Project Diary: Tau Vespid and Pathfinder Reinforcements

Time for another project while my Harlequins sit 30% done. This time, it is working on a few reinforcements for my Tau Empire army. Grey Knight's Luke has asked me to participate in a local Warhammer 40,000 doubles event in late November. After mulling through a few different list ideas (and still working on it...) I finally used it as an excuse to pick up a set of models that I have wanted, but despised, for a long time - Vespids.

 The Vespids were a unit that I thought were very cool, but very weak, in the Dawn of War video game. They were weird flying bug guys, and what's not to like about that! The problem arose when I started playing the tabletop game and I learned about horrors of Games Workshop Finecast resin. Building my OOP Shadowsun was my first experience with Finecast, and I was appalled that I was charged money for it. When I found out the current Vespids were in that same crime of a material, I relegated them to models I would never purchase or own. Fast forward 7 years and the Vespids now have a cool kit for the latest edition of Kill Team, and their rules in Daddy 40k weren't too bad either. While other's would say spend the points on a unit of Kroot, my wallet could not justify the near 1pt per dollar spent on the Kroot. I was at least doubling my bag for buck by going with the Vespids. Their jump around ability sounds super cool and the new Kill Team models look great. So into the game store I went and out I came the proud papa of 10 gross bugs.

As I started the Vespid project, I also turned to my bits box to see what I can do with my half broken kitbashed Etheral I had laying around in need of medical attention. Figuring I'll want something to work on while coats of paint dried on the Vespids, I started looking at bits to kitbash this guy into either a Firesight Marksman of even a Darkstrider. That's when I noticed I had a lot of spare infantry legs laying around, 9 of them to be precise. I took to the internet and found some real simple Tau infantry torsos to 3D print and the test came out actually really good. My plan is to rectify something I did wrong back when I started collecting Tau when I built all the Pathfinders with nothing but pulse carbines. I was going to work on 3 Ion and 3 Rail pathfinder to finally be able to field some special weapons with that Pathfinder team. That left me with 3 bodies to find something to do with, and this is where I'll look at creating a Darkstrider model to use.

 Vespids

Starting off with the Vespids. I wanted to go with a very bright color, either blue or green. I finally decided on a sky blue / dark red color scheme that matched some of my favorite Fiestaware combinations (that sounds lamer written out than it was in my head). I primed the buggers with Rustoleum Camo Flat Khaki, one of my three favorite primer colors to work on, and went to town.

October 23, 2025: The blue went down lovely and easily (Pro Acryl Sky Blue), leaving me with enough time to actually get both coast of dark read (Pro Acryl Burn Red) down on the guns and Tau tech. After a single night of painting (about an hour and a half), these fellas felt already nearly done! I still had a little red left on my pallet, so I even managed to get a coat of red down on the little drone too (after I took the photos). The Khaki on the unpainted models looked actually really cool to me, and I wondering if I should try something different on the other 5 models. Both look great to me.

October 27, 2025: 

October 30, 2025: Painting and basing complete! May do a few grass tufts.

Pathfinders

I started by finding the Tau Torsos 3D print file and a quick test print. I was presently surprised at how well the looked and fit! I've still got to print out some more, but this will be for a later date.

October 30, 2025: Spent Sunday morning kit bashing the 3 ion, 3 rail, and Darkstrider pathfinders together. 3D printed appropriate size bases on Wednesday. Spent Thursday glueing everyone to their respective bases. I didn’t want to use more of my Citadel texture paint on them, so I opted to try a baking soda and sand mix to try to mimic it. I have doubts on how it will turn out, but I’m not really concerned.

November 06, 2025: Red and Khaki coats are down on the Ion pathfinders while also reworking the reds and blacks on my stealthsuits that have never been completed.

 

 

November 10, 2025: Finished most major colors on the Ions and Stealth Teams and put down the Agrax Earthshade wash over the whole models. Just some blues and basing left to do on Thursday night. I don't care much for the greys I put on the Stealthsuits, but they standout as different than my first set of three.

 

 November 16, 2025: Put the finishing touches on the stealth suits and Ion pathfinders. As you may be aware, during this past week the rules for Stealth Suits were updated locking them to 5 man teams in lieu of the previous 3 man teams. The tournament list that I'd been sitting on for the past month was blown apart and we needed to make some changes. This included a list with a Firesight Marksman. 

Story Time: I had an Ethereal that I had previously lovingly kit bashed into a pistol wielding bad-ass. This Ethereal met an untimely fate at the hands of a 3 year old who knocked over my display cabinet and broke the model at many points. There was an intention for refix it, but it just sat maimed on my work bench for years. Well, I needed a Firesight Marksman for the list, so it finally came to rework this poor fellow.

I clipped off the Ethereal's right arm and fixed a pulse rifle arm to it. I was out of all the Tau left arms I owned, so I left the bare left arm and snipped off the jewelry. I would have preferred to have both arms bare in the cool low-armored style, but I couldn't be picky. I originally painted the gun grey to match the rest of the pulse rifles I had in my army, but then had a wild idea to give the model a Golden Gun, which looks so stupid that it somehow became cool again. A 3D printed 40mm base and some tactical river slate and we were in business.