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My Tau army. I was a little tired of the sleek and clean paint scheme of normal Tau so decided to do my army based on a renegade unit, the Fallen Tau. They seperated from the rest of the Tau, stripping their armour of its colors, leading to the metal being exposed and rusted.

Tell me what you think.

Wow this is a really cool looking army. Certainly a very unique approach to painting Tau. The only thing I would have done differently is to paint the fatigues on the firewarriors a color that contrasts with the armor, but that is just personal preference. I say job well done! Also, I like the idea of a faction split from the Tau empire, have you come up with any additional fluff for these guys?

Personally, I think the models look ruined and don't like it. I get that you're going specifically for that look, but it just feels like a wasted palette to me, especially with your very obvious skills.

Yea, I would go for a more subtle look, with rust/wear on all the edges and folds. You could throw in some renegade type marks, like a kill tally on a shoulder plate, or extra non-standard gear like knives or pistols liberated from their previous owner. The hammerhead might have a few extra bullet holes that haven't been patched up, with oil leaking out. I think this could be a good direction, but I'd scale it back a bit.

Hmm, well done......but..... I don't think the materials the tau use would rust, as they are using composites and alloys.

Sorry, just my 2 pennies worth

Thanks for the comments!

I should have began with this...I know that this is a very unconventional look and that a lot of people may not approve so I am prepared for all types of comments Truth is that I painted up my Tau 3 different times the regular way and was never happy with them; this scheme is my personal favorite.

Yes, their fatigues were an issue from the beginning and they turned out a big darker than I would have liked. The problem I can into was that I wanted blue to be the only color so felt that white was the only one for the cloth; perhaps I will re-highlight them. I haven't really thought of too much fluff for them yet! I love the idea of adding in more renegade gear. As it stands now I haven't really included or added anything other than the regular Tau stuff -thanks!

As for the model looking ruined, for some reason I've always liked the looks of a haggard, beat-up army. I know the Orks would have better fulfilled the role but I though, hey why not!

Kevv6: the thought crossed my mind multiple times - would one of the most advanced armies really have issues with rust? I figured not, but pushed through anyways since it is what I preferred to the sleek, nice looking Tau...my bad

Thanks for the taking the time to comment guys!!
Hellmuthe

Definitely agree with pushing on the 'renegade' look over the 'rusted' look, definitely needs graffiti, personalisation etc. They should have war paint, kill markings scratched into their armour, all I'm saying is they should be very non-uniform, they've obviously been allowed to 'let go' as it were, let it show on the models!

 BrotherOfBone wrote:
Definitely agree with pushing on the 'renegade' look over the 'rusted' look, definitely needs graffiti, personalisation etc. They should have war paint, kill markings scratched into their armour, all I'm saying is they should be very non-uniform, they've obviously been allowed to 'let go' as it were, let it show on the models!

Love this idea; I hadn't really thought much past making them look rusted. The next part is to think of how to do it well....Thanks for the input!!

Hellmuthe

Like the idea of this, I know tau wouldn't rust etc etc...

But.......... it looks cool and the 40k universe is full of supernatural creatures, plagues, super humans, insects that devour entire planets and other nasty things. It's hardly realistic as a universe anyway.

So carry on with your cool scheme and I look forward to seeing more. Especially a riptide!!!

Kevv6 wrote:
Hmm, well done......but..... I don't think the materials the tau use would rust, as they are using composites and alloys.

Sorry, just my 2 pennies worth

Alloys do rust,

Composites crack and expose the other materials, fill with dirt, or (in the event a metal material is part of the composite) rust.

Ceramics break and reveal a non-glazed surface.


But I still think the effects came out over the top and a little "caked"

Personally I love them. I am a big fan of non canon paint jobs.
Congratulations sir.

great job, but they feel like they've just been more or less stuck, not really renegade, they need some sort of markings. Something like they found some paint on some orcs and decided to draw on some symbol, but great OSL and rust effects none the less.

Great unique idea. Well done

They look far more weather-beaten and war weary than they do rusty, to my eye.

I like it, they look haggard and unforgiving, like they were stranded on a planet the Tau had to evac off of and are just fighting to survive, hoping for a rescue team to show up some day.

Outstanding work!

I think the reason people are complaining is because they seem to be mono colour. Adding a different colour to them even in small dose's would help alot I think. Alot of the contrast seems to be getting lost "Since highlights take a back seat to the scheme.

 Brennonjw wrote:
great job, but they feel like they've just been more or less stuck, not really renegade, they need some sort of markings. Something like they found some paint on some orcs and decided to draw on some symbol, but great OSL and rust effects none the less.

Actually, my original idea was to have a Tau army that was marooned on another planet. Since i've posted it you guys have given me tons of ideas and I'm adding a lot of markings to liven it up a bit - thanks for your input!!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

OgreChubbs wrote:
I think the reason people are complaining is because they seem to be mono colour. Adding a different colour to them even in small dose's would help alot I think. Alot of the contrast seems to be getting lost "Since highlights take a back seat to the scheme.

I get the feeling that added more colors would look strange - to me anyways. I've always been a fan of monochromatic schemes with perhaps 1 or 2 other blazes of color (blue in my case). That being said I'm going to explore adding some more contrast colors - especially with the fire warriors. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Boss Drachenfels wrote:
Like the idea of this, I know tau wouldn't rust etc etc...

But.......... it looks cool and the 40k universe is full of supernatural creatures, plagues, super humans, insects that devour entire planets and other nasty things. It's hardly realistic as a universe anyway.

So carry on with your cool scheme and I look forward to seeing more. Especially a riptide!!!

Thanks! That is a great way to justify many things in the 40k universe! I have been working more on them and will be updating with some new pics soon - no Riptide unfortunately...yet!

They look great, I love all the rust etc any. Variation to the norm makes it look great or terrible. To me these look great

They looked rushed and lack any type of character. Almost as if you tested painted a model and just went with it on everything.

katfude wrote:
They look far more weather-beaten and war weary than they do rusty, to my eye.

I like it, they look haggard and unforgiving, like they were stranded on a planet the Tau had to evac off of and are just fighting to survive, hoping for a rescue team to show up some day.

Well said, I love that idea. To echo some others here, they don't look terribly rebellious, though I do like the paint job. I'm still waiting to see a nicely-painted Tau army that has fallen to Chaos...

They look fantastic i had thought of doing some a bit like this after reading the book fire caste where the tau are described as been battle weary and not looked after .