Post by Harkovast on May 30, 2017 23:45:54 GMT
A new young power is rising in the galactic east.
They may be new and small relative to the vast Imperium of man, but they are coming out in force to spread their ideology across the Galaxy.
How much of a threat are these guys?
Well they aren't just sending out one fleet...THEY ARE SENDING THREE!
Holy crap! These guys aren't fooling around.
Let's break down the various factions in their Empire's Naval forces.
THE MERCHANT FLEET
Tau like to present themselves as friendly and peaceful, spreading enlightenment and order.
The Merchant fleet is engaged in exploration and the day to day business of protecting their space.
Despite the friendly name, these guys engage in lots of conquest, war and the day to day fighting for the Empire.
Explorer's are the battleships for the Tau though they have weak weapons and shields. They act more like air craft carriers in a real world navy, focused entirely on providing fighter and bomber support in large amounts.
These models are from Ground Zero Games with additional ion cannons and tau bridge. The extra parts were made by Void Crucible, an awesome designer from France.
He made the bridges specially to order for me. Pretty snazzy, right?
This is the fleet's super command carrier. This thing is HUGE! How huge?
It dwarfs these Tau cruisers. The thing is a beast!
It uses the model for a Tau Manta Air Craft from a ground game they used to do called "Epic".
These tau cruisers also use old Tau Aircraft models.
I plan to use the one with the sticking out sections (originally cannons) as launch tubes for fighters and bombers. Then the other cruiser type will be the direct fighting kind.
The Launch one is a Progress, the other is a Hero.
Tau don't have any psychic powers, which makes long range communication difficult. They instead use relays and ships with advanced sensors to relay information.
These Messenger Class Escorts aren't able to fight much but their advanced sensors can provide a fleet with assistance in aiming its weapons and coordinating their point defences.
The lack of psychic powers mean that the Tau also struggle with long range space travel, which require special psychic powers to navigate.
Their drives are big and bulky, so the smaller ships have to be carried by larger vessels to travel between solar systems.
However, these little orcas pack a lot of fire power for their size, so you can a lot of bang for your buck by bringing transporting them to the war zone.
Defender escorts have their own war drives, so can operate independently.
They have bad ass firepower and sophisticated Tau torpedoes.
The escorts in this fleet are the official escort models. The official capital ships for this fleet look terrible so I didn't get any of them and found cooler substitutes.
THE COMMERCE PROTECTION FLEET
Tau seem to love euphemism! These guys are the most advanced Tau ships, dedicated entirely to combat and integrating Fire warrior boarding parties into their crews.
These guys are the elite strike force that can be deployed when things get serious.
A force of Protector cruisers.
These models had to be mail ordered so they aren't that common. These days they sell for a LOT!
They sure do look cool.
Seriously, these things are so bad ass.
I love em!
Emissary Light cruisers. Fun fact, the original official Tau models looked completely shit, but in a GW computer game fire warrior they showed a ship like this, which basically looks how you would imagine a Tau ship to look.
So they made a model for it, and I guess it was popular as they then made a whole fleet in this style. Hooray!
Castellan escorts, able to warp travel on their own.
Warden escorts, requiring a capital ship for warp transportation.
The Custodian is the closest the Tau get to a full on battleship.
It is less armed and armoured than the full battleships of other races, but can hold its own a lot better than an Explorer.
The commerce protection fleet is very deadly, but tends to be less robust than sturdy merchant fleet vessels.
Tau might have some limitations on their tech, but in other areas they excellent. Their weapons are very sophisticated and their torpedoes and ordinance are superior to Imperial versions.
HUMAN ALLIES
WHAT? Humans turning their backs on the Emperors light to serve a filthy alien ideology? How can this be?
These models are from Battlegroup Helios, an Australian company.
They work great as vessels similar to Imperial ones, but clearly unique.
These humans still practice a version of the Imperial faith. They worship the emperor but the religion is more tolerant, with elements about human supremacy and hating aliens removed.
These ships have cool domes on, giving the sense of them made carrying their own temples.
Some human escorts. These ships are painted in their own colours, but in the same style as the Tau.
The colours are done with spray painting in light, softer colours, and then giving a wash in darker colours. It is a bright style, that suits the optimistic, confident style of the Tau.
These ships lack any imperial icons and I added some Tau symbols to the sides of the cruisers prows, to show their new alignment.
DEFENCES AND TRANSPORTS
Two defence stations, armed and ready to defend Tau space.
These are metal GW models from the original tau range.
Two Tau space cities.
The closer one is an official forge world model, the one further back is by Ground Zero Games.
This station uses a model of a Cylon Base Star from the original Battlestar Galactica, repainted.
Tau transports, the life blood of the Empire. Also useful for getting Fire Warriors down to a planet that hasn't yet accepted that it would be better off under enlightened Tau ownership.
I have a real soft spot for these models. They are such cute little guys!
I have more tau alien allies yet to paint, from various alien subject races. I will post those once they have been painted up. (Need to order more interesting spray paint colours!)
FOR THE GREATER GOOD!
They may be new and small relative to the vast Imperium of man, but they are coming out in force to spread their ideology across the Galaxy.
How much of a threat are these guys?
Well they aren't just sending out one fleet...THEY ARE SENDING THREE!
Holy crap! These guys aren't fooling around.
Let's break down the various factions in their Empire's Naval forces.
THE MERCHANT FLEET
Tau like to present themselves as friendly and peaceful, spreading enlightenment and order.
The Merchant fleet is engaged in exploration and the day to day business of protecting their space.
Despite the friendly name, these guys engage in lots of conquest, war and the day to day fighting for the Empire.
Explorer's are the battleships for the Tau though they have weak weapons and shields. They act more like air craft carriers in a real world navy, focused entirely on providing fighter and bomber support in large amounts.
These models are from Ground Zero Games with additional ion cannons and tau bridge. The extra parts were made by Void Crucible, an awesome designer from France.
He made the bridges specially to order for me. Pretty snazzy, right?
This is the fleet's super command carrier. This thing is HUGE! How huge?
It dwarfs these Tau cruisers. The thing is a beast!
It uses the model for a Tau Manta Air Craft from a ground game they used to do called "Epic".
These tau cruisers also use old Tau Aircraft models.
I plan to use the one with the sticking out sections (originally cannons) as launch tubes for fighters and bombers. Then the other cruiser type will be the direct fighting kind.
The Launch one is a Progress, the other is a Hero.
Tau don't have any psychic powers, which makes long range communication difficult. They instead use relays and ships with advanced sensors to relay information.
These Messenger Class Escorts aren't able to fight much but their advanced sensors can provide a fleet with assistance in aiming its weapons and coordinating their point defences.
The lack of psychic powers mean that the Tau also struggle with long range space travel, which require special psychic powers to navigate.
Their drives are big and bulky, so the smaller ships have to be carried by larger vessels to travel between solar systems.
However, these little orcas pack a lot of fire power for their size, so you can a lot of bang for your buck by bringing transporting them to the war zone.
Defender escorts have their own war drives, so can operate independently.
They have bad ass firepower and sophisticated Tau torpedoes.
The escorts in this fleet are the official escort models. The official capital ships for this fleet look terrible so I didn't get any of them and found cooler substitutes.
THE COMMERCE PROTECTION FLEET
Tau seem to love euphemism! These guys are the most advanced Tau ships, dedicated entirely to combat and integrating Fire warrior boarding parties into their crews.
These guys are the elite strike force that can be deployed when things get serious.
A force of Protector cruisers.
These models had to be mail ordered so they aren't that common. These days they sell for a LOT!
They sure do look cool.
Seriously, these things are so bad ass.
I love em!
Emissary Light cruisers. Fun fact, the original official Tau models looked completely shit, but in a GW computer game fire warrior they showed a ship like this, which basically looks how you would imagine a Tau ship to look.
So they made a model for it, and I guess it was popular as they then made a whole fleet in this style. Hooray!
Castellan escorts, able to warp travel on their own.
Warden escorts, requiring a capital ship for warp transportation.
The Custodian is the closest the Tau get to a full on battleship.
It is less armed and armoured than the full battleships of other races, but can hold its own a lot better than an Explorer.
The commerce protection fleet is very deadly, but tends to be less robust than sturdy merchant fleet vessels.
Tau might have some limitations on their tech, but in other areas they excellent. Their weapons are very sophisticated and their torpedoes and ordinance are superior to Imperial versions.
HUMAN ALLIES
WHAT? Humans turning their backs on the Emperors light to serve a filthy alien ideology? How can this be?
These models are from Battlegroup Helios, an Australian company.
They work great as vessels similar to Imperial ones, but clearly unique.
These humans still practice a version of the Imperial faith. They worship the emperor but the religion is more tolerant, with elements about human supremacy and hating aliens removed.
These ships have cool domes on, giving the sense of them made carrying their own temples.
Some human escorts. These ships are painted in their own colours, but in the same style as the Tau.
The colours are done with spray painting in light, softer colours, and then giving a wash in darker colours. It is a bright style, that suits the optimistic, confident style of the Tau.
These ships lack any imperial icons and I added some Tau symbols to the sides of the cruisers prows, to show their new alignment.
DEFENCES AND TRANSPORTS
Two defence stations, armed and ready to defend Tau space.
These are metal GW models from the original tau range.
Two Tau space cities.
The closer one is an official forge world model, the one further back is by Ground Zero Games.
This station uses a model of a Cylon Base Star from the original Battlestar Galactica, repainted.
Tau transports, the life blood of the Empire. Also useful for getting Fire Warriors down to a planet that hasn't yet accepted that it would be better off under enlightened Tau ownership.
I have a real soft spot for these models. They are such cute little guys!
I have more tau alien allies yet to paint, from various alien subject races. I will post those once they have been painted up. (Need to order more interesting spray paint colours!)
FOR THE GREATER GOOD!