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*bitz orders T'au leg*

Hello.

Obviously it was the promise of playing endless games of 9th Edition 40k and launching ineffectual volley after ineffectual volley of BS4+ pulse fire into space marines with eight wounds and 50" AP-2 small arms that has motivated me to paint and post after quite a few months.

I've not been idle though and many a game of Descent and now Blackstone Fortress has been enjoyed. Also Battletech on Steam, which was so amazingly good I relapsed straight back into Xcom 2.

I'm always working on little builds and conversions for my Tau, and while I do enjoy a bit of painting it certainly doesn't come naturally.

Here is a finished one of those - a super simple bashed Sniper Drone team, and a not-so-simple Firesight Marksman:

New phone (turns out the old one wasn't bubble mixture-proof) means new camera so it might take a few sessions to get the settings and lighting sorted.



The Marksman was quite a complicated job and is made from:
- Tank commander torso from the venerable (and still sole) Devilfish/Hammerhead kit.
- Some 'running' Firewarrior legs.
- Firewarrior arms both with whatever they were holding shaved off and thier wrists repositioned.
- Binos and a markerlight, plus some tiny plastic rod to make a little laser designator.
- Wiring made from green stuff connecting the torso to a special backback thing which I think is from the Pathfinder kit.
- Also did a little unholstered pulse pistol narrative thingy.


The drones themselves were a lot simple and are made from a gun drone with the endy bit of the right carbine replaced with the longer barrell of a pulse rifle, and the left carbine completely replaced with a battlesuit support system of some kind.

Like a lot of niche Tau units, sniper drones got a bit of love in 'The Greater Good' PA book so I'm keen to put some on the table.

I'm working on my gaming buddies here in Bristol to jump back into 40k post-pandemic via Crusade so my updates here for the rest of the year will probably be finishing up units for a small crusade force. Fingers crossed the others will feel able to lower themselves to using power level

Enjoy x

I really like the marksman. Great conversion and paintjob. I don't think I've mentioned it before but your ochre tones are really cool. Subtle yet effective!

That's a great conversion. Much better than the boring stock version. Love the cabling back to his little walkman. I look forward to exploiting the new Look out Sir rule to pick him off. Looking forward to your completed Crusade force.

Flapjack wrote:I really like the marksman. Great conversion and paintjob. I don't think I've mentioned it before but your ochre tones are really cool. Subtle yet effective!

RandyMcStab wrote:That's a great conversion. Much better than the boring stock version. Love the cabling back to his little walkman.

Thanks very much for the feedback both of you

Even if the GW sanctioned Drones and Markman didn't cost a ludicrous ammount, and weren't (generally) finecast, I'd have always made my own as the sculpts (esp. the Markman) kind of suck balls.

RandyMcStab wrote:I look forward to exploiting the new Look out Sir rule to pick him off. Looking forward to your completed Crusade force.

Don't get any ideas - he'll have plenty of friends to hide behind. Unless you're a Storm Talon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
What is this MADNESS - two updates in as many weeks?

My 'waiting for the paint to dry' project is finished. Three very simple DS8 turret conversions...

I'd previously made a prototype of these for Killteam. It's just three of a particular battlesuit support system stuck together with a missile pod magnetted to the top. There are a lot of really impressived DS8 conversions about but at least these are easy to make and I seem to have little piles of the required parts spread about the house like tuppences (or err).

I sliced off the three missile blobs and replaced with two slightly filed-down pulse blaster ammo (clever eh?) and a kind of dome-thing off a plasma rifle. I think it makes more sense for a S5 four-shot weapon.

Not a lot of bling or detail on these althogh I did use the big flat space on the pods for some transfers. I wonder what is says?

These three belong to the five-strong Strike Teams in my Crusade. The Firewarriors are very nearly done so hopefully I'll be able to update the plog in a week or so.

Thanks for looking etc.

x

Hello,

As advertised in Randy McStab's Dakka plog, we are speed painting Blood Angels for our buddy Mephistoned who is too socially-encumbered to paint his own stuff.

My mission was four Sanguinary Guard...

...and a Rhino.


Painting gold was lots of fun and the vehicle was already sprayed red so was a very quick job. The wings on the Sangers were an arse of course, and don't hold up to close scrutiny. Battle Ready (TM) if you will.

I've got some basing and transfers to do next and after that I've been volunteered to do a Baal, and something called a 'Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnaught'. Should be interesting.

Oops - only just spotted that I missed out the headlights on the Rhino :(

In a previous life I was also a Tau collector (everything bar a few Forgeworld battlesuits sold on) and I owned some Kroot but never got to painting them.

Some months ago I got a handful of them off eBay for a song. They were in various states of disrepair so I did what I could to dismantle and clean them up and ended up with this:



I had limited bits to work with and wanted to both decrease their profile and tie them in with the rest of my T'au Sept infantry. I have shortened most of the rifles and removed the muzzle spike, and added a stripped-down Firewarrior pauldron to each left shoulder which will be painted to match the Shas.

I had a go at a few conversions to add character to the unit:

This one had its ankles snapped and repositioned (there are pins through each leg - deffo not worth the effort!) to look more leapy...

And this one had a horrific amount of chopping and repositioning for a kneeling stance.

The unit has now been undercoated with Tamiya Olive Drab spray. It's a bit shiney for my tastes but there you go:



Finishing up a test model and will post shortly.

Cheers x

Lovely updates! Whenever I see an uodate on your blog I just have to look at it again from page one. I'm really digging this blog!

 Flapjack wrote:
Lovely updates! Whenever I see an uodate on your blog I just have to look at it again from page one. I'm really digging this blog!

Oh you! That's really kind though Flapjack thanks. I have such a great time looking through peoples' work here on Dakka and Instagram too. It's nice to know I am contributing to that.

Here is my test model for the Krooties...



Pretty simple process and colour range. I used GW green ink wash (something camo-shade) but I think the base green is too dark to create enough contrast. They are the lightest of light infantry in game so I don't want to spend too long on them (there are always Blood Angels to be painted).

I'm going to paint the remaining nine in blocks of three so that I don't get overwhelmed and can maybe add a bit of variation to skin tone and materials.

Any feedback about how I can paint more good is appreciated.

My Son, who is 4, was also keen to paint his own 'peck beak' but given his choice of colour palette maybe Space Marines might be more his thing!

That's awesome. I really like the Green bird-men, great conversions too. I want to see Peck Beak finished, you should use him and he can have titanic battles with ORK HANDS!

Don’t kroot adapt to what they eat? He’s obviously been at some VERY bright snacks.

Nice looking green guy.

 Nevelon wrote:
Don’t kroot adapt to what they eat? He’s obviously been at some VERY bright snacks.

The Shaper Commands... go and eat Wotsits and Lucozade!

I was hoping to get the next three Kroot done before the weekend as I'm going to be away, but unfortunately I just didn't make it. Anyway here is the progress...

These three are an attempt at lighter skin by way of Death World Forest > Elysian Green rather than the Castellan Green of that test model I did.


The lighter skin tone is hard work for me and the blending is hit and miss.


I'll do the next three in a slightly darker tone and use a different brown for the leathery bits.


Despite being unfamiliar with doing skin and organic bits and bobs, I'm really enjoying a break from T'au armour.

Glad I've only got ten of the spikey little bastards to paint though.

Cheers x

The Kroot look great. Especially what looks like highlighting on the face, very well done.

I get your point about T’au armour. Even Space Marines are technical, difficult, and varied, in comparison.. I found painting 5 fire warriors very easy last night.

Keep up the great work!

Those guys look fantastic. Really good. The unit will look great all together, so dark green, light green and what other colour? Bright pink for the last 3?

Have you made any inroads on the Predator?

Perhaps Peck Beak ate a parror and absorbed its DNA?

416_SpaceWolves wrote:The Kroot look great. Especially what looks like highlighting on the face, very well done...

I'm going to take credit for whatever you are looking at and say yes, it is highlighting. Thanks

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Those guys look fantastic. Really good. The unit will look great all together, so dark green, light green and what other colour? Bright pink for the last 3?

Have you made any inroads on the Predator?

Thanks, I had no idea how they would look so I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Funnily enough I've just borrowed this off you...

... so that will do as a base for three of them.

I've prepped and primed Mephistoned' Baal so will jump straight on that once these Kroot are sorted.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Those three Carnivores are finished now...

Here's a group shot which shows the contrast with the test model's darker skin tone. It also shows the kneeling Kroot's wonky pose (from that angle at least).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
...and some individual pics:




Thanks for looking. I'll bear down and get the other six done as quickly as I can as after that there's only one more unit to paint (and two to tidy up) for the 60pl crusade force. Ooohhh.

Really well done on those Kroot!

Yes they look bonzer. Hope the Middlestone works out for you. I look forward to seeing the Krooties IRL.

Really love the subtle weathering on your tau armour mate, looks gritty and brilliant. Marksman conversion is aces and I am all over the kroot like white on rice. The blue tinge to their hair spines is lovely. Bring on the next update!

tzurk wrote:Really love the subtle weathering on your tau armour mate, looks gritty and brilliant. Marksman conversion is aces and I am all over the kroot like white on rice. The blue tinge to their hair spines is lovely. Bring on the next update!

Thanks user tzurk, I'm so relieved that the marksman conversion worked out as it was one of many overambitious conversion projects that I've immediately regretted starting (she was just components on a blob of blu tac for at least a year).

RandyMcStab wrote:Yes they look bonzer. Hope the Middlestone works out for you. I look forward to seeing the Krooties IRL.

Cheers Randy, and thanks for the lend. Valejo Model Middlestone + Kroot =...



Launchy - this was the one I had to drop a typewriter on to change his pose. I've spent a LOT less time on the skin on these three as I'm officially bored of painting Kroot.


Prowly - From this close up the jagged strokes I made to highlight the flesh are painfully obvious but I don't mind the overall effect.


Walk forwardy - I didn't actually use more than Middlestone for the flesh (not even a 'add some white' highlight). It is just Middlestone, Camoshade, Middlestone. I know I should have but I didn't.

Here's a shot of all three skin tones used so far. I have three models left to will do two more in Death World Forest (centre), and the last in Castellan Green (left).

Gonna crack on with those now...

Thanks for looking x

Those are really nice Kroot, I wish I had shortened the rifles for my army.

 Oaka wrote:
Those are really nice Kroot, I wish I had shortened the rifles for my army.

Thanks Oaka, that's kind, especially coming from Dakka's resident Master Shaper. My T'au Cadre is pretty low key so the smaller profile fits. I also don't intend to paint any more kroot so I didn't mind the extra effort too much.

We are now done with the Kroot:

The gang all together. There are three different skin tones and two tones of leather (Zandri Dust and XV88) to make them less uniform.


A bit more close up. I added a simple geometric unit insignia to their 'Tau' shoulder armour and a bit of conservative weathering to the pads and rifle muzzles.

So glad these are done. It's been over a decade since I've painted more than 10 of the same thing and I was getting pretty bored. Quite a fun project though I suppose; I enjoyed scouring my own and friends' bits boxes for knives and pouches etc. and after doing all the faces I feel more confident to do some bare T'au heads which I've been putting off.

These are the final(ish) part of my Crusade starter and I'm excited to have something a bit exotic (albeit terrible) to deploy alongside my little blue Shas.

Now the Space Marine Codex is out we might start to get some games in.

Now, where did I leave that huge vat of Mephiston Red...

These guys look really great. Lovely spread of skintones (very modern of you). I really like the modified guns and tiny shoulder pads too, adds a touch of originality.

Look forward to seeing the Bangle stuff next. Any T'pau plans after that? Where are you with the Crusade force?

Thanks Randy, my wokeness knows no bounds.

Crusade-wise all my 60PL starter needs now is the painting of two marker drones, and weathering and insignia on a Fireblade and ten Firewarriors.

Technically I'm painting a new Battlesuit Commander but I'll probably just use that beefy Broadside-based Shas'O who is already painted.

Once these are done I'll do a little showcase (as should you/Mephistoned/The-other-person).

Right now I'm doing the Baal Pred:

Note to people who's friends paint your models with only minimal consent - keep things blu-tacked together instead of glueing please

I'm also doing this for the battlefield:


This will be heavily weathered, military gray, but I intend to put some horrific, unidentifiable GORE scattered out the back hatch.

Railgun kill maybe?

Great work on the Kroot. Lovely blend of skintones though i'm sad to see peck beak didn't make an appearance!

Really lovely thing you're doing for your friend here. I hated painting my own tanks so good on you for taking that off someone else's hands!

Interested to see where you go with the facemelted chimera crew.

That Shas'o is awesome too. I dunno if it was just my browser but the pics are massive and the weather is really convincing. Great work!

Chimeras are just Kroot lunchboxes, no?

 tzurk wrote:
Great work on the Kroot. Lovely blend of skintones though i'm sad to see peck beak didn't make an appearance!

Really lovely thing you're doing for your friend here. I hated painting my own tanks so good on you for taking that off someone else's hands!

Interested to see where you go with the facemelted chimera crew.

That Shas'o is awesome too. I dunno if it was just my browser but the pics are massive and the weather is really convincing. Great work!

Thanks tzurk. Our Blood Angel-collecting friend is not the most demonstrative in his appreciation but that's his style, and I know he is grateful. We love him and want to play painted 40k with him so everybody wins!

You'll have to wait for the Chimera as I'm moving back onto my remaining T'au, and that's because the Baal is 'finished':


It's a very simple 'base coat' job. Beyond doing another pass at hiding spilled Nuln Oil and tidying up transitions between the different materials, I also would have liked to do lenses, gems, and some depth to the flat black areas.

Obviously there are two scroll spaces for euphemisms but I'll leave that honour to someone else.

Cheers.

That looks great, you'll have to give me the recipe so I can try and replicate it on the Dread.

One step closer to my crusade list being complete!

It's just some boring drones, though. I have a squadron of four, and a pair that can be assigned to whichever commander is on the field.

While these are marker drones, the tops and bottoms are magnetised so that I only need to paint additional bottoms should I require gun or shieldies in the future (i.e. when marker drones are nerfed).



Some of these are repaints from my old grey/red Farsight Enclaves.


Commander's drones.


Tactical Drones.



High tech magnetization system and unit insignia. The markings on the pair vaguely match that of my Commander/s.

Pretty much a utility job as drones aren't the most exciting things to paint.

The whole 'painting our friend's Blood Angels' adventure is almost complete with only the Libby Dread remaining. He is built and my comrade Randy McStab will be handling painting duties so do go and have a look on his plog.

I now just have to do...

- highlighting, weathering, and detail on 10 Firewarriors.
- the same treatment on my one-hoofed Fireblade.
- repaint of a Forge world XV89 commander.

Hopefully completing those will unlock a vaccine for covid19 as it would be nice to play some games of 40k once it's all done.

Unfortunately there is no vaccine for having a job or kids. Or being happily married