Hello and welcome to a new series of videos and articles where I shall be charting a brand new Crusade with the T’au Empire!

The T’au Codex is up for preorder RIGHT NOW. Our review is also live which you can check out. Preorder through Element Games to save yourself some pennies and help support what we do here on Sprues & Brews!

Introduction: Why Crusade? Why T’au?

We have made no secret here that the entire Sprues & Brews team have loved Crusade since it launched in this edition of Warhammer 40,000. Unfortunately COVID has prevented us from launching a proper, narrative campaign of games, but with normality on the horizon we are hoping this will all change!

To coincide with this I wanted to start a new army, being built mainly for Crusade. I want to ensure each unit is named and their exploits on the battlefield recorded.

Games Workshop were kind enough to send us a copy of the new Combat Patrol alongside the Codex, and this makes an amazing starting point for a Crusade army. That, along with a long time love of the T’au (in particular the variety of Battlesuits), meant I had the groundwork in place to start this Crusade log.

If you are looking to start a Crusade yourself, all you will need is the Core Rulebook (for all the basic Crusade rules), the Codex for the army you wish to use and of course…models!

Also…I’ll hopefully have a cool name for this series and my army by the next update!

What’s The Purpose of this Series?

I want to ensure each leg of my Crusade is logged and recorded here for you folks in both video and written form. I’ll be providing updates as the army and narrative develops, and of course, as games are played out. I’m going to cover some of the Crusade basics, as well as the mechanics from the T’au Codex along the way, so this will hopefully help newcomers to Crusade get a flavour of what to expect.

The First Update

My first post and video for this new series is fairly short. The first update for my fledgling T’au army is to get the contents of Combat Patrol built and painted. This will provide me with 29 power level to start off my army. From there I’ll be as quickly as possible be looking to step this up to 50 power level, which is the ideal starting point of a Crusade.

I also run through my plans for this series on video for a bit of fun, which you can check out below:

If you haven’t played Crusade before you maybe thinking don’t you use points? In which case, no, is the answer. Narrative games of Warhammer 40k work off a unit’s power level. This makes army building much simplier and easier.

Below is my starting force, along with Power Levels, and are all included within the Combat Patrol box. This all fits neatly into a ‘Patrol‘ Detachment:

I’m starting off with an Ethereal (3 Power) who will be mounted on a Hover Drone (+1 Power) and will come along for this journey into the galaxy with his trusted Shield Drone (+1 Power) making him worth a total Power Level of 5 for my Crusade Log.

Next up, and acting in command of the force to start with, is my Cadre Fireblade (3 Power). He won’t have any drones equiped, resulting in his total Power Level being 3.

We then have the first (of probably a few) Fire Warrior teams. I’ve decided my first unit will be a Strike Team equipped with Pulse Rifles (4 Power). I’ve gone for a couple of upgrades, the first being a Smart Missle Turret (+1 Power) and a Marker Drone (+1 Power). That makes this first Troops unit worth 6 Power.

Moving over to the Elite slots, we have a Stealth Team (4 Power) armed with Burst Cannons. A Marker Drone has also been attached to the unit (+1 Power) giving the unit a complete Power Level value of 5.

Finally we have the big suit, the Ghostkeel (9 Power) who comes complete with 2 x Stealth Drones. I’m going to equip him with a Cyclic Ion Raker and 2 x Fuson Blasters. I’m also equiping him with a Flare Launcher, which is a 5+ Feel No Pain against any attacks at Strength 7 or more that hit him. None of the weapon options or upgrades costs power, meaning he’ll cost 9 Power Level in total.

I intend to have all these built and painted by the next Crusade update. I am currently working on an Ethereal on Hover Drone to give you a good idea of my colour scheme.

What To Expect in the Next Update

On the next update for this Crusade I’ll be presenting my Combat Patrol painted and raring to go. I’ll be using primarily the name generators from the new Codex to create names for my units and planets, which I’ll ensure I roll on the video updates, so expect to see names for all of the painted minis on display next time out.

I’ll also hopefully have some groundwork for the campaign itself in place.

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings