Legacy40k's Tau Prototype Army Painting Log

[Inquisitor Engel]

This is a TAD bit of necromancy here but this is awesome - Another question I may have missed somewhere in the depths of this thread but how did you paint the octagons so cleanly? Are they decals?

[PariahZero]

DUDE! Just read through your whole log. Amazing stuff man, a real inspiration! Keep it up

[Alith_Anar]

As did I. I don't even understand half of what's going on here, but the pictures...

I just know I want robots.

I want them BAD!

[Vex]

What shade of green do you begin with?

Here's the green squad hammerhead:

Your conversions are awesmendous! Then the color choices are so correct for what you've built. I like how your greens have turned out.
Any painting guides?

[PreacherBoyRoy]

You sir, are a beast.

[Legacy40k]

This is a TAD bit of necromancy here but this is awesome - Another question I may have missed somewhere in the depths of this thread but how did you paint the octagons so cleanly? Are they decals?

The Hexagons on the tank and on the commander were created by:

using a hexagon stencil and tracing it onto masking tape. Cutting it out of the masking tape. Sticking the tape on the model and then painting in the hexagon. They then require a tiny bit of touch up by hand.



Side note. This army/thread is not dead. It tends to get worked on in bursts of inspiration, I've just been too busy with life right now and attempting to get some of my guard army done.

[xGhillie Man]

You sir have inspired me to jump-start up my old tau, cheers. btw conversions you have done will be stolen, especially the crouching broadside, this has made me want to do all my broadsides as special-forces style snipers, thanks for the inspiration!

[Demosius]

I hate you, Legacy40k. Unlike a lot of people, I was quite happy with the standard look of the Tau battlesuits. They're nothing special, but I liked them... But now, I can't stand to look at them in comparison to your masterpieces. Especially when I look at the standard jetpacks, that just don't seem to allow for the manoeuvrability you'd expect.

I had just started collecting my army, and one of the major obstacles standing in my way to really getting stuck into it, was trying to decide how I wanted the army to look regarding colour scheme, and some mild conversions I was considering... Looking at what you have here, my long list of possible options has been blown far out of manageable proportions, and I now find myself inundated with the sheer weight of grand possibilities compounded by the fear of failing to measure up to such fantastic standards... *******.

But seriously, great works. I hope to see more should the appropriate burst of inspiration find you. Oh, and some overall shots of your ever-growing army 'to date' would be nice. Considering this thread has been on one very long hiatus, it would be interesting to see what -if any- new ideas you've come up with.

Keep it up.

[Legacy40k]

my Tau are on something of a Hiatus until the new tau codex comes out.

I have plans for my "Terminator Buster Unit" which will be all fusion/plasma, but I sort of want to see what happens in the new Tau Codex most likely due out within the next 6 months before I get too excited. I'm also working on some Marines right now, and have been doing a lot of work on my Imperial Guard.

I haven't forgotten my Tau though, I rephotographed a bunch of them a couple of weeks ago.

[Legacy40k]

Crisis suit Green Squad:

Squad Leader:
Twin Burst Cannons
Missile Pods (shoulders)
Multi-Tracker
Drone Controller

Squad member:
Plasma
Bust Cannon
Multi-tracker

The Fire Warrior green squad is unfortunately armed with pulse carbines, which admittedly in 5th weren't great, but had their uses. With the changes to rapid fire weapons, pulse carbines have no use, so this unit will most likely collect dust until there's a new codex.

[Legacy40k]

Red Team stealth suits


Red Team Crisis squad leader:
Currently he doesn't have a squad to lead, and often fills the role of a second commander.

[Legacy40k]

Believe it or not, this is the oldest model in my current tau army. I think it still holds up pretty well.

This is my counts as Farsight conversion

Sadly, I never use it, and with the loss of the suit target lock, I suspect I won't use it until there's a new Tau codex. Though we shall see. I suppose a Farsight Enclave is still viable without the giant bodyguard but allies instead.

[Legacy40k]

So.. with 6th edition. I've decided to work on my Tau again. Although they are still among the weakest armies, they are a lot closer to the others now than they were in 5th. Stealth suits are amazing now.

So, expect some updates in the near future.

Also, it looks like when I updated my website, I deleted the links to a bunch of the pictures on here, so I'm going to see about correcting that.

I just built 3 Tetras, and 1 Hazard suit, so those will most likely be the next updates.

[Legacy40k]

My primary Tau Commander:

Armed with Frag Projector (underslung) and missile pods (in shoulders)

He also has 2 shield drones. The hardest part now is keeping him away from the other units in the army. He used to join the green squad and just target lock new targets, but now he has to stay by himself to shoot.

[ArcticWolf]

Yess! I am so glad you are working on these again!

[Bilmengar]

Amazing. Your Suits look absolutely gorgeous. Keeping an eye open for this project

[Duke Donald]

Your army is absolutely beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your amazing conversions now that you're working again on your Tau.

[Legacy40k]

I've been slow to take pictures, but I have been working on my Tau. With the new Codex and models dropping in a week, I've been putting it into high gear.

The next planned Battlesuit squad for my Tau is a "Terminator Buster" squad. Plasma/Fusion but I'm waiting for the new codex before I start building them.

As such, here is the start of a pic dump.

First off. The Shas'ui of Green Squad. (which is pictured above) but I'm going to include all the Shas'ui's.

Once I learn more about Fireblade Cadre, They will likely get painted to match each of the fire warrior squads. I plan on converting them at this point.

[Legacy40k]

Contrary popular belief: these are the only forgeworld battle suits in my army. The XV-9 Hazard Support Suits. I'm hoping to paint them in the near future, but realistically, if I don't get to them in the next week, they will be probably be pushed back until after I finish a Riptide or two.

I bought them based on the different body types, not the weapons. So far though, I've found them quite effective when they deep strike in with the aid of the spotting from a Tetra.





If you're wondering about the colour. A couple of years ago, I started priming anything that's not black in this tan colour. It gives most of the benefits of white primer, without any of the negatives.

[Legacy40k]

If you haven't noticed yet. my squads are all colour coded.

There's Green Squad, Black Squad, Red Squad (in progress) and Blue Squad (In progress). Blue squad is in the process of being redone, and red squad: armed with pulse carbines, is waiting for the new codex to become useful. With the 6th edition changed to rapid fire weapons, there is no reason to field carbines.

Here's Black Squad and the Shas'ui





Additionally, here's the black squad objective marker. Since my army is a prototype field testing force, there are tau scouts on the battlefield observing unit performance. A dangerous job, but important! (I guess a drone would make more sense for the task, but this looks better) Of course both sides want the data the observer has, making it a great objective.