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So with the new edition of 40k, I have decided to give my Tau some terrain to use in games. Now, I don't like the idea of giving tau imperial aegis defense lines (cause they stole them or something?), so instead I will be making my own with a tau aesthetic. After a failed attempt to get a good test of one done up, I have moved into the realm of 3d modelling.

Hopefully with this I will be able to make a base model, 3d print it through shapeways etc, and then detail and cast it myself. I am starting with the defense line, but hope to also do a bastion and maybe a landing pad as well.

here is my first ever real attempt at 3d modelling. I tried to give it a little bit more of a rounded organic look that I feel works for the tau. This is one straight section of the wall plus a 45 degree angle piece.





This was done up in google sketchup, but because of the limitations on doing rounded edges, I believe I will be importing it to Blender if I am able.

I do have a question for all of you out there, what are the length dimensions of the aegis defense line pieces? It only says that there are long and short sections in the rulebook, and would like to have my sections match up in total length to be wysiwyg friendly.

I also have another idea for the line that would be a little closer to what gw has out, size wise at least.

Cool stuff. I am not at home, but if no one has posted dimensions by the time I do, I will post them up for you (um...will be friday).

I am already working on ideas for my tau AA guns (and my necron and nid ones too! go xenos!).

I had not given serious thought to the tau defense line; just a few ideas of maybe making it out of foam or something...cant wait to see what you do here.

thanks for sharing!!!!

well basicly from what i did making one from scrap the short peices have a lenth of 1inch and the long sides have one about 3 1/2 inches

Printing something like this would be extremely expensive.

What you might want to do is ask around to see if anyone has a shaper table or a router that can handle large bits. Find a mix of profiles to work and than mill it from solid stock like MDF.

Another alternative would be to use a hot wire cutter that is designed to use the thick wire you can bend into shapes. Bend it to the profile you want and then feed it through.

sub'd because i wanna see this project through

Have you thought of trim molding? Like the kind they put around rooms? I'm pretty sure they make it in all sorts of curves and patterns. Not sure if it's the right size. Might be worth a trip to your local building supply store to check out.

between wars they can double as skate ramps..

And I bet the Tau have hoverboards!

Nevelon wrote:Have you thought of trim molding?

That was my first though, as well. The design is simple enough that curved corner molding on MDF strip bases with plasticard overlays for your flooring texture would do the trick. A bit more work, but much cheaper (and faster, if you can just pop out to a home improvement store).

They also make trim out of PVC which you can bend into really, really tight curves without fear of cracking it. Some PVC cove molding would be in the right ball park.

Sean_OBrien wrote:Printing something like this would be extremely expensive.

What you might want to do is ask around to see if anyone has a shaper table or a router that can handle large bits. Find a mix of profiles to work and than mill it from solid stock like MDF.

Another alternative would be to use a hot wire cutter that is designed to use the thick wire you can bend into shapes. Bend it to the profile you want and then feed it through.

With printing with shapeways it is about $3.00 per cubic cm, and the ability to make the terrain hollow with thin walls would save A LOT of money. Plus the fact that I would only be printing one of each section and casting it would also cut the price.

Nevelon wrote:Have you thought of trim molding? Like the kind they put around rooms? I'm pretty sure they make it in all sorts of curves and patterns. Not sure if it's the right size. Might be worth a trip to your local building supply store to check out.

I didn't actually. The only problem would be that wood does not cast well, So I would need to find a solution for that.

Sean_OBrien wrote:They also make trim out of PVC which you can bend into really, really tight curves without fear of cracking it. Some PVC cove molding would be in the right ball park.

The PVC trim is an interesting idea, I may have to go and check that out (haven't seen pvc trim before). i tried to use pvc pipe, but the angles are hard and it is hard to cut into section legth wise (even with a table saw).

Interested to see how this turns out, good luck!

I imgine tau defensive architecture to be high tech, curvy and folds into the ground to deny the enemy cover. I also imagine drone-slots, to provide force-fields in the "windows" or crennelations, with a few slots for gun drones as well.

Maybe even support or mounts for battlesuits and heavy cannon, but movable, somehow.

I'd also imagine a sort of relay tower or two, with oodles of drone slots.

poda_t wrote:I imgine tau defensive architecture to be high tech, curvy and folds into the ground to deny the enemy cover. I also imagine drone-slots, to provide force-fields in the "windows" or crennelations, with a few slots for gun drones as well.

Maybe even support or mounts for battlesuits and heavy cannon, but movable, somehow.

I'd also imagine a sort of relay tower or two, with oodles of drone slots.

I actually had started this project before 6th ed came out, for a narrative campaign that I will be doing with a friend. I had planned on having drone slots and weapon mounts for burst cannons. The drone slots would be similar to the vehicle mounts where one can switch out the drones.

However, with the release of 6th ed, and actual rules, I first want to get a basic defense line done, and then work on detail parts. I do agree with the curvy high tech feel of the terrain, which is what I am trying to do, but I also don't want it to be too "eldar" either. I would like th final design to really scream tau, any ideas to accomplish this would be appreciated.

Not a fan of the Tau studio terrain? They sort of already have defensive architecture hashed out in there.

I was actually inspired by some of the design studio work here:

http://advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=13884

and have made some revisions to my earlier design which incorporate a lot of those elements. I really forgot about them until now....I think this looks quite a bit more tau, and will be even more tauish once i am able to put on all the details in blender.





On another note, I took a trip to my local home depot. Moldings were pretty much a bust. There was nothing there that was similar to what I was doing that wouldn't scream molding, the composite molding selection was also sub par, although I did get some ideas for when i start working on larger stuff. Also with my newer design, it would be extremely hard to actually model with all the curves, damn tau!


What do you think. In the final design the middle post would be at the end of each section so that it helped cover the lines inbetween pieces and also set a somewhat fixed distance between pieces.

tylermenz wrote:

poda_t wrote:I imgine tau defensive architecture to be high tech, curvy and folds into the ground to deny the enemy cover. I also imagine drone-slots, to provide force-fields in the "windows" or crennelations, with a few slots for gun drones as well.

Maybe even support or mounts for battlesuits and heavy cannon, but movable, somehow.

I'd also imagine a sort of relay tower or two, with oodles of drone slots.

I actually had started this project before 6th ed came out, for a narrative campaign that I will be doing with a friend. I had planned on having drone slots and weapon mounts for burst cannons. The drone slots would be similar to the vehicle mounts where one can switch out the drones.

However, with the release of 6th ed, and actual rules, I first want to get a basic defense line done, and then work on detail parts. I do agree with the curvy high tech feel of the terrain, which is what I am trying to do, but I also don't want it to be too "eldar" either. I would like th final design to really scream tau, any ideas to accomplish this would be appreciated.

seems to me like eldar stuff would be composed of few limited plates, fused together, based around an organic theme. spires and spine-like protrusions studded with oval gems. I don't see Tau stuff as overly organic, but definately curvy, industrial, and comprised of banded plates. I suggest looking at the devilfish. Stand it up so that it's front is nose up, and using roughly this shape to form the pillar. I imagine the pillars to stand up straight and strong, but the wall sections to be narrow bits of sectioned metal that curve away. Armored plates interspersed in the wall would lift up or lower down to form crenelations or windows to be used as firing points, and each pillar should have the banded armor plates suggesting protected hardware/circuitry. Even the walls should be comprised of the same kind of banded pattern you find on the leg armor or the shoulder plate worn by the models.


That all said, feel free to discard my suggestion ENTIRELY. That's an awful lot of excess curvature to work with, not entirely easy to achieve.

I'm not really a Halo fan, but I would think many xenos (tau, eldar, maybe DE) would be using something similar to the deployable cover. See Google images.

My other thought for tau would be a clam shell where you stand on the open side. You could put a step and an ammo/weapon rack on the inside that firewarriors could theoretically access. Detail the side facing the enemy as one giant tau symbol and success!