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XV 88 Broadside Commander
Singing Pond
When
the two new Etherials, Swift Snow and Bright Day were shopping for
protection on their mercy mission-mission to Vas'Quez Four, one
wanted a fast battlesuit commander, and one wanted the most powerful
battlesuit commander possible. The fast commander was the respected
Worthy Destiny, but by then they had used up all of their outstanding
favors. This left them forced to settle for a newcomer, somebody
fresh off the creche, and hope for the best.
By
sheer luck, they got a ringer - XV88 Broadside Commander Singing
Pond, voted most likely to blow crap up by his Broadside Basics
class, and winner of the Aun'Va Pre-Memorial Amateur Battlesuit
Targeting Championships. In short, Singing Pond has natural talent.
Singing
Pond has not yet realized that the amazing opportunity he imagines
he has been given, in being personally hand-selected by low-ranking
Etherials for a SEEKRIT MISHON is in actuality not a ticket to the
big time of Tau Command, but instead a one-way slow boat to obscurity
on a dead-end planet in the middle of nowhere. This is a good thing.
You
see, Singing Pond is what humans would call a 'hot head'. He gets
really excited about blowing things up with those massive rail guns
of his, and he calls his Smart Missile System 'Lil Song' and talks to
it when he thinks nobody is looking. He may not be all there in the
head, even if he is top of his class. Let's just say that they were
happy to let him go, despite his scores.
And
this just might become a problem if, say, in the middle of a battle,
he realizes, sitting there in his obscenely beweaponed battlesuit,
that he has been -in terms of career- not so much advanced as (as the
humans are wont to put it)... screwed. Totally, irrevocably boned.
It
is worrisome that Tau weapons targeting systems have such a simple,
elegant and easy to use interface.
About
the Miniature:
I
chose to mount the smart missiles on the shoulders, rather than on
the forearms, because I felt it made more sense, and because it
looked more like a proper anime mech, which -of course- is where the
style of the Tau derives.
This also freed one arm to be mounted with a nice Shield Generator,
always a good thing on a machine that is heavy and expensive.
To
underscore the feeling of weight and power, I built Singing Pond's
battlesuit very low to the ground, and set it in a ponderous stomp.
To accomplish this, I cut away part of the back pack that powers the
Rail Guns to allow the left leg to be positioned far to the rear. I
wanted a wide, heavy stride. I also used a bit of metal sprue to add
a handle to the top of the right missle launcher, as though it were
an option that could be replaced easily.
I
really like the way the glowing Broadside railguns in the computer
game version of 40K, Dark Crusade look in-game, so to give some of
that feeling I did a bit of careful drybrushing of light blue glow
over the rails in my model. I brightened them towards the middle, and
blended them to dark at the ends, giving, I think, a very energetic look.
I
also carefully lined all the edges with a pale color to bring out the
shape of the model.
Here
are my two best battlesuits together, fresh off the Tau freighter,
looking agast at the barren wastes of Vas'Quez 4 for the first time,
and wondering how the smeg they ended up there. You can see the
existential horror in their battlesuit optics.
It's
easy to imagine them, the veteran and the cadet, turning back to
each other and involuntarily shrugging with their battlesuits, before
stomping off in sullen mood, after the fool Etherials that brought
them here.
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About
the Army Card:
It
is possible that Commander Worthy Destiny is my most powerful unit.
However, that said, for a close number two slot, Singing Pond
absolutely makes the cut.
I
think one of the main reasons I was losing game after game of 40K is
not just that I was not using my units to their potential, but also
that I simply did not have the right units to express the true power
of the Tau. The Tau are defined by their battlesuits, and these
wonders are such that one general-function battlesuit (Far Dawn) is
not sufficient.
The
addition of two mighty, specifically purposed battlesuits, maxed for
their function has made all the difference in the world.
Singing
Pond is basically artillery. This mech can hit anything, anywhere,
at will, twice, with one of the most powerful guns in all of W40K.
One re-rollable strength TEN, AP ONE (no saves at all) hit that can
burst a light tank, smash any lesser vehicle, and instantly vaporize
any single figure on the map regardless of how many wounds it may
have.... this is power. Fearsome, terrible power.
And
this is before the Smart Missle System kicks in. Four strength
five, AP 5 missiles soaring out, and all of them have artificial
intelligence, so they can zoom around terrain, see at night, and hit
any damn thing you want. Sweet does not even begin to describe it.
Now,
Singing Pond is vulnerable, he is weak at close range... but there
is the argument that it is going to be very hard for any unit to get
close to him.
It
is an argument I intend to try to win. |
