Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Fantasy RPG Dungeon Dressing 1

A gallery of my Fantasy Dungeon Dressing collection.

These pieces have been acquired over the years. Some are purpose bought, while others were lifted from boardgames. A few of the items date back to the mid 80's, but a large portion of them were collected on the 00's.

RPG's originally ware a game that played out exclusively in players minds. But my group is comprised of mostly wargamers, hobbyists, and creative-types. We have turned our combats into detailed 3D tactical exercises. A direct result, I have collected various pieces to help visually describe/dictate the tabletop.


Statures, monuments and obelisks

The three grey pieces and the one front-and-center are pre-painted from Mage Knight. I painted the remaining items. The two light colored obelisks in the back row are from Reaper (?). The three dwarf statues in the middle were made from plastic bottle screw-on caps and GW multi-part plastic figures.

My favorite of the bunch are the two brass lions on marble plinths. They are resin models. I am especially proud of the marble technique (see inset, top).


Loot

Most of these are pre-painted sets from Mage Knight and Master Maze. The large groupings (cloth, crates, bags, etc) in the middle and the barrels in the back were painted by me.


Furniture

Only the two sets of tables with solid back chars are pre-painted sets from Mage Knight. Everything else are a combination of resin and metal models that I painted. The mirror on the tiered stand is one my oldest dungeon decor pieces. The rug under the desk is a piece of plasticard with the ends scored (to make the tassels).


Miscellaneous

A menagerie of pieces that didn't fit anywhere else. I painted everything here.

The pot is also one of my oldest figures. It originally had billowing smoke that culminated into the shape of a wizards face. It broke off, so I decided to re-purpose it. I made the campfire out of small gravel and toothpicks.


Thrones and Magic Items

The left throne is a game piece and the right throne is from Mage Knight. The stone work both thrones are on are GW square bases. I used a small file to carve out the stones. The throne on the left sits atop a 60mm, 40mm, and 20mm base.

All of the magic items (except for the two flying swords) are from Master Maze.

Well, that is it for part 1. The next installment will focus on larger pieces and out door items.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Warmachine Cryx Battlegroup WIP

A lost post from over a month ago.

Moving on from my color test, I have made progress on a Warmachine Cryx Battlegroup.


Still some detail and the base left to do, but I have mostly completed the rusted and corroded metal and bone elements of these figures. This isn't a out of the box battle group. I swapped one of the dog-like Deathripper bonejack for the crab-like Stalker bonejack. 

The base is going to be tricky. building up layers of sequentially lighter tinted water effects with the intent to exaggerate the depth of the water. While I have done that with my swamp terrain, I am concerned about the smaller area and how the water effects with interact with the foliage and aquarium plants.

I am looking forward to getting a in game of Warmachine, so I better get cracking on finishing these up!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Salamander Tanks WIP 2

A small update.

I couldn't find a set of standard Predator Sponsons plus weapons within my budget of $10. But I was able to score a pair of Baal Predator Sponsons.



The Blood Angel marking were scraped off with a hubby knife. I also drilled out the barrel. For now Deathbot will have to settle for Heavy Bolters, but I will magnetize the assembly so that Lascannons can be added at a later time.


Here is the tank assembled and waiting for primer.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

3D Design Project

Testing out a new side project!

For the last week or so I have been muddling around with Autodesk's free web ap "Tinker Cad". It has been very easy to learn and use. I will probably move to a more sophisticated (free) program soon, as the control over the shapes/nodes are lacking.

Following is one of the 3D dodads I have been working on . This is a modular component for the existing capitol ships for the game Battlefleet Gothic. I am also working on other pieces for the game such as variant torpedoes, variant fighter craft, and other accessories.



This is a launch bay component. The motivation for this piece came from not liking the bit that comes with the original models, and the inspiration came from the middle section of a transport ship (see below). I always liked the design although it never looked right to me as a transport ship.


These are the components from a heavy transport ship. The second piece from the left was the inspiration for launch bay project. The two types of cargo bays here are 'troops' and 'fuel'.


Here is a sketch for the component I am planning of a 'spine' midsection that will receive modular cargo components. It will also be compatible with the weapon components from the original models allowing for merchant war ships.

Adeptus-B and I discussed making some steam-punk conversion pieces for building and figures. Eventually, I would also like to design some custom game pieces for my Monopoly Omega and Risk Omega projects.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

FLGS Used Score

I have a new FLGS!

Earlier this year, my FLGS of 30+ years closed its doors. A few weeks ago, my son went to Guardian Games for the first time. They have a huge space and Deathbot and I took our time taking it all in.

We both had a little bit of coin in our pockets and were looking for deals.

I searched through the Warmachine and Warhammer 40K used bins. I found two things of interest:

Image taken from internets without permission.

Warwitch Siren Cryx Solo for $6 (Retail $11.99) and a...

Image taken from internets without permission.

Tau Empire Sniper Drone Team (in metal) for $6 (Retail $41.25). Both were complete un-assembled models (minus packaging)

From the video game section, Deathbot scored:

"Gauntlet Seven Sorrows" for Xbox (the first) for $5 and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" RPG for Game Boy Advance

All-in-all $21 spent between the two of us and a nice pile of booty taken home.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

My Cats are Mad at Me!!

I took these pictures about 2 weeks ago.

For the last 3ish months, every time I came out to my work bench, this is what I found:
 

The very first time it happened, I thought my cats were chasing a bug or small vermin and caused some collateral damage. Bit is continued to occur. The next thing I thought was that my cats were after the water in the cup I use to wash my paint brushes (not pictured) as the point of origin was always right next to it. I hoped this was not true as I typically don't change the water very often... and it gets awfully  rank! So I started putting the water cup in the sink every time I was done.

Unfortunately, the attacks on my hobby bench continued relentlessly.

Weather I went out to my work bench every day, once a week, or less frequently, my work space was disturbed in the same specific fashion: The lower right paint bottles were pulled way to the left, the glue bottled were pushed over forward, and the items (models and paint bottles alike) left 'front and center' were knocked over.

The carnage was always focused in the same areas, and did not get worse no mater how many days passed.

About 2 weeks ago, 2 things were different:


Firstly, and most importantly, there was actual damage caused to a figure. Fortunately, it turned out to not be as bad as seemed at first glance.

The second thing different this time around was there was evidence!! Up until now I had no idea if it was Onyx or Mango (or both) causing all the disruption. Well, I found an orange hair--M-A-N-G-O!!!


I put my work bench back in order and took the above picture. I fixed the broken miniature later that day. Today was the first time back at the work bench since taking these pictures. Guess what, Mango struck again!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

BFG Strike Cruiser Carrier

Been in a bit of a slump of late, and I've had a difficult time getting my hobby mojo back. 

About a week ago, I managed to get a little bit of hobby time in. I filled the weapon batteries off of a Strike Cruiser so I could convert it to a carrier. Here is a mock-up of my first attempt.

The white part on the left is 2 trimmed "I" beams glued to a thin piece of plasticard. The grey part on the right is the cut down upper assembly of an old school las pistol.