[TOXG] Nistrums Tau (better late than never)

[nistrum]

Tau painting log.
part 1

I know some of you will be wondering why, when things like space wolvesand the dark eldar are running about willy nilly would someone opt for a race now so clearly handicapped by its out of date codex.
T the truth is i have alway been a big fan of the Tau. strangely not in how they look but in how they play, the mechTau concept was something I was ïn"on from the start really. when i first used the old fish,ó fury it was obviously how the Tau should work. the idea of feilding a rapid deployment force that could deliver a punch and get out before the badguys come back just seems to work with my play style.

That said, i do like the Tau models. I just think they could look a bit more modern..

so, with that in mind. I have raided the interwebs for inspiration and now have a number of awesome painting and conversion ideas rattling about upstairs. i have a few left over parts from the old Tau army and im going to use them for parts/converting.
before i start, i would just like to thank people like tael for being a big inspiration for this, and i hoipe i do their work justice with my flagrant plagerism. well you know copying and flattery and all.

ok.
first things first, we have the list

The first port of call for something like this is obviously tthe HQ and the clear winner has to be the crisis suit commander, I'm not going to waste time explaining why, i think that point has been long since done to death,m im not yet sold on the configuration yet, im thinking basically a fireknife combo (plasma + missiles) with some cool bits added on. hes obviously going to need a couple of sheild drones, and i think i can probably justify the use of a crisis team of bodyguards, the hitting power of this unit will help offset some of the more scary stuff ill be upp against, for the time being ill say team of 3 with fireknife combo. im not sure about bonus sheild drones. ill worry about that later.

for elites, i am a little undecided. im definately going to take 1 fireknife combo team and one deathrain (2 Twin Linked missile pods). and ill probably take a stealth team, but i think ill stick to 3 of them with 1 FUsion Blaster. it will help keep the points down, and teams of 3 attract alot less attention.

the troops for me is basically a no brainer. the 12 man firewarrior team, no drones in a Devil Fish is definately my favorite flavour. 2 teams minimum, probably 3 if i can fit it into whatever points limit im playing. i dont understand why people lament the unit so much. they are tactically speaking an awesome unit. yes they are weak in combat, so dont let them fight (yes i know easier said than done) but jif thats an issue make sure yyou sell your men at a good price. If your going to drop your fw, make it count. Dont chage your devilfish into the thick of the fighting unload your 12 guys. Rapid fire into a unit of space wwolves and see them get wiped out for maybe 2 marines.... Take your time. Set up an attack where you can drop 2 units of 12 and a stealth team or one of your crisis teams on them in 1 turn. Smack 7 kinds of hell out of them and as long as your clever you can get out of there having taking minimal losses. Remember the psychological damage you will cause with a strike like that will have a real impact on ho your opponant fights. Make him play defence. A space wolf player wants to charge at you... Make him work for those inches.
Fast attack
Ok, this is my real weak point. I genuinely dont know what to put here..
I think the cost of pathfinders for what is basically a glorified markerlight cloud is a bit too much for me. I think i would rather take the piranahs and use another set of annoying vehicles for my enemy to waste his heavy weapons on. Not only that, but in the openening of the game those fusion bnlasters will do some good work against things like rhinos and those pesky leman russ tanks.

Heavy
Ha, ok time for some contraversy....
Im a big fan of the broadside suits. Personally i think of theese guys as the terminator smashing unit. They are a great attraction to assault marines, but in the past i have made good use of that. Turn 2 should see their assault marines charging directly for my broadsides, a sudden strike can wipe out ALOT of my opponants points for very little risk on my part. But then that is relying on a space marine player being brash and impetuous,, and lets face it.. That never happens. :p.
So, that said i think i will try to rrun 1 BS team and 2 Rail Heads

That is the simple plan for the tau. I'm not worrying about points costs at the momentt,, im aiming for somewhere near the 1750 mark. The bodyguuard might push me closer to thee 2k side, we will have to see.

If you have any comment about any of this im happy for people to post wwhat they think, im all up for an open forum on tacctics and play styles, just so long as everyone is willing (myself included) to accept that playstyle and enjoying th game makes a big difference. And come before winning.

That all said. Ill be posting up later on with the first part of my army. Ill be converting my commandder from the crisis box, ill try and step by step it if i can, most of what im doing is not origional and can be found out there on the interwebs, but it cant huurt to heelp reach a few more people and spread the greater good. Ill credit the people i get the ideas from and post up links as and when I steal someones ideas :p

For now thanks for reading and i hope to have something up soon.

[Deadstar_MRC]

Well, I to like the Tau, so I'll be watching with interest - Will be cool to see what you come up with!

Good luck

[Klajorne]

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Tau, besides that everybody says they're weak, which is a crock because they have no problem still laying down the hurt on my noob self.

But I definitely have to welcome you to the ToXG. It's always good to see more people involved (it's never too late to join), and I'm really looking forward to your conversions. We all get our inspiration from somewhere, how we implement it is where the creativity comes in.

[nistrum]

thanks guys. i know its bad form to just post a wall of text, but i should have something up to look at from about 5 ish... i have already covered my fingers in tiny cuts and superglye during the first prep work for my conversions. so i should have something wort showing tonight :

lol kaljorne. the tau are at the moment a very limited list as alot of our rules were torn up after the latest 40k ed rules.. but they still play well, if you know how.a good tau player can be verytough to beat.

[Kev]

Subscribing, sounds interesting mate!

[nistrum]

Thanks, now i just hope i can live up to it. I just read through what i have written. Im actually pretty impressed at how many mistakes i made. In my defence i am typing all this on my tablets bluetooth keyboard, which can be a little tempremental at times. Ill go back and fix my first post at some point to make it a little more readable for people not so hot with translating spelling mistakes. :p

[nistrum]

hey guys, so its finally picture time.
the pics are pretty poor due to me wanting to just take pics, ill worry about tking GOOD ones tomorrow. or now i felt like i should show SOMETHING.

sp, herwe ave
1 deathrain. this guys being cobbled together from the remains of old kits. so hes looking a bit sorry for now, ill clean him up a bit more before he gets undercoated. this guy has technically had the most work done, both lower legs have been removed pending posing. the arms have both been sublty reposed and hes had a fair bi of gep filling etc done. his head isnt ready yet so for now hes headless.

guy number 2 is the first of my bodyguard unit his head is set up already and his legs are more or less where i want them. the feet and arms are placeholding for now until i can get around to doing his for him. he still needs a fair bit of gap filling done.

and part 3 is the begnning of my broadside conversion. anyone that has seen fil dunns bs conversion will know what im up to here, im not going to totally rip it off, but i do love the way he did the railgun mounting specifically, so i pilfered that idea. thats all for tonight guys, ill update again tomorrow

[Deadstar_MRC]

Some good little conversions thus far. Amazing how a little reposing can make such a difference.

Keep at it!

[Klajorne]

That's a great start. I'm excited to see where this thread goes from here. You might be familiar with all these conversions, but keep in mind they're brand new to some of us. I am preparing to be amazed.

[nistrum]

wow thanks alot guys.ill make a few changed before i update later.. might build a mount for thpse misile pods and permanently fis some parts. i think painting will have to wait until next week at the soonest, but by then my bodyguard and one of my deathrains will be done.
my firewarriors, since im doing urban camo will be figting arround what the police call street furnature. so the equivilant of mailboxes dustbins etc.. so im pondering, what does a dustbin in the future llook like?. lol