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Tim's Menagerie of Models...NOW with more of everything(not just Tau).



They were rebels. Outcasts. Vagabonds. The workers of factory Q'ula had had enough. Enough of the caste system. Enough of the "Greater Good". They saw it for what it was: power play. So,one day, during their break, they struck. Led by Que'na, they swiftly broke into the shipping room of their factory, donned the armor they had made making, grabbed some weapons, and swiftly overwhelmed the factory security...

3 hours later, the factory was theirs. All was quite as the 2,000 Earth caste workers tended to their wounds, and watched for any approaching hostiles. They had also managed to hack their way into a small section of the factory, and managed find a stock of 9 battle suits, fully built. And, thanks to the knowledge that they had gained while handling the parts, managed to figure out how they worked. It wasn't stealing; after all, they had built them, hadn't they? They had poured their time and energy into them, had they not?

Hello everybody, this is plog is here to track the progress of my Tau Earth Caste army. I am going for a green and white scheme, with glass bits/visors painted electric blue, and sept symbols painted red, since that seems like an "earthy" color scheme. Anyways, here are my pictures!

Bleached out photos of my Devilfish( I will have 4 of these total.)



My Pathfinders...I am very happy with the black-lining.


My Firewarriors...These have been blacklined since I last took the photos.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here are my blacklined Firewarriors, as promised!

Nice white, over all it looks neat, plus the back story sound good, do you have some more of it written?

Looks good, the green and white go pretty good together, I wanna see more.

Looking good!

However as much of a pain in the ass as this will be i think you should start with a black basecoat to fully bring out those black lines and darken the model slightly. This way you dont have to worry so much about lining the models and it looks more natural and less cartoony

sc0ttfree wrote:Looking good!

However as much of a pain in the ass as this will be i think you should start with a black basecoat to fully bring out those black lines and darken the model slightly. This way you dont have to worry so much about lining the models and it looks more natural and less cartoony

Thanks for the advice! I am going to start basecoating in black, since using white makes it take less time per model, but it also makes blacklining very difficult.

Has anyone ever tried to paint the parts of their figures on the sprue? Because I am trying it with the backpacks for my Fire warriors, and it is much easier than having to paint them as they are on the figure. It also makes some of the hard to reach places more accessible.

I am working on the next bit of the back story, I just need to get it refined more and I will post it.

Here is a picture of the PF unit(it is almost finished, I just need to go through and clean some things up a bit).

And a picture of my three WIP Fire warriors.


Does anyone else notice that the Dakka Dakka image uploader seems to mess with your pics, meaning they look really, really pixely?

The Devilfish is all done except for some minor clean up work, and I made some good progress on my Firewarriors last night.


I decided to do several layers of drybrushing on the underside of the Devilfish, to make it look as though it is covered in concrete dust.

Do the Firewarriors seem to be lacking something? I cannot shake the feeling that something about them looks wrong.



C&C welcomed!

I like the idea of renegade Tau... And your explanation with the "lowly" Earth Caste makes it more than "realistic"...

But I guess you should try and find a way to show they have turned from the Greater Good...
- Maybe find some new graphics & iconography, demonstrating they utterly cast aside the Tau culture?

- I cannot quite remember the distinctive feature of the Earth caste, but aren't they supposed to be smaller & more squat than the Fire Caste, just like the Air caste Tau are sleek & tall?

- I guess that having trophies in the form of "loyalist" Tau Fire Warriors would be a bit too much?

- Maybe put some more "Earth-y" gear on them, shovels, ropes, etc...

Anyway, nice idea!!! Will follow the thread!

If the fluf from DOW DC is corect then the earth cast are the drones that serve as the fundament of the tau civilization. I doubt they are warriors as in a cast sociaiety cast don't change; a builder will be a builder and he will see him self as nothing more, becoming a worrior won't even cross his mind as he a builder as his whole family had been.

Mightmagic, though it's true the real, human caste system (for instance in India) is deeply rooted in a culture, hopefully it has been proven by History that, in a different time & a different place, some slaves, born from families & generations of slaves, fought (i.e peasants turned into warriors) towards their freedom.

I'm not saying that any caste system is akin to slavery, my point is that some people do see beyond their status, even after generations of cultural conditioning, and can strive, and become warriors, to uphold to their beliefs...

So, why would it be different for the Tau?

Uh, sorry, my friend Inquisitor over my shoulder wants me to erase this heretical statement...

Liking your work so far. I think that adding some details to show that they are renegades would be good. (maybe something like a tau symbol being burnt?) Great job!

Yggdrasil wrote:I like the idea of renegade Tau... And your explanation with the "lowly" Earth Caste makes it more than "realistic"...

But I guess you should try and find a way to show they have turned from the Greater Good...
- Maybe find some new graphics & iconography, demonstrating they utterly cast aside the Tau culture?

- I cannot quite remember the distinctive feature of the Earth caste, but aren't they supposed to be smaller & more squat than the Fire Caste, just like the Air caste Tau are sleek & tall?

- I guess that having trophies in the form of "loyalist" Tau Fire Warriors would be a bit too much?

- Maybe put some more "Earth-y" gear on them, shovels, ropes, etc...

Anyway, nice idea!!! Will follow the thread!

I may be doing some more details on them, I just need to find things like shovels. As for a T'au symbol being burnt, I am going to be making two flag bearing troopers, and I may try to freehand that onto one of the flags. I could not think of a way of making them smaller and more squat, so I left them as they are, but any suggestions on how to make them so would be appreciated!

Look for an update tomorrow!

I got the banners made up! I also did some more work on the Firewarriors, and did some wear and tear effects on the Devilfish.
I want to freehand a T'au symbol being burnt on the banners, but I need to get a hot orange and a hot yellow, since I only have earthy oranges and yellows at the moment.

I also need to bounce an idea off you guys: I want to include Kroot and Kroot hounds in my army, but using alien mercenary's would not fit into my army theme. What if I used Firewarrior models, but with bare heads and minimal armor for the Kroot, and Drones with bladed attachments for the hounds? The Kroot count as models would have some sort of modified Carbine with some blades attached, and maybe smaller banners fitted onto their backpacks, samurai style? How would that work out? Please provide input!

Here are the pictures, C&C welcomed!

Should this guy have a Pulse rifle cradled in his free hand?






"I'm sick of this"
That was the thought running through the head of Mau'ke, a welder working in Skimmer sector 02 of the factory. He was slaving over a section of a Hammerheads railgun mount, sparks flying from his Gyro welder.
"Sick of the drudgery."
He picked up the section of the mount, and began carrying it over to be completed by a wire-worker.
"Why can't I make up my own mind about how to live my life?"
He handed the piece to the wire-worker, and slipped him a note. The worker read it, grinned abit, and handed it to the woker next to him, as Mau'ke walked back to his station. Overhead, a message from the Factory blared out, announcing that it was time for break, and a sqaud of fifteen Firewarrior security troopers came in, leading a small group of inspectors whose job it was to examine all the work that had been done. The workers bowed, but those who had recieved the note did it with a slighty ironic air. They then left for the break room.

The note continued to circulate among the workers as they walked to the break room, and soon everybody from Skimmer sector 02 had read it, and the note had been passed onto someone from Infantry Weapon sector 03.

Yggdrasil wrote:Mightmagic, though it's true the real, human caste system (for instance in India) is deeply rooted in a culture, hopefully it has been proven by History that, in a different time & a different place, some slaves, born from families & generations of slaves, fought (i.e peasants turned into warriors) towards their freedom.

I'm not saying that any caste system is akin to slavery, my point is that some people do see beyond their status, even after generations of cultural conditioning, and can strive, and become warriors, to uphold to their beliefs...

So, why would it be different for the Tau?

Uh, sorry, my friend Inquisitor over my shoulder wants me to erase this heretical statement...

The difference is that humans don't have the Ethereals doing whatever it is they do the Tau. It's already been pretty well established that the Tau DON'T fight amongst themselves because of the Ethereals existence, that's why the existence of Farsight is supposed to be such a big secret and such a horrible concept to the Tau that know about it (and the only reason that occurred in the first place is that the expeditionary fleet lost its ethereals).

Fluff issues aside, I think your kroot ideas would work pretty well. It would be more indicative of earth-caste militia than firewarriors would.

Looks good so far

All you'd need then would be the etherials currently distracted elsewhere, and trusting that the earth cast in that area are going to behave themselves if not strictly supervised for a while. After all, it is the fire warriors that require the greatest watching, the air cast that reaches across the stars, the water that contact others... compared to them, what can the earth cast do?

Heya, I just wanted to pop in and let you know I like what you're doing here! I like how you painted the wear and tear on your Devilfish - gives a great utilitairian (spelling?) every day kind of use.

About the count-as Kroot... how about making them look like factory workers that just came of the production line to join the rebellion? It would take some (a lot?) of converting, but I'm thinking about greasy jumpsuits, industrial welding machinery, that kinda stuff.

Welding goggles and hard hats for everyone!!

They look really cool and I like the backstory. However, I think you should paint a black line over all of the Tau sept badges in order to signify that they are rebels.

I think your leader should be similar tho Farsight in some of his beliefs and should also be in a Battlesuit (a tenth suit maybe).

Leonus wrote:Welding goggles and hard hats for everyone!!

Gathering Storm wrote:They look really cool and I like the backstory. However, I think you should paint a black line over all of the Tau sept badges in order to signify that they are rebels.

I think your leader should be similar tho Farsight in some of his beliefs and should also be in a Battlesuit (a tenth suit maybe).

Bigbadbear wrote:Heya, I just wanted to pop in and let you know I like what you're doing here! I like how you painted the wear and tear on your Devilfish - gives a great utilitarian (spelling?) every day kind of use.

About the count-as Kroot... how about making them look like factory workers that just came of the production line to join the rebellion? It would take some (a lot?) of converting, but I'm thinking about greasy jumpsuits, industrial welding machinery, that kinda stuff.

Death Gear wrote:Looks good so far

@Leonus & Bigbadbear: What about shaving the leg armor off of the count as Kroot, and giving them grease stained aprons and welding masks? Maybe give them some sort of modified Pulse Carbine that looks like a Pulse Shotgun, and giving them Monkey wrenches/welders slung across their backs?

@Deathgear: Thanks, man!

@Gathering storm: I was thinking of making Mau'ke into the leader, but he would be in a Battlesuit, actually, since that would fit into the backstory. I was thinking of cutting the T'au symbols off of their shoulder armor, but I find it to fit into the backstory better not to cut them off, as it is sort of an ironic taunt.

I will try and update this thread soon, but I just got another commission job in, so update may slow down a bit.

Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:

Leonus wrote:Welding goggles and hard hats for everyone!!

Bigbadbear wrote:Heya, I just wanted to pop in and let you know I like what you're doing here! I like how you painted the wear and tear on your Devilfish - gives a great utilitarian (spelling?) every day kind of use.

About the count-as Kroot... how about making them look like factory workers that just came of the production line to join the rebellion? It would take some (a lot?) of converting, but I'm thinking about greasy jumpsuits, industrial welding machinery, that kinda stuff.

@Leonus & Bigbadbear: What about shaving the leg armor off of the count as Kroot, and giving them grease stained aprons and welding masks? Maybe give them some sort of modified Pulse Carbine that looks like a Pulse Shotgun, and giving them Monkey wrenches/welders slung across their backs?

Lovin' it, though goggles wouldn't be hard to make with some greenstuff. Roll out a flat strip of it for the headband and then put two small balls on the strip, use a retractable pen to push down on them, a lot like making a space marine seal! Hope you get to work on these guys soon!

Mightmagic wrote:If the fluf from DOW DC is corect then the earth cast are the drones that serve as the fundament of the tau civilization. I doubt they are warriors as in a cast sociaiety cast don't change; a builder will be a builder and he will see him self as nothing more, becoming a worrior won't even cross his mind as
he a builder as his whole family had been.

But in the Tau codex there is fluff about those Tau who would become the Earth Caste defending Fio'taun against the plains tribes and air tribes of Tau, and in the old codex there was mentioning of Earth Caste workers fighting alongside Aun'shi when he and his body guard where cut off by orks. The Earth Caste can fight and the fluff supports this, it's just not their main purpose.

The Earth Caste are shorter in stature then the other Tau, their kind of like the Dwarfs of the Tau race. I would deffinitly try to do some converting to represent what they are like tools, their height, represent their caste symbol on their shoulder pads etc. but that's just me.

Also on a note for your story the Earth Caste are the scientists of the Tau race, the technology that the Tau use only exists because the Earth Caste creates it. In your story it seemed to me like they where depicted as ignorant of all the technology in terms of how it works or having to "hack" their way into a shipping room. I doubt that would be the case, since the Earth Caste members are the ones who designed the suits I'm pretty sure they (and those under them) would know how to use them right off the bat.

I like the idea behind it but as a fluff writer I think the story could use a little work and as a conversionist I would like to see more representation of them being Earth Caste other then their colors. To me they just look like normal Fire Caste with a differant paint scheme.

Also this has caused wheels to begin turning in my head about how I would do this OR how I would make an army of barbaric Tau using converted Ungors. Very inspirational

Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:@Gathering storm: I was thinking of making Mau'ke into the leader, but he would be in a Battlesuit, actually, since that would fit into the backstory. I was thinking of cutting the T'au symbols off of their shoulder armor, but I find it to fit into the backstory better not to cut them off, as it is sort of an ironic taunt.

I didn't mean that you should cut off the badges, just put a black (or green) score through them as a sign that the Tau are rebels and that they are Earth Caste not Fire Caste.

Also, I agree with Warboss Imbad Ironskull that their story needs a bit of tweaking. It's true that the Earth Caste do a lot of manual labour but at the same time they are the ones who design the tech. The Earth Caste would probably be able to learn how use battlesuits more quickly (and efficiently) than their Fire Caste cousins. I'm sure they would also have robots to help with the construction, so that provides another conversion opertunity.

A rebellion could have started in the factory floor (like you have written) and spread to the tech designing guys and then to the Earth Caste manager/overseer/boss/comrade/guy in charge.

Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:

Mightmagic wrote:If the fluf from DOW DC is corect then the earth cast are the drones that serve as the fundament of the tau civilization. I doubt they are warriors as in a cast sociaiety cast don't change; a builder will be a builder and he will see him self as nothing more, becoming a worrior won't even cross his mind as
he a builder as his whole family had been.

But in the Tau codex there is fluff about those Tau who would become the Earth Caste defending Fio'taun against the plains tribes and air tribes of Tau, and in the old codex there was mentioning of Earth Caste workers fighting alongside Aun'shi when he and his body guard where cut off by orks. The Earth Caste can fight and the fluff supports this, it's just not their main purpose.

The Earth Caste are shorter in stature then the other Tau, their kind of like the Dwarfs of the Tau race. I would deffinitly try to do some converting to represent what they are like tools, their height, represent their caste symbol on their shoulder pads etc. but that's just me.

Also on a note for your story the Earth Caste are the scientists of the Tau race, the technology that the Tau use only exists because the Earth Caste creates it. In your story it seemed to me like they where depicted as ignorant of all the technology in terms of how it works or having to "hack" their way into a shipping room. I doubt that would be the case, since the Earth Caste members are the ones who designed the suits I'm pretty sure they (and those under them) would know how to use them right off the bat.

I like the idea behind it but as a fluff writer I think the story could use a little work and as a conversionist I would like to see more representation of them being Earth Caste other then their colors. To me they just look like normal Fire Caste with a differant paint scheme.

Also this has caused wheels to begin turning in my head about how I would do this OR how I would make an army of barbaric Tau using converted Ungors. Very inspirational

Converted ungors? Interesting.

So, since everyone wants me to shorten the figures, how should I go about doing it? Should I just cut some of their legs/arms off? I am really not much of a converter, so ideas would be appreciated!

Also, thanks for the fluff advice! I was just working with the fluff that is available in the army book.
More pics, including the now TOTALLY finished Devilfish, and I made some more progress on the firewarriors, though not much as we were busy all day yesterday. I got to my FLGS, and bought some Vallejo Light Orange and Flat Yellow for the flags, and after I had checked out, I realized both those colors have Cadmium. Riiiight. I am returning those, so it will be a while until you see the flags getting some love... Also, I am going to make a test model for my Count-as Kroot, hopefully today.

They're looking great. The flag seems very fitting and the finished devilfish looks brilliant.

Yeah awhile back there was a conversion tutorial in a WD on how to make alternate bare heads for Fire Warriors. The way they did it was to cut off the nose, smooth the area out with GS and put the Tau nose slit in between the eyes and of course it woulden't have the horns. looking at the new Ungors this may be a little harder and you would have to sand paper the fur away on the legs (not hard I've done it before) but it will still be fun.

I'm seriously thinking about making an entire Earth Caste army for WHFB using the Dwarf codex since they had guns and cannons and such plus it seems kind of fitting. And on the other hand you could do the plains tribes as counts as Empire.

As far as how to make your Earth Caste shorter I'll do some messing around with my Tau models and see what I can come up with for you. Oh also Earth Caste members wear their pony tails on the backs of their heads and very short. I also think that bionics would be more prevailant in Earth Caste members, accidents do happen in weapons testing and factory work

Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:Yeah awhile back there was a conversion tutorial in a WD on how to make alternate bare heads for Fire Warriors. The way they did it was to cut off the nose, smooth the area out with GS and put the Tau nose slit in between the eyes and of course it woulden't have the horns. looking at the new Ungors this may be a little harder and you would have to sand paper the fur away on the legs (not hard I've done it before) but it will still be fun.

I'm seriously thinking about making an entire Earth Caste army for WHFB using the Dwarf codex since they had guns and cannons and such plus it seems kind of fitting. And on the other hand you could do the plains tribes as counts as Empire.

As far as how to make your Earth Caste shorter I'll do some messing around with my Tau models and see what I can come up with for you. Oh also Earth Caste members wear their pony tails on the backs of their heads and very short. I also think that bionics would be more prevailant in Earth Caste members, accidents do happen in weapons testing and factory work

Oooh, bionics...now that has got me inspired! If I do bionics, I wil make them out of some loose Lizardmen spear shafts I have lying around, and put them on the count-as Kroot., since I like to imaging that they would be the ones using all the heavy/sharp machinery. Speaking of which, here is what I have gotten done on the count-as Kroot, I quite like the welding goggles, but I am trying to make up my mind on whether or not the modified Pulse Carbine, AKA "Pulse Shotgun" needs some work. Input would be appreciated here!

Well, if you really want to include some kroot, just follow the same idea you have already established. Kroot mercenaries got tired of not being allowed to eat their enemies on the battlefield, and rebelled against the Tau there were stationed with.

Yeah I made a bionic eye for my Shas'o (I made a model of him outside of his suit) out of a terminator sensor lense and it looked pretty cool. You could take an Ethereal and represent him as the leader of the rebelion which is the whole inspiring presence thing. And then for his weapons give him mechanics tools and model one of his drones (a shield drone or something) to look like a mechanical drone. And the goggled, aproned warrior above is great looking and deffinitly more Earth Caste I would apply that to all of your warriors (maybe not the apron but the general idea).

Also keep in mind that not all of the Kroot serve the Tau Empire. And as your Tau are a rebel faction of Earth Caste you could have mercenary kroot in your army but convert them to have bionics, wargear, weapons and such created by the Earth Caste as payent for their service. So if you took a kroot ox make a smaller kroot version of a battlesuit. It's very strong but can't fly and carries a weapon that's the equivilant of a Kroot Gun. Or just make up your own auxiliary that the rebels have hired, maybe Talerian (spelling?) dog soldiers.

Also I've been toying with the idea that Tau don't just use suits for combat, kind of like in Aliens where they have mech suits that aren't created for a combat prupose but Riply uses it anyway. Maybe the Earth Caste have like "mover" suits that are created with construction purposes but when the rebelion began they where turned into combat suits. So you could maybe convert something along those lines. Have flame weapons be converted into torch weapons and such.

Also I would suggest searching for pictures of Earth Caste members for inspiration. Lord Dirk on ATT did an Earth Caste member drawing and it looks great, some of his other ideas may help you to.

Lovin' the goggles/apron, don't forget to add oil stains or burns for extra awesome points! Also, when I first read your idea about your banners, I was confused. I thought you intended to model a fire warrior tau banner actually being burned (with fire or charred bits), as apposed to a symbol of a burning fire warrior on a banner or whatever.

I got the count-as Kroot modeled fully...and I really don't like it! I may just scrap the bionics idea, they need both hands free to hold the Pulse Shotgun, and I have no way of modeling a bionic hand. Any ideas, everybody? I like the way the copper wiring came out, but if I or any other person cannot think of a way of improving it, I will use Reprisals idea of a discontented Kroot tribe.