Farsight Enclaves – A Hobby Project – Hunter Cadre
| Farsight Enclaves - A Hobby Project - Hunter Cadre |
Introduction
Welcome to the first instalment of a log of hobby project to create a Farsight Enclaves Army painted to a hopefully slightly better than tabletop standard. In this first instalment we will get quick look at what I have painted up so far. At the time of writing I have enough painted to make a fairly small Hunter Cadre using 7th edition books.
Ebay is a great resource for finding out of print 7th edition Warhammer 40k books.
An Accidental Project
I fell into this project by accident really. I have no special interest in Tau or the Enclaves, being really more of an Orky boy. However I buy and sell on ebay and sometimes I buy unpainted and then sell back to ebay nicely painted for the gainz. I had already painted and resold some old metal pathfinders and a couple of units of Tau Strike Warriors when I bagged in an auction a bunch more Tau stuff, most of what you see above.
See what I have for sale on ebay here.
Initially my idea was to paint and resell but then I thought I might gift them to my son in order to get him interested in wargaming. Given he is a bit of a weeabo I thought the Tau might suit him. So I started painting them up in fairly standard old school Tau colours, drab desert yellows accented with orange. After doing a bunch of firewarriors, drones and a stealth suit this way I became interested in the Farsight Enclaves and decided to do them as Farsight Enclaves instead. I like the idea of the Tau going rogue from the insidious tyranny of the ethereals and bloody red battlesuits really stonks.
Best of all there was no need to repaint or sell off the first batch done in the desert colours because I could head canon them as recent defectors who had yet to repaint their gear. I like a little bit of motley look to an army, even ones with a uniformist credo, but that would be the ork in me I suppose.
By this point you may realise I was less and less painting for hypothetical ebay customers or my son and more and more painting for myself… as it should be.
Hunter Cadre
Leading the Hunter Cadre will be Commander Torchstar as seen painted up in my hobby streak.
Commander Torchstar
The last unit to be painted for this Hunter Cadre is the first we will meet here, Commander Torchstar. Those who have or read the Mont’ka book may recognise Commander Torchstar as one of The Eight. For those that do not know The Eight is Commander Farsight’s personal posse of wannabe Gundams, a sort of Gundam version of the Seven Samurai.
One aim I have in this project is to recreate The Eight but since I will also want commanders for other formations along the way it makes sense to kit out those commanders in such a way as to allow them to also fit in as one of The Eight. The first of these I made is Commander Torchstar who will double as this Hunter Cadre’s mandatory commander unit.
As per Torchstar’s description in the The Eight of the Mont’ka book she is a commander kitted out with two flamers, drone controller, target lock, multi-spectrum sensor suite, neuroweb jammer and two marker drones.
Using the 7th edition Tau Army book she weighs in at 154pts.
Cadre Fireblade and Pulse Rifle Fire Warrior Strike Team
Next we start ticking off the minimum troops with a small team of Pulse Rifle Fire Warriors. Included is an optional Cadre Fireblade and DS8 Support Turret (smart missle system). As Farsight Enclaves they have to have the bonding knife ritual upgrade.
Including the Fireblade they cost 130 pts.
Strike Team with Pulse Carbines
The second squad of troops is a small Strike Team with pulse carbines for 60pts or a little more if I gave them EMP grenades.
Breachers with Devilfish
The final squad of troops for the Hunter Cadre is a squad of breachers with a Tau Devilfish (painted during my hobbystreak) and a field-thingy drone. Minimally that is about 130 pts but that is taking the Devilfish without any upgrades.
Stealth Suits
Three stealth suits, one with a fusion blaster is 98pts. A homing beacon could be taken for a little more.
Pathfinders with Railrifles
A small team of pathfinders kitted out with railrifles. I did not choose the loadout as it I got them part assembled off of ebay. Optionally they have a recon drone and a pulse accelerator drone to take although I guess neither makes much sense given their load out. I will save them for another future unit of pathfinders. Not counting the drones they are 93 pts.
A Pair of Missle Broadsides
Another ebay bargain these two “missilesides” were nabbed fully assembled and primed for a price quite a bit lower than new in the box. A saving of both labour and money, all I had to do was slap the paint on. Well there is always a bit of risk buying assembled plastics given the chances of a poor assembly. These two were made fairly well though.
These two chonky bois are about 132 pts without any drones or other bits.
A Few Drones
Last but kind of least are a few drones, one marker drone and three gun drones that can be distributed among any of the above as required.
Hunter Cadre Expansion
All the above puts this project at about 800 points so far, give or take a drone or shas’ui upgrade, which is enough for a small game at least. To fill out the Hunter Cadre a bit I would like a few more fire warriors of both kinds and I would like to fill out the breacher squad with enough to fill their truck. Another group of pathfinders would be a good idea for the marker lights.
Crisis Suits
A Farsight Enclave Army is all about the Crisis Suits though and so far we have none but the one Commander Torchstar wears. I should look to adding many suits in the near future. A Hunter Cadre can take quite a few Crisis Suits but I may as well plan for making a Retailation Cadre too then so that means tons of Crisis Suits but also a dreaded Riptide.
The Tau Start Collecting box would probably be a good next purchase. Although I am a bit past the “start” in my collecting. It will give me some Crisis suits and a squad of fire warriors to fill out my breachers and striketeams. The ethereal is rather unwanted though. However I wonder if some of his bits might be used to create a fireblade… Change his head and give him arms from the fire warrior kit and that would do it.
Question, what is the cheapest way to source a Start Collecting box?
Element Games with their deep discounts…
Or Ebay with their plethora of vendors selling both pre-owned and new…