being a spaceship it can target systems far away and, due to its size, it’s undetectable by mainstream spaceship scanning equipment.

 

One Orca with a blacksun filter and an advanced stabilisation system – 34 points

 

 

One Tiger Shark AX-2-2 with two drones and an advanced stabilisation system – 43 points

 

One Manta (variant) with an extra weapons load, a blacksun filter and an advanced stabilisation system; it also has eight drones – 151 points

 

And that’s the fleet! Below you’ll see two other posts. The first one relates to other ‘bits and bobs’ I’ve produced for my Tau cadre; the second is a new scenario that I’ve developed.

I’m not sure what’s next on the painting table, but it maybe a while before anymore posts.

Toodle Pip!