LOYAL ENCLAVE

Commander O'Shovah armed with the Dawn Blade, plasma rifle, and shield generator.

Bryan Barnes: The Tau sept of Vior'la seems to be the source of many aggressive "deviants" in the Tau Empire – Fire Warriors who refuse to sit back and try to attack the enemy from afar. They think going toe-to-toe with their foes is the best way to protect the Greater Good. The great Blade Master, Aun'shi, came from Vior'la, as did Commander Farsight. Both heroes embrace the idea of aggressive combat, from the oft-necessary skills of close combat to the offensive strategies needed to bring the battle to the enemy. I found it hard to believe that these two famous Tau hadn't exchanged ideas at some point, so I modelled my O'Shovah conversion accordingly.

Looking at Aun'shi's double-bladed spear gave me the inspiration for this conversion, especially after I compared the spear's blades to O'Shovah's Dawn Blade and found the shapes to be similar. First, I took two spare clear flying stands and clipped off the tabs from all four ends. Then, I pinned the two stands together at the widest part and pinned two Dawn Blades (minus hand grips) to the narrow ends of the new-formed spear haft. For the grips, I clipped out some sculpting wire mesh into two strips and glued them to the haft with superglue. Next, I repositioned the arms by clipping and pinning at the elbows, and then glued the spear haft to the hand areas to keep it in place while I worked on the Green Stuff hands (which also got some plasticard to match Farsight's original hand). For the legs, I bent the back one by clipping and pinning just below the knee joint to get more of a classic close-combat pose. I added a few old Ork vehicle plates and an Orc head (with Green Stuff hair) from a banner pole in the Warhammer Orc range as grisly trophies of O'Shovah's victories. Psychological warfare is just one of the techniques that Farsight isn't afraid to use in the name of the Greater Good.

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