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[NockerGeek]

Over on another forum that I frequent, a number of us were lamenting that we were all behind on painting our armies for various wargames. In response, someone came up with the idea of a year-long painting challenge. Each of us would assemble a medium-to-large point value army for our particular game (for 40k, 1500-1750 points), break that into ten roughly equal chunks point-wise, and paint one of those chunks every month for the next year (allowing for 2 "off" months as needed). So, I've selected to finish the Tau cadre that has been sitting unpainted for the better part of a year and get cracking on it.

What I've painted so far:



June: 12 Fire Warriors (120 pts) - technically, the challenge started on July 1st, but I took the opportunity to finish up a FW squad that had been almost done for weeks.
July: 3 Crisis Suits (186 pts) - Specifically, a team of Fireknives. This one was interesting, as it was my first experiment in edge highlighting.

What's coming up:

August: 3 Stealth Suits and 2 Marker Drones (150 pts) - I'm just about done with these, with just a little detail work and basing to do.
September: Another squad of 12 Fire Warriors, plus 2 gun drones (140 pts); this will get my minimum troop requirements done.
October: 6 Pathfinders and their Devilfish (~170 pts)
November: 2 Crisis Suits (172 pts) - a Centurion, and my "bait" suit (Twin-linked Burst Cannons and an AFP)

Details and pictures are over at my blog: NockerGeek.net

[NockerGeek]

My August painting project, 150 points of Tau in the form of 3 Stealth Suits and 2 Marker Drones. 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.





Meanwhile, I have September's figs primed and ready for painting, so it's time to start on them in earnest!

[Hyena031]

I love the bright green with the red. Nice job, especially on the red lenses/optics.

[Wurrzappa]

Verry nice...you got any Forgeworld painted?

[NockerGeek]

Verry nice...you got any Forgeworld painted?

Don't I wish; unfortunately, I don't have any FW pieces right now, mostly due to the US dollar's poor exchange rate and the cost of overseas shipping.

[knightperson]

Love the glowie burst cannon muzzles one the stealth suits.  How'd you pull that off?

Very smooth painting on everything else too.  Wish my hand was that steady!

[NockerGeek]

Love the glowie burst cannon muzzles one the stealth suits.  How'd you pull that off?

Light blue paint. Really, that's it.

Very smooth painting on everything else too.  Wish my hand was that steady!

Thank you. I'm still working on my steadiness with small details; my sept/cadre markings rarely come out as clean or as sharp as I'd like.

[-no name-]

wow love your stealth suits and the blue glow as well

[enderwiggin]

The only thing is that I wish your XV8's were like your Stealths...

Now it may be a bad camera angle but it's just too much green for me.
Like a lime popsicle held by Godzilla while he walked through a thousands of lime-gelatin filled leprechauns playing on a hillock of clovers, making wonderful green splashes with every foot-fall etc. etc. 

The rest are wonderful though. I actually was going to use the Green/Black/slight red color scheme but after so many people did it...Yours has to be one of the better looking ones by far though. Good Job!

[NockerGeek]

The only thing is that I wish your XV8's were like your Stealths...

Now it may be a bad camera angle but it's just too much green for me.
Like a lime popsicle held by Godzilla while he walked through a thousands of lime-gelatin filled leprechauns playing on a hillock of clovers, making wonderful green splashes with every foot-fall etc. etc. 

The rest are wonderful though. I actually was going to use the Green/Black/slight red color scheme but after so many people did it...Yours has to be one of the better looking ones by far though. Good Job!

They are rather green, aren't they? They're painted Goblin Green, in fact; the Stealths are just Goblin Green with a dash of Chaos Black (about 6:1 green to black). Later suits will probably use a bit more red or black (my command suits are going to be heavy on the red). The (rather poor) camera does make the green look a bit more intense, but only somewhat.

And thank you for the comments!

[Commissar_Will]

Is that blended area highlighting I see on those Stealths? Lovely! Kind of reminds me of mine, although your green looks rather better than mine ended up. The lenses are pretty too. I'd have to say they're my favourites. It'd be great if you could give us a picture of your Crisis Suits and Firewarriors in similar detail.

[NockerGeek]

Is that blended area highlighting I see on those Stealths? Lovely! Kind of reminds me of mine, although your green looks rather better than mine ended up. The lenses are pretty too. I'd have to say they're my favourites. It'd be great if you could give us a picture of your Crisis Suits and Firewarriors in similar detail.

Blended area highlighting? Can't really say that it is (as I'm unsure of what that specifically means - forgive me, I'm new to some of the terminology). For highlighting, I did edge highlighting on the armor plates, hooves, and arms, and some dry-brushing on the larger areas of the legs.

And as far as Crisis Suit close-ups, I have some of those as well (from before I had the basing done):





I'll see if I can get some Fire Warrior close-ups today (I'm going to be taking pictures of everything painted/unpainted, so I'll be sure to snap some detail photos).

[Scar Face]

 Great painting...

Two questions...

1: Did you paint the black cracks in the armour freehand or paint over black undercoat being careful?

2: What colour is the green armour and the highlights.

Thanks.

[NockerGeek]

Great painting...

Thank you!

1: Did you paint the black cracks in the armour freehand or paint over black undercoat being careful?

Neither, actually. I use a 005 (.20mm) black pen to color in my armor gaps (which I guess counts as freehanding, but it's not painted). It saves me time and sanity. I've tried painting the individual armor plates, and I've tried ink washes, and neither works as nicely for me as using a pen.

2: What colour is the green armour and the highlights.

The Crisis Suits and Fire Warriors are painted with Goblin Green, and are highlighted with a mix of Goblin Green and Skull White. The Stealth Suits are painted with a mix of Goblin Green and Chaos Black, and highlighted with Goblin Green (I go through a lot of Goblin Green).

[Mr. T. Marine]

How do you paint such beautiful lenses?
Can you give me a little tutorial? in a post, or in a message?
Would be grrrrreat! Thanx!