Happy Valen-Tau's day folks!
I thought I'd share a bit more Tau love with my latest completed batch of minis. First up, my Heresy Labs KS Gue'vesa Pathfinder squad (looking back thru that KS's offerings, I ought to have gotten more than just five). They're really great models and if anything, even more detailed sculpts than the actual GW minis.
From what I understand about the pathfinders in the new codex, using markerlights requires an action (of not moving) in the movement phase followed by hitting on a 3+ in the shooting phase...or something like that.
Thus far I've not bothered with the Actions game mechanic in my games of 40k, however markerlights are more or less the lynchpin that holds the Tau's ballistic onslaught together, so I'll have to figure it out! Otherwise I'm left with a mere 50/50 chance to hit under the best of circumstances for anyone other than an HQ model.
In addition to the pathfinders, I also completed another trio of Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles. You can never have enough of these bread and butter troops in an army, and these bring my painted compliment of them up to 8 (with three more in progress).
Speaking of, I tallied up all of my Tau minis, folding in all of the unpainted Fem Fa'Tau from that now defunct army (the handful painted Fem Fa'Tau have taken up residence in my display case).
To better keep track of my progress, I created the painting chart above. Currently, I'm sitting at about the halfway point between painted & unpainted and all within a month's time! How's that for Squaduary?
As you can see, my force is all but bereft of vehicles and heavy weaponry. I had given a good chunk of the Fem Fa'Tau (including all of the tanks) to my buddy Hoss. He'd always flirted with starting a Tau army but couldn't afford the initial buy in. He was also as close of a friend to My Beloved Wolfy as he was myself, thus they were given to him after her passing. In the interim, not being too fond of the current Tau rules, he was just waiting for the new codex to drop before getting started.
Sadly, this past Thursday we laid him to rest as well. Still can't quite wrap my head around it really, don't think any of us can. I told My Beloved Wolfy to go and find Hoss, show him the ropes and for them to keep each other company. His family is looking to sell his gaming collection to raise funds to cover the funeral costs, so I'm hoping to buy back my tanks. I think I have enough infantry for now though.
Edit: In reading the Goonhammer review of the new codex, I see that fire warriors and pathfinders now come in squads of 10. As such, the in-progress pulse carbine strike team will be moved into the pathfinders or else the Gue'vesa will be moved to the carbine squad (either way demoting the mini in the first pic to a mere grunt) and I'll just buy pathfinders later on. I'll also have to repaint a 1-off Hogzilary to bring that squad up to 10, and the in-progress pulse rifle fire warriors will join the breachers (also, I will have to scrounge a few more off of eBay).