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I've been a bit lax in keeping up with updates lately , so this one will be a bit of a catch-up. Recently finished are my two squads of striking scorpions from the Kill Team: Salvation box set: I have also made a fair bit of progress on the other half of the box set, the scouts, along with a gladiator lancer, my kit-bashed Phobos Librarian and a 3d printed Eradicator with multi-melta as this was not an option for the easy build squad I have. I have got most of the base colours down as well as the decals on, which have been sealed with some matt varnish. The Maxx Matt varnish from green stuff world is great through an airbrush, making the decals nice and flat. Next up, I liked the idea of doing a custom Tau Stealth Kill Team, so I purchased the STLs for the Ghost Shrimp models from Pipermakes which have a cool cloaking effect on some of the parts. I used translucent resin to try and give the cloaking effect a partially see trough appearance. I did a couple of tests on spare parts, with the idea being to use liquid mask to mask off these areas of the model and then just use a blue contrast paint into the bare resin with white edge highlight to achieve the effect I want on these areas. I'm quite happy with the test results, hopefully this will look good on the finished models. I also added a couple of spare plastic bits to one of the model to differentiate the leader from the rest of the squad. Alongside these I also have the contents of the Kroot hunting pack box set and a Terminator captain, assembled and primed, ready for painting joining the rest of my painting backlog . That's all for now, hopefully have another update shortly.

So...what a dumb title. But not wrong. Hi, I'm Fred and I have Dark Angels, Tau, Guards, Necrons and HH World Eaters...for now Right now the cabinet is a little bit a mess but...yeah there is some stuff Also I started a new instagram account only for my painting stuff (where I'll post some more tutorials and wips) Due this I don't paint for over than a month the same army but I work on some pieces for each one alterning them. Last month(s) I completed those pieces: Some Speeders "primaris" Ezekiel The new Farsight Some Hellbasters (and here you have the green method tutorial) And yesterday I compled this Lord Solar proxy for my guard: Next in the line: Some Dark Angels characters, a command squad for my guard, some bullgryn proxy for the guard!

Collected some pics of my second Tau army during a pair of games. I threw in two Farsight models I actually completed before I went back to my Eldar. Edit: My Tau gallery here at @B&C.

So my local event organizer designed a large-scale battle to cap the year off. This will take all five of the large tables in my FLGS as the community battle over the course of the day. The main forces in this are: Defenders - Xenos Factions (minus Nids) Attackers - All chaos factions, GSC, Guard and Admech (Traitor and dark effectivately) The over arcing mission of this event is to stop the Chaos forces from completing a ritual on a majority of the tables. This is a modified version of the Ritual mission from 9th if my guess is right. The defenders will be divided by faction to protect their assigned area/table. So far there is only one other Tau player in this. However between the two of us we are fielding a combined total of almost 9K (5300 for me, 3600 for him). So this is going to be a semi-packed table. I’m not sure on my counterpart’s force comp, but here is the list of units that I will be bringing to the defense. Dark Wind Cadre 7th Gue'vesa Wing This is pretty much my entire collection, at least the painted portion. I do still have more units to work on, but will not be done by the event (Dec 16th) as I need a break from tau after finishing the Ta’unar. Speaking of which, some pictures I took of the battle ready unit. I want to add another GCS trooper and some flare to the other two engines later. Just ran out of greenstuff and I don’t have access to another trooper. The one I used is from the Ridgerunner kit I have and the splated arms are used from my sister’s spare parts of her GSC collection. For the suits, plan is to consolidate them and do 3 teams of 3 with a commander, this will leave a commander on their own, but the same will happen with the fireblades. My major hope is that I only have to face one of the three Chaos Knight players I know are attending. Honestly I figure the EO will spread them out a bit. The rest is going to be how the first turn goes cause whoever gets it will be causing a large amount of pain in the opening salvo. Also not sure if their will be some version of Sustained Assault, though there is a decent chance there will be.

Shadowsun: Requiring a Patient Reader - Phil Kelly Well, this is definitely a Phil Kelly book. Ironically, considering the subject matter, I think my issue with this and all of his works is they feel too sterile. The character development is always extremely thin; we don't really get introspection, and Kelly's not skilled enough to make characters compelling through their dialogue and actions alone (though I do appreciate the attempt.) Conversely, the action is easy to follow and Kelly moves the story quickly and strikes a tolerable balance of action and everything else. Being honest, to anyone with a modicum of love for Star Wars: Kelly's Tau are just a (much) worse version of Zhan's Thrawn Ascendancy books. I implore you to go read those instead. I went into this hoping it would be a step up from Farsight, and I guess it was in that nothing outright sucked, but I also feel like Farsight was more interesting. That book had the fun Tau propaganda at the start, the impetus of the story being an expedition is less cliched than a "hold this world" plot, and I liked the Scar Lords as the enemy loyalist astartes (contrast these Death Guard, who are as stock Death Guard as I've ever read.) The only thing that really stands out in this book is the Kroot because its more alien worldview forces Shadowsun to have conversations that aren't the same Tau-to-Tau conversation Kelly populates all of his books with. If I HAD to commission a Kelly Tau book, I'd ensure it was about a ragtag squad of Tau, Humans, and Kroot constantly butting heads while fighting a unified enemy - I think that would FORCE Kelly to write something more interesting (and that KIND OF happens towards the end, here.) And all this blandness is indicative the biggest issue with the book: Shadowsun herself. Despite my issues with Helbrecht and Huron, and their portrayals within, I at least got a good picture of who they were as individuals. Shadowsun reads like Farsight reads like all of Kelly's Fire Caste Tau. I want to like Shadowsun, she's my favourite Tau going by model and codex entries, but there's really not much to her here. The best we get is a 3-ish page flashback where she's in Puretide's Training From Hell, and that's still limited to Shadowsun reacting to things happening to her. Does she have a private life? What are her interests, her hobbies, her hopes, dreams, and fears? Dunno, she's got Death Guard to shoot. Why would she take the idea of the Tau'Va as a diety even remotely seriously? Dunno, she's got Death Guard to shoot. Sundry Cons: Kelly's Ethereals still suck, though this book's character is not as bad as his Aun'Va. I don't need them to be saints; mind control is probably the most evil ability ever - but you'd think if they forced the species into such an advanced state they'd make a well-informed decision every once in a while. Kelly's version of Tau having difficulty with Chaos still boils down to "That gun should have killed them! Big monster!" Yawn. Sundry Pros: The maggots and flies dotting the Death Guard pages were a fun touch. If things like this and the blood splatter in the Angron book are cheap to produce, I'd love to see more! The possibility that the warp may have affected the 4th expansionary fleet Tau's psyche is barely tapped BUT is a much better reason for Tau panic than the aforementioned "hey these guys are impossibly tough." I like it and want to see more. 4.5/10, I cannot in good conscience give this book a pass when it fails to define Shadowsun in any meaningful way. Dark Chaplain stay away. I beg for literally anyone else to write about her.

Well, Into The Dark happened. Those characterful Kroot sculpts, full of life and fun, and yet another idea sprung to mind... How about a predominantly Kroot force, with remnants of Tau and human support, in the vein of a guerrilla force ? So I imagined a human colony, long forgot by the Imperium as insignificant, happened across by a Tau force, only to be driven to desperate measures as the Imperium suddenly remembered about them, and brought destruction for the lovely xeno huggers. Who promptly scattered into the woods, but not without some resistance... The centre lass was probably the start, a somewhat irregular kind of character that I currently refer to as "the link". Added a charging Kroot friend, and a man of the woods, someone who shunned both Imperial and Tau society, but whose knowledge of local terrain is invaluable. Now, the ITD Kroot were most certainly "guerrilla" enough, but a few of them look more versed in human society, with patches of armour, and the poncho guy. So I started converting up some with this idea further, the Kroot who've lived/worked within society more, as mercenaries, pirates etc. Used some Hired Guns bodies, and I like the look: And the most guerrilla of folks, a conversion of the Ghosts: "But OSS", I hear you cry, "wouldn't they need some kind of mobile home, some sort of base of operations ?" Yes, yes they would: Some bunks for the left, and a kroot kitchen on the right, with lots of little details to add in. Maybe some 'bandage' camo netting on the top. Just a fun litle project (not a legal army) that's entirely killed my painting progress on the Dark Mech, but I've always been more of a builder. C+C welcome, and thanks for looking !