Tau'va readers!
Welcome to the first installment of a new series following my journey along the path of the Greater Good.
With 9th Edition Warhammer 40k scant weeks away (the 25 July can't come fast enough!) myself and my fellow Warlords have begun a new Tale of Five Gamer's.
The objective; build a Xenos army to play through the new Crusade game mode for 9th Edition (if you haven't read the intro to our new group project I suggest you follow this link for the full post)
Our first Goal was to complete a single squad or unit by the end of June, so let's check in with my progress...
Preparing for Expansion
Despite owning a heft heap of Tau models for nearly two years I've always been somewhat intimidated by the thought of painting a Tau army.
I've got nearly two decades of experience painting Warhammer 40k, and in that time I've painted mostly Marines (both the spiky and non-spiky variants), with a few Daemons, Lost and the Damned, AdMech and Knights along for the ride.
I've also developed a style in keeping with 'Eavy Metal; recess shades and edge highlights rather than the airbrush/ blending transitions and/or weathering many in the community use
Tau armor is so radically different to their Imperial counterparts that I had no idea how to approach it. What made it more daunting was the presence of so many hard edges on the Tau models; Battlesuits and Fire Warriors have so many small, hard edges on the segmented armor panels that my usual style would take weeks to do!!
Knowing that I just needed to get started to put myself at ease I took some time to sit down and thoroughly plan my paint scheme.
I wanted to use the Tau as a way of painting something radically different. All my Imperial models share a similar palette, similar spot colors, and a conserved basing; for the Tau I wanted to move completely away from all of that.
So I set myself some painting limitations:
1 - No Metallics
My Knights and AdMech are 50% Leadbelcher, my Grey Knights even more so, and that "gunmetal" colour is present on every Boltgun I've ever painted. I wanted to move away from the crutch that is metallic weapons.
I also see the Tau as a race that uses material technology to make something different to standard steel; something more like a lightweight high density polymer over a conventional metal. I wanted to avoid metallics to reinforce this side of the Tau lore.
2 - No Red or Black
Long term readers of the Blog, or any of my Instagram followers, will know the Blood Angels are my main army. As such, I've painted a WHOLE LOT of Red and Black over the years. I fall back on these colours a lot, so I set myself the challenge of avoiding them both.
3 - No Snow!
Whilst it was tempting to base the Tau as counterparts to my Imperial Forces I decided to avoid the snowy basing and move to something different.
With these rules set it was time to pick a paint scheme.
I tossed a few ideas around and played with some Contrast test schemes for a while before eventually settling on my final scheme; Blue as the primary colour
White as the secondary
Orange as the Sept colour (spot colour)
Blue is a colour I haven't painted since my Ironjaws, and even they were a pale, pastel blue. I wanted to go for a bright, strong blue with bright white and orange spot colours.
The Tau Fire Caste has a very well documented set of colours for their Rank system, so my first job was to sit down with paper and pencil to plan out my squad colours.
It was a good day!
Armed with a plan or attack the Etherals deemed it time for my first sphere expansion to begin!
The First Expansion
Our first months Goal was to complete a single Unit. Nothing in the Tau range stands out quite so much as the Battlesuit, so I decided to paint a squad of Battlesuits as a fitting test piece for the scheme.
Now... the Tau have a fair few variants of Battlesuit at their disposal. As tempting as it was to paint one of the bigger and meaner suits I decided to stick to the humble XV8 Crisis Battlesuit.
I love the versatility of these kits; with so many upgrades and weapon combinations available it's impossible not to create something awesome.
I had three squads built in my backlog, each kitted out for a specialised task within the Strike Team. I had this idea when building the Tau (18 or so months ago!) that each Unit in my strike team would have a unique specialisation with the force, and would be named in a suitably "poetic" way to describe their role.
I ended up picking up and painting a three man squad armed with Twin Burst Cannons and Shield Generators. Their name, translated into Low Gothic, would be "The stone which halts the rivers flow"
I see these noble heroes as a mobile relief force, dropping in from above to reinforce ailing elements of the Tau defensive line. Twin Burst Cannons provide punishing firepower, whilst the Shield Generations (of course worn on the forearms like bucklers) provide a measure of safety to the suits.
I love the look of the shoulder mounted guns too - I hope they convey the idea that these guys land, brace their suits and unleash an overwhelming amount of supporting firepower whilst the foot soldiers either regroup or retreat.
A Commander Rises
I was in high spirits after completing my first Tau Squad - the colours came out exactly as I'd hoped and I was riding a wave of excitement.
So I picked up my brush and decided to add a second unit to my budding Strike Force. After enjoying the XV8 Battlesuits waaay more than I expected I thought there was better time than to paint their upgraded variants; the XV86 Coldstar piloted by my Commander; Shas'O Bajing Kasashi, also known as O'Ashi
It's HIGHLY LIKELY his suit will see some upgrades over the Crusade (likely in the form of four Fusion Blasters!) but we'll have to see what happens!
The Second Expansion
With the XV8 Crisis suits and O'Ashi complete I've exceeded the mandate from Month 1.
The objective for Month 2 of our Crusade is to get 25 Power complete ready to start playing some games (Covid restrictions permitting).
O'Ashi and the XV8's have me sat at 20 Power so far, so I only need 5 more.
I expect I'll add some Fire Warriors to the force in the coming weeks, but knowing me I'll over-reach and paint something else!
I'll also be working a little on the lore for my Strike Force over the coming weeks too. Those of you well versed in Tau naming conventions will know I've opted for a custom Sept, so I'll be playing around a little more with those details and share some more in my next post.
Until then, for the Great Good, stay safe and happy hobby!
Tau'va!
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