[Siege]

I'm thinking of scratch building a Tau war machine for Apocalypse. I know ForgeWorld make the heavy Tau flyers to combat Titans but I simply can't afford those.

Has anybody done something like this before? I've seen plenty of scratch built titans and tanks, but nothing for Tau armies. I've been throwing ideas around, keeping in mind the sea creature theme of Tau vehicles. I was thinking some kind of squid like design (kinda like the tripod walkers in 'War Of The Worlds') would be cool, equipped with jet packs, tentacles for close combat and enough heavy firepower to bring down titans and super heavies. I want it to be mobile and shooty like most Tau, but I also want it to at least hold it's own in close combat.

I have never scratch built a model before, but I've had a bit of experience building terrain and buildings. Where do I start? What should I keep in mind when designing and building my creation?

 

[Lord Sinkoran]

what about a tau baneblade?

 

[The Wraithlord]

It will work in a pinch Sink but I know what he means. A BB just wouldn't 'fit' with the look and feel of the Tau.

As for the OP, sorry mate but I can't help you on that one.

 

[Siege]

Yeah I don't think a Baneblade is really what I'm looking for, I'll probably leave this idea on the backburner for now, I've still got a lot of painting to do.

 

[The Son of Horus]

You could make a 'counts as' baneblade. Use the baneblade rules, but kitbash two or three Hammerheads together to make a really big hammerhead-esque super-heavy grav tank that would be roughly the Tau equivalent of the BB. Or, you could make your own datasheet for it... maybe something like the following:

Super-Heavy Tau Vehicle
500 Points
3 Structure Points
Type: Tank, Skimmer

Armament: Turret-mounted Ion Destroyer (Primary Weapon), co-axial burst cannon, hull-mounted twin-linked railgun, 3x sponson-mounted (or as close as Tau have to sponsons...perhaps drone pod type mounts?) twin-linked burst cannons, 3x missile pods.

Ion Destroyer: The Ion Destroyer can be fired on two settings, using either a single, highly-charged beam (S8 AP3 7'' Blast Ordinance 1); or multiple, lower-charged pulses (S4 AP 3 Heavy 15; 72'' range, does not benefit from the co-axial burst cannon's spotting rounds)

 

[Siege]

Thanks for the suggestions Son Of Horus, I think kitbashing a couple of Hammerheads and maybe a Piranha into a superheavy tank would be easier than building something from scratch. I'll definitely give that some thought, but it might end up being kinda expensive.

Here is some things I found online... I guess mine would look something like this only larger and more menacing.

Anybody have any idea what model those legs could be off? I'm thinking it might be a Necron Tomb Spider...

More inspiration.

 

[Ordo Xeno Commander]

those legs are the tomb spider legs

 

[The Son of Horus]

I'm not sure walkers are the way to go with Tau, though.

 

[Siege]

What would you suggest then? Your idea above is great but I really wanted something that would stand out, something a little different to other Tau vehicles, but something that is still mobile and fast, I know walkers and war machines are not usually very agile.

 

[The Son of Horus]

I'd really think a skimmer would fit best for something that's superheavy. Treaded or walking vehicles just aren't really the Tau's style...particularly when it comes to big stuff.

 

[Silb]

make it either a skimmer or a massive over-sized battlesuit. Something like those drone-zilla things you posted just doesn't fit the Tau spirit.

 

[Marneus Calgar]

If you go to a Gw have a look at the tau collectors guide, there is a picture of two hammerheads bashed together, its got a Ion cannon and Rail cannon on, it looks simply awesome

 

[Siege]

Drone-zillas, lol. They're called Crayfish I think, I was just searching for inspiration and thought they looked kinda cool.

2 Hammerheads will cost me like $120, considering I just bought 2 Hammerheads to use in my army I was hoping I could knock something together from scratch for about half that price.

Still, all your suggestions are appreciated, so keep 'em coming.

 

[Marneus Calgar]

I just came up with a tau super heavy, similar to the one i was talking about. Sorry about the crudeness of the pic as it was done on paint... Please can you all correct me if im wrong on things...

 

[Marneus Calgar]

Drone-zillas, lol. They're called Crayfish I think, I was just searching for inspiration and thought they looked kinda cool.

2 Hammerheads will cost me like $120, considering I just bought 2 Hammerheads to use in my army I was hoping I could knock something together from scratch for about half that price.

Still, all your suggestions are appreciated, so keep 'em coming.

Ah yeah, then my pic wont really be of much use...

 

[freaklord]

why don't you check out other model makers like airfix or tamya, i think they do a fantasy range thats large scale. thinking along the lines of the mech suit things, a giant battle suit

 

[general]

tau superheavy

I would suggest going for the 'giant battlesuit' idea. You can probrably get hold of toys (e.g. transformers or somthing), wich you could then build on. I don't know exactly what you could use as a base, but I would have thought scratch building a skimmer, with all the curved plates could be tricky.
Good luck with it though. Look forward to seeing the finished product!

 

[Katie Drake]

Battlesuits don't have too many curved armor plates, so an exceptionally large Battlesuit is probably a good way to go. If you take a look at how people are scratch building things like Warlord Titans you can pick up on what kinds of materials you'll need as well as the basic idea on how to proceed. I think the most important thing is for you to plan out what it is that you want to do before going too far.

Katie D

P.S Keep in mind that Tau don't traditionally have Titans, so try not to make it too large. No bigger than a Forge World Warhound Titan is probably a good guideline.

 

[Alexander_67]

what about a tau baneblade?

AHHHHH its happening see i told you all it would!

 

[Captain Galus]

i dont know much about tau, but i do know that they are a very, very shooty army
why not forsake CC all together and just make a huge floating mobile gun platform?! load it up with all the railguns and burst cannons you could possibly glue to it, and slap on a huge titan-killer weapon just for kicks...titans just seem so un-taulike.
good luck