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Tripwire here, from The Hammer of Wrath blog, presenting the third part of my guest series featuring my Tau Sept, Arashikage. This time we’ll examine the Broadsides and the Riptide.

There was no resisting the allure of new mech suits, and both the Broadsides and Riptide have fantastic new kits that look amazing on the tabletop. I purchased two Broadsides to increase the punch my army had.

You might have noticed something different about my main weapon – it’s a conversion of the high yield missile pods. I wasn’t a fan of the “boxing glove” execution on the box, so following a tutorial on Advanced Tau Tactica, I converted and magnetized the main weapon to be both the HYMP and the railgun.

I’ve also done a minor conversion on the head, following a tutorial created by my blogging partner, Dieter. He took the spare heads in the kit, and stacked them, to create a heavy jawline, like a boxer, that we call the “brute” head.

It’s a great kit, and I only wish the main crisis suits had been updated as well. They are dated on both an artistic and technical level.

My second elite slot is filled by the Riptide. Let’s be honest, there’s no way I was NOT going to buy a giant killer robot for my Sept.

The kit was easier to assemble than I had feared, and choosing the color breaks and adding the weathering and chipping was a joy. Probably the most fun I had hobbying last year.


I magnetized ALL the hardpoints, allowing me to choose any loadout in the kit. Admittedly, I usually run the Ion and missile pod combo, though.

I really enjoyed designing and applying my Sept’s mark to the shield. I really appreciated the level of customization they allowed in the parts.

I also created a custom head for this model using the spare face plates in the kit. I felt the regular head was much too small proportionally. I wanted to indicate an upgraded sensor package to match the massive firepower the suit has. I’m quite pleased with the way the lenses turned out.

That covers the big ‘bots in my Sept. Next week we’ll examine the Heavy slots, including the Skyray Gunship and the Hammerhead featuring Longstrike.