71. More Kickstarter Goodness

All at once in the last few weeks I've received a number of Kickstarters that I backed.  For the longest time, nothing; then several came within days of each other.

First, my Legendary Realms Terrain Mega-Dungeon.  I'll never be able to make my own from Hirst Arts molds, so I ponied up the money (big money too) for someone else to make it for me.  Pre-painted, made from resin.  The quality is about what you'd expect from a small company that got completely SLAMMED by orders from their Kickstarter, and hasn't truly done all that well in getting things out in a timely manner.  I count myself lucky to have received mine when I did.

Two big boxes, very heavy.

They were packed very carefully:  pieces inside other pieces.  There is no way I could ever replicate this for storage or similar.  I'm not sure how they figured it out.  Unfortunately, because painted side was touching painted sides, there was some rubbing during transport and some (not much but some) of the paint was removed from some of the pieces.  It's nothing I can't fix with a simple drybrush, though.  And to LRT's credit he offered to replace any pieces damaged or paint-damaged for free.  I did not take him up on his offer, although I was missing two hall pieces and have yet to see them.

Here's another view of the inside of the box.

Here you can see some of the detail of the castings, as well as the rubbing that occurred during shipping.  It's nothing a little black/grey drybrushing won't take care of.

Second, Gangfight Games expansion figures for their Western-themed game, Blackwater Gulch.  The Kickstarter was run by Game Salute.  I got in mainly for the non-Firefly figures, plus the overall number of figures for the price was decent in my opinion, and they are all metal figs so that's a plus to me.  And while they're Western-themed, they are generic enough to use for nearly any system outside of pure D&D fantasy:  pulps, post-apocalyptic, even some moderns.

The box.  Why do I take pictures like this?  I'm not really sure....

What it looked like upon opening.

Left to Right:  The Widowmakers, the single figs and dice, the Tranquility Crew, and Wilde's Rangers (and their Gatling Gun).

Third, I backed the Dwarven Forge dungeon terrain Kickstarter (and this was well after I had already backed the Legendary Realms one, too, but at the time it was starting to look like I might not ever receive the LRT dungeon).  My hope was that the pieces would match up and I could effectively (almost) double my dungeon size in one go, but it was not to be.  It's not that they don't totally match up, it's more like they almost match up and how close do you want it before it starts to look bad on the table?

The box.  Yep, there it is.

The contents upon opening.  Four boxes, two of each are identical.  I got two sets, you see.

Individually wrapped pieces, that eventually looked like...

...this.

Oh, and I got a bag too.  You can just throw the tiles in there willy-nilly, because, since they're "plastic" they're practically indestructible.

I realize I don't have a picture of the Dwarven Forge tiles all set up.  I'll correct that soon.  But since I got the unpainted set, there's not much to see yet.  Just black-brown plastic.

Lastly, I expect to receive notice any day now that my OGRE Designer's Edition has shipped.  OGRE was the first Kickstarter that I ever backed, and I went a little overboard, plus it led me down this primrose path of other Kickstarters.  Seriously, my bank account hurts....

Funny thing is, I began writing this blog post almost two weeks ago and I have YET to receive shipping notice.  This is due to the very strange shipping methodology SJGames has adopted.  Somehow they thought that sending the geographically-farther sets out first would get the game to all backers at the same time.  Well, I live only a couple hundred miles from OGRE HQ and this guarantees I will be among the last to receive it, while backers much further away have already been playing games with their sets.  Bleah, I say.  And yes, I think it is a stupid methodology.

58. If You Live in a Paper Building...

...don't smoke.

So.  How are you?  Long time no see.  <sigh>  Unlike many other people, my job makes me more busy during the Summer months.  My work schedule becomes absulutely crazy.  It's all I can do just to get in my gaming room, not to mention actually painting or playing games.  "Dun't bee seely."

Because of that, all I was able to accomplish over the Summer was the construction of some paper buildings.  These were easy to build and of very low time investment.  I could easily start them and walk away in the middle without worrying about not coming back for 2 weeks, with no untoward effects (like paint drying out, etc).

Every single one of these buildings was free off the Inter-Web-Tubes.  I did have to do some searching, as they are not all from one place.  You'll find links below the pictures.

My main goal was to quickly (that being a relative term) and cheaply construct a modern town for some good 'ol Zombie gaming.  It's pretty tough to do zombies with only one or two houses.  What I have here is still not really enough, but I am much, much closer than before.  I even have several more buildings unconstructed that I can add, plus a couple of these are generic enough to have two on the same table without a problem.

I used regular cardstock and an old-er ink jet printer on the normal setting.  These printed out just fine for 28mm gaming.  I've heard it's easy to scale down the printing for 15mm gaming, but so far I haven't needed to.  I've also heard some people say that you should spray coat your finished buildings to protect the ink from running if they get wet, but it seems to me it is just as easy to build a new model if that were to happen.  I've got other things to use expensive spray on, but that's just me.

Also, there are certainly more elaborate ways of building these types of models.  Some people such as the excellent Vampifan on his website build them, quite literally, to last a gaming lifetime.  His is an example of how to do it right.

I am happy with my results, and reasonably proud of the quality.  I don't expect them to last forever, so I entered into the equation with the idea that I would just print more if I have to.  One good thing that happened, that beforehand I was worried about, was that I never even used up one cartridge of ink.  All these buildings and my ink cartridge is still going strong.

And now for the pictures.  Links are at the bottom.

Here's Harold the zombie in No-Whereville.

A view of the other half of the street.

Here, Harold is in front of a warehouse, from the most excellent Germy.  The "street furniture" is from Tommygun.

Harold picking up his dry cleaning.  Zombies like clean clothes, you know.  Building by MicroTactix.

Harold, worried that the Area Control office might see him go into the Gun Shop.  Buildings by Germy.

The nice thing about Germy's stuff is that the roofs (rooves?) are removable, with interior printing.  Very cool!

Harold, desperately trying to quench his undying thirst.  More from Germy.

An interior detail picture.  The pool table and bar are 3D accessories, too.

Harold, feeling he is missing something from his former living status, checks out the strip club.  Building by Tommygun.

Harold, still trying to fill the void within him, tries Stinky's Pizza.  Building by Microtactix.  Street furniture by Germy and Tommygun.

Seeking something to occupy his time, Harold thinks about buying a TV.  Model by Microtactix.

And now for something completely different....

I admit, I was caught up in the paper-model-building craze, and decided to try some new things.  Maybe a good Star Wars-ian sci-fi building would be fun.

 

"Come on, you Ewoks!  Bring it!"  At the Comm Station, by Momir Farooq.

Comm Station rear view.  This was a much tougher model than some of the others.  Lots of fiddly bits.

Next I wanted someting sci-fi but simple.  What better than Toposolitario's IKUBEs?

They come in many shapes and colors.  Wait, strike that.  They're all the same shape, but many different colors.  And super simple to build.  They're a box!

I also decided to build some "Street Furniture," as it's known by the "In" crowd.  Vending machines, ice machines, phone booths and so on.

A variety of selections, by Germy and Tommygun, mostly.  That's Harold just for scale.

After that, I wanted to build a couple more of Momir Farooq's Star Wars items.  Here's the Hoth Tactical map, the Death Star control console, and some various Star Wars-ian crates.  Oh, and the Death Star Vending Machines.  What, don't you remember seeing them in the movies?  I'm sure they were there....

O.K., O.K., I simply forgot to put the vending machines in the previous picture....

Close up of the Hoth Tactical Map.

Close up of the Death Star control console.  Too bad I don't have a Han Solo miniature, so he should shoot at it....

Links:
Germy
http://www.germy.co.uk/ 

Tommygun
http://tommygun.sector-17.com/tommygun/main.php 
Sadly, Tommygun seems to be off-line at the moment.  He was there in the summer, but when I checked just now it says the domain has expire.  That's a shame, as there is lots of great stuff there.

Microtactix Twilight Street series
http://www.microtactix.com/

Toposolitario
http://www.toposolitario.com/
 
Momir Farooq
http://www.momirfarooq.com/ 
He's got lots and lots of really cool (and quite complicated) Star Wars models (and not only buildings).


And Harold the zombie is from Victory Force, in case you were wondering.
http://www.victoryforce.com/ 

Thanks for reading, and check back soon.  Now that Summer is over, I hope to have more things to say here.

11. It's A Jungle Out There!

As many of you know, I've been working on my Dahomeans to fight the French Foreign Legion. Alas, they still remain unfinished (it's in progress though). I got seriously sidetracked recently, but in a good way. I knew I was going to be needing lots of jungle terrain for my Dahomey battles; it's equatorial Africa, after all! I'd been on the lookout for easy ways to make some, but kept putting it off, telling myself not to mess with it until I'd finished the figures. But when the Muse strikes, I must obey. And it will be better this way: now the jungle is waiting for the invaders, instead of the other way around. I like the sound of that: The jungle is waiting.... I wanted to use some old CDs for bases. That's how the Muse snuck in. "Here, just try a couple and see how it looks." So I went to Wal-Mart and bought three packages of small aquarium plants, and one package of medium plants. I prepped the CDs with spray primer so the glue would have something to adhere to, and the next thing I knew I've got 4 CD bases, 12 medium bases on circles cut out of matte board, and 2 small bases on 1" washers. Not wanting to stop there, I also based the Woodland Scenics Learning Kit trees I bought two years ago; the trees were done, but were un-based. More matte board and washers, depending on the size of the trees. Oh, and I also re-based and touched up the painting on some Games Workshop W40K palm trees I had. I plan on getting more palm trees (of another brand) to represent North Africa soon, and when I do I will be returning to these trees. I remain unhappy with the paint job, although the new larger bases on two of them are quite nice. (Side note: trees are not something that should be necessary to paint. Boo, Games Workshop.) But wait, that's not all! I also made some movement trays for my Rorke's Drift set. I was tired of moving 30 stands of Zulu individually, so I whipped up some cardboard and textured trays. But wait, there's more! Way back in February, I bought a package of six ping-pong balls. I had read somewhere (and I apologize that now I am unable to remember/find it again) a blog or forum posting about using black-painted ping-pong balls as "unidentified bogey" markers in Sci-Fi spaceship games. So I painted four of them black, but I couldn't resist making a Sun and an Earth-type Planet. So here we go. Click the pictures for a larger view, if you really want to see plastic aquarium plants up close. My gaming table turned into a work table. That's an old shower curtain protecting the work surface. Worked a treat! Some may criticize me for using perfectly round CDs and mostly-round cutouts of matte board for terrain bases. To them I say, "Phhhbbbt." I quite like the simplicity of the round design, and this way I can use them wherever I wish. They are not "locked in" to a terrain piece, as they would be if I had built them as part of said terrain piece. Plus, they're free and very low work to get ready. Here we have the finished products, all lined up neatly in rows, just as they are to be found in the Wild. Here's some close ups of the CD terrain: Here's the medium-sized based terrain, with the palms in the background: This is more of the same, with an actual rock I used, unpainted! Amazing! Be in awe of my abilities!!! ! <--for extra emphasis Palms, pines and deciduous trees: These are the movement trays I made out of cardboard. I used wall-filler/spackling to fill in the edges so they weren't open. Note that none of these match any terrain cloths I own: I just used the same Woodland Scenics flock and ballast as on the jungle stuff; I only own so much, and not really all that many different colors. In fact, I'm missing the main green I wish I had. One is just plain sand. And finally, the SF stuff. I'm not sure what scale this is, but it's probably in the neighborhood of 1:1,000,000,000: Oh, I completely forgot the two baby craters. They're from a package I've had for I-don't-know-how-long, called "Sci-Fi Miniatures For Science Fiction-Space Gaming 1/285th Microscale" copyrighted 1987 by The Little Mini Shops. They're made of what feels like plaster of paris. They were a "huh, I forgot I had these, I'll paint them up real quick and get something else done too" addition. There's what I have to show for the last two weeks of my life, give or take. Please bear in mind, this is the first large scale terrain building I've ever done. I've no doubt that there is better looking stuff out there, and that if I were to do this again I would do some thing differently. But it has served its purpose, which is to make a jungle for me to play in. Next up, a battle report of the FFL vs African pygmies! (hopefully). Thanks for reading this far down the page. The African pygmies have agreed to vote for me for Emperor Of The Known Universe; I'm still working on the Foreign Legion.