Tau allies for Orks conversions WIP (22NOV update - Latest army pic)

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**delkins42**

I started modeling a little orkiness with a battleforce with 2 objectives:
1) Make some models that could readily "count as" normal ork units when I want to play ork-only
2) Make a sweet allied detachment to cover my anti-tank needs (ie broadsides)

The force I went with ended up being
HQ - Shas'o: TL missile pod, drone controller+2shields, 2+ armor, blacksun filter, advanced stabilization
> Counts as Deffdread
Troops - 12 fire warriors
> Counts as Grots
Heavy - 3x Broadsides: drone controller+2shields
> Counts as Killa Kans

for a total of about 500 points.
Attaching the Shas'o to the broadsides gives them slow and purposeful and night vision, saving some points for the team.

The Shas'o is still early WIP, but the broadsides are just about done
The suits were bulked out to make them the size of a Kan and magnetized for easy swapping to dread close combat weapon and other weapons (burst cannon -> big shoota pictured)

Enjoy!

**delkins42**

Still WIP-ing the Deff Dread and I worked a little on getting the models table ready. I base coated everything, painted up the grot bases, and finished a test model

The scheme I went with is white and purple. The lines are currently shaded to spacewolf grey but I'm not sure If I want to make all the fine lines black instead.

What do you guys think? Subtle lines or sharp contrast?

**delkins42**

It looks like I'm at about half and half for the line repaint so I grabbed a killa-broadside and painted it up. The low-contrast white was really meant to stand out from the orkiness attached to it- it could be obviously a broadside, or with the the arms swapped out, obviously a killa kan (the model is about 1cm taller than a Kan, about the height of a battlesuit on a stick). With these done, I could use a few more comments about possible changes to the scheme before I start on the dozen models I have left

Still no more progress on my HQ due to the painting extravaganza

**delkins42**

95% of the tubes I use are plastic, so I just go at 'em with a sharp hobby knife, wire cutters, or a fine razor saw. I have used a few copper tubes before which the razor saw is also good for.

**delkins42**

I decided against adding any kroot as I run a mech ork list. No need for expensive speedbumps in my army. I do like the conversion potential though!

**delkins42**

For the white parts I used a white basecoat and covered everything with a thinned spacewolf grey- just a little thicker than a wash to make sure the full color comes out in the recesses and in the middle of surfaces. The white was then painted on as a wash on the entire surface and wet-blended with thick white from the edges. I don't have an airbrush so that's the quickest way (I know of) to get a shade. Not as even as spray, but smoother than drybrushing without using an actual GW wash over the top of it. The non-white parts got a chaos black basecoat for normal painting.

Edit: while mass-painting the squad, I ended up just doing the white as a thin wash with multiple layers in appropriate places to get the desired whiteness. i.e. "just paint the white like you normally would but layer up the edges more than the middle of a surface"

**delkins42**

Just got my GW Ork barricade in the mail and, thanks to the new faq, there's no need to modify it to make a counts as aegis- the lengths end to end are the same, and the requirement to string them all together means it really doesn't matter if the individual pieces are a little longer. And of course I had to throw together a quick orky quad gun to go with it.

One more tau-ork painted this week, pictured next to the paintpot quadgun.

**delkins42**

Firegrots complete

Started working on the deffsuit again
>Finished one of the arms and started working on the shoulder/attach-point
>Toothpick added as placeholder and size test for a dawnblade-style weapon

I think these may be the start of a renegade grots or counts-as-o'shovah army. I'm not sure if I'm going to expand this into a stand alone force or work on additional allied detachments for orks (as orkifying other armies has been pretty fun and ridiculous).

I'll take some pics of everything on a table next to the rest of my army for comparison next time I get a chance to play.

Enjoy!

**delkins42**

Argh... I need to add some fliers to my ork army but o don't know if I want to do some dakkajets, convert some ork-riding chaos dragons (to go with the potential chaos detachment), or wait for the rumored tau flier to tie in with the Work taught I already have. What do you guys think?

**delkins42**

Looks like it's going to be a dakkajet kit and a dakkajet-afied-F18 for me in the near future... and then making a sweet tau conversion later. No one likes the idea of an ork atop a swooping dragony thing?

**delkins42**

2 Close combat weapons finished. I think I'm going to make the Tau-arms dedicated close combat and snap on guns in place of the little arms when the deffsuit is running as a crisis suit.

OR should I add magnets to the tau-arms so the crisis suit weapons will attach to them like they would a-la the standard kit? The poll has been adjusted!

**delkins42**

Firegrots finally finished!

Son of a... just noticed from this picture that I didn't finish painting the krootsquigs toenails...

**delkins42**

Finally finishing up construction. The last thing I have is the sword that it's going to be holding. This detachment is eventually probably going to be a Tau army led by commander Ork'shova, so I wanted it to at least closely resemble the dawnblade. A little bit more orkification and I'll be ready to start painting!

**delkins42**

I started painting up Commander Ork'shova and got distracted by a whole bunch o misc projects, namely some scratchbuilt kannon and converted a dakkajet! Back to painting... or time to scratchbuild another Dakkajet!

**delkins42**

I'll try to add more WIP pics for my next dakkajet. Canards + Rear delta(ish) was pretty straight forward- just cutting and puttying- and not a lot of custom gubbinz. The aft end of the fuselage got smoothed down so the wings could be attached. I used the supershoota bit that has bullets coming out of the top of the wing for the third gun on the nose and just filled in the space with putty. I'll take more pics from different angles after I throw some paint on it.

**delkins42**

That dakkajet is just a kit conversion. No kit bashing required. The gun coming out of the nose and the exhaust tips next to the cockpit are just styrene tubes.

My next one will be mostly scratchbuilt with dakkajet kit pieces

**delkins42**

Ah, the tubing is Plastruct brand styrene(plasticard) tubing (3.2mm) for the barrels plus the next size up for accent. You can get them online or from your local hobby store.

The railguns on the broadsides were made with zipties and 1mm styrene card stock for detail.

**delkins42**

Well, I decided to start my last construction project (for reals this time) and THEN sit down and paint everything all at once... Here comes my Dakkajet-F18!

I guess this thread has become more of an Tau+Ork army project beyond just modeling that initial detachment... oh well

**delkins42**

Wings coming together

**delkins42**

Aft fuselage taking shape, I'll take a shot next to the other dakkajet next update

**delkins42**

Size comparison

**delkins42**

My OCD sense started tingling so I threw a quick paintjob on the first dakkajet. Now back to construction.

**delkins42**

Painting Necromancer Bump!

Finally inspired to stop being distracted by school and get back to painting and modeling! Commander Ork'shovah completed!

Crisis suit commander with TL Missile pod or Deffdread with 4 close combat weapons (missile pod is magnetized as are the arms for weapon changing) on the table.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Argh, just noticed some areas I missing while looking at the pictures!

**delkins42**

Finished Crisis Suits and another fire warrior squad. Here are the pics of the models currently completed. Next conversions: A bunch o Tau Forge World stuff... unless it sells on ebay first

**delkins42**

Bah. Posting on this thread reminded me I have an unfinished F18 Dakkajet sitting in the project box on my shelf... distractions distractions

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Progress! Uploading the images turned them sideways and I don't know why... Well, made some progress on my F-18 Dakkajet conversion. Sorry for making you turn your head.

**delkins42**

Sigh... a sad sad time period indeed. I sold my gargant and offered to finish painting it for free. I do enjoy painting but it's making the sale harder and harder.

My Orks and Ork-Tau are still on ebay, but my Tyranids, Space Marines, and this poor fella are off to new homes.

Here are some updates!

**delkins42**

Devilfish / Battle Wagon 1.

If I were keeping the army I would be tempted to make more, but now I'm just wrapping up the unfinished projects to encourage sale.

**delkins42**

And they are looking for a good home!

**delkins42**

**delkins42**

I never really liked the missile pod standing in for the smart missile system on the broadsides so I finally got around to fixing it. Then while I was at it I took pictures of the whole gang.

What should my next project be- Barracuda? Ramora squadron? or Shas'Ork R'alai?