Tau-riffic Start to the New Year

Hello all, it has been awhile since I posted any hobby stuff.   I was very busy at the end of 2013 with travelling and moving into a new house.   Things have settled down now and I have my hobby room set up and ready to go.    I have a lot of things planned for the year and find myself with a backlog of projects for all my minis games.   However, I first wanted to finish one last project that I started last year when the Farsight Enclaves supplement came out.

I have been using the Farsight Enclaves supplement as an primary or ally force for my Tau army in almost all of my 40k games lately.  Recently, I joined a pay-and-play league locally with the goal of  meeting some new players outside my usual FLGS.  The league is setup with a fixed 1500 point list and credit is given not just for winning games, but painting up models/units as well.   I am currently 3-0 and have 6 points for painting.

I really like the Enclave codex supplement for moving battlesuits units to troop FOC.   Repainting battlesuits in the Farsight colors was my first priority.

Models soaked in LA's Totally Awesome for 3 days

It felt a bit weird stripping the paint off of some of the first models I ever painted for 40k.   I used "LA's Totally Awesome" and let them soak for three days.   With some light scrubbing the paint came off pretty easy.

Fortunately GW did not change the XV8 battlesuit models at all with the new codex release.  I probably would have bought a bunch of new battlesuits if they changed the model.  However, they are unfortunately fairly static models.  Originally I had modeled them on the flight stands to make them look more dynamic. Before painting, I assembled and cut some of the knee joints to get some more dynamic poses without the flight stands and this time on some more interesting bases.

Assembled and primed

With the models assembled and primed I got my paint scheme ready.   I pretty much have converted almost fully to the P3 line of paints just because they are so airbrush-friendly.   I used three different paints in the airbrushing to get a dark-to-light layering effect.

Dixie cups and blue tac for handling while airbrushing

I am pretty happy with my airbrush setup.   It is simple but effective with an air filter in front of a dual fan system I found in a clearance bin at a local hardware store.

Dual fans suck the air and paint into the filter

The paint gets sucked into the filter from the fans and leaves virtually no mess anywhere.   Someday I might invest in an actual airbrush station but this does the job for now.

Three paint layers for airbrushing dark to light

Using P3 "Umbral Umber" and then layered up with "Sanguine Highlight".   I then did some fine spot highlighting using "Murderous Magenta".

I also worked on some drones as well as an old Ethereal model that I picked up off Ebay.   I had been looking for this particular model for some time but no one locally had any success getting it stocked.

Various colors for the gems to represent the four elements

The new Farsight Enclave fluff allows for the army to include Ethereals if representing a "pre-rebellion" army. I really enjoyed reading the details from the battle of Arthas Moloch where Farsight was cornered between an Ork horde and Chaos Daemons.  Unfortunately this battle is where his last Ethereal advisers perished.

Very happy with how the airbrush works and makes shading so easy to do.   I could never get this robe to look as good before with just brush painting.

Fusion blasters + plasma and shield drones for close up shooting

I used some "Runic Mountain" bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures.   I used some purple wash to highlight the runes etched into the stone.   I also decided to do some two color sponge weathering on the battlesuits.   Again, I was inspired by the fluff; these guys have been through hell literally.

Dual or twin-linked missile pods and gun drones for fire support

When I reposed these battlesuits I decided to do away with the magnets for the weapons.   I pretty much always use one plasma-fusion squad and one double missile unit anyway.

For this unit I just used some Gale Force 9 basing rocks.   I liked the idea of these guys fire supporting down from above.

Painted up the HBC which is magnetized

I had already painted up a Farsight Enlcave Riptide but I just finished the alternate weapon.    The HBC is magnetized and might see more use than the Ion Accelerator with more Tyranid MCs showing up.   The Riptide also got some sponge weathering showing some wear and tear.

I did pick up the new Finecast Commander Farsight model.   I really like how this looks.   My Forgeworld conversion will be demoted to a regular commander and will be used when I don't take my favorite special character.

I used another "Runic Mountain" base from Secret Weapon miniatures.   The heavy resin helps keep the light Finecast model from tipping over.

It seems appropriate to be using a new Farsight model now as the fluff had him came out of retirement to fight Tyranids invading the Enclaves.

Last but not least I recently also painted up Commander Longstrike for one of my Vior'la Hammerhead tanks.   Thank makes my current 6000 points of Tau FULLY PAINTED.   The completionist in me is always on the lookout for something else for my Tau, but the hobbyist in me is ready for some non-40k painting.

Thanks for checking out my stuff and look for it in some upcoming battle reports on our YouTube channel.