FIREWARRIORS

5150White Dwarf White Dwarf

Warriors of theFire Caste

Fire Warriors are the TauEmpire’s front line troops,expanding its frontiers with eachbattle they fight. Whether fieldedas solid walls of infantry, ormounted in Devilfish transportsas air cavalry, no Tau army cando without its Fire Warriors.

Basic AssemblyWhen assembling your models, consider the angle at which thewarrior’s weapon is held and which way his head is looking.

The weapon held up high, with the head posed at an angle looking along the gun, so the firer is aiming (1) and (3).

It might be lowered or raised, with the warrior looking away, holding firewhilst he observes an enemy’s movements (2) and (5).

Held to the side, while the warrior is walking (6), or held in one handwhilst the other prepares a grenade or activates a scanning device (4).

Advanced Assembly

Using Green Stuff

A few conversions in each Fire Warrior squad can help personalise your army.

Cutting and bending limbs to create running (1) and (4) orcrawling poses (2).

Using Green Stuff to fill gaps created by posing (6), or toremodel hands (4), (5) and (6).

Mixing parts from kits, such as (3), which incorporates pieces from the Tau Tank Accessory sprue.

Adding extra detail, (6) for example, has a pin for an aerial.

To get an effect like this (i), cut the topoff the the arm to create a flat surface.Varying the angle of the cut changeswhich direction it will point. Pin the jointfor strength, then fill in the gap withGreen Stuff. Leave it to dry for 20minutes, then press lines into it with asculpting tool to mimic the cloth of theundersuit. His hand (ii) has also beenresculpted.

The model at the bottom has had his wrist (iii) and knee joint (iv) similarlyrepositioned. He is carrying his helmet,which was made by removing the neckwith a modelling knife from a Tauhelmeted head.

2 3 4 5 6

1

1

2 3 4 5 6

Fillingand

sculpting

Resculptedhand

Repositionedw

rist

Changingknee

position

i ii

iii iv

FIREWARRIORS

5352

White Dwarf White Dwarf

The T’au SeptT’au is an arid, desert world, the favoured climate of theTau race. The colour scheme is quite easy to paint usingthe Layering and Extreme Highlighting techniques, thelatter being applied to the armour, over a blackundercoat. Tau equipment is very hi-tech and clean, sotake your time and try to be neat with your lines.

For more on layeringand extremehighlighting, check out pages 38 and 40of How to PaintCitadel Miniatures.

£12

Stage One Stage Two

Black highlight(Layer)Codex Grey/Chaos Black

Stage Three Stage Four

1:3 mix Bleached Bone/Shadow Grey

2:3 mix Bleached Bone/ Shadow Grey

1:1 mix Bleached Bone/ Shadow Grey

Highlight 2Highlight 3

Painting Tau SkinDetails

Shadow Grey (the eyesare left black).Eyepiece

Scab Red

UndersuitScorched Brown Sept Markings

The Tau utilise a great manymarkings and insignia, manyof which determine suchthings as the wearer’s rankand unit. These are derivedfrom the ancient warpaintworn by the Fire caste inthe earliest history of therace. Although the exactform these markings takecan be varied according toyour own tastes, theircolour is tied to the septfrom which the weareroriginates.

The Tau use a widevariety of stripes and circlesto indicate rank, role etc.Although you don’t need to‘translate’ them exactly, theycome in handy as a simplesquad numbering system.Simply count a single stripeas team one, two stripes asteam two and so on. Teamleaders wear the sameidentity stripes, but these filllarger areas of their armour.

All models in an army willusually have the same coloursept markings, and the squadmarkings are applied to dronesand transport vehiclesassociated with the unit.

Tau SymbolSkull White

Gun StabiliserTin Bitz

Armour Vomit Brown

Basecoat

Highlight 1

Squad Leader Variants

Squa

d Le

ader

Squa

d Le

ader

Squa

d Le

ader

Squa

d 1

Squa

d 2

Squa

d 3

Au’

taal

Sep

t

Ke’ls

han

Sept

D’y

anoi

Sep

t

Squad Numbers

Example Sept ColoursBlack highlightCodex Grey

Armourhighlight (Layer)Bronzed Flesh

Gun Stabiliserhighlight (Layer)Burnished Gold

Undersuithighlight (Layer)Bleached Bone/Scorched Brown

Eyepiecehighlight (dot)Skull White

Gun Stabiliserhighlight (Layer)Shining Gold

Armour liningTin Bitz

Black highlight(Extreme)Codex Grey/Chaos Black

Tau SymbolChaos Black

Undersuit highlight (Layer)Bleached BoneScorched Brown

Eyepiece highlightBlood Red

UndersuithighlightBleached Bone (layer)Scorched Brown

ArmourHighlight(ExtremeHighlight)Bleached BoneBronzed Flesh

Sept MarkingsSkull White

Lining requires a steady hand. Eitherapply the paint as a thin line, orwater it down before painting it intorecessed detail like this and wipingoff the excess.

Lenses on models look great whenpainted like this – just paint a crescentof a lighter colour to the underside ofthe basecoat, opposite this, apply a dotof Skull White paint.

The circular device at the end of thepulse rifle is the gun stabiliser.

The highlighting on the armour is a mixof Layering and Extreme Highlighting.The final highlight should only beapplied to the very edge of the armour.

FIREWARRIORS

5554

White Dwarf White Dwarf

Black highlight(Layer)Codex Grey

Black highlight 2(Extreme Highlight)Fortress Grey

Deep red highlight mix4 parts Scab Red2 parts Chaos Black3 parts Scorched Brown1 part Bleached bone

Deep red basecoat mix4 parts Scab Red2 parts Chaos Black3 parts Scorched Brown

Burst Cannon

Drone controller

Cadians are ambushed by Tau of the Sa’cea sept.

T’au Sept Fire Warriors.

Commander Shadowsun.

Sniper Drone Team

Stealth Team

Deep Red Highlights

Deep Red Basecoat

Many of the principles discussed inrelation to the Fire Warriors apply here.

This Sniper Drone and Spotter have been painted by Neil Hodgsonin the same colours as the ‘Eavy Metal Stealth teams, as both areequipped with stealth generators.