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Hi and welcome to the start of my Army's P&M Blog.

I started this army when I was 13-14, about a decade ago and it is still no-where near finished. You know how these things are, your young and want it all done straight away then it takes ages to build, paint and finish. So, for awhile I gave up and did other stuff, only really getting back to the army around Christmas time each year when my family would provide me with an influx of models. Not to mention, when I first started out I was on my own, I had no other friends or family who knew or played the game and I wasn't exactly up on the painting of models either; at the outset, each of my units was a different colour to each other with no uniformity what so ever. Many weren't even painted with GW paints so a lot of detail was obscured on my older models and they were later replaced. Nor was my army building skills very good; my first few outings with the army I had 1500pts made up of just 3 Crisis, 2 x 10 FWs, 1 S'O and a Hammerhead because I had given them basically every upgrade and option possible, not knowing that you didn't have to or that half of them were unneccssary. Of course I got beaten alot and so became disheartened with the whole thing.

But four years ago, I finally decided enough was enough. I got serious with the army and the painted side stands at 1700pts but now there are at least ten units in that total instead of 5. I also have a proper colour scheme and squad markings. My characters and squads are even named now. It has only taken four years due to other life commitments or I would have been at this stage sooner.

As such, I thought it time I shared it with the GW community and showed how it is progressing. Plus it should help motivate me to finish the army which will eventually stand at 2,250pts (or there abouts).

So here's how my army stacks at the moment and whats left to be done. So far, I have:

Shas'O + 2 Shas'Vre - Complete, just need Touch Ups (TU).
Shas'El + Shield Drone - Undercoated (UC)
--
3 Crisis - TU
3 Stealth - UC
--
10 FWs - Finished
10 FWs - TU
--
2 Piranha - Finished
5 Vespids - Finished
5 Gun Drones - Finished
--
Hammerhead - Finished
Sky Ray - Finished
Spotter + 3 Sniper Drones - UC

There were two Kroot Squads finished but, as refered to earlier, they are two of the units painted with none GW paints originally and repainting them to make them conform to the army has obliterated what little detail was left so they are being replaced. Plus the paint job was not my best work as it was done 6 years ago.

Besides the 2 x 15 Kroot Squads to be added, I will also be adding a second Sniper Drone Team, 2 x 8 FWs, 3 more Crisis and a 3 strong Raptor Rider Herd (Humans (just to add some more diversity) riding Cold Ones but count as IA Knarloc Rider Herd).

Well after this big ramble, I guess I better put up what pictures I have at the moment.

So, I don't have many photos to put up yet, even of the finished units, as the pictures I did have are a few years out of date and the camera work was not my best for they were all very blury.

With that in mind, here's a picture of the Army's general colour scheme, or at least the Tau elements.

I chose blue because this is my first army so I wanted to use my favourite colour and and I thought a bright red helmet would make for a striking contrast.
To break up the uniformity and get some colour into the army, the alien (as in non-tau) elements are of very different colour.

Now, here's a picture of the whole army so far (note the Sniper Drones are not based in this picture as it was taken just before I did that).


FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
Back Row: Hammerhead, Sky Ray, Sniper Drone Team, the Piranha Squadron, the Vespids & my Shas'El.
Front Row: Stealth Team, FW Squad 1, Shas'O + Bodyguards, Gun Drone Squadron, FW Squad 2 & the Crisis Team.

The right hand FWs are the most complete squad as even their bases are almost finished (and are finished since taking these pictures). As I said above, all the tanks are finished, as are the Vespids.

Anyone else's painting area ever look as messy as mine?

In the picture you should be able to see the WIP versions of both Piranhas, the Sky Ray and Gun Drone Squadron plus the finished Hammerhead.

Don't worry if you can't see anything clearly, that would be my camera, it was acting up that day, but more detailed pictures will be up shortly for those squads which are finished.

THE ARMOURY

This week's update is all about the vehicular section of the Cadre.
It includes the Hammerhead 'Powerful Killng Blow', the Sky Ray 'Custodian' and the Piranha twins 'Winged One' and 'Hot Blooded'.
I should warn you now, I am no 'Eavy Metal painter, not even a good painter. I don't really highlight or shade, it's very much block colours just so my army looks good enough to appear on a table top as the Game is more my forte.
An interesting note about all four vehicles is that the Sept Markings on each one, as I cannot paint circles to save my life, are in fact sticky labels with the sept symbol drawn onto them.
Another is that beside each Pilot (Piranhas) and under the Driver's window, is the vehicle's Name or the name of the Pilots, plus all the Clan Markings and Warning Symbols (the little red triangles) wer hand drawn using ProMarkers.

Tash'Var Geo'Or'Ka Mal'Vah Or'Es Mont'Ka
This unfortunate Hammerhead was one of the first models I was bought, built and painted.
As such it started out life bright red, with slogans such as 'Death To All None Tau!' scrawled across it's surface.
I was only 13 at the time and hadn't studied the fluff very well.
Since those early times it has had several new paint jobs and now matches the rest of the army.
Because it was such a big model I even tried highlights on it and they arn't too shabby for my painting level.





Tash'Var Un'Kor Mal'Kir'Qath Mal'Vah Or'Es'El'Eleath
Like most people (I believe) when the Tau first came out over a decade ago, I had a pair of Devilfish that escorted my Firewarriors (more for cover and extra firepower then actual transport).
Since those days, niether Devilfish now exists in my army, or at least, not as a Devilfish; that's right, the Sky Ray you see below is simply the turret parts mounted on a Devilfish.
Of course, that's what all Sky Ray are, but then Devilfish have their Burst Cannon were a Sky Ray's sensors should be.
So I had the shafts cut short to make a DIY sensor and hey presto a Sky Ray was born.
As I acquired the Sky Ray parts after (naturally) the new Codex (4th ed) was released, it has been fortunate enough to only have the one paint job.





Tash'Var As'Kor'Bol'Vsum'Sen'Vel Y'Eldi and Tash'Var As'Kor'Bol'Vsum'Sen'Vel Vior'La
I originally only wanted 1 Piranha but you know what it's like when you give your Xmas list to several people, they don't think to ask each other what they have each bought off of it.
So I eneded up with two, but I only built and completed Y'Eldi (the one with the bare headed Pilots) to begin with thinking I would just use the other for spares.
But Battles proved that one Piranha on its own was lacking firepower and it got shotdown a lot.
So in due course Vior'La was put together and low they do a much better job on the Field.

Y'Eldi




Vior'La





What do people think so far?

SHAS'LA LA'RUA SHOVAH
(Fire Warrior Team Farsighted)

This update is for my only completely finished Fire Warrior Team.
Built from the parts in the original Tau Battleforce box (a box that I thought had all the models I would ever need - oh the nievety!), these are some of my oldest models.
Once again, this meant they have had several paint jobs, bright green for one and bright red ENAMEL, DETAIL DESTROYING PAINT for another! Thankfully I managed to have that stripped off and the detail restored as unlike GW paints, the enamel ones did not soak in but sat on the surface.
As you will probably note when you look at the pictures below, there are currently only 7 Fire Warriors in the Team though their should be 10. This is because back when I first made them, I had a mixture of kneeling, standing and running models in the unit. I have since decided, as this and my other Pulse Rifle wielding Team will be pretty much static throughout most games, I wanted to give them more of a Firing Squad kind of look. So now there will be Five Standing models and Five Kneeling so when set up the front row will be kneeling to give the appearance of giving the five behind better view for shooting. The three running models are currently having their legs replaced with 2 Kneeling ones and 1 Standing.
The other two Teams armed with Pulse Carbines, who will be my mobile objective taking Troops along side my Kroot, will all be running models to emphasize that they are on the move.
To comment on the Team's paint jobs just now, they all wear the standard Blood Red helmet and Shadow Grey armour of Raatol's Cadre. Defining features for this Team is the Yellow Right Shoulder Pad tying the memebers together, also the matching Squad Marking adorning each Helmet.
Each individual though, has three panels of his armour, differing between each Shas'La, painted Ice Blue to show some individualality. Each Team Members' gun also bears a unique ice blue design. O'Raatol encourages personality among his troops, not wishing to lead mindless drones into battle. As for the bases, they are dark flesh rimmed, then Dark Angels green slathered across the top and while still wet, a lighter green is dabbed and swirled into it to create the floral designs. Also, the arm guard on each of their left arms bears the Tash'Var symbol in place of that of the Tau homeworld T'Au.



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REINFORCEMENTS!

This Christmas has brought in additional support for my army in the form of a Kroot Warrior Box plus some Kroot Sprues to bring the total up to 20, a Crisis Suit which will start off my second Team and a Fire Warrior Box and sprues to complete my Army's FW Teams.



Another addition is the pocket bag of Catachan Parts to finish of my Gue'La Raptor Riders - basically Catachans riding the new DE Cold Ones. They will follow the rules for a Knarloc Rider Herd but to add another touch of diversity to my army they are human instead.

It's been a few weeks since I last posted and I am sorry to say not much has been done to the army due to life being busier than usual recently, so no new pictures or updates as yet.

That having been said, the little has been done includes the decision to sell the Sniper Drone Team I currently have and not getting a second in favour of a pair of Broadsides instead.
The Christmas Crisis I received is to be converted as the first one instead of starting the new Crisis Team as previously mentioned.

Another descision has seen my Firewarrior Squads changing from 2 Squads of 10 with PRs and 2 Squads of 8 with PCs into 4 Squads of 9 with PRs.
Pinning isn't as big an issue as it use to be and the new RF rules made taking the 1 shot on the move 18" PCs redundant next to 1 shot 30" on the move PRs.

Having built up the 12 FWs I got at Christmas, several of which are converted with unique poses, I now have 33 FWs so 3 full Squads and one at 6. Just an extra sprue to go and the Infantry will be finished.

I have also built and undercoated the twenty Kroot into two 10 man Squads which will later become 15. Better to have 2/3 of two units than one complete and one too small to be legally useable. Plus at my local store and hobby group as long as your models are undercoated they can be used in battle.

I am hoping to have pictures of all said above by tomorrow. Till then, cheers.

These past few weeks have been exceptionally busy. As such I have had no time to update my Army Blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the army itself.
And with Codex: Tau Empire Advanced Ordered thought I had best have the army ready for 6th Edition.
I have kept picture logs of what I have done so far so I'm uploading them now but in retrospect.


23rd/24th of Feb

This weekend I finally got to finish building the first of my 2, 15 strong Kroot Units and spray them. The squad has been undercoated white as their colour scheme is bright yellow skin and light blue quills. I have not taken the painting further at this stage because I am trying to simply get every unit in the army at least built and undercoated as the club and store I attend allows you to play with models in such a condition and I want to start playing again as soon as possible. The other squad is asembled as far as legs and torsos only because I only got the last sprue needed yesterday and did not have time this weekend.

Recently I have also become addicted to converting models. Mostly just minor and only a small number in basic squads. Heros and characters have had more extensive work done on them. In this kroot squad there are two conversions, both minor just the repositioning of hands and arms but it's a start.

Squad 1:

____

Squad 2:



9th/10th of March

Another week and another Kroot squad built and sprayed. No conversions among these guys though as I was not in the mood for fiddling. Oh well, plenty of time for that in other squads. Also, you may or may not have noticed from previous posts that the Kroot are lacking in accessories. I'm going to add them later as I find it easier to fully paint a model without them first.
Also this weekend I have given the Vespids a touch up as I noticed there were areas I had previously missed but they are now finished. So here is Kroot Squad 2 and the Vespid Strain.


____


23rd/24th of March

Was away last weekend so did not have a chance to work on the army. This weekend I finally got in the parts I needed to finish off the Fire Warrior Sqauds. Not to mention the Chaos Spray I had been out of for awhile. Now all 36 FIre Warriors are now built. 20 are fully painted, some requiring touch ups, and a further 16 need painting, oh the joy, but hey at least I can use them in games. And there is at least 1 conversion in each squad but I've only pictures of the major ones as the others are only minor (hands and arms again). Also, similarly to the Kroot, you may notice the newer FWs (unpainted ones) are missing there shoulder pads. These will be added later along with the grenade packs.








Present Day

So, this weekend I'm working on reworking my battlesuits, all 9 of them. Replacing arms, moving weapons, repositioning legs, etc. Pictures should, hopefully, be up tomorrow ... or today depending on your time zone.

nice models.

I would suggest you find a more muted tone for the bases, maybe more browns like a swamp base. currently the green from the bases is making the model look too busy imo. and i dont think its the paint job i think its the bright green bases.

Hi thanks for the coment Dionysus.

Yes the bases are tragic, but that's because like with a lot of things back when I started this army, I wasn't fussed with the bases and didn't see the point in painting them at all.
But peeps kept on at me saying it completes the model so I painted them grass green just to shut them up.

But as you can see if you look at the Fire Warrior pictures, I have recently turned my attention to the problem of the bases.
They have started to be painted Dark Flesh all over then the top drowned in Dark Angels Green with blobs of Goblin Green swirled in to give a foliage effect like this:
(Piranha Base)

But, even that is about to change as I consider the Dark Flesh to Dark now so instead they are to be repainted with the Texture Stirland mud them the tops painted dark green then dry brushed lighter shades.
Should look ok I think but it is again just basic stuff I'm no baser, mainly on the principle that you can't take scenery with you.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
My goodness he keeps a promise!

Well, as PROMISED here are the pictures of my modified Battlesuits. Turns out I only had time for 3 of the 8 (miscounted in my earlier post).
I started as I did all those years ago with my Command Team consisting of O'Raatol and two Shas'Vre.

The Shas'Vre haven't changed since I got them 8-9 years ago but O'Raatol has evolved over the years.
Back in 2003 he was a standard Crisis Suit with a Shield Generator on his left arm and two Missile Pods on his right; one outside, one inside.
The missile pods at that point were not twin-linked as in the first book it did not expressly state taking two weapons meant they had to be twin-linked and he had a Multi-Tracker to boot.
Then his ankles went a year later, so I repaired him and added a flying rod from the base to the hole in the jet pack for extra support.
But then four years later the dog got a hold of him so bye bye incarnation one.
Instead of replacing him with same again, and as I was adding a Shas'El to the army now, I bought a Shas'O R'Myr model and an XV89 and mixed up the two.
But now his Missile Pods were twin-linked and he had a Marker Light right arm and a huge Shield Generator.
This was still his present condition till today when I decided to make him match his bodyguards instead.
So today I changed him. Bye bye one missile pod, good bye markerlight, hello Plasma rifle. And so dawns the third incarnation of O'Raatol:


As for the Shas'Vre, not I found they needed more paint work then remodelling. The original concept for their configuration was Sword N Shields hence the plasma rifle and shield gen combo. But stupidily I then went and setup Shas'Vre 2 with his PR on his shoulder, not very sword like.
So after painting them up the first has had his right arm raised after i accidently snapped it off earlier today (shoulder ball and all) and I thought they could both do with bigger, more impressive shields to match O'Raatol's.
So I sawed off the underside of a couple of drones and removed the engine grill then sawed off their old shields and pinned on the new ones. I intend to do something about the gap and fill in the aerial slots so they look less like drones.
The second needed a little more work. I prefer Flamers, PRs and FBs to be arm mounted now a days, BCs are either and MPs shoulder only. So I swapped his weapons positions, but the missile pod had to be replaced entirely as i lost more of the MP than i thought i would wen removing it.



So, the new look Command Team or O'La'Rua to be precise:


Oh, on a final note, finally got a new drill so the barrels have been hollowed.

Noticed earlier this week, thanks to their white undercoat, that some of my kroot's bodies and legs haven't paired up evenly and so there are a few gaps. Had this been years ago I would have said C'est La Vie and left it but now I am a true modeller and wanting to take the modelling scene seriously. So, I purchased for the first time ever a batch of the Legendary Green Stuff. It arrived this morning just in time for the weekend. Woo hoo! So you can all guess what I'll be doing. Another great thing about this weekend is that my partner is away and my equally GW mad brother is staying over so loads of time to spend on my models. Joy.

Once again posting in retro-spect.

Been busy with both models and life, just not had time to post them up but here they are:

13/14 April
Well greenstuff is not as easy to work with as I had hoped, but then I am a novice.
Either way, the result was decent as far as I am concerned.
I filled in the antennae grooves on the drones to make a smooth surface and added a progection pack in place of the drone engine.
A bit basic but it will do.
What do you think?


This weekend saw the completion of my Command Team.
It was mostly touch up work and painting the new parts.




Ok just a few things of note.

First and foremost is the completed shields, with more sticky label Sept Markings like on my vehicles, and unnoticable antennae grooves.

Second the colours on the legs of the Shas'Vre are deliberate. The position of the red stripe on the right leg, second level up, indicates he is a Shas'Vre.
The matching yellow stripe on his left leg shows he has been a Team Leader as well.
Shas'Ui would be one below and shas'el 1 above and so on.

The other thing is their new bases. Based with stirling mud for a rough effect then green/brown/dark green fluff was added to simulate grass or similar alien flora.
Decided on this after Dionysus's comment about the bases being too bright.


20/21 April
Started the large task of painting the 16 Firewarriors only just basecoated. No picks of the units yet but heres a guide to my painting of my colour scheme:


Started with an undercoat of Chaos Black as usual. You may note at this point the Grenade Pack and Shoulder Guard are still abscent, they'll be added later.
Next, any parts to be finish Shadow Grey first got a layer of Regal Blue. The areas to be red, yellow or any other bright colours were based in white to boost their colour over the black. The face also got a lick of Shadow Grey.
Stage 3 saw the main colours applied along with any others ready to be done. The Regal Blue is now Shadow Grey and the majority of white replaced by Evil Sunz Scarlet. Other little bits like buttons on vambraces got a mix of bright colours and the right shoulder badge was painted Warlock Purple to show he belonged to Shas'La La'Rua Shovah (Shas'Ui Shovah himself features in the picture).
At the final stage the Grenade Pack and Shoulder Guard have been attached, fully painted, and individual markings picked out in Ice Blue on armour, helmet and gun. The face has also recieved a lighter tone to seperate it from the armour (not very apparent in the picture but effective in reality). Just basing left to do now.


So there we have it, several more units completed or as good as.

Ten years, collecting Tau from the very start, and only now am I getting round to adding a second Crisis Team to the army.

Here's the start of the newest edition to my forces:

I was not very imaginative with the posing of my original team so this time round I decided to do things differently.
I have given him a wider stance by turning his legs outwards at the hips and having him lean slighty back and to the left, like he were bracing for firing his weapons.

Speaking of which, he has twin-linked flamers and a burst cannon.

I've never really liked the Tau flamers having there fuel tank on top of the weapon, thinking they would look better the other way up.
So that's exactly how I remade them. I snipped the tank and pinned it underneath, glued it to an arm, repaeted the process for the other arm.

I then attached them to the body along with the head and fore mentioned burst cannon.


Hoping to get him undercoated tomorrow weather being kind. Have to spray outside or my partner would kill me. I'll keep you posted.
Oh and this time I intend to remember to mask the flying stick added for support so it stays see through. My other 7 battlesuits all have opake rods.
Has caused some interesting questions over the years about sticks up behinds but oh well I was a lot younger then

Well I spent the day at Games Workshop Dundee this Thursday (25th April) just gone. Bought and constructed the second memeber of my new Crisis Team right there instore.
Played a game of 1250pts against a Daemon Horde.
And the game highlighted several very important issues:

1. I suck at target/threat priority e.g. two Greater Daemons and 2 Soul Grinders and I spend most of my first few turns blasting away at 12 nurgling bases and a load of plague bearers because I didn't realise I could hurt the GDs with Pulse Rifles and my only tank killer was out of line of sight of the Soul Grinders.

2. Equipped with BCs my Piranha's sucked as mobile fire platforms so now they have been retro fitted with Fusion Blasters. So GDs for infantry, FBs for Monsters and Tanks.


3. With a BC and TL-Flamer each, the new Crisis unit was woefully under powered, ill equipped to meet both infantry and monsters/tanks.
As such, I decided to replace the BC with Plasma Rifles. Tested the unit against the same unit types it went up against on Thursday and it performed much better this time around.

So here's the newest Crisis in, in reference to my previous post, hopefully a dynamic pose:

I was inspired by the new O'Shovah and Commander models so I made him look as if he was leaning into a charge or beginning to charge.

And here is the whole team so far:

WIth, I am proud to say, see through rods!

I'm going to be busy this weekend:
Three of my newly built Kroot fell apart while I was in store. One just fell apart before the game, one's base came off mid game and the other was my own fault; I let go of him a little before he was quite on the table edge and he fell.
So I have that to do, not to mention painting the Crisis and the last of my FWs from last weekend.

I like them, very bright and colourful!

A lot like skittles.....mmmmm skittles.....

Keep up the good work

Cheers Blood Genisis.

My partner came into the Hobby room this morning and asked why I had a drill. I told her it was a modelling tool so she asked to see the rest.

So i put them altogether and she said they looked like the tools a back alley surgeon or dentist would use.

If you think about it, she's kind of right ...

hmm, you may want to consider washes or oils. And thin down your paint just a tad.

Why washes, what for?

I like the paint as it is, the whole army is painted that way so I'm not about to change it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just a small update from this weekend.

As I said I was working on my Firewarriors this weekend and completed two of my four units.
18 down, 18 to go woohoo.

Here is the first of my 'Gun Line' units, basically static firepower, Shas'La La'Rua Nu'Ul Kauyon (Firewarrior Team Distant Hunter):



My favourite model from this unit is the Shas'Ui. He has a mini conversion were his left hand now points straight ahead and I am glad I had one of the open mouthed Tau heads spare so he looks like he is shouting out orders as he points to the next target.



And here is the second, the other 'Gun Line' unit, Shas'La La'Rua Shovah (Firewarrior Team Farsighted):



One of my favourite models from the units is the Shas'Ui but you've already seen him in my painting guide earlier so here's the next favourite:

It is of course a converted Tank Commander but I like the model.

Wow can't believe it has been over a month since my last post

Oh well, not like i haven't been busy, got a new job, ordered a sunshark (can't wait for that to arrive!), been to GW Dundee several more times, lost most games, oh well.

Last weekend I painted my Sniper Drone Team from base to highlights. First highlighting I have ever done and I think it's decent enough, just hope it's visible on the photos:
The drones at various stages.


The completed drones.


The Spotter. You may note the missing antennae. It would not stay on and to connect it you simply pressed two flat bits together. Bad design there.


The completed Team.



And this weekend I have completed another Fire Warrior Team!
YES! Three down, just 1 blinkin team to go!


I rethought a few things with this team. The first is that the grills on all my other units such as vehicles, suits and drones are Boltgun Metal.
So why then have I never painted the grills on my pulse rifles? So I have.
The only other note worthy change is that the Shas'Ui from all four teams now have distinguishable shoulder pads, painted yellow to make them stnad out.

And here they are:



Today's project though, has been the reconstruction of my first Crisis Team. As I stated in an earlier post, I personally think Missile Pods should be shoulder mounted only, but this team was originally built with them on their arms. Now that they are to have Twin-Linked Missile Pods as well as their resident Burst Cannons, I felt it was time to move them to the shoulder mounting. Unfortunately, taking them off was not as easy as I had hoped; the loss of two arms, 1 head(!) and several gaping holes was the immediate result. Luckily I had a number of spare Suit parts, phew!
Here they are before reconstruction:


And here they are afterward:

Blessed be the miracle of Green Stuff and Nail Files! The holes have been filled in, filed down and arms and heads rebuilt and/or reattached.
So now they just need a lick of paint and some carefull handling to bring them back to life.
.

IT'S HERE!

My sunshark arrived this morning not 2 hours ago. And of course it has been opened already, had to check you see as I got it cheap on E-Bay.
But no, it was all there as evidenced below:


As I said it has been only two hours and work has begun already, if only on the base. I put holes in the base for the little squares at the bottom of the stand itself, thinking rather than taking them off, gluing them in place would and a measure of stability. Alas the stupid things snapped off when i was trimming them so the base would still sit level. Oh well, I was intending to add scenery to the base anyway so I thought, why not just build it around the bottom of the stand for the extra support I wanted? I know the sunshark wont exactly be heavy but better safe than sorry.

So, first off I of course glued the stand in place, then added green stuff, pushed firmly into all the corners and around the stand:


After that I continued building it up with more green stuff and some GW rock scenery I remembered I had just lying around:


Construction of the Sunshark itself will have to wait untill I get back off holiday later in the month, so fo for now I have started the repaint of last post's Crisis Team, hope to have them finished by this weekend before I go away.

Hey y'all.

I have returned. Can't believe it has been two months =(

Oh well between a crap holiday, starting a new job, a funeral and a bad break up after four years, life's been a bit hectic for awhile =(

That is not to say I havn't been up to stuff, oh no. I have been to my local GW every Thursday for the last 6 weeks, bought 3 new model kits (a Riptide, Pathfinders and a Cadre Fireblade) and I have finished the Sunshark Bomber and started both the Cadre Fireblade and the Riptide, as well as finishing off Crisis Team one from previous post.

So, here's the work on the Sunshark's Base:

First off the undercoating:


And the completed base:


And here are the drones:


So on to the Sunshark itself:


I tried a different tactic with this model. First off, I sprayed the parts black while still on the frame and then painted the parts straight on the frame that would be hard to reach once fully essembled, such as the parts under the Seeker Missile panels.


I also purchased a flat Tank Brush for the first time to do this model with. Until now I had thought them too big and unwieldly but it was amazin, definately speeded up the process and I even painted some of the smaller panels (such as those in white) with it just for the smooth finish.



And here is all three elements brought together:



Now, you have probably noticed by now that the Bomber is not done up in my army's customary Blue and Red. That is because it does not belong to the Tash'Var Sept but in fact is from Sa'Cea instead and so bears a Green and White colour scheme. This Bomber, my second commander I have yet to paint, the 2 Kroot Sqauds, 2 Broadsides and the Riptide will form my second Primary Detachment which will legally allow all 3000pts of my army on the tabletop at the same time.

Also, here are the completed Crisis Team I promised:

Finally after 6 years they are done hahaha!

Now, the Cadre Fireblade. See, when the new Codex came out early this year and I first laid eyes on the model for this Character, I didn't like it. It looked fat and I didn't like the pose. So I decided to make my own homemade one. Needless to say I didn't get far due to lack of parts, time and money. Oh well. So I got my digits on a pal's Fireblade and had a proper look at one, decided I still didn't like the pose but now I saw one up close it no longer looked fat so I bought one, converted it (slightly) and now I like it. I also scratched out his left eye to give him a war wound. You cant see it so much just yet but it will be great when done.


Oh, and I got bored one afternoon and decided to rework the colour layout on my two tanks a little and I think it works much better now. I painted the entire dorsal panelling is now red and the engines now match:



Was away to start building the Riptide tonight but its a bit late now think I should get to bed instead.

Hello again.

On thursday last, 29th August, both my Sunshark and the newly built Riptide made their debut appearance at GW Dundee and between them slaughtered my opponents Eldar. Was brilliant.

So now here is my heavily modified Riptide as it was built the day before it caused Eldar to run in panic:

As with all models of this kind I started with the legs. The standard Riptide pose is used far too often and well, doesnt look all that great anyway so I snipped the pins and made my own.
I had him leaning back as if he were boosting backwards while unleashing his fearsome fire power. You may also notice several changes to the design of the legs.
No back fins, extra details or armour panels as I prefer the simplicity of the panelling on the legs. Ties in better with the Crisis suits.


The look and design of my Riptide is inspired by Gundam and my Core 'Void Knight' on Armoured Core 4 and 5. As such I have redesigned the layout of a number of items, such as the shield generator pilons.


Like I said, as it is inspired by a Core, I just had to have the Smart Missile System housed in the Riptide's shoulders. Once again, my choice of head was made to link it in with the Crisis suits, I wanted to try and make them more like the larger cousin they are meant to be then a completely different brood.


And so, onto the arms and yes for those of you who have already looked at the picture, both weapons are on the finished Riptide. My Core is armed with an energy rifle and a gatling gun so of course my Riptide had to have them both too. Of course only one is used each game, determined by an odds and evens roll. In place of the big shield generator, which I would like to use for something else, their are four small shield generators located across the Riptide. For the guns, the shields take place of the other round gear part ususally on the guns sides. The other two are located behind the torso on the inside of each jet pack.


And so here is the finished Riptide so far, with a few additions such as the black Target Lock, a few antennae and the Counter Fire Defence System on the right.

Two new additions have been made to my army this week signalling the end of an era as these are the last two units to be added to my army in its current state, may be next Codex will bring about some new units but I doubt it as my army case is full and thats the whole point, I want to collect just enough to store in one box for each of my armies.

Well, the new additions include a box of Pathfinders, fully built and undercoated but I have no pictures as yet. The other is my two Broadside Battlesuits. Again, like with the Riptide in my last post, theier heads have been converted to look like those of a crisis suit and I have tried to give them unique poses compared to the standard stare down the rail rifle or I'll just stand here pointing my missiles straight at jobs you get told to do by the instructions. I also believe they look better with an SMS on either shoulder instead of on the one:


So, besides painting, my Tau army is now complete.

HQ:
# Commander and two Bodyguards - Complete
# Cadre Fireblade - Undercoated
# Commander, Marker Drone and Shield Drone - Undercoated

ELITES:
# Crisis Team 1 - Complete
# Crisis Team 2 - Undercoated
# Stealth Team - Undercoated
# Riptide - Undercoated

TROOPS:
# Firewarrior Team 1 - Complete
# Firewarrior Team 2 - Complete
# Firewarrior Team 3 - Complete
# Firewarrior Team 4 - Complete
# Kroot Kindred 1 - Complete
# Kroot Kindred 2 - Undercoated

FAST ATTACK:
# Pathfinder Team - Undercoated
# Vespids - Complete
# Piranha Squadron - Complete
# Sunshark Bomber - Complete

HEAVY SUPPORT:
# Hammerhead - Complete
# Sky Ray - Complete
# Sniper Drone Team - Complete
# Broadside Team - Undercoated

FORTIFICATION:
# Tau Defence Line (Aegis) - Undercoated

So not much to go now.