I had three different Tau projects sitting in different states: second-hand Fire Warriors, old Kill Team Pathfinders, and Stealth Suits that had been waiting in primer since 2013.
The finished models now belong to my Vestige setting as the Vanguard, but the main thing I wanted here was simpler. I wanted the models to look like one usable force instead of separate leftovers from different points in the hobby timeline.
What I started with
The Fire Warriors were second-hand models that came to me already painted. I stripped the original colour, gave them a black base coat, then airbrushed the armour with metallic blue.
The Pathfinders were mine from Kill Team 1.0. They were still unpainted when I came back to them, but I had lost the original rifles. Rather than leave them unfinished, I 3D printed replacement rail rifles and treated that as part of getting the unit back into use.
The Stealth Suits were the oldest part of this batch. They had been sitting in a white base coat since 2013. I recently stripped them, primed them black, airbrushed the blue, and then used metallic markers to sharpen the armour and mechanical details.
Painting approach
The shared process is straightforward:
- strip the old paint where needed
- prime or base coat black
- airbrush the armour with metallic blue
- use metallic markers for panels, edges and small details
- keep the blue skin tone
- use red on the shoulder pads as the shared unit colour
This was not meant to be a slow display project. I wanted a clean tabletop finish that would make the models usable without turning each figure into a separate painting exercise.
The airbrushed metallic blue does most of that work. It gives the armour a smooth finish quickly and makes the older models feel more consistent. The metallic markers are useful after that because Tau armour has a lot of small panels and edges. They let me add definition without needing to repaint every line by brush.
I kept the blue skin because it already works for the models. It also gives some separation between the armour and the body, which matters when the armour is also blue. The red shoulder pads are the contrast colour. They make the models easier to read on the table and give the group a common marking without covering everything in red.
Why this scheme
I wanted the force to look clean and advanced.
That suits the Tau models themselves, and it also suits how I want to use them in Vestige. The Fire Warriors and Pathfinders can stand in as lighter Vanguard infantry, while the Stealth Suits become the heavier recon element. I do not need the article to explain the whole setting for that to work. The models only need to look like they belong together.
Repeating the metallic blue and red across all three model types solves that problem. The Fire Warriors no longer look like second-hand models I rescued from another paint scheme. The Pathfinders no longer look like incomplete Kill Team leftovers. The Stealth Suits no longer look like models that sat half-started for years.
They now read as one small force.
Current status
The group is ready for the table.
There are still small improvements I can make later. The bases could be cleaned up, the lenses could be sharper, and I may add small markings to separate roles within the team.
For now, that can wait. The important part is done: the models are stripped where needed, repaired where needed, painted into one scheme, and ready to be used.