Sculpting a Token

Been pushing around some putty again lately, and sitting there as I do with a bunch of extra because I can't seem to judge how much I need, I decided that I wanted to make another attempt at sculpting some miscellaneous fantasy gaming tokens to maybe eventually cast (I've been ultimately disappointed with my previous attempts.

I started, of course, with a skull - in the eternal hope that the next playtest version of skulldred will come out and make all of my dreams come true - so that I could have something to use for dreadskulls.

...but I decided that that skull was too bare, and that it would be more interesting if I added a mass of twisty, soddy hair around it. Now I'm much more satisfied. Are you? Let me know below.

A Couple Painted Baddies

Sticking with the "A Couple" string of posts, here are "A Couple" of bad guys from my Christmas acquisitions. These were the first figures I had painted since my Orc Blood Bowl team, so my hand was a little shaky. I worked quickly, focusing on having fun and experimenting rather than agonizing over every little detail.

These figures mark a lot of "firsts" for me. They are the first true fantasy dedicated figures I've painted since I was 15. They are also the first figures to go in a warband for Song of Blades and Heroes or Skulldred. So sentimental value, for sure.

More interestingly, these were the first figures which I tried basing on washers, the first where I tried puddle effects on the bases, and the first where I tried superglue instead of PVA to adhere the sand. They were also the first figures on which I tried using Liquitex matte medium for blending, and the first figures on which I tried Non-Metallic Metal and Object Source Lighting techniques.

So these are very important figures for me. Even if they don't look that good.

What's fun is tracking the improvement across the two pieces. I painted the skeleton on the left first, and you can see how sloppy the OSL is compared to the hand on the Sorcerer. Likewise, the NMM is pretty odd looking on the skeleton, partly because I was working from a midnight blue base, and partly because I did not take enough time in the blending details. The NMM on the Sorcerer has a more believable color, but does not look very metallic. Which I'm fine with. I think it conveys a nice, grubby metal.

I am really liking the washer bases. The low profile with the black rim really appeals to me. I need to work on the puddle effect, though. The idea here is to make a blanche-style soggy base with puddles reflecting a luridly colored sky. It did not work at all on the skeleton because I tried it as an afterthought, on top of the sand. It worked much better for the sorcerer because I left blank spots on the washer when I glued on the texture (gel formula super glue is perfect for this kind of control). I still need to work on the illusion of depth, though.

Finally, while I had the paints out, I figured I'd whip out a measuring stick for SoBH/ Skulldred. (If you aren't familiar with these systems, they both deal with movement in fixed increments, rather than measurements.) So I cut down a length of sprue and painted bands for short, medium, and long movement. Since Skulldred uses base-widths rather than the odd increments of millimeters in SoBH, I decided to just go with that. I don't understand why SoBH is different, but I don't think it will break the game and this way I only have to paint one.

Look out for more painted figs, and maybe someday even a batrep. Any tips, criticisms, advice, questions, &c are always welcome. Just drop a card in the box below:

Quick n' Easy Cairns I

Even though I have almost no figures for use in Skulldred, I persist in making terrain in preparation to play. Here's a quick tutorial on one of these little projects.

Here's a classic of the 'look, wargames terrain is easy to make' genre: piles of rocks. Or, as they are otherwise known, 'Cairns'.

To make these, you can buy a giant bag of decorative pine bark from a garden store. Or you can casually walk off with a stranger's neglected landscaping. Guess which one I did.

Next, give them a quick rinse and a gentle scrub under the faucet. Your goal here is to remove any dirt and any loose flakes of bark. Let them dry, then grab your PVA glue and your base. Here I'm using old CDs since I have a lot of them, their highly modular, and they don't warp unless you really try. Then you just stack them and glue them. I found that doing a preliminary 'dry stack' first helped me to come up with a good formation to use.

Here are a couple of pics with a Bloodbowl Orc Blitzer for scale. In the next installment of this series, I will paint and base these.

What are some simple but effective terrain builds that you use to trick out your table in a rush? Leave a comment and let me know. Or comment on something completely different. Your call.

Scratch-building Trees: A Tutorial (pt. I)

Even though I don't yet have a gaming mat or a warband to use for playing Skulldred, I decided on a whim a couple weeks ago to try building a tree for my anticipated Rangers of Quickthorn warband. I immediately started looking up material on how to scratch-build model trees for as little money as possible. The process I came up with was the result of a lot of different sources (listed at the bottom of the post) as well as a lot of experimentation, but I am pretty happy with the result:

Sorry if the pictures aren't very clear. I swear I will set up a totally blank background soon.

(Note that the tree I made is pretty large scale, standing approx. 1 foot tall. I wanted it to be  a more realistic height compared to 28mm figs than most store-bought trees tend to be. However, my method can be adjusted to any scale.)

 For this first part of the tutorial, I will just cover making the trunk, branches, and base of the tree. I will cover the foliage in the next post.

What You'll Need:

• Some branchy looking twigs (washed and dried).

• Paperclips and clippers to cut them with.

• 1 Pin vise with a drill bit that's the same diameter as your paperclips. (I think this is the most expensive part of the project, but it's worth it if you plan on making several trees/ if you like converting minis.)

• Superglue

• White glue

• 1 Steel fender washer

• 1 old CD that you don't mind sacrificing for awesome scenery.

• Epoxy or some other form of filling putty (I used Kneadatite Blue/Yellow: perhaps the second most expensive part of the project, but it has many uses and you only need a small piece for the tree-- also there are a number of cheap alternative materials such as modeling paste or woodfiller. I sculpt though, so I have a bunch around.)

• Used coffee grounds or sand (a couple of spoonfuls, no more)

• Natural Fiber Gardening twine (about 2 USD per spool)

• Some grass flock or other ground cover.

The Procedure:

Step 1: Assemble the Trunk Section.

First arrange your twigs. You should make sure to have one thicker twig for your trank and several smaller, branchier twigs for... well, your branches.

The twig in the center is my trunk. Note that I actually had to find more branches than this. Make sure to have plenty.

Select your trunk twig. Using plenty of super glue, glue your fender washer down to the thicker end of the trunk. This will serve as a base weight while you glue the tree to the CD, and will also cover the hole.

Leave this to set for at least a half an hour. A mug or teacup can be helpful to keep the base elevated at this stage. Since the trunk is unlikely to have a flat base, the join probably won't be very strong, but that's okay. We'll be reinforcing it later.

Good thing I was drinking tea.

While your waiting for the washer to dry, begin drilling pin holes in your branches. One at a time, drill a paper-clip-sized hole into the branch where you want it to meet the trunk. Then apply a dab of superglue and insert a length of paperclip. Set aside to dry.

Note: Be careful not to drill too deeply into some of the smaller branches, or you may split the twig. But also don't worry too much if this happens, since you can just super glue it together and fill it with putty later. It just won't be quite as sturdy.


Once the superglue is dry on the washer, it is time to glue the trunk down to the base. Run a bead of super glue around the hole in the CD (make sure to use the shiny side. Also, it wouldn't hurt to rough up the surface a little with sand paper.)

When that glue has set, reinforce it with a healthy coating of elmer's PVA glue. While you're waiting for that to dry, start attaching the branches to the trunk. Simply drill holes in the trunk wherever you want to put a branch. You can then dry-fit the different branches until you find one you like for that spot on the tree. Once you have a spot for each branch, glue the pins in place with some more super glue. Don't worry if the joins don't look 100% natural-- we'll be going back and filling them later. You now have an assembled trunk!

Here the tree is about half way through getting 'branched.'

Step 2: The Roots

This next bit was probably my favorite part of the whole project, in terms of what I learned-- making the roots.

I had read some vague accounts of using twine and PVA to make realistic roots, so I gave it a shot.

Here's what NOT to do:

To achieve this lovely effect, I simply chopped off a few pieces of twine and glued them down. It looked awful.

What you ACTUALLY want to do is cut a few pieces of twine in varying lengths, from maybe a half an inch to two and a half. Then, unbraid the twine so that you have individual bundles of fiber which can easily be spread.

Next, arrange your twine in a varied and twisty fashion around the base of your tree, such that one end is spread flat against the base (so it can be covered with basing material,) and the other end is twisted into the trunk of the tree in a natural manner. I did this one at a time using undiluted PVA to get the strands to stick down. It was also helpful to use the wooden end of an old paintbrush to help shape the roots, since the twine tended to stick to my fingers.

Have patience, and stick with it. The results of this simple technique are stunning.

Should come out something like this. Sweet, right?

Step 3: Sculpting details

 This part might discourage people from this method, as it involves some basic sculpting. But I insist that it is extremely simple. Whether you use green stuff or some other material, the necessary sculpting can be achieved with toothpick.

First, make a ring of putty around the gap, as shown below.

Next, smooth out the putty with your fingers. Make sure to keep them lubricated. Water works well. I simply use a stick of lip-balm from my portable sculpting studio.

Finally, scratch some lines into the putty to imitate the grain of the bark. That's it! Your tree will now look smooth and organic when its painted.

If your feeling inspired (I was) then you can also use the putty to add further details. I made some shelf mushrooms (above.) These are really simple. I just took a ball of green stuff, cut it in half, and then stretched it into place on the trunk so it would have the proper contour. I then removed the mushroom and reattached it with a drop of superglue. 4-5 of these little guys really add some character to the finished product.

Step 4: The Base and the Paint

After your done with the putty, coat the base in a mixture of 1:1 PVA to water, and sprinkle on either finely ground (used) coffee, or else some basing sand. Be careful not to disturb your carefully shaped root systems. Now set the whole mess aside to dry/ cure over night.

 

When you wake up in the morning, everything should have dried solid. Now slap a coat of black paint on there.

To paint the tree, mix up a cool greenish grey and dry-brush progressively lighter and dryer coats onto the bark and the roots.

For the ground, do the same thing with a warm, earthy brown.

 

 For the mushrooms, I began with a base-coat of yellow ochre mixed with a tiny bit of brown and a tinier bit of red. I then highlighted up to 1:1 yellow ochre and white, before hitting it with a black wash. I then gave it a final highlight of pure white just along the edge.

For the final step, apply your grass flock. Do so liberally if your tree is to be standing alone in a field, more sparsely if it is in a forest or bog. Here's a tip: don't bother applying leaf scatter at this stage. I did, and it came out looking kind of silly, as though s miniature gardener had raked the leaves into piles. The leaf scatter will happen naturally when you put foliage on your tree, which I will cover in detail in part II.
  

So until then,
Peace!

Putting the 'Inspiration' back in 'Vacation': 'Vacinspiration'

So I haven't gotten around to posting in a while. I had a week of vacation at the end of June, and after that was a couple of weeks of apartment hunting that left me too drained to compose. But not to worry-- I've been working away on my little projects.

Even better, I've returned with a head-full of inspiration! My vacation took the form of a week-long group camping trip to the southwest U.S. I had never been there before and the scenery blew me away. I says to myself 'now this, THIS must be what another planet looks like...' and that got me thinking...

I briefly discussed the idea of a Stardred Martian setting in my grass flock tutorial. Now I'm starting to take it seriously as a narrative setting for Stardred/ Necromunda/ Rogue Trader/ Red Sand Black Moon/ Red Sand Brown Sky. It would be a primitive Martian Colony abandoned for a century after Earth plunges into civil war. Since the planet is only partially terraformed, life is pretty hard for those left to eke out a living, let alone those security forces cut off from authority, attempting to seize military resources, gangs jockeying for power, Squat miners attempting to horde resources in the absence of government tithes, and perhaps ancient alien natives seeking to regain their land... and eventually, those forces from Earth have to show up, right? Will they be rebels or the forces of Hegemony?

Anyway, I picture it something like this:

What is a desert wasteland without a rusted-out windmill or 2?

There may not be any forests in the desert, but what about cities of rocks?

Reminds me of this.

I think 3-5 CD's with this style of rock sculpted on would make excellent terrain for skirmish wargaming.

I wasn't just looking at terrain. Saw this guy at the Sonoran Desert Museum. Now imagine him with 2 or 3 martial warriors mounted on his back. Now THAT's a monstrous mount.

Stands of Saguaro Cactii for some flavor.

Giant martian condors for random encounters? Hell Yeah.

These rock formations from Bryce canyon were my absolute favorites. They are actually called 'Hoodoos'. How kick-ass is that?

 

 So that's what I want the general flavor of the terrain set to look like. Except that it's on Mars, so the sand and grass must be read, the tree foliage purple, and the scrub-brush a nice bright orange.

I also have some great ideas for the martian derelict structures I want to build. There must be a spaceport and a small town, an observatory with a high-powered telescope, a mining site (for the Squats), a hill capped with a water tower, etc.

But I was also thinking that instead of trying to build a modular river, which wouldn't work with the kind of portable layout I intend to use, why not make a post-apocalypse style aqueduct? It could run over trestle spans and hills thus remaining modular, but also solving the problem of realism by literally placing the river above the playing surface!

Anyway. As exciting as this stuff is, I probably won't be able to work on it for a while. I don't even have a single Skulldred warband yet, let alone all of the Bloodbowl figures I need to convert/paint/sculpt. Oh yeah, can't forget finding an apartment. Still, don't be surprised if I come up with some fluff over the next couple of weeks.

Peace!

Game On!

Welcome, one and all, to Amateur Hour! If your idea of fun is to read about an average guy trying to do a bunch of things he knows virtually nothing about—then failing, experimenting, trying again, failing again, and finally posting the whole embarrassing affair to the internet—then boy are you in the right place. 

This whole idea came about when I decided to get back into miniature gaming. I used to play a little bit of Warhammer 40k but I eventually abandoned the hobby as too expensive. However, I recently rediscovered the classic game of Bloodbowl, which can be obtained for free or next to free. After reading through the LRB 6 (The player-maintained living rulebook) the deep desire to collect, paint, and play with little plastic men was reawakened deep in the nerdimost chambers of my being.

Unfortunately, since I still had school to finish at the time, I could not leap straight back into my old obsessions. In the interim I had to limit myself to ogling the many excellent miniature modeling and gaming blogs out there which I cannot hope to rival in quality (for a small selection of these, see the right side bar.) In this way, I discovered the preponderance today of not only Blood Bowl, but a whole slew of other vintage and independent games (especially Skulldred by Delaney King over on King’s Miniatures. Check out that stuff.)

That was when I realized it. I must try them all.

And then that was when I realized another it. I’m poor.

And that was when I realized a third it. I wanted to try to do it as DIY as possible. This would allow for maximum creativity and minimum expenditure.

And that was not really a realization at all. I have always loved doing and making things for myself. My girlfriend makes fun of me constantly for it. I already make my own beer and my own bread, my own fiction, and my own artwork. I plan to start making my own yogurt and cheese, growing my own food, mixing my own cleaning products and building my own furniture; my response to discovering nearly anything I enjoy is to wonder if I can produce it myself.

So I figured, why not put it all in one place? Hence this blog. Of course, I can’t tackle all of this stuff at once. It will probably be mostly miniature gaming and modeling, with the odd beer post every once in a while. At least until I become obsessed with something else.

Sound good? Good.

So to begin in the next installment: My Custom Blood Bowl Pitch.

Peace!