New Tau XV88 Broadside Review and Magnetizing How-to

Hey there FTGT readers!  Today on my mad dash to assemble a full Tau army we have the new XV88 Broadside.  Another great update to an old model GW put in the Tau release.  

The kit comes with a ton of extra bits such as 3 heads with multiple faceplate options (maybe use leftover ones on XV8s?), 2 drones (which you can make as marker, missile, shield or gun variants), and a ton of wargear options - making the kit slightly more viable at the $50 apiece price tag.

For your main weapon, you can configure the Broadside with either a Heavy Rail Rifle or High Yield Missile Pod gun arms and you have the option of Smart Missile System or Plasma as your secondary weapon.  The kit also comes with several supporting systems.  Now until I see how these perform on the battlefield I want to be able to run all of the options available, and at $50 each kit, it just isn't feasible to build these things one way up front.  That's where magnets came in to play.

As with all magnetization jobs - I went through and marked all the magnets on the same side to ensure proper alignment.  I then cut off part of the posts on the arm and support system/secondary weapon attachment locations.  I glued 1/8" magnets onto the support/secondary weapon posts, and 3/16" on to the arm posts.  I then went about drilling out and placing 1/8" magnets in to all of the supporting systems and secondary weapons I plan to run on the 29th of June.  

A small side note about the SMS secondary weapon - they only provide one mounting bit for the left and right missile pods on the twin linked SMS weapon.  Personally I didn't worry about magnetizing that center part as I don't see myself taking plasma.  The plasma range seems limited on a model that can only take heavy weapons (limiting their movement).  Also there are mounting bits for the support systems that would work/look fine in the event I did decide to take the twin linked plasma option as you can see here:

Using a support system mount for the plasma option                              

I then set about magnetizing the arms.  I was careful here, because droopy arms can make a model look bad to say the least.  The holes in the gun arms were roughly 3/16" already, but I did need to drill a little bit to get the magnet to sit flush. I also glued a 1/8" magnet underneath the 3/16" one.  There is space to do it - and I highly recommend it, as you are getting close to the weight at which your arms will droop.  Also - you want to make sure you have smooth contact between the two magnets here, as any superglue/marker on the surface will lower the ability of the magnets to hold together.  I will come back after I have assembled the rest of my army and magnetize anything I want to try after the 29th of June - including the heavy rail gun.

Seeker Missile

Target Lock

Ok that about wraps it up!  Magnets are a great option that allow you to make the most of your expensive minis for a very small additional cost.  They also give the ability to change the pose of the model at magnetized locations whenever desired.  Want your turret/weapon/arm to spin?  Throw a magnet(s) on and you're set!

Thanks for checking out this post!  Feel free to leave any questions/comments down below.

-Ron