The Basis of an Army and Delusions of Grandeur

Well, well, well.  What do you know.  I might actually have a playable army in the coming weeks.  Go figure.  All it took was...

...not letting myself get carried away with my goals for the future.

Pathfinder

I promised an update on a Pathfinder I was working on.  Here it is.

He is the first in the squad, so he's the guide for the rest of them.  But what did I do and why did I do it?  Let's jump in.

First (Minor) Conversion

I had bought some Green Stuff a while back and wanted to practice using it somehow.  I wanted to start by filling in gaps on some models, but never really got around to doing it.  Thus, I decided to use it on a FireWarrior conversion.  Specifically, I wanted to simply use it to adjust an arm position in order to adjust the look a bit. 

The model in question was this guy:

Codices and Rumours of Codices...

Peering through the dark haze of uncertainty, our scanners

show Tau on the horizon.  ETA: Unkown.

These are Dark times for the Tau...  or so every Tau related blog this side of Ke'lshan says. 

Adding Some Grass

I took some time from unpacking and getting furniture back together to start adding more details to those Fire Warrior bases.  First up for updating was the Fire Warrior walking along the broken wall. The details in that one are the best out of all of them, but I felt it could still use a little spicing up. 

Tweaking Bases

Well, I wanted to do some updating to the bases on the Fire Warriors.  The camouflage on the Fire Warriors certainly did work with the bases as they were, but they did such a good job of blending in that under low light they hardly looked painted. I aimed to fix that...

Devilfish: Preview of What is to Come

I put the Devilfish on the base for a preview of the finished product.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my work coming together.  The camouflage on the transport meshes well with the scenery on the base.

Well, here is a picture.  I'll let it talk.

If I can get an entire army looking like this, I'll be doing alright.  Still need to finish up this Devilfish, though.

Devilfishin'

I'm also trying to finish up the Devilfish troop transport.  I have the underside and starboard side left to complete.

I am going to have to make sure that the mud on the 'fish's landing gear matches that of the bases now that I've actally done a few.

Devilfish Base

I started making a base for my devilfish.  Why does my Devilfish need a base when there are "flying" bases for those?  Well, because I want one.  Everyone has a clear plastic "flying" base.  I want to have something unique that fits with the rest of my army.

Back to Painting

I finally got back to painting last night and decided to start finishing up the crisis suit.  I was trying to think of different ways to add distinction to the jetpacks on the crisis suit.  While running ideas through my head, two major points came to mind:

1.) I was imagining this force as using experimental digital camouflage, since such a camo scheme is not typical Tau design.

2.) The weapons and jetpacks for the Crisis suits are made as removable and interchangeable.

That's when it hit me... 

While the Cat is Away....

I've had some trouble with my computer at home the last few weeks.  It's needing some new memory.  :P  I'm back now and wanted to share something that has occurred during the period of incommunicado.

About a year ago, I created a 3D CAD model of a Tau Fire Warrior's pulse rifle:

Crisis: Continued

Well, I've been taking it easy this past week, so I haven't done much.  Spending time with my wife and daughter has given me a nice break.

What I have done is map out my color scheme on the crisis suit I started.

It gives a good idea of where I am headed with it.  The most notable thing I want to point out is that I blacked-out the outer portions of the torso.  I think it takes away the boxy look and makes it look more agile and threatening.

Again.  I'll add more pics as I finish the camouflage.

Starting the First Crisis Suit

Well, I felt it time to start on a one of the Crisis Battlesuits to change things up and finally see what one would look like under my paint scheme.

The first thing that I've done differently than the other models from my friend's army, is that I didn't strip the paint off this model.  It was mostly still black, so I decided to just go along with it as if that were my base coat.

I decided to go with a cross between the Fire Warrior and vehicle paint schemes I had already outlined.  The overall look of the Fire warrior is the primary aspect I want to go for... black base, with dark "boots," digital camouflage armor, yellow markings, and red lenses/lights/etc.  But, the battlesuits are a median of sorts between the infantry and the vehicles, so I wanted to carry over something from what I had outlined on the devilfish as well.  As you can see in earlier pictures on this blog, the plates down the center of the vehicle forgo the digi-camo treatment for a solid color.  I decided this would be the perfect element to bring over for the Crisis 'suits.  I also decided to use the color surrounding the Devilfish's engine intake on the 'suits as well.

Time for some visual conformation of what I am doing.  Here is a picture of what I started last night. 

As you can see, I am working my way up the battlesuit from its feet.  I styled it just like the Fire Warrior. You can also see where I outlined the chest with the solid color application down the center. Once the digital pattern surrounds it, I believe it will be a good transition between the Fire Warriors and the Tau vehicles in my cadre.

I will report back when I've finished the Battlesuit and upload some pics as well!

Five for Fighting

I’m now up to five Fire Warriors. 

If you are wondering why it’s taking me so long to get through these guys, it is because it takes me a few hours to do each of them.  That may seem crazy, but I like to take my time with such things.  Patience IS a virtue you know!

As you can see, the new guy is walking through the mud past a broken wall.

I think it might be time to add some guys with pulse carbines.  What say you?

The Fourth Horseman

I finished the fourth Fire Warrior.  Here he is:

He found a slab to perch on, apparently.

The Three Amigos

So, I went ahead and added the antennas to the helmets and have the three Fire Warriors I have completed thus far ready for combat.Take a look!

As you can also tell, I updated the bases on the first two to match the third.

Like always, comments and questions are welcome!

Three's Company...

Well, I mentioned that I put a Fire Warrior on that first base I made. Well, here's the first baseman (Ha! A baseball joke! ...And I don't even like baseball. :\ ).

A dynamic fellow indeed.  He's weighted on his back foot, looking up the top's of the surrounding buildings... or what's left of them.  His gun may be in a non-active position, but that left hand is definitely reaching to meet it or at the very least is ready to support it if the need to return fire arises.

If you're wondering where the antenna normally on the right-hand side of his helmet is... well, its not on yet as I need to add it.  I want to get everything else finished on each fire warrior before I pull the antenna off the sprue, as they are easily lost otherwise.

****

This guy is going to hold a special significance for me.  Why?  Well, he is the first 40K model that is entirely my own.  I bought the box, cut him from the sprue, carved the materials for his base, glued him together, and painted it all.  It's original me. 

I am forever grateful to my friend for sending me his Tau models to get me started (and I have many more of them yet to paint).  Those models hold a different meaning for me.  One that exemplifies friendship and comradery.

But, this model is the first in something unique. The first of my personal creations.  When it is all said and done, I can say this is where I stood on my own and started the journey.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!!

So, I wanted to start working with some of my own stuff now that I've gotten started.  I bought a box of Fire Warriors and promptly opened them to start planning out what poses I wanted to assemble them in.  Upon lifting the side of the box, the first thing there were the round bases. Then, it hit me...  I knew at once that the first thing I could do to make these guys completely my own would be to make unique bases. 

I went to the hobby store and immediately bought some foam board and other hobby supplies and tools.  I came back and started cutting the foam board with my hobby knife and whittling it down.  I glued the pieces down and added ballast from the two kinds I had.  Once dried, I coated the whoe thing with Adeptus Battlegrey foundation paint from Games Workshop. I then added a Badab Black wash.  After it set in I then dry brushed a layer of Codex Grey, followed by highlighting layers of Fortress Grey and Skull White.

What came about was this:

Pretty good for my first base, wouldn't you say?  I think so.  I was so proud of it, that I didn't even want to add a figure to it at first.  I eventually added a Fire Warrior, but that's for another post.

I was so pleased with this base, that I made another to test my rubble skills.  Here is the second base (*needs a baseball joke here*)

A nice slab if I do say so myself. 

One thing is for certain, I will be expanding on these ideas for my Urban Cadre as they provide good bases thematically.  Plan to see more types of urban ruins in my bases in the future.

Devilfish, Part Tertius, -a, -um

AS you can see from the previous post, I did some work on the 'fish this past weekend.  I've almost entirely finished one side of the transport.

Here are some details:

 I finished the work on theingine nacelles and even added the operational wear and weathering.

An overview of the body and one of the drones.

Now you can see the details and weathering up-close and personal.

So, what do you guys think?  Leave comments. More updates to come!!!!

I Return!!!!

So.... yeah.  It's been a YEAR since the last post.  Well, I was kind of off the 40K radar.  The devilfish was left in its previously pictured state.  NO MORE!!!

BEHOLD!!!!

MORE DEVILFISH!!!!!!!