The T'au Force Comes Together

I've been working away on my T'au force in my spare time and I've finally got to a place where it's almost together. I have put this force together from pretty much all second hand miniatures bought from Ebay. Some of them were in really bad condition and some just needed a litle TLC. They all needed to be stripped though, and for that Isopropyl Alcohol has been my friend.

So where have I go to so far?

Lets start with the Stingwings. They're all prepped and ready to paint. However, one of the Stingwings is a proxy model that's been printed out. I searched for a long time to get a 5th member online. Ebay was severely overpriced and I haven't had any lock with my hobbyist friends, though they have been amazing and checked. I've got an eye out still for a 5th one, but the printed one will have to suffice until then.

The stingwings with an imposter in their midst.

Next up is the TX4 Piranha. This model wasn't painted badly when it arrived, but it had to be stripped ready for the new paint scheme. There was a missing antenna on the one pilot and the right wing was a bit cockeyed, but I had a spare antenna and was able to set the wing right after I removed it without any damage.

Peaking out from the shadows, ready to bite.

Let's be stealthy about this!

The XV25 Stealth Suits were the second set I put together. The first set were ones I had bought years ago, but I wanted the option of a standard squad to field along side them in a larger force so after scouring the bay of "E" I managed to find enough spare bits and miniatures in dire need of rescuing to create it. After stripping they still looked a bit ropey,  but with some re-positioning of badly put together parts and sanding/filing of some areas (including one complete head replacement) they turned out to look as good as new on their new 32mm bases.

Looking as good as new, though on their second/third life.

The XV8 Crisis squad I had already shown in a previous post, but I had managed to find a second XV88 Broadside battlesuit for my army. I already had one as a new unopened box, but wanted this force to be made of as many salvaged models as possible.

The Crisis suits and Broadside.

Bringing out the big guns

It was in pretty good condition and not badly painted, but again the paint had to come off. There was a little damade to the antenna on the head as well as a broken antenna/fin on the left shoulder so they had to be fixed and replaced. Also one of the feet was broken at the ankle. When they break at the ankle it's always going to be a pin job unless you're happy with it breaking again anytime someone sneezes in its general direction. Easy fix, and it made for my second XV88 Broadside. I also managed to put together a couple of missile drones for good measure too.

Though not the missile drones from the set, these conversions work well.

The Next unit has been a bit of a mission. Though I already have a box set on its way I wanted to make sure I had at least two Fire Warrior Breacher squads. I had some bits lying around and so I started to piece together a squad.

Starting to come together, the 1st Breacher team.

The squad has been made up of old and new Fire Warrior bits. There are only six made so far, but I have some bits incoming that should help me finish them off. It'll be nice to have the option of two breacher squads as opposed to only running the four strike squads I already have.

Taking command

The last miniature to show is my commander in Crisis Battlesuit. This model has taken a while to convert and I must say I've really enjoyed doing it. I took one of the original Battlesuits I had that was in need of being rescued and upgraded it by putting a ball joint in the waist, printing out some arms and bits to be able to pose it better and even completely cutting up the legs to repose it walking down the stairs. It just goes to show what you can do with the old kits.

The T'au force commander steps onto the battlefield.

The only thing left to do with this model is a little modelling on the gun hand where the print didn't come out great and finishing off the base that it's standing on. I think I'm going for a jungle ruined building battle zone theme. I may actually rebase all the models onto some suitable bases I have to keep the force in the same theme.

I feel I need to mention the drones too. Almost all the drones in this force have been put together from salvaged Ebay lots. I only actually had two drones (one gune drone and one marker drone) of the small type and managed to pull it all off without having to 3D print anything except for the one antenna.

Ready to stalk its prey

The last thing I'm waiting for to add to this force (apart from the missing official stingwing) is the last mech in the force. that, of course, will be the beautiful XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit. In my mind one of the nicest battlesuits created in the GW 40K range of models. I'm looking forward to putting that one together and it's a model I've actually wanted for quite some time. More so than the Riptide (though that is also a really nice model).

I feel like I have now go the 1000 point force together for my first game with the T'au in 9th edition. Its been fun putting this all together and its so close to being finished. Now, I need to finally decide on what colour scheme to do, so by the next update I should have an idea of what I'm doing.

For now though, that's it and I'll catch you in the next update.

Cheers.