Time for an introduction!

When Adam announced that he was moving on from the Tau (and this blog) and starting his new Eldar blog at first I was a little disappointed. I had been reading the blog for quite a while and it, in part, had helped me get back into 40K, and the Tau in particular. However, then I thought it might become an opportunity to give myself the push to really grow my Tau army and finally turn them into the efficient fighting force that I want them to be.

So who am I anyway? I have been collecting miniatures and gaming with them since the early 1980s, initially role playing and then drifting into wargaming. I think the first wargame I played was first edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles. After leaving Uni in the late 1980s I lost touch with the gaming side of things but I kept up with collecting minis. As such that meant I missed out on a lot of the early GW games. In the late 1990s I found a new gaming group and started wargaming again. Since then I it has become my main past-time, and occasional obsession! I had a large Empire army for Warhammer and I soon built a sizable Eldar army. My friends and I also gamed outwith the Games Workshop hobby, regularly playing Warzone and various historical wargames too.

Outside of gaming, I am a professional model maker. I run an architectural model making workshop at a School of Architecture and I have been sculpting figures for around 20 years. My other blog, Iron Mammoth’s Studio, focuses on model making and sculpting techniques, as well as my wargaming endeavours outside of the GW hobby!

40K was very much at the forefront of my gaming for a long time, and when GW started showing some of the designs of their forthcoming “new army” the Tau I was immediately attracted by the designs for the Kroot figures. I soon bought a sizable Tau and Kroot army and eventually sold on my Eldar. I used my Tau army for a long time, both with my friends and also at a couple of Games Days in in Edinburgh.

However, my gaming group drifted away from GW and on to other things, both playing other systems and evenutally, as my family grew and free time became rare, we played more and more board games. For the past 5 or 6 years, although we all considered ourselves wargamers, in truth we were almost exclusively board gamers. Still, my lead and plastic mountain continued to grow and I had a real yearning to get some real wargaming done!

As we all enjoyed 40K it seemed logical to use it as a way back into wargaming. Over the past couple of months we have played 5 games. The first three had my Tau going up against Jeff’s Necrons. The results were mixed, I lost the first and third games, but decisively won the second game. The fourth game featured Jeff’s Tau going up against Del’s Eldar. The Eldar had a hard fight but soon dealt with the Necron menace!


The fifth battle, between Del’s Eldar and my Tau, I will come back to in my next post, which will be a battle report.

It’s fair to say that my army building skills and also my strategy and tactics are proving to be very rusty, so I have started doing some heavy reading, re-familiarizing myself with all aspects of the Tau army. I am specifically looking for ways to give my Tau army a slightly better chance in close combat.

As for my plans for this blog? Initially, while I get up to speed I am looking for some articles on Tau background, and artwork. I will also be aiming to do a few articles on modelling, both the Tau and related scenic items. I will also be following the the growth of my Kroot Mercenary army, as I build and convert it (I love the figures and am therefore forced to ignore their ineffectual abilities on the battlefield). At the moment my gaming group have only just moved up to 40K version 5. But I hope to pick up a copy of 6th edition in the near future, not least as I have heard that they improve the Tau in many ways.

I am also keen to introduce some guest bloggers to the blog, and have others opinions about the Tau featured on occasion, so if you have something to say that is related to the Tau or Kroot please get in touch…

A New Commander

With Adam leaving the Tau Empire to play Eldar, it's time to get ready for the Fourth Sphere Expansion, led by Dave "Iron Mammoth" Drage as the Tau Empire marches to war once more.

Model maker and sculptor extraordinaire, when not teaching others how to make models using a variety of manufacturing processes, Dave does a little laser cut model making himself and is currently goofing around with 3D printers.

So you can expect all manner of jaw dropping terrain and custom sculpts for his Tau army in the future. Speaking of which, just take a look at the Kroot cavalry he's been working on lately.

Dave has never really stopped wargaming and now that his gaming group in Aberdeen have finally go their act together and started playing Warhammer 40K again, he's got plenty of incentive to start working on his Tau and Kroot again. And with fresh rumours of a new Tau Codex on the way, there's never been a better time to start building and painting an army.

So Adam shall leave you in the very capable hands of a veteran gamer, sculptor, terrain maker and painter as the Tau Empire prepares for the Fourth Sphere Expansion.

But if you need any allies, you can always find Adam at the Eldar Craftworld.

Good luck and keep your plasma rifles hot!

Eldar Craftworld

I'm moving to a new blog called the Eldar Craftworld. Simply put, it's an Eldar blog about building, painting and playing Eldar in Warhammer 40K. Plus there will be random appearances from my High Elf army, because they're essentially the same thing.

Even Eldrad and Teclis have the same pose! So as much as I enjoy playing Tau, I've decided to invest heavily in a beautiful Eldar army. One of the greatest difficulties in playing this hobby is just choosing an army and sticking to it.

Well, for a number of reasons, I have made my choice. Eldar just evoke a much stronger feeling for me in terms of painting them, playing them and their background. I also have a fondness for many of the old Eldar models. I found playing Tau just so incredibly frustrating sometimes and really envied the Eldar's firepower and mobility. After playing a few games I quickly realised that they offered me all the tactical versatility I always had with the Tau and so much more. So it is with a heavy heart that I must bid the Tau Empire farewell.

As many of you know, I was also writing the Space Wolves blog for many years, which has a massive audience. But that audience could never compare to you guys who always commented on my articles here at Warhammer Tau.  You made this tiny space of the web, often neglected, really feel like home.   If anyone would like to take command of the Warhammer Tau blog to continue my work, please get in touch via My Google+ Page Thank you for all your kinds words and support over the years. And please come visit me at my new Eldar blog.

-Adam