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Hey everyone!!! (Im new to this fourm, dont really know how to introduce a post :0)

Me and my buddy are going on a roadtrip up to Kansas City for the US Open.

Im running T'au and he is running Death Guard.

I so far have a 2000 point list built with everything I need and am ready to start painting.

Problem is I LOVE PAINTING.

And what I mean by that is I spend 10-30 hours on each model. Placing volumetric lighting, glazing, building shadows. All the 9 yards.

The problem with this is that I have under 2 months and I have maybe 200 points painted.

How should I optimize my time while painting and still have time for my other commitments in life? (School, Producing, Etc)

Any advice for speedpainting with volumes?

And second off, Im not super good at the game,

Anyone have any advice for a T'au player

Finally:

What should I expect from the tournament?


Thank you so much!

Hello!

Can't comment on tournament prep specifically, but on the painting front - maybe try doing the base coats to whatever is the minimum standard (3 colours?) on everything first, then you can go back and fill in details and shading so on afterwards. Then it's at least tournament ready, and is a better look on the tabletop than one beautiful model and 49 grey plastic ones.

For speed painting, I'm rather liking a zenithal prime followed by contrast-style paints. Gives a half-decent effect for bare minimum effort.

If you're brand new to tournaments, starting with a GT is really jumping in the deep end. the best thing I would say is to make sure you understand your army, understand how hte missions work, especially secondaries, and maybe watch some battle reports on GW placed terrain to understand how armies use the terrain to hide from shooting. Competitive 40k is too complicated to simply cram a little and succeed, so focus on having fun.

As for painting, by your post you're about 10% of the way done. You have two months, which is a pretty tight deadline for even experienced army painters, so you're going to have to basically throw away everything you know, and focus on getting the army "street legal." For the time you have, assuming everyhting is built, here's my advice:
zenithal prime everything
base coat with your primary color
Block out key secondary color markings
Pick out a few accent color pieces
Panel lines
Base it up

With a proper zenithal and contrast/glaze/whatever, you should have a natural highlight, and Tau really benefit from panel lining. Also, basing is the key to turning a C- paint job into a B- job.

Hey man, here's a few things I wish I'd known before I started going to tournaments.

Take a bag or backpack with drinks and snacks! Playing warhammer for 9-10 hours can really drain the energy.

Take a tray or magnetised box to store your army in. Putting your whole army away and taking it back out every game is torture.

Don't worry too much on where you place or how many games you win. It can be really easy to feel defeated when your loosing but remember most of these people will be really skilled players, but doesn't mean you won't have fun at the same time.

Ask questions about the other players units and try get an understanding of there army to avoid feel bad moments.

And most of all enjoy, I'm sure it will be an epic experience 👍

samrobo1234 wrote:


Take a bag or backpack with drinks and snacks! Playing warhammer for 9-10 hours can really drain the energy.

Take a tray or magnetised box to store your army in. Putting your whole army away and taking it back out every game is torture.

excellent advice!
add in some tylenol and ibuprofen as well,
and whatever comfy things help... I bring ear plugs to muffle the background noise, and a seat cushion as some of those chairs are a pain in the ... lol

When playing tournament, it's important to have the time limit in mind. You dont wanna get bogged down in your own hesitation, slow rolling/moving or rules debates.

Think of any moves you need to do during the down time while your opponent plays. Move minis fast but clearly so the opponent sees you are not trying to cheat them, same goes for dice rolling.

If the match is 2.5 hours say, you need to do deployment and 5 turns (depending on scenario) in half that time maximum.
So you should deploy in under 10 minutes and do turns in about 10-15 minutes. To give the game a chance to play out fully.

You can practice fast playing with your friend. I did this weekly back in the days, and we could play 2 full 2k pts matches in the time fantasy players in the club played 2 rounds of one match.

 ForgedSteel wrote:
Hey everyone!!! (Im new to this fourm, dont really know how to introduce a post :0)

Me and my buddy are going on a roadtrip up to Kansas City for the US Open.

Im running T'au and he is running Death Guard.

I so far have a 2000 point list built with everything I need and am ready to start painting.

Problem is I LOVE PAINTING.

And what I mean by that is I spend 10-30 hours on each model. Placing volumetric lighting, glazing, building shadows. All the 9 yards.

The problem with this is that I have under 2 months and I have maybe 200 points painted.

How should I optimize my time while painting and still have time for my other commitments in life? (School, Producing, Etc)

Any advice for speedpainting with volumes?

And second off, Im not super good at the game,

Anyone have any advice for a T'au player

Finally:

What should I expect from the tournament?


Thank you so much!

Best tournament prep? Learn the rules really well and expect people will try to cheat in order to win. Not only during the game but also after it when counting victory points. So you should be aware of the point values of opposing units. In addition report players to the referee, if they act in a sociopathic way. For examples look for reported incidents on the Youtube channel of Northern Exile so you can act accordingly. Also never leave your minis out of sight as they might be stolen.

Be prepared to lose badly...

Crispy78 wrote:
Hello!

Can't comment on tournament prep specifically, but on the painting front - maybe try doing the base coats to whatever is the minimum standard (3 colours?) on everything first, then you can go back and fill in details and shading so on afterwards. Then it's at least tournament ready, and is a better look on the tabletop than one beautiful model and 49 grey plastic ones.

For speed painting, I'm rather liking a zenithal prime followed by contrast-style paints. Gives a half-decent effect for bare minimum effort.

Thanks for the advice, I like this approach and im thinking about doing it once I finish the broadside im working on rn. 15 hours down and only the plates are done




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Polonius wrote:
If you're brand new to tournaments, starting with a GT is really jumping in the deep end. the best thing I would say is to make sure you understand your army, understand how hte missions work, especially secondaries, and maybe watch some battle reports on GW placed terrain to understand how armies use the terrain to hide from shooting. Competitive 40k is too complicated to simply cram a little and succeed, so focus on having fun.

As for painting, by your post you're about 10% of the way done. You have two months, which is a pretty tight deadline for even experienced army painters, so you're going to have to basically throw away everything you know, and focus on getting the army "street legal." For the time you have, assuming everyhting is built, here's my advice:
zenithal prime everything
base coat with your primary color
Block out key secondary color markings
Pick out a few accent color pieces
Panel lines
Base it up

With a proper zenithal and contrast/glaze/whatever, you should have a natural highlight, and Tau really benefit from panel lining. Also, basing is the key to turning a C- paint job into a B- job.

Thanks! I figure if I allocate about 3 hours per night on painting ( I have school and such so I cant spend more) I SHOULD be able to get most of it painted to a high quality. im not going to be doing zenithal, instead I will be priming grey, airbrushing on a light blue/green and painting white where the light hits to create some quick and dirty shadows and highlights for white

Panel lining is a good idea tho. Thanks!