The Terran year 22.M02 is coming to an end, which means the first quarter of our Tsaragrad Escalation League is also wraping up.
If you happened to read the mid-quarter update, you won't be surprised to hear the remainder of the quarter didn't see much more progress.
Why was this first quarter such a flop? I think there were a few factors that conspired to limit hobbying progress over the last few months:
Since the mid-quarter update, my brother and I managed to get together for our quarterly game: 1,500 points of his Khorne Daemons mopped the floor with an experimental Deffskullz Ork list. Despite the loss, it was still fun to move some models on the table (even if they weren't Tau, which was a goal for our Escalation League). It was fitting for my brother to get his first win with his Khorne Daemons after making substantial progress on building and painting his horde of bloodthirsty horrors.
Ah, well... between the glacial progress on my Tau and another loss for Da Ironbullz, there's nothing to do but look forward to future quarters, right? That's exactly where the rest of this post is heading!
First: My brother and I have settled on our goals for the second quarter (23Q1) in our escalation league.
For my part, I will put the lessons learned from my underwhelming first quarter into action by setting more modest goals for 23Q1. Instead of building and painting a big chunk of new models, I'm just going to focus on painting models that are already (mostly) built:
Here's what I am aiming to paint between now and the end of March:
++ Bork'an Patrol Detachment [160 points]
[HQ] Cadre Fireblade, Marker Drone - 60 points
[Troops] Strike Team, Guardian Drone, Support Turret w/SMS - 100 points
++ Goffs Patrol Detachment [170 points] ++
[HQ] Weirdboy - 70 points
[Troops] 10 Beast Snagga Boyz - 100 points
Our guidelines and designs for this quarter will be the same as our first quarter, meaning that we will be aiming to play at least one game between our focus factions towards the end of 23Q1 to showcase the new models we build & paint.
Finally, it's time for the biggest reveal of this update. There was a fourth reason why my enthusiasm for my Tau waned as the autumn deepened: I fully caught the Astra Militarum bug on the heels of the Cadia Stands! Army Box release. The 6th Volarian Planetary Defense Regiment (also known as the Tsaragrad Street Wolves) will be rallying to defend their city for the Emperor!
Imperial Guard have always held a special place in my heart, holding the title as my second-favorite faction (after Orks) since my first forays into 40k circa 1999.
Instead of working on my Tau, I couldn't resist spending much of my hobby efforts over the last 6-8 weeks planning a guard army, drafting lore, researching conversion bitz, and buying all of the models and kits I'll need to get started on an Imperial Guard force to repel the Xenos invaders from the streets of Tsaragrad.
Since picking up a copy of Cadia Stands!, I've had a chance to digest the new (gorgeous) Astra Militarum 9th Edition codex. I'm chomping at the bit to get started on fleshing out my vision for the stoic defenders of Tsaragrad... but with so much uncertainty in the 40k metagame at this time of year (e.g., the imminent arrival of the Guard codex FAQ, more points adjustments, new balance dataslate, and the Arks of Omen season with revised missions and secondary objectives), I've instead opted to chip away on a modest painting goal for my Orks and Tau until the dust settles and I can feel confident committing to a starting Guard force.
My hobbying will be solidly focused on my two existing collections for the first quarter of 2023, but I'm also intending to post some thoughts on breaking down the new Guard Codex and to share some of the backstory for the Volarian 6th... and don't be surprised if a few test models for my new guard regiment sneak into the mix this quarter!