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The Status Log below is a quick reference guide to the progress of the current Blog. This way you can skip to the parts you want to see without having to scroll through page after page. The Status Log will show completion status of the units such as percentage bought, WIP percentage and PIP percentage. Also, it gives you quick pictures of the completion of both WIP & PIP along with links to the page of start and completion of the unit.

C&C always welcome. Thanks for looking and reading.

Desert Tau Army Project Status Log:

Unit One: Suicide XV-8 Crisis Battle suit -- COMPLETE 100% Built 100% Painted
Unit Two: First 4 man Pathfinder squad -- COMPLETE 100% Built 100% Painted
Picture of Unit One and Two WIP Completion
Picture of Unit One and Two PIP Completion
Units One and Two WIP start on page one so no link since it is only a few scrolls downward.
Link to Page 3 of Unit One and Unit Two posts of completion:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/434929.page

Unit Three: Second 4 man Pathfinder squad -- 95% Built 0% Painted
Unit Four: First 6 man Fire Warrior squad -- 100% Built 0% Painted
Unit Five: Second 6 man Fire Warrior squad -- 100% Built 0% Painted
Unit Six and Seven: 2 Pathfinder Devilfish -- 0% Built 0% Painted
Unit Eight: FW Tau special character -- 0% Built 0% Painted

FW order: remaining 6 FW Crisis suits and 9 FW XV-88 Broadsides for the army. 7.66% Ordered 0% Built 0% Painted
1st FW XV-88 Broadside Ordered

Bases needed for 1850 army:
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 1 25mm Bevelled -- 20 100% Obtained
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 40mm Bevelled -- 19 26% Obtained
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 60mm Bevelled -- 2 0% Ordered


Paints used --

Crisis Suits:
Main Armor - P3 Hammerfall Khaki (GW Commando Khaki is pretty close)
Secondary Color (Dark Grey) - P3 Bastion Grey
Army/Rank Color - P3 Meredius Blue (GW Hawk Turquoise is also pretty close) and GW Skull White
Head Lens in order of use - GW Scab Red, GW Red Gore, GW Blood Red, GW Skull White
Plasma/Jet Pack in order of use - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Ice Blue, GW Skull White
Sensor Lens - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Skull White
Green Buttons - GW Snot Green
Red Buttons - GW Blood Red
Antenna Tops - GW Chaos Black
Weathering Powder Jet pack - Bar Mills Soot

For the Pathfinder (and all infantry) uses the same colors over most of the mini. However there are several more colors on the infantry that are used and they are as follows:
Uniform Cloth - P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Leather Equipment and back of boots - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Knife handle, snap buttons and wire - GW Chaos Black
Wrist Pad Screen in order of use - GW Foundation Knarloc Gree, GW Snot Green, GW Scorpion Green

Now for the bases:
Main base color - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Sand and Dry Brush - P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Weathering Powder - MIG Gulf War Sand
Grass - Army Painter Highland Tuft

Link to the Dakka Gallery to this army:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-4337-24398_Desert%20Tau%20Blog.html

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I said a little a bit ago that I was giving up on 40K all together. However, trying to to new things with Warmachine minis was leaving a bit bored. So, to keep my hand into to art of the hobby I made my mind up that I was going to go all out on one army. Thinking long and hard on this I chose to delve back into the Greater Good and collect a Tau Army.

As I have done most type of terrain and themes for armies over the last 20 years I hadn't done a Desert Themed army yet. Looking through Google I have found alot of great desert themed Tau armies hammered the last nail into the coffin. But since I was going to go all out on this army I wasn't going to spare any expense when it came to the minis. This means that I have gotten the green light to buy an air compressor and an air brush along with almost $800.00 USD of FW Broadsides and Crisis Suits. On top of that I have decided that I am going to install LEDs on all the suits and Devilfish transports. I am not going to do the infantry as that would completely pull away from the models. There will even be a few surprises that I plan to add along the way.

Like I said before that this isn't my first go at Tau:



I sold that army off to fund my Orks and Warmachine but I bored with Orks and Warmachine has very few options for good modelling. So it is back to Tau and now in good desert colors. So for all those people that are worried about Gundum colored Tau you will not see anything like that here.

Here is the list that I am going to build. Feel free to comment as I have not ordered the FW Suits yet.

1850 Pts - Tau Empire Roster

HQ: Commander Shas'el (1#, 100 pts)
1 Commander Shas'el, 100 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Stimulant Injector; Missile
Pod; Twin Linked Fusion Blaster)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 197 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 197 pts (Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired
Multi-tracker; Missile Pod; Targeting Array; Team Leader)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 197 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 197 pts (Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired
Multi-tracker; Missile Pod; Targeting Array; Team Leader)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (2#, 106 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 106 pts (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster; Targeting Array)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster; Targeting Array)

Troops: Fire Warrior (6#, 60 pts)
6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts

Troops: Fire Warrior (6#, 60 pts)
6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (5#, 133 pts)
4 Pathfinder, 133 pts
1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (5#, 133 pts)
4 Pathfinder, 133 pts
1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

If you have any pointers on this list just post. I am most likely going to face a lot a IG transports and Heavy Tanks so this list is what it is designed for.


Now for the first unit that I am building is my Pathfinders. I hate the weedy nature of the metal Pathfinders so I decided to use the Fire Warrior kits. So here is the first one built:







From the start I want my Pathfinders too look like they are equipped to be scouts. An with the same 4+ armor of a Fire Warrior the metal minis don't make any sense that 50% of the armor is missing. So I left all the armor except for the large shoulder armor. Also, added of course is pouches for equipment. All the markerlight is the end of a Gun Drone Antenna and the Antenna from a hand sensor from the Fire Warrior kit. He is not attached to that base as I plan on using Secret Weapon Desert Mesa bases.

Well, that is enough for tonight. C&C is always welcome.


WOOT! This first Blog post is post 1701! You are my hero Capt Kirk!

Those other Tau you did are amazing, I can't wait to see the news ones yer workin' on.

I like the converted pathfinder!

Seeing your previous army, I cant wait too see more! It seems to be a rather hard hitting army, but isn't it a bit week on the troop side? You'll be struggling to get objectives, it seems. But I'll love to see all those Broadsides!

Keep it coming, you're off to a fine with the subtle pathfinder conversion. Can't wait to see all 9 xv-88s lined up.

Thanks for the comments so far and please keep them coming.

On the troops issue of the list I am using them to make last second pushes allowing the Broadsides and Suits take down armor and Heavy Infantry. The suits will also be uses as road blocks if need be. So when I bump the list up more infantry will come into play.

So, last night I started work on my second Pathfinder. The issue is that I need to order a bunch of the pouches. Looks like I am going to clear out at least three bitz sites.

More to come...

Looking at all the sites including EBay I can't find enough pouches and stowage for my Pathfinders and Fire Warriors. So I am going to use Rapid Mold sticks to make the stuff I need. I will post on how I used these to make the stuff I needed.

Tonight I will post my second built Pathfinder. Just waiting for my bases to show up so I can model the rest of the Pathfinders around the shapes of the bases.

Friday and Saturday were nuts for me so I couldn't post. Nothing like getting told at 6 PM Friday that my in-laws along 10 others of her family are coming by for dinner the next day. So, all hobby stuff was put on the back burner as I cleaned and cooked for 14 people. Yes I do all the cooking in the house as my wife admits that she can't cook. Pulled it all off and now time to post like I promised.

Saturday morning my Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 1 bases arrived my my Norman like mailman. Opening up the padded package and they were just what they looked like on the website. Plus they are a great deal since you get 10 in a package and not 5 like Micro-Arts. Here is what they look like:



I know I could do this with some pieces of cork or chunks of plaster under some more plaster or GS but you know for $8.99 my time is better spent elsewhere than making bases. Secret Weapon

Now on to the Pathfinders. As I said I got the second one done. I knew I was going to use a lot of kneeling poses for them but I did want to have them in different types of kneeling poses than the ones in the box. I had to wait for the bases to arrive so I could model them around the bases. Since all but one set of legs are in a stand poses I am going to have to cut into the knee and repose the lower legs. This will give a chance to work on my GS usage.

So here is my two Pathfinders that are built dry fitted onto their bases:






As you might have noticed that I changed their stowage kits a bit. I didn't want them to be completely dress right dress. Second I am starting to run out of stowage bitz since most bitz sites are pretty slim on these bits. To fix this problem I plan on next payday to order a one complete set of bitz I need not only for my Pathfinders bit also for my Fire Warriors. Then I also want to order a set of the Rapid Mold Sticks to make GS copies of the bitz. It would cost me a fortune to order all the stowage bitz if I could ever find enough of them so this way with the Rapid Mold Sticks I can keep on reproducing them as needed. Since I never plan on selling this army and the copies are for my own use I am not running into any IP issues.

With this promised update complete it is on to working on more Pathfinders. I will update again when I have my first reposed Pathfinder finished. See you soon and as always C&C is always welcome.

I have been working all day on my first squad of four Pathfinders built and based. I only have some clean up of mold lines, rough spots and GS work to do but they are almost done.

First is my repose of a standing Fire Warrior legs to a kneeling position. Just need to GS the uniform around the knees to fill in the gaps of where I had to cut. Here he is:






For my second is the Squad Leader/Upload link to the main force. He will become a True Squad leader if and when I go up in points so I modeled him with that in mind. I put a long range data transmitter/receiver on his back and a wrist mounted data pad. Here he is:






And the 1st Pathfinder Squad together:







I will post the miniatures once GS and clean up is finished but I am stopping for the night as I am about to go cross eyed. I welcome all C&C about anything miniature or the way I am doing things. Thanks for looking.

Took today off from work because I didn't feel well for the past couple of days. Instead of laying around watching TV or playing XBox I decided to finish the details on my first squad of Pathfinders. I am very pleased how they turned out. They are simple but the look is very effective.

The key thing I was trying to achieve was an easily reproducible look that I can do for every Pathfinder squad I do next. So little GS work that isn't too complicated or detailed and bitz that can be either easily bought or reproduced. With this in mind I think I pulled off the look quite well. However, the proof is in the pictures and on your comments. So, here is the completed four-man Pathfinder Squad (the GS and detail pictures shown first to show the progress from the previous WIP pictures.) Enjoy!















Well, I honestly think that these Pathfinders are what GW should have done in the first place. They look more like soldiers that skinny kids in an over sized costume. On all the Pulse Carbines I added a small toggle switch on the weapons so they can switch from the Weapon to the Markerlight.

On the Sqd Leader I put large bands on his uniform from the wiring from the data receiver/transmitter to the wrist data pad on his wrist to keep the wires in place as he moves. However, I made them larger so he can grab them in a hurry and remove it if need be while wearing his gloves. Also, added three over sized menu buttons so there is more detail on the data pad.

Looking at them I should be able to pop out another four of them after a bitz order I placed and the rapid mold sticks arrives.

As always I really do want your C&C on this project as it will be able to help me move forward. Thank you for your time.

WOW! Truly awesome work, keep it up!

Over the last five days while I was sick I was thinking about my 1850 Army list as it goes with the fluff in the Tau Codex. Well, I decided to change and have a single Crisis Suit as a suicide unit dedicated in destroying tank squadrons. Fluff-wise this is a Crisis Suit pilot going through his second trial and he has been given a modified XV-8 Battlesuit to complete the mission.

So, I have him as a second HQ Suit with a Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Irdium Armor, Shield Generator and a multi-tracker. My other HQ will have a positional relay so this suit can come in on a 2+ on second turn. As I am going to be fighting an 1850 IG Armor Army, this suit will be dropping in on the rear armor of the IG Armor squadrons so not having melta is not so much of a problem with two strength 7 and two strength 6 shots a turn boosted BS with marker lights.

I am posting this quickly as I am tired, I will go into more detail tomorrow night about the parts used and why. There is some mold lines to clean up but the suit is complete as WYSIWYG So here is my Suicide Crisis Suit:







Suicide Crisis Suit behind my first squad of Pathfinders:



Thank you for looking and as always, C&C always welcome. Please feel free to comment if you like it or if you don't.

That's looking terrific Mike--a Tau suit that actually looks imposing! Can't wait to see your OSL thrown around on those guys.


Desert primer ordered--Tallarn tanks growing anxious...

Very nice, i'll be watching closely. Hopefully i can pilfer some ideas for my Jungle Tau.

A quick update about the Crisis Battlesuit like I promised. I am using this guy as a suicide unit against Armored Squadrons. So he is going to be the only GW XV-8 in the 1850 list. All the others will be FW Crisis Suits.

For the equipment: I decided to put two missile pods on since the way I am going to kit him out he should be able to last at least two turns so I wanted the missile pods to represent that much ammo that he is carrying to be able to fire for three turns. Then the plasma rifle looks larger than the normal one and that is because when I openned the box at least of 1/5 of each sprue was warped. So I had to cut up the plasma rifle and merge it with the fusion blaster rear section so it would look right.

On the other are is his shield generator made out of a shield generation disk and a burst cannon rear section. It is showing that the shield generator is not just a disk but a whole piece of equipment that is normally inside the suit. There is also another shield generator on the rear and that equipment is spread out throughout the suit. So the two shield generators combined now cover 360. I believe that it looks so much better since it balances out both arms.

Well, my lunch is over and got to go. My next post will be the test paint scheme for these minis. See you all soon.

They look great!

Love them path finders. I always found it difficult to convert any tau when i did them. My mind just couldnt think of how to do it.

That suit is cool to considering that lets be honest the gw suits look gak.

The pathfinders look great. Will be following this thread with interest.

Thanks to everyone. I am glad that everyone is liking the stuff so far. Trying to go all out on my stuff so knowing that people like it so far makes me strive to do more.

I have always loved Tau but was getting discouraged by the codex creep. But knowing that the new codex is around the corner I want to be ready.

Well, my next Blog entry with work will be the start of painting. As the FW battlesuits are not completely hollow I think I am going to try my hand at OSL (Object Source Lighting). I am going to keep the lights to a normal brightness and not the super glow that you see on other stuff.

I agree that the Crisis Suits need an update to the FW Marks or to the Hazard suits but I think GW is going to leave them as it. If GW would just fix the molds I would be happy because you would never know that there was almost an 1/4 gap on both sides of that jet pack. Four quick clamps and alot of cussing I was able to get it to what you see without GS.

Thanks for reading and commenting because it keeps me motivated.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So tonight I base coated my first five minis in my normal base color. I am going to get smacked or sneered at by the color. I base coat everything in Camo Flat Brown. I know it seems weird but it works great. It does not darken the colors placed on top very much and it is still dark enough to give you a good bit for shading. Plus those that do a lot of metal it dry brushes great and gives it a bit more dirt feel to the metal.

The base coating spray I use:


This is my other Dakka Blog that has other minis of mine I used this brown base coating:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/310277.page

I didn't do much today but got home late from work so all I got was the base coat. Only one picture of the base coated minis:


What I love is that it is light enough that I can see any mold lines.

Now this isn't related to my army but I found this picture hiding in my camera and thought I would share.

It is my Stepfather's idea of a front yard Christmas lawn decoration:



I will see you guys soon when I start to put down the primary colors of my paint scheme. As always C&C is so very welcome.

Dude, I have been watching your other stuff you did and hope you keep up with this army because it is looking good.

Another quick post to the blog. I stayed up late last night and worked some tonight on my first test paint of my scheme for my infantry. The mini needs some highlights and clean-up but he is almost done. Well here is my first pathfinder:

(The base is not done yet on this set)





(Base is complete on this set)






I like my minis to look dirty like they have been in the field. However, I need to cover some of the wash on the large flat areas by doing some highlights. Plus the lighting in my workshop does not due justice to the mini. Believe that it is at tabletop quality right now but I need to bump it up one more notch.

Hope you enjoy and thank you for looking. As always C&C is always welcome but more now than anything now because the paint is what can make or break an army. See you all soon.

Wow, I have to say thats amazing, but Weathering powders would kick it up

Thanks. I have some weathering powders that I use on my ork vehicles but don't work for this scheme. So I am lurking on the MIG site choosing desert colors. I agree they would make the mini pop.

Ahh, one of the challenges of a good camo scheme. How to make a model blend with the base but not completely disappear?

Have you considered red squad markings? It would be a bit of color without ruining camo effect. Just a thought.

take care

The best part of this project is the extra detail that you've lavished in to the models, like showing the xv8 as having 360 degree shielding. Stuff like that just bro.Gs it all right together

I completely agree with needing a bit of contrast. I was trying to go with a subtle color to the squad markings but I think red would make the minis stand out a bit more. Between the weathering powders and red markings it should pull the look together nicely.

Thanks for the complement about the details on the minis. I always belived that those little touches help make a mini that much better and more believable when on the table. Can't wait to get my hands on all those FW suits so I can see what upgrading can be done.

Love the C&C because it is those comments that help make the project a success. So keep them coming.

Off to bed I go. Have to be to work early. Will post this weekend with another update so see you then.

Wow

Love the pathfinders and painting

I definitely agree on the flatwork. He looks less dirty and more 'dipped' at the moment, but a bit of highlighting will make that snap right back to awesome.

The Tau tend to be the most 'realistic' of the 40K armies in terms of combat. They mimic our modern day tactics of shoot-shoot-shoot, and mobility. So it's nice to see them in a good camo scheme.

Though I think a nice cool turquoise or green could work just as well as a red. The little stripes on the carbine show that pretty well.

Hawk turquoise chevrons!

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:I definitely agree on the flatwork. He looks less dirty and more 'dipped' at the moment, but a bit of highlighting will make that snap right back to awesome.

The Tau tend to be the most 'realistic' of the 40K armies in terms of combat. They mimic our modern day tactics of shoot-shoot-shoot, and mobility. So it's nice to see them in a good camo scheme.

Though I think a nice cool turquoise or green could work just as well as a red. The little stripes on the carbine show that pretty well.

Capitansolstice wrote:Hawk turquoise chevrons!

That was the squad/army marking color I was going to use. I did not want to make the markings large and over the top as they are still suppose to hide. The markings on the carbine are a smaller version on what is on the helmet. I think I might try and paint one section of the left thigh armor the turquoise and a set of markings on the back of the helmet. After that I will do some highlighting and see if those two things are enough to pull the mini out from the base a bit.

Still looking at what weathering powder I want to use since there is so many. I can pick up MIG powders at a local hobby shop here so I think I am going to stick with that company. Going to work on the touch ups and markings tonight so I will post again sometime tonight or tomorrow afternoon with the updates.

Thanks for the C&Cs and keep them coming.