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Post by frederickthemad on Aug 27, 2018 13:34:01 GMT
Hi Everyone! For about 2 years now I've been back playing D&D, after a hiatus of nearly 20 years. (and for the same reasons as anyone that started again, no doubt.) Back then it was mostly theatre of the mind for our group, but now, with things like DnD Beyond, Ipads, etc, and some more creativity, it's so much better than I remember.. We've got the old group back together and now I also wanted to go into miniatures and terrain and such. I've not had much experience, basically, none to be honest.. but so many great crafters on youtube (you all know 'em hehe) inspired me to give it a go. But it's still a first go on the different things and techniques and 'experiments' involved so it's a little rough around the edges.. but good enough for our table though, and my players get a kick out of it. I've used things like foam, clay, wood, cardboard, flocking materials, wire, sticks, and mostly just basic hobby paints, but yeah anything that was cheap to get or just lying around anyway, to make all sorts of modular pieces, be it terrain or scatter stuff, and started painting mini's, and boy that's not as easy as it looks on youtube either. For anyone interested, I made a few photos of a little example diorama with some of the small pieces I have made so far; (Next I'm also looking to make modular buildings and such.. And with the further inspiration I'll no doubt pick up here, who knows.. Looking forward to any thoughts, hints, tips, etc. Thanks for checking it out!!! Kind regards, Fred
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Post by skunkape on Aug 27, 2018 14:16:22 GMT
Welcome to the forums Fred! Terrain looks really good. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine!
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Post by frederickthemad on Aug 27, 2018 14:41:20 GMT
Thank you very much!! I appreciate that! And you bet, I think the bug bit me.
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Post by margaret on Aug 27, 2018 18:16:17 GMT
Welcome to the forum!
Lovely work you have done - thanks for sharing!
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Post by tauster on Aug 27, 2018 18:18:06 GMT
That's quite awesome stuff, especially for a first post. Wow. Consider yourself warned: This hobby is addictive. But I think you've discoverd that aspect already.
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Post by erho on Aug 27, 2018 18:21:14 GMT
Dang, youre a pro!
Give us some battle reports with pics! Great work!!
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Post by sgtslag on Aug 28, 2018 0:30:36 GMT
First attempt he says. Looks, "a little rough around the edges", he says... [Hangs head, walks away mumbling, incoherently, dejected, embarrassed, and a little depressed.]
Fantastic stuff! Very impressive quality, especially for a, "first attempt"! You should be quite proud of what you achieved. I'd enjoy gaming with that terrain, any time.
With regards to painting mini's, I recommend choosing a level of quality you desire, but first, determine how far into mini's you plan to go. I went head first, off the high cliff, for mini's gaming: I play 2e BattleSystem mass battles games, as well as 2e BattleSystem Skirmish game, which is mini's gaming first, with a thin veneer of RPG -- combat is really quick, and deadly. I use my armies for both mini's gaming, and my 2e AD&D RPG games.
If you plan on collecting mini's for your RPG's only, you may be able to afford to paint a few mini's to a high standard. If you plan on playing mass battles games, you will need to dial down your quality level, to allow you to paint large numbers of mini's, or play with primer'ed, or bare metal/plastic/resin mini's.
For example, a Good Enough to Game With (GEtGW) quality of painting can be achieved quickly: simple block painting of main features/items (small details can be ignored, or painted over (remember, viewed at arm's length, used in masses of figures, usually 20+, per unit, with 5+ units, per side, per game...); apply either Magic Wash, or The Dip techniques, to finish them. After that, put them on the table, and battle on! Figures painted with these techniques, are not the type of work you will enter into a painting contest. They will, however, allow you to churn out finished units, and entire armies, in a matter of hours. My average painting time, per figure, is 10 minutes, or less... I have over 1,000 individual mini's painted, based, and ready to hit the battlefield -- most painted by me. All with an average of <10 minutes of actual brush time, per each figure.
In comparison, folks who paint character figures, will spend many hours painting just one figure. Some folks will spend 12, or more, hours, painting just one figure. Obviously, these folks do not paint mass quantities of figures in this manner!
Pick your painting level, and work at it, as desired. Also take note that a decent base will go a long way towards lifting your painting efforts, possibly to the next level, just by giving them a story-telling/suggesting base. These, too, can be tedious, or fast, as desired. Cheers!
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Post by wilmanric on Aug 28, 2018 3:59:15 GMT
Top notch! Thanks for sharing!
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Post by factoriatabletop on Aug 28, 2018 13:21:06 GMT
Really nice terrain you have made here sir! in special those trees...liked so much! hope to see more pictures soon! Kinds regards
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Post by frederickthemad on Sept 1, 2018 16:14:42 GMT
Hi everyone! Wow.. Thanks so much for all the kind words, I really appreciate that a lot! And stgslag, thanks for the insight on that too! I had a little bit of experience painting on canvas (Mostly landscapes full of.. Happy little trees.... ), but it's a bit of a different game with mini's though. I've chosen to just do it 'good enough for the table', since that's all I really need 'em for, and indeed I can do much more in less time that way. I've bought a whole bunch of reaper bones mini's over the last year, to fit all the different player characters (we run 2 campaigns, divided over 2 of us as DM's) and npc's and just regular bandits/bad guys etc. I'm slowly working through them, now. In addition to that, I use paper mini's but also other toy figures of the right scale I happen to find on ebay, and some home made stuff. Each one goes a little better than the previous, I'm using some reaper paints for specific things like skin tones and metals, and standard colors I just do with craft-paint. The ones in the pictures are painted by me, I'll see if I can make some nicer pictures of them standing alone. Certainly not anywhere close to 'competition level' or just showcasing as some kind of art, but I'm not aiming for that anyway. It's all about playing, first and forewmost. (And having lots of fun crafting of course, and seeing the players immersed in it.) Kind regards, Fred
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Post by deafnala on Sept 1, 2018 16:23:23 GMT
WELCOME ABOARD! That is quite a SPECTACULAR introduction. You are a natural scenery creator with a real flair for colors. Scenery making is highly addictive; ergo, you are also doomed.
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Post by frederickthemad on Sept 1, 2018 17:42:25 GMT
Thank you very much!! I'm humbled by all the kind words! A welcoming and great place to have registered, indeed. I've finished another setpiece, that was meant to go on that bigger terrain piece, for an upcoming battle in my game. It's a watchtower, made from an upturned ice-cream container, or bucket if you will, I put the lid back on top, or bottom depending on how you look at it hehe, to have an overhang for the top platform. It was then clad in plain air-drying clay and I started carving.. I waited a little too long or worked to slowly, it got harder and harder to carve, despite wetting it down constantly. Could be better, but it's fine for it's purpose. Inside I plan to make a 3 layer floor 'system' so that when you lift the tower 0ff, you can see the inside and stack the floors on top of each other. I dunno if that makes sense, but I'll show it, I guess, when it's done. If I even go that route. Anyway, it came out like this. (Though it looks better from a normal viewing distance on the table itself.) Kind regards, Fred
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Post by sgtslag on Sept 1, 2018 21:46:18 GMT
Fred... Well done. Well done, indeed! That Tower is absolutely wonderful for any tabletop game in need of such. You have an eye for details: the chink in the wall, presumably from a siege engine's projectile, or perhaps a Wizard's Lightning Bolt spell(?); the broken Merlin, on top? The mind wonders how they came to be... I look forward to watching your skills grow, quickly, by the look of things thus far. Cheers!
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Post by frederickthemad on Sept 2, 2018 21:34:46 GMT
Hi sgtslag, and thank you very much once again!!! Yeah, I like it when a piece tells a bit of a story besides the event at hand in a battle, or such. Even when it's subconscious or whatever you'd call it, it helps with the immersion if players make up more of the story in their own mind and wonder about such things. I also love to give them small handouts, like bits of parchment with a note, or a letter on it, a riddle, or bits of maps that they later have to assemble to find their way around, IF they even find all of them, etc etc.. on 'aged' paper made to look like parchment for example. (with diluted paints, coffee, what have you.. crumpling, varnishing, it comes out quite nice that way and they really enjoy tactile stuff.) Anyway, thanks again, I'm off to get the next piece done.. before withdrawl kicks in. Kind regards, Fred
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Post by frederickthemad on Sept 3, 2018 23:08:04 GMT
Hi again folks, I took a shot at making some homemade miniatures. Some Ochre Jellies. The largest one can 'engulf' a standard player mini, to give an idea of scale (yeah I should have put a normal mini in the picture hehe), and the smaller ones are for when one is hacked in two. Basically just piles of yellow hot-glue on a tinfoil core. And a very wet muddy, rocky Earth Elemental. Toilet-paper and PVA sculpt, more PVA and sand, and then some decorative rocks from a home decoration store. And a lick of paint and glossy varnish for the wet look. Also tried a few gelatinous cubes, the way Scotty demonstrated in one of his videos, but alas, my glue-gun can only do super hot and the transparent material (overhead-projector type sheets) melted too much, leaving gaps en deforming the whole thing. So, I guess I need a second glue-gun or one with heat selection or whatever that is called.. live and learn Could have come out a wee bit better if I spent a little more time on them, but great for the table anyway. Not the greatest (phone) pics, but couldn't be bothered to get a decent camera out. Kind regards, Fred
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Post by erho on Sept 5, 2018 20:39:16 GMT
Terrifying!
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