This week was busy with festivities, but despite that I got the base Tau Codex put into Final Draft form! All that is left is for 2 Septs to be produced as supplements and it will be ready for final testing.
We got a lot of the testing done early on in our efforts. At this point we are just needing to go through the last stress tests to make sure it is in good order. We have done a nice rework of their systems and expanded a lot of unit options and upgrades to get a better high tech and flexible army feel.
For starters, we have the Drones setup with additional weapon and wargear options. In addition, they can leave and join units at will, or use Drone Dock # on Vehicles to augment them further. This means you can now take Drones with Missile Pods for Fire Warriors, or Drones with Shield Generators for Hammerhead Gunships! The possibilities are endless!
Marker Light is an essential army wargear that can be used for one of three things. Gain a +1 To Hit (Alternate 40k Rules has a cap of +1 or -1 grand total after all modifiers are applied), -1 to Cover Saves from the nominated unit’s shooting, or call in a Seeker Missile that is in range and in firing arc. To give the Seeker Missile the proper feel for a guided missile (particularly since Smart Missile Pods exist), it is a bit shorter ranged than the Hunter Killer Missile with Range 72″, S10, AP3+, Heavy 1, Ignores Cover, Indirect Fire, One Use Only. While it cost 10 points as opposed to 5, it has a massive boost in flexibility! The unit calling in the missile strike is the unit considered to have fired it, so plan accordingly with Infantry units so they can las the target and strike it like a modern day guided missile.
The Kill Team weapons have been added as well, allowing Kroot to get some excellent weapon options for their squads. Also unique signature weapons like the Rail Rifle are potent weapons and one of the very few Sniper (2+) weapons in the game! With S6 AP3+ as well, it is capable of engaging light tanks from the front in a pinch.
Ethereals were a bit of a dilemma. They represent very high ranking officials that would rarely be ever seen on the battlefield, let alone in a typical scale of a standard game. This would be like the Queen of England showing up to encourage a few squads of SAS Commandos. In reality all it would do is make it harder to keep her alive while also fulfilling the objectives for the military.
To represent their powerful mental domination and influence, they have 4 Auras that represent each of the Castes. In lore if they are slain, their forces will commit suicide or shut down in stunned disbelief that their almost god like revered figurehead is dead. For this part, they gained a True Aura that grants mandatory Bodyguard rules. If one is slain however, each Tau model (friend or foe, you could have some fantastic moving narratives in a tragic Tau on Tau fight) rolls a d6. On a 1 the model is simply removed from the game. If it is a Vehicle it remains as Destroyed. If it is a High Altitude model it immediately performs a Crash and Burn.
The Tau are a very flavorful army and we look forward to getting the Septs supplements done soon! To clarify, the Septs all have rules, they just need some supplements for Sept specific characters.
As per a recent weekly news letter, the Capitol Imperialis project is looking amazing! This thing is a monster! It is just absolutely massive and I am loving it! I’ve only completed the first 1/3 of the right track section and already I’m at 135 hours and 23 minutes of print time with another piece printing away! The clay on the first piece were light cosmetic damages that had to be patched by my print settings getting reset with an update to my slicer software, but I have it dialed back in.
The files came with the license to sell prints of them as well as a Leman Russ, Arvus Lighter, and Stormlord proxy. To clarify this is not an attempted sale by Alternate 40k Rules, we will never make money on the rules sets. But, if you are interested in a WW1 looking Leman Russ let me know. It also would make for a great Renegade Leman Russ, backwater PDF Leman Russ, or even a Krieg looking one that is not as costly as a Mars Alpha from FW. I am still experimenting with the many file types and variations with the ends of the rolls. The cost of this project will be considerable, and if I can recoup even part of my material cost it would help immensely.
In addition to printing this beautiful piece for my collection, I will also be running LED lights in it! I am looking at running small flash light sized lighting in the head, tail, and search lights to give it that powerful beam look. The interior will have overhead lighting with some red alert lighting if I can afford it. The command center will be fully detailed and lit up as well with some console lights if I’m feeling bold and up to the challenge. This thing is a masterpiece and I want it to deserve its reputation as the largest mass model in 28mm that I know of.
Alternate 40k Rules 