Farsight Enclave - Fire Warriors Teams for Armies on Parade

5 days to go for the Armies on Parade and a good time to showcase my newly painted units of Farsight Enclave Fire Warriors.  I think I have bitten off more then I can chew time scale wise, hence these are not my best painted troops.  I think they will do just fine though and hopefully people wont be looking at the troops, they'll be concentrating and everything else :)  Also the observant of you may have spotted a sneak peak of project "Y".

  

Tau Pre Battle shots

Only two weeks to go for Games Workshop's Armies on Parade day and I thought I would share a couple of pre battle images of my Farsight Enclave.  I still have project Y to finish, 20 Firewarriors and Farsight himself but so far so good.  The battle shots where taken at my friends Bens house and after my Tau beating his Imperial guard, he asked me to takes on his Necrons, and between you and me I have never beaten Ben's competitive list.  This was a big test for my Tau and the start did not go my way.  I had completely forgotten about The Stormlord stealing the initiative on 4+ and guess what?  He stole the initiative with all my front line just outside his 24" weapon range.  He moved his army forward and gave me a bit of a mullering, Do'h.  

Live and learn I won't be doing that again :) but as it turns out it made the game closer and more fun.  At the end of the day after the smoke had cleared, it turned out I had broken my duck and for the first time in 4 years I had beat the Necrons into the ground.  Good times and a long time coming, it just goes to show how the Tau have come a long way in the the past 18 months, especially with the introduction of the new Forge world figures, lucking forward to fielding the new flying Riptide :)

Showcase XV104 Riptide

With armies on Parade looming I thought I would showcase one of my Riptides, I've selected it because I think it's is my favorite pose, it show off the thrust flames coming from his jet pack and another Tau holographic public information station, painted using my "Blue glow effect - Airbrush tutorial in 3 easy steps." I hope it's well liked and as usual comments are welcome :)

"The good, the bad, the ugly and the not bothered!" Tau Riptides and Hobby season to do list

I've gone a bit post crazy these passed 5 day, so I thought I would add one more little post before I go back to University tomorrow.  Hobby season to do list - 4 Riptides done and next on the to do list two units of Firewarriors and project Y.

“Where’s the goddamn beacon? Oh. I see it.” Tau Skyshield landing pad

I finished my Tau Skyshield this morning by adding some weathering effects and adding the blue glow effect, I have been a little sneaky I have bought a pack of very light blue paper and I have glued them behind the vents were the light will emanate, because I have placed blue fairy lights inside and the paper diffuses the overall brightness, unfortunately my flash on my camera is stronger then the LED's so you can't see them, but it looks good in the dark :)

More posts to come on how it was made and the concept behind it.

 

This is my original Imperial Skyshield landing pad painted about 5 to 6 years ago when they first came out, note :- Its still not finished Oh well my new one is :)

That's a big tick off my to do list :)

Stay on target...Armies on Parade - Tau Skyshield landing pad WIP

A sneak peak of my Armies on Parade project X (WIP) and one of my painted Riptides and yes I know it's a rubbish photo, I have to leave you wanting more :)

The New Tau XV109 Y'vahra - A "Flying Monstrous Creature" or not?

Shas'Saal Samuraties at Advanced Tau Tactica has been good enough to post loads of images of his new purchase, the new XV109 Y'vahra from the Forge World European Open day.  As I am a massive fan of the Y'vahra and on seeing this image of the rear of the new Riptide variant and the size of the thrusters I just had to share.... 

What has come to light- First, the Y'vahra will be released in the next few months, I'm hopping for Christmas :) Second, the Y'vahra is not a close combat variant (understandably) :(  Third, confirmation on an Ion weapon and a flamer weapon (as if we didn't already know).  So open for debate is, why the huge over grown thrusters?  Could this be the first flying monstrous creature variant (please please please let it be this)? Could it have an extra long movement 4d6 for its jetpack move? Or just does it have hit and run? I for one know what I want and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new rules on Forge World's site and Christmas morning :)

  

Blue glow effect - Airbrush tutorial in 3 easy steps

I have been asked to do a tutorial on how I get my blue glow effect on my Tau figures and through the passed 8 months I have been on a journey, not just writing this blog but also learning new techniques and skills, Airbrushing being one of them.  So on that note please remember I am still learning and developing my airbrushing skills and this is my easy 3 step to airbrushing a blue glow effect:-

Step 0 - Your figure/model must be complete including weathering effect, damage and decals, because light will effect everything.

Step 1 - I used watered down Citadel Colour "Ultramarine Blue" but the new "Altdorf Guard blue" will do just the same.  I applied the colour using an airbrush, very finely building it up in layers and fading the colour to the outside edge where I wanted the light to effect to stop.

Step 2 - Once completely dry I used watered down Citadel Colour "Ice Blue" but the new "Lothern blue" will do just the same.  Application is the same as above just try and keep it smaller so the darker blue can be seen.

Step 3 - This last step doesn't involve the airbrush, I applied watered down Citadel Dry "Etherium Blue" I know it's a strange selection as Citadel Dry is for dry brushing, but once watered down to a milk consistency it worked really well, apply the mix in all the recessed areas and to get a nice vibrant colour you can apply two coats or even a splash of white into the mix, but for me recently I have been avoiding a pure white in the centre of light sources, it just seems to loose the colour and effect. 

In the end on my finished Riptide shields I decided to change the blue glow effect around the red part the the Farsight emblem because I thought it looked cleaner painted plain red, but I had already taken all the images for this tutorial, as you will see when I post all four of my Riptides in the coming weeks.  Well I hope that this has been a helpful tip for everyone new to airbrushing, good luck and happy airbrushing :)

The 2014/15 Hobby Season Alumni

I have been invited to take part in my good friend Dave's "Hobby Season To Do List" sorry it's a bit late I've been away with no free WiFi :( 

 I have had a good 12 months - finished my Nurgle Space Marine army. 

Entered it into Throne of Skulls and won an award or two.  

Painted the Forge world Avatar for my friends 40th birthday and I'm also half way through painting my Tau Farsight Enclave army for the next Throne of Skulls.

I have my work cut out for me if I am to beat that year, that said lets get started on my to do list for 2014/15:-

1.  Enter Armies on Parade in October as goaded by Dave.

2.  Finish project X for Armies on Parade, not stolen the idea from Dave.... honest.

3.  Finish project Y for Armies on Parade....

4.  Paint Commander Farsight.

5.  Paint a Tau Battlesuit Commander or two.

6.  Paint 4 Tau Riptides.

7.  Paint 2 units of Tau Fire warriors.

8.  Paint a Tau Hammerhead gunship.

9.  Enter Throne of Skulls with my Tau Farsight Enclave Army and get one player vote with my ultra competitive list and get nominated for best army. (no pressure).

10.  Complete my Dark Eldar Tantalus which has been in the loft for 2 years.

11.  Paint the last of my 10 Dark Eldar Incubi.

12.  Paint Dark Eldar Drazhar and Lelith Hersperax.

13.  Paint my last Dark Eldar Venom.

14.  Start painting my Vampire Counts Army which has also been in the loft for 2 years.

15.  Outside chance of this happening but... to have one 4000pts WFB army painted, either Bretonnia or Vampire Counts.

16.  Not to give Games Workshop all my money and also to resist buying Nagash,but he looks so good.  

17. And lastly but most important ....Not to get divorced as I have just realised how much I have to paint :)

That's my list and it seems I will have a very busy 6 weeks ahead of me including moving house, I'll just have to take it one item at a time and cherry pick what would look best for Armies on Parade, because they will not all get done in time, but they all need doing anyway.

Good luck to every one taking part, I know I'm going to need it :)

Tau Tetra - Farsight Enclave

I have finally finished my 4 Tetras and I am happy with them, but in hindsight I think they could of done with a few more markings even if it was just to number them 1 to 4, oh well too late now.

The blue Tau statue is not a statue at all.  I wanted it to be different from the barracuda base http://bluewarpstudios.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-barracuda-so-what-is-it-part-4-tau.html so I opted for a holographic projection, which are used as public service announcements or issuing orders on the battlefield "for the greater good" and such.  I liked the idea so much I'm going to make 3 more of these and use them as objective markers but next time I think I'll paint them a little lighter. I had toyed with the idea of casting them in clear resin and placing blue LED lights in the base, I thought that would be cool for objective markers doted all around the board, maybe be I should put it to a vote?   Anyway I hope you like :)

Tau Tetra and The Magic Round about

Just hum "The Magic Round About" theme tune in your head or out loud and it makes all the difference :)

Tau R'varna "you have 20 seconds to comply"

Straight off the back of my Farsight Enclave Barracuda - I have been working on my second airbrush project, the Forgeworld R'varna, and I have to be honest here and say that when I first saw this model I wasn't that impressed, but the original experimental rules were fantastic with a potential of 6 haywire hits per shooting phase.  Nothing last for ever and FW realised it was a bit good and toned it down a bit, now that I have one and can field it in a ordinary 1500 point game I thought it about time to paint it and I have gone from not liking the model but liking the rules to loving the model and indifferent about the rules with regards to the guns, Oh and the pointy things at the end of the guns they had to go too.

Second airbrush model complete just a few more Riptides to go :)  anyway I hope you like it and any comments are welcome. 

The Barracuda - So what is it? Part 4 Tau flying base

After many many hours of learning how to use an airbrush, I have finally finished my first airbrush project.  I have to admit that in the passed I would consider the use of  an airbrush as "cheating". but now after undertaking this project I wont be saying that again, it's true that the light effects are a lot easier the doing them with a brush but having to mask every individual panel was wxtrememly time consuming.

As this is my first attempt any hints or tips are welcome. or if you can identify any mistakes please don't hesitate to message, i hope you like it :)

So what is it? Part 3 Tau flying base

I just thought I would put a quick post together showing my work in progress, I have painted the torso and head of the Ethereal just to see the tonal qualities and I have air brushed the Barracuda a dark red, I personally feel that the contrast in colours will work well.

So what is it? Part 2 Tau flying base

Well that's it no going back, it's finished and it just needs a lick of paint and my most ambitious flying  base is ready to go.  I have added an Ethereal for scale, what do you think?