brother_b for the greater good!

[brother_b]

Yeah, I don't know why, but I have found myself drawn towards Tau. The first real Xenos army I've ever done (haven't really done it yet), even though I own a lot of different forces.

I am starting with Kill Team, but have my sights on a 50 PL, and eventually 100 PL army.

Just as soon as I finish my BA, and Admech of course.

That being said, here's the first member of my Kill Team. I'll probably do some weathering on the next suit as I'm going to run one as a veteran.

I have some other photos on a white background but it made the suit look really yellow.

Next up... more KT, and then hopefully a codex! Hah!

[Panzer]

Very interesting colour scheme. Can't say I have seen it on any other T'au model before (or 40k model to be fair). I'm looking forward to see the whole team/army eventually. ;)

 

Also if white background doesn't work, try black background. ^^

[Guest Triszin]

Yeah, I don't know why, but I have found myself drawn towards Tau. The first real Xenos army I've ever done (haven't really done it yet), even though I own a lot of different forces.

I am starting with Kill Team, but have my sights on a 50 PL, and eventually 100 PL army.

Just as soon as I finish my BA, and Admech of course.

That being said, here's the first member of my Kill Team. I'll probably do some weathering on the next suit as I'm going to run one as a veteran.

I have some other photos on a white background but it made the suit look really yellow.

Next up... more KT, and then hopefully a codex! Hah!

I like it.

I shall call him

LIME.

[brother_b]

Somewhere a striking scorpion is sad.

[MajorNese]

Looking nice, cleanly painted (which isn't that easy with bright green and blacklining, I guess). And your situation sounds similar to mine - first xenos army, started as a KillTeam.

 

Very interesting colour scheme. Can't say I have seen it on any other T'au model before (or 40k model to be fair). I'm looking forward to see the whole team/army eventually.

...if you want to see it on a lot of marines, google the Sons of Medusa. Obscure FW Badab War chapter, therefore mostly chosen by veterans, therefore quite nice painting standard.

[Melete]

I love that color. I really considered painting my Tau like that after seeing a few armies on the Facebook page using some fairly bright greens. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your kill team!

[elmo]

Welcome to the T'au Empire :)

 

Second on trying a black background on the photos - my models are green and a white background just seems to affect the tones too much.

[brother_b]

Thank you for the kind reception all. My friend bought a mini photography studio it looks quite awesome with a variety of backgrounds. Not too expensive either. I've considered picking one up.

 

I need two HQs. I'll get the battlesuit one. After him who should I bring? The ethereal has always felt weird to me. Naked bro hanging out with the soldiers. What are my other choices to round out my batallion HQ choice?

Edited August 12, 2018 by brother_b

[Panzer]

T'au really don't have many HQs to choose from. There are various Commander (but you can have only one Commander per detachment), Ethereals and Cadre Fireblades. And named characters of course.

 

For the second HQ the Fireblade would be a solid choice. Even if you don't have many Pulse Rifles or Pulse Carbines he could buff with his aura in your army he's still a cheap character with a BS2+ Markerlight.

[MajorNese]

I need two HQs. I'll get the battlesuit one. After him who should I bring? The ethereal has always felt weird to me. Naked bro hanging out with the soldiers. What are my other choices to round out my batallion HQ choice?

The etheral as a semi-naked priest hanging out at the front lines with a fancy walking stick feels weird to me too. Converted mine to a pathfinder veteran (5+ armour too) with targeting/communications stuff to explain the buffs.

 

Except for that, fireblades are cheap and useful, commanders are rather flexible (and, if kept back, untargetable). A shame they locked most named characters to T'au sept...

[brother_b]

 

I need two HQs. I'll get the battlesuit one. After him who should I bring? The ethereal has always felt weird to me. Naked bro hanging out with the soldiers. What are my other choices to round out my batallion HQ choice?

The etheral as a semi-naked priest hanging out at the front lines with a fancy walking stick feels weird to me too. Converted mine to a pathfinder veteran (5+ armour too) with targeting/communications stuff to explain the buffs.

 

Except for that, fireblades are cheap and useful, commanders are rather flexible (and, if kept back, untargetable). A shame they locked most named characters to T'au sept...

 

 

Yes, I noticed that. Very odd to me. There are a ton of HQ choices, most of them named characters locked to the Tau Sept.

 

Were commanders really that powerful? 1 per detachment seems pretty debilitating. I know that tau commanders were a thing in tournaments when the game came out but how many were being fielded? 3? 6? 12?

 

Anyway yes the fireblade guy looks amazing. I'll be picking one of him up as well.

 

Cheers, I'm working on several different fire warriors trying to get the "look" I want right. Basically, because I pre-shade (very subtle and hard to tell with my photos) I don't need to do any line highlighting. What I do need is nice lining of the armor plates. I've used wash (both carefuly and just slopping it on) and the biggest issue is "smudging" the dark wash I'm using on my armor. It tends to look grimy.

 

Anyway, enough with this. I'll be posting some more photos soon. I can't wait to try these guys out in KT.

[Panzer]

Yes Commanders were that powerful. Basically the whole anti-tank role was done by spamming some Commander with 4 Fusion Blaster each. Railsides, Fusionkeel, Railheads and especially Crisis Suits just couldn't keep up with the cheap BS2+ Fusion Blaster of the Commander.

[brother_b]

I can search a bit in the forum but it's pretty slow compared to other forums. What is a standard load out for a cold star Commander?

 

I could really use help on all of the suits. How about riptides, and ghost kheels?

[The Pounder]

I believe the common wisdom is for a Coldstar is best used with the 4 Fusion Blasters.

 

I can't pretend to have any experience in how they perform in game (I've only just had my first game with my T'au) but that's what I've heard.

 

I like the green Stealth Suit, Keep up with the good progress.

[Panzer]

Yeah I can't help much there either. I usually use my Coldstar with the standard HO Burst Cannon loadout and I haven't looked at tournament lists for T'au in quite a while.

I don't have any Riptides and for the Ghostkeel I keep switching his loadout all the time because none is completely satisfying for me lol

[brother_b]

Here's a look at my first firewarrior. I've been experimenting with exactly how I want to finish up the fire warrior armor. This one I went for a very gritty, battleworn look. This firewarrior has been on the front lines for a while, and is still in the thick of it battling for the Greater Good.

Edit: Just noticed the mold lines. Oh well, these were free so can't complain that much. I'll have to check on mold lines on the figs I haven't prepped yet.

Hrmm, looks like I forgot to do the final bit for the barrel. I'll have to fix that up.

Here's a look at my WIP kill team with other members at various stages of completion. Some of them look much cleaner and I'll decide if I'm going to do battle damge/wear on all of them.

Anyway, thanks all and cheers!

Edited August 14, 2018 by brother_b

[brother_b]

This firewarrior will probably stand in as my comms specialist.

More coming down the pipeline. I've got some breachers and pathfinders also ready for priming/painting. I will most likely finish full squads when I'm done with my KT bros. That way I'm doing double duty for KT and 40K.

I like those big stealth suits... they look awesome.

[brother_b]

Another fire warrior. I'll be finishing this group up with a total of 5 fire warriors.

On the plate are pathfinders and breachers. I expect to field rail rifles on my pathfinder gunners.

The whole group so far.

[brother_b]

My first Pathfinder and another Firewarrior, this time with a carbine. Probably not the best piece of wargear for 40K, feels like it'll be OK for KT.

Edit: Dang it, barrels again. Will need to finish.

Edited August 19, 2018 by brother_b

[Emicus]

Lovely green :)

[brother_b]

Not the best picture. This is my breacher for KT. He will be the veteran specialty.

[brother_b]

A view from the kill team battle today. My sniper and his backup looking down field at an approaching Scion.

On the right is the frantic (and futile) battle between a firewarrior and scion.

The game ended in a draw, but I was up on flesh wounds, and warriors taken out of action. One of the scions, a heavy melta specialist, lay dead on the field of battle as the forces withdrew.

[brother_b]

I'm doing some more work on Tau, now shooting for an actual army. My first 50 PL will include 3 strike teams, a cadre fireblade and coldstar commander with standard load out in one detachment.

 

The second will be coldstar with quad fusion, 2 stealth teams, and one Ghostkheel. Also points for about 8 drones.

 

Questions:

 

Is an XV 8 commander with 4 cyclic ion blasters good?

 

Cyclic ion Raker or big fusion gun on the Ghostkheel?

 

I'll field some crisis suits probably with two weapon systems. I bought some used that have a rifle and misile pods. Is tri weapons worth it? I probably won't do 3 CIB cause I only haven 3-4.

 

That's it for now thanks for insight.

Edited December 2, 2018 by brother_b

[Panzer]

Is an XV 8 commander with 4 cyclic ion blasters good?

It is, but arguably not as good as a Coldstar with 4 Fusion Blaster. That's a first world problem thing for min-maxing tho. CIBs are really strong and even more so on a BS2+ platform.

 

Cyclic ion Raker or big fusion gun on the Ghostkheel?

Definitely the Cyclic Ion Raker. The Fusion Collider is basically just two Fusion Blaster. The CIR is good against vehicles as well as infantry just like the CIB but also has 6" more range than the FC so it helps with staying away and benefitting from the stealth effect. I recommend taking Fusion Blasters as secondary weapons.

While it's tempting to go all dakka with double Burst Cannon and improve both weapons with an Advanced Targeting System it doesn't do as much damage as one would like and both, the CIR and Fusion Blaster are pretty self-sufficient so you are free to take for example a Shield Generator instead of the Advanced Targeting System. The Target Lock is mandatory tho or you're too reliant on getting 4 Markerlight hits on your target and the Ghostkeel often acts where Markerlights don't get easily Line of Sight.

 

I'll field some crisis suits probably with two weapon systems. I bought some used that have a rifle and misile pods. Is tri weapons worth it? I probably won't do 3 CIB cause I only haven 3-4.

Unless there is some huge change in CA (which I doubt) always go with three weapon systems. None of the support systems is as efficient as simply taking another weapon unfortunately.

Mixing weapons is also not recommended. Especially not something that wants to stay away like Missile Pods and something that wants to be within 12" like the Plasma rifles. Building allrounders is always a bad idea. Instead of being good at their job you end up with a unit that is bad or just mediocre at two jobs ... and Crisis already have problems being good at one thing anyway.

 

If we want to talk specific weapon loadouts it'll be quite a bit longer post tho so just let me say this:

Plasma Rifles and Missile Pods are the two worst weapon choices for Crisis currently and the only worse choice is the Airburst Fragmentation Projector. Cyclic Ion Blaster can do everything the Plasma rifles and Missile Pods can do better plus more.

Fusion Blaster would be an okay-ish choice if there wasn't already something like Coldstars, HRR Broadsides, RailHeads, Riptides and even Ghostkeels.

Burst Cannons are a cheap alternative to the CIB against less armoured infantry.

Flamers are great as well if you go all out on them. Just let the Crisis start on the table surrounded by drones and advance every turn (8+1d6 inches with FLY is a lot of ground they can cover).

Again all these things of course can change with CA.

[brother_b]

I was hoping you'd reply.

 

Crisis suits:

 

Unfortunately, I buy cheap ebay stuff so I may have to snap away those weapons. Or not. I don't plan on playing any tournaments, and even if I did I'd probably not really care. Thank you for that insight though. As far as anti infantry I'll have those stealth suits as well as basic infantry. Most of my opponents infantry choices are weak, such as IG or orcs, maybe tyranids every now and then. 

 

Ghostkheel:

 

One of my ghostkheels is magnetized, so no problem. The other has the fusion blaster. Again, thank you for letting me know what's best.

 

I'm really trying to just get this army up and running. I even busted out the airbrush to try stuff out.

 

Hopefully I'll have my army up and running soon.