This year’s Tau Battleforce arrives today, so I was pushing to get the one from last year done before the new one takes up a cozy place on my pile of shame.
I am happy to report, I finished just in time.
The Painting Process
Since I already had a main scheme for the army but wanted to improve it, I reworked some concepts. Even though most of the army is armor plating, I wanted to go with Contrast Paints and just add highlights with base and layer colors. I did try it first with the Ghostkeel.
Ghostkeel
He was the first model from the box I worked on and attempted the new contrast scheme. I believe it worked well. The model itself was just “okay” to put together; I absolutely struggled with gluing the arms on, but it worked in the end with a lot of “support” while the glue was drying. I do dig the pose.
Riptide
I usually dread painting large vehicles. The Ghostkeel was already close to the line, but the Riptide did seem like a lot of work, so here I worked in subassemblies. I left the legs, torso, and arms in individual pieces for painting; that helped make it less imposing. Unlike the Ghostkeel, it was also a breeze to glue the arms on. I’ve heard that the ankles are a weak spot and I can absolutely see why. For the next model I’ll build him in the kneeling pose.
Commander in Enforcer Battlesuit
I am well aware of the hatred for flight stands, but I wanted to try it since the commander I already built used the standing pose. I wanted to have a bigger difference. I did enjoy working on him in the flying pose and at least so far I didn’t have as many issues with the flight stand, but I also haven’t used him in an actual game, so I guess that is still possibly going to change.
Broadside Battlesuit
The Broadside has been one of my favorite models 17-ish years ago when I first started with 40k, but I never really managed to glue the rifle on the shoulders in a lasting way (if I am not mistaken the main model was plastic but the shoulder guns were metal). So I was curious to see this newer iteration, and there were no issues like with the old one. Definitely a fun model and I do intend to get 4 more to have 2 full squads of each loadout. Not sure how long that’s gonna take though — with the coming battleforce I only have 2 overall yet. I’ll probably build the new one with the rocket launchers instead of the rifle.
Favorite bits
I don’t know why, but I do enjoy painting the yellow armor plates; it feels so weirdly satisfying to me. Other than that, I always enjoy all the shoulder plating pieces in general. I would love for the models to have them on both sides.
Wrapping up
In general I enjoyed painting all of these models. When doing anything with paints other than Contrast it always looks too thick, but when looking at the models from a distance I am happy with the result. And even though the first few minis I painted for the army haven’t used the Contrast method, I believe they work well enough next to each other and I’ll continue with this scheme.
Paint recipes
I base coated them with White Scar Spray.
- For the “lower” metal parts I used Black Templar, and for everything else plating-wise I used Ultramarines Blue.
- The head pieces were all done with Gryph-Hound Orange.
- I selectively painted some of the plating with Blue Horror and Averland Sunset.
- For the Tau logos I used Corax White or Runelord Brass.
- Any rocket heads were painted with Flesh Tearers Red.
Next steps
With the new Farsight Battleforce coming, it seems most likely I will work on them next, but I do need a break from battlesuits for a while, so that box will lay a while on my pile of shame.
Painted models for this army
Characters
- 1x Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit
- 1x Commander in Enforcer Battlesuit
- 1x Kroot Flesh Shaper
- 1x Kroot War Shaper
Battleline
- 1x Breacher Team (10 miniatures each)
- 1x Strike Team (10 miniatures each)
Infantry
- 2x Kroot Carnivores (10 miniatures each)
- 2x Vespid Stingwings (5 miniatures each)
Mounted
- 1x Krootox Rampagers (3 miniatures each)
- 1x Krootox Rider
Vehicle
- 1x Broadside Battlesuit
- 1x Ghostkeel Battlesuit
- 1x Riptide Battlesuit
Dedicated Transport
- 1x Devilfish