Tancrede's Sa'Kura Tau cadre

[tancrede]

Hi guys !

As I head for the end of my SM project before the end of the year, I think to work on other projects (I have my airborne IG, but I want something more "xenos" to paint and collect as I only have human armies...)

So for the last days, my tau army is back on the workdesk.
for a brief history, I've begun to collect taus when the army made her first appearance, and I'm still fond of the manga look of the minis as I'm a big fan of Macross and other mecha-anime.

So after several different scheme during the years, I've tested a more battleworn look, and a scheme that fits my gaming table more than the previous.

The goal is to finish the units still undercoated, repaint the whole army in the new scheme and add some new units during the coming months (piranha, kroots, vespids, hammerheads,...).


Here is the first XV armour in is new scheme :



The armour and the drone are not completely done yet (basing on the drones and a few details to rework), but you have a good idea of the new look of this army : battledamages, dirt and OSL...
Next to come are the other members of the team (2 more XV8 with converted heads).

And here is the pathfinder squad, nearly done (minus some lenses and some little details) :

[horizon]

Good stuff.

[harlekin]

They look superb. The osl-effect is nicely done and the desert/savanna camo works for me miles better then the "classic" (T'au) paintsceme. I'm looking forward for more

Not to forget: Congrats for La'Kais

[lilloser2010]

I'm a big fan of weathered tau. These look absolutely fantastic and Im really
Looking forward to more.

5 stars.

[tancrede]

Thanks for comments, guys !


@harlekin :

The osl-effect is nicely done and the desert/savanna camo works for me miles better then the "classic" (T'au) paintsceme

Yes, it's a funny thing to see that with all the good painters in the GW studio, they never show some battleworn army in the codex...

Not to forget: Congrats for La'Kais

As i said, I'm a long time fan of the taus, and I currently have all the limited edition minis of this army at home (Angkor Prokh, Kais, and all the ethereals fo the army boxes).

[Petay1985]

looking good fella, looking very good indeed. the weather Tau have a nice aesthetic and i really like the camo scheme.

[lilloser2010]

How has this log only got three stars? I voted it 5 this morning. It seems you aren't popular with somebody and they've whacked a one on you. The painting is certainly not worthy of such shabby treatment.

The tau are excellent.

[Toschenko]

^ what he said, five stars is a minimum.

I'll be following your progress closely, one of the best start for an army . Plus, your other logs give some hint that this will be another top quality army on this board

Toschenko

[tancrede]

Thanks, guys !

And here are some updates on those units :

- pathfinders done (minus the devilfish) :


- and the "close combat" crisis unit on the good way to completion :

[Abraham Danglebreech]

Quite delicious. That light blue glow finished them off nicely. Great stuff. A 5 from me too

[Asplund]

Not to keen on the bright green tufs on the bases. Maybe some wash or drybrush could give them a more realistic look?

But everything else is 5 for sure! Looking forward for more.

[KingDeath]

This is one of the best Tau armies i have seen in a long time.

[tancrede]

Thanks for comments, guys.

This crisis team is now ready to join the fight :

[tancrede]

News from the front :

- heavy gun drones are ready to join the fight :


- and the broadsides are the next on the production line :

[tominator]

i love the overall colour scheme especially how it looks on the pathfinders and the osl on the weapons.

[tancrede]

Thanks, tominator.

Here is the update of the WE :

- more work on the broadsides, still WIP but nearly done :


- 1st devilfish of the army, still WIP. A test to see how my camo scheme annd weathering work on a tank. I'm happy with the result, even if I have work to do on it :


The "thing" on the right of the devilfish is my own version of a disruption pod.

- Little group shot (minus the broadside, due to lack of place) :


- And 2 conversions for weapon prototypes : a CIB (cyclic ion blaster) on the top, and an AFP (airbusting fragmentation projector) :


As always, C&C welcome !

[robscott5598]

These are really Excellent. I'm not a huge fan of the standard desert kaki Tau, but your take on it is miles above the cliche' studio armies.

I really like the mix of subtle camo effects and moderate wear and tear juxtopositioned against the clean, sleak lines of the Tau armor and vehicles. It works extremely well.

Your custom weapons look good, and I'm sure they will look even better painted. I'm also really looking foward to seeing how you translate the OSL effect into the Devilfish engines.

So get on that and get 'er painted!

[Apothecarian]

Dear god its beautiful. 5 stars is a shameful rating. It deserves many more than that!
^-^

Apothecarian

[tancrede]

Thanks for comments, guys !

@robscott5598 :

These are really Excellent. I'm not a huge fan of the standard desert kaki Tau, but your take on it is miles above the cliche' studio armies.

I really like the mix of subtle camo effects and moderate wear and tear juxtopositioned against the clean, sleak lines of the Tau armor and vehicles. It works extremely well.

Yes, I agree.
I'm tired of the clean and bright tau scheme. For a race who value the lives of their warriors, the armies I usually see seems to comes from 70s/80s japanese SF movies : kitsh and colorful.
For me, the fire caste are true warriors, but their style of warfare rely essentially upon ambush and surprise attacks.
And it's difficult to hide in the green land when your armor is painted red, yellow or some kind of turquoise, no ?

It was the main idea behind the chosen color scheme : something more realistic than the standard GW scheme.

For the battleworn look, it cmes from the same reflexion : even if Taus did not engage in prolonged combat, due to their "hit and run" combat doctrines, I assume this cadre was engaged in a kind of prolonged campaign.
So when you're engaged in a long term campaign, you have tons of things more important to do than clean and repaint the exosuits or tanks.

And I think this battleworn look maks an interesting contrast with both the "traditionnal" vision people have of the Taus and the "bucolic" bases.


And for the fish, I'm currently working on the black. But don't expect much blue OSL on the tanks, man. I think I'll keep them very simple.

[tancrede]

Update time with some finished FW stuff

- XV9 with 2 TL burst canon :



- technical drones, used as marking drones :



- and sensor tower, slightly bend due to bad reparation after a fall...