Topic: Tau Empire Project Log

[[dixon]]

Hopefully this will go better than my last attempt at getting stuff done.

Over the last week, I've gathered all my old Tau stuff, picked up a fair bit of stuff from the store, and ordered a couple of things, so that now I've got possession of probably 1200 or so points of Tau Empire stuff - including all the models for a 1000 point list that I'm more or less happy with.  My goal now is to get the 1000 points painted and finished, then get the rest of what I have painted and finished, and then work up to an 1850 tournament list for events down at the store.


Here's what I have so far:

1 Crisis Battlesuit commander (unassembled)
1 Ethereal (assembled)
1 XV25 Stealth Battlesuit team (6 battlesuits, unassembled)
1Crisis Battlesuit (Unassembled)
12 Kroot Auxilleries (unassembled)
24 Fire Warriors (2 squads of 12, one being painted, one unassembled)
1 Devilfish troop transport (unassembled)
1 Pathfinder team (1 Shas'ui, 6 markerlights, 4 rail rifles total, all unassembled)
1 Sky Ray/Hammerhead (unassembled)
2 Marker Drones (Unassembled)
4 loose Gun Drones (Unassembled)
5 Objective Markers (1 painted, unbased; 4 primed)

Above list will be updated as I get things finished (hopefully)


My 1000 point list is as follows, for reference of what my priorities are:

HQ

Shas'el - 107
Fusion blaster, plasma rifle, targeting array, hard-Wired multi-tracker, stimulant injector

Elites

Stealth Team - 215
6 stealth suits, Sas'vre with bonding knife, hard wired drone controller, 2 gun drones

Troops

Fire Warrior Team - 135
12 fire warriors, Shas'ui with bonding knife, drone controlle

Fire Warrior Team - 135
12 fire warriors, Shas'ui with bonding knife

Fast Attack

Pathfinder Squad - 226
8 pathfinders, Shas'ui with bonding knife, 3 rail rifles
Devilfish with disruption pod

Heavy Support

Hammerhead - 180
Railgun, smart missile system, disruption pod, multi-tracker, target lock

So far today I've managed to get my work table a bit organized, and took a group shot of what I'm dealing with.



Lotta plastic there.  Welp.

[Benis]

I'm just about to start collecting Tau as well (damn hard deciding colour scheme) so it will be interesting to follow your progress and see if I can match it.

Do you have any sample model for your colour scheme and what are those objective markers?

How do you plan to use your commander in that list? He looks a bit out of place and has nothing to join...

[[dixon]]

I'm doing a pretty simple Sa'cea sept scheme, shadow grey armour, black cloth.  Once I get the first squad of fire warriors painted (today maybe?) I'll get some more pictures up.  I'm using the little drone marker thing from the stealth team kit as objective markers, just mounting them on a 25mm round base.

As for the commander, he's kinda there to zip around, maybe kill something, and probably die terribly.  Didn't really feel like going overboard on a commander, or crisis suits in general.

[[dixon]]

This weekend's work has seen the completion of a squad of fire warriors.  Next up? I have no idea.  Maybe the stealth suits.

[[dixon]]

To do for this month: 6 XV25 Stealth Suits, 2 Marker Drones, 1 XV85 Commander

Today I got all my models for this month built, and got sand down on the applicable bases.



The Stealth Suits were pretty easy, but time consuming.  Absolutely nothing fancy here, the shas'vre is only marked out by the 'bigger lens' face, so I'll probably have to give him a bit fancier paint or something.



The Commander was a pain in the ass, and I'm glad I'm only using one of them in my 1850 list.  Crisis suits are pretty mediocre models, and the metal parts are a be-atch to get on properly, the helmet with the two side pieces is extra fiddly.  I was going for a hong kong action movie jumping backwards and shooting pose, but all I really ended up with was a goose stepping robot.  Which I'm okay with in the end, because they really aren't that serious an army for me.



Coming up next: slapping gesso all over the place!

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

i find it interesting that you base before painting.

Also for adding the metal parts to suits i would recommend magnets, even if you are not planning on swapping out weapons. They are way better then glue.

The suits look quite static, and out of interest, your list has a fusion blaster in it, but you have gone with a CIB. did you mean to do that?

[[dixon]]

Yeah, I've modified the list to an 1850 tournie list, and honestly I was gonna do junk with magnets and whatnot but I don't really care enough about Tau to really change stuff up that much.

[Jonik]

i find it interesting that you base before painting.

really? I tend to glue sand to the base before priming, it helps to hold it together... Then again it depends on the method of basing...

[Tarrin the Space Marine]

i tend to base last as i tend to paint before the mini is put on its base, basically treating the base as a separate part of the mini.

My BA are obvious exceptions as they are raised.

[[dixon]]

Beep boop.