>Be poorfag.
>Want to play Tau.
>Don't like their models.
Is there any special etiquette to playing with scratchbuilt models? A print-off for model recognition so they know what's going on, maybe? I want to get into 40k, but I don't want to scratchbuild all this stuff and then piss off everyone at my LGS.
It varies. Ask in your LGS.
The only stigma I can see is that
1) 3d printing/casting with any sort of quality is expensive.
2) It makes you look like a snowflaker if you would actually invest the money into original models like that.(still pretty awesome though)
3) whether it's tournament viable is very much in question.
I've found that the gold standard is a combination of 'it doesnt look like total shit' and 'you very clearly tried and worked hard on this'
Usually that means having a painted army with things that are very clear after a quick explanation. Nobody wants to play against literal green and tan army men on bases when the opponent calls them guardsmen, but if you scrathbuild a cool ass alien looking guy and then deck him out in tau gear then most people would be fine letting that count as a fire warrior.
I've also found that scratchbuilding a ton of super overpowered and costly units to save money on a hobbycrusher top tier tournament list will also earn you ire.
Basically you want to give off the vibe that you did it because you love the game while avoiding the vibe that you're too cheap to buy models but still want to crush people.
As a cheap/broke-ass gamer myself I wish there were more options and easy-to-find models, ideas, patterns, and whatnot. I see two large groups, but little throughput between them.
A) Cheap, jerryrigged story of the mind anything can be an analog of anything I f'n want it to be.
B) Intricate, uber-super-highly detailed "Why not just buy a legit kit?"
Again I am currently an A, but haven't found enough ideas or passion to bring anything I make to a B-level.
I'm not sure mine count as scratchbuilt myself since they do use GW parts but I do a lot of this as a used-to-be-poorfag/kitbash-modeller.
Like, you used to be able to get Imperial Guardsmen in boxes of 20. I'd stretch this (since you get extra arms and heads) by scratchbuilding torsoes and legs with sprue and putty to make 40 guys from a single box.
But 80-90% scratchbuild is cool. Used to play with a guy who made plastic/cardboard Land Raiders back when there was no LR model (2nd ed hard to find/discontinued, 3rd ed didn't exist yet). He managed to use his in local tourneys and stuff.
So essentially YMMV.
Paint them well enough and few will complain.
My philosophy has always been "does it look the part?"
I scratchbuilt some forgeworld XV9's out of as much gw plastic I could muster. While it's not a perfect facsimile, it at least it looks the part enough, and on the same base size, nobody took issue with it.
I often find, that if the job is done well enough, it often gets praise over suspicion. Because it's your own version of that model.
So, you want to do Tau Scratchbuild? Yeah, it's acually pretty easy. About half of my tau army is scratchbuilt.
First thing's first. Gundam 1/144 scale models are about the same size as a riptide or a ghostkeel. the 1/100 models are about the same size as a stormsurge. They are also about 1/6th the cost. Now just building the model as is and calling it a tau suit is kinda shitty. But they make great bases for kitbashing. The first thing you do is figure out how to mount the knees backwards and convert the feet into hooves. The second thing you do is toss out that dumb samurai style head and make a boxy head from something. A little greenstuff work to give it some tau detailing and it looks great.
I made a tau floating fort things out of disposable gladware containers. I just cut the bottom off, glued a peanut butter jar lid inside, flipped it over, and started adding bits. Similarly, I made some gun turrets out of old laundry detergent caps.
I got a whole bunch of buttons for shirts for sale when a fabric store shut down. I use them to make drones.
Intelligent use of bits goes a long way. I've made a broadside, a coldstar commander, and several of the drone flyers just by kitbashing stuff left over in my bits box.
You don't like their models? You do realise they're not as good in 8th, don't you?
This is what I use to make Ghostkeels.
This kit is what I use to make riptides. It has SO MANY BITS, user. A single 30 dollar kit will make a Riptide, a Remora dronefighter, and spare bits for all the rare weapons and wargear you care to kitbash.
Different user, but you have any pics of your kits?
Giant robots with hatchets for sidearms is the sickest shit
Sure. Here's my riptide kitbash
Here's my ghostkeel. I don't know why they're posting sideways, they're vertical on my computer.
I'm only just now starting to paint them. I love kitbashing. I hate painting.
WHY would you want to play tau if you don't like thier models? They're Shit now
1. Rule of cool. Cooler it is, more flexible your opponent will be
2.Needs to be painted
3. needs to actually look similar to what it's supposed to represent. Aka if it's supposed to be a riptide it better be a big stompy robot, a tank would be a poor choice.
I also just want to add that you WILL run into people who won't want to play you. It will be the people who spent 500 dollars on their slapped together models, and who need some reason to feel superior to you even though you have more hobby skill than they do. The "pay to win" sorts. You'll recognize them because they have a full army of the latest netlist with a crappy paintjob. Having a scratchbuilt army is a great way to ward off those guys.
Do Orks instead. Orks iz made fightin, winnin, and skratchbuildin.
I was gonna ask, is it even legal for an ork player not to at least dabble in kitbashing or scratchbuilding?
Nope. In fact if you are using GW models for your vehicles we point and laugh.
>ork player
>Not kitbashing/converting/scratchbuilding
Pick one and only one.
Its called converting, its been around for the better part of 30-40 years now. I get it if you new guys don't get it, with all models now days coming out like an action packed ballerina of death. But in the olden days, we had to bend, clip, expand, re-attach all this shit to make that happen on our own.
Here's my Paladin from 2 years before they made the official Imperial Knight model.
You can use ONE Vanilla GW vechicle model
I like it, has a simple ergonomic feel, the canon modle is good too, but never not use the unique modle if you got one
Pretty much every Gundam series worth a damn has at least one suit do this.
To properly scratch build a model that doesn't look like shit costs far more than buying the fucking model.
>My philosophy has always been "does it look the part?"
This so very much. It has to look like what you're using it as. If you need to explain what it is you shouldbe able to only do it once and they'll react as if it was obvious. A well built mini or heavily focused but fluffy theme can get away with more.
I never had issues using this as a rhino for my counts as genestealer cult in n 5e/6e.
One of my mates has a kroot army that uses knarlocs with krootox style gunmounts as crisis suits and they're always getting positive reactions.
And i forgot the picture.
>want to play tau
>don't like their models
just
It could be that he likes the fluff. Or maybe he likes giant robots in general, but doesn't like the particular art direction GW has gone for. There's more to choosing an army than crunch and aesthetics, anons.
the worst proxy i ever saw was a loose pile of plastic wings proxying as a demon prince.
the guy who did that got kicked out of our store when he pulled a knife on me when i was 12.
don't be that guy.
That said as other people have said, if you can make a cool looking model that approximates your unit of choice most people won't care.
just know that you'll probably only be able to play at peoples houses or flgs, you wouldn't be able to play at a games workshop unless it was made out of gw parts, but that would probably negate the whole point of saving money.
Anyways tau got a nerf user, so above all else if i were you i would be checking ebay or local ebay like sites for any people selling their tau. you might be able to get a cheap deal. they're still good don't get me wrong, but i was also a poor fag when i got my army.
When i was younger the people i met told me about an online message board for gaming my city, and there i was able to see the flea market page and through multiple deals i was able to get most of the stuff in this image through deals with different people selling off their stuff.
the only things in this picture that i bought new, were 1 hammerhead, 1 devilfish, 1piranha, 20 kroot, 3 crisis suits.
everything else i got on great deals saving 80% of the cost. and most of it unpainted or primed when i got it.
that said, i did have to put in some work to fix some of the modeling mistakes. (who fucking glues in a turret ffs)
nice limo bro! all hail the four armed emperor!
>you wouldn't be able to play at a games workshop unless it was made out of gw parts, but that would probably negate the whole point of saving money.
Completely scratchbuilt and GW parts is fine at a GW store. whats not allowed is majority 3rd party minis.
Just make sure it's actually a good scratch build, and not some lazy piece of shit like a Gundam.
You can get away with a gundam if you don't use it straight out of the box and actually put some effort into it. Rebuild the legs, remove anything too distinctly "gundam" (some design elements are just too recognizable), make sure you chop a finger off of each hand, slap on a few tau bits for flavor and you're good to go.
Like If that was painted in Tausept colors nobody would be any the wiser. If the beam saber racks in the side of the legs were filled in I doubt even most gundam fans would recognize it.
I assembled 1 of each vehicle kit first and then stared kitbashing. It's a good way tp get an idea of what you should be shooting for aesthetically and size for future conversions. works for other races too i guess
WTF is a "modle"
>using acronyms and not punctuating when criticizing typos
That's what I do with my Orks too. Only reason I have 2 battlewagons is because I already had one and found a NOS one for $20. I couldn't pass that up.
Once would have been a typo. Twice obviously means they mean something other than "model" or they're just retarded.
Most web browsers have spellcheck, it's not an excuse anymore.
>not a single big walker
>not that many battlesuits
>mech Tau
You sir, are a gentleman.
I-is there something wrong with battlesuits and walkers, user?
A month ago he was a gentlemen, now he's a few squads of vespids away from the new meme build.
to be fair, i do have a riptide.
That was before 6th, and i did use that barracuda back then which was kinda cheesy.
I did start after fish of fury. But i always wanted an armored company. so I'm happy its not only possible but easy now.
>go through all that effort
>didn't drill out the gun barrels
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE