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My god tau can even find a use for nids! great job on all your tau.

all the white that you see is either plasticard, or cellulose clay aka paper clay, and then converted GW plastic bitz. If you have specific questions about parts in particular then lemme know.

Gaunt hounds=win. Now they just need to take control of some of the bigger beasties... (Kroot riding carnifex=count-as Knarloc?)

So, kroot squad may be done, I am strongly considering painting the beaks a different color though, I dunno... Also not the best pics, will be able to take better ones in a few days when I can take some daylight ones.

Could use some opinions, and either better pics with them finished tonight or tomorow...

The Kroot look good, I think painting their beaks a different colour (orange or white I'm assuming?) would be a mistake.

I especially like what you did with the Shaper and am interested to see how you're going to paint your Hormahounds.

The Kroot look great, as did the battlesuit (its legs look fine to me btw). Not a huge fan of the Nids, but each to their own.

I love the brain controlled "hounds"!

Great idea, though god a power-failure in a few units could lead to an infestation...

nathonicus wrote:I love the brain controlled "hounds"!

Great idea, though god a power-failure in a few units could lead to an infestation...

True story... thats what built in self destruct/failsafe dets are for!! Get outta line, super face explode!!!

Loving the Kroot's armour ^^

What a refreshing and original take on the good old XV8! very nicely executed too! Are you going to be casting these as I would imagine that hand making each would be too time consuming?

cheers

W

Funny you would mention that, I will actually be looking for someone to cast my suit in the near future, I simply just dont have the time to do so... pics to come in a bit...

Not really my taste I feel the legs are to small , but it is a good conversion job and see why people like it . I do like the color choice for the kroot pretty cool .

So quick update on the kroot, polished them up a bunch, and I removed the face paint, not permanantly, just because I am concepting paint per individual. Painting the hounds as we speak...


hopefully get the hounds done shortly...

Very nice, inspired converting that still feels right - just sleeker. Kudos.

If you're still considering changing the beaks you may want to consider a gradation to a darker or lighter blue. See Fabrice Tran's Lord of Change for an example.

SO, basically finished the suit to be casted, which I need to find someone to do for me. Both sets of legs, and the arms are done, good to have that bit finished...
heres some pics:



I also changed the back to be more fluffy to the original inspiration

Gotta get this baby casted for me...

It would be a lot easier to see if everything was grey, but as I want it to be cast, I dont want paint breaking off in the mold... hopefully I can get some better pics this weekend.

Oh this is sweet. Those Kroot are pure win. I also love the mid controlled nids. What kind of color scheme are you going for with the battlesuits?

Well, the overall esthetic for the army is the contradiction of red and blue, but the bulk of the army's armor is a combination of black and white, with grey highlighted black. It is a ratio around 70:30, black to white, and I will have pics of my especially and possibly completely original commander up shortly, probably tonight, I also have another kroot unit done, pathfinders done, and four vehicles on the way, plus 9 suits and a crap load of drones so I have my work cut out!

I'm not a tau fan, but the battlesuit looks sweet.

So, the suits are not completely done yet, I was rushing like a madman to have them 'playable' for a tournament, and got them to playable standard at 4 am the day of the tourny, so granted there is a lot of polishing to do but the molds came out great and the suits look fantastic!
First some backround:
Master Shaper Cha'kan and Shas'el Chan'dros were leading an exploretory cadre into the eastern fringe of the empire, looking for new dynamic and plentiful resource deposits. As a forward scouting and observing cadre, many kroot were employed by the Shas'el for their indespensible skills in the field, in fact the kroot outnumbered the tau in this force 3 to 1. At long last Chan'dros and Cha'kan had found a bountiful planet full of resources, and more appetizing for the Shaper was what looked like a new home that reflected Pech in many ways. Only 4 weeks after planetfall, the Tau and Kroot had full control over the planet, and with the discovery of a new energy bound crystal fuel source, the Tau earthe caste members that road with the cadre were able to construct highly advanced R&D facilities. Within months, they had constructed and perfected a new battlesuit configuration, as well as weapon developments and other useful technologies. The Kroot flourished on the planet feeling much at home within the arborial portions of the planet, with a plentiful food source within the native fauna and plenty of space to inhabit. The Kroot and Tau trained vigorously and became an extremely efficient fighting force. Then, 2 years after the cadre first came to the world, Leviathan arrived and threatened all they had worked for. The invasion of the tyranids was far less effective than the Tau had imagined, as the earthe caste scientists managed to construct a massive filtration shield that covered the planet, preventing the tyranid spores from reaching below 25 thousand feet, and any spore pods that managed to break through the shields in the forests were quickly and utterly destroyed by the Kroot who were not about to give up their home. The main bulk of the invasion fleet was decimated by orbital and planet side cannons as well as massive swarms of space-bound drones that numbered in the millions. The tyranids simply werent equipped to penetrate this planets defenses and the focus of the hive fleet was elsewhere. One large inasion force did manage to break through the planet shields and attempted an invasion from the far north of the largest continent. Yet within 4 weeks, all semblence of the Tyranids were gone, thanks to the perfected tactics of the Shaper and Shas'el. In fact, for his masterful command of his carnivore legions, Shaper Cha'kan was granted a great honor. He became the first shaper, in fact the first Kroot to be named Shas'el and was gifted with a battlesuit of his owned designed entirely for him.

So with that, first Master Shaper Shas'el Cha'kan:




and now the custom suits:

I want a remote control hormagaunt!

I LIKE!!!!

DC

I like the new suits you have, very inventive!

I hate the broadside though... The pelvis area is to rounded and just makes it look wierd.

I was a little disappointed too on the Nids... They just look way to much like you threw a little bit of tau on the hormogaunt model and went TADA! Which works it's just so unimaginative compared to your modified suits.

Maybe like cybernetics etc. or a new head to make it look like they took a nid design / actual dead nids and made them into "robots".

awesome . def have inspired me to do some tau 11 great conversions!!

Ooooh Pretty!

I really like the color choice on those suits, they turned out really well. Having them holding their guns looks tougher for some reason. Congrats on the tournament by the way.

Alright so I played in a tournament, and did extremely well, especially due to my seething hatred for ninja tau...

Im not trying to 'dis' any tau players that use the ninja techniques, I simply find it nearly impossible to win games using that method, and I have played Tau on Tau vs ninja players, and smashed them utterly.

Anyways, my list was:
HQ:
Shas’el, twin missile, plasma rifle, HW MT, HW DC, x2 SD, stim injectors 133pts

Elites:
Plasma Bodygaurd: Team leader, twin missile, plasma, Bonding knife, HW MT, HW DC, x2 shield drones, x1 shas’ui, plasma, missile, multi tracker, x1 shas’ui twin missile, plasma pts 233
(joined to HQ)

Deathrain unit 2: Team leader, twin missile, flame, bonding knife, HW DC x2 shield drones, x1 shas’ui with twin missile, flame, x1 shas’ui with twin missile, target lock
182 pts

Deathrain unit 2: Team leader, twin missile, flame, bonding knife, HW DC x2 shield drones, x1 shas’ui with twin missile, flame, x1 shas’ui with twin missile, target lock
182 pts

Troops:
X6 fire warriors, rifles 60 pts
-warfish, SMS, multi tracker, disruption pod, targeting array, fletchettes 130pts
X12 fire wariors, rifles, shas’ui, knife, marker light, HW TL 150pts

X12 Kroot 84 pts (infiltrate for PF fish)

X11 Kroot, x 7 kroot hounds 119pts

Fast:
Pathfinders x6, shas’ui, bonding knife 87pts
-warfish, SMS, multi tracker, disruption pod, targeting array, fletchettes 130pts

Heavy:
HH, Burst cannons, Railgun, Disruption pod, Multi tracker, target lock, fletchettes 180 pts

HH, Burst cannons, Railgun, Disruption pod, Multi tracker, target lock, fletchettes 180 pts

Total:1850 pts

Now keep in mind, I was supposed to have 2 broads in there, but as I failed to finish them in time, I was forced to use what I had to fill in their points, which amounted to fletchettes on everything, and a full firewarrior squad(bleh). Funny enough, I adapted and didnt need the broads but man would they have been nice to have, as during the second game, my HHs wiffed for 4 straight turns... yikes!

Im going to write a batrep and post the link when it is done.

Quick comment though, differently equipped crisis suits are awesome, and though I originally wanted all deathrains, as I believed fireknives to be obsolete, that one squad of knives with HQ was absolutely indespensible, in my second game killing both abby and a 4 man termy squad, as well as a warptime deamon prince... not to mention a lascannon pred and a rhino...