Just thought I would show you what I have got pics of so fare and why I have chooses the colours that I have.

My Tau are based on the original scheme and is camouflaged for desert and Sahara terrain types.
The white is really to make them stand out more with the contrast and because of the grate white hunters from the good old films.
Also they will often have squad marking on there leg plates as well as small red lines and dots on the back of there helmets.
Red and gold are used a lot for small details as they tend to fit well with the warm colours of the main armour.

http://www.thedragonstears.com/gallery.aspx?member=alex&system=40k&army=tau

For the main armour I used bronzed flesh... I wish I hadn’t as it take a few cotes to get a good result especially on things like tanks.
For shading I just used dark flesh and ash gray I think it was for highlights. I also used lots of white agene I whish I hadn't as it agene takes a few goes to get a good result.

There is around 8,000 points worth of Tau there so I am not going to add to it quite yet but when a new codex comes out for them I will be adding to it with a who 3rd crade in an urban paint scheme.

How ever I am building up some Tau Terrain at the moment and once that is painted up will get that up on there as well.

WOW very impressing painting, not to mention the army composition itself. You should be really proud on the Tau Honour Guard, they look awesome!

Thanks for that it is good to get nice feed back after all that hard work
They are a Tau Honour Guard/Urban combat unit
They have compact pulse rifles and there armour is cut down so they don’t get it snagged on rubble
The rifle straps mean they can sling the gun when they have to clime rubble and the face masks are to give them a lower profile when popping there heads over.
All in all I love them and they are the basis for my 3rd crade when the next codex comes out.

Aun's knickers! You converted a Limited Edition Fire Warrior!
I really like the Honour Guard. It's a bit odd though, having an urban squad with a desert cadre?
Could you tell us how you made those heads? I may have to 'borrow' that idea. With permission, of course.

The only thing I did to the limited edition chap was stick some green stuff to his face it will come off easy enough if I need it to =D and the reason I have an urban squad is COD had just come out and I had a 7th squad laying around but still wanted them to be linked to the army. But when the new codex comes out I will do any new units in this scheme as it is so much easer to do compared to my original army

Feel free to use any ideas you see
As for how I did it well they where done a long time ago but if I remember correctly I only used green stuff and the standard tool you get from GW.

First I started of with the mask. This is relatively easy just make sure you have left the green stuff for 20 minutes so it is not so sticky and use water/oil/spit to stop it from sticking to the tool so much. Put a bit of green stuff over the mouth and then using the small flat bit of the tool shape it and square it off. I decided early on that I would have that bit running up the middle of the head so it covers there nose(at least I think it is there nose). Then use a knife to gently cut/scrap away any excess and to give it its shape. Then with a lubricated sculpting tool (or any flat metal will do) smooth it over. Leave that to dry then do the same with the eyes but with a lot less green stuff

A good idea is to get an old head..... non Tau cos they are hard to come by I find and practice on it.

The gun straps come from the kroot and the cut down pulse rife is just a carbine with the launcher cut off.
Also the left shoulder pad is just some shaped green stuff

The Tau heads where relatively easy to do especially compared to the Eldar warlocks I did on jetbikes there helmets where a lot more work but I used the storm guardian head as a basis.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what model is that kroot in the HQ section? Is it a shaper, or is it a special character, that one kroot fellow that I hear a lot about? It looks quite stunning, very good work, like all your models.

The only HQ unit of the Kroot that I've ever heard of (GW-sanctioned, that is) is Anghor Prok, who was the master shaper on Pech at the time of the Tau's arrival there. Units details removed. If I'm honest, I prefer an Ethereal, but he's pretty cool for the Kroot lovers out there!

Edit: Unit details removed? =S The rules are free off of the Games Workshop website are they not? Seems weird to take them off when they're open for everyone to get anyway.. but okay..

Ah, thank you Marc'ai. The model just looks so neat that I would buy it regardless of its abilities, its rules would really help if you have him in a squad of kroot set up for a counter assault.

Thanks for your comments
Yep he is Anghor Pork you could only get him from one of the Games days but I am sure you can find him e-bay. I have only used him a few times and when you get him in range of a couple of units of kroot he can make a big difference


He certainly can! ~ Eigle

On a side note the kroot where don’t using the dipping technique.
This involves painting the thing very basic colours with strong highlights and then dipping it in a pot of Ronsil quick drying wood varnish.
Then flicking off the excess.
The benefit to using Ronsil over the army painter stuff is that it is dry in 30 min, you get a lot more for you money and it is water soluble.
This helped a lot with the kroot in general and works best with organic things like nids, orks, kroot and such. Also looks good on shiny metal as it ages it so necrons can have a very nice weathered affect. And effectively shades and varnishes your figures in one go.

It must be noted that I have sins discovered you can just paint the stuff on and this is a better idea as you will get tennis elbow from flicking the excess stuff off from dipping a lot of figures.

Looks great so far.

For the "dipping" method you don't actually want to dunk the model into the sealant, just paint the stuff on like a wash. Otherwise you get huge pools of liquid on the miniature and have to spend way too much time trying to get the excess liquid off.

Min-wax makes a great water based floor stain that work well. One of my friends has an army that was done by "dipping" and it came out very nicely. It's much cheaper than the ones marketed by model/gaming brands, we're pretty sure that the army painter stuff is actually min-wax but just relabeled, and cut down slightly with water depending on the shade. They smell exactly the same.

You have no idea how annoyed I was to find that out after doing 100+ kroot lol

Hey BDA,

that is one interesting looking army my friend! I specially like your masked firewarriors!! they look absolutely stunning!
And I cant start on your painting skills mate. damn, there so clean! keep up the good work. I would love to see the new units!
thanks for commenting on my little WIP threat mate!

Cheers, Daan

Wow, those are really impressive. I don't suppose you have any techniques for painting those nice, clean black lines that you have so wonderfully painted, do you?

Come on guys, please try to avoid the thread necromancy. A quick look at the date on the last reply would show this thread has been inactive for about 17 months. A pm to the BDA might have been more appropriate.