New Home!

So for a few reasons I have decided to move this blog to a new home.  So please update your feeds and your bookmarks to http://www.meanderingthedunesea.com

I hope you join me on the new site.

RSS Feed Added

I should have done this a while ago, but better late than never.  I now have an RSS feed available for this blog through FeedBurner.  Just click the little icon in the upper right and add it to your favorite RSS reader.  Enjoy!

Completed Wave Serpents

I finally got around to finishing up a complete set of Wave Serpent weapons.  I now have two pairs of bright lances and a pair of shuriken cannons completely painted.  I’ll need to paint up more weapons eventually, but this is good for now.  Here are the completed results.

Sunday Report – Eldar vs. Ultramarines

The wraithbone structures cast long shadows as dawn broke on the desert planet.  The Eldar grav engines purred menacingly as the Corsair fleet prepared to deny the Ultramarines access to some vital power transformers.

Eldar:
Farseer, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch with dual shuriken catapults and Bladestorm
Wave Serpent with Twin Bright Lances and Spirit Stones
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch with dual shuriken catapults and Bladestorm
Wave Serpent with Twin Bright Lances and Spirit Stones
6 Fire Dragons, Exarch with Flamer and Crack Shot
Wave Serpent with Twin Suriken Cannons
3 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers
6 Jetbikes with 2 Shuriken Cannons

Ultramarines:
2 Predators with linked Lascannons and side bolters
2 Razorbacks with lascannons
2 Razorbacks with heavy bolters
Vindicator
2 Tactical Marine squads with Lascannons and flamers
1 tactical marine squad with a flamer
1 Sternguard squad

The battle was set to be Seize Ground with a Dawn of War deployment.  The Ultramarines won the roll and decided to go first.  They took the side of the battle with the majority of the counters and deployed a single Razorback with a Captain and 5 man combat squad.  The Eldar, always up to their tricks, decided to stay in reserves for the time being.

Over the course of the first two turns, the Ultramarines setup across the board with firing lanes covering the majority of the field and positioning themselves to hold the objectives.

As the Eldar began to arrive on turn two, three Wave Serpents entered play behind the tall piece of wraithbone.  The Fire Dragon serpent boosting to get a cover save and providing the other two Serpents cover as well.  The combined fire from the bright lances were enough to take down one of the lascannon Razorbacks and two of the marines inside.

On turn three, the Ultramarines concentrated their fire on the Dragon’s Serpent and managed to wreck it.  The Dragons bailed out and would have to walk.  The Eldar Farseer cast fortune on his Serpent and boosted to the center of the table.  The War Walkers also decided to join the fray and came in on the side nearest the lone point.  They opened fire on one of the tactical squads there and reduced their number to two.  The other Avenger Serpent moved and fired on the lascannon Razorback and shook its crew.

Turn four saw little action from the Ultramarines.  The Vindicator cannon scattered off the Farseer’s Serpent and none of the lascannons managed to make an impact.  The heavy bolters tried to take out the Dragons, but were foiled by the intervening cover.  The unit of Jetbikes entered the battle and got a good round of shooting at the rear of a Predator, wrecking it.  The Walkers moved up and took out the two marines they failed to get last turn.  The Farseer’s Serpent boosted up towards the warpgate and the other Serpent moved up, fired on the Sternguard Razorback and managed to immobilize it.  The Dragons fired on the lascannon Razorback, but didn’t do more than shake it.

On turn five, the Ultramarines opened fire on both the Dragons and Jetbikes with their bolters and heavy bolters.  The Jetbikes lost four of their number, including the shuriken cannons, while the Fire Dragons lost all but the Exarch.  The Vindicator still failed to connect, though.  One of the Walkers was shaken by the tactical marine’s lasgun.

The two remaining jetbikes boosted toward the far point.  The Walkers fired on the other tactical squad, removing three.  The Avenger Serpents moved toward the control points and unloaded their cargo.  The Avengers unleashed their Bladestorms and eliminated all but one of the tactical marines in the area, who was then assaulted by the overzealous Fire Dragon Exarch.  Those two would continue to duke it out for the rest of the game.  One of the Serpents managed to wreck the last lascannon Razorback, and the Walkers engaged the tactical marines in assault, killing one.  At this point, the Eldar controlled two points to the Ultramarine’s zero.  We rolled to see if we would continue, and we would.

The Vindicator finally managed to get a hit, but thanks to some cover (though no thanks to Fortune since I failed all the rerolls) only four Avengers on the right point fell and the Serpent was shaken.  The Sternguard intended to finish off the Avengers, but were onlt able to kill four more, leaving the Exarch and another, who would make their leadership roll.  The Jetbikes would die to  combined lascannon and heavy bolter fire.  In assault, the Walkers managed to kill off the one remaining tactical marine, while the Dragon Exarch did nothing.  The two Avengers jumped back into their transport, which then inched closer to the control point.  The other Serpent zoomed toward the warpgate point, and shocked the Sternguard.  They did not run, and one brave soul tried to stop the tank, but failed.  The Walkers tried to take out the remaining tactical squad, but failed miserably.  Again we rolled, and the game would end at turn six.

The final results had the Eldar controlling two objectives and contesting one, while the Ultramarines controlled none.  It was overall a good game.  I was a little worried early on in the game, and reserving everything was certainly a risky move with all of that anti tank weaponry out there, but it ended up working out fairly well.  The bright lances also performed better than previous games.  I’m still a little torn about the Fire Dragon Exarch, but I think against a horde army he might prove his worth.

No game next week due to it being Easter weekend, and then the tournament is the week after that, so stay tuned.

Custom Farseer

Thanks to Fritz over at The Way of Saim Hann and his last contest, I am the proud owner of a new Farseer and a Warlock.  I already have a standing Farseer, and I don’t really need another one, so I intend to use the head from the new one (it comes disassembled, thankfully) for my jetbike Farseer, and the spear arm will probably get used on a jetbike warlock in the future.  As for the Warlock, I’m not sure yet.  The customizability is a bit lacking since it’s all one piece.  I may just paint it up for fun.

The jetbike Farseer, though, will be made with a Dire Avenger body and using the Dire Sword as a Witchblade (some customization may be warranted).  This is the first time I’ve ever done any major custom work and it will be the first time using Green Stuff, so it should be a learning experiment.  Just as a test, and to really throw myself in head first, I decided to try some rune armor.  I cleaned off all the normal bits from the front of the Dire Avenger body and went to work with my Green Stuff and a hobby knife.  This is the result:

Once it dries fully, I intend to clean it up a bit more, but it turned out pretty well for my first attempt, I think.  The next thing will be to do something similar on the shoulder pads.  And then, of course, to attach the rest of the pieces to finish up the rider.

The hobby knife worked alright for this, but I definitely need to get more sculpting tools if I am going to start using Green Stuff more regularly.

Painting Update: Wave Serpent

The Wave Serpent body has been completely painted now and is getting a clear coat of matte varnish.  The highlights were added and the gem painted.  Now all that needs to be done is to add the canopy and glue the two sections together.  Next on my agenda is to complete a selection of weapons for the Serpents and start on a custom Autarch.