Tau Cadre Fireblade

GW get plenty of flak, but they should get credit where it is due. The new one-piece plastic character models that come in the clamshells are excellent. I love metal, but it has had its day, and metal models just don't stand up to play wear. Finecast just isn't doing the business for me and I rarely part with cash for it. This new style of plastics should be the future as far as I am concerned.

As soon as one of these was released for one of my armies, I snapped it up. Six months later he is finally finished... (Yes, that is a good measure of the lag on my painting table for things that don't get prioritised for one reason or another.)

This is based on the blue scheme that I use for my Tau army, with a bit of extra trouble taken because it is worth it for a model this nice... It's tabletop with sprinkles!

The robe is painted using a simple recipe: Vallejo Heavy Warmgrey (Rakarth Flesh in GW), sepia wash, base colour retouch, bone and white highlights.

The scenic bases that come on these sprues are really cool. Looking back at this picture, I think that the round bit on the right is supposed to be a dead drone, but never mind...

This week I ran my Tau army for the first time in a few months. In fact it was my first game of 40k for a few months, and it reminded me why army painting is worth all the hours and hours of repetition. Even my half finished army looked dead nice on the table and I am really excited about finishing it now.

Those are Skyrays honest! On the flanks are the allied "Green Hunters" - Salamanders counts as Space Wolves to take advantage of the cheaper points costs, extra close combat weapons and double special weapons -plasma in this case. Skyrays are lots of fun - I am just about to build a proper one... I love using Pathfinders as artillery spotters for the Seeker Missiles. POW!