With each step, the corridor seemed to darken. The air feels damp and increasingly colder as I approach my destination.
Aun'O Bork'an Lynu Ta was looking through a viewport as I entered the room with a silent step.

Sit...
You know why you are here Commander, you must have heard the rumors.

Yes Aun'O, It seems ...

Enough! This meeting surpasses the security clearance of the Shas'Ar Tol And it will be kept short.
The Bork'an 63th Rapid Insertion Force has gone rogue and it is making landfall in the Farsight Enclaves as we speak.
They walked away from the Empire and managed to take some of the greatest Fio minds of the 3th Sphere with them!

Your assignment is simple Commander. Catalogue every move, every battle and maintenance report on the equipment of that cadre. We need to know how it was even possible to convince so many Tau to stray from the greater good.

" Aun'O Bork'an Lynu Ta leaned forward, revealing a weary face and a cold stare"

Do not miss ... a single ... detail of this Cadre. The Fio have upgraded the security libraries on your Kor'Vesa.
It contains the Fio's listing of equipment And the Shas that were assigned to the Cadre.
Follow Windstrike's footsteps. Find out who defected and what material they had on them.

Your didactic implant has been cleared of identification protocols. You are now a ghost within the Empire.
You possess the highest security clearance available to me. Your relatives will be informed of your heroic passing in battle.
They will be treated well.

Go now.
Retrieve your drone from the barracks and meet the rest of your team. Your drone will contain all the necessary details. Report every Kai'rotaa to me. .. and ONLY me.

Tau'va Commander.

The way to the barracks seemed much longer then normal. The weight of the task at hand slowing me down.
As I activated the drone, I found myself more and more anxious at finding out who Commander Windstrike really was.

--OPENING UPLINK TO DATABASE - AUTHORIZATION CODE: ****** --
--AUTHORIZATION CODE ACCEPTED. ACCESS GRANTED.--
--WELCOME COMMANDER--
--REQUESTING SHAS'AR'TOL COMMANDER DATAFILE--
--QUERY=?WINDSTRIKE?--
--DONE--

The drone projected the image of the commander on the white wall.
My didactic implant was receiving a summary of the commander's career.

Shas'O Sha'is Ka: A charismatic but aggressive leader.
While tasked with the evacuation of research station "Knowledge of Destiny", he saw the ruthlessness of the Gue'la.
The mission was a near failure before the battle of refinery "Joe Q".

During the battle he was struck by an autocannon round, damaging his shield generator.
The shield generator's containment field malfunctioned which caused it to form a hazardous energy field around his shield.
This field was able to cut through the support pillars of the refinery And bring the complex crashing down on the Gue'la.
While the fuel supply of the Gue'la was severely hampered, he ordered a series of hit and run attacks to exhaust their remaining supply, thus permanently grounding all air support for the Gue'la.

Fio'Vre Bork'an Bentu Caor managed to stabilize this energy field and with it, created a battlesuit weapon that could rival the Gue'la power weapon.

---

Greetings All!

With the recent increase in Project Logs, I felt compelled to create my own. The ARC-16 log is huge inspiration and I admit that many elements of this Log will be adapted/copied from Wolfs16. It is a magnificent thread and I hope to achieve a small amount of the same quality in tribute of that Project Log.

The above is a small piece of fluff that I have written and through the eyes of our ghost commander, I will be telling the tale of my Cadre.

My cadre is in various stages throughout the FoC and I am now dedicating myself to completing the many many projects I have laying around.
The following is a list of units and i will be updating their entry as they progress.
The names of the units will be colour-coded to indicate their progress. The names are also a link to my Photobucket account.
The directories contain more images.

Purple: Under construction, still modelling.
Red: Modelling is done, model has been basecoated.
Orange: Only details remain unpainted.
Green: Done!

Commander Windstrike
Count-as Commander Farsight
This model was created with the Shas'O R'Myr model from Forgeworld. The shield arm is converted to resemble the Dawn Blade.
The head was modified with additional antenna's from a XV-25 box to create more of a roman legionnaire look.


Shas'Vre Bodyguards
The retinue for Windstrike is made up from XV-89 suits. The only conversions to these suits were the addition of a target lock on one arm,
and the photon grenade bit to resemble a Stimulant Injector.


XV-8-2
As I am not satisfied with the look of a regular XV-8, I created the XV-8-2. By using shoulder pads from firewarriors,
I could bulk up the suit and create a bit more detail on the model.



XV-88-2
The Broadsides are made from the Forgeworld XV-88-2 models. Astonishing models.
These suits are fully painted and varnished.


Tigershark AX-0-1-0
My 2 Tigersharks. Originally bought as a display model but due to some damage on the model,
I received a 2th one from Forgeworld.




For the next 3 weeks, I have 4 projects scheduled and I hope to complete them all in that time.
I hope to have the motivation to work on this regularly and provide updates at least once a week.

Project 1: Assemble and paint a batch of 3 XV-81
Project 2: Convert Pathfinders from firewarriors.
Project 3: Create a new type of Hammerhead
Project 4: Assemble and paint 2 Broadside XV-88-2 team leaders.


C & C is always appreciated.
Stay tuned!

Hey De'terra
A great way to making sure you get the job done within a fixed period of time :p (I should have started making timetables 5 years ago)
I'd like to see what you have done to your XV8 suits to make them XV8-2s - FW shoulderpads can be applied almost everywhere.
I like those XV88-2 models from forgeworld too, they add a lot of mobility to the whole 'aura' of of the XV88-designation.

My Forgeworld models are always full of warping, flash and air bubbles; I had to remodel significant parts (think:heads, weapons and legs) of at least half of my XV88-2 suits and had to correct [A lot] of my Barracuda before I could even start assembling. How did you get Forgeworld to send you a replacement?

PoisonBladeNL

EDIT: added 'MY' to the second paragraph :p
EDIT2 : Congrats on the promotion by the way

It all sounds pretty good to me. Only one slight quibble with it all though... it should read 63rd Rapid Insertion Force, not 63th. Easy mistake to make though.

On the tigershark, I had a broken piece on one of the engines. Nothing I couldn't fix with green stuff though.
Then I also saw a pretty big miscast on the rear thrusters. That was a bit much for such an expensive model.

I just took a picture of the defects and send a polite email to forgeworld. 3 days later I had a brand new Tigershark in the mail.

PS the names of the units are a link to my photobucket account.
Pictures are there ...

In my experience, it's not that hard. Not only are most of those things easily corrected (and TBH, somewhat expected with resin models), Forgeworld is pretty good about sending replacement parts if something is missing or damaged too badly to salvage. I had a missing part from my Macharius, and they shipped me a replacement no questions asked. And out of I-don't-even-want-to-think-about-how-much-worth of models bought from Forgeworld, there has only been one other that couldn't be fixed with a reasonable amount of effort: a cheap Tau remote sensor tower that was mis-cast enough that fixing it changed the shape.

Yes, I know I'm too stubborn to ask for aid..., but now I'm feeling stupid....

De'Terra, I Like what you have done to the second Tigershark, with the seekers and all.
Would you mind if I mimic your idea and use it on my barracuda (the one I haven't fixed yet)?

-PBNL

PBNL, Not a problem at all!
Just a hint though, secure the wire with green stuff and glue in the missile rack of the Tigershark.
I managed to break the glue bond and now the missiles keep spinning around on the damned wire

When I finish painting it, I'm going to add some cotton wool to simulate a smoke effect.

Dear ATT members,

Behold my prototype Hammerhead, TX-710-2!

I wanted to create a sleeker hammerhead and while brainstorming this, I thought of the German StuG tanks.
So here is a hammerhead that has it's railgun incorporated into the hull.

Or atleast a mock-up of it
I will also be "stealing" an idea of our very own Militant.Jester.
Mostly the armored cockpit he used on his stealth fish in this topic:
http://advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a







There are several matters that I would like your opinion on:

Picture 1 and 2 have a different burst cannon mounting, which one do you prefer?
Personally, I like the mounting on 2 better. The added bulk creates a more menacing profile.

Picture 2 uses the skyray turret to house the railgun. If the skyray bit is used, I intend to cut off the bottom half to lower it.
The only problem I have with it is the change in profile.
You can clearly see this in picture 3.
I am currently leaning towards the exclusion of the skyray bit.

You can also see that the left wing picture 2 is the skyray bit. I got this idea from the following blog:
http://www.miniwargaming.com/content/n4hoP4N1P6T2 (It's a small youtube video.)
When comparing this with the skyray wing, I do like the extra exhaust on the front.

I am thinking of using the piranha wing for this part of the conversion. I will also seal the sides of the hammerhead and extend the wing of the piranha engine so that it is one part with the hull. I will need to relocate the exhaust to above and below the wing.
I used a bit of white tack in picture 4 to simulate this.

The wing itself will be positioned a bit lower, much like the position on the piranha.
I also added a seeker missile on the hull, see picture 5. Just as a gimmick though. I'm not really convinced about it.
The right side of the tank houses the railgun and a seeker missile on the other side might make the entire front facing a bit too busy.

Let me know your opinions on this, additional ideas or questions are welcome

Hey De'terra,
I hope you don't mind if I reply here instead of in the PM conversation...?

Anyways, you're definitely starting an ambitious project here. A lot of what you're trying could turn out really cool... or, badly done, less than cool. Be warned!
Anyways, going through your ideas in order:

Burst Cannons:Although it will depend on execution, I agree that the wider set-up works better. I would advise two things:
Make sure that it still looks like the turret can turn. Again, all in the execution.
Replace the standard burst cannon with the jacketed stealth suit burst cannon. Much sleeker look, and in my opinion just plain better,

The piranha engines are looking pretty sweet, you're going to have them inside the wings, right? Not resting on top?
The video you looked was pretty sweet, but to me the new wings didn't seem to match well with the rear thrusters. I think that in made the plane look much more airplane-ish. Perhaps fixing the thrusters to the hull, closer and lower down, would improve the image?

The railgun looks like it could be pretty imbalanced if it rested way out on the side there... I don't know, that's just my opinion. It looks better in some pictures than others.

The seeker missiles - no offense, but they just don't look good at all in my opinion. That is, assuming you aren't going to drill the hull and have the warheads peeking out just a little bit. That would be sweet. But as it stands, well, I just can't see a large missile sticking out that much.

One last thing - here is some required reading when converting hammerheads:

Dark_Gear's Armor Plated Hammerhead: Excellent, extensive conversion showing how very simple changes go a long way. I'd particularly advise checking out the door part.
Wolfs16's Hammerhead Conversion: Pretty sweet conversion going on here, with a similar thruster mod to yours.
Those are just two conversions out of the many that turn up in a search, but they are two of my favorites. ...and I'm not just putting Wolf's on there because his army is so awesome.

Now, I only read a little of your first post (OK I read it all, but only looked at a few of the pictures), it's seems you've got a pretty sweet thing going on here. I particularly like the Intro fluff; excellent writing and it really strikes the imagination. Very Samurai.
Maybe adding just one picture for each of your models would be a good idea. Give people an idea of what's going on.

Oops, this thread snuck by me! First off, thanks for the compliments on my cadre. I have an overactive imagination and finally decided to put it to good use.

Now as for your cadre, it is looking really good! Fantastic work on the intro graphic! I like your color scheme and think it looks great on the Broadsides (well done on the basing there). The Farsight conversion is also great and really makes him stand out. I must agree with Jester though, that you should add at least one or two pictures directly to the log so we can see what you have done. Whenever I have to follow a link and then click on the pictures to get a bigger shot, and then click it again to zoom in, I tend to not look through them.

The Hammerhead is coming along nicely! I have to ask, what did you have in mind for the tanks background? Is it a special design created for a specific purpose, or is it just the conversion your cadre uses for its vehicles? I ask since that will help me make critiques in the direction you want to take the tank. I'm sure you've seen my Hammerhead conversion and I hope it inspires. But I think you have some great ideas going on with your design.

Have you considered using the "Squid" pattern railgun design pioneered by Bear? I can't find the link now, but it basically involves attaching the Railgun to the front of the Skyray turret.I think it is super nice and would look really good on a compact Hammerhead conversion. Anyway, onto the points at hand. I agree that the #2 position for the Burst Cannons looks best. It gives a bulky look, without interfering with the design. Are you attaching it to the chin sensors so it can rotate? I so no to the Seeker Missile conversion as well; it just looks out of place. As for the Piranha wings, it really does widen the front of the tank out with both the engine and wing attached there. If you want it to be sleek, I don't think you should have a wide front. The Skyray "wings" do look cool on that conversion you linked too, but I agree that it doesn't work with the back engine design.

I really think the decision on the Piranha bitz depend largely on your intended fluffy design. Give us some direction so the Fio'la can get to brainstorming!

As for the fluff, I think it is very interesting. I don't know what your personal view of Farsight is, but I personally feel he still fights for the Greater Good and is willing to go so far as to sacrifice his good name to protect the Empire from the Orks. But honestly, the interpretation is up to you! I'll be very curious to see how you develop it.

Keep up the good work!

The Linkinator strikes!

Here is Bear's original conversion.
De'terra has already seen this pics I believe; he asked me for pictures of my adaption, so I assume he saw the link to Bear's conversion in my post detailing my hammerhead...
...if that made any sense at all.
But anyways, there's the link for anyone who hasn't already seen it.

Thanks for all the replies chaps!

I do have some background for the tank. Windstrike will be sent to colonize a "uninhabited" planet. This will turn out to be inhabited and the enemy hides in a giant cave complex.
The hammerheads would often be lured to smaller passages and get stuck or damaged by scraping the ceiling. The local Fio then create this hammerhead which is more agile since it uses the back thrusters for maneuvering and the front thrusters to keep momentum. I'm still fleshing it all out but that is the general idea behind this design.
That and well ... Rule of cool

I wanted to make a real hammerhead conversion when I saw the Squid pattern turret. After that I saw the conversion by Wolfs16 and I knew I had to go bigger, better and bolder
At this point I'm going to exclude the turret and fuse the railgun into the hull. The right engine bit will most likely be moved to the other side so that I can still use the distinctive railgun end. This might hamper my gameplay a bit but I have never had a situation where an immobilized hammerhead didn't have LoS to an enemy units.
Never turn your back to the enemy and all that

The piranha engines will replace the drone racks. This is just a white tack mock-up. I'd like to have a cool hammerhead instead of a big box of bits in the end.
The skyray wings do look cool but the rear thrusters screw it up. The inspiration for this did come from Wolfs16 project log.
That and any project log can only improve by mentioning his log. really though, any excuse is ok for linking the log

The seeker missile was a spur of the moment. If I would execute that, it would be just a seeker warhead protruding the hull. Similar to the Tigershark missile rack.
Then again, who even takes seeker missiles

Edit: Added some pictures to the intro post

The Fio have been very busy and the drones have begun construction on the Hammerhead.

My apologies for the quality of the camera, my parents have claimed my camera for their biking trip.
I'll have some better pictures in about 3 days





When I placed the piranha engines, it seemed ackward. I wasn't really satisfied with the look.
If you look on the side profile, the small wings on top are directly lined up with the start of the rear thrusters.

I like the combination of both engine parts on top.
I am probably going to add the skyray sensor bit in front of it.
The detail work will have to wait however. Cutting it all is about all the excitement I can take for a day

Feedback will be much appreciated and awarded with some shrimp tails.

Shrimp tails!

I will make a minor note, it looks as though the pirahana engine on the left side is a bit crooked, as in pushed a little too far foward. Was that intentional or accidental?

And that gives me a fluff idea. A sleepy hammerhead pilot fell asleep at the wheel and caused that engine to tilt, making the hammerhead crash into the floor/ wall creating a very loud shriek of metal on rock and completely giving away a surprise attack.

I like flipping the Piranha engines upside down, I think it actually works pretty well. As for the railgun placement, you are gonna be adding the bottom half to the gun, right? Also, are you going to add the cupola in there somewhere? Maybe in the cent er of the half circle shape you've created there on the left? How do you plan on attaching it?

i'm currently holding everything together with white tack. So it's normal that some pieces appear crooked.
The finished model will be properly aligned

The railgun will be fully assembled. I only use the upper half since this is simply an indicator for the profile of the tank.
The railgun will be hull mounted in the finished model. There is a fluff reason for this but I'm still haven't gotten to writing everything.
I'm a horrible writer.

At first, I wasn't planning on adding the cupola. But you have given me an excellent idea.
In fact, i'm going to try that right now!

It's been a bit quiet on the warhammer end of my life but I did manage to put a few hours into my hammerhead.

I attached both engine parts on the front of the chassis and started to fill the gaps on one end.
Wolfs16 has given me an excellent idea in regard to the cupola, c&c on the execution is welcome.

I made some new pictures and I added the piranha wings as well.
They increase the size of the hull by quite a bit. A normal hammerhead is 4" across, this version is a whopping 5,5"
Since I am planning on filling the space between the wings and the hull, would it be a good idea to make the wings less wide?




This does pose a few issues in regards to gameplay.
Moving the vehicle will be harder, I will have an advantage in regards to my front facing.
Does anyone have a real issue with that? I can image that some opponents would call this a "modelling for advantage approach".

I am pretty satisfied with the lay-out of the engine parts, cupola and railgun on the top of the tank.
The profile is low and menacing but there is still plenty of detail on the tank.
I think that it will look good once it's painted.
To finish this post, a few shots to get a better view of the concept as a whole.

Disclaimer: Model is held together by white tack, components may appear crooked

That hammerhead is looking very handsome so far and I am pretty impressed with that tigershark!

It's been a while since my last update.

Life has been pretty rough on me lately so I had to cut back on warhammer time.
Since everything is lining up again, I've decided to give the hammerhead another go.

I'm very happy with the top of the vehicle. The details look spiffy and I can't wait to get this painted.
I do need to touch up on the green stuff near the cabling.




When I was adding the piranha wings to the nose, I found that it made the vehicle too big.
Not only in aesthetics but also on the table. A 5,5" front AV is big
With that in mind, I clipped a piece of the wings and attached it behind the piranha engine.
This way, I kept the shape of the wing and kept the size to a minimum.




Filling the gap in between wasn't easy. I fixed the small wing hook with a piece of steel wire and used grey stuff to fill the big gap in between.
I have currently left a big space open near the back.
Since the area is pretty large, I can't smooth the grey stuff because it falls to the bottom.
I'm going to let this cure and then finish the details tomorrow.

I also had a nifty idea for the chin turret. I was contemplating a name for the vehicle when I took a look at my bit box.
I used the nose of a piranha instead of the chin turret; This creates a rather menacing front view and the little hump on the bottom made me think of a bulfrog.




All in favor for codename Bulfrog?

This was also my first time with grey stuff and I can really recommend it to anyone.
It doesn't stick as much as green stuff and you can use a lot longer!
You do have to wait longer for it to cure though ...

I am working on something special for the back of the tank. Think of a broadside-esque backpack
But I'm going to save that one for later. You'll love it.

To finish the tank, I need to attach both wings and grey stuff it and find a way to attach both burst cannons.
I'm also going to do some "armoring" of the tank with plasticard but that will be in the final stages of the modelling part.
For those who are wondering how I managed to take the entire top apart and put it back together ...



Feedback is always welcome!

I love what you've done so far on your "Bulfrog". Can't wait to see it painted.

Christ that's a huge mod...

The piranha 'chin mount' seems a bit awkward to me because its so large. I think maybe you should try and reduce the size of it... but before ya possibly go hacking it up, can you post a side profile picture of the tank so i can compare the proportions properly?