The Wau

I have been long thinking about selling some of my older, painted miniatures – along with the pile of unpainted counterparts – which is something I am always reluctant to do. After all, painted miniatures are immediately usable for a game, to try out a new set of rules, or just get in a game of an old favorite when you feel the urge. Despite my last post about minimalism, it still takes time and effort to create those new armies, no matter how minimal you make the process. (If it did not take much time and effort, why do I have a lead pile? 💂)

One of the games I know I will probably never play again is Warhammer 40,000. It is not because I do not like the game, but rather I do not fancy the gaming style that surrounds it. (Plus, I do not like constantly paying for new rule books and army lists, year after year!) All of my games with my 40K figures have been solo efforts, largely using older versions of the rules or other sets.

Many of the miniatures I that have were either painted by commission painters – and usually not very well – or were painted figures I picked up on eBay. Although I know I would not get very much for mine – I got my painted ones on the cheap, after all – they take up a lot of room and can be a bit fragile.

Of course, before I think of dumping any figures on the market I have to ask myself: 1) do I want to maintain a collection of figures of the type I am selling; and 2) if I get rid of these, will I be able to replace them with wooden ones that I make?

Matt showed off his Space Marines and Skinnies, which are really cool and inspirational, so I know that the Space Marines are doable. He has also done Orcs, so Space Orks aren't much of a stretch from there. His Skinnies have a nice Space Elf look, so the Eldar are covered. But, my second army in 40K were the Tau, and because I tend to like shooty armies, I needed to see if I could make a decent version of them. It did not need to be exact. Because it was unlikely I was going to game with these in a public venue, I did not have to worry about scale or being spot on; I just wanted to look at them and say "I can see those as being Tau".

Because they were going to be my creation, I decided to dub them "Wau" for "wooden Tau". Obviously they are pronounced "wow!". 😊 I decided to start off which the standard issue shaker peg.

The top of the figure looks similar to the Tau helmet, which is shaped a bit like a modern bicycle helmet. I wanted to more clearly define the legs of the figure, so I sanded out a hollow at the bottom of the figure.

I can tell you straightaway this was a mistake. Not only did it add time to the build, which is already lengthy as it is, but it greatly reduced the surface area at the bottom, where I needed to secure it to a base. This figure was hard to glue and to keep secured to its base. I will more than likely break one or more times through the course of gaming. Don't do this!

Here is the finished figure, in this case the squad leader (indicated by his long-range antenna on his helmet. The shoulder pad are the ends of rounded-end, wooden coffee stirrers, the pulse rifle is the middle part of the wooden coffee stirrer, and the antenna a bit of small wooden dowel. The arms and hands, along with the faceplate on the helmet, were made with dimensional paint, which I increasingly use for details, especially on smaller figures (these are almost exactly true 25mm).

Here is the whole fire team:

Squads are 12 soldiers with two drones, which are split into two fire teams of six soldiers and one drone.

The drone is basically a mushroom (button) plug with a small rod used to raise it off the ground and two coffee stirrers for its weaponry. I used from fuzzy pom-poms to simulate it blowing up dust and small rocks, in addition to hiding the support rod, but I am not sure I like it.

This is just another trooper (who is going to be reprimanded for losing his arm bracers!). What is different is that I soaked the whole figure and base matte varnish. It still has a little shine on top, but the little alien foliage is better glued down to the base because of it. It seems like it makes the foliage a little less fuzzy, but it definitely makes it harder.

The last figure is covered in Future Floor Wax, which really brings out the shine and makes the colors pop. I definitely do not like it for the ground – unless you are using in on a pavement color and going for a "just rained on" look – but I am not sure for about the figure. As Matt commented regarding the gloss on Stephen Beat's toy soldier guardsman (see my last post), it really looks good for that genre (toy soldier, nutcracker, Britain and Marx soldiers, etc.) but looks a little too ... visible for a future warrior. I'll have to ponder this.

In summary, my question was whether a decent version of the Tau could be created was answered. Wau!