The newest kids on the grim dark block of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 setting, aka the T’au Empire, are known for their vivid colour schemes that run the gamut from crisp and futuristic to battle-worn and rustic. A conglomeration of several alien species united under the leadership of the T’au themselves, this burgeoning empire contains the feral Kroot and buzzing Vespids fighting alongside towering Crisis Battle Suits, giving you a real variety of colour schemes and textures to paint. Even within the T’au themselves you have several different Septs, each with their own unique colour schemes!
Here at The Army Painter, we’ve compiled a selection of painting tutorials, covering two of the most popular Septs as well as their leather-clad Kroot allies to make expanding the borders of this fledgling empire even easier.
The Vior'la Sept
Nothing screams high-tech and futuristic quite like a crisp white colour scheme. This is a lesson learned by many tech companies in our own world, and one the T’au, the undisputed tech company of the far future, took to heart in the 41st millennium as well. The great thing about a bright colour scheme like this is that it also gives you a wonderful canvas for some weathering and freehand, which is exactly what we did with this Fire Warrior!
Using a combination of Warpaints Fanatic and Speedpaint, you can follow along with this step-by-step tutorial and quickly muster your own Vior'la army. Painted by our Social Media Specialist, Tyler Mengel, each step in this detailed tutorial is accompanied by a picture, showing you exactly how and where to apply the paint. Most of this tutorial works equally as well on the larger tanks and Battle Suits of the T’au Empire!
The Kroot
In stark contrast to their technologically advanced employers, the Kroot are a more feral and rustic army. Clad in a combination of leathers, trinkets, and rudimentary armour, the Kroot are a perfect break from the clean lines and large, flat panels of the T’au. They also look great deployed next to all the advanced future tech that comprises the rest of the army. Let’s not forget one of the most important facts as well – the Kroot are just plain cool-looking!
For our tutorial, Tyler painted up one of the lumbering Krootox Riders, a classic of the range. This model is a fantastic canvas to showcase several different techniques and colours, as you get two different alien skin tones, lots of leather areas to apply differing shades of brown and plenty of bangles and trinkets. With this tutorial, you can easily paint up almost every model from the Kroot range using Warpaints Fanatic and Speedpaint.
Commander Farsight and the Farsight Enclaves
While that may sound like an awesome band name, it’s in fact one of the heroes of the T’au Empire. Commander Farsight has been around since the inception of the T’au in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, is tough as nails, and sports one of the most striking colour schemes this side of the Cicatrix Maledictum. Who doesn’t love some hot rod red?
Luckily for us, Oliver Løvendal has been painting up a T’au army for our Arena of Escalation league and picked the Farsight Enclaves as his sept. He also thoroughly documented the painting process of the main man himself, Commander Farsight. Follow along with this detailed tutorial as he uses a clever mix of all three of our paint ranges, including Warpaints Air, but applied with a brush! The great thing is that this process can be replicated across all the armoured assets of your Farsight Enclaves army, or just used to add Shas'O Vior'la Shovah Kais Mont'yr, aka Farsight himself, to your collection.
