Perfect Storm: Part V Caveat Emptor... Starting to Build the Tau

As I mentioned earlier I got the vast majority of my new Tau army through trades on Bartertown. This has both pluses and minuses for the aspiring hobbyist. The biggest plus is that a patient trader can build up a very large army at very low cost, especially if they trade for older armies (see Tau last year before codex update rumors became widespread). The minus is that the condition of models is not always great.

While I pretty much always try to trade for models on sprue, sometimes you see a great deal for an assembled model. Unfortunately I often bite.. Then I start to cry upon receiving the model as I notice poor fits, random mold lines or just unfiled clipping scars. Superglue is your friend as it does snap apart allowing you to go back and remove mold lines, random tags sticking out or make the model sit tight. The Hammerhead below is an example of one undergoing surgery. I have literally had to rip the entire model apart and start over.

Then there is plastic glue. I love plastic glue for my vehicles, it helps make sure all of my joins are super solid and gap free. Unfortunately, when the model is poorly constructed, you're stuck. The gaps in the pirhanas where the sides meet the bottom are atrocious. Because it was constructed with plastic glue I can't snap it off and start over. Instead I have to gap fill. With too big of a gap for liquid green stuff I will be rolling green stuff until my fingers hurt.

The moral of the story: Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware. Ask questions about model construction, ask to see lots of pictures. You can get great deals but understand the work involved.

Lastly a pic of where the models are now... Still some cleaning to do and need to magnetize the turrets, but I'm ready to start on the sniper drones and pathfinders next.

The Perfect Storm: Part III Choosing a color scheme

Unlike many of the other races in the 40k universe Tau do not have a fixed armor color scheme by sept. Instead each sept has different colored markings which you can see on the below picture of GW's painted Tau firewarriors -

These firewarriors are from the Tau sept and it is the white markings on the shoulderpads and guns that tell you. The rest of the armor is painted based on the camouflage scheme of the theater in which the force is engaged. Here the Tau have gone for a desert scheme.

I am now in the process of trying to determine what makes the most sense for my Tau army. I still have not decided on a sept but I am sure I can find a fluff background and marking that works once I have decided on the armor color. Where I am stuck is the armor color and therefore am asking for your help.

Here are my current three top themes. Please let me know your thoughts or even a whole new theme...

1. As most of the units have some aquatic theme I thought I would start there, and I think that the leopard sharks natural coloration would make for an excellent color scheme. My only concern is that grey is well grey and tends to blend into many city boards. While that is practical as an urban camouflage, it is less exciting for a game of toy soldiers...

2. Next up we have the race car inspired, white with stripes. This makes for a very attractive battlesuit and infantry color scheme, but does not allow for the same camouflage opportunities on the vehicles.

3. Finally we return to mother nature for a variety of lizard inspired earth tones.

So what do you think?

Hobby Station Mk II

Doing some long overdue cleaning and organizing.

Workspaces

I'm always fascinated by everyone's different hobby set-up, thought it was time to share mine...

 This is my current pile... Slowly going through and magnetizing all of my old models as well as building more crisis suits. Really want to run a Farsight bomb with lots more crisis suits in one of our apocalypse games. Also picked up a few resin pieces from Paulson games. Very nice sculpts, but a lot more flash than I get from ForgeWorld...

Paints, tools and lots more models that I need to convert/clean...

 One of the crisis suits I am working on. Cut the leg and arm to try and create more motion, although need to shift the torso a bit more to complete the effect. Also as I look at the pic definitely need to clean up the greenstuff on the arm and smooth out the burst cannon.

 This is where I store the stuff. Open space is where the paints and tools and stuff go. You can also see more of my "need to be worked on stuff here as well." The Falcon is not hovering, it is placed on top of three mostly assembled rhinos. Bottom left are the codices I play with most often, my White Dwarf collection and Forge World books. Bottom right are my bitz boxes.

Finally the shelf where I keep unopened kits, less often used codices, the fantasy books I really need to get around to selling, and my big box of sprues that need to get built.

Not pictured are my models which are all handily packed in foam and stacked in another large closet.

Have pics of your work spaces? Please share!