Goonhammer Reviews: The Twin Lance Models

Welcome y'all! We're back again with a look at some more models that are in GW's current stream of late edition releases, this time the Twin Lance for the T'au Empire. The data sheets were previewed a while back and more recently were released along with an aggressive points cost, but now we can also talk about the models themselves!

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with preview copies of these models for review purposes.

Design

The Twin Lance. Credit: Rockfish

Between the previously released Stealth Suits and Farsight we've seen a new generation of T'au model designs that continues here in the Twin Lance, and it's just as fantastic here!

These models are less intricate in design then far sight, but have a similar level of detail and are positively stuffed with character! The last generation of models like the Riptide and Ghost keel have a nice high tech look that has been built upon with a greater level of greebling and refinement in the designs, while older models had some curves and softness they still tended towards being cubic. The newer designs have softened edges to the armour with more complex overall shapes while keeping crisp under-structures, similar to how gundam kits have a skeleton covered in shaped structure but with fewer pieces to it. The equipment also keeps familiar design elements, with the Ion and Fusion weapons immediately recognizable while also being a lot more detailed.

I quite like where they're going with the style, a refresh of the core army range with this sort of design language would be fantastic to see!

Construction

We're going to have to take some of the bad with the good this time around; I both really enjoyed these models and was also incredibly frustrated by them. I had the good fortune of starting with Ri’Lantar (the one with the fusion gun) first and found that, other than a few minor details we'll get to later, it was exactly what I want to see in a T'au range refresh! We've got a great selection of details and pieces that mostly fit together well with minimal flashing clean up needed; maybe not a perfect experience but pretty great.

The second model, Ri’Locai, is quite a bit more frustrating, but in an odd way in that most of the build was mostly the same as the first, until you get to the later steps where you run into the frustrating thing about dynamic poses and that is how they are sliced into components. In the first model, the arms were structurally sound since they had comparatively few pieces that inter-meshed nicely and could hold their own weight while the glue sets. Unfortunately, the 'shield up' pose requires Ri’Locai's right arm to be multiple pieces, and these aren't particularly well indexed together and run into a failing of the shoulder joint. Similarly to Farsight from this time last edition, the shoulders are cup sockets with two indexing dots, which is not the best thing but is okay until you run into instability in the limbs themselves while stuff is setting. Essentially the trouble I ran into is that the right arm of the model wanted to both fall apart and fall off the model at the same time, because nothing really held nicely; the slightest pressure or contact would cause the limb to explode into pieces or just drop off.

Moving into other slightly awkward parts of the build, starting with some common things in the instructions and pieces, there are a few points like the shoulder guards where it's not immediately obvious how the piece is placed because they compressed the instructions a touch too much and the pieces don't index super well. Following the same issue of indexing, the back mounted engine pods are baffling to me in that they are partially keyed to avoid mistakes, but not enough. I assembled on both models and set them aside after confirming that they were aligned but then discovered when looking at the models later that the alignment had drifted noticeably at some point. It confuses me that they didn't choose to add another couple of indexing dots and divots to prevent the issue entirely when they did do clever design work to avoid the classic T’au engine seam up the middle.

The drones are a little curious too; they give you the option to build them without the tassels, but otherwise are fairly close to the classic models. Including issues with spindly attachment points for the guns that aren't indexed and are easily softened by plastic glue when attaching them which results in the guns pointing weird angles. It's a little disappointing in 2026, but it isn't the worst.

To give a couple of building suggestions: I would assemble the arm without the shield before the rest of the model to give it time to fully set, then attach it and let it fully set before attempting to attach the shield. At the same time as building the arm I'd build the engine pods, verify that they are well fitted and then let them fully set.

Overall, I'd give the build a 6/10. There's some egregious choices, but the rest is good enough that so long as you are prepared for them it's ok.

Painting

The Twin Lance. Credit: Rockfish

As usual, I painted these fully assembled so I'll be fairly representative of what your average painter will encounter, and I'd say it's pretty good! You're going to find some difficulty in accessing tighter details like elbow joints with pieces like the shields attack but they are also in the shadows enough that you'll not notice too much. I did find the little armour recesses a touch confusing, they are small enough that you're going to have difficulty getting much work done in there so I'd suggest going higher contrast then I did and keeping them very simple. Similarly the dimpled shield spikes don't offer a ton of flexibility in how you make use of them, but you can play around a bit and see what sticks.

I didn't attempt the GW bicolour divide on each model because they don't seem super well suited to it in my opinion, there's not a lot of crisp clear dividing lines so you'll be having to do masked lines that run through curved panel sections or be very crisp with a brush. Neither of which sounds terribly enticing to me, I'd suggest if you want to do something like that keeping the colour changes to the limbs and head.

Final Thoughts

These are fantastic looking models that have some frustrating parts to the build, but not to the point that it's a deal breaker. Which is great given that you're going to see them in every single T'au list until they get reigned in at some point in the future.

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Tags: Warhammer 40k | tau | tau empire | Model Reviews