# Novice Painters Tau Army WIP



## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

Good day fellow heretics! A little background first.....
I have recently started playing 40k again after a long break from the hobby. When my good friend known as Kaiden on these forums told me about a new, fun Tau codex I decided the time had come for me to get back into things and dust off my tau force that had long been shelved. Most of the models I have were purchased when Tau were originally released all those years ago. I got myself the really big and expensive box set that came with a pretty large force and a limited edition Ethreal.

As I was very young and impatient, the painting side of things were fairly unimportant to me as I simply wanted to field my new army and see what it could do! Consequently the paint jobs were poor and the weapon choices were badly made.

After having bought a copy of the new codex, it seemed to breathe a new life into the hobby for me so i got all my tau stuff and set to work.

This is my first proper attempt at completing a fully painted army in over 10 years of Warhammer. I am NOT a good painter, I will say that now. I am not a very artistic person. Shading on a quick sketch is too hard for me, let alone on a 3D miniature with the wide choices of colours on offer. However, I am trying my hardest to turn the old mess of tau models I have into something presentable and make them as unique as I possibly can

So here is the first few pictures of what I have done with my crisis team, a forgeworld commander model, my Hammerhead and Devilfish. Constructive criticism is always welcome but bear in mind that my painting and modelling skillset is rather limited! 

Hope you like them anyway!!

Here is a link to the slideshow:
Library Slideshow by AledM11 | Photobucket

Here are a few images:






I look forward to hearing some thoughts!

Edit: Also, in case you were wondering, the blobs by the feet of the suits is greenstuff I rather sloppily used when I was younger as a quick-fix to the trademark breaking of suits and their leg/feet joints....Hopefully I will sort that out in due time but for now im leaving them like that....

Aled!


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

Just finished another addition to the newly updated stuff. One of the older Broadside battlesuits.


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## Hydraulix (May 5, 2013)

The lime green does not agree with me..
Other then that I like your scheme and good job on your model posing. 
Welcome back to the hobby.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Have you had a go at using washes yet? I think a black over everything except the white (which you can clean up afterwards if you go over the lines) would make them pop!

I forgot to mention after you've done the washes you're going to need to either dry brush a blue back over the edges for the light source or run a lighter blue/white/grey line over the extreme edges to highlight them


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## Kaiden (Apr 1, 2010)

Looking good dude, wash and a highlight and your good to go.


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback! It's all very encouraging! Yes, I intend to eventually get round to washes and edge highlighting but for now I'm trying to just update all my tau to the new colour scheme and make them all as neat as I can. As for the green for all the lasery bits of the Tau, it will be highlighted nicely to look a lot better than just lime green by the end of things!  Anyway here is a picture of how my Riptide is shaping up! Hope you like !


Another update on the riptide -


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## Burzum (Feb 3, 2011)

Love the pokeballs on the riptide ^^,In all seriousness i like the crispness of that blue wish mine would look as smooth.


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## Kaiden (Apr 1, 2010)

Cant wait to see that Riptide on the field man


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## VanAlberict (Mar 5, 2013)

some highlights or a bit of glaze would really make them come together for me but i really like the good clean lines a lighter green would make it look more "energy" rather than solid


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

These base colours are very smooth. I too look forward to seeing these with some washes. Nice so far.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Not sure about the green with the blue... it's very...clash-y. But for a first real attempt at painting, these look sharp! Certainly scads better than my first. Can't wait to see more!


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## Ddraig Cymry (Dec 30, 2012)

I feel the green is a bit too much, using white instead might work much better. The blue, red, and white combination definitely gives the whole army a very interesting and unique feel, and the paint on the Riptide looks very well applied. Good job!


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks for all the feedback guys, really motivates me to get things done! My Uni work temporarily stopped me. But as of tonight im back on the project and hoping to finish off my riptide. Will post more pics soon.

Also I bought a new Hammerhead to join the "to do" list...


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

After a short break due to uni work ive started on the riptide once again! I have purchased a second hammerhead which will be done form scratch this time so i am hoping it will be an improvement on the last. In addition I will be using this hammerhead as the vehicle for my Longstrike character, so I am hoping to make it stand out more by using more white in the colour scheme.
Anyway- a small update on the Riptide!


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

After a short break due to University committments ive practically finished the riptide ....FINALLY. 
This is how its looking 




Still got a few bits n bobs to do but its pretty much done 

Second hammerhead next ^^


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

Dont forget the base you can really add alot of detail on a big base like that. And very good job on the painting. The green for the weapons i personally feel you should have swapped out with a lighter blue almost purple tinged but other than that one nit pick its a great job man.


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

We should be basing him soon. I hearby christen him Riptimus Prime


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## AledM (Jan 10, 2009)

Ok work has begun on the next hammerhead which will be Longstrikes although im not keen on the model so i'll be depicting his Hammerhead with a bit more white . For now here is a large pic of all that i have redone thus far. Highlighting and washing will be done once the base colours are done on all my models though ^^.


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