NAS Miramar Project

New List

2003-09-18T17:05:30Z

Here's the new 1850 portion of the list:

1850 Tau GT - For the Greater Silliness

HQ1 - Commander Roy Fokker (Farsight) 170
HQ2 - Ork Fighter Shas'o Rick Hunter 149
Plasma, Shield Generator, 2x Shield Drone
HW Blacksun Filter
Bodyguard: 2 bonded Shas'vre Ork Fighters 195
2x Plasma, 2x Flamer, 2x Shield Drone
1x Missile Pod, 1x HW Target Lock

EL1 - Bonded Crisis Suit Team (2) w/Shas'vre 170
2x Plasma, 2x Flamer, 2x Shield Drone
1x Missile Pod, 1x HW Target Lock

TR1 - 10x Bonded Fire Warriors w/Shas'ui 257
Markerlight, Devilfish w/2x Seekers
Targetting Array, Multi-Tracker,
Decoy Launchers
TR2 - 10x Bonded Fire Warriors w/Shas'ui 257
Markerlight, Devilfish w/2x Seekers
Targetting Array, Multi-Tracker,
Decoy Launchers
TR3 - 10x Bonded Fire Warriors w/Shas'ui 257
Markerlight, Devilfish w/2x Seekers
Targetting Array, Multi-Tracker,
Decoy Launchers

HS1 - Bonded Broadside Team (2) 185
2x Shield Drones, Target Lock

HS2 - Hammerhead w/ Railgun, Smart Missile 210
Gun Drones, Sensor Spines, Multi-tracker
Targetlock, Disruption Pod, Decoy Launchers

On advice of folks from the Portent.net forums, I've reduced the number of drones, which freed up points for improving the overall suit abilities. I'm keeping Roy as an independent character, as I need his Leadership and skills to go anywhere. Usually, however, he'll probably join with Rick's group to form a 4-strong C-Suit group if I need to assault something ugly.

Oh, the end is in sight!

2003-08-20T05:24:31Z

Here's the Tau Army 95% finished. I have to decal the Devilfish. This is the 1850 portion. The 300 point sidebar is unfinished, pending the AWACS dome, and the Railgun Pathfinders.

Click Here for Tau

Here's the Devilfish:

Squadron assemble!

2003-08-10T09:01:46Z

All Valks and their color-coded drones:

Whee!

Flight of the Valkyrie

2003-08-09T16:00:58Z

Front Row: Rick, Roy, Max, Mira
Back Row: 2 Valkyries, 2 Intruders

Skull Squadron Flies Again

2003-08-02T19:22:33Z

Valkyries!

2003-08-02T17:29:35Z

I have achieved DORKITUDE

2003-07-28T00:02:13Z

A large step forwards...

2003-07-19T06:23:01Z

Putting my nose to the grindstone, I have completed painting all of the Warriors, the 5 Pathfinders (out of 8), some drones, and one of the Intruders. I have greybrushed the other Intruder, gotten the Hammerhead completed, and greybrushed the two Devilfish. By the end of this weekend, I should be done painting this portion of the force. This leaves 2 Devilfish, and the engines of the third, 3 Pathfinders, and 6 Crisis Suits.

At the end of the weekend, I will be about 60% done with the Army, with only some conversions and easy paint jobs to finish. Then, I move into building the Miramar itself. This is good news, because it means I'll be done well before GT time, and have time to play with the army a bit, so I don't lose outrageously badly. Much.

More Marines

2003-07-12T06:28:56Z

More work

2003-07-11T12:49:43Z

I've been workin' on the railroad...

Prowler Ascendant

2003-07-05T00:42:02Z

EA-2B Prowler

2003-07-02T05:52:22Z

The Prowler Gunship, pre-prime. I added a second pair of engines, some small wings, built the smart missile launcher into a rear-deck mount, two gun drones, sensor spines, disruption pod, multi-tracker, target-lock, and (not viewed) rear decoy launchers.

Intruder Alert!

2003-06-27T01:58:39Z

The NAS Miramar

2003-06-19T06:10:40Z

The initial base, which will be converted into the Miramar:

Flight of the Intruder

2003-06-04T05:08:47Z

Final shot, before prime and paint, of the converted XV-6 Intruder:

And the model the way it is supposed to be built:

Army List Tweak

2003-06-03T06:17:05Z

Stole 30 points from the Troops section (one fire warrior per squad), to make the HQ and Bodyguard more alike, thus making them significantly different than the Tomcats.

XV-18C "Hornet" Bodyguard
Plasma Rifle
Shield Generator
2x Shield Drones

"Jester" has a Hardwired Target lock, allowing him to fire seperately from his Wingleader, if necessary.

This makes them both a little more surviveable, since they are my only real "Close Combat" options in the army. Should I need to sacrifice them to slow down those Rhino Rush armies, they'll make dandy, hard-to-kill, speedbumps. Both of the Hornets will be "Gerwalks", to indicate that they are, in fact, Close-Combat variants.

1849 total army points.

Good News

2003-06-03T01:10:01Z

I am going to exchange terrain I never use (stuff I made for home, before the whole play-at-home thing fizzled out) for Store Credit. This will allow me to finish my Dark Angels army, which is what I'll play while I work on the Miramar Project.

I make the exchange tomorrow, so, by the end of the week, the first pictures will be up of the conversion effort to build a Robotech Valkyrie from a Crisis Suit. This'll be one of the "Tomcat" variants, which is kitted out as follows:

XV-14D "Tomcat"
Plasma Rifle
Missile Pod
2 Shield Drones.

My sketches have the missile pod in traditional strike valk location, which is to say to the rear of the cockpit, to either side. The plasma rifle will be mounted, most likely, centerline ventral. I'm going to do some experimentation, but, the first attempt will be to try and mount the two drones under small 'wings' which I'll have to scrounge up. If that doesn't work, I have the option to mount 'em dorsal/ventral, or, perhaps, on the right and left of the fuselage. In any case, they have to be removeable as they will get blown off. A lot.

Miramar, out.

Army List

2003-05-30T17:05:46Z

Here's the current design of the list, behind this cunningly concealed cut-tag.

NAS Miramar TACWING

HQ	Hornet Wing                                     [F/A-18]
285	Commander "Viper" O'Cody                             170
WG 0	Bodyguard (Bonded, Ork Fighter) ["Jester"]            55
	Plasma, Missile Pod                                   30
	2x Shield Drone                                       30

TR1	Greyhound Strike Lead ["Greyhound Lead"]           [C-2]
267	11x Fire Warriors, Bonded                            120
WG 47	Team Leader, Markerlight, Target Lock                 27
	Devilfish, Multitracker, Targetter, Decoy            100
	2x Seeker Missile                                     20

TR2	Greyhound Strike Two ["Greyhound Two"]             [C-2]
267	11x Fire Warriors, Bonded                            120
WG 47	Team Leader, Markerlight, Target Lock                 27
	Devilfish, Multitracker, Targetter, Decoy            100
	2x Seeker Missile                                     20

TR3	Greyhound Strike Three ["Greyhound Three"]         [C-2]
267	11x Fire Warriors, Bonded                            120
WG 47	Team Leader, Markerlight, Target Lock                 27
	Devilfish, Multitracker, Targetter, Decoy            100
	2x Seeker Missile                                     20

EL1	Tomcat Wing Lead ["Maverick", "Goose"]           [F-14D]
190	2x Crisis Suit, Bonded                                70
WG 0	2x Plasma, 2x Missile Pod                             60
	4x Shield Drones                                      60

El2	Tomcat Wing Two ["Iceman", "Wolfman"]    	 [F-14D]
190	2x Crisis Suit, Bonded                                70
WG 0	2x Plasma, 2x Missile Pod                             60
	4x Shield Drones                                      60

HS1	Intruder Wing ["Slider", "Hollywood"]              [A-6]
210	2x Broadsides w/missile, Bonded                      150
WG 0	4x Shield Drones                                      60

HS2	Prowler ["Cougar"]                               [EA-2B]
190	Hammerhead Gunship, Ion Cannon                       120
WG 50	Smart Missile System                                  20
	Multi-Tracker                                         10
	Targetting Lock                                        5
	Decoy Launcher                                         5
	Disruption Pod                                         5
	Sensor Pods                                            5
	2x Seeker Missile                                     20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

FA1	Hawkeye Team (Sidebar) ["Merlin"]                 [E-2C]
300	8x Pathfinders, Bonded                               106
WG 72	Leader, Drone Controller, 2x Gun Drones               32
	8x Photon Grenade (8), 8x EMP grenade (24)            32
	Devilfish, Decoy, Sensor, 4x Seeker Missiles         130


Points Breakdown:

HQ                      285
Elite                   380
Troop                   781
Fast Attack              -
Heavy Support           400
                       ----
TOTAL                  1846

SIDEBAR:                300

GRAND TOTAL:           2146
 
WARGEAR TOTAL:	191 (w/Sidebar: 263)
 
-------------------------------------------------------------

Rogue Trader Qualifiers:

More Troops than any single category? 3:1, 3:2, 3:2   Yes
Units and Characters have Names, Designations, Etc?   Yes
Do Troops make up at least 40%? (740)                 Yes
No more than 25% spent on FA, HS, or EL? (462)        Yes
No more than 20% from the Armoury Page? (370)         Yes

                PRCNT    WG     WG%
HQ:             15.4%     0    0.0%
Troops:         42.3%   141    7.6%
Elites:         20.6%     0    0.0%
Fast Attack:     0.0%     0    0.0%
Heavy Support:  21.7%    50    2.7%
Wargear:                191   10.3%

NAS Miramar (Tigershark Class Naval Attack Ship)

The Tigershark class Assault Carrier (smaller cousin to the Manta Missile Destroyer) was the bastion of the Tau Air Caste for a hundred years. Now, considered outmoded, they are being replaced by the newer and larger Mantas.
Tigersharks continue to see service in local merchant marine escort duties, and backwater patrol assignments.

This class of carrier is armed with two twin-linked Railguns, and two sets of Ion Cannons. Normal TACWING complement of aircraft consists of a squadron of Hornets, Tomcats, and Intruders. In addition, the vessel carries a variety of support craft, including Greyhound transports (used to transport the vessel's complement of Warriors), Prowler ECM/ECCM craft, and Hawkeye Airborne Radar Pathfinders.

The NAS Miramar served in the Tau High Fleet for the better part of nine decades, under five different commands. She distinguished herself under fire against Ork raiders, as well as during the Imperial Invasion.

Her last captain, a Commander O'Cody, took the ship out of the assigned patrol lane, and appears to have gone rogue. Suspicions of a splinter element of the Air Caste have surfaced, with the Miramar in the forefront of many of the stories coming back from Rogue Traders working the Tau front.

The pilots on-board the Miramar are known to be elite which, combined with their superior technology, pose a problem for Imperial Interests along the frontier.

Some experts, however, have taken a longer, larger view of the activities credited to the NAS Miramar, and speculate that the vessel's appearance is actually being directed for "The Greater Good". The Miramar's movements and attacks have turned the tide at a variety of locations. Some even go as far as suggesting there may be a member of the rare Etherial Caste directing the Miramar's activities, which is tantamount to official sanction within the Tau Hierarchy.

Day One - Project Overview

2003-05-30T03:40:52Z

This is the LiveJournal for the Miramar Project.

TMP is an 1850 point Warhammer 40K Tau Army, with a 300 Point Sidebar, for the 2003 Los Angeles Grand Tournament. It is based upon several concepts.

Modifying Crisis Suits and Tanks to look more 'airplane' like, as well as Robotech-like, specifically in Airplane and Gerwalk (Guardian) Modes.

Using "Top Gun". The sub-title of this project is "Taupe Gun". The pilots are all culled from the movie, and the Carrier is named NAS Miramar, after the Naval Air Station of the movie.

Creating an actual "Carrier" for the 2'x2' display. Should be an eye-catcher at the Tournament.

This journal will record pictures, successes and failures of the Project, from Day one until Post-Tournament.