15 mm Hedges (part 1)

As part of my effort to produce a decent set of terrain for 15mm gaming I have begun some hedges.  These will be very useful in games as they provide cover and act as an obstacle (different games treat these differently, but they have an effect in most games).

They are pretty simple to make, I adapted techniques often used to make 28mm hedges.  If you want to try you will need;
Materials
Green pan scourers; I found some double thickness ones at Poundstretcher, at a pinch normal thickness ones will do, simply use two thicknesses.
Lollipop sticks
Basing texture and paints as required (see part 2)
Tools
Craft knife and ruler
Glue gun
Nail scissors (NOT family ones as it will blunt them over time).
Wire brush

I went for hedge sections around 60mm wide, as that is the frontage of a troop of normal infantry in my small scale Kings of War (just a fraction under in fact, but on the table it should be fine).  It's also half the length of the lollipop stick and half the width of the sheet of scourer.  This also matches my commercially bought fence sections.

First cut the lollipop sticks in half and round the ends.  This can be carefully done with a craft knife.  The rounding doesn't have to be exact, it will mostly be concealed by hedge.

Cut the scourer into strips about 15mm high, it should be about the thickness of the lollipop stick (hence the thicker ones are ideal).

Hot glue the scourer onto the sticks.  You now have a set of the least interesting hedges ever.

Now trim them to look more natural.  It helps to have some minis to hand so you can judge the right height.  Remember though that the purpose of a hedge is to keep livestock in/out, so don't make them too low.

A close up of one of the sections. I use nail scissors to trim them as they are sharp, pointed and have small, easily maneuvered blades.  The first stage is to trim off all the right angles, then divide the hedge into individual 'plants'.  This is best done by making 'V' shaped cuts with the scissors, then shaping further with smaller cuts.  A 'V' along the base helps the hedge look natural as hedges tend to be narrower at the base.  

I found that trimming the section into four looked about right, though I have varied it on some sections.  Vary the height as well.  when they are all done give them a light brush with a wire brush to roughen up any artificially smooth edges.

Trim the hedges over some paper as it is messy.  What you have left might come in useful as a sort of cheap clump foliage.  

If these were 28mm they would benefit from the addition of some sort of texture; flock, clump foliage etc (an excellent tutorial can be found here).  However at 15mm scale we should be able to get away without this.

Next time I'll get them painted.  I should also make a couple of sections with gates in to allow access.  those will simply be a section with the centre hedge replaced by a gate made from thin balsa or matchsticks.

Real Medieval hedges would look different and quite remarkable to our modern eyes.  They were carefully 'laid' by interweaving branches to provide a very resilient barrier.  A far cry from the line of wild shrubbery often seen in the British countryside today.

However, this is gaming terrain and it helps if it is obviously recognisable to the players; a well laid hedge, particularly in its early years could be mistaken for a wattle fence in 15mm.

A New Dungeon Plan

I continually struggle with how to present 'dungeons' in our sessions of D&D.  Over time I have experimented with Theatre of the Mind, 2D maps/floorplans, 2.5D floorplans and full 3D builds.  The issue seems to be a balance between portability, cost, utility, versatility and accuracy. 
In truth I suspect that I will never find the ideal method, and in fact the ideal varies depending on what is being shown.

My latest system has evolved over the last few weeks. I went from using EVA foam cut into squares and painted (very much like DM Scotty's Tilescapes) to the same product, unpainted but with a grid added with a craft knife.  Last night I used these tiles with a low wall to surround the room.

The walls are about half an inch high; sufficient to show the edge of the room and allow me to clip on Wylock style doors and other fixtures, but low enough that they don't get in the way of either the miniatures or the players.  

Each wall is either 6" or 3" long, though there's no reason why they couldn't be other lengths, that just matches the size of tile.  They are constructed so that a thin fillet of card can be slipped inside to link two walls together, increasing the strength of the build.  By using grey card all I had to do was draw on black lines for the mortar lines.  

The white card on the base is a bit distracting.  In future attempts this could be black card.  I have also started adding extra texture to the tiles as well, so they don't look so plain, using this technique from 'Roll for Damage'.

This is an experiment for now. It worked very well last night but there are still some drawbacks.  It inevitably takes time to set up.  Not too long, especially compared to the 3D builds, and if I'm organised I can be doing this while I describe the room, but longer than just slapping down a ready built specific room tile.

It works best for large rooms; at the moment this seems to match the style of play, and is very useful for the characters, many of whom have powers that benefit from a large space to maneuver in.  2" and 4" wall will probably work fine, but very small areas with just a 1" (5 foot) wall would be very fiddly.

It requires more preparation that just floor plans, though once the walls are built it should be fine.

When setting out the room the players remarked 'lets try another room' .  That highlights a flaw in all the fancy dungeon sets.  A lot of time and preparation is invested in one encounter.  If it is skipped, it can be frustrating.  In the Obsidian City Crypts everything was crafted; the passages used generic pieces and every encounter room was built.   As they were all single pieces (bar furnishings) it was easy to set them up and it didn't matter if one room was chosen over another, but they have little use beyond that dungeon and it required a lot of preparation before hand.

Ultimately I suspect I am still looking for the 'Holy Grail' of dungeon floor plans.  I will continue to make these, and get a good bit more clip on furnishings built too.  I know I'll get more use out of them than some of the 2.5D stuff I have built in the past, but they won't do in every situation.

If you've any experience of using floorplans or other ways to show dungeon type adventures (GM or player) , please leave a comment.  What do you like, what do you think works, and what doesn't.

More Buildings

Here's the last of the main buildings from 'Bloodbath at Orc's Drift'.  This is the largest and most complicated of the builds.  It uses the techniques I practiced on the first two.

The construction is card again, with thinner card for the roof tiles and the wooden lean-to.

Pink foam for the chimney stack and thick paper for the wooden doors and hinges.

Walls textured with craft glue.

The timber beams have a much more complicated pattern than the first cottage. I tried to think how they would work as a frame supporting the house.

Here's the whole thing painted.  I'm pleased with the result, though I do intend to put them all on bases simply so miniatures don't look quite so large next to them.

I deliberately went for a much smaller size tile for the roof.  I wanted this to look like a better class of building.  This means fiddlier work, but I think it was worth it.

Now I have a wooden watchtower, a ruined cottage, a bridge and an outhouse to build and then the whole Orc's Drift scenery set will be done.  

After that?  Maybe McDeath, or possibly Terror of the Lichemaster.

15mm Progress

A couple of projects to show off today.  Firstly I have completed another 15mm building.  Like the last one its a reduced scale model based on one from Bloodbath at Orc's Drift, and apart from being useful terrain for Kings of War, I hope one day to use it in my Orc's Drift Rampant game.

This building is listed as 'stone barn' in the more recent Warhammer Townscape project.  Like the previous cottage it is constructed from card.

I scribed a wooden texture on the planks.  It was an experiment as I wasn't sure it would show after painting.  The main body of the building has a render of filler.

The planked roof was considerably quicker to make than the previous tiled one.

The colours were based on the card original from Orc's Drift.

This view of the wooden extension shows how well the wooden texture worked.

I am getting close to the end of my initial League of Rhordia force.  I fully intend to expand it, but I'd like to try it on the tabletop before making more choices.
The following are a combination of odd previously painted minis (the ones with the paint flaking off the lances for instance; the result of a drop just prior to basing) and a few I painted to bulk out to acceptable unit sizes.

Artillery and halfling sorcerer.  The artillery crew are a combination of (Essex) humans and halflings.  The sorcerer is one of the Essex halfling slingers with a staff replacing his sling and a much bigger hat made from green stuff.  The multi barreled cannon is one I made years ago as a Helblaster for my 15mm Empire army.

A second troop of knights to bulk the previous troop out into a regiment.

More knights...

and more still, so two regiments in total.

Finally some of the nine strips of fencing I have painted.  These will be especially useful when I make the settlements for Orc's Drift.

I've really enjoyed putting together the League force (although these last few seem to have taken ages to finish off), party because it has allowed me to get more use out of an existing army, which otherwise would be on its way out by now.

I recently received a small order from Essex to allow me to complete a couple more units and then the League is done (for now).  Since I have also got rid of quite a lot of 15mm recently, I think I'm just about even on the buying/painting/trading front, but I'll do a proper look before the end of the month.

Building Things

I've a couple of things to show you today.

Firstly, the cottage I started here is now finished, unless I decide to base it.

"If I wasn't stood on this square of MDF, I'd be able to get in without stooping".

It does look a little on the small size next to the wizard, which is actually pretty accurate if it were a Medieval building.  If I do base it it should even out the effect of miniatures bases.

I really like the texture on the walls, just stippled PVA glue.  I both adds strength and texture to the building; these really are cheap and easy to build.  the colour scheme is pretty much a copy of the original.  

The windows are just painted dark blue with the lattice work painted on.  I suppose I could add some highlights to the individual panes, but that might be a bit of a pain.

I might have gone a bit overboard with the green staining?  I did want it to look run down though, so it works for me. 

Next time I think I'll do the wooden building from Orc's Drift; whilst I may never get to play the games again it does give me a target, and I haven't quite given up on that idea yet.

Next up a couple of 'things' (technical term) that I built for a recent session of the Monday evening D&D group.  They are supposed to represent devices that work with force energy.  In D&D terms this is nothing to do with The Force Star Wars style, it merely describes energy that has a 'push' or shielding effect; think a cross between kinetic energy and a force field.

I described them as a series of metal spheres, rings and globes that continuously spun around, periodically reversing their direction of spin.  The build was a simple construction of beads from Hobbycraft (they do a very useful 'pick and mix' in store) threaded onto a nail mounted on an MDF disc and glued to a washer for weight.  The idea was very heavily influenced by Wylock's stuff here.

Force devices with wizard for scale (converted WotC prepaint) 

Again, this time on dungeon floor.

In other news I am still ploding away with my League army, and have found enough Ratmen left over from my Dragon Rampant force to make a small Ratkin army for 15mm kings of War.  I've also had some ideas about dungeon floor plans, but I need to do a bit more experimenting on them first.

New Year Resolutions

According to my Discworld diary it's the 4th of Ick today, that just seems like the right name for the time just after the Christmas season (and we haven't even got to Twelfth night yet).

So to cheer myself up, and try and put a bit of planning into the year ahead, I thought I'd put down some vague plans, or more of a wish list of things I'd like to get done this year.

I have recently received two boxed games with minis in them; Star Saga and Dreadball.  I'd like to get enough painted that I can play these with painted minis (and sneak some of the Star Saga minis off to join my Rebs force for Deadzone).  Talking of Deadzone, I really should get enough Enforcers finished that I have some variety, eventually it would be great to play Warpath and/or Firefight with them.

I'd like to finish off (for now) my 15mm League of Rhordia for Kings of War.  I already have around 1000 points, but it's not a very balanced force, being largely made up of what I already had from my 15mm WFB days.  Around a dozen minis to finish will give me a much more flexible force, and a very small investment will allow me to call it done (for now).  To go with/against them I'd like to build a Varangur force using as much of the various historicals I have lying around.  I like to have opposing forces for any wargame, that wayI can easily show a potential new player how it works, much easier than explaining it.

There always seems to be terrain to build for D&D, and scenarios to write and minis to paint, so I suspect this will take up quite a bit of hobby time this year, especially as I am starting a D&D group at the FLGS.  But fear not, for I have a cunning plan; I already have a fair bit of terrain built for this, as I have run some of it before.
At some point I'd like to get a proper set of dungeon tiles made.  I would like to make some sort of BlackMagic Craft/DM Scotty/Wyloch mash up of 2.5D tiles.  I still haven't decided finally what they will be like, but the idea is there.  Besides, hopefully Terrain Crate will be arriving this year, so I need somewhere to set up all those bookcases.

Of course, there's more of those 15mm cottages etc to build, and the idea of a Dragon Rampant version of Orc's Drift still sounds fun.  If I am to do that though, I will need more orcs.  A couple more units of ordinary infantry, and something for King F'yar and his wyvern.  I'll have to decide if I also collect the Good forces.  I suspect some of my friends have 15mm Elves at least, I do have most of a DR 15mm Dwarf force though, so that might get pushed forwards in the painting queue.

Also I recently saw that GW have published a book version of the old Battle Company rules for the Strategy Battle Game.  This was a favourite of mine back in the day, and I'd love to get this going again.  It would also encourage me to paint up (and thin out) my LotR collection.  Even if I don't get to play the Battle companies, the minis will work nicely for Dragon Rampant.  In fact I think i'll get out my Rohan force and see how well that works for DR.

I should put a bit more work into my ex-Empire, now Kingdoms of Men army.  Again, a bit of focus on it would allow me to thin out the unpainted collection and give me a biggoer force with more variety.

After all that waffle (mmm, hungry now) I should set some goals.
O.K. we all know that won't work.  The more I feel I have to do something the less fun it is, and this is supposed to be a hobby.  However, I am aiming to play a tabletop game once a month.  January's (or Ick's) is already in the bag, so if I get a trial game of Dreadball or similar, that will give me one in hand.  I'd like to try to get at least one Reaper Bones mini painted per month, or week, or whatever time interval works, but I suspect any RPG prep time will be taken up with other stuff, still, those Bones don't seem to paint themselves.

Do you plan your hobby time out?  If you do, does it work?  Please leave a comment.

Nexus Psi - Message Received

Finally, I got a game in, the long delayed fourth game in the Nexus Psi campaign for Deadzone.

I went into this game with two victories under my belt as opposed to one for the Plague.  The objectives are very clear in this game; stop the Plague from gaining control of four cubes (they are planting explosives to blow up the coms tower).  If I could hold out for four turns I win, otherwise the Plague does.

As usual we played on T'Other One's gorgeous terrain, and the set up with the tower was ideal for this particular game.  

The Enforcers ready to hold off the Plague...

While the Plague are raring to go.

I don't have a full write up, as its some time since we last played there was a lot of looking up rules, which was already slowing things down a bit, so I will just give a general impression.

The Enforcers began with snipers in the tower, trying to take down the advancing Plague.  As more and more of the mutated creatures appeared, the task seemed hopeless (I am always surprised at how many Plague there seem to be).  Early success at taking down a Stage 2 was mitigated by failing to finish off the teleporting plague Terraton (I would regret this many times later).  The Plague HMGs proved very nasty, suppressing three Enforcers who were hoping to take shots at the advancing horde.

The Plague had soon taken the nearest two target cubes and placed explosives in them.  It was time to withdraw and try to deny them the other two cubes.  But by this time many of the Enforcers were tied in melee, including by that abominable Terraton.  As the Enforcers fell one by one the Plague horde was thinning too.  Eventually the Peacekeeper Captain was holding the one remaining target cube, along with an Enforcer and a Specialist with missile launcher.  Fortunately, Enforcers are good at surviving, and several times I was able to withdraw them from melee and fire on their erstwhile opponents.  

At the end, the captain fell, but he had held of the plague long enough to secure victory.

Thanks to my opponent for a fun game played in a very friendly spirit.  Looking forward to the final game in the series.  

You can read about the last game here.

New Year - New Game

The postman just brought me a nice box this morning, Dreadball 2, which I backed in the Kickstarter a while ago.  So far all I have done is have a quick look through, but it looks promising.

I played the original Dreadball back when that came out.  Over time, and as the newer teams inevitably overpowered the original teams, I lost interest.  The new edition aims to address the imbalance by starting from scratch.  I don't know how well it has done this as I haven't yet played a game.  Hopefully I'll get some in soon.

The new game has new teams, four in the Kickstarter edition.  Rather than the original 'Restic', these are one piece plastic rather like the Star Saga minis.  The teams are in different coloured plastic as well, making it easy to get a game in straight from the box.  The board is a very nice sturdy bit of card, and I think the hexes on it are a bit larger to stop the pitch becoming too cramped.  The rulebook is a hefty 206 pages and includes rules for (almost) all the previous minis.  Hopefully it will prove at least as popular as the first edition, without the season bloat.

I'll have to dig out some of my old teams, and maybe paint up some of the pile of unpainted DB I have.  A team of twelve or so minis makes for a nice project, and I'm sure there is some crossover potential with DZ for the odd spare mini.

I'll get some pictures up once I've had a better look, if anyone is interested.