Tau Sept: Shas'O R'alai

Long time viewers of my blog might notice that the banner has changed for Tau. That's because Im trying to make it so each army from here on out has a unique banner or some form of it. We'll see how well it goes. Today I present a new addition to my growing Sept. Shas'O R'alai!

At the store ( I bought the forge world broadside too!)

This model was purchased for me by Bandogora01 at his local game store. Old armies are traded in for store credit and I happened to be there over Christmas break when I spotted Shas'O R'alai and a Forge world Broadside. Both very hard pieces to come by (without paying Forge world prices here in the states). As such I wanted to pick them up and had my friend who worked there hold them for me until I got paid. Bandogora was nice enough to ship them to me once I paid for them and they arrived in good time. The initial model weren't much to look at. Black primer and a weird brown color base coat. This was removed easily enough with LA's Totally Awesome and then the true fun began.

Cleaned up and ready (Spoilers for future post)

I primed the model and then set about painting it in the color scheme of my Sept. Long time viewers know that the color scheme usually takes about a week from start to finish. Shas'O R'alai took two weeks of off and on painting. This was because as a HQ unit I wanted to make sure extra attention was paid to the model in the process. Once the model was finished I set about making a few fixes on the model before calling it done.

That same weekend, I took Shas'O R'alai out to the game store with my brother. We played a 1500 point game. Tau vs Guard. Crisis Wing (Farsight) vs Armored Company with a mission from the Monk'ta Book. Needless to say, I lost. However Shas'O R'alai proved his worth killing many guardsmen, a chimera, and a sentinel before dying to massive lasgun fire. His warlord trait: The Assassin really did make him a terror for independent characters. 1d4chan claims hes the tau version of Abbadon, Yarrick, and other heros who can "tank" their way through the enemy. I didnt see that as much as I saw a long ranged killing machine who could bring a lot of hurt for very little cost. Shas'O R'alai's markerdrones hitting on a 3+ really did make it easy for markerlights to be used for his squad. In the future I think Shas'O R'alai might become a more permanent addition to my forces. My brother on the other hand reverted back to the normal "Tank-Mander" build stating he felt that Shas'O R'alai wasnt within his play style. To each their own.

Back View

Marker drones

Tell me your thoughts on Shas'O R'alai, is he truly a terror like Dante or Yarrick or is he more akin to our regular Tau commander. Share your thoughts below.

Till next time!

Read more »

Tau Sept: A Rising [Rip]Tide

Today we present you with a real treat. A Tau Riptide done up the Jar'Kia Sept scheme. This Riptide was a Christmas present from my father and was a gift I had been wanting for a few years now. Riptides are commonly though as OP (Overpowered for you non gamers) and so they are not given much mercy on the table. In the last three games I've used proxies for it, it has not died and in fact has killed a ton of points back.

So, how did I go about starting this build? Well first I clipped off the pieces and then laid them out to do sub assemblies on them. I highly recommend sub assemblies for this model due to its size and height.

Next, I set about doing painting all the parts in jade with a purple ink. After that I did the metals first with a bronze and then with a tin color. After that, I broke out my air brush and set to work doing all the jade parts you see before you. While the purple ink took two full days of on and off work, the jade only took 5 minutes with a air brush. A airbrush makes the job so much easier and enjoyable.

After the airbrush work, i let the model dry before going onto the detail work. First was the highlighting on all parts of the model. Then came the recessive highlighting with the purple wash. I then washed the blacks with nuln oil before adding a highlight to the black. Next came the metallic parts (again due to over spray with the airbrush) and then the washes on top of the metal parts. Lastly came the orange which I had stupidly left at my girlfriends house over winter break and so was forced to put that part of the project on hold for a long while. I then added a brown tone to the base and added some agrellian earth to the bottom in order to make the model look completed.

I have yet to try it in game yet but from what Ive seen of it played in proxy play, it is a beast of a model. Stupidly, once i finished the model I had burnt myself out on it and left the Burst cannon and secondary systems partly done. This has seen been corrected but it was a pain in the arse to go back and finish them out.

Overall it was a fun model kit to put together. While I am in no rush to get another Riptide, I do intend to buy 2 more someday. I think running a riptide wing would be fun (and cheesy as heck). Maybe I should save it for tournament level play?

In real life news I have found out that my Masters Thesis has been approved. This is a huge milestone for me and one that means life is about to get really busy for me. Not that i'm complaining though.

Leave a comment, say hi, or just let us know you were here. Every little bit helps!

Till next time!

Read more »