Ride in Style: Wave Serpents

After settling in a bit from my recent move I decided to knock out the two Wave Serpent kits I'd ordered.  The kits themselves weren't too bad - some flash, some poorly aligned parts, and far too many parts for a simple transport!

Modified the turrets so that they're captive but still rotate (they're provided with simple pegs instead of the captive turret like a Falcon - a cheap design decision).  Also ignored the comically incompetent single flight stand for a method I used 10-15 years ago.  I drill out three holes in the bottom of the Wave Serpent and use sanded down flight pegs to fit/glue into them.

This gives the Wave Serpent a tripod for hovering above the tabletop.  It's stronger, stabler, and more useful on crazy terrain than the silly single weak post provided with the model.

I went with fixed weapons and opted for a Shuriken Cannon on each, with twin lascannons on one and twin missile launchers on the other.  This gives me decent anti-infantry capability (left more to the infantry inside!) and enough firepower for them to act as light tanks, something Wave Serpents have always excelled at.

Sadly they're quite expensive but I have some options now.  I'll back these up with one or two Falcons in the future (maaaaybe a Fire Prism).

Games! Warhammer 40K, 2nd Edition.

I got together with a friend tonight and she kindly dragged out some terrain from a box and we set about play-testing 2nd edition 40K.  We'd decided on some rules changes to remove some of the clunk, but keep the feel of the game.

We made some progress but will need some more games to really dial it in.  All in all, a really good time despite being absolutely obliterated by her Chaos.  For those wondering, Chaos terminators still suck ass, 20 years later!

Late in the game with his entire host dispatched the Farseer runs for the Predator.  He ate two lascannons to the face and died instantly.

Pile on the glorious dead!

Scouty McScoutface.  The sole survivor from a slaughter of his squad.  He hid, recovered, survived several turns of shooting and finally shot across the table and killed a single marine before the terminators (all but ignoring him) finally slew him.

I forgot to take a pic of the table before I was nearly...tabled.

Another rescue arrived in the mail today from ebay.  I look forward to eventually starting some Exarchs!

Rescue Seven: Warlocks

Painted up two Warlocks for the Eldar force.  I applied some decals (after ripping several) and sadly they dried and pulled up a bit when dip was applied.  If they peel off I'll just re-paint the robes later.

Games! The Great War

I figured I would catalogue some of the games I get to play on occasion (oddly, just as I move from my gaming group!).

A game I've played a good bit of lately is The Great War, a game designed by Richard Borg.  This shares the design of games like Memoir '44, BattleLore etc.  I believe this is the Command and Colours design scheme.

If I'd only known the fate that awaited me...

 

The game is brilliant. It's the cleanest, nicest version of the rules set that I've played yet.  The genre fits the style brilliantly.  This time produced by Plastic Soldier Company the game features proper 15mm plastic infantry (including machine guns, mortars, grenadiers etc.).  There are supporting expansions including a Tank expansion which provides lovely Female/Male British tanks and the German A7V, as well as an option to buy local artillery pieces.

Overall a brilliant game.  Just enough strategy to enjoy whilst being limited by your command and combat cards.  I was absolutely crushed in this game when my card draws really left me in the lurch in the face of a huge line of British infantry.  I've played the game a good 6-8 times and have enjoyed it immensely.

The bad news: Apparently there is little interest in selling the game to the United States players.  With an MSRP of $60, the game is pretty much impossible to find beneath $85-100 and if you order from the UK the price expands to $100+ due to conversion rates and shipping.  I've emailed the company to see if they plan on really actually supplying retailers here with the game.  So far...no luck.

Rescue Six: Support Weapons + New Arrivals

I finished up two support weapons, a lascannon (brightlance) and a distort cannon on grav platforms.  I was originally going to attempt to skip the old metal grav platforms (HATE metal-on-metal models...) but I couldn't locate any of the new plastics for reasonable costs.

I also don't much care for the sunglasses w/ mohawk fella but they're painted, done, and will carry on!

The "before" picture is in a previous post.  I used plastic weapons on these (plastic glues better to the metal shield).  The distort cannon barrel was attached to a plastic missile launcher body to make sure it was lower weight and easier to glue.

In addition, I finally received some Warp Spider auctions from ebay...and I didn't have to pay $60+ for the damned things!

Warp Spiders are hard to get ahold of because they're particularly powerful right now in 7th edition from what I understand and the finecast models are crap (lots of bubbles, disfigured feets, etc.)

Unfortunately two of the figures have been fitted with metal bases and weapons grade epoxy which required me to carefully clip the miniatures off the base --- skewing the feet slightly.  I'll see if I can save them.  I believe I'll mount these guys on 30mm bases instead of 25's since they're always a little tough to keep standing if you don't base them well.

2nd Edition "Junk"

While assembling my retro Eldar force I've realized that I'll probably end up playing some 2nd edition Warhammer 40K at some point (more likely I can find an opponent doing that than running the minis in another game format).

To whit, I have picked up some templates from 4Ground and ordered some dice/stickers to make my own sustained fire dice (they sell for crazy money online, so screw that noise!).  So now, if someone says they want to play some old school 40K I can oblige for the most part.

Eldar Fire Support

I spent the day assembling/painting my first two war-walkers.  I'm not overly thrilled with the results.  First off, I don't much like the kits.  I spent some time trimming the fat to make them more resemble 2nd edition walkers.  I trimmed some fins and protrusions.  I assembled the damn wing-armour wrong and then had no choice but to do them both the same way (already glued one wrong!).

I dipped the driver and tried dipping the white parts which worked horribly.  Stripped and repainted them and then left the driver (who now clashes a bit with the non-dipped stuff).  I may go and try to touch up the driver with some white paint.

I dislike the looks of this new war walker more than I thought but now that I have them painted and built I'll run them.  The only thing I'd dislike more...is working with multi-part metal kits (such as the old war walker).  If I get around to re-doing my war walkers I'll sell these off on ebay.

Rescue Five: Guardians and Fire Dragons

"Rescue" is perhaps a bit of a misnomer for this one since the models arrived either clean or poorly primed.  But, alas, here are some more guardians and my first squad of Fire Dragons (I have enough to field two squads of five if needed).

The guardians are a struggle...I'm trying to force myself to paint up at least 30 guardians and I'm doing all the basic ones first.  In exciting news, I have some Warp Spiders on the way after finally winning a couple of auctions on ebay!

Rescue Four: Scorpions and a Farseer

Originally I had planned to acquire enough miniatures to produce a full squad of each aspect, normally 3-7 models in 2nd Edition.  In some cases by picking up random auctions with various models I've acquired more, such as with my Striking Scorpions.

I painted up another six, allowing me to field two smaller squads if needed.  The bits of scorpions can be seen in previous posts.  I also painted up a Farseer so I at least have an HQ to field.

Both squads of Scorpions together. 

The new squad of Scorpions.  Originally I considered an alternate paint scheme, but I wanted to be able to field squads of seven when needed (so with two squads of six, I'd need a crossover miniature).  I opted for one big squad paint-scheme.

The figure I originally used for my Farseer back in high school in the mid-90's.  Not the actual mini of course, but the sculpt.  Always loved the goofy look and the fact that it's one of the most under-stated models in the game, considering how strong a Farseer is in the game.  Nothing to give away the "shoot me first!" vibe.

As luck would have it, the Farseer is my 100th figure painted this year.  Making steady progress, and will easily out-do the 112 miniatures from 2014.  Sadly I did sell off my Space Marines so my "usable" number is a bit less.

Late EDIT:  Some more Dark Reapers showed up in the mail.  While I wasn't planning on using more than one squad (Reapers tend to be very points heavy, regardless of the era) these guys were a good deal.  One is missing his launcher so I might even try an exarch conversion to a Shuriken cannon model or something similar.

Rescue Three: Guardians and Scouts

I finished up my first ten Guardians and a squad of Scouts.  Sadly I tried dipping all sixteen figures at the same time in some dip that was going sour, so I couldn't keep on top of all of the slight drips that were occurring.  I was a bit too anxious to get them all done (as opposed to carefully doing 5-6 at a time...next time!)

Regardless, the "before" figures are in the posts below, but here are the first civilian militia for the Craftworld.

Fear the Reaper(s)!

Just finished up five Dark Reapers (likely the only squad I'll do given the cost of the units!).  The pictures don't do the scheme much justice as it's rather dark.  Looks a bit better in person.

Also received five old guardians from a friend (his old pirates!) and I'll be converting them to the dark...er...light side?

Already been clipped and in the strippin' pot!

 

 

Rescue Two: Striking Scorpions

This is the first squad of Striking Scorpions I've finished up.  I've never cared for the bright green on Striking Scorpions so I went with a very muted colour palette.  I think it's more suitable to their infiltrating nature (not to mention none of the scorpions I've seen in the desert were ever bright green).

You can see the condition of the models as they arrived in the previous blog posts!

A simple scheme using Army Painte'rs "Necrotic Flesh" spray and then a lot of detail paint...followed by a dip and base.

 

Hope to have some more painted stuff up soon!

Save the Craftworld: Episode Five

I've slowed my ebay auction searches a bit as I've managed to gather the majority of what I need.  That being said, the last big batch of auctions showed up today.

A smattering of random Warlocks, Farseers etc.  The key figure here is the old bug-eyed Farseer who will lead my army.  One of the best Eldar miniatures - and a great surprise for people who assume the demure miniature couldn't possibly have excellent stats etc.

I was planning on plastic grav platforms but found they're one of the few bits you can't get easily on ebay.  I picked up this action solely for the crew, but may end up using the platforms as well (I hate...HATE...metal-on-metal models so I will do what I can not to use these...)

Some non-used Guardians with lasguns.  While the majority of my squads will use Shuriken catapults, these guys will be converted to special weapons or will represent vehicle crews etc. (I need to check the weapons required).

Four new Swooping Hawks and two previously painted.  I'm trying to decide how I'll base these guys as they almost need the slotta.  I may mount them on some 30mm bases I grabbed up from renedra.  These will be a struggle.

All of this stuff is already being stripped as I type this.  This will conclude the majority of my "metal" infantry figures.  Next step will eventually be plastic vehicles.  There is one outstanding squad - that of Warp Spiders, which go for waaaaaay too much money.  I may have to give in and try to find a re-saler of the resins or something.  Other than that I have all of the models I need for all of the types of infantry units.

I may pursue some modular guardians to build vehicle crews if I don't have models with the appropriate weapons.

Stripping models.

As an old-school Eldar player looking to get back into some retro gaming I've quickly come to discover that Games Workshop must hate Eldar players.

A lovely line of plastic vehicles and Wraithguard goes a long way toward fixing the lack of products in the past, but the crux of many an Eldar army, the aspect warriors, have been left to wallow in over-priced resin boxed sets.  My personal quest against resin in wargaming notwithstanding the material is mediocre at best - particularly when applied to the slight Eldar models.

Add to this that the Eldar aspect warriors are frequently GW webstore-only products and the chance of landing aspect warriors for less than $40+ per five is slim.

As such my interest remains in the older sculpts, namely metals (yeah, I'm becoming a bit of a grognard already).  I've decide that most of my vehicles will be modern plastics (the overall aesthetic of the Eldar has changed very little) and where possible infantry models will be metal.

So...to ebay!  As you've seen from the past several posts, I've been gathering up a fine collection of metal 2nd edition (and occasionally older/newer) metal figures.  Most of these come in poor condition - painted by 12 year olds or other hamfisted individuals.

Saving these has been relatively easy, if a bit time consuming.

If I'm being honest, I've never stripped models before.  Never had much need - I only sell stuff I don't plan on using, and have never really bothered buying up old metal figures for much of anything else.

Step 1: Debasing.

I'm moving from slottabases to flat renedra plastic bases (vastly prefer the thin, simple nature of non-slottas).  I don't have a picture but it's quit easy.  Using hobby clippers the easiest method is to simply invert the figure, clip at the gaps along the side and the whole thing falls in half...carefully pry it off or clip it off (sometimes the slotta itself is stuck quite well and you can bend the ankles of slight models like the Eldar).

Edit: Took a picture.  Clip the two outside joining walls and a slotta base easily breaks off 90% of these figures.

Step 2: Stripping liquid

There are apparently many ways to strip a model (plastic or metal) of paint...I've selected "Super Clean" grease remover, available at the local auto store for $9 a gallon.  I understand Wal-Mart has a competitive product called "Purple Power", whilst folks in the UK use a product called Detol.  A quick YouTube search will reveal the various types.

Metal miniatures and a plastic Rhino hull soaking in two plastic tubs filled with Super Clean.  Ignore the "Purple Power Vehicle Cleaner Concentrate" in the back, that was the wrong product I picked up by accident!

Step 3: Wait then Scrub

Generally I've found that letting miniatures sit overnight will loosen/remove the majority of paint.  Toss on some gloves, use a toothbrush and you can remove 95% of the paint/primer.  Results differ depending on what kind of paints were used originally.  For stuff that's a bit more stubborn - a couple of days soak will work better.

A handful of figures after one day of soaking and a brushing.  Note that some have bits of paint left and the figure on the far right has a lot of white primer remaining.  These have been brushed but the stuff simply wouldn't budge.  Next step!

Step 4: Ultrasonic Bath

I discovered quickly that miniatures from various places with various paint strip in very different methods.  Some strip fully clean within an hour of being placed in the liquid, others remain stubborn for days despite brushing etc.

As such I followed some advice I'd seen on YouTube and picked up a $30 Ultrasonic cleaner off of Amazon.com.  This turned out to be a reasonable size (anything but vehicles I'd imagine) and cheap to boot.  Sadly this model only zaps stuff for three minutes at a time.  More expensive machines can have a timer set.  You can use water or special cleaners...I put my Super Clean straight into the machine instead...allowing the models to soak in it while being hit by 42,000 pulses.

I tried this on a couple of my stubborn models.  With the three minute limit not getting the job done, I set this by my painting table within arms reach...and swatted the button every time it shut off - allowing the batch of items to take an ultrasonic bath about 45 mins. to an hour.  Note that with the repeated use the Ultrasonic bath in this machine also heats up...quite hot.  Probably not suitable for resins.

The results were excellent.

This Avatar figure had a bunch of stubborn painted spots after dipping and scrubbing, and one arm wouldn't come loose of the super glue.  A few cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner and it came out perfect.  Note the cleaning material will remove that ultra shiny appearance of the pewter, but the figure is unharmed and all the paint/glue broke down.

In closing, I'm now comfortable stripping models and "saving" them from the abuse of yesteryear.  I've had good luck with many models so far and the whole process, whilst a little time consuming, is reasonably cheap and easy.

• Super Clean $9-10 a bottle.
• Toothbrush $0.50
• Ultrasonic Cleaner (if needed): $30

 

 

 

Rescue One: Dire Avengers

I've completed my first squad of Eldar in many, many years.  This is the Dire Avenger squad which I sadly did not photograph prior to stripping/rebuilding.  Future units will have the before/after photographs.

Eldar Dire Avengers, the most common of Aspect Warriors.