Memories of the Slann

This next piece is my side project I had begun some time ago. I was going to redo my Tau army. I had created an Invader Zim style army, where the tau had green skin, little antennae, and red eyes. The were fantastic. I took them to the Baltimore GT back in 2002(?) I think. On with the show...
I had decided to redeux the army based on a Slann theme. A Slann was going my Ethereal, Skinks were to be my fire warriors, and Lizardmen were to be the Kroot for my army. The skin was a beautiful hawk turquoise of the guys and I went through and converted 60 fire warriors and painted this lovely hammerhead for the force.
I wanted to go with a bit of a cross with a hybrid of Eldar and Tau technology. The Slann was a perfect match for the Tau (IMO) with super-cool technology but can't really fight their way out of a paper bag without the help of big brutes (Lizardmen warriors / Kroot).
Since the Eldar were the children of the Slann (at least for this story) I wanted aspects of their look brought into the this army. Hence the use of the Falcon "wings" to help make a "Bird of Prey" look to the overall model.
I also wanted to change up the look a bit. Since they are so technologically advanced I placed the scanner bit on the top for greater use of visability and under-slung and center-mounted the Rail Gun, which helped make the model a little sleeker. I went with a brighter look to the paint scheme than I normally use. I tend towards darker schemes than this. But the use of bright colors lent it self well to the overall look of the piece as well.
I re-worked the side mounted burst cannon to make them seat mounted gunnery positions. I personally would not want to be one of these poor bastards. You must have really crapped in someone's spawning pool to get this job! The job would probably be desired but I think it looks dead cool. It is a little hard to see, but each of the gunners have their own targeting screen, drink cart, and seat warmers. (its a bit hard to model the drink cart and seat warmers.)
I had put the model together back in (or about) 2005-6 and placed it on this diorama base so I could take it to the Chicago Golden Demon Competition. I managed to get through the first cut, but that's where it ended. (Sadly, this is the closest I have ever gotten to placing in the competition).
All in all I was very happy with the piece, the execution, and the paint job. I liked the base as well. I kept it mono-chromatic to help the tank pop but still add to the presentation. I wanted it to be screaming across the marsh flats with the door gunners shooting stuff and wishing they were inside the tank instead. Since then, I have not continued the army. I still have the skink fire warriors in a box somewhere... But I got caught up with my Vostroyans and that's been it ever since. (not really, I will show you guys my Mentor Legion of Space Marine fame some time in the future).