Printable Miniatures. Part 2, Basing the figure.

In the first part of this series on paper miniatures I went over the various ways to get the paper miniatures with links to some kick ass guys on drivethrurpg as well as some links to a few custom tutorials. Today I want to continue this series with a short discussion on bases and the pros and cons of each type.

The easiest way to base the paper miniature is to grab a piece of foam core, put a slot in it and insert your figure. It may require a coin or similar on the bottom to give it a little heft. These are cheap, plentiful and with a little work, can look good. This isn't the method I use, but Wyloch goes over it in his video on creating the paper miniature.

The next option is also a DIY option with the caveat that it requires you to have access to a 3d printer. 3d printers can be fairly expensive, especially a genuine Prusa, however there are several models of inexpensive printer that are good for basic printing for a gamer.

I have an A-net A8 which is a decent machine, print quality wise, and gives you the ability to try getting your feet wet for not a lot of money. It is built with cheaper components which should be replaced if you are going to use it a lot though. It will be more than able to print up bases and other things that you might find at a website like thingiverse. These two links are some samples of thingiverse links you can use for basing paper miniatures. Sample 1 Sample 2

Moving away from the DIY option we start to move into some for of clip. The first and cheapest version of these is a binder clip. These are a pretty good solution being easily available, inexpensive and coming in multiple sizes and colors. I don't personally use them, and right now as I am typing this I am wondering why. The only real drawback I can see to these is they will be a little more fiddly when it comes to changing your figures over. You will have to re-insert the metal handles so you can easily open the clip to remove the figure. I think the pros may outweigh the cons here.

You can get a cheap acrylic base designed for boardgames as well. These are pretty good and give you a clear plastic base, and can be purchased in multiple colors. The downside to these is they require a fairly thick card as the clip is fairly wide. I have used these and need to use several layers of construction paper to make them work. Despite how inexpensive they are, I don't really recommend these ones unless your paper figs are quite thick.

The ones I have purchased and use the most are most similar to the binder clips, they can be found sold as "card holders". These are easy to use and replace the figure into. I have only found them in black, which is another strike against this style. The downside to these is they are among the more expensive option, that being said they are still going to run you less than $.50CAD cents each. As much as I like a lot about this style, I doubt I'll be buying more of them.

Litko makes a range of bases for paper figures, similar to the 3d printed model I talk about, these are square or circular and come with a curved slot to hold your figure. The downside to these are two fold. One, they are getting upwards in price, running about $.50CAD each. Two, I don't find litko to have especially friendly shipping options to Canada. If you are in the USA this might be a great option where they will be about $.40USD each and have better shipping options.

Over the past year of using paper miniatures in most of my games I have used several of the above purchaseable solutions. At this time I have not tried the binder clips or 3d printed models, but I think that the binder clips might be the best option being inexpensive, easy to get and in multiple colors. I have also not ordered from Litko. Another possible downside to some of these is that they represent non-standard bases sizes. I don't think it'll take much to make them work, but it's something to think about.

Now that we have our bases and figures, next week we will talk about the process I go through when I assemble these figures! Until next time, keep it weird out there!

Pillar of Skulls!

New terrain project up on the YouTube channel. This week we are building a marble pillar adorned with 4 skulls and chains. It is a cool craft and great addition to any dungeon! Check it out!

3d Printing useful or not?

Awhile ago I picked up a 3d printer from Gearbest. It was the Anet A8, an inexpensive/cheap acrylic frame printer below $300cad. It is a basic FDM model, a clone of the Prusa system.

I have printed in ABS and PLA, and frankly I have gotten nicer prints with the ABS, but it is trickier to work with and has nastier fumes, so I am now working largely with PLA.

My latest video is an overview of printing miniatures (I needed 8) for a scenario using statues/golems.

For me the answer to the question, is that it is useful, though not a replacement to regular modeling and miniatures.

Have a watch and don't forget to leave a comment.

The Unknown Isle: Skull peak.

With my next session only a few days away I needed to put together the central piece for what will either be the climax of the evening, or very close to it. I have known what I wanted from the beginning of this part of the campaign.

The players are essentially shipwrecked on a mysterious island. There are hints of magic, there is a giant stockade, a small tribe of natives, an ancient city, apes and of course dinosaurs. On the peak of this island rests a skull cavern.

I had initially sought to carve this from foam and got a decent way into the rough cut of that carving, then I was in Michaels, and being as Halloween is the next major holiday I got a foam skull for about $5cad. It's scale was close to what I was building and would allow me to just short cut around the caving of the skull I was working on.

I didn't have time to film the construction, but I thought I could take a few photos and build a blog post around it. I hope you all enjoy it and find it useful.

And ON TO THE BUILD!

You will need......

Tools

Razor knife or hot wire cutter.

Hot glue gun.

paint brushes.

Materials

A foam skull.

XPS or similar.

Tinfoil.
Papertowel.
PVA glue.



The Skull in question. Foam, ~$5cad at Michaels.

Take the XPS, trace the skull foot print and cut it out.
Bevel the edges and make a cut inwards for the cave.

The skull sitting on it's rocky base.

Using some scrap foam, cut out to boulder shapes.

The front of the skull cave.

Using tinfoil build up around the skull.  Glue it with hot glue.

Test fit the skull and make sure you are happy.
I could have used more tinfoil, but it worked out.

Using some paper towel, water and PVA I applied some body to the piece.
Generally, wet the paper towel, place where you want and brush watered down PVA over it.

After it had dried I added some more shape with tinfoil to make it more rocky.

The other side of the skull.

Add more towel and glue over the new foil armature. 
The more of this you add the stronger it will be, but the longer it will take to dry.

Once the towel and glue is dry, give it a nice black base coat. 
Mod Podge and black paint.

Next base the whole thing in whatever color of stone you want.
I used a dark brown here.

Using a highlight color sponge paint the entire structure to bring out the texture.
You can use 2 highlight colors here for more depth.  Sponge the first darker highlight
on about 60% coverage and the next brighter highlight at about 10-20% coverage.

Add fake greenery liberally, yet sparsely over the skull.  I also glued in a couple of
plastic crystal gems I got at the dollar store.

And the skull peak in place on a rocky plateau ready for some adventurers to come and seek it's mysteries.

This was a fairly quick craft. I managed to build it over a course of a week spending a few minutes here and there on it.  It adds quite a lot of character to the scenario and a dramatic center piece for your game. 

I hope you enjoyed the idea and found it useful.  Feel free to browse the blog for other ideas, or leave a comment below with your thoughts on this project.

And of course come check out the You Tube channel over at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvCRyMzJoQBnjb-Qq5Rng_Q

Keith

Black Walls of Khemi

If you play any Conan RPGs and use terrain, you will probably come across the Black Walls of Khemi eventually.

This is my take on those black walls with a simple construction tutorial.

Enjoy!

Forest Watchtower.

I'm a WIZARD mind you! 400 point Song of Blades Skirmish.

This past Sunday we had a game day.  Six of us showed up, which is pretty much our whole club at this point.  Two of our members were hot into a game of Galleys and Galleons, so the remaining 4 of us played a 4 way, hold the center scenario.  30 points of death reigned on an enemy was worth a victory point, as well as holding the central crates uncontested at the end of a turn gained you a victory point.  The sides were Orcs vs Halflings vs Elves vs Undead.

This also marked the first appearance of my Goblin Shaman to support the Orcs.  He was a low combat, high quality, Magic using, leader.  This report mostly focusses on my end of the table which involved the Orcs and Undead.

Goblin Shaman and Orc Butcher, A Savage Orc with Q4+ and C6.

So it Begins





The first few turns involve the Undead and Orcs simply free moving forward towards the center.  The Elves and Halflings took their chances a few times making quality checks.  In the end the Undead and Orcs got to a choke point which forces them to stop using free-moves.

The Orcs and Undead approach each other cautiously, while off in the distance the Halfing Giant begins to flank my Orcs.  The Orc Archer contingent is almost dispatched to deal with him and split the Orc party up when the Elven Hero unleashes a storm of arrows killing the leader, a wizard, of the Halfling band causing them to rethink their role in this battle.  The Giant flanking the orcs decides this battle is not for him and flees from the table leaving the Orc Archers to stay with the original warband.

From the ranks of the Undead a Banshee slips forward and howls at the Orc Butchers in an attempt to strike terror and death into them.  Unimpressed the two Orc Butchers rush forward confident their Cave Troll will follow up to support them.  In their blind fury the banshee stands no chance and is struck down in a feat of Orcish violence.  Unfortunately the Troll refuses to move and stands it’s ground, leaving the Butchers alone against the Undead.  The Goblin Shaman, sensing favorable winds of magic, begins his chant and is able to transfix one of the ghouls which is then cut down by the arrow from an Orcish bow.

With the two Orc Butchers left to fend for themselves things turn ugly quickly. The Undead Horde sweep against them killing one while the other barely manages to hold his ground before the Troll finally comes into the fray.  The Shaman’s chant is again heard, and the last ghoul freezes transfixed long enough to earn it’s death.  Unfortunately the Orc Butcher and Troll are unable to take advantage of this to move against the fearsome Vampire.

Meanwhile…….The Elves continue to move up to try and take the objectives while their Giant Tree fights valiantly to kill the Giant Slayers from the Halflings.

Sensing his moment the Vampire moves to slay the Goblin Shaman causing so much havoc among his warriors.  Unfortunately in his haste he fumbles and is unable to move up and so choses to move back away from the onslaught.  Sensing the tide of battle shifting the Orcs press forward killing the winged horror in the line of Undead.  Through a bloody battle the Orcs finally bring down the creature, but their advance leaves their shaman horribly exposed……

 As it was feared the two undead wolves, sensing blood, captapult around the orcs and fall on the hapless Shaman.  Powerful in magic, weak in combat he falls quickly under their slavering jaws and is torn apart.

First overcome with disbelief that their Shaman could die, the Orcs fall back slightly before their confusion turns back to howls of RAGE and they fall on the two Wolves, killing one and leave the other one to be locked in combat as the Troll relentlessly approaches him under a volley of Elven archer fire.

As the Troll comes face to face with the Undead Wolf, the Elven arrows aimed for him strike home against the Undead killing it.  With it’s death, a shudder is felt through the Undead horde as they begin to crumble to dust, the entire host vanishes as if it had been a nightmare…..

Seeing their chance to crush the stinking Elves, the remaining Orc Butcher, utters a mighty war cry and charges the Elves.  Initially things go well as the Orc’s brute strength cause the Elves to falter…

But the Butcher can not finish the job quickly enough and with their Shaman gone the raiding party is unable to react as a cohesive force to support him. The Dryads sweep in to surround him falling on him and tearing him to pieces.

Only three remain from the might raiding party, unable to stand due to their massive losses the Orcish Horde falls back and regroups…

But even as they flee an Elven arrow strikes home killing another of the Orcs.  In the final moments of the battle the Troll sensing blood as an Elf came forward abandoned his idea to flea the field and rushed head long to his death.  The final Orc Archer thought better and left to fight another day.

Overall this was a very enjoyable game.  The addition of the Shaman was instrumental to having success against the Undead.  In the end I killed a lot of Undead, The Elves killed a lot of Halflings and Orcs and controlled the centre for the longest and so not that surprisingly, had the most victory points.

Song Of Blades and Heros: Skirmish club

This past Saturday the new Skirmish Gaming Club at the local games store (Sentry Box) had it's first official games.

We played a few games here and there to learn the rules earlier but this was the first official game day.

During the day the various members got in a 3 way battle, a 2 way battle and a 4 way battle.


Orcs vs Chaos Dwarves vs Goblins/Minotaurs
Elves vs Halflings
Orca vs Elves vs Halfings vs Chaos Dwarves


What follows is the Battle Report of the "Orcs vs Chaos Dwarves vs Goblins/Minotaurs" battle from the Orcs side of things.


The three armies approached the lightly forested area each moving forward to the place in a small copse of trees that held long forgotten magic gems.

The Minotaurs and Orcs reach the trees first with the Chaos Dwarves taking their time due to.....motivational issues, and a bad starting set of activation rolls.

The Minotaurs and Goblins begin to search the trees but come up empty handed as the Orcs arrive on the scene and begin their own search of the area.

Finally an Orc finds a magic gem and begins to move away hoping to get off the field, likewise the goblin horde also finds and begins to move some gems.  Finally the Chaos Dwarves arrive to attack the flank of the Orcs and Goblins.  A small skirmish occurs with the Orcs and a Chaos Dwarf is knocked down.

Finally the Orcs manage to kill one of the Dwarves, but as they do the hulk of an Ogre shows up and smashes the victorious Orc to the ground, at the same time a second Dwarf appears and the combined effort of him and his leader another Orc is brought to the ground and killed.

The Orc Chieftain falls under the combined attacks of Dwarves and Goblins, but he is tough and despite being pressed down and kept off balance maintains his position.  In the north the second unit of flanking Dwarves has begun to push through the wall of Goblins.

The Ogre and Chaos Dwarves push in and attack the Orc with the gem knocking him down in a mad melee to gain control of the magic rock.  In the trees the Orc swordsmen engage with the Minotaurs in an effort to claim the stones for their shamans.

The Orcs in the trees are no match for the larger, stronger Minotaurs and are pushed down and back in the frenzy of battle.  The Orc Chieftan stays strong and despite overwhelming odds stands up madly slashing with his axe at the 4 opponents trying to bring him down.

In the north the goblins hold their own, knocking down the chaos dwarf and begin to swarm him.

The swarm of Goblins proves too much and while fallen two of the goblins swarm over the dwarf while a third ends his life with a dagger.

 

The Orcs in the trees fair horrible and another Orc falls gored by the Minotaurs before the last Orc Swordsman runs for his life.  The Great Orc Chieftan makes his last stand as the final three enemies he is engaging finally deliver more damage than he can stand and forces him to the ground for the last time.

 

The final Orc recovers his wits and turns to meet his final doom as a Chaos dwarf and their Hobgoblin allies show up to end his life.

As killing swept the battlefield the main engagements took place between the Orcs and Chaos Dwarves leaving a fairly open corridor for the Goblins and Minotaurs to grab and escape with the magic gems.

Orcs.

Over the past week I have made a effort to finish off my Orc warband.  I had enough models to build a workable SoBH warband, but I wanted more options as well, and I had a few more models to paint.


I had 3 guys left, and they had been sitting on my bench for a long while.  Late last week I started painting two of the Orcs so I would have them to play on Saturday.  Saturday morning, I abandoned the twin painting and finished one guy.  This week I finished the second and last night I painted up my Goblin shaman.

The next project is a VSF flavored warband for In Her Majesties Name.

Working on the last two Orcs, most base coating is down.

Orc completed for games on Saturday.  Shield Orc was put off.

 

Finished shield man.  He has a lot of red staining all over him: armor, shield, sword, face.  I have dumbed him "The Butcher"

 

Goblin Shaman in progress.  Mostly completed.

  

Goblin Shaman and The Butcher.  I added black to finish of the shaman's base as well.