After almost two years of having Tau minis and not doing anything with them, I’ve finally been making major progress on getting them all finished. I’ve been painting more figs every month, and getting caught up on construction as well. Yesterday, I finally put together the Armored Interdiction Force (two Hammerheads and a Sky Ray) that I’ve had since last Thanksgiving. I just have to put together my Rapid Insertion Force (9 Crisis Suits, 2 Stealth Suits, and a ton of Gun Drones), and I will finally put together everything I’ve purchased so far (with the exception of a spare Piranha that I’m not planning on using yet). I’m still a long way from being done - there’s a lot of painting and basing and such to do yet - but the end is in sight, and that’s when I can look at filling in holes in my army. A couple of Broadsides and/or some Sniper Drone teams would give me a little bit of everything, and I still need to get a couple of GW’s Shield Drone conversion kits.

And yet, the itch to start a second army is starting to flare up, especially with GW putting out the Assault on Black Reach starter set. I could care less about the Orks (too many models with too many fiddly bits, in my opinion), but the Space Marines are tempting, if for no other reason than to have a second army to lend to friends who want to try the game out. The temptation, though, is one I should avoid for now - while I could get a decent Marine army for around $300 (Black Reach, plus a Space Marine Strike Force), I don’t really have the time to embark upon building another army now. At best, it’d end up at the end of the queue, after all my Tau, and at worst it’d end up distracting me from completing my current work. Maybe in six months to a year - by then, I should have more time and space cleared up for other things - but not right now.

Still, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a very nice temptation…

My August painting project, 150 points of Tau in the form of 3 Stealth Suits and 2 Marker Drones, is painted based, just in time. I continue to refine my lens-painting technique - I’m particularly happy with the ones on the marker drones. On the other hand, the few bits of cloth/fabric, on the upper arms of the suits (under the shoulder guards) didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. I need to work on my blending, and to thin my paints a bit more.

Over on Forumopolis, I’ve been taking part in a wargaming painting challenge. Since several of us are behind in our army painting, we each resolved to take an average-to-large army for our respective games (40k works out to 1500-1750 points), divide the army into ten roughly equal segments point-wise, and paint one segment a month for a year (with 2 floating months off as needed). I’ve been working on my Tau cadre, and as of the end of July I have around 300 points completed (I finished up 120 points in June as a preliminary month). So far, I’ve been pleased with the results.

I should have August’s minis up soon - a 150 pt. squad of Stealth Suits and Marker Drones are in progress as we speak. September’s minis - another squad of Fire Warriors, with some gun drones to pad out the points - are primed and ready to go. For more pictures, visit the Miniatures page.