The Derelict

I haven't had too much time to myself today but I have spent what I had wisely. One of the things I have managed to get hold of was coffee stirrers. Thank you Cafe Nero. So I have put them to use and put in some floorboard and window frames. Amongst that I have added a little bit more rubble and ruin.

One of the problems with doing you own buildings is getting the proportions right. These are not architectural models so there is no need to make them too accurate. I find a problem with doorways. I would like the door to be able to fit a figure base through it. In order to get doors to look in proportion, the bases one have to be about the size of a penny which is not good for the figures. So instead of making the walls 50cm high I settled on a doorway too narrow for figures to pass through

I had another think about how the buildings should look. I am moving towards the idea of derelict buildings and communities rather than ruins. I want overgrown and crumbling rather than blow up and devastated. So I go back to what I know. I search the internet for ideas as you would be surprised how few derelict buildings there are in leafy suburbia.

Although I am a Brit, a lot of the games I have been involved in are set in America. This is not always down to American cultural imperialism but because there are many great stories to be told in America. It is also home to many ghost towns which look exactly like what I am after in this game.
I am also looking at overgrowth. Waist high grass and head high shrubs are what I am looking for. Whilst the plants have taken over the long grass is home to many dangerous creatures. I keep thinking about Jurassic Park 2 and 3.

What is the everyday today, will still be there in the world overgrown. The old world is still there but often it is just hidden away behind trees and under ivy. Trees may also be a  place to find the things you need to live. There have to be reasons to venture out into the wilds or the games will be very short and very dull.

The Walking Dead Season 5

Well it's back.  It goes to prove that the real problem with this world will never be the zombie it'll just be people. The season starts well and without going into too many details, it is exactly what I was expecting as a follow on from last season. No Beth Jerky just yet although you will find that there are a couple of ideas for those of you who might want to be considering a career change to butchery. The episode really kept me sat there focussed on the screen for the whole of the show. Not quite enough to make me a vegetarian but pretty close.

If you were looking for bad guys for your game, this is a good place to look for ideas.

A New Post Apocalypse

I have had an idea in my head for a while. I watched a film about seven years ago called Origins: Spirits of the Past. I don't mind a bit of anime as long as there are not too many tentacles. I saw it on a monitor in a Virgin Superstore which should date it a bit. I just fell in love with the look. The apocalypse in this case was plants taking over. Then I read a roleplaying game called Summerland. Very Indie, more about the story. Less about dice and not very figure friendly. The game I am planning is not really either of these but I guess there will be elements of them in there somewhere.

What I was going to do was take the figures from Scavenge Skirmish Survive which are all outdoors types and some fantasy figures and make into something that would fit into the wild woods. This means moving into 28mm buildings which is not something I have done for a while.

The world as we know is now covered with trees. So houses are ruined, building collapse, roads are overgrown and wild things run around the woods. The look is similar to Stalker. I can also see things like the surface in Metro 2033, I am Legend (but with more ruin and trees) or The Last Of Us.

So I want so terrain to reflect that. This is not the kind of thing that is easy to find. So I thought I would do my own. This is the first one.

There is a lot to do on his one, not least it needs to be fastened to a board. I have decided to use a standard sized board which will be cut down from something that I found in B+Q (which I will get a picture of eventually).

Odd Little Things

I used to go to a lot of wargame shows. These days, not so much. Most of the time you see just exactly what you would expect. Every now and again you see something that makes you think you've picked the wrong scale. Well maybe for a minute. Angel Barracks is one of those manufacturers.

These were a bit of an impulse. They are called Drill Worm Nests according to the website. I didn't have a clear idea of what to use them for at the time. In truth I guess I still don't but they look scary enough to make the players think twice about going anywhere near them. They look nicely alien so maybe it's some sort of infestation or maybe something like  shrieker mushrooms from the back of beyond. Maybe something for the X-Com wargame or the Fallout and modern horror RPG games that I run.

They are notionally 6mm figures but I can see uses for them in 15mm and maybe even larger scales.

So I am working through the resin mountain. I am picking my way through what I can find to do. I am now scratching my head wondering what I can do next.

Bob's Iguana Bits

I was looking up stuff to do for Fallout. Images of the web are a great source of ideas. In the original Fallout game there was a stall called Bob's Iguana Bits, the brain child of Iguana Bob Frazer. Bob was actually selling chunks of human, not exactly the food of choice, even in the wasteland.

So I thought I'd do this. It took about twenty minutes of work, not a huge job but I am looking for something to do and I had the bits to hand. It will do as a little bit of table scatter. It's a little bit tall but close enough. If I was going to do any more, I think I would make them a little shorter.

Actually Done Some Painting...

...but not quite what I was expecting to paint. Although I now have a workbench to paint on, I am still scratching around for things that I can do. My eyesight is not brilliant so I depend on a magnifying lamp. I can find the lamp but I can't find the base. No problem I thought, I'll do some buildings. I use pins to keep these together and I can't find them either. So I went looking.

So....No pins and no lamp base. They are probably in a box in the garage. Which is piled high with sealed boxes. So using the lemons to make lemonade I found something that I can do. whilst searching I found some small castle walls. I got them in a shop in the Arndale in Manchester which I think has been closed for twenty years. I think I got them as an impulse buy. I had played in a HOTT game run by Chris Johnson at the MAWS wargame club and I never got round to getting a stronghold for the army I used. The army has never been used since and the walls have been sat in various boxes ever since. Not so much lead mountain as resin mountain.

 So...A nice little project seemed the obvious choice. The paint is almost the same colour as the resin. You can only really tell the difference because the unpainted one has some marks on it.

So...I have the urge and a bit of time. I am now looking for something else to do. I was goin to have a play about with doing some post apocalyptic I started on this then realised that I had no  sand. It looks a bit little bit poop but I am sure that it will work out.

So...I'll look around and see what I can do.

I have an idea that these could be used for a fallout game. They might well be of use to a HOTT game in 15mm. I guess they have some scope for the skyrim/viking game but they are a littlle on the small side for that. Other than that, I have no idea.

Now I need to varnish them. Guess what, I can't find the varnish either.

A Newish Workbench

Well I have put as much into the workbench as I am going to, at least for the time being. It's just getting in the way of me doing stuff and it was starting to rind me down. A lot of the stuff I do for shelving is a little over engineered. This is not what I have done here. This is a temporary measure whilst I wait to move. The phrase wired together with flexi cord and spit springs to mind but if I am going to move it might be some time. It is also looking like I might be staying in Warrington which is no bad news.

We are having a bit of a make down and mend thing at the moment (that's repair reuse recycle to some). so most of the selves are stuff I have previously owned, torn down and stuck back together. I am not really happy with it as I am too far away from the paint but at least it works.If I was doing it again there are a lot of things that I would do differently.Not least of which is buy a table saw.

I did think of painting it white. The whole thing is going to get chavvy, I mean shabby chic'ed by my other half, so I guess it doesn't really matter. The white would  give me a bit more light. The spot I am in now has a lot less light to play with so I am going to need something.

Now where's my brushes...