Warhammer 40,000 - Tau Empire Commander Assembly

It was Tau that first got into Warhammer and miniatures in general, way back in 2003 with the release of their very first Codex and a box of Fire Warriors. As my army slowly grew they eventually would need a leader of some kind. Back then of course, there wasn’t a separate kit for a Tau Commander as they used the regular Crisis Battlesuits like everyone else. In fact, even the Broadside Battlesuits were just Crisis Battlesuits with a couple of extra metal bits. So, in an effort to make my own Commander stand out I stuck Eldar Swooping Hawk wings to the side of his head in place of the usual antennae. And with that, Commander Warhawk was born and ready to take to the field in the name of the Greater Good. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the complete model but I think I do have the head somewhere in a mound of bitz.

Commander Warhawk version 1.0 in all his dusty glory.

As time has a tendency to do, it marched ever onward and eventually Games Workshop saw fit to release an XV8 Battlesuit Commander kit sometime before 2014. Unfortunately, this was in dreaded Finecast, so the kit that I got had my guy leaning so far back he could barely stand up. To rectify this I had to build a mound of greenstuff on his base so that he would stand up straight. I must have put a decent amount of effort into the paint job as well because I even took a picture of him. It even looks like I tried a bit of edge highlighting.

This poor quality image is the best I can do I’m afraid. But you can clearly see the “mound” he is standing on.

Eventually though, I drifted out of the hobby and poor Commander Warhawk fell into disrepair once again. Like so many others, I eventually came back into the world of Warhammer but I never got around to replacing my Tau Commander. So for many years there has been a hole in my Tau line-up, a void for a hero to fill. But the time has come to fill that void. Using the newish Tau Empire Commander kit. 

So many options, all of them shooty.

As I am unlikely to actually play a game of Warhammer it means I’m free from any meta or “math-hammer” and can put my Commander together entirely based on the rule of cool. And what’s cooler than a suped up minigun? The suped up plasma minigun of an XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit, that’s what. That left me two weapon/support system slots. I was tempted by a Shield Generator but that dinky little shield on such a large model didn’t sit right with me. In the end, I decided on a Target Lock to help with all the movement he’d be doing and a flamer, because who doesn’t like crispy fried Gue’vesa?

The only other assembly consideration is that I’m going to mount him on a flying stand because I straight up do not trust the flimsy ankles on Tau Battlesuits. Seriously, if I could put my Broadsides on flying bases I would!