[Showcase] Kavaal Korst'la'sha'is

[elmo]

Soldiers of the Fire Caste!
Kroot and Vespid allies!
Today, we stand as a bulwark against the selfish, the soulless, and the mad!
Today, we must drive back our enemies from our city and from our world!
Today, more than ever before, we fight for the Greater Good!
And we will triumph!

 

 

 

 

Kavaal Korst'la'sha'is (Strike Group Reaping Wind)
Collection photo @ 07/07/19

 

 

The Tau Empire was the first 40K army I started collecting after beginning with Orcs and Goblins and Empire in Warhammer FB. What drew me to them was the sleek, futuristic look and the back story of them being a benevolent force in the galaxy rather than a backward looking or just plain evil force.

Being from a military background I wanted a muted, real life colour scheme which was supported in the fluff as the Tau Empire is known to adopt colour schemes to suit the environment in which they wage war.

After much searching on the internet I went for a lozenge pattern using dark green as a base with light green and a dark terracotta as the patches with dark red highlighting danger areas such as engine intakes and weapons. Markings where originally in tan but are now slowly being replaced with white along with the heads of the battle suits. The undersides of skimmers and aircraft has been done in light grey. A muted gold is used for some highlights along with lenses in either red or green. Cockpits and troop compartments started out in light grey but are slowly changing to khaki.

Initially my colour scheme was too "busy" and shiny and as time progressed I have toned it down and added weathering hence you can see the evolution of the scheme over the last 10 years especially on the Devilfish.

The current plan is to clear down the painting backlog and then to return to these earlier models and strip and repaint them. This will be a long project so bear with me

I have split the collection into separate posts which will help me to keep this thread updated with the minimum of confusion as it progresses as new photos will be added to the existing posts.

 

HQ
Battlesuits
Troops including allies
Drones
Transports, Tanks and Reconnaissance
Aircraft
Fortifications and Lords of War

Edited July 2, 2022 by elmo

[elmo]

HQ

It is as we join with others, in a way that only the Tau can, in shared engagement to the Greater Good,

that we find ourselves able to fully realize our true potential.

And that is the final source of our hopes and intentions.
Aun'el T'au Tam'ya, Ethereal caste

Aun'Va, Master of the Undying Spirit

Honour Guard

Heavy Gun Drones

Ethereals

XV85 Enforcer Armour

Commander Shadowsun and command link drone

Edited November 30, 2019 by elmo
Photo added

[elmo]

Battlesuits

Our tanks were useless. As soon as we broke cover, their battlesuits' heavy guns were locked on to us.

I swear it was as though they had someone nearby aiming for them before they shot.

And when they did shoot...Emperor's mercy! Their guns punched through our armour like it was paper.

All I could see were trails of fire where the projectiles had ignited the air.
Guardsman Cauley, 25th Graian Rifles

The weapons and support systems are magnetised

XV15 Stealth Suits

XV25 Stealth Suit

XV84 and XV89 Crisis

Battlesuit - Designation unknown

XV9 Hazard Battlesuits

XV8 Crisis

XV88 Broadsides

XV88-2 Broadside

XV95 Ghostkeel

XV109 Y'vahra

XV104 Riptide

XV104 Riptide

XV105 Tsunami

Edited December 31, 2021 by elmo

[elmo]

Troops including allies

They are fierce indeed these Kroot, and savage.
I look upon them and tremble at their ferocity.
I can only hope that when the enemy sees them they tremble as I do.
Por'vre Tau Cho, Water caste envoy

Cadre fireblade

Cadre fireblade

Cadre fireblade

Darkstrider

Edited October 25, 2019 by elmo

[elmo]

Drones

The humble drone is the greatest symbol of our growing dominion. They follow orders without question,

work tirelessly and sacrifice themselves without hesitation when called upon.
Truly, much can be learned from such devotion.
Ethereal Aun'vre

MV1 Gun Drone

MV31 Pulse Accelerator drone

MV33 Grav-inhibitor Drone

MV4 Shield Drone

MV7 Marker Drone

MV8 Missile Drone

M84 Shielded Missile Drone

MB3 Recon Drone

Heavy Gun Drone

Sniper Drones and Controller

MV36 Guardian Drones

Edited September 14, 2018 by elmo

[elmo]

Transports, Tanks and Reconnaissance

Those with superior reach can dictate the terms of battle and impose their will upon their foe.
Remember, the first step on the path to victory is often the most important.
Commander Puretide

Weapons are magnetised and the Devilfish can be converted to Hammer or Railheads

Pathfinder Tetra

TX4 Piranha

TY7 Devilfish

TX7 Hammerhead Gunship with Master gunship pilot Shas'la T'au Sha'ng

TX7 Hammerhead Gunship

TX78 Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship

Edited July 10, 2020 by elmo

[elmo]

Aircraft

A mightier shoal of predators I have never seen; all grace and measured fury.
Shas’ui Kais

Remora Drone Stealth Fighters

Barracuda Air Superiority Fighter

AX-5-2 Barracuda Air Superiority Fighter

AX-1-0 Tiger Shark

Edited November 17, 2017 by elmo

[elmo]

Fortifications and Lords of War

Beneath the protective umbrella of the shield relay, we are all but untouchable.
Once more, our science and enlightenment makes brings us closer to our ultimate aims.
Aun'Cho, Tau Ethereal

Drone controlled Sentry Turrets and Sensor Tower

Bunker

KV128 Stormsurge

KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour

Edited July 7, 2019 by elmo

[Valdr Fell-fist]

I've got to admit, Elmo, those are quite possibly the best T'au I've seen in a long time.

 

Would you mind sharing how you did the 'stealth effect' on your stealth suits?

[elmo]

Thanks Valdr

 

It is very similar to the power sword effect that most use on their marines...

 

I painted the model in the base colour first and then decided where I wanted the stealth effect to have taken place so as to look like it was just cloaking..

This section was painted in the same colour as the base.

 

At the edge of the section I painted a dark blue stripe then using successively lighter blues drew a lightning fork effect finishing in small dots of white.

Edited July 11, 2017 by elmo

[Valdr Fell-fist]

Thanks Elmo, really helpful there.

[depthcharge12]

Awesome stuff as always Elmo! I'm a fan of your Stormsurge as I hate the "trying to take a dump pose" of the regular model lol.

 

I like the realism aspect of your camo and I'm attempting a more urban scheme, though if I had to do it again, I would have gone for DAK Khaki scheme or even the yellowish Dunkelgelb :D

[elmo]

I have constantly kicked myself for going with the camouflage as it is very time intensive and there are times where I wished I had gone for the Dunkelgelb old style T'au scheme but when I see the completed models it always seems like it was worth it

Mind you my chocochip guard do me no favours either

Edited June 18, 2017 by elmo

[Kelborn]

Impressive army and an incredible color scheme! One of the best I've seen thus far! :O

 

I don't collect or paint mini so could you explain to me how you've done it? Did you paint every muster for itself? Or did you used some decals?

[BlueBelly1863]

Incredibly impressive collection and color scheme Elmo. Amazing work all around; this may be the best (or at least, my favorite) paint scheme for Tau I've ever seen. Really like the battlesuit thats kneeling in the ruins. 

[elmo]

Impressive army and an incredible color scheme! One of the best I've seen thus far!

 

I don't collect or paint mini so could you explain to me how you've done it? Did you paint every muster for itself? Or did you used some decals?

 

I used MaskFX splinter camouflage system. This was produced by Critical Mass Games which has since been bought out by Ral Partha and I am waiting for a reply to see if they will add it to their range...

Step 1: Spray with a matt black base. I do this so I get a darker shade at the end.

Step 2: Spray with light brown

Step 3: Apply MaskFX shapes to cover approx 1/4 of the surface

Step 4: Spray with light green

Step 5: Apply MaskFX shapes to cover approx another 1/4 of the surface avoiding covering the mask from step 3

Step 6: Spray dark green

Step 7: now is a good time to highlight the dark green

Step 8: Remove the MaskFX

Step 9: The light brown I have is too light so I paint over it with Vallejo Terracotta then darken it with Agrax Earthshade. This is just something that has continued from earlier models so I keep it going for consistency.

Step 10: Paint watered down Bestial Brown around the edge of the brown patches.

Step 11: I repaint over the green with Goblin Green as the Army Painter I have seems a little shiny

Step 12: Mix Goblin Green with 25% white and paint this around the edges of the green patches

Step 13: Camouflage is done - just the detail to paint now http://advancedtautactica.com/images/smilies/tau_wink.gif

 

I also mask off with decorators tape any areas I don't want to camouflage such as the engine intakes, exhausts and underside prior to step 1.

 

It is quite time intensive even with the savings with using the spray cans. It used to take 6 weeks to paint a Devilfish but now, using MaskFX, I have got it down to 2...

[Dreagher]

Some really nice T'au!

 

Also: Another person with a Taunar :D

[deathspectersgt7]

Stunning army . 

[Lippy]

Wow, absolutely stunning.

 

I can tell its a real labour of love, so major kudos to you.

I'd love to see them on the battlefields all together! Tau'va!

[Jolemai]

This should be renamed to El'mo's dirty secret thread :p

 

Fabulous as always and yes, I've been lurking on ATT to see these updates (amongst other things).

[walter h]

These are magnificent! I don't know when we added xenos, but  kudos to all who pushed forward.I will put my Tau, here soon.

[Firepower]

Freaking hell that's a lot of Tau   Out of all that work I think I am most attracted to the subtle blue of the energy weapons/vents.  It's often the little things that make a model proper pretty :)

[elmo]

Photo links redone as Photobucket wanted 399$ a year for photo sharing.

[elmo]

Riptide, Fireblades and Darkstrider added

[Aothaine]

Amazing! Going to try using that method myself when I start up my list. Have an old commander right now that I will be using test colors on though. Great work!