The Tao of Tau

While at my local gaming center (Pandemonium) for my Tuesday 40k Planet Strike league (i'm fielding Blood Angels currently) I had a quick look through the used bins and walked away with 9 unpainted Tau Pathfinders
and an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (with plasma rifle and missile pod) all of only $30... a pretty good haul... I've got a bunch more assembly to finish on my fire warriors, but barring work and a trip to the Michigan Renaissance Faire this weekend I should have plenty of time to get them painted up.  Stay tuned for more Warhammer 40k Tau goodness.

This weekend i finished my first Tau Fire Warrior.  I did him as a test to see how my selected color scheme would work and to try a couple of new techniques.  Here is a basic run down:

1. Based model (using PVA glue, and a mixture of sand and kitty litter)
2. Attached model to the base.
3. Primed White
4. Base coated. (Liche Purple for the "cloth parts", Catchatan Green for the Armored sections, and black for the gun and base.
5. Attached right arm, backpack, and shoulder pad. (i painted these seperatly to insure better coverage.
6. Dry-Brushed gold on the sept on the shoulder pad and the round part of the gun.
7. Inked the model in black. This added a lot of depth.  (I made the ink myself by using 1 part cheap black paint and 5 parts water)
8. Painted the lenses. Red, a mixture of red and silver for the highlights and a dot of pure white.
9. Painted the edge of the base black.

Although it was a very time consuming and tedious process, I am extremely happy with the way it turned out.  Hopefully this week i will have enough time to complete the rest of the squad.

Hello and welcome to The Tao of Tau, a Warhammer 40k blog.  My name is Paul and even though I've only been playing Warhammer 40k for a short while I LOVE IT...  Currently I am playing a 2000pt Blood Angels army and have decided to build a Tau Empire army next.  My plan is to build them in a "slow and steady" manner. (eg. get a box... build it... base it... paint it... then get something new... this way i wont have 200 models in front of me )  My goal will be a full 2000pt Tau Army.  I'll be posting updates of the construction process along the way, and sharing things i learn through trial and error. So feel free to follow this blog and comment and ask questions about the Tau Empire of about Warhammer 40k in general.