The thunderous sound of boots and the gentle hum of anti-grav lifts marked the start of the Oi'ka Procession. A parade march through the streets of Tsua'Oi'Eir, reminiscent of old military formations on earth. The cities buildings stood blazen orange against the snow covered ground, and grey mountain ridges that surrounded the settlement. Men, women and children stood to watch the Oi'ka march to battle. Unlike their structures the Tau of the Cadre wore white with black accents, and their sept markings a striking gold, a testament to their name, the 'Shining Strike'.

"Tau'va! For the Shining Strike will uphold our sacred right."

Shas'El Ar'au spoke through the external speakers of his XV8 Crisis suit. The sound easily booming above the power armors heavy steps, that thundered on the pavings below. The crowd that had come out to watch cheered, and threw steamers. The warriors behind him stood firm, their formations tight and their steps perfectly in time. Their discipline a point of honor for them.

"We shall return victorious for we are Tau. We are Oi'ka. For the Greater Good or Death."

The harsh rhetoric from the Shas'el was typical of the Oi'ka, fierce nationalist and patriots. They rejected the Kroot mercenaries, as they feel that Tau metal and Tau technology was all that is needed to uphold the Greater good. As the Procession of the Cadre neared the edge of the city the Shas'el stopped and raised the massive arm of his Crisis Suit. The Firewarrior squads broke and loaded into the waiting Devilfish. Stealth suits that had been walking the entire time almost unnoticed appeared from their cloaking fields.

Shas'el Ar'au spoke now only to his men through a closed channel.

"We march against these Imperials. They claim this world is theirs. The Water Caste has tried and failed to spread the message of the greater good through words, now we will spread its word through fire. Be strong my brothers, as we shall succeed."


I am pretty new to warhammer, only been playing for about half a year now. My group of players is pretty nice, about 10-15 guys and majority new players with a few veterans of many years to teach us. I am one of three tau players in the area, although ironically I have the most experience of us all since I try and play 4-6 games a week if I can. I have just started painting and I am happy to post a couple of pictures. I've gotten mixed reviews some think is boring. [Eldar player specifically] and some think its spot on awesome, reminding them of storm troopers.

OK, pretty nice fluff there! Could we get some more info on your sept? IE Where it's located.

Now onto the pretty pics!

The first Fire Warrior looks awesome, the sept markings on his shoulder pad are very nice and clean (I wish I could do that), but I think that the basework needs a little more detail. Also on his backpack I think it would look really nice if you painted the vent thing black.

Now the crisis suit, the basework, same as the FW, and some of the spt markings are a little sloppy (although of course you knew that).

The devilfish, looks REALLY cool..but kinda boring at the same time. With some lenses (what color are you planning to use?) and gold sept markings, I think they will look great. I can't say thatI like how you painted the side sectons of the rear hull black on top, but I guess that's a personal prefrence, and they are very precise.

We do need to remember though that this cadre is a WIP, and not the finished article, so what may appear "boring" (what an awful word!) now may actually 'pop' when the full details are applied to the models.

Vak, there are a couple of threads which might give you some inspiration for your vehicles and your Battlesuits.

Your Fire Warrior works just fine for me.

Carry on, carry on.

E.

I know that! I was just saying that they (the devilfish) will look a lot better once sept markings and lenses are painted! They look great right now - the lines are very smooth and clean - but they will just be more exciting with lenses/spet markings.
I apologize if I seemed to be insulting his work. It was truly not intended.

@ Jester: I didn't think you were being insulting at all don't worry.

@Eigle: Thanks a ton, those links really did inspire me quite a bit actually.

OVERALL:

Working on finishing up the two Devilfish tonight, touch ups to the white and then sept markings. I am a little lost on how else to do the bases. I want them to be from an ice world, or an ice portion of a world. A friend said he had a few ideas but I'd like to hear some ideas from the ATT folks.

I was thinking that "Snow" Flocking over the gravel.

I don't know but, some people have used cornstarch as snow?

After searching I found this article:

Article!!

Very clean and crisp! They would look great with some snow on the bases. (Great link Jester!) I think as long as you gussy them up by painting some bright optics, they will look fantastic.

Now, what exactly is their home Sept? I'm seeing orange Sept markings, so that would usually indicate Sa'cae. Am I close?

i Belive he used gold for his sept markings

Some new painting, and my first crack at modeling.
Sorry for a little blurryness. I Couldn't seem to find a stable base to take the picture from. I will have my mini tripod soon from my sister, so better pics for the next set.

Firewarriors



Devilfish


Crisis Suit

Wit and Gold. Not 2 colour you think of when you hear Tau. Yet you did an excellent job at it. It gives them a feel of Honour Guard or Ceremonial Guard. A Army/Cadre that would defend high ranking officials. Hope it makes sense.

As for the photo's, maybe this link will help you take better pictures.

That's exactly what I wanted to go for. Eventually I want to convert some more "Ceremonial" Crisis Suits, but that wont be for a while. [ Until I learn to use that fantastic green stuff ]

The Photo link is fantastic. Ive been scoping it out for a little while now. I think now that my army is really coming along, I am going to spend a bit more time getting the pictures crisp.

This is greak work, Vak! The gold and red on the Devilfish look great. How did you get the lines on the right so straight?

That space marine on the Crisis Suit base looks like he is getting kicked in the face! LOL!

If you haven't already discovered it, here is a great tutorial on painting Tau skin by Shas'el Tael.

Thanks a ton, I had just found that Tutorial before i saw the reply to the post.

I actually am going to write up a tutorial for that. I searched the site and google and really couldn't find anything on making tau sept markings, especially on vehicles. [ Outside of awesome amounts of freehand. ] I should have it done tonight, as I am working on my 2nd fish.

I have been working on fluff, although I feel a little confused as the best way to write it up. I'm just not sure what world to come from, and/if I can make a world of my own for them to inhabit. I just don't want to step on toes if I don't have to.

Well where are you planning on putting your sept?

Say it now before someone claims your spot! (I should do that to, My sept is above Dal'yth and to the right of Ksi'm'yen...)

Eh, write what you want to write. (As long as it's good! )

You can probably justify the world you create by altering a few things here and there. Post up what you have and we can work on some ideas!

Could always do what I've done and have the main officers coming from one planet (N'dras, ooo mysterious) and then the rest of the cadre hand picked from other planets.

Or just have them all coming from N'dras, the planet was abondoned 500-odd years ago if I remember the fluff (codex is back home in Leicester and I'm here in Brixham go figure) for reasons unknown so that gives you a lot of leeway in what you can get away with as there's not really any details about the planet out there.

Just an update. No pictures yet. Got my stealth suits primed, still debating a color scheme. Got my hammerhead primed and 50% painted. Going with a similar theme as the Devilfish. All drones primed and painted. Primed the Ultramarine Kick to the face.

Currently working on a Tau themed Space marine Chapter. A friend of mine had some AoBR marines and I snagged them. I am not a fan of the marines but I LOVE me some tau. So i am currentlly shaving off imperial symbols on these marines so I can replace them with those tau transfers. Color scheme plan is same as my Tau army. Will hopefully have pictures tomorrow.

I'm not sure how you are going to make that work, fluff-wise...
It will be interesting to see though.

How is that tutorial on Vehicle sept lines coming along?

So You Want to Make Straight Lines
A Guide By: Vak

This came out of me currently painting my room, and I have WAY to much painters tape.
This is my first try and a guide and I hope it helps some people, the idea is simple but figure it could sometimes be overlooked.

Supplies:
Painters Tape (] Very Important that its Painters tape or it will just rip off your primer/paint [)
Exacto Knife
A hard surface/cutting board
Ruler

STEP 1
First job is to cut some strips. I use a glass table to paint on so i can just laid out a small piece of the painters tape and sliced. I found it was easier to maintain consistency and the small strip size by marking them in pencil first and using a ruler to guide my cuts. You should have 1 more strip than how many lines you want to make.


STEP 2
Next you need to arrange them. Put the larger strips on the outside. I've made this mistake a couple times. If you don't have a nice large area to have spill over on the outside you will have a lot more clean up to do. It can help to mark your stripes first then add the tape. Be sure to SMOOTH THE TAPE DOWN FLAT. Air bubbles can allow the paint to bleed and you will get a terrible line.


STEP 3
The final step is to paint. Do a couple coats so you can get a nice dark line to cover the pencil marks if you made any. Let the paint dry fully before peeling the tape off and you will have nice straight lines.


You will need to do some nice freehand clean up after, but its far less than if you had to do them freehand. Best part about the tape is after the paint drys on the top you can use them over again for your other vehicles. So be sure to be able to do multiple vehicles at the same time for the best use of the technique.

I would have a final product pic, but my job didn't come out so good on the hammerhead, but as you see from my devilfish It does work pretty well.