Dirty Tau... (or "Tau Riptide WIP Update #4)

*Squeek*

...by which I think I meant to say "my first Tau painted with washes and a bit of weathering!"

"We found it!"

"Which way now?"
"Scanning, scanning..."

I thought I would put these up as they are part of my (slow) work on my Tau Riptide model. One of the things that is different about these increasingly large models is the massive bases that the Riptide (and other new releases) come with. This is both a challenge, and a pleasure;

A challenge: because I think you need to do something with them. The usual "dipped in sand and drybrushed" approach leaves them looking very sparse. Not that there is anything wrong with that method - I have used it for literally hundreds of Skaven and Tau! - but there is a real danger the base feels...empty.

A pleasure: all that space! :-) A good opportunity to try something different. Important to say that "Different" doesn't have to mean "Difficult"! A good rummage around the bits box will probably do the trick.

Anyway, I wanted to make a little scene where something was "going on", rather than just focus on the Riptide. The idea that I settled on was a small recon party cautiously advancing back over ground lost previously, as indicated by a downed drone. Titles that came to mind were "We found it!", or "Drone recovery" etc. These 3 models are going to be part of that scene.

When I painted my Tau, I didn't use washes of any kind (hey, I was a beginner!) so they all have a "Fresh from the factory" vibe. Since then, I have daubed Skaven in all kinds of washes, and I wanted to try that out with these guys before having a go at weathering the Riptide (haven't done that yet.)

How do you think the Tau (and the drone) turned out?

Cheers,

*Squeek*