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Thanks to Vash for this.
This is my commander O'Shougenka. I made him look like O'Shovah from the Codex entry.
I have chosen to paint my army in a snow theme, as I personally like white miniatures.
The white armour is painted with three layers. First is the skull white spray followed by a white primer to cover the areas not reached by the spray.
Second layer is the shade, which is either a specialised "clip" that is brushed on (not clipped), or a color mixed with glaze. Third and last layer is skull white mixed with glaze again, to make the paint transparent.
The grey areas are painted in the same manner but with foundation astronomican grey.
The blue areas are painted in four steps. Foundation fenris grey, then shaded, highlighted first with fenris grey again, then a last highlight with fenris grey mixed with space wolve grey.
The base is made quite simple. SLate grey carved and chopped to fit with the base. Then some sand to cover the areas not covered by the huge stone.
Paint the sand fenris grey and then stone in black. I then drybrushed the sand with foundation Tau ochure and then then stone with fenris grey.
Second drybrush layer on the sand is foundation dheneb stone and on the slate stone it's astronomican grey.
Finally I added some beige moss and of course some snow.
As I play a renegade army I think I can stray a little bit from the hard printed stuff. Anyway, I believe as a renegade army, the commander uses what he can find and construct.
O'Shougenka have had his men construct a massive battle station to fight in the bigger battles that he is currently in. The battle station that was constructed is basically a larger and more tough version of the battle suits currently in use. Though, it is a huge battle suit and by it's on can lay waste to a whole army.
The battle suit is named XV101, which is in the ten series of suits, and the one represents version one of the model. MBTB stands for Massive Battle Tactical Battlesuit. The MBTB is only used in larger battles, as it is towering and hard to manuever smoothly like the normal battle suits. Thus the tactical advantage is jumping in and out of battles is not possible and the element of surprise will most likely be impossible with the MBTB in the field.
The MBTB has four crew members. There is the operator or driver, who is of rank Shas'O, then he is supported by two technicians who do backup checks on the systems of the MBTB. Lastly, there is one navigator or spotter, his assignment is to aid the operator and guide him or her on the whereabouts of the enemies.
When I am going to use this giant, I will be using the rules for Apocalypse expansion rule book of the Imperial Warhound. Thus this giant will ony be used in Apocalypse battles.
The XV101 is made of one skyray gunship and an additional skyray upgrade sprue. Three piranahas and eight gun drones.
For the weapons one could use whatever you have at home, but as I have just invested in two Apocalypse vehicle boxes, I had enough spare weapons.
Some of you might not approve of this, but bare in mind that this is just for fun and for Apocalypse expansion gaming.
These are my XV20 stealth suits. I have named them XV20 as I have converted them to look more like Shadowsun's stealth armour, the XV22. So going from the normal XV25 to something between XV25 and the XV22 gave me this result, my XV20's.
They are quite simply converted. Only using the parts from the XV25 box. The main thing is to cut hte body part. Cutting the jetpack, and then cutting off the helmet. The helmet is furterh cut in half, just behind where the ear should be.
For a guide how I did it, refer to my topic here.
Anyhow, I chose to paint them as I ahve painted my whole army. They are in camo all of them anyway. The only, if any, difference is that the suits have more white areas then my other units.
Tactics with these are simple, infiltrate if possible and annoy the enemy with a hail of shots, then disappearing into the shadows once again. Sometimes I might add a fusion blasters in the unit to be able to shoot at a vehicle in the first rounds.
The unit has gotten it's name from it's qualities of course. Strikes from the shadows and then dissappears again as they never where there, "Shadowstrike".
Here is one of the elite choices of my O'Shougenka army. This unit is equipped with burst cannons and missile pods, and multi-trackers. The amount of shots they can shoot out for their points is the exact same as the equal amount of points invested in stealth suits.
So why have this setting instead of stealth suits. Well for starters, with an army lead by O'Shougenka/Farsight there can only be one unit of stealth suits. And I personally love quantity shots. The universe have more enemies then just space marines.
Anyhow there are 15 shots each turn that they can lay out. Five stealth suits at the same points lay out the same amount of shots.
Now the upside of the XV8 crisis vs. VX20 (my stealths) is that if a unit loses a wound, the XV8 still have the same amount of fire power, where the XV20 have lost three shots. Losing two wounds makes the XV8 lose 5 shots, while the XV20 loses 6 shots.
Furthermore, the XV8 are tougher thus having better staying power then the XV20's. But of course the XV20's have stealth making them harder to spot at a distance. The pro and cons are by this rule makes them both equal in my eyes. The spitfire unit, as I called them after my inspiriation from the second WW RAF fighter aircraft, main target is light infantry and transports.
One of my sniper drone teams. I personally like these teams, as they have long range, good AP and strength and causes pinning.
Depending on what army I play I use these in different way. In case of my pinning army, the sniper drones are the bread and butter in the pinning army.
They make good use of the markerlights from the pathfinders to lower the leadership on the enemy unit they are shooting at.
Otherwise, I have them to annoy the enemy with their strong weapons.
This is my secondary HQ in my army. It's a Shas'El where I converted him to look like the XV8 crisis suits on the Tau Empire codex cover. The models are painted in the same way as O'Shougenka.
I chose to have the body guards equiped with plasma rifle and fusion blasters, as I prefer to specialise my crisis suits. The normal settings I guess would be plasma rifle and missile pods the "fire knife" as it's known. But as I am not a big fan of being one of the crowd I chose to not to use that combination... ever.
Further equipment are targetting array and hard-wired multi-trackers.
The tactics with these guys is to stay at around 17" away from the enemy that has normal movement. At this distance I can jump, and come within 12" of the enemy, shoot with 8 high strength and good AP value shots. Also 5 special shots from the cyclic ion blaster. After that I can of course fallback again to my cover.
Their main purpose is to hunt down power armoured infantry or infantry with terminator armour, or similar. Of course, if vehicles or units with armour values decides to come by, the fusion basters will gun them down.
Optional upgrade for my Shas'El is a positional relay so that deep striking units will arrive earlier, and in combination with a devilfish from the pathfinder unit, the precision of their deep strike will be greatly improved.
Very few of these exist in Shougenkas cadre, but the few he has are used with great skill.
Most of the gunships are equipped with the railgun turret, as they have enough weapons to deal with infantry. The railguns give the cadre that extra punch it needs against heavily armoured vehicles that they encounter in their battles.
The gunship is painted like the rest of the cadre, Shougenka doesn't apply additional camoflauge to the armour, as the warriors inside now are more part of the rest of the army. Moral is an important thing for Shougenka, so that everyone treated is the same boosts the overall morale.
In total, Shougenka has nine Hammerhead in his commande. Though these are seldom used all at once. Only in huge epic battles will he call for their aid.
Shougenka uses drones extensively, more then any other normal Tau force. As Shougenka is a part of the Farsight enclave, reinforcements are slim and they are forced to use other means to refill the ranks.
Shougenka doesn't want to put his Fire Warriors in emidiate danger or combat until they are fully trained beyond normal standards.With this, Shougenka uses gun drones as part of his basic force instead of Fire Warriors.
A full unit of pathfinders with two additional gun drones. Not much to say about these, two rail rifles and shas'ui with target lock so he can seperate his marker light from his unit.
Depending on the army setting I am playing the marker lights will be used for different uses. In case of my pinning army, I will use the markers to lower the leadership of the enemy.
Otherwise the marker lights will be used as normal to increase the accuracy and the like.
Here is one of my Fire Warrior squads. They usually form up with ten Fire Warriors and two gun drones. They are all equipped with pulse rifles, as I personally perfer carbines over the rifle. It suits my game style more and it makes me stick out from the Tau crowd.
I also include two gun drones as they have the same weapons and add a nice bonus in appearance. But they are also good in close combat with their higher initiative that is equal to a Space Marine. Sure, they don't have the same stats as a space marine and not suited for close combat as their primary function. But, it's a nice bonus that has served me a few times.
I usually also include a markerlight with a target lock for the shas'ui. So the unit can mark a target for one of my other units.
With carbines on all my Fire Warriors I also have a slightly bigger chance of pinning the enemy. I know it's nothing to be relied upon, but it is a nice bonus. Overall, my opponent's underestimate the power of this unit.
Primary target for this unit are of course light infantry. Shooting at them first and in an emergency they will assault their target to either bind them for a round of combat or hopefully take them down if their numbers are greater and the foe is weakened greatly.
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| Comment made by tau rox on 04:06:05, 28 September 2008 |
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| sweet army dude #_# @)- |
| Comment made by taugundrone on 06:32:46, 19 September 2008 |
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| really awsome i love the mbbtb and the hammerhead |
| Comment made by DanTay25 on 03:16:35, 19 August 2008 |
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| All the XV battlesuits so far have been nn-vehicles, right? I therefore think that the 101 should be a Heirophant. The Heirophant is not a vehicle, and its arnament (2 S8 AP3 Assault 8 cannons) suits the 101s arm cannons very well. Also, I think that a) It should be more than a 10- maybe 15? and b) It should have an 8 at the end like the XV88. Also, the stealthsuits should be called XV22s (experimental) or XV25s (stealth). Two different suits can have the same number designation |
| Comment made by The_God_Rhys on 23:10:00, 14 August 2008 |
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| yep thats 1 awsome army bases are soem of the best i've ever seen |
| Comment made by Broken on 05:09:47, 21 July 2008 |
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| The second commander is a bit dodgy. Also, the pictures for the Sniper Drones and XV8's are the wrong way round. 9/10 |
| Comment made by bd on 20:48:33, 11 July 2008 |
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| super awsome |
| Comment made by -no name- on 19:25:26, 10 July 2008 |
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| Wow your XV101 is soooo cool and very cool paint scheme |
| Comment made by crothhaar on 18:38:21, 9 July 2008 |
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| your army is really cool but i don't like the titan looks very un-tau like but i love your XV8s and XV25s |
| Comment made by mattytheogre on 06:15:57, 7 July 2008 |
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| wow, just wow! That is some amazing painting right there! |
| Comment made by Gatorfan83 on 00:32:34, 3 July 2008 |
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| one word: AWESOME |
| Comment made by MOOMOO on 19:22:21, 13 June 2008 |
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| Great work |
| Comment made by GWfan101 on 11:38:31, 27 May 2008 |
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| cool army |
| Comment made by taugundrone on 15:20:40, 13 May 2008 |
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| some of the pics are messed up |
| Comment made by taugundrone on 18:01:03, 5 May 2008 |
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| wow! i love the gaint battlesuit! the stealth suits are nice but i think there kinda award |
| Comment made by Scoutz on 01:40:17, 3 May 2008 |
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| Nice work! |
| Comment made by .::cmd.Farsight::. on 17:41:00, 28 April 2008 |
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| wow u are an amazing hobbyist...period! |
| Comment made by Vendak on 11:21:34, 27 April 2008 |
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| You never cease to amaze me Vash |
| Comment made by suvantom on 19:22:51, 24 April 2008 |
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| you are also one of the best convertionists ever and the battlesuits are pro........ |
| Comment made by iheartgamarays on 03:49:13, 23 April 2008 |
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| ...wow. |
| Comment made by suvantom on 18:54:56, 15 April 2008 |
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| you are one of the best painters i have ever seen!!!!!!!!! |
| Comment made by rayak1992 on 15:05:14, 15 April 2008 |
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| Not a big fan of the Titan, looks too spindly for its array of firepower. Excellent work on your posing conversions, they look much more alive compared to the stock XV8s. Great job on your painting scheme. Not many do a white/pale scheme because it takes a bit more skill to get the shades/highlights right, but it looks like you nailed it :) |
| Comment made by Fasorith on 22:37:33, 8 March 2008 |
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| XV101 MBBTB don't make another one you make tau look like gundam and that is just sad so please dont make another |
| Comment made by obsidian_k3 on 13:53:06, 29 February 2008 |
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| i love the titan, it has inspired me to do my own(XV108), i used the old vdr rules and put them to an apocalypse datasheet, more info on this one would be cool |
| Comment made by Pure_khaos on 22:28:48, 25 February 2008 |
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| I would love an article on the titan. The painting is shocking, and your army seems great. Awesome job. |
| Comment made by insanetau on 12:09:26, 23 February 2008 |
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| please post an article telling about how to make one of those titan things |
| Comment made by taugundrone on 10:10:29, 18 February 2008 |
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| Good painting. |
| Comment made by Bustersword1 on 17:14:33, 17 February 2008 |
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| plz plz plz could you post a conversion guide to make a tau titan. i am planning to make my own and it would help greatly if you could help. |
| Comment made by Bustersword1 on 14:54:28, 17 February 2008 |
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| plz plz plz could you post a conversion guide to make a tau titan. i am planning to make my own and it would help greatly if you could help. |
| Comment made by MOOMOO on 21:45:04, 13 February 2008 |
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| Very well done, keep the good work up :) |
| Comment made by Salamanda868 on 08:59:38, 26 January 2008 |
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| They look really nice, and kudos to you for getting a pale colour scheme to look good and solid! :) |
| Comment made by MCAS on 12:55:40, 14 January 2008 |
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| Very nice army, how many points not inculding the Titan? |
| Comment made by pezza on 23:58:43, 9 January 2008 |
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| love the titan |
| Comment made by Tau Du lath on 13:02:36, 19 December 2007 |
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| Awsome Titan! By the way how did you make the legs and the forarms on the XV101 MBBTB (your titan)? |
| Comment made by Lokter on 11:30:07, 28 November 2007 |
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| cool, it makes me feel rubish now, the best i did was a conversion for my brothers cave troll (fantasy giants chain with the wall onto a Lord Of The Rings cave troll) |
| Comment made by Vash on 01:18:59, 26 November 2007 |
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| Thanks. The commander is a copy of the Farsight image from the codex. The titan is made from a Skyray (and an additional skyray sprue), 3 piranhas and a hord of ion cannons and drones. And thats basically it. |
| Comment made by Lokter on 08:02:09, 24 November 2007 |
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| Absoloutley amazing! do you think you could tell us how you made your Titan Suit? or is that your little secret? |
| Comment made by piggy on 06:54:26, 24 November 2007 |
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| good but ur commander looks like o\'shavah with new paint job |
| Comment made by Rebel | Saint on 07:48:35, 23 November 2007 |
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| Awesome! |
| Comment made by Vash on 02:41:16, 23 November 2007 |
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| thanks! Sorry but I cant see what you typed conserning the stealth suits. Its all coded... =( |
| Comment made by Shas'O Check'Sa Bar'naby Kias on 23:48:38, 21 November 2007 |
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| They\'re incredible! I wish I had your converting skill. By the way, shouldn\'t the stealthsuits have a \'5\' in somewhere,as \'5\' means stealth. |
| Comment made by Vash on 05:14:53, 19 November 2007 |
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| Thanks mate. The arrangement is not done by me. Thats from one of the mods. I will talk to him about it so people dosnt get to confused. |
| Comment made by ollieb8 on 12:51:34, 17 November 2007 |
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| Very nice, very nice indeed, i like the fact that you\'ve made a whole backsotry to it. Though some pictures need rearranging around the sniper drones ^^. Love the titan. |
| Comment made by Vash on 23:23:25, 11 November 2007 |
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| Thanks! I have some guides on how I paint and converted my suits. Just check out the forums. I\'ll collect my guides in my signature one day. |
| Comment made by Argetlam on 07:21:56, 11 November 2007 |
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| i LOVE the massive titan battlesuit, and well done you for undertaking such a big project!i love it!and i feel really crap at painting now!thanks!but seriously, very good work!like it a lot! |
| Comment made by Secataal on 04:13:51, 11 November 2007 |
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| WOW r u god or sumthing, your titan is awesome, brilliant paint scheme and fluffwise its incredible |
| Comment made by fattyboy5 on 12:38:15, 9 November 2007 |
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| very nice |
| Comment made by Captain Lillithian on 18:42:07, 8 November 2007 |
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| what mix did you glaze it |
| Comment made by Captain Lillithian on 17:56:36, 8 November 2007 |
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| OMG. That is wicked. I like your titan its awesome. I like how you\'ve got your battle suits in different poses. |