WIP Elsy'eir hunter cadre

[Kora'tau]

So finally got my gallery working so I can now finally post something. So starting a working thread for my growing cadre. To start off this is what I currently have for my tau, and it is also what I am going to work towards for the ETL vow.

As mentioned I am planning to go with Elys'eir sept. I wanted to go with white armor, as I haven't done a white army before. A few models here and there but not a white army. That being said, in truth it will be a very light grey army, but appear a little white when its done..or so that is the goal. This will be a mostly table top army, and I am inspired by the white Vior'la armies, but I don't want to do red. I was orginally leaning towards Bork'an as my sept, but the more I got to thinking, i wanted to use the turquoise as my energy glow effects and optics, again to avoid using red. So that leaves me with Purple as a good alternative as my eldar army is in greens when I get around to actually working on those wraith guard again.

Anyways, here is the image.

for the bases, I decided to stick to what I had on the pathfinders already. I had them assembled for shadow war armeggedon over a year ago but didn't do anything with them, as I was trying to avoid the allure of tau, and to be honest, the tau faired pretty poorly in that game, so i went with a chaos warband instead. Anyways, I decided to reuse those pathfinders and the imperial rubble look works so i carried it over to the new models. It also allows my planned white armor color scheme to work better since Tau tend to favor coloring for their enviroment aka camo. My undersuit color I have decided to base it in coal black, and build it up with turquoise for highlights. This will blend the elements a little better with the teal coloring of the options and help create a more satin look. It will also take away some of the neutral coloring and contrast nicely against the purple. I plan to use my own markings for the units and on the suits, I will bring in more of the purple into the color scheme, such as helmets, some full arms, or weapons. I am thinking of adding a little bit of urban camo to the vehicles however, not full on camo but sections. I am still debating that on the suits, but the few partial camo patterns on the suits that I have seen, I never cared for. So may leave that to the larger suits like the ghostkeel or riptide. My purpose for this army is to get a fully painted force so i am not going to overly detailed so keeping some of the highlight layers to a minimum.

My only real challenge is getting the flesh color I want, as the shadowgrey/russ grey is a bit to grey as i want a more blue flesh tone. So I am going to look at finding the right shade of blue to base it with and then adding in some grey to the mix. Anyways, I will update as I am able to on the work in progress. Already one of the pathfinders had to be replace because I think my daughter knocked it off my hobby table and I only found 2 of the missing 3 models. So I built up a new replacement.

[The Pounder]

Looking forward to seeing them in your scheme!

[MithrilForge]

This looks like the start of an interesting and by the sounds of it a very pretty army    i gather you'll be using the recommended Xereus purple for your Sept markings?...

All the colour matches and combo's your mentioning sound very good  , sounds like lots of thought wen't into this.

Did you consider the old random hex camo scheme with black and dark grey ... like this see link below - but in your colours...

 

 

credit to Commander Isamu (his work) seen here - http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/344623-hunter-cadre-isamu/

 

Cheers, Mithril

[Kora'tau]

Well I wo t be using the gw color of purple. I feel their purples are a bit to strong in the red side, the tone I am using is a bit more blue in color or closer to a real violet shade. Anyways I think I might stick to the grey armor, as the more I look at the mechanics grey the more I like that color in general, as the grey has a bit of a green hue to it. Also it's what the model is primed in. It will feel more urban camo like to start with and make painting easier. anyways I have started painting the bases first, since there is lots of dry brushing to get the rubble to look right. Contemplating the metal sections on the base, but will probably go tinny bits based with a light dry rushing of lead belcher on it, and a flesh wash over it, just to make a more rusted aged look.

 

As for the camo pattern I haven't really decided which type. I am not using an airbrush so it needs to be something I can easily do. The hexagon does add a bit of alien appearance to it. I also don't plan to use full camo on the vehicles, just along certain sections of it, thoug I ,any change my mind by the time I get to them. Who knows. Fun part of doing your own color scheme is how it often changes after you work on a model than you originally planned. I just need to get some pots of the mechanic grey and grey highlight color before I make any real progress now, but I can finish the bases, and the start the under suit and black sections of the models while till I can get to the hobby store. I think I just figured out my base coat for my tau flesh, going to start with the steggadon grey which feels more like a dark blue grey and then add some Russ grey to it and build it up that way.

 

So tau hair color, what do most tend to go with? I was thinking more brighter colors than just black , white and greys to add a bit more color. Especially since the shas'vre of the pathfinders has sculpted hair to the female head (hard to see in the photo) and will probably be adding more character to a few female led fire warrior teams. I plan to get that female with a pulse rifle model war games exclusive makes for my fire blade too.

[MithrilForge]

Good luck with whatever colours you go with. 

 

 

Mithril
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kora'tau]

Well painting progress has been a pt a halt, I have yet to get the grey needed to work the models up. I have given them all a wash to shade the grey but I need to highlight it, and all the pathfinders have been given a base coat to their under suits. However I am in an assembly kick right now trying to get 2k built for a tournament jun 16. Once I get the models all assembled I will get back on track to painting, as I will be getting the paint Saturday. The long assembly process takes a bit longer getting the urban rubble and debris added to the bases. Right now I have been working on a start collecting set and riptide, and will be getting another fire warriors team and stealth team Saturday as well as some used models from a friend. The used lot consists of one crisis suit (which will let me build one of my suits up as a second commander in iridium suit), 10 more fire warriors, a devil fish and hammerhead. It will give me most everything I need for a 2k list not including a fireblade I will borrow from a friend for the tourney.

 

I am borrowing it because I don't want to buy the gw one, as I was planning to get the female model from war games exclusive but the tourney organizer is not allowing proxies which is including 3rd party models. Sadly they are being a little strict as this will be the store first singles 40k tourney and only second 40k tourney as the last one was a team tourney. They just got done with a league so a few new players, so they are trying to not confuse people, but also means no forgeworld at the event either, and the army list must contain a battalion as part of the restrictions. While limited they are in place to keep the games fun and friendly and to curb the ever present power creep and meta issues.

 

Oh well it should be fun and let's me break in the tau in 8th edition, and if I can get stuff finished assembling I may push my commander paint wise so at least he can be painted for the tourney. After the tourney I need to look at storage for my models, a friend has recommended magnets and to make a carrying case out of a toolbox and the magnets means I don't have to deal with the issue of foam. Still going to look into that as it could be cheaper in the long run that those pricy carrying cases. My friend has a nurgle demon army and he basically carries them around on a metal display board and they almost never fall off. Anyways, I will get to painting again at least in two weeks. Will also try to get some pics of the battles, but not sure how deep my battle reports will be.

[Kora'tau]

So I got my 2k army assembled finally. Its taken me all of the last week and a half. I still need to add sand to the bases of the fire warriors and one suit (mr static jack) is waiting for his two plasma rifles. It is all assembled so after this week, I can finally get to painting. I might get to start on some before saturday but not going to push myself as I still have to get my stuff ready for the tourney. I mostly play for casual fun, but the local store doesn't host these much, so i wanted to get a guaranteed 3 games in. So below is a shot of the assembled and mostly primed force. It consists of 10 pathfinders, 30 fire warriors 10 of which are breachers, 3 stealth suits, a ghost keel, a riptide, 3 crisis suits, two commanders, and ethereal, a devilfish and a hammerhead, and lots of drones.

Also last night I managed to get a test game in. We only got to turn 3, before I had to call it for getting late, as we didn't get started on time. My first opponent was emperors children and I must say, those noise marines are a nuisance. I feel it was more of a draw at the end of turn 3, I did manage to kill his warlord a daemon prince, the 40 cultists (at least before he respawned them using a strategem), a predator and sonic dread, plus a sorcerer, and a few of noise marines out of each of his 3 units of them. At the end I had my warlord, ethereal, 4 pathfinders, 3 fire warriors, some drones here and there, and my riptide. There were two 3 strong obliterators that had 2 alive in one unit and one alive in another unit that I probably would have wiped our or reduced to just one left standing had I finished my 3rd turn, but as I said it was getting late for me so I had to go. All in all it was fun, but I still have lots to remember when using my guys, so again I need to make some quick sheets for my list so I don't have to thumb through my battlescribe list or the codex each and every time I do something.