100 euro Tau

Did I ever mention I am easily distracted? :)

Planning the Kroot made me realise I could use them as henchmen for a Inquisitor, as henchmen for Tau, as henchmen for another Alien or Rogue Trader or as a stand alone force. Nothing wrong there. But while googling I found this PDF again.

Years ago, before it came out, Modhail (Erik) had shown me a link to a Al'Yon'Kor'Vesa.

A what? Well, this (the drone in the centre):

As I love robots, drones and cyborgs I wanted to make a few, so I contacted the maker, Sebastian Stuart, for details about the build. He was very quick to respond, sent me a complete parts list used and wished me the best of luck. I then managed to find enough parts to make 2 drones minus the small antenna and even painted 1 in police colours.. I tried to find pics but I have nothing left from the era, sadly. I tried making new ones last year to get back into the hobby, but found getting parts (by trading) to be very difficult and abandoned the project.

So fast forward to 6 weeks ago, when I wondered if it would not be nice to have a Tau force for Inquisitor as well. They would work for other Sci-fi games too, and if I would stick to drones and infantry it should not have to cost much. So I gave that some thought for 2-3 weeks and then several Tau lots popped up on Marktplaats. Most were already made up, basecoated or partially painted, and while cheap, made me say no due to the amount of work involved in stripping and cutting them apart for reposing. But one was selling boxes of them, as new, for around 60% retail, so I made a bid on (too many) boxes. I was told no, as the price was the minimum price, so I settled for a box of Tau Fire Warriors and a box of 3 XV-8 Crisis suits, which gives me a good solid core to base a force on for Inquisitor or Kill Team. I then managed to win a lot of sprues with left over Crisis bits on them (which I have just finished picking clean), a large lot of made and unmade drones plus some other bits and pieces to make Tau scenery from, directly copied from the COD PDF linked above. Added to that I won another 12 unmade Tau Firewarriors and I had spent 100 euros getting it (excluding shipping)

Now what? Well, the beauty of Sebastians Tau is that he has website for them, eastern-empire.com and on that website he details how he painted his Urban Tau using mostly Vallejo colours. Excellent!
I like his scheme an he has a tutorial too, what is not to like? :) I do feel his orange may be a bit brighter, bu the rest is nicely subdued and perfect for my painting style. Purple lenses? Love em!
Conversions made? They bring out the copycat in me, which is a feeling I have not had for more then a year now.

I have also copied a ton of pictures of Tau Drone conversions, enough to keep me happy till the end of the year. I have even managed to find parts for most of them.

I think I have found the perfect force to get me back into painting stuff, after a 18 month hiatus :) And I can even paint them at a GW store, how about that :D