First Post – Initial Thoughts and Plans

"The Dead Tau Project" – An Eldar Army

So I have begun a bit of work on my new project, and I even came up with an appropriate name! "The Dead Tau Project" will be my primary modeling and painting project for 40K in 2008. Prior to the release of Eldar in 4^th edition I had an elder army that I had assembled and not painted much of. I really enjoyed playing with it and when the new elder came out I put it away until I could buy the new models and figure out which way I wanted to go. In the interim I built a Tyranid army for my home case (~2K mixed) and also assembled and painted a complete WHFB Dwarf Army (2250 points) because I just got hooked on putting them together. Now I am headed back to my largest project yet and assembling my future Eldar army.

So this is to get my thoughts straight for the project as well as an initial update. I put the overall list at the bottom in case you want to take a look. An interesting note is with just straight models if I field everything, this army will be about 3700 points. The stats come out to approximately 19 units with a model count of 103. My plan is to customize all pieces of this army, even if it is just to add appropriate Tau Debris and bodies to the bases. As a matter of fact, the majority of the personalization and customization for this army will be on the bases and the incorporation of Tau bits. Overall, I am least looking forward to working with the 5 Grav Tanks as I have never assembled or painted vehicles.

So, couple notes about the army. First, it is a Biel-Tan Swordwind army, so lots of aspects and no guardians. This means no Grav Platforms and no Guardians on Bikes. It also means I am not planning on putting together any Vipers for the army. I do have a Viper kit from the Army box, so this could change in the future but I doubt it as I am not a big fan of the look of the Viper. I may add in some Shining Spears at a later date, but they are not in the plan for now.

Second, I am modeling the army based on the concept that the Eldar are in conflict with the Tau at the moment. This means I am using Tau bits on the bases and thus the explanation for the Project Name. I will be using the basic desert Tau theme from the codex, and will likely be focusing on fire-warriors for my bits. I want to get a couple Crisis suits for some of the bigger bases (War Walkers, Wraithlord, possibly the Avatar). I am also playing with the idea of making bases for the Grav Tanks and using some wrecked piranhas or devilfish for those bases.

Third, the color scheme I am planning to use is to stick to the Codex Aspect Colors, but somehow denote their allegiance to the Biel-Tan Craftworld as well (Green and White). The Warp-Spiders have green gems and their Death-Spinners are green in color. There is also a variety of small ribbons and on their legs and waists because I am using the guardian sprue to scratch build them. These ribbons and such will be white and green for the craftworld. I am not sure what I am going to do for the Farseer, Warlocks, War Walkers, or Grav Tanks. Planned color-schemes for the rest are as follows:

• Power Weapons – light blue and white "classic" color scheme
• Firedragons – TBD, I want something a little darker than the standard Orange and Yellow
  
• Banshees – Classic bone armor, Red Helmet Mane, Green+White Tabards
  
• Scorpions – Green Armor, Black and yellow Ribbing
• Wraithguard – Green Body, White Head
  
• Dire Avengers – Blue Armor, considering Green and White Crests, Green +White Tabards
  
• Pathfinders – White Armor, Green helmets, Brown and White cloaks inspired by Chrono on his Eldar Blog (http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106345&page=4)
• Swooping Hawks – Light Blue and White (not sure how to denote Craft World Affiliation)
• Warp Spiders – Red Armor, White Shoulder/Knee Guards, Black Jump Generator, Green Gems, Green Death Spinners
  
• Dark Reapers – Black and Purple (not sure how to denote Craft World Affiliation)
  
• Wraithlord – Green body White head, like the Wrait guard
• Avatar – Molten and Cracked, like the LoTR Balrog.

So, I did complete my test model for the scratch-built Warp Spiders. The test model was scratch built and put on a plain flocked base, no added bits. I painted it up in the colors I will use and it does not look to bad. This pretty much means I will be putting my Warp Spider unit together first.

I was inspired (heavily) to scratch build my Spiders by "Dark Apostle" on the Warseer forums in his "Winter Themed Eldar" thread (http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93276).

I have also completed assembling my first base including some stones, sand, and 1 dead fire-warrior. I am gluing together the Spider for the base and will base and paint everything when completed. This first complete model will really prove out if this will be worth doing for the rest of the army. Needless to say, I have high hopes.

So the list I have so far is going to look something like this:

HQ
1 Avatar (Forgeworld)
1 Autarch with jump pack, mandi-blasters, fusion gun, Power weapon
1 Farseer with swords
3 Warlocks with swords

Elite
5 Firedragons plus 1 Exarch
4 Harliquins with Kisses plus 1 Shadow Seer plus 1 Troupe Master
9 Howling Banshees plus 1 Exarch with mirror swords
9 Striking Scorpions plus 1 Exarch with Scorpion claw
5 Wraithguard

Troops
9 Dire Avengers plus Exarch with Twin-Catapults
9 Dire Avengers plus Exarch with Twin-Catapults
5 Pathfinders

Fast Attack
9 Swooping Hawks plus 1 Exarch with sunrifle
9 Warp Spiders plus 1 exarch with twin Spinners and Power blades

Heavy
4 Dark Reapers plus 1 Exarch with Tempest Launcher plus 1 Exarch with Shurican Cannon
2 Falcon Grav Tanks
1 Wraithlord with Sword and Bright Lance
3 War Walkers with Shurican Cannon and Scatter Laser

Misc
3 Wave Serpent Grav Transports with Twin-linked Missile Launchers