Marvel Crisis Protocol Board for GenCon!

Stop by Atomic Mass Games booth (#1105) at GenCon to check out their new Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures game, and see the Memorial Park board we worked on! We're looking forward to the game coming out later this year!

Grim Dark Modular Board Sections

We've been testing out some ideas for scenery and terrain to use in an upcoming Rogue Trader rpg campaign. As with our Pathfinder and The One Ring campaigns, we'd like to supplement the traditional pen and paper rpg experience with miniatures and terrain, especially during combat. The concept was to make modular boards that could represent the interior of a giant spaceship, or any other interior location we might need for the grim dark sci-fi setting. So far we have four 12"x12" pieces that can join to form a 2' square. This will be expanded to nine pieces, allowing a 3'x3' board with some 16"x20" pieces to accommodate larger spaces if necessary. We've been experimenting with a variety of surface textures that while are visually interesting, don't interfere with placement of the miniatures. So far so good.

This Is Not A Test (TNT)

On Saturday, two members of The Dale Wardens tried the post-apocalyptic skirmish game, This Is Not A Test. It played fast and has a unique priority/activation mechanic that keeps both players engaged.

We highly recommend you check out the game for yourself right here and help support independent gaming!

Terrain Project: Forests

A few "work in progress" photos...

I forgot I had picked up a bag of trees from Village Games before they moved from Anoka to Champlin. I started by mounting them onto steel washers. The box I'll store them in has a magnetic sheet on the bottom which will help keep the trees stationary during transport.

The forest floor is 0.8mm plasticard that can easily be cut with a scissors, yet is firm enough not to warp when painted. So far I've just done a brown basecoat (mixed with sawdust for texture) and a single highlight. The plan is to add some flock/sticks/etc for interest. Quick. Easy.

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter & Otherworld Miniatures IndieGoGo! - DS - EE

A 39lb box of Dungeon Tiles

Earlier in the year I have bought into a trio of Kickstarters projects, and recently they have started been arriving.  The one I received today, 22Oct13, was this box from Dwarven Forge, that came in at a whopping 39lbs -according to FedEx.  For those who don't know, Dwarven Forge are manufacturers of mostly resin dungeon terrain for RPGs.  Most of their line of products are pre-painted resin tiles.  They looked great but came at a premium price.  Their Kickstarter project helped them fund new less expensive plastic tiles.  Depending on your pocketbook, they can be ordered painted or not. 

Five Sets, two add-on boxes and a nifty DF Logo Bag.

2 Boxes and 2 Dungeon Add-On Sets

I waited until Emily got home from work to open the box up, and she took the pictures.  She was pretty enthusiastic about this order when she first found out about the Kickstarter.  I was thinking 3 sets would be pretty good, and even hemming and hawing about not ordering it, but she said why not get 5 so we could make bigger dungeons.  Who am I to argue?!  She has also offered to help paint them...how did I get so lucky... 

The tiles are a very durable plastic of some sort, and the unpainted sets come in a charcoal color.   The pieces are actually a bit heavier than I thought they would be...not resin heavy, but definitely not light.  When making the quick setup dungeon for the picture, we dropped one piece on the floor, and it made quite a clatter, but emerged with no damage whatsoever. If it were a resin piece, I would have been very worried.  I also ordered a couple of the add-on packs of large tiles and dungeon dressings, which included among other things, scenic items like chests, chairs, tables, beds, benches, and barrels.

Otherworld Miniatures!

DAB1 - Human Male Character (12 figs)

DAB2 - Demi-Human Male Characters (12figs)

The first half of an IndieGoGo purchase I had made in January arrived.  It's a line of classic dungeon characters from Otherworld Miniatures.  They are billed not as ultra heroic world saviors that most companies produce, but portray the more down on your luck tough men of the old school style of character.

Included with each set: Case Made by FeldHerr of Germany

The minis come with both scenic dungeon bases and plastic slotta bases.

There will be a total of four character sets of 12 figures each released.  Each set includes a foam case with zipper nylon cover to protect minis.  The four sets are;  Human male characters, demi human male, female characters of various fantasy races, and a box of henchmen. 

Campaign Goal Extras

As many kickstarter projects have, Otherworld Miniatures had a number of bonus items included when they achieve certain monetary goals.  The campaign goal extras include; additional henchmen, a dungeon cart, treasure and chests, a camp scene with tent and provisions, weapons, wizard familiars both magic and animal, and that was just with this half of the order.  The female characters and henchmen are being finished now and are being shipped at a later date with more bonus miniatures.

15mm French House for Napoleonics to WWII - DS

I picked this building in the late 80s on a trip to Baltimore.  Let's just say, it has been sitting around for a while waiting to be painted.  It is from the now defunct games and miniatures distributor Armory Distribution Inc.   This building was made by one of their side companies Gallia.

I paid a call on the Armory during a trip visiting relatives.  The owner's son, Skip Lipmann, gave me a tour of the facility.  They had just opened up a retail store front as I guess Baltimore didn't have any gaming stores to speak of.  Skip was a nice guy and I enjoyed the couple of conversations we had over the years talking shop and gaming.  Armory Distribution was a typical warehouse full of all the products needed to stock hobby stores.  It smelled of cardboard!  Having worked in a warehouse before that smell always makes me nostalgic.

The production area for Gallia was located inside the warehouse and consisted of a couple of  long work  tables attended by an older woman, whose name I do not recall. She checked the orders, poured the resin, and packed the final products to be shipped.

Incidentally, the terrain boards I use to photograph the figures on were a product line made by Skip.  They are 1' x 1' styrofoam and have a couple different different features on them.  There are roads, rivers, creeks, depressions/ditches, and shoreline.  A couple of them have a painted green or straw colored area that one might use for forests or wheatfields.  Skip found a spray flock for the grass that made production quicker than gluing it down by hand.  They are nice and convenient but not great.  I would like to try my hand at making some more realistic and varied terrain boards someday.