"New Tau Pictures and 40K Scale Manta" Topic

I was digging around the GW forums and found some great pictures from the upcomming Tau Empire codex release.

Also looks like Forge World had a 40K scale Tau Empire Manta Missile Destroyer in the works.

Check it out!

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wow those look cool

Thumbs down on the Vespids :-(

i like the look of the manta, but why do i think that the price is going to take it out of my pocket though, im not shure abought the outher figs what are they and what purpose do they serve the Tau? I was hoping for a pastic human Tau Auxilla set, but i can wait, ( Tau being myone of my 2 best paint job armys they tend to take time and ive still got a load from bifrost to do)

Vespids don't look too bad.

Vespid look too heavy, but some of the faces are nifty.

That Manta is going to cost more than my life.

I like the look of the Vespids, very hard SF alien look, which is what the Tau are.

As far as Gue'vesa you can use plastic IG and Fire Warrior sets to create some really great looking troops. I plan to use my Cadian troops with Tau bitz to produce a couple of units, but I'll wait until the new codex comes out as I'm hoping the units will have more options.

I also understand the new Stealth Suit (seen on the cover of the codex) is going to be a plastic kit and much larger than the original metal kit, looking more like an actuall battlesuit.

I think there are also plans for new Ethereal models with armor and I also heard that the Fire Warrior box set will be getting some additional bitz.

[quote] Building on a popular range and IP[/quote]

Stockholder meeting?

All the minis look awesome, 'cept for the last one. What's he so smiley for? He knows something we dont'…….

Okay. The kroot already look like Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show.

Now we have Sam the Eagle in a battlesuit, with wings, and a multitude of eyes.

Did Tim Prow sculpt this?

I am not going to start another SciFi army, but if I did, it would be the Tau. I just really like the models, especially the armor.

"I like the look of the Vespids, very hard SF alien look, which is what the Tau are."

Respectfully, I'd have to disagree. The Tau are manga inspired. The closest thing that GW has to "Hard Sci-fi are the Elysians or maybe the Kasrkins.

The Vespids are NOT hard sci-fi aliens. They are humans in bug suits. They even look a bit like bell-bottomed space-marines.

That said, I do like the Tau and the new Manta looks great. Arguably, some Tau vehicles approach hard sci-fi only because they actually look like they could have come from a star faring race rather than the Empire's love of oversized rivets, gothic cathedral space ships, and thunderhawk landers that could not even enter an atmosphere.

Spugs make MUCH better bi-pedal alien insects, and SST are actual hard sci-fi aliens.

Mmmm…can't say I like the Vespids, sorry. Something a tad amateurish, or rushed about them. I thought the Kroot had more thought put into them.

But then, everyone's an art critic, eh?

Vespids seem okay – I like the guns, but I'm not so sure about those wings. More insectile heads I think would be better. I mean – okay, they've got two-part 'predator' jaws, and two more pairs of eyes stacked up on top of each other, fine. It's still humanoid. The big cheek-flare-thingys…eh. A more ant-like head, and lose the wing-ies, and they'd be great.

The Manta…I'm sure it'll be stunningly beautiful, and hideously expensive.

New Stealth Suits will be wonderful – I can always stat them up differently from the original lighter suits.

More bits for the basic troop box? That'd be awesome. Hopefully the extra stuff will be a separate sprue, but I'll be buying new boxes anyways.

Also, for the Gue'vesa'la fans – the fluff was pretty clear that you can essentially use Imperial-pattern stuff, just remove the eagles and skulls for a cleaner (and more Tau-allegiance) look. Granted, it's more fun to kitbash.

I thought the new Stealth suits were to remain metal…(said the metal snob)

nvdoyle : what im looking for is human feet with a tau type fatigue / armour suit with tau helms and weps but human hands ( and the moon on a stick please cheaply and of a high quality lol).
As to extra suff on a new sprue ive loads of grenades and spare rifles/ carbines from the exexting sprues, so the extra "neat stuff " aint gonna actract me. But i hope the nerew stealth suits dont clash too much with my existing ones or ill realy be ticked off after paying the ticket for the metals, but i weight and see with baited breath for this relese.

There's something about the faces on some of the Vespids that reminds me of the older range Space Orks sculpted by Kevin Adams.

wow, those vespids are freaking awesome.

"Respectfully, I'd have to disagree. The Tau are manga inspired. The closest thing that GW has to "Hard Sci-fi are the Elysians or maybe the Kasrkins."

Yeah, the Tau are very manga/anime inspired, but if you think about it their technology is more believeable than that of the Imperium. Mile long spaceships manned by millions of slaves with little or no actual computer technology.

On the other hand you have the Tau with sleek, highly advanced spacecraft with powerful artifical technology and extremely advanced weaponry.

Believe it or not we are working on real power armor, there is a DARPA initative out there and the Japanese have one already in the testing phase to be used by nurse to help handle patients.

The US military is also already working on railguns for the next generation of tanks.

I like the Vespids. They dont look good at all with the Tau though. What they do look like they come from is Halo. They look like another race among the Covenant. These may be the first things in years from GW that i will buy. Only for the upcoming Haloesque minis.

SteelPenguin: No, that's not terribly unreasonable – they're just probably not going to make it.

Okay, here's a possibility – and like almost all other GW kitbash ideas, it'll probably cost a fortune…

Start with Cadian or Catachan legs.

Put on a Tau torso.

Add a Tau helmet (or human, whichever looks better.

Get Cadian/Catachan arms, preferably holding a weapon. Carve out the weapon carefully, making a little pocket in the plastic if it goes under the arm or into the shoulder.

Take some of the loose (no-hands) Tau weapons, and start shaving it down to fit. Pretty soon, you'll have something that matches up okay.

Granted, that's a lot of work (and a lot of pricey GW plastic), but I think it might fit the bill.

I tend to doubt the Manta will be a production item unless GW gets into the vacuform business. None of their current materials are suitable for something that size and shape, even if they (or FW) think so. They may as well mount engines in it and fly it to me, because there's no other way a resin version will arrive intact. A plastic kit would work, but would also be an order of magnitude larger and more expensive than anything GW (excluding FW) produces…

Nvdoyle : that what i figured, and the solution you suggest is the only way ive realy seen of achiveing my desired results, BUT my carving / sculpting / patching capability is below what i think id need, and im just a bit to tight fisted to get 2 packs of GW plastics and come out with 1 set of troops ( if im lucky and it all goes right, a major problem for me) what i may do is keep my eyes open for the parts at the next few shows i go to and try and get them on the cheep of corse this assumes that i dont lose patience and just make straight line troops out of the sprues.
GypsyComet : I suspect you may well be right on the materials and that FW are going to have a hard time QCing the manta but i admit that i do look forward to seeing the result, it would be nice to see air vehicles that actualy have aerofoil wings from FW ( ive the swing wing eldar fighter and while its not bad the wings are rectangular in cross section) as one of my fave bate the fanboy lines is to point out that evan £5.00 GBP airfix kits have aerofoils and the £lots FW stuff dosnt, Yess i know that casting thems hard and molding them is probably evan more so and that the cost of molds vs a v is differant, but it helps shoot down a gush in mid sentance.
waiting and seeing i hope

Apparently these seem to have been shown by Forgeworld at the UK Gamesday the other weekend (can anyone confirm?) and the new Tau manta will have a wingspan of 34"…..carry 48 Fire warriors, and 4 Devilfish……not sure I like the look of the Vespids…..not sure what I was expecting when I heard about them……I'd like the wings to be more full , faces are a bit odd….wonder of these were prototypes?

@STEELPENGUIN

do you know how to make a green stuff mold? if you do you may want to try and make a GS mold of all the tau parts you want, then put them on GW cadians or catachans

@SteelPenguin: Since the current army list for Gue'vesa is a 12-man unit what I recommend doing is getting a couple of boxes of Fire Warriors and a box of Cadian and Catachan IG and just kitbashing your units together from those pieces. That should give you plenty of parts to build a couple of units that look like human militia (which is really what Gue'vesa are).

I wonder if the new codex will expand on their unit.

P.S. I would recommend talking with Neal at The War Store and doing a phone GW order as he gives a 20% discount and free shipping over $75. USD

thewarstore.com

BTW, for those wondering about the stats of the 40K scale Manta they are listed in Imperial Armor 3.

It's 1980-points, comes armed with twin-linked railguns (titan killers with longer range), 3 twin-linked ion cannots, twin-linked missile pods, smart missiles, and 18 independant burst cannons.

It can carry 48 Fire Warrios in the upper hold and up to four fully loaded Devilfish or Hammerheads in the lower hold. The lower hold can also be converted to carry Fire Warriors or Battlesuits.

Oh yeah, and the Manta is the Tau Empire's equivalent of a Titan or Gargant. Which I'm glad they made if different, even though the Tau use smaller battlesuits I'm glad they didn't carry the idea into larger walked vehicles. Rather all their larger vehicles are based on skimmer technology.

Plus having something as big as a Manta silently hovering over the battlefield seems to be more menacing and ominous than a giant robot striding across it.

Needless to say I'm excited (or I just had too many cups of coffee this morning).

brotherjason : thanks for the heads up although i dont think ill do the order as im in the UK ( but a big thank you for the suggestion)

byram1 : Im afraid i dont know how to green stuff mold ( i think) but if you can point to and article id be prepared to try to learn ( after all it can only kill me)

TNP1939 : I hear that they were taking preorders for it and that it was still in the fibre glas and wood non fully detailed state ( simaler to the 2 pics at the start of the thread) and would be out chrismas ( im not shure if my sorse said this or next im sorry to say)

hope this helps you guys and carrys on helping me.

That 40K Manta is just UNREAL! I've got confirmation from the Forge World newsletter that it's on the way too.

The Vespid . . . Well, they are alien looking but they are also pretty humanoid at the same time. Yes, the biologist in me is out to pour cold water on it . . .

As for Gau'vesa, has no-one realised that the GZG Neu Swabian troops were scuplted by one of the Tau sculptors on a freelance? And that the weaponry is so similar to humanised Tau equipment that one would have to be a toatl rules nazi not to allow it in a game? Oh, wait, we are talking GW here . . . Well, it is an option.

Thumbs down for the Vespid and seems they'll be keeping the Volvoesque crisis suits.

Iain.

Green stuff moulding is easy. There have been lots of articles about it even in White Dwarf & Black Gobbo. I'll try to dig up a good one from my browser history after I'm done typing out this reply.

Basically, you take a ball of green stuff and press the piece you want into it. Wet the piece with water slightly before pressing it in. Ideally you could cover one side of it and up to the edges of the other side. Trying to get as much detail covered as possible while still being able to get the piece out.

Take the piece out and let the green stuff cure. Then take another blob of green stuff and press it into the mould. Then carefully pull it out and let it cure.

Found the guide from my browser history:
warseer.com/article//69

GW even advocates doing it, so don't worry about any moronic cries of copyright infringment:
link

Okay, I'm generally only a quasi-fan of GW's sculpts, but this Forgeworld Broadside looks outstanding:

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I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd find this on a GW website:

"It's possible to make your own molds out of green stuff for replicating small details (for your own modeling only). Wet the area of the original model, such as the chest eagle on a Space Marine. Press a small wad of green stuff firmly onto the area and gently remove it. Allow the green stuff mold to dry. Wet your mold and press a little more green stuff into it to make new eagles to mount on standards, shoulder pads, vehicles, shields, or wherever. This trick also works for faces, shield icons, and other details."

(thanks for the link, Nathaniel!)

> this Forgeworld Broadside looks outstanding:

Yeah, I like those ankle joints a lot better than the existing Battlesuit models'.

I think the vespids are a worse looking copy of Rifts Xiticix

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and related to that, their battlesuits look a whole lot like Triax ultimax powered armor (notice the 'vx' on the shoulder)
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based on this line of thinking… my guess is that the next new alien race allies for the Tau will look either like Coalition dogpacks or full borgs

I've gotta add my two cents for the new Tau: I think it's great that they will get a little more support! My friend is an avid Tau general and is constantly frustrated by the diversity of Imperial armies (I'll field my Guard with a Deatwatch Kill Team, an Inquisitor, and what the hell, a Vindicare Assassin while I'm at it), while he is stuck with… Kroot. Bring on the Vespids, I say! Forget the fact that they look like something I would hunt in a suit of Glitterboy armor just before my buddy has to recharge his spells at the nearest layline. (Rifts anyone?). Revamp the Tau, they need more allies! Why do only the Kroot and a few human auxiliries take to the field of battle? After all, where are all the other races who have been supposedly brought into the Tau fold of the 'Greater Good'? Not at home weaving Kroot armor, that's for sure!

"Vespids don't look too bad"

….They look like Space Chickens*…..

*nabbed from TheWarp

Not that I'd get into Tau, but I'd use medieval Japanese peasants as allies for them. Or Parroom Station's Martians.

As a Tau player the Vespids leave me cold, they don't do a thing for me. I would imagine they will be the CC specialists.

I am currently kitbashing a set of Necromunda Enforcers as Gue'vesa. It is pretty consistent with the idea of Imperial worlds being catured by the Tau and the cyber mastif makes a pretty cool attack dog. I will arm them with a mix of Tau and Imperial weaponry.

I have to agree with those who think that the Vespids are a bit of a let-down for a Tau ally. They look too much like humans in a bug suit.

Their wings are also too small and too bat-like; not bug like at all… They could have done SO much better supplying them with clear plastic wings that looked veined like wasp or dragon-fly wings…

I wish that the Tau would get a dedicated heavy tank that was not just an APC with a heavy gun mounted on top of it… All of GW's vehicles for their non-human s (and even the humans in amny cases) look like all they had were a bunch of M113's that they used to make tanks out of (or the alien equivalent)…. Like they took the M113s and added a pershing turret to it, or a set of recoilless rifles, or an TOW missile launcher, and so on….

The Tau devilfish, and variants like the Hammerheads are not proper tanks. The Tau would be smart enough (you would think, after all, they are supposed to be the "hard Sci-Fi" part of 40K) to build themselves a tank chassis that was dedicated to the role of MBT and not just an APC that they slapped some extra armor and a turret on.

I have some epic scale vehicles that I am trying to work off of to convert myself a dedicated Tau MBT using parts from the Hammerheads, their walkers and some Modern vehicles (Merkeva, Gepard and M60A2 turrets, and some components from Soviet era missile control systems). I moved the thrusters back and in a little to extend the chassis and lower it a bit, shaved the lower side of the chassis a bit, and added a second ball-turret on the belly that can face the rear as well, and cleaned all of the larger hatches off of the sides and rear (adding a couple to the top side in the process). I am hoping that after I get some work done that I have been paid to do that I can finish the thing off with a railgun from a hammerhead, a couple of PD sensor domes, and a few seeker missiles…

I am going to be using some of the Warzone Mishima troops as a modern japanese army and use the Tau as cloned/grown troops, the Tau vehicles as the advanced Japanese tech etc.