Unfortunately it isnt all for me, but even so theres plenty of Tau to keep me occupied for a LONG time! currently wrestling a little bit with trying to match my old scheme with the new paints, its not going exactly to plan at this point . Ill figure it out though.

I also have what I believe to be a somewhat radical idea for converting the XV-8 chest piece. my modelling skills aren't the best though and Im not sure if Im brave enough (or financially secure enough) to risk mucking up a valuable model.

I actually find it quite hilarious that you would suggest a cross over. Once all the bits of story bouncing around in my head were hammered out into some form of coherency, I had fully intended on asking YOU if you would be interested in having a cross over myself. I guess you nailed it earlier when you said great minds think alike
Ill send you a pm to share the details

next part finished. I really should try and stick to one project at a time.....

Ohwell!

========================================




The two commanders walked along the government building’s main external walkway. From here they could see the frantic preparations taking place in the city below. General Tybore rattled off troop numbers, ration supplies, conscription rates and various other statistics. O Vash only paid half attention to these figures though. He was more interested in the flow of the city beneath him.

The city had been in complete disarray just two weeks before. The terrified populace had lead open riots burning buildings and raiding PDF caches. The planetary defence force could hardly contain its own population, much less defend them from the unimaginable horrors that approached.

Order was swiftly restored amongst the populace of Outreach with the arrival of Tau forces. Here in the capitol city of Grey watch, preparations were once again proceeding effectively though tension remained understandably palpable.

" -The 11th Valkyrie squadron has also been placed in reserve to facilitate emergency evacuation of the governors palace as well as the 12th being sent to -“

“ALL available craft were to be assigned to the evacuation effort General” ‘O Vash sharply interrupted Tybore, the commander’s attention now firmly re-focused.

“But commander, if the enemy breaks through the city we will have no way of escape” complained Tybore.

‘O Vash continued to meander forward along the walkway, his eyes fixed firmly ahead and his hands folded behind his back.

“If the enemy breaks through the city we will have no reason to escape general. We will have failed. We are soldiers. We exist to wage war so that others need not. If we place our escape before theirs, then we have already failed in our purpose. All resources must be placed into holding the city until the evacuation of civilians can be completed. Then and only then shall we look to our own escape.”

General Tybore’s brow furrowed as he stared harshly into the side of Vash’s face.

“Quite frankly commander, I do not understand your peoples insistence that we abandon the city in the first place. This is the strongest point we have to hold! We have supplies for months, we have a comprehensive trench and tunnel system, we have powerful anti-air positions, Our batteries ar-“

“Are you familiar with Tau history General Tybore?” ‘O Vash interjected again.

Already knowing the generals answer, he continued without waiting for a response;
“Back before my people were united in service of the greater good, we of the fire caste existed as tribal plains dwelling hunters. On the plains of our home world there also lived a fierce predator called Kier’ga.
Kier’ga were swift, powerful and most of all, cunning. They would stalk into villages in the dead of night to take the young and sick. Some villages responded by posting sentries around their borders. These sentries were vigilant and dedicated, but Kier’ga would still inevitably find some weakness or threshold to exploit in order to slip through.
Other villages responded by gathering their most skilled hunters and sending them to track the Kier’ga. The hunters would run down the Kier’ga on the open plains, they would attack them when they themselves hunted, They would strike at the Kier’ga dens. The hunters would gather their strength then fight at a time and place of their choosing while the sentries back in the villages would need to remain vigilant in all places at all times.


General Tybore continued to stare inquisitively at Vash “Do you really mean to compare the Tyranids to a predator of your homeworld?”

“No general, quite the opposite in fact. The Tyranids are very different to the Kier’ga. The Tyranids have no dens to attack or young to defend. The Tyranids can not be drawn away and they can not be intimidated. I have three hunter cadres actively engaging the approaching swarm from the ruins of hearth spire. Yet no matter how daring their strikes, the swarm refuses to allocate anything but the smallest of token forces to occupy the cadres. The tyranids do not seek to win moral victories over us or to gain glory or vengence in crushing armies. They care only for a single commodity.
Biomass
The swarm knows the densely populated cities will provide the most concentrated sources and refuses to be swayed from its path. Worst of all though the Tyranids are cunning, Far more so than the Kier’ga. They will eventually slip past any defence we can construct, and unlike the Kier’ga they will not take the young or sick, but will butcher every soul on the planet.”

Frustrated by the Tau’s web of analogies, General Tybore halted his pace and crossed his arms

“Then what would you have us do Tau?”

Vash halted a few steps ahead of Tybore and slowly turned on his heels keeping his hands firmly folded behind his back.

“We must steal the Tyranids prize. Evacuate the city so we can then focus on engaging the swarm on open ground on our own terms.”

“And to what end?” Tybore huffed “we can not simply evacuate every city once the swarm changes direction”

“we play for time general, nothing more. More of my kin are coming. In the mean time we must conserve our strength while limiting the growth of our enemies. We must weather the storm until we are ready to strike back out against it.”

The commander and General stared at each other for a moment, searching for reaction in a game to see who would break first. A twitch, a cringe, a bead of sweat, anything could betray them.

General Tybore lowered his gaze, his brow softening as he exhaled deeply conceding defeat.

“Very well commander. I have been instructed by the council to defer to your judgement ….. The evacuation will proceed…”

Another great work of fiction! I really like how you combined ancient Tau history with your plot. It gives as sense of rich background. Your writting style is very easy to follow; something I can easily forget with all the details I like to include. Keep up the good work!

thanks wolfs. Input (good or bad) is always appreciated

Ladies and gentleman, something incredible has happened. I have actually managed to finish painting a model. unbelievable I know

May I present pond skaters one and two:







Let me know what you guys think

Ill also be changing the format of the thread over the next couple of days to try and organise things a little better

Love them, mate!

Really like how you've put the carbines extra gear on the Tetras.

*saves to inspirations folder*

Very nice! The painting is well done and the additions you've added give them some character. Did you find the Tetra easy to work with?

One thing though, where are the Sept markings?

Thanks

Seemed a little harsh to send these guys zooming around behind enemy lines without any kind of side arm so thought id strap on a carbine for each of them. I had originally planned to stick even more gear onto the tetras to make them look like they were operating behind enemy lines for long periods (I had even considered cutting up an old scrim net to use as camo netting). In the end though, it took too much away from the nice sleek lines of the tetra so I restrained myself.

Glad you like them




Thank you. The tetras were easy enough to work with. I had to bend the bottom panel on one of them back into shape and the pilots arms were a little fiddly but other than that, nothing major. I would suggest painting the parts separately first then glueing everything together though. Its a nice kit and the little foibles are definitely worth it for high intensity marker lights

Ever the eye for detail wolfs. Okay you got me, they aren't "QUITE" finished. they still need to be based and I have to decide what I'm going to do with the sept markings. To be honest I've sort of been putting them off. Not really sure how I want them to look or how I'm going to keep them distinguished from the tribal markings on my leaders.

If anyone wants to suggest something for the sept markings, Id be more than happy for the advice

Wow they look amazing! you have done a great job painting them

I liked the tribal markings you had on your earlier models! Maybe a little thinner on the vehicle? Perhaps along the spine and some standard stripes on the front?

Part III of "to forge a name" has been posted. check the second post of page 1 to see it



Thanks for stopping by again isaac Thank you for the kind words



I may do the markings on pond skater 1 to mark lead vehicles. Ill give marking the spine a go. hopefully it doesn't look too overboard (easy enough to repaint a single panel even if it does anyway, time to be brave! ).

Ill keep pond skater 2 a little more subdued with Standard issue sept markings I think. well see how it turns out.

I really need to figure out a format for including little mini background pieces for each of my units. Who knew running a thread would be so hard

You want sept markings? You REALLY want sept markings? ILL GIVE YOU SEPT MARKINGS!

(sorry, I couldnt resist )

anywho, the tetras have now been finished and based. I may have gone a little crazy with my lead vehicle but I decided to not hold back and go for broke. The plan is to mark out the lead/command vehicles in my cadre with Vash's own brand of tribal markings in much the same as with my infantry. Tell me what you guys think.
Have I mutilated pond skater one or does it look okay? your answers will guide my cadres future progression.

P.S. and before you bring it up wolfs , Pond skater two also has sept markings (smaller more standard ones) but they are located on the left side of the hull which I have now realised is not visible in any of the photos









Let me know what you guys think!

Fluff-wise, if there is a Shas'ui in your pathfinder team I think you should have painted him as such. If I remember correctly, Shas'ui are typically in the gunner-seat of vehicles. Either way, they look great.

I actually quite like it! It is unusual, but it gives your cadre some personality. I would go a little bit thinner with any future markings though.

Oh and the update to the back ground was very intriguing. What happened back there and what did he see!? All questions in sure will be answers (or at least hinted at).

Not a bad suggestion. I hadnt considered marking the pilots. I may come back to that later And im glad you like them



Thanks wolfs. I had some thinner lines before but they looked a little scrawny in real life. They tend to look a bit more gaudy in the photos than they do in real life.

And fear not. All questions shall have answers I cant promise how long it will take though. My already sparse free time is currently divided between writing, painting and browsing ATT

Next part of "to forge a name" is done. Ill post it below aswell as add it to first page beneath the others for continuity.



==========================================================




========= Part IV ========


Combat

Shas’Ui Vash would become utterly consumed by it. Where the Shas’La had failed to distinguish himself, The Shas’Ui strived to excel. It mattered little why or to whom he brought death, he cared only that he was given the tools with which to carry out their sentence.

When the 26th Tactical Interdiction Cadre was assigned to the fledgling world of Taish’Ro in order to safeguard colonists and quell the growing Ork population, Vash would maintain his stubborn refusal to take his place within a team. Rather than re-integrate into the cadre after the loss of his team, it appeared as if Vash was doing all he could to stand apart from them.


---The majority of fighting on Taish'Ro took place on the foothills surrounding the larger Ork held mountains^[8]

Upon their arrival on Taish’Ro, Vash would force his way into the Fio workshop and demand that his battlesuit be repainted in a Jet black. Unwilling to argue with the grim “lost shadow” The Fio’La begrudgingly obliged. Some within the cadre had speculated that Taish’Ro harkened too closely to Tal’Scea, the place where Vash was bonded with his team. Others believed that whatever had transpired on Embras had simply shattered his spirit and he was slowly losing his grip on sanity. Whatever the reason though, Vash’s Isolation would only worsen as time progressed.

Vash’s battlesuit would become instantly recognizable to friend and foe alike. It would likely provide similar feelings of dread to both sides albeit for very different reasons. Beyond the non-standard black armour panels, Vash would spend hours hand painting a complex series of patterns derived from war paint of the ancient fire caste. Symbols for loss, grief and emptiness featured prominently alongside vengeance, death and fury. With his bonding knife lost alongside his Shas’Ui, Vash also painted a number of crimson red panels onto his suit. It was secretly rumoured amongst members of his cadre that the pigment for this paint was mixed with his own blood.


Vash would make it a point to spend as little time as possible within the settlements. During mandatory breaks from active duty, Vash would continue to exist in solitude though. It was noticed by those formerly close to him that he had completely abandoned his meditation and now spent the entirety of his down time preparing for his next engagement. Combat simulations, fitness routines battlesuit modifications. Every waking moment was dedicated to the advancement of martial prowess to the detriment of all else. His social interactions consisted solely of gruff demands for parts to the attendant Fio’Ui. Most within the cadre quickly learned to leave “the lost shadow” a wide berth, lest they fall under his crushing gaze. A newly transferred Shas’La learned this the hard way when he dared to question Shas’Ui Vash’s attitude. The resulting confrontation left the Shas’La unconscious for a full two days.


Shas’El Du’Eio’Eldi likely would not have tolerated Vash’s behaviour had it not been for the wild success of his operations. On his own insistence, Vash would be deployed alone and unsupported within the Orks Vast mountain strongholds. Taking with him a number of Fio’Vesa drones to rearm and refit his battlesuit, Vash was able to operate unsupported within the heart of the enemy for weeks at a time. By night the lone battlesuit could traverse the vast length of the mountain ranges quickly and quietly choosing where to launch devastating strikes before fading back into the darkness. By day, Vash would return to his hidden stash of Fio’Vesa drones within one of the mountains countless caverns. With his battlesuit refuelled and resupplied, The lost shadow would strike out again under the cover of darkness.

Eventually after days or even weeks without communication, Shas’Ui Vash would arrive unannounced at an outpost with his food, water and ammunition stores exhausted. Saying little of his mission, the extent of Shas’Ui Vash’s exploits would only be revealed while examining the mission logs of his battlesuit. Dizzying kill counts, dozens of destroyed installations and the elimination of notable targets would all be revealed by the suits A.I. logs and vid recordings.


---Outpost 42 (pictured above) serves as the only point of Tau presence within the "Irontoof" mountains^[5]

Other battlesuit pilots wanting to share in the success of his missions would routinely petition Vash to accompany him. Even when Shas’El Du’Eio’Eldi formally ordered he take with him a team so that they might learn from his unique actions, Vash still blatantly refused. Rather than take disciplinary action, Du’Eio’Eldi saw past his mask and took pity on Vash. Within him she watched a wounded beast striking out in all directions to protect itself. She would take a keen personal interest in his plight, but for now atleast she would allow him to continue his solitary operations.



Vash would remain amongst the settlements only long enough for him to repaint sections of war paint lost to superficial damage with a new unique pattern. In this way the markings of his armour would evolve after each operation. When he left to return to his hunting grounds though, one thing was assured. In the night, the mountains would burn.

As the months passed, word of the lunatic Shas fighting alone within the heart of the enemy spread throughout the colonies and its defenders. Aerial surveillance images of ruined Ork camps in the uncontested mountains began to surface as well as recordings taken by stealth suit teams of a mysterious black tattooed battlesuit ambushing entire war bands on its own. Even the Orks began to take notice of the specific threat. They ineloquently took to calling him “Da Blakk Squiggly Wun” and many amongst their ranks superstitiously grumbled that he was infact a vengeful spirit sent to punish them by Gork or Mork. The Tau of Taish’Ro would however take to calling him Cova’Upt or “Shatter Mountain”.


---Screen grab from Shas'Ui Vash's onboard vid log just before the destruction of Be'gel camp #43J ^[5]

Despite the growing renown of his deeds and skill as a battlesuit pilot, Vash still chose to remain detached from his kin. He would never claim his fame and the identity of Cova’Upt would remain a mystery to most outside of the 26th Tactical interdiction cadre. To those within the cadre though, he was Shas’Ui T’au Vash Bap’Rra Cova’Upt.

In the meantime Vash would continue his personal war not seeking glory or acknowledgement for his deeds. Things would drastically change with the arrival of an old friend of Shas’El Du’Eio’Eldi’s though….

Amazing paint job!

I especially love the intricate, thorough, free hand sept markings, I am truly green with envy!

I am wondering how you managed to bend the knee of your command suit?

Thank you

My method for bending the knee is a fairly simple display of barbaric hack and slash. all I did was take a hobby knife and cut along the circular drum of the "knee" to remove the lower leg. after that it was simply a matter of smoothing the cuts and repositioning the lower leg in the desired position. The join was remade using green stuff and the two lines running around the knee drum were scored back in.

I was nervous trying it for the first time, but it turned out to be fairly easy and ended with a fairly good result. Im sure the technique will have been presented somewhere on this site far more eloquently than I could manage. If you still need some help though, I could try taking some photos of the process with the next suit I build.

Finally an update! Im sorry that its taken me so long to get another model out but this tank has been the bane of my existance for the past couple of weeks. Its been sitting on my painting table on the verge of completion for about 3 weeks now but I just wasnt at all happy with how it was turning out so I kept putting off working on it. There were quite a few problems to overcome but I feel that I'm wiser for the experience

So here is my first real Tau vehicle and my first ever attempt at painting armour chips. Let me know what you guys think!




Dragon 1





Ive also painted up a plasma cannon turret to swap out with the railgun depending on the game:





The 26th T.I.C heavily utilises hammerhead tanks as mobile fire support during interdiction operations. Spearheading these operations is the cadre’s lead vehicle, designated as Dragon 1. Aswell as maintaining its role as a main battle tank, Dragon 1 acts as a command and control unit for the cadres armoured operations. The vehicle possess an enhanced communications suite and additional tactical displays to aid in the co-ordination of the battle space.

Dragon 1’s chassis has served within the 26th for a number of years and in that time has developed a distinct personality of its own. Within the cadre, Dragon 1 is considered as both a blessing and a curse depending on whom you ask.

Fio technicians attached to the cadre have come to loath Dragon 1 for the temperamental nature of its systems. Dragon 1 has earned a vicious reputation for developing a near constant stream of problems while off the field. Unbalanced gravatic thrusters, Targeting array miscalculations, Electrical failures, Engine malfunctions, The word “Dragon 1” has become a curse word amongst numerous Fio workshops which have had the displeasure of trying to tame its systems.

Conversely, The Shas which serve alongside Dragon 1 have no such complaints. While deployed in combat, Dragon 1’s technical malfunctions are inexplicably replaced with a reputation for extraordinary resilience. Time and time again, Dragon 1 has sustained damage that would have crippled any other tank and somehow managed to continue flawless operation. The vehicle’s reputation for good fortune was perhaps most dramatically solidified in an incident where a Gue’la missile penetrated through the rear hatch of the vehicle but then failed to detonate, coming to rest impotently on the floor of the crew compartment. The missile has since been defused and claimed by the tank crew as a trophy.

Having just having proved its miraculous resilience on the field, Dragon 1 will then routinely resume its inexplicable string of malfunctions upon returning to the depot.

Cursed by the Fio, Praised by the Shas, Dragon 1 has taken on as much personality as any other member of the cadre.

What a great looking cadre with a clean, well-executed rendition of the T'au sept color scheme. I love the detail work on the vehicles and following the fluff has been great!

What's next?