Hello ATT,

This thread has been created to allow anyone to make comments on my collective background thread located here. Any constructive feedback is appreciated!

Now, some may look at the scope of this thread and wonder why anyone would write up background for every model in his cadre. Well, for one, I wanted to improve my writing abilities and this really allowed me to do that. But the general theme of all of this is that each person has a story. Every Tau sent into battle has hopes, dreams and a personality. I wanted each of the characters that are in my cadre to have exactly that: personality. My goal was that each one of these characters could be picked from the bunch and have a story of their own.

By doing this, I have become very attached to my cadre and it motivates me to try some very unique builds and conversions to show that character. Anyone who wants to collaborate with me on my background to include their own cadre, please feel free to PM me.

w...wo....WOW

I just can't believe how much time and effort your putting into this!!! *Warning - Shameless Praise Approaching* Don't get me wrong, all our ATT veterans are great examples to follow, its just you seem to put so much into it! Your a great example for us lil' La's and Saal's!

IMO the thread is layed out perfectly, it flows nicely and is organized very logically. I'm really impressed.

- null

Aw shucks Null, thanks for the compliment. This is really a labor of love and was worked on mostly during the hours I spent wide awake in a crappy South American hotel.

If you really want to see dedication and detail, check out Doombringer's thread here. He puts us all to shame!

It really makes me want to do my SM chapter's info and my Tau cadre fluff.

Sorry It has taken me so long to get on this Wolf, but I wanted to read the whole thing.

To begin with, I love the banner, nothing better than starting off your thread with a kickass picture IMO. I can see a large amount of inspiration from Doombringer's Ol'nan thread, especially in how you present articles that are "still downloading". It's a good touch and nice to see it here. I also like the use of quotations from your characters, its a nice touch that brings the character to life, give us something other than dry information and statistics. The opening paragraph, to the Tau'faan looks like another piece of inspiration from Doombringer's thread, at first I was sceptical about it, but looking at it now, it fits in nicely as a wee introduction to the thread.

Before I progress into the fluff, I just want to talk about the models. Looking both in the project log and in the background thread, I really like how you have taken the Sa'cean scheme and made it your own. The grey goes well with your bases (which are beautifully done by the way), and red is a nice highlight color. Though to me it clashes with the Sac'ean Orange, luckily the Sept Symbol isn't actually that visible, I had to look for it. The conversion work is good as well, not too massive (except for that shaper who is fantastic) just makes the suits a bit more excitingly posed. Well done on that. I also like the helmets on the Kroot. I'm not totally thrilled with the counts as Vespid, not a fan of the Grenade Launchers as their weapons, would personally have gone for melta guns or plasma guns, but they do look great, and fit nicely with your army, the reaffirm my wish to go and create a unit or two of Gue'vesa for my own Cadre.

Your background for Lar'shi is very detailed, especially the character analysis. I am impressed with the type of character you have built, not many people outright call their commander insecure, but it fits with the abrasive outer attitude. I also like the addition of "beliefs and fears" and "how does he lead" their a good analysis and it has given me ideas of how to approach my own commander's background. Which in comparison to this I have found sorely lacking, well done on the detail and character. On the whole the level of detail into the background of most of the indivuals in your army is staggering. I like the addition of Mont'mesa as a character, reminds me a bit of Major Rawne and Colonel-Commissar Gaunt relationship, though not totally. It just re-affrims that your shas'El isn't infallible, which is great for character depth and story.

In your firewarrior teams, I like how you have individually modelled each firewarrior and given them roles within the team, demolitions, medics etc. it's a really nice touch to the units and makes them quite personal. The only thing I would say, is what happens when one of them dies? I assume the record is meant to be a snapshot rather than an ongoing log, so the characters aren't exactly going to die and be replaced.

There is just too much to say and too much to read to reply to this all at once, I'd like to read a bit more in detail before I say anymore, but I just want to say, absolutely fantastic and well detailed. It's certainly given me some inspiration on how to display my cadre and new areas to think about when I eventually post mine up.

I would however say, when you get around to posting up the actual cadre background (i.e. stats etc.) put up a picture of the army as a whole, it would be good to get a look at them all in one picture.

Terminatorinhell:
Glad you like it. I say try your hand at some writing and you should have some pretty good info soon!

Majonga:
Yes, Doombringer's thread has been a huge inspiration to me. But to be fair, I was developing these ideas long before I read his posts. I must also add that your cadre background has really inspired me as well! I hope you post it over here so we can all benefit from it. There are still many changes I'd like to make to the thread, so any ideas on little things to add would be appreciated. The banner is just an idea I had and I may improve it later.

I'm glad you like the models. I chose the color scheme because it just looked so awesome on Tael's models. But as I have painted it, my style has really become my own. The red does clash with the orange a bit, but I quite like what the represents. The original ARC-16's who bear the red markings are veterans of Ge'nesha and they are strongly bonded to the Blood Quills. On that planet, many battles against the Tyranid were fought and every victory was won with blood and marred by great sacrifice. So they paint their armor to show that they really are bloodied warriors; even those who have joined after the Ge'nesha incident. I feel like the red panels separate the ARC-16's from other Tau and display a spark of rebellion for not maintaining a cohesive color scheme. As for the Gue'vesa'kor, I know not many people were crazy about them. I definitely want to improve their backpacks in the future, but for now I quite like them. I don't know why, but they hold a special place in my heart.

Lar'shi is a complicated character. He is fiercly intelligent, but that had made him somewhat of an elitist. When he failed his first trial by fire, he was indignant. Essentially it had much to do with his physical mediocrity which led to his failure. But instead of simply trying harder the next time, Lar'shi took it as an insult and worked to overcome with a sense of spite over his failure. Basically, he is afriad of failing and any tough guy attitude is a front to cover the fact that he is a Shas who wants nothing more than to have his old Shas'El back. Plus, he is regularly facing an enemy that constantly adapts and challenges Lar'shi's agile mind like never before. This only serves to increase the fear he has of failure; since now failure means that the planet will likely die. When I add more background stories, Lar'shi's descent into madness will be made clearer. Oh and Mont'mesa is a huge jerk, but sometimes Lar'shi can be just as bad. They fight each other constantly, but neither can deny that there are some legitimate reasons to keep the other around. Mont'mesa just wants to be the one in charge.

As for the Firewarriors, I love those little guys. Glad you like them! All Tau line warriors are trained to fulfill a variety of tasks. But some who have an affinity for it are given a bit of extra training. IF one dies, he is replaced by another warrior who is trained in that field. Essentially you would have an understudy always training along with the regular specialist.

The army stats need to really be re-worked and updated. I will definitely be doing a large army shot, but that will happen once this Hammerhead is finished! Also, I have trouble taking pictures of such a large force. I'm always looking for tips on how to get a good picture.

Thanks again for the response. Please feel free to give any critiques of my work. It's the only way I'll improve!

This is truly inspiring!!! I can't find a word which would discirbe how in awe i am at the detail and effort you put in. Really makes me want to do something similar but just don't have the time hahaha. The models themselves are awesome also, clean and crisp. Top stuff mate.

Apologies for my absence but real life is a buggar at present.

Wolf16

TRULY EPIC ....

"You are a firey star shining bright in the darkness of the void, keep on shining my friend." Brokensword to Lar'shi , Battle of Sha'kun Char

bluedestiny:
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Remember, these stories were not written in one day, but over the course of a year. This project was started because I wanted to improve my writing skills and all good writers tell me that you should write a little each day to keep getting better. Some of these stories were written in only a few minutes, while others took many days. So I say start small and see where your muse takes you!

Brokensword:
My dear Brokensword, I must give special thanks to you for helping me on my background efforts when my cadre was young. You helped me to get the focus that I needed and you were the spark that gave the ARC-16's life. Your History of Tau'shan is more epic than my little writings and I encourage you to continue adding to it.

As for Lar'shi and Brokensword, they have a funny relationship. Lar'shi wants to hate him since Brokensword can come off as a bit of a goody-two-shoes to him. But Brokensword has an inner strength that radiates through his whole personality. It scares Lar'shi a bit since he knows that he cannot match his confidence. So while Lar'shi hides his insecurities by lashing out at others, Brokensword is calm and focused, having a depth of courage that makes him a fantastic commander.

Who knows, maybe Brokensword may be the Tau who saves Lar'shi from himself?

Holy cow Wolf!!! (sounds a little strange?!)

This is an amazing body of work that I can't wait to finish reading (only skimmed through it earlier). The painstaking level of detail is inspiring to us all, you can clearly see this has been - as you put it - a labour of love.

I've been slowly working on a similar, albeit less detailed and no where near as epic, project for my own Cadre. I hope once I've finished reading about your ARC-16s that I'll be spurred into finishing my Cadre and its very own background thread.

Congratulations on this epic piece of work and proving once again that ATT, and its members are of the highest quality. You've certainly shown yours!!!

Rus'el

Thanks for the compliment Rus! I have a very overactive imagination, so all of these stories are a combination of ideas that have been rattling in my head for years.

This is just an update to let folks know that my latest background is up for my experimental Hammerhead. You can find the link here.

Now as I stated in my Project Log, I will soon be ending my current thread, but there will be much more background coming in the near future. And this Collective Background thread will always be updated with any new unit I create. Again, C&C is always welcome!

Hey guys, I've added the background for a bunch of models that I created awhile ago. It's been almost a year since I posted them up! Hope you all enjoy it. I will be adding another Stealth Team and my Shadowsun Count-as later (once I write their background!)

Remember, all new models of mine will be added to the Struggle for Kur!

Click here to view the updated background thread.