The Tau race is about adapting to a situation. Whilst the Shas'la are treated equally amongst all, I find it within reason that a fire warrior, in a desperate attempt to defend a position, would pick up several different weapons not standard for a fire warrior.
So, for my third Shas'la conversion on ATT, I made a Heavy Weapon Warrior. He has two pulse rifles, a burst cannon, and EMP/photon grenades. He has two large shoulderpads and "handlebars" to hold the heavy cannon.






I do recognize some errors: the pulse rifles could use some work on the paintjob.
The head could too.
There are some spots in the khaki that could use some touchups.
The shoulderpads will need another coating.

For any thoughts on how to make him more epic, or criticisms you have of the model, feel free to share. I hope these threads I make motivate people to make their own. The medic was a huge success. The Communicator wasn't, but it still looks mighty fine. This guy looks really epic, absolutely stands out in the army.

"For the Tau'va!"

Not a bad concept, but there's a few things I'd like to point out.

-It's against the Tau way of war to bog down infantry with heavy weapons, but if it's a truly desperate situation...
-A little overboard on the twin rifles; perhaps a carbine or a pistol would be better seeing as it's a backup and he's had to resort to using the burst cannon.
-Some sort of tripod or bipod would be good for a weapon like that, perhaps a shield too. Also, in lieu of a tripod, you could have a drone of some sort it could be mounted on, and an external power source.

Gameplay wise he uses a pulse rifle, hence the dual rifles. However, I could remove one of them.

I too considered the tripod, but I thought it was a bit too much of a "hold your ground and shoot" thing. I thought about adding straps around the warrior's body and onto the burst cannon so it doesn't look like he's just holding it.

I was considering creating a power box on his back, near the two wires on the body, but never got around to make it.

Do you have a spare XV-8 shield dome?

Stick it under the body of the burstcannon (rounded side up), I think it's about the right size to look like a small drone weapons-platform.
The drone would largely negate the weight of the burstcannon affording the infrantry a little mobility, and likely assist with recoil.

You can use sticky-tac to try it out without glueing it all together before you are sure you like the look.

considering that FW don't use burst cannons to begin with, I don't think that the Tau soldiers can even carry that(much less standing up) if you were to fire and feel the recoil of a machine-gun-like weapon that size. I understand that it's just for show, but maybe you should put a tri/bipod to endure the weight.



IG heavy weapons teams can still move .

I don't have the shield dome, but I do like the idea of a drone supporting the weight. It could even carry the power box too!


Drone antennae or something of the sort could be a useful tripod. It could also seem to be able to clip against the cannon for travel, and to release and dig into the ground when shooting.
Haha, very true

You'd be amazed at how many machine guns actually mitigate a large quantity of the recoil. Don't know how a burst cannon would work with a spinning mechanism though. Doing something with a drone and losing one of those rifles would probably be enough to balance him out. You might try scooting him back on his base a bit too.

I believe we had FWs using portable burst cannons in the Fire Warrior novel and game, so there's some fluff justification.

As for this, the idea is certainly good, but the pose could be adjusted--the way he's holding it seems, uhm, a bit unfortunate.

I'd add something like a small antenna on the bottom of the burst cannon to look like some sort of stabilizing device.

I'd have to agree here, my biggest problem is that you have him just kinda standing there, he's not braced for any recoil at all, much less for the recoil from a gun that big. I'd suggest one of the different leg molds, one leg behind the other as if he's bracing himself.

Just my two cents

That's actually what I was going to do, but I didn't want to risk ruining the top half of the body. When I renovate the model, I'll see if I can switch out the legs.

So, to-do list:

1) add a bipod
2) switch the legs
3) paint job.
4) remove a rifle
5) add something to the base. I was thinking Tyranid warrior head, but changed my mind. Could work now, if he uses it to help sustain the force from the recoil.

Sorry for the absence, but I've had time to get back on this project. This guy is much better IMO. His pose is more dynamic and the gun actually seems "reasonable". I only had a little time, so I haven't finished painting it. Don't worry, I will most certainly go back to it.




Sorry for lack of photos, but I didn't have much time. I'll get around to posting a front/back view.