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 Moltar wrote:
Objective marker is a good use of bits and I like the idea behind it. I just feel like it needs some more width at the base to make it seem less top heavy.

I agree with you, but since Tau is a new army, I don't have that many bits to plunder to get the feel I want... Also, 40mm is quite small to fit a large base for it...

I'll just assume the Tau developed some gravitational / inertial dampeners that allows for such constructions !!!

Second objective should use a Tau Air Caste Pilot... Probably with an Imperial monument (again, don't have many Tau leftovers to use )

Still, thanks !

Very cool indeed. Great builds and I think your surreal and brilliant brand of OSL and colour will be glorious!

Love the way the display board turned out Yggs. The extra effort you put into the bastion is really going to pay off I think. Never a bad idea to add graffiti.

inmygravenimage wrote:Very cool indeed. Great builds and I think your surreal and brilliant brand of OSL and colour will be glorious!

Hey Graven ! Sorry, there probably will be little OSL on the Tau... I'm not really at that with the airbrush yet, and I want to keep the Tau quick-to-paint...
So probably only on the larger models (Broadside, Riptide)...

Gitsplitta wrote:Love the way the display board turned out Yggs. The extra effort you put into the bastion is really going to pay off I think. Never a bad idea to add graffiti.

Yeah, I knew you'd like it !!! I almost went to searching for your "imperial posters" pics & steal the idea, but... for a start in making scenery, that was more than enough

********** ON WITH THE TAU !!! **********

Ok, so two updates today :

1. Turret is completely built, now with a Fire Caste Operator :



2. Tau Fire Warrior test model is complete, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out !




I went for a "scorched earth" type of base, I'm quite liking it... I'm still debating whether to add a few leaves (just like I put in here : ) or keep it that way...

Any hint ?

He is looking good man. Totally love the blue you have used (any hints on what it is?).

as for leaves....im not sure; they do look awesome but to me, the figure appears to be charging through a blasted landscape of mud and twisted wreckage. its very dynamic pose and paint scheme, very "mid fight" rather than parade ground, if you get me. with the battle damage you have done (which looks great btw!) i can really imagine him getting showered with mud from a nearby explosion as he pushes forwards.

...leaves might not fit that image.

thats just me though....and is probably totally not what you were envisaging. in which case...my bad. either way he looks awesome. full marks once again

 San76 wrote:
He is looking good man. Totally love the blue you have used (any hints on what it is?).

Which blue are you talking about ?

Skin is GW only : 1. Russ Grey, 2. Highlighted by Administratum Grey, 3. Glaze of Russ Grey, 4. Highlighted by Blue Horror (EDGE)... I think it'll be easier now that I've bought some Fenrissian Grey, it should replace steps 2. & 3. !!!

As for the "gems/lenses/sept markings", I've used Prince August paints : Turquoise, Light Turquoise, and another colour translated as "Green Blue"...

 San76 wrote:
as for leaves....im not sure; they do look awesome but to me, the figure appears to be charging through a blasted landscape of mud and twisted wreckage. its very dynamic pose and paint scheme, very "mid fight" rather than parade ground, if you get me. with the battle damage you have done (which looks great btw!) i can really imagine him getting showered with mud from a nearby explosion as he pushes forwards.

...leaves might not fit that image.

thats just me though....and is probably totally not what you were envisaging. in which case...my bad. either way he looks awesome. full marks once again

I hadn't thought about it that way... But you might be right, leaves would look too... "peaceful" in that case ?

I think I might have got over-enthusiast with my new-found leaves, thus wanting to use them even if inappropriate...

So thank you San76, for making me open my eyes !!

That objective marker is perfect with that fire caste dude on the base. Totally solves the earlier problem. The test model looks really good to me. I like tau to have battle damage on their armor. Something works better for me when they aren't sparkly clean.

 Moltar wrote:
That objective marker is perfect with that fire caste dude on the base. Totally solves the earlier problem. The test model looks really good to me. I like tau to have battle damage on their armor. Something works better for me when they aren't sparkly clean.

Thanks for the objective marker ! I'm glad you like it now

I also agree with you on the battle damage, I think it looks really great on Tau armour !!

Some quick updates before I go to bed :

1. Armies on Parade board...

My "display panel" (how could you name such a thing ?) finally from... Sweden (don't ask ) !!!

Here's how it looks :



2. Objective Markers

Here's the second one... An Air Caste pilot, probably crashed down in an Imperial city, seems puzzled by this monument...



3. Test models

Also finished the Kroot test model ! The paint scheme proved a bit longer to apply in here (way too long in my opinion, at least), so I'm still pondering on how to improve the time efficiency...
Anyway, here's the pic :



Family portrait :



Two questions I have to ask you, fellow Dakkaites :

- The blue on the Kroot's clothing seem a bit too bright... Is that really an issue, or am I on the right track ? Any other colour suggestions for the clothing, in relation with the palette ?

- I've tried the "black borders" on the bases, for a change... What do you think ? Should I just paint it brown, like the rest of the base ?

Thanks in advance for your help & opinion !

1) I like the blue. It's a good splash of colour on an otherwise quite muted palette.
2) I'm a fan of black rims, ordinarily, but in this case it would nice if you could fade down from brown to your RoB board colour?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
1) I like the blue. It's a good splash of colour on an otherwise quite muted palette.

True. Hadn't seen it that way ! Maybe it'd look a bit dull without it...

2) I'm a fan of black rims, ordinarily, but in this case it would nice if you could fade down from brown to your RoB board colour?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean...

Are you trying to suggest I should just paint the rims (thanks for the word reminder ) in my "usual" brown, to link them to my newly painted RoB board?

^Mais Oui!

Lol !

Are you aware there's no link between my Armies on Parade Board and those Tau ? (Armies on Parade will be with my complete Night Stalkers - erh Dark Angels - army !)

"Rims" are something you put on a car.

I agree with graven though. I think..: (sorry, it's early.)

Early ? Not for us Git, it's 1pm over here !!

Though it must be like... 7am at your place ?

So that's 2 against black rims... Any other vote ?

Good guess. 6 AM, and I'm still on vacation which makes it more like 4:30 AM.

Ringing in black is very showy, especially for single models. In an army where the figures need to have a connection to one another though, I think it artificially separates them.

Well, I'm on vacation too, and I'm up at 08:00 (without any children lol), so I can understand

As for the "separation" of models... That's a good point... I'll have to think about it !

I think the blue is ok, but it appears to lack depth, and seems to clean for the rest of the model.

I like it more when the rim matches the base and board. Sorry, another against.

Lol "lacking depth" ? That's one blue + 3 highlights !!! You backstabbed me, WM360 !!
I agree that it looks a bit too "clean"... Hummmm... Some other food for thought

As for the black rim, it will be pretty easy to correct once they're done... So I'll maybe do a whole squad that way, and then I'll decide...

Thanks for your thoughts !

I'm loving the Tau, Yggs! The kroot looks great! However, while I love the blue, it needs some weathering, like dirt stains and the like, which is probably what WM360 was trying to say.

Also, I prefer black rimmed bases, especially on your models!

Hey Matt, thanks !!!

Ok for the dirtying of the Tau clothes... How should I do it ? Some wash stains ? Any other clue ?

Thanks for the black rim vote (to all others : lol)

[edit : almost finished my Cadre Fireblade... And first squads of Fire Warriors & Pathfinders are under way ! ]

Wash stains would probably work. Maybe a thin one over the entire thing and then a few smaller, thicker patches?

Would be kinda cool to have a blood stain or two...

Thinking about it again, washes are definitely your best bet.

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
Wash stains would probably work. Maybe a thin one over the entire thing and then a few smaller, thicker patches?

Would be kinda cool to have a blood stain or two...

Thinking about it again, washes are definitely your best bet.

I'll have to try that... And maybe I could also paint the laces in brown, rather than blue, to make them stand out more ?

Blood stains are out for now, until I now how to get them great

Here's today's update (yeah, I'm on vacation AND my significant other is letting me paint) : my HQ, a Cadre Fireblade (footed-commander, in the new Tau army, for those who haven't followed the new dex ) !!





Went through some extra efforts for him, added a tattoo on his skull, painted lines on his wrist screen, etc... Hope you like him ! He's gonna be my commander for quite some time ! Leading the Tau from the front, eschewing the use of a battle-suit to spur them to greater deeds, for the Greater Good !!

I love that cape!

I'm liking the fireblade, I'm liking him a lot, great work, Yggs!

Brown laces sounds good for the kroot, too.

Haha, I assumed you had highlighted it, the pics just aren't showing it very well. But yeah, some weathering would do wonders, more so on a Kroot.

Matt.Kingsley wrote:I love that cape!

I'm liking the fireblade, I'm liking him a lot, great work, Yggs!

Brown laces sounds good for the kroot, too.

Thanks !

Also, did the laces brown on the Kroot, & added a few lines of Sepia wash to the clothes... It definitely looks better (the missus agrees with you guys), so thanks a lot !!

whalemusic360 wrote:Haha, I assumed you had highlighted it, the pics just aren't showing it very well. But yeah, some weathering would do wonders, more so on a Kroot.

Ha ha, I hope so !!! I know my standards have gone way lower with the Marines, but not forever !!!

Still pondering on the blood stains...

Damn that cloak is smooth!

Those Tau are looking really nice Ygg's nice and battle-worn, as PDH says that's some impressive blending on that cloak.

PDH wrote:Damn that cloak is smooth!

GiraffeX wrote:Those Tau are looking really nice Ygg's nice and battle-worn, as PDH says that's some impressive blending on that cloak.

Thank you guys, the cloak is, as you guessed, airbrushed.... Makes that kind of thing faaaaaaaar easier than with a brush !!
(And I practiced the technique 2 weeks ago
)
TBH, it almost feels like cheating... But, well, you know

As for today, I've started mass-producing some Fire Caste soldiers... One Fire Warrior team, and one Pathfinder squad, along with drones !


I've mostly done the basecoats today, and the squad markings (quite tedious)... Next steps are weathering the white, rusting the black, and highlighting the rest !!

Let's now focus on the "marksman" of the FW squad (he's the only one with a Pulse Rifle, to represent his superior markmanship ).
Special thanks to Q0rbin for his tutorial on the "Predator mark"



It was not so hard to pull off, and looking pretty good !!!

From a "real life" point of view, the holidays are over tonight...

Grant me strength to get back to work !!!

Glad we could help, Yggs!

Can't wait to see the Fire Warriors and Pathfinders complete!

Hope you're still able to make steady progress after the holidays... I know I usually don't

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
Glad we could help, Yggs!

Can't wait to see the Fire Warriors and Pathfinders complete!

Hope you're still able to make steady progress after the holidays... I know I usually don't

Thanks Matt !!

It already is harder, coming back from work @7pm, preparing dinner (missus still at work), watching your daily French sitcom till 9pm, wandering a bit on dakka, BoLS, FB, then off to paint at 9.30... That's much less time !!

Squads are progressing slowly but purposefully. The Drones are the most advanced ones, here's today's one & only pic :



What's left to do ? Mostly highlights on the turquoises details : lenses, power sources, etc... Then the base !

Tau infantry are pretty tedious to chain-paint... But I'm not going to let go now!!!

Also, stumbled upon this on BoLS... Astonishing !!!