The Tau Last Stand [Project]

[The Gallant Forty-Twa]

I know its a funny thing to hear, the Tau making a last stand, since it isn't with their fluff. But I thought that there has to be some ocassions when the Tau find themselves with their backs against the walls, and I plan on making a board for it.

This will be constructed over Summer when I finish exams and have a couple of months to work with. I have given careful attention to the board and its design.

The basic idea is that a Tau recon team landed on a remote, desolate and frozen moon. They setup a small base, lifting in turrets from their nearby Sept world for basic defence. However, the Imperium of Man has other ideas. This moon lies close to one of their planets too (I'm making this up, as I have no clue about the Warhammer 40K galaxy) and they don't like the Tau having a foothold there, so they send a team to take them out. During a fierce and brutal Russian-style winter, the Tau lose all communications links with their Sept world and find themselves trapped on the moon with no space transport to evacuate them. They also suffer from power failures which mean they can't run every turret at once (thus making them have to choose which ones to bring online as the situation changes). The Imperials advanced on all sides towards the Tau outpost after Cadian recon teams scoured the moon for them. And that is where it ends, and my board's layout begins.

It consists of alot of Forge World stuff but I have alot of money right now. Alot. Seriously, more than I should have. This way I can actually invest into proper things for a board, whereas in the past I've always got by on the cheap and it never really turned out well...

Anyways, here's the list of what's going to be bought for it:


FORGE WORLD

1. Tau Drone Burst Cannon Sentry Turret (x3)
2. Tau Sensor Turret (x1)
3. Ammo Dump (x2)
4. Abandoned Chimera (x1)
5. Command Dugout (x2)
6. Command Post (x2)
7. Imperial Guard Missile Team Sandbags (x2 - only buying this so I can make a sandbag line)
8. Imperial Guard Lascannon Team Sandbags (x2 - same reason as above)

GAMES WORKSHOP

1. Modelling Snow (x2 - this is used for the scenery and other details, the board will be covered in white painted sand)
2. Skull White Spray (x1 - this will be used to colour the sand layer white as the basic layer of snow)

B&Q

1. 60" Length x 30" Width Hardboard base
2. PVA Glue Tub
3. Child Playpit Sand

That's the preliminary list of items. I really want the Forge World things because, although they carry a fairly heavy price tag, they really do add such a unique and detailed touch to the board which I could never do myself.

As for the Forge World, you can go online there to see what those pieces look like. The Imperial stuff is typical WW2/Vietnam style foxholes and sandbag emplacements and the Tau stuff from them is just too awesome and is of a quality I could never achieve by my own hand.

The layout will be Imperial positions on both ends with an equal split of the Imperial parts on either side forming a relative sandbag trench line. The craters will be scattered all over the board in no particular order. The 3 Tau turrets are positioned in a triangular shape with the sensor in the middle and my own Tau structures aswell. The broken Chimera will be positioned close to the Tau outpost to simulate a failed Imperial rush attack. The snow will be used to decorate all these scenery pieces and patches of it will be scattered across the board to give it a bit more substance. The basic board will consist of the hardboard layer will a layer of sand which will then be sprayed over with the white paint. After that, all the scenery pieces will be placed on in a modular way so they can be moved around.

Whilst I can also make this board an objective style one, it doesn't have to strictly act as one. I can just have both armies fighting from either side, starting with equal amounts of cover etc. and whoever advances and takes the Tau outpost gets access to the Tau turrets or something like that (or I could just leave them entirely for show). Either way, the board doesn't have to be objective-based only as the name and layout suggests.

So that's my plan. Just wanted to gauge opinion on it, but I also have to ask something. I tested out some stuff with the Games Workshop modelling snow and I can't say I was overly impressed with it. It needed a couple of layers to look like proper snow. Does anyone have any technique they could share on how to make realistic looking snow?

As said, this project will only begin at the start of Summer but I wanted to throw it out there. I will keep this thread updated when I begin if its popular enough as I really am making this quite an undertaking due to the cash injection (and yes, I am bad at controlling my money).

Regards,
The Gallant Forty-Twa

[Lt.Bradford]

My only comment is the Tau do not like to do last stands. Otherwise, good luck with your project.

[Magic Man]

White painted sand would probs look weird compared to the snow flock, dude.


I use snow flock on my armies and the best way (ive found) to make it look decent is to paint whatever you're flocking with shadow/codex grey first, then flock.

Use watered down PVA glue, or the snow might end up soaking into the glue and ending up see through.

Practice with it a few times on bits of card or something.

[The Gallant Forty-Twa]

@ Magic Man

Yeah, I'm kinda inclined to agree with you there.

I based my whole Imperial Guard army and my current Tyranid one with snow flock on the bases. The only reason I decided to go down the sand route was because the board is 70" long and 30" wide, so covering that with the GW snow flock would require alot of tubs, and its £5 a tub (can't believe I don't want to spend this money even though I'm splashing out on Forge World stuff...).

I guess I'll probably just buy about 6 tubs of the stuff. I'll simply spray the board white then cover sections in PVA glue before applying the snow stuff. Hopefully with the leftovers from shaking off from old sections, I can cover the whole board with 6 tubs (as GW are mean on how much they give you in comparison to the size of the tub).

Oh well, cheers for the input.

[Magic Man]

Well i mean it would be expensive, but if you spend all that money on forge world stuff, and then find yourself pissed off at the snow on the board; it'll be sort've a waste.


You could always just add the snow flock later if the white sand looks crap.

[The Gallant Forty-Twa]

Yeah I know, its ridiculous the notion that £5 tubs would break the bank for me. I think I'll go down the full flocking route, a bit of testing I did proves it just looks better than painted sand...

@ Bradford, I already mentioned why they are in such a position in the opening lines of my wall of text. They've been essentially stuck on a moon without space transport and Imperials are closing in, thus giving them no other option than to stand and fight. I also added to the 'scenario' by building a large Necron Obelisk with Necron iconography which will be the centre of the Tau outpost signifying a kind of Tau investigation base around this unknown artifact. If I had the skill, I'd even go one further and build a small hole in the ground with Necrons protruding through asif the Tau stumbled across some buried Necron tomb.

[Magic Man]

It wouldn't be that hard to do, just hollow out a hole with a craft knife.

I suppose if hardboard is the base though, could be difficult. And sorta heavy.

You looked into getting plasti-foam or whatever its called to form the board? I made my board out of MDF when i was younger, two 6 foot by 2.5 foot sections, it was a pain to store.

[The Gallant Forty-Twa]

I could also just use this foamy stuff to make a gentle hill in the centre and then cut into that to achieve the effect... hmmm...

[Magic Man]

It is alot better, its lightweight and you can sheath the edges of the board in wood to add strength.


Plus you can sculpt the terrain and etc etc.


I think its called foam board.