How to Paint Tau

Find a unified color scheme of complementary colors for your units. Tau armies consist of Fire Warriors, vehicles and other assorted units and weapons specialized for long-distance fighting, and often use Kroot as support in close-range combat.

Spray the unit with a base coat of spray paint. Dark colors such as black, dark brown or navy blue work well for this stage, though lighter colors could be interesting as well.

Paint large areas of armor with a smooth, even coating of model paint. While other armies may be suited to distressed looks, consider keeping Tau units looking clean and fresh.

Allow the paint to dry, then add additional coats of paint. For more dimension, you may want to try a similar but slightly brighter or darker coat of paint, leaving the initial layer visible in deeper portions.

Paint joints, gun stocks, exhaust ports and other smaller mechanical details with blacks, grays or metallics, to contrast the brighter paint job of the armor.

Select a color that will stand out against the rest of the paint job for the lenses on helmets and gun sights.

Add a lighter color around the armor sections to differentiate the edges, and place small highlights on the lenses to mimic the reflection of light on glass.

Use a coat of gloss varnish on the armor, lenses and weaponry. Avoid using it on areas representing cloth.