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Hi all,

I want to start off by saying I've been lurking around these boards for a week and have learned so much more about painting and modeling. This is a great community with a wealth of information and I hope to get your advice. I've been working on my Tau army and I'm getting close to completing(or so I thought) my second squad of fire warriors. After reading through the various finishing techniques and I can't seem to decide what would fit best for these guys. I would appreciate any and all comments and suggestions as I am posting everything I currently have painted. As you can see, I'm going for a desert type of color scheme. So how should I finish these guys off?

My 2¢....

When I think of desert themed armies I tend to think about a worn, weathered, tattered look to an otherwise stalwart soldier. Any cloth should be frayed, metals should be worn down at any edges or corners and appear sand blasted. Perhaps for additional effect, make it appear as though the sand is crusting or gunking up inside the small cracks in the armour....

I'll leave anything further up to the professionals here on Dakka to comment on.

I think a wash (maybe Devlan Mud?) on their khakis would really help bring out the detail!

And maybe a light drybrush on the green to dusty it up a bit? This stands out to me a little, I like your colors, but it seems like either a solid red or a solid green would work well with the khakis. Using both makes it feel like one of them needs something... and I think it's the green.

Maybe a light drybrush of a tan of some sort- to dusty it up a bit (as tuatha suggested) and make it look like they've been out in the field?

I'd love to see pics of what you do to finish them... I think this is a great and very cohesive look, just needs that finishing touch

They look a bit Christmas-ish I think you are trying to do to much with the colors. Tau in my mind have a very uniform look and these colors are just not doing it.

Devlan Mud on the pants, and you will love it. Seriously. Go and do some chipping effects with Chainmail on the armor bits (just stare at the Ork gallery in the BRB until you understand what to do). Then go though and just drybrush everything with Graveyard earth (LIGHTLY). You will make them look weathered and very advanced in 3 easy steps.

On the sniper spotter: get a very fine brush or black marker and put some black in the recessed lines. It looks gorgeous.

You should give them a wash of some sort, perhaps Devlan Mud.
Adding some sand to the base will really enhance the desert feel too.

herobegone wrote:They look a bit Christmas-ish I think you are trying to do to much with the colors. Tau in my mind have a very uniform look and these colors are just not doing it.

I was thinking of dropping either the green or the red in future squads of fire warriors. More to make it simplier for myself than the colors. Which one do you think would look better? The red and brown or the green and brown?

Thanks for the advice all, great to hear anything you got. I've read up on washing a little bit but I've never done it. Do you apply it to the entire miniature? Or just the areas that are brown? I'm assuming Devlan Mud is a color of paint (valejo?). I was reading up on dipping and it sounds a lot easier and faster than other meathods, not sure if it'd work well with fire warriors though. What do you think?

I defintely plan on going with sand on the bases when these guys are finished. Not sure how much farther I'm gonna go with the desert theme in terms of weathering though.

Devlan mud is a Citadel wash.
I don't have any particular experience with washing minis(with washes, I just water down my paints when I wash), but I guess applying the wash to the entire model wouldn't hurt. Don't take my word for it though.

You don't want to dunk the entire mini in the wash. You wash where you want that color to go. What it does is puts a light layer on raised points and pools in the recesses. It adds great detail to cloth. Infact, you should always try to fit a wash into cloth, so you don't have to highlight by hand. Washes also add subtle (if you use the same color was as the base) color shifts to armor plates and what not.

I'd drop the green. I don't know you could get away with only one or the other, though.

As far as weathering, I'd go all the way. Deserts are some of the harshed battle fields you can fight in. Just ask our boys in the war.

Definitely use a wash. Devlan Mud is good but a bit dark. I would use a couple of washes. First I would use a wash of Gryphonne Sepia, allow that to dry; then use a wash of Devlan Mud just around the lower part of the legs. I would then go over the washes with at least one more highlight. My method is to use my last color applied before the wash as a first highlight after a wash. If the wash is dark you may want to go a bit darker with that first highlight though.