I'm new to the hobby and I bought the T'au Combat patrol and now I'm wondering what to do with it.
I picked them because they, along with the Sisters of Battle, are the most aesthetically pleasing to me. I want to make "my dudes" but I barely know anything about the T'au Empire, or what I would do to make them special to my eyes or even what color scheme to use... what should I do?
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however you want. the lore doesn't matter because you can just invent it and besides the lore only exists to sell models in the first place.
I see...
Sounds like great advice! Because for colors I at first was inspired by the Chaa'grut sector made on /tg/, with the Mang'ro Sept, but I'm unsure now if I would like tactical looking T'aus with similar looking kaki greens that guardsmen have.
>I see...
You can literally do whatever you want. I've got elfdurr and dark elfdurr I can run as Yunnari, but I also am bashing together a prince Yriel so I can run a corsair-harlequin army. I just randomly started painting my harlequins wraithbone and night lords blue, because those colors spoke to me. Based them with Valhallan blizzard, I guess they're fighting on a snow covered world. I want to get some lizardmen and give them eldar guns and call them slann. Put some shining spears on a dino and call them exodite dragon knights. Took an ork warboss and glued spare guns to him and he now leads an army called the Dakkaboyz who quest through the galaxy to find more dakka for their pile, because they're orks and moronic like that.
Modeling and painting is like creative writing, once you have the tools at hand you'll just start having your dudes flow out of you.
>I barely know anything about the T'au Empire,
Flick through the fluff pages of the Codex, it should be in one of the links in the /40kg/ OP
>or what I would do to make them special to my eyes or even what color scheme to use
Play about with some colours you like. Combine colours you like with their complimentary colours, and put your MS Paint skills to use and colour some pics to try out different schemes until you stumble on one you like
Start with just getting some models on the table, play a few games with them, and see the sort of playstyle you find yourself drawn to. That not only gives you a hint on what units to focus on going forward with list building, but also gives you a springboard to start imagining some lore by assembling it out of the stuff you see emerging from Your Dudes' early battles
Here's some colors I picked up for a color scheme. As a first idea of course, I always thought that phazon samus/dark samus looked really cool.
Plus I remember that the T'aus were described as a naive race, and that got me thinking, what if due to the proximity and integration of humans the T'aus started making Navy Seals/Black Ops squads?
>what if due to the proximity and integration of humans the T'aus started making Navy Seals/Black Ops squads
Sounds like you've got a good reason to try Kill Team before you buy more shit too. Sounds good to me.
Can I use the Combat Patrol minis for Kill team?
The Gue’vesa description in the wiki seems to pretty much paint them in a good light. Heavy on the propaganda, but more like encouraging instead of menacing or dehumanizing the enemy.
Ok that sounds cool! Did /tg/ have interesting “my dudes” of the T’au variety? The guy from Tabletop Time had his own T’au inspired by samurai, the Sakura. It sounded awesome but I feel like personally going towards more futuristic designs than adding medieval bits like most 40k factions. Though I have yet to add personality to my guys.
Kill Team mostly uses the same models as 40k.
>Ok that sounds cool! Did /tg/ have interesting “my dudes” of the T’au variety? The guy from Tabletop Time had his own T’au inspired by samurai, the Sakura. It sounded awesome but I feel like personally going towards more futuristic designs than adding medieval bits like most 40k factions. Though I have yet to add personality to my guys.
>They also represent what humanity used to be before their downfall (optimism, hope for the future, technological progress, trust in science). Their empire is relatively small compared with other factions but efficiently run and in continuous expansion with each edition adding conquered worlds.
Other T'au lore is that they will make you join their empire by peace... or force if you are strategically located and they decide it should be such. They are good in the "GRIMNDARK" context of 40k where most alien empires are thirsting creatures often worshiping eldritch beings like the Star gods, hive mind or chaos gods. T'au can be as noblebright friend to the aliens or grimdark police state keeping alien auxiliaries in line as you want them to be.
Also the T'au and their subfaction the Kroot represent small alien empires/mercenaries spread through the galaxy which would otherwise not be relevant to the story- there are other small 'promising' empires like the Q'orl near Terra or the Khrave in the Ghoul stars but they are less relevant to the tabletop than the T'au and Kroot.
Then there are the T'au who disagree with the ethereals lead by Commander Farsight who has his own breakaway T'au state called the farsight enclave.
T'au girls are also canonically (in fanart) large breastest.
I like myself some noblebright. Yeah I could see a Sept with the task of doing black ops to facilitate negotiations.
How’s the farsight enclave?
>How’s the farsight enclave?
There is a bit of shady stuff that has been going on in the tau gubmint where ethereals don't always do their job of working for the greater good of the servant castes.
Farsight learns of this and breaks off from the empire to run his own military separatist realm. He still fights for the survival of the tau and will risk his life to save the empire whenever it is threatened. Also, he is kept alive by an ancient vampiric necron sword
So the ethereals are corrupted? That’s good to know. Also I didn’t know necron tech had vampiric properties. Though it would be a chaos thing.
Nobody really knows. The Etherals are the one odd caste to the point there are suspicions they are engineered. One theory is that they are the agents of a third race (Eldar maybe) who send them to uplift the Tau. There are subtly hints that they mind control or at least empathically control the other castes through pheromones. However, there is little suggestion that they indulge in corruption and hedonism or they don't believe in The Greater Good philosophy. If someone kills an Ethereal either the Tau get demoralised or enter in a state of genocidal wrath against the perpetrators.
So excet just having better lives and taking decisions, they aren't doing anything nefarious at all?
Because for the last part you don't need the pheromones to induce the same phenomena in humans if someone kills a priest of the Emperor.
Back in the day they used their powers to stop the different tau from genociding eachother.
Nowadays it is varried. A lot of ethereals seem to be benevolent but some of them are up to no good for unknown reasons.
We know some of them are infected with genestealer DNA. Maybe that is the reason, or perhaps not.
Also, the highest ranked ethereal is an AI hologram
>I'm new to the hobby
If this is your first time painting this color scheme may difficult for a newbie since you need create contrast between black, grey, dark violet and dark blue that is perceptible from a distance. However if you already know how to paint, disregard my post.
I never painted before
Do you wanna have contrasting armor plates and clothing colors or both dark?
I don't know which would be more appealing. I might need visual aid for that...
That's pretty close to what I have in mind, or at least the ref pic. Though more blue-ish
Contrasting colors between armour and clothes is very important.
Practice with pieces of sprue plastic or cheap models.
Always thinn your paint with water, its better to paint 2 or 3 thinn coats than 1 that is way too thick.
Vallejo and other brands are cheaper than GW paints.
Contrast (any brand) type paints works well with clothes.
Thinn armour plate highlights are great if you can do them but not mandatory.
You can easily paint the armour lines with a thinn drop of black wash appliet ONLY in the armour lines.
I recommend white or grey spry primer, the black one will make your models look too dark.
Helment lenses are easier than it seem.
Watch painting tutorials.
Current 40k rules are not the best but serviceable to enjoy the hobby. If you like it don't be scared to check previous editions. I love 4th for example.
Kill team is a good game, better than 40k but the learning curve can be very stiff if your rivals know what they're doing without teaching you how to play.
Explore the hobby always play what you enjoy.
There is a world of incredible games outside of GW too.
I will take those advices to heart!
Interesting. That helps me build up my idea of Black Ops T’au! Imagine that some of them are on the lookout for Ethereals that are working against the Greater Good, I’m liking the idea!
I got to read more on them. Being led by an AI sounds like something intriguing could be brewing. Especially since I’ve heard that AIs turn evil, or can get corrupted by chaos. Since T’aus are less inclined to chaos corruption, would an AI modeled after them benefits from the same resistance?
I’m definitely keeping the gold. Adding orange is so sooooo tempting, but would it break the black ops/tactical look?
If you don't over do it, I think the orange will look nice and make your models look better on the table, also it is a great way to make your liders more visible.
If you are looking for lore, the light novel firecaste and the imperial armour 3 taros war book have a lot of great fluff. Current books are a bit simple and lack the flavor of the old ones.
Fire caste in particular is apocalypse now but with guards vs tau, plenty of sneaky stuff on the jungle. The pdfs are super easy to find on google.
Thanks a lot! I’m glad I ask for you all on /tg/! I could add orange to some pauldrons, just to have something reminiscing of Samus Aran. Or on some antennas like in your pic!
That was my original inspiration, because of the Mang’ro Sept of the Chaagrut sector! They really give the space soldier vibe a good look! And the bases in your pic, wow!
Also orange and gold details look fantastic with blue.
Also, also, don't try to paint eyes at first. A grey wash and a bit of dry brush will work great for heads without helmet.
I guess what I’m looking for considering
is more of a black and grey with perhaps slightly blue highlights for the metal bits? Though the dark and purplish blues on the far right ref are also very tempting.
"Good guy faction". Technologically advanced multi-racial space commies with a flat caste system based on the 4 elements + aether which mixes Japanese and Chines aesthetics with high tech and Western mecha + subject races.
Socially, it is basically Plato's Republic with the castes representing different jobs but none of them is considered a lesser caste than the other, excepting the Ethereals who rule above all:
Fire Caste: Warriors and soldiers.
Earth Caste: Labourers and scientists.
Water Caste: Merchants, diplomats and administrators.
Air Caste: Space caste, pilots and messengers.
Aether Caste: The mysterious Philosopher Kings who rule the Tau.
They also represent what humanity used to be before their downfall (optimism, hope for the future, technological progress, trust in science). Their empire is relatively small compared with other factions but efficiently run and in continuous expansion with each edition adding conquered worlds.
Imagine the goodish human protagonist faction in every other setting and then change them with blue-skinned aliens. That's the Tau.
The Tau are often mockingly referred to as "Weeaboo Space Communists" due to their mecha anime aesthetic and collectivist, society-over-the-individual philosophy. "Commie-Fish" sometimes turns up due to their tendency to name their vehicles after sea life.
pay me to paint them
It's seriously something I'm considering... I never painted good in my life, and never painted minis, and with the price of them I don't want to mess up...
Cool! Heard the games are also shorter, so that'd be great!
I'll try the colors on a template. I'll post them soon.
Robot suits are great tho. And any giant robots. In the Chaa'grut sector there was also a Titan faction that was really cool.
Well the futuristic aesthetic of the T'au pleased me. Their weapons and mech suits look the more advanced of all. Plus, I ironically was a fan of them in primary school was there was that weird kid that described the faction to me and I ended up choosing them without even knowing what 40k was about. Him telling me that they have a death star weapon as a moon cannon sold me on this... I dunno i fit's true, I never bothered to check... it maintains my childhood fantasy alive.
Though the first two characters I've ever played (out of three) of the roleplaying game were techpriests. I have a soft side for mad scientists.
I decided to go with Ad Mech. I love cyberpunk and cyborg stuff. Ghost in the shell is my favorite anime.
I didn't pick up a box. I got the codex, kestelan robots, tech priest dominos, and a scaven warlock bombardier because why not lol.
I’m eager to see what you’ll come up with!
Paint em however you like and post the results
I'm new as well. I'm going this weekend to pick up either a kill team set or a combat patrol. I cant decide between tau, ad mech, or orks. How did you pick one over the other?
Ok, quite bothersome. I can't make clean recolor, and whenever I paint I end up erasing the lines, which ruins the whole thing...
Post pictures. You're probably doing something wrong. You using acrylic paints? Did you thin them? Did you prime? First attempts are gonna be the hardest but there's steps that WILL give you results if you apply them.
Oh! I mean using the ref pic of the T’au warriors in the paint program! Sorry for that
You can do anything with Tau unless its contradicting basic reality like Tau are green mushroom people who love war and were created by the old ones to combat the Necrons.
I guess you're right on that part
>Picks army based on aesthetics.
Frickin based, anon. Thats how most do it, and how just about everyone SHOULD do it. This picture got me into Blood Angels 30 years ago... because there was a dude with a skull for his helmet.
That pic is beautiful! Are there still people drawing/painting in this old style? I feel it is impossible to do in a graphic tablet (which most artists use nowadays).
I’m glad I’m following the steps of many who have enjoyed this hobby for so long!
Will do! I’m currently going through WesHammer for esoteric lore (archaic and unique stuff like that always piqued my interest). I like his video on the Halo Devices. I’m imagining what it would do if implemented on a daemonhost. Dreadful, but awesome.
My ambition is to find something that truly speaks to me that I can kitbash. Also you got pics?
>I picked them because they, along with the Sisters of Battle, are the most aesthetically pleasing to me. I want to make "my dudes" but I barely know anything about the T'au Empire, or what I would do to make them special to my eyes or even what color scheme to use... what should I do?
Immerse yourself in the wiki and loretubers about the T'au and then make your own special Sept run by Ethereal Lord Apo'stro'phe and his legion of fire warriors.
I think that green is a color that works expecially well on Taus
I don't have them but I saw them on a slightly more khaki green than pic related at my local shop and they were amazing