A Mix of Old & New
I managed to get hold of a cheap Forgeworld XV88 with railguns from ebay. However, comparing the Forgeworld railguns with the new 2013 plastic kit from Games Workshop and they are comically small. I also much prefer the side on two handed look of the new kit (it's the kit that attracted me to tau in the first place). The other factor was the head sensor unit. Although it is a gorgeous design, it's about 3 times the size of every other battlesuit equivalent. It's all or nothing for me, there needs to be some level of consistency and this breaks it. I'll hopefully find another use for it (It's big enough to be some kind of drone!)
Shas'vre Ob'lotai 0-9 - He'll Take Over the Galaxy One Day
I still had the high yield missile pod arms left over from my other Broadside kit so a bit of kit bashing was in order. It also occurred to me down the line that this would make for an excellent unique model to use for the Farsight Enclave HQ choice - Shas'vre Ob'lotai 0-9. This chap is a particularly awesome Broadside suit piloted by an actual AI which I find to be a very nice bit of fluff. I love this developing backstory. I remember reading somewhere that an Inquisitor (or some high Imperial official) looked upon the Tau empire in fear because he saw in them the potential to start another Dark Age of Technology where there unchecked experimentation with AI constructs leads to an impossible war, a war that mankind faced itself and brought it to it's knees at some point during the 25th millennium. Good ol' rogue AI's causing havoc, such a reliable sci-fi story. It's been done so many times but I do love the 40k grim dark take on just about every sci-fi trope. It's just so full of despair and hopelessness - whats not to love?
The Conversion
I decided to bash his hull up somewhat in order to represent his age and battle experience. The 2013 Broadside is literally the latest in Tau technology, this model is using an out of date, decommissioned unit.
The arms were not a perfect fit - the newer design is a lot 'broader' in shoulders so just straight placing the arms onto the body appeared far to narrow and 'squidged'. To solve this I cut up the bottom section of a gun drone to bulk out the arm connection - they worked out exactly as needed.
Apart from attaching a smaller head, that was all there was too it. So here he is:
Finally, a comparison with the newer plastic broadside kit:
Let me know what you think!
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