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So I finished my first attempt at my Urban Tau Cadre. Any suggestions to make him better would be appreciated. Thanks








Sorry for the bad lighting.

I do really like that camo. One thing I would suggest to improve it is maybe some highlights. Models can change dramatically with them. Also, the basing could be thicker, but that's a very minute detail.

It's an alright start.
Here are my gripes:
Mold lines (get rid of them)
The colors lack depth, use highlights and washes.
Not really a complaint, but it would be cool if the red POPed some more, maybe highlights and/or a glaze might help

Why does a guy in camo have a huge red symbol on his shoulder? Kind of makes the point of being in camo pointless.
Paint the cadre symbol using the same colours as the camo.
Ditto on using a wash.
Take the pebbles on the base to the very edge of the base, you have about a 1mm of bare ground at the edge of the base. If you get any on the sides of the base you can always clean them off.

Kk thanks, I cleaned the mold line, and rebased to the edges and made it thicker. I am in the process of painting over the cadre symbol now. I will wash over the model when dry. Which do you think would be best, badab black or devlin mud? Thanks.

On a positive note, you did a rather effective camo scheme. I say this because he kind of blended with the background, meaning the camo was actually working!

Badab Black wash would probably work better with this scheme; it also has the benefit that the new Nuln Oil is a close match, whereas unfortunately GW doesn't sell anything close to Devlan Miracle anymore. :(

My only gripe is that the camo colors are to similar

It makes it look like one color almost

Mabye more extreme color contrast like white back and grey for the camo with a splash color like blue or red. just some thoughs though beecause i will be doing some urban camo for my guys too =P

One problem with well done realistic camo is that it looks boring. That's kinda it's job in life. If your eyes just kinda gloss over it, not catching on anything, you've done good camo.

But for a tabletop war-game, you want some zing. You want the minis to pop out at you. So put some bright color on that caste mark, paint bright lenses.

Plus camo has a habit of actually working. In a diferent war-game (OGRE minis) I had a pair of heavy tanks hiding behind a treeline (it's an epic scale game) Totally forgot about them for most of the game, they just blended in. Later in the game my opponent was attempting to outflank me with a squad of hover tanks. We were both surprised to realize I had some firepower in reserve on that corner of the board.

If you do paint them up like this, do yourself a favor and write up a day-glo notecard that says "Don't forget to shoot with the Firewarriors" Because some day you are going to deploy them in some ruins, and totally forget about them.

Always a problem with well painted camo is that it obscures details, which is what it is meant to do. It makes it hard to make the model stand out. This is why many people go for the impression of camo rather than camo itself.

That said I really like the pattern.