6mm Fantasy Shenanigans

 Hi!

As promised in my last post, I've been footling about with some 6mm scale fantasy bits and bobs.

I've become quite a fan of creating small gaming boards using cheap pinboards and I've been wanting to make a rich green one for a while and decided that it was high time to get it finished. 

The base is a WHSmith's pinboard that measures 39cm by 59cm which I got for 75% off when a local store was closing down and cost £2.50. A cheap tube of green acrylic set me back another £1.99 and bobs your uncle! I'd initially intended on using either a static grass sheet or flock but thought it may warp the cork board so settled on just painting it all.

A bit of splotching, drybrushing and dabbing of assorted greens and browns and it looks pretty decent.

With the addition of my polystyrene egg trees and a small dark age farm produced by Irregular Miniatures that I was gifted a good fifteen years ago, I've got the beginnings of a decent little layout.

Further rummagings have turned up some Irregular Miniatures Wood Elves that was part of the lot that I was gifted back in the day and I find myslelf with the beginnings of a nice little army. I've got enough to make a decent sized force for Dragon Rampant and still have a bunch of Orcs to use as an opposition.

Sadly the photo's don't do the figures justice as they're really nice little sculpts once they've got a coat of paint on them and I'm thinking of slowly adding to the collection with some other figures from Irregular at some point. The bases are 15mm by 30mm and made from cardboard.

I've rather enjoyed putting together this little project and will try to get the remaining figures painted up in the coming weeks and hope to add some more scenery too and am aiming towards making it in the style of classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle but tiny so we shall see how I get on.

My next post should have some completed 15mm scale gubbins as well as further musings on some wild west ideas that I've got floating about again.

In the meantime, All the best!

Heavy Gear Blitz Paper Terrain

 Hi!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been finding myself rather interested in giving Heavy Gear Blitz by Dream Pod 9 a bash and I've put together some of the free terrain that they include in the PDF version of the rules.

I printed out four pages which consisted of three sheets of military buildings and one sheet of shipping containers (I'd have printed more but ran out of card!).

I spent my day off yesterday cutting, scoring and gluing the bits and pieces together and am quire pleased with how they've turned out as I have enough stuff to create a decent sized outpost for my stompy robots to fight over. I also included two of my 6mm Germy warehouses that I had constructed a few years back in the setup as they scale quite well with the DP9 stuff.

I coloured the edges of the scored card with a brown marker which resulted in a pleasingly rusted and worn finish that looks a lot better than the original white edging and make the buildings look a bit more lived in and inkeeping with their environment. I also painted a blue window on the tower as I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do wit the white rectangles but it looks pretty decent with just a little bodging.

I think I'll need to add some sort of Comms array onto the top of the building as it looks like it could do with one but thats possibly a job for another day.

I listened to the Horror Babble Peter Van Melsen series on YOUTUBE which I highly recommend for a bit of Cthulhu themed adventure in the background and highly recommend taking a peek at their rather fantastic selection of classic tales of the gothic and outre as the hours flew past as I managed to repeatedly glue my fingers together whilst listening to Van Melsen's adventures. Their William Hope Hodgson and Algernon Blackwood stories are also awesome, not to mention the Cthulhu mythos cycles!

I wanted to see if the buildings scale with my other smaller scale projects so have taken some shots to see how they look:

The tiny Epic scale figures from my Ultramarine army don't quite fit in as the doorways are a bit big but on the tabletop, I suspect they'd look alright, particularly the cargo containers which look perfect.

Similarly, the 15mm scale Imperial retinue of my Governor General are possibly a wee bit big but I imagine the buildings being cargo containers or some such and they're ok and if they weren't on bases, they would look a bit closer to scale.

Finally, here they are next to my Heavy Gear miniatures and you get a better impression of the scale:

I'm really pleased with how the project turned out and the rather cartoony look of the buildings fits in really well with the anime aesthetic of Heavy Gear and the fact that they kind of scale with my other projects is a real boon.

The four sheets of A4 card gave me ten cargo containers, one large watchtower, a medical centre, and a goodly amount of smaller buildings that will furnish about 2'x2' as a reasonably dense settlement and provide excellent cover as well as interest for a board. 

The only downside was the shape of the buildings which required a bit more work to glue all the tabs together, resulting in a bit of cursing as I stuck my fingers a few times and one or two of them are a bit shoogly but being as they were free, I really can't complain!

My next objective will be to get some paper standees so I can play some games, but I do have some of the EM-4 miniatures mechs which may do as proxies with a coat of paint so I suspect my next step will be to paint up a couple of squads worth and try the game. If I enjoy it, I have the option to pick up some official miniatures, but if I don't, at least I've got some cool scenery and some painted mechs for other games!

I'm back at work following my hols so doubt I'll get chance to post as much in the coming weeks but I do want to try and keep the momentum going but we'll see how things go.

Until then, All the best!

Tiny Gaming Board Terrain

 Hi!

Happily I've got a weeks holiday so I've been working on getting my tiny gaming board terrain made for my ongoing solo RPG campaign.

The board itself is made of EVA foam and measures 180mm x 270mm and was quickly painted with lots of different green stippling to give a grassy sort of a finish to it. I also scored it before painting with a pencil to mark out 30mm squares which my models can move around in.

The scenery is a mixture of EVA foam for the rock piles which came from some play mats I picked up a while back and I probably have enough left to make all my terrain needs for the foreseeable future. The cacti are made from sculpey and quickly shaped before cooking and painting and then mounted on some 30mm MDF bases I grabbed at Claymore.

I still use Brutal Quest for the rules of my solo RPG sessions as it's got a satisfying amount of detail whilst being endlessly bodgeable, not to mention that I'm a big fan of the Brutality points system as it really adds a cinematic element to the game!

I did alter things a bit so movement for an average character is two squares whilst ranged combat is now also measured per square with a shortbow having a 5 square reach for example. Also the rock mounds can be climbed up requiring a successful Agility check to make sure you don't fall and the cacti count as either impassable or dangerous depending on the mood.

I've tried out the simple set up with a few encounters thus far and it's worked out pretty well with 2-3 figures a side but I think I may use a second mat if I'm running a larger encounter.

Thus far I've got some desert or mesa themed terrain built but I plan on expanding this into more temperate with trees and stuff as well as alpine, volcanic and cursed wastelands too, not to mention fungal forests and all manner of other interesting gubbins. The best thing about working on this limited sized board is that with a handful of terrain items, it is remarkably easy to lay out a nice little encounter and store all the supplies in a small box.

I'm working on putting some trees together at the moment and will be making some more base mats to suit the terrain my characters are fighting in but as a proof of concept, I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

I'm also planning on making some more encounters for my characters to fight as my choices are at present a bit limited but expect to see Goblins, Orcs, mutants and beastkin soon as this little project seems to be really getting the creative juices flowing!

Hopefully I'll have a few more bits and bobs finished tomorrow to share but until then, All the best!

Necromunda and Inspiration Lost

 Hi!

I recently spotted a cheap stack of Necromunda books on Ebay and managed to snag them for a really good price and when they arrived I found myself struck by just how inspiring the old GW stuff used to be!

I managed to get the Necromunda Rulebook, Sourcebook, Outlanders, Getting Started and the Painting and Modelling pamphlet.

Now I will be taking a more indepth look at the awesomeness of the rules and sourcebooks in the future but I found myself really drawn to the Painting and Modelling pamphlet that was included in the original boxed set.

It's literally an eight page booklet but it's full of awesome stuff that I can't help but feel GW is now missing. You get a simple guide to painting figures up to a decent but not unachievable standard. It also gives you a few examples of conversions:

I've got a few of the old Necromunda Goliath and Orlock plastics and for their time, they were pretty good, even if the Goliaths had arms like gorillas and I really miss the simplicity of plastic figures. You can paint up a force relatively quickly and easily but the new super detailed stuff seems to me to be just too much. I don't need a lowly grunt to have as much detail as the mightiest of heroes! 

There's also a section on the brilliant cardboard terrain and how to make it a bit sturdier:

I love the old cardboard terrain GW made back in the day. It allowed you to have a great table to fight over without spending an absolute fortune. Yes it may be not super realistic but I'd use it today in a heartbeat if I had it as it really gives the claustrophobic feel of Necromunda's underhive simply and easily. 

Finally, it even includes a bit on how to make some simple terrain of your own! Remember when GW actively encouraged you to have a bash at making terrain from household materials resulting in most of us having a box of assorted tat to delve into when we want to make stuff? 

It's simple and easy but fun to make and I'm hoping to have a bash at making it myself! Gone are the days when GW encouraged such creativity and inspiration as now its all about super expensive plastic scenery kits resulting in so many boards beginning to look the same. 

Remember the old pics from White Dwarf with utterly amazing handmade terrain like this:

I personally find this sort of thing more inspiring than looking at the new stuff. It's got so many small details that draw the eye and while it's stunningly made and painted, I do think I could aspire to making something similar with a bit of work!

Finally, there's the back cover with some lovely 'Eavy Metal gangers, Goblin Green bases included:

If you can find it, it's a really inspiring little pamphlet that one can find all manner of inspiration for their hobbying and I plan to use it as the basis for some industrial terrain for my Inquisitorial agents and possibly the odd gang or two to fight over.

I've got a load of supplies stashed in my bits box and a fair amount of small odds and ends already done but need a load more to really give the cluttered and ramshackle battlefield of the far future and plan on spending the month of May in a bit of a terrain making bash.

I've also been keeping my eye out on possible bits and found this at Lidl:

With a bit of work, it will be getting turned into a raised gantry and cost me £5.99 and I'm looking forward to getting to work on it!

Hopefully I'll have some more posts in the coming days with a load of terrain as well as some more indepth dives into the Necromunda books but until then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 92: Space Crusade Terrain Project Part 2

Hi!

I've got some assorted terrain gubbins put together for my Space Crusade themed board!

I've got the eight doors painted (although when I was taking photos I realised I've not finished adding the extra layer of grime that will properly finish them) and made some large, blocky structures to break line of sight and make things interesting!

I had hoped to have lots more done today but found that I've run out of superglue so will have to head into town tomorrow to pick up some more. I eventually hope to have 4-5 decent sized blocks for each quarter and some smaller consoles, med bays and other interesting gubbins as well as some more wall elements to get the board ready for future games but if I can just get enough to provide cover for a game tomorrow evening I'll be happy!

The more I work on this project, the more ideas I get both for making more stuff and indeed for future scenarios but with the news of the end of lockdown in Scotland on the 26th of April, my daily updates will be coming to an end but I'm really keen to keep the hobby shenanigans going, even at a somewhat slower pace.

I've been really tempted to pick up some more figures but I'm hoping to keep working through my current stash of stuff before I start buying anything else and have just finished a Syntha trooper to start a new faction for my warbands to encounter.

I'll post some more terrain and figures tomorrow but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 84: Space Crusade Terrain Part 1

 Hi!

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been working on some Space Crusade themed scenery, a process that has been somewhat derailed by the unwanted appearance of a leak coming through the ceiling today...

Still, I did manage to get the basics done starting with the modular walls:

The walls themselves are made from mounting board, foam sheeting and paper with a decent amount of gribble, graffiti and symbols painted on to make it interesting.

Each piece is a smidge under 30cm long and handily fit my vinyl floor tile terrain boards and I've got a decent selection of designs to represent either indoor or outdoor layouts.

Here's a basic layout:

I'm keen to keep my terrain from taking over what little space I had so I've attempted to make sure it can all be flat packed away. The pieces are held together using the boards themselves and a small clip made from some MDF bases and while it's a bit ad-hoc, it seems to do the trick!

I'm planning on making some more modular walls to allow different floor layouts on each quarter and will also be needing to make some indoor terrain for my adventurers to fight over and generally trash but said leaky ceiling has put a bit of a delay on getting on with it (handily the landlord for upstairs has offered to do the repairs for free as it was their flat that caused the damage!)

I'm also going to make some doors, barricades and whatnot to liven things up a bit and also need some automated security types to defend the place...

I'm hoping to get a bunch more bits and bobs done tomorrow which will allow me to fully populate the board with terrain and it may get a try out for the weekends game!

In other news, I've discovered that my old Game Craft acrylics are still available and have placed a small order to replenish my depleted stock. While there are undoubtedly better quality paints out there, I do have a soft spot for them as they've got some really handy colours and were the original Warzone paints to boot!

I still haven't found a decent boss for my Mechanicus but will keep looking and have an eye on one or two different sources for said unhinged mechanical madman but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 83: Space Crusade Style Skirmishing

 Hi!

As part of my ongoing Sci-Fi Skirmish rummagings, I find myself in need of a spaceship/building interior to run some scenarios in, be they trawling through catacombs or some rusting hulk on the frontier. 

This got me to thinking about using a Warhammer Quest style random board setup approach but I also quite liked the idea of a Space Crusade type of board for quickly representing a building complex for my warbands to fight over.

Random Space Crusade Layout

I've spent much of today mocking up stuff with paper to see how it will work and made a rough wall array using foamcore and had spent a fair amount of time detailing it before realising that I'd made the doors too small for the layout I needed. Coupled with the fact that I'd glued it all together and had a 2 foot square X that would prove to be a pain in the backside to store anywhere, I sat down and had a bit of a rethink.

Going back to the drawing board, I settled on using thick card and made sure I made the doors big enough and have spent the rest of the day detailing it and have started painting it this evening. Sadly this means that I've not got it ready to showcase for this evenings update but hopefully it will be worth the wait.

I'm also working on getting some more Adeptus Mechanicus stuff painted which I'm hoping to have finished later this week but it's kind of taking a back seat at the moment as I'm trying to get the basic terrain built and ready!

Hopefully I'll have the basic structure built and ready for tomorrows update but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 68: Bargain Terrain Interlude!

 Hi!

Today has a bit of a terrain interlude as I picked up some handy terrain when I was out picking up some shopping!

I spotted the Fortnite Port-A-Fort toy for the princely sum of £4.99 and thought to myself it might come in handy for some terrain for my Rogue Trader project.

I had expected it to be pretty cheap tat that I'd use for adding to terrain elements but when I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised by just how sturdy it was.

It's made from lots of nice thick plastic with a really nice amount of detail on it which would fit any Necromunda or Orky project and it fits together really well too.

Now I wouldn't spend £14.99, the original price but for a fiver, it's really great and the smaller square bits really remind me of the old Necromunda terrain pieces and I'd be tempted to use them individually but having put the whole thing together, I think I'll use it as is!

The individual bits work well for terrain elements, be they bunkers, base plates, containers or whatnot and I am really tempted to pick up one or two more to give me lots of bits to work with in the future but I'd really recommend it to anyone who could get their hands on one as it makes a really solid addition to ones terrain collections!

I'm hoping to get the tower detailed and tweaked a bit to give it a proper Orky style and it will be making an appearance in this weekends game and I'll update my blog with pics as I get it completed.

In other news, I've got more figures painted and will try to get some photos taken for tomorrows update but as usual I've gone off on a bit of a tangent and painted some 28mm fantasy but I'm now working on the last of my security troopers and an Imperial Preacher to round out my characters for my Inquisitorial warband.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 56: Supplemental Scenery Progress

 Hi!

Well I've got the basic shape for my rebuild sci-fi structure done and when all the glues dried I'll remove the last pins and fasten the upper storey on.

Once the basics are finished, I'll be getting onto the most fun part, namely detailing the whole thing! I am going to alter things a wee bit from the original as I plan on adding a raised walkway and more refined doorways and windows. I also plan on adding a railing around the structure as it's a bit odd having accessible rooftops without a means to stop folks from plunging off of them, or maybe the far future doesn't have a health and safety team...

Its shaping up to be a rather large structure which will make a good settlement op-centre once it's finished and alongside the other odds and ends of scenery I've got done over the last few weeks, I'm going to have a really nice, dense sci-fi board.

In other news, I've got the Red Building finished for Mordheim, its another basic structure but will do for gaming and I'll need to make some ladders to allow access to the upper levels. I'm also planning on making some boxes and stuff to add interest to the interiors and am contemplating adding on some graffiti and wanted posters.

The two buildings side by side are looking alright but I must admit that the first one I made is a better construction as the windows on the new one are a bit big and the thicker cardboard I used for wooden planking and whatnot is a bit more believable so I may go back to the Red House to add some more detailing.

Finally, I picked up a 60cmx40cm pinboard from Home Bargains for the princely sum of £1.99 today and used a sheet of patterned vinyl that I'd picked up from Poundland when I was at uni but never used to give it an interesting finish. I plan on using this for a small scale skirmish board and the other side will have a green Javis grass sheet for 6mm fantasy.

Rummaging my materials, I've realised that I have a grey vinyl sheet lying around which will get used on a second board at some point in the future for an urban board!

Hopefully tomorrow will see some more miniatures finished as I've been working on my 15mm scale Humies today and am really enjoying working on them too and I've got enough to allow me to try out several small games and will post updates as I go.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 56: Reimagined Terrain

Hi!

I stumbled across some old photos of my gaming setup from about 15 years ago and thought I'd share them here.

Looking back, I'm struck by a huge hit of nostalgia and am really feeling the need to rebuild these specific buildings and ruins. Back in the day, they featured fierce battles between salvage companies using Star Mogul, forces of the Brotherhood hunted Dark Legion heretics and VASA Black Legionaries conducted raids on Koralon infestations.

 

The buildings themselves were made from Bump Out Boxes, a type of box that was used in Borders Books to display books close to the front of the shelves and incidentally were really great for making buildings with. Coupled with some strip styrene and some of the old Hexon terrain gubbins, they made a really nice and sturdy gaming building.

The ruins in the foreground are just foamcore with some pebbles and plastic junk glued on while the road is a piece of cheap lino.

What struck me when looking at these pictures was the variety of figures I used back then and I'm heartened to see that hasn't changed much in the intervening years, even if this whole collection is long gone now.

One regret is that I didn't keep my Warzone and Chronopia collections as I had so much fun with them. Similarly my Star Mogul collection went too and replacing either is I believe not feasible but I do want to relive this sort of gaming today and one thing I can do is to remake the scenery as best as I can.

With that in mind, I will be using today as a mini challenge to rebuild these two buildings and see if I can't improve on them slightly with a few new materials. 

I'll post an update this evening with my progress so in the meantime, All the best!