Tau Crisis Suit

So it's Christmas time and yet again I find myself in a mad panic as I dash towards that fateful day when all presents must be completed, wrapped, and delivered. And, of course, that means that a ton of models have to be painted up in a very short amount of time. So this weeks project is a gift, one of many this year, for a friend who doesn't know the first thing about 40k, but he's a total tech head. I was thinking a gift certificate to an electronics store, but I ended up picking what I thought would be a fairly simple project in a Tau Crisis Suit.

I have to say straight up, I really like the look of this box. The Crisis Suit is a completely plastic model (always a big thumbs up for that) that comes in an easy to understand box that has all the options you need to build a suit. One of the things that impressed me a lot was the use of articulated leg and arm joints. As you can see from the finished model, all the joints are ball-and-socket. This means that you're able to come up with virtually any pose without the need for an endless variety of custom created legs ala space marines. With this guy I had him standing with one foot on the two different levels of the base and there was no problem at all. What would have been hours of cutting, gluing, green stuffing, and remodeling with a traditional model was done with no need for special construction of any sort.

Putting everything together was a snap, literally when it came time to put the legs and feet together. I noticed that the model also included several different 'slots' that were designed to fit within the build of the model itself. This presented multiple ways to mount weapons and special items and have them look as if they had always intended to be a part of that model. The beauty came in the fact that there wasn't anything that need to be done to fill the unused slots, as they were designed to also look intentional. Combine this with the fact that every weapon had multiple mounting points so it could sit any way I wanted, and the model became infinitely more flexible.

That's the real clincher of this kit, it's well designed, simple, modular, and incredibly strong. The mechanics of the design fit the anime-esque East Asian aesthetic perfectly. While the armor itself is angular, the edges are rounded slightly, giving it a much needed organic influence that carries well through the whole model.

Painting was very easy, with clearly defined areas that I could mix and match primary and complimentary colors. There weren't any super small areas to create confusion as to what should go there, just clean, open design. It reminds me a lot of the art direction that used in the PS3 game Mirror's Edge, ultra futurist to an unparalleled level of functionality, blurring the lines between art and industry.

I can understand now why some people question the Tau's place in the Warhammer 40k universe. Their models are the exact opposite of everything else that exists within this space. Anyone who has painted a metal space marine from yesteryear can attest to the small, muddled, difficulties and unnecessary details that plague most models in GW's current range. The Tau are the opposite of this 'ye olde' aesthetic, bringing an elegance that even the elven eldar models have yet to match. Bravo I say, the Tau are a breath of fresh air in this regard.

I have painted fire warriors, and I was not impressed, but having painted this crisis suit, I will seriously consider making an army of these guys in the future. There are many more options yet to be explored, and I am eager to do so.