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Started tinkering with some Tau, using a limited range of paints and materials.

I'm preparing to move and nmost of my kit is packed so all I have is as many paints as fit in my paint station and some brushes. To maintain sanity I've started a new project. Tau!

My first love in starting the hobby was the Tau and I painted them in a white and purple scheme, so it seemed fitting to go the same way now. Pictures are a bit crap because my camera, lights etc are all gone. I'll see about better at some point soon.

Till then, thoughts and C&C welcome!

Interesting color scheme. I would really recommend using a wash to blend those two purple colors together, would make it much smoother. Otherwise, very cool.

Very cool scheme dude. I'll echo retrogamer0001 that a wash of druchii violet on the armour plates would blends the purples nicely and add some depth but as is it's such a vibrant and cool scheme it works well.

I think the colors are very nice and fit the theme of the world mentioned: it seems haunting.

It is a very evocative title and I like the camo scheme. Is it influenced by WWII stuff?

Rawr!

Thanks for the kind words

I realised that the majority of my photo kit was relatively near the surface, and reclaimed the camera and light box Using a daylight desk lamp but it does good enough! Better photo below.

I was aiming foir quite a stark contrast between the two purples, so I don't want them blending too close together, but I do need to add some shading to the lighter purple.
I'll have a go at a purple wash on a test model. I'd already tinkered with it when deciding on an overall scheme and it's one of the colours I do have access too.

@Brushcommando - I wasn't basing it on a specific scheme but I had vague memories of some of the oddball WWII schemes in the back of mind, as well as the British pink panther camoflages used in afghanistan way back when. Mainly, I just had it in mind to do purple camoflage with white. Intention is to now add some weathering and dirt to fit with the loose story behind them.

Nice. Got any vehicles planned for the army or is it mostly just men and mechs?

Vehicles! I love the devilfish/hammerhead/skyray. Going to load them up with baggage and salvage.

Also going to have a bunch of Kroot. I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of Greater Knarlocs and a set of Knarloc riders back before they went oop.

The new photos do the model much better justice, I dig it. For me the scheme makes me think of a lava lamp for some reason, It's probably because of the colours it's done in. Whatever your inspiration for the scheme however I really like it and can't wait to see more fire warriors and some vehicles done up.

Those last photos look really clean and neat, I'm looking forward to whatever else you have!

Rawr!

I have been somewhat busy with selling my house but found time to do some painting between viewings. I present a full Breacher team, finished but for any sept markings I choose to add. I'm undecided on those.

I've also had some thoughts on their background. The cadre originates from a cold but verdant planet called Au'aya II. Tau from that world have developed a hardiness to frigid temperatures and a knack for surviving frozen worlds. As a result they have the 'welcome' distinction of being first choice for operations on such planets.

Meanwhile the K'toch'fen Kindred Kroot (Nearest translation the Tau can surmise is 'Ice Spear' kindred) live on a once lush and tropical world now suffering an ice age. There is a legend among the Ice Spears to explain the sudden change in their planet's climate, concerning a great Kroot hunter who angered a frost spirit by killing and consuming its favoured beast. The hunter was cursed so that everything he touched would turn to ice.

The Ice Spears have dubbed the Tau they now fight alongside the 'Cadre of the Frozen Hand' in honour of their legend for it seems they, too, are forever cursed to dwell in snow and ice. The Tau ritualistically daub their own right hand in icy blue warpaint before battle as a sign of unity and respect, for their own cadre and for their kroot allies.

I can only assume arctic bases are in these guys future?

Those are some sexy looking tau. (Is sexy allowed for models?)

Thanks!

Basing wise I'm thinking a mix of churned up earth and crashed Tau spaceship, as they're supposedly stranded after something went horribly wrong It will, of course, all be doused in snow!
That'll have to wait, though. My basing materials are all packed already and won't see the light of day until late this year.

I've finished by first four Strike Team FW today but no photos. However, I do have photos of the beginnings of a stealth team

Firstly, an XV25 with Burst Cannon. A few little details to do still, and again I'm torn on doing any sept markings. I wanted to go very minimal on anything not stealth, so he's almost uniformly done in the Au'aya stealth camoflauge, which is the standard for stealth units when their active camouflage is not engaged.

Secondly, the stealth Shas'vre in an experimental variant of stealth armour and armed with a prototype 'Quad-Pulse' Carbine. Rather than being a contender to replace the XV25 battlesuit, which is superior in terms of armor and support system capacity, the PX-82 'Black Cat' suit is an experiment into the viability of stealth technology for infantry units.

EDIT: actually I've misplaced the photos of the XV25! I shall take some soon, as well as getting clearer shots of the breacher team and the painted strike team chaps.

With all my stuff in storage I've got a limited amount of units to paint, but I scored an extra 30 Fire Warriors off eBay so those and the 3 man stealth team will have to suffice for now. If the gods of auctioning are kind, maybe some kroot or a tank will appear, otherwise that will all have to wait until after the house move.

I like the color combinations, but I have some criticisms:

1.) Lack of shading/weak shading. A lot of armor separations are simply painted over. With tau, this is a shame, because their armor has lots of nice separation details. Do you wash the armor after putting the purple down, or simply paint the purple over a darker color, avoiding some of the recesses?

2.) Lack of highlights/weak highlights. Obviously highlighting the white isn't possible, but the hard edges of Tau armor LOVES edge highlights and really makes the model 'pop'. I really recommend stronger highlights on the purple.

3.) Candy-striped legs. Keeping camo somewhat random is tricky, but worth it. The lower legs of the models look a bit like candy-canes because you've gone with pretty consistent diagonal bands on most of them. When you do this, it draws the eye to the legs more than anything else.

4.) Grime. You've placed the grime on the models in a very top-down manner. For the most part, dirt should be coming from below, not above. Put more grime on the lower legs and less on the helmets and it will look more realistic. Overall I'm not a huge fan of the dirt to begin with, as a snow scheme looks better as clean as possible, but having dirt near the top while sporting squeaky clean legs/feet is just jarring to me.

Thanks for the feedback John, It's appreciated and I do agree on several points, as well.

Point to point:
1: The line markings are clear in the darker purple but so far in the lighter, yes, they're just painted over. I've not got any very fine brushes available at present but intend to re-line the recesses once I do.
The method so far has been base in purple, wash in black, drybrush in purple then paint the lighter markings over the top. In places this has then painted into the recesses, and needs tidying.

2: As everybody loves to say - the highlights are more obvious to the eye! That said, I personally don't like really stark highlighting so I tend toward subtler shading anyway. This one is just a personal preference thing

3: Totally notice that now you pointed it out! I'll have to work on making it less candycane.

4: You're totally right! What I've done now is meant to be chipping and scratching, not dirt. My intention is for these chaps to have had a rough landing meaning quite a bit of bashing around inside their ship. Dirt and grime is going to be added once I do the basing, which is just the way I tend to do it. Dirt will be done from the ground up.
Difficulty on this one is I've decided the dirt is going to be dark turquoise, which will be difficult to make look acceptable =/

PossumCraft wrote:
Point to point:
1: The line markings are clear in the darker purple but so far in the lighter, yes, they're just painted over. I've not got any very fine brushes available at present but intend to re-line the recesses once I do.
The method so far has been base in purple, wash in black, drybrush in purple then paint the lighter markings over the top. In places this has then painted into the recesses, and needs tidying.

Good. These will look really sharp once that's done.

2: As everybody loves to say - the highlights are more obvious to the eye! That said, I personally don't like really stark highlighting so I tend toward subtler shading anyway. This one is just a personal preference thing

Fair enough. It's true, highlights often show up less in photography.

3: Totally notice that now you pointed it out! I'll have to work on making it less candycane.

Randomness is really the hardest part of doing good camo. Here's a picture I found of basically your camo scheme:

Notice that the elements have a fairly horizontal distribution, other than the black parts, which are more random. This is because snow (and its shading under light) tend towards a horizontal distribution. Obviously we don't want to delve too deep into camo theory, but google "Snow camo with purple" for more examples to see what I mean.

Using grey as a base for the white would probably make putting the white down easier and give a more effective camo effect, which is IMO a win-win.

4: You're totally right! What I've done now is meant to be chipping and scratching, not dirt. My intention is for these chaps to have had a rough landing meaning quite a bit of bashing around inside their ship. Dirt and grime is going to be added once I do the basing, which is just the way I tend to do it. Dirt will be done from the ground up.
Difficulty on this one is I've decided the dirt is going to be dark turquoise, which will be difficult to make look acceptable =/

Ah, okay, I mistook it for dirt (especially the missile pod). I look forward to the fully finished product.

Oh there's some Thyphus Corosion on the missile pod

Really dig the squad all together, they look great. It's nice to see you continuing this project.

Rawr!

I have been quietly chipping away at these guys

I'm actually quite chuffed with the progress - I've now got a 10 man Breacher team and three 10 man Strike teams (20 Pulse Rifle, 10 Pulse carbine) all painted and ready for dirt and basing.
As well as that, I've got two DS-8 support turrets, two gun drones and two shield/markerlight drones, pictured below

At present all I have left to add is a counts-as for Shadowsun as the leader. More models will come soon.

I've not got photos of the FW teams yet as I don't actually have a way to balance my camera for a group shot
Might be able to get one with the phone...

Considering making some converted Harpys for Vespid.

Need to start thinking about Kroot colours, too.


Anyway!

Thanks for looking, and C&C welcome and appreciated

These ones have some really well done signs of corrosion and wear. it looks very improved in how natural it seems

The weathering came out spectacularly! I love them, so much personality. All your lenses and little glass shiny bits are so well done as well, you really nailed the shiny look. The handprint on the missile turret is a really nice tough.

I'm wondering about the base on the missile one though, is it finished as is? I get the impression it's sitting on ice but since the outer ring has paint spackle on it too it kind of makes it seem unfinished. I'd paint the edge of the base either a super dark blue or carry the base pattern all the way down the edges. Maybe some ardcoat to make is glassy like ice too?

Fantastic work all around though, I'm loving this force.

Thanks

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
T
I'm wondering about the base on the missile one though, is it finished as is? I get the impression it's sitting on ice but since the outer ring has paint spackle on it too it kind of makes it seem unfinished. I'd paint the edge of the base either a super dark blue or carry the base pattern all the way down the edges. Maybe some ardcoat to make is glassy like ice too?

The base isn't done, no. I'm seeing these guys being on a planet with odd turquoise earth, so I was playing with dirt and mud splashes on the DS-8.

I've still not got my gear out of storage yet so it'll be a while before I get to tinkering with the final base design.

Rawr!

Wow, a year and more since the last update here *performs thread necromantic rituals*

I have actually made some progress, recently, on my Tau and on their new friends the Krootorks.

I've got a Broadside conversion nearly finished, and I'm close to done with this XV9. I've also been tinkering with basing.
I'm going for a heavily foliaged planet with snowfall on top. The photo doesn't show it, but the snow has some lovely sparkle when the light catches it.

With the XV9 he's supposed to have landed where he is. Units on foot will have a trail of disturbed snow behind them, in theory...


Anyhoo, thanks for looking and C&C welcome!